an update on my efforts:

1. i have been diligently using my patrick starfish mug (fede bought me from orlando airport. quite cute/ugly but serves a purpose) at work for the last almost 6 months now. it is drawing quite a bit of attention from my other colleagues i guess maybe partly because it is quite ridiculous looking. but in any case, it gives me 1 min to tell people why i use it and challenge them to do the same. some people have said cool yeah i should, but have not acted upon it, others think i'm a little nuts but oh well.
SO today i went and ordered 15 mugs and will give them out to those who have said oh yeah i should do it. let's see if we can start an office movement. (and dear anonymous 731 lex colleague, why don't you join me in this too?)

2. i have been pretty good about re-using my plastic bottle. until i somehow lose it or some waitress clears it from my table before i notice. so in two weeks i have used maybe 3 bottles as opposed to 5 a day before.

my next step is to try and convince/coerce those closest to me to do the same.