When I think of Houston's watershed, I think of one thing - flooding. The city bears a lot of the responsibility for recent disasters, due in part to a willingness over time to build in areas previously designated for flood control. I honestly don't know what I can do to improve the situation, other than support public financing of new flood control projects (two R city councilors recently shot down an effort to raise property taxes for that purpose).

But this reflect question stemmed from my buying some toilet tank banks. They're easy to install and probably pay for themselves in little time. Each one cost something like $4, and you save water with every flush. Low-hanging, but not particularly impactful, fruit.

I recently changed the kind of toothpaste I use. The standard plastic tube can't be recycled - and we know plastic recycling rates are really poor even once they get to the recycling plant - so I found a plastic-free alternative. There are lots on the market, but several are only available in Europe. It's even harder to find one that contains fluoride. I ended up settling on Bite, based in CA. The bits don't have fluoride, but the company intends to add a fluoridated alternative. The container is glass, and they company ships re-fills in compostable bags (the shipping packaging is recyclable paper). It's not cheap though. I think about three times more costly than regular toothpaste tubes.

I biked with my kids to an event this weekend, and found that it engaged them with the community. My younger daughter was gung ho and insisted on riding over two miles on her bike with training wheels. It took us a long time to get there. I noticed apples falling from a tree along the bike path, I noticed the leaves changing color. It is greatly preferable to driving, though the time pressure makes it hard to do every day, especially with a three year old insisting they can bike too!