Some things that have struck me since I've been here

I'm rediscovering my passion for the environment and during my time here I intend on attracting a way I can integrate that passion with a career in Psychology. There's a few things that strike me as an encouraging advancement in environmentally friendly practices:

1) It's my understanding that legislation has been passed requiring by I believe 2008 that all buildings replace their normal incandescant light bulbs with energy saving light bulbs, and no stores may sell standard incandescant light bulbs or else offending parties may face a fine. Granted there are pretty serious ethical implications in this; whether government or anyone has the right to force people to do this is a question I'm interested in, but on the surface I like it. A simple, small change by a household can collectively yield huge benefits (or detriments depending on which way you go) towards the environment.

2) Rain catching tanks: All over New Zealand, and some areas of Australia as well, people have huge tanks attached to their rain gutters as the ONLY source of their water. I assume they have some sort of purification systems for them due to the pollutants that may be present in rain, and I would have to believe that something like that would be imperative to have in parts of the US as a basic health precaution. Granted I haven't done any research, I don't understand why even areas WITH an abundant supply of water wouldn't take advantage of this.

3) Toilets. I have no idea if it's true that the water flushes in a different direction. The thought suddenly comes to me that I could just look at a sink as it drains - glad I'm open enough to allow these sort of GENIUS thoughts into my life. Anyways, their toilets are designed to conserve water by forcing water into the drain instead of 'funneling' it down, and they have two buttons, as I understand it one's for a 'half' flush, one's for a 'full' flush (for that especially long day in the office).

I have to believe that people in the US do take advantage of these sorts of technologies, I just don't recall seeing stuff like this before (ok I have seen energy saving lightbulbs). If nothing else, it's an area to improve on within the US, or at the very least, a personal aspiration to learn more about. My understanding of this stuff isn't likely to be dead on, so I encourage you to look into it more yourself if you're curious. Let me know what you learn, I love this stuff.