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Every week day morning, the steady parade of business men and women, and their assistants, stream out of the coffee shop with these pristine, white cups with plastic lids. Most mornings, I’m one of those people, too. Go ahead, you try to get on a moving train with a cup of scalding hot coffee. Half the time I make my brew, and leave it on the counter at home, which is a major drag. Yeah, I think about the environment everyday I don’t bring my lunch to work, you know? I imagine the amount of trash I make in an eight-hour day: 4 plastic coffee stirs things, 3 paper cups with plastic lids, a paper bag, wax paper, and several napkins, from the deli, a few yards of toilet paper, and if it’s birthday cake day, 1. . . okay, 2 paper plates, and 2 forks. And that’s just the stuff I consume. What about all the paper I generate at work? It’s enough to make you go all Green Peace, get off the grid and grow a strike beard.

So, to lighten the mood, on days when I need to remind my self that I’m a consumer with a sense of humor, I drink my coffee in the I’m Not a Papercup coffee cup. It’s a porcelain version of the paper cup, with a silicone lid. It looks like the real thing, but it helps to keep you conscious of what you’re doing when you’re in a hurry. Since I got the I’m Not A Papercup, I noticed that I plan my meals away from home with more of an effort– I haul my stuff in, and my recyclables out more often. Think of the 9 to 5 as urban camping, because haste really does make waste.