One of the beauties of Person of the Planet is the empowerment of the individual. You can do as much or as little as YOU choose to do. The bottom line is you are in charge and you care about the health of the planet.

There are some interesting ways people I've talked to choose to help the planet:

*Mary in Santa Rosa only buys used clothing or takes friends give away clothes, rather than consuming more.

* My husband uses a "Green World" bio-degradable spray to "wash" his electric car, after reading about the Green Auto Car Wash in Redwood City. It uses under a cup of water and cars come out looking like they just drove off the lot.

*Amy in Berkeley only uses her electric appliances before 10 am in the morning and after 9 pm at night.

*We all re-cycle. Susan and Stephanie go one step further by checking to make sure everything is in the right bin and the land fill garbage is less.

*John in Berkeley says he has an on and off switch on the shower so he can turn off the flow while lathering up.

*Shirley has taken her Person of the Planet commitment one step further by researching companies that do or do not have sustainable practices. You would be surprised how many common brand names are from companies that have the worst track record. (more on this next week).

Green habits are good habits. Be sure you sign up for your own personal eco-challenge, a two week commitment starting in October. See Ruth Robinson's detailed information on how to easily sign up. Remember, we can individually expand our collective knowledge.

- Shanti Moorjani