When you want to watch a movie, are you more likely to rent or buy?  Do you have a collection of DVDs and VHS tapes sitting around collecting dust?  Take a sec and look at your movie collection.  Think about all the plastic involved.  Think about all the energy that went into producing and packaging a movie you’ll watch, what? 10 times? 12?  Instead of adding to your collection, rent, borrow, or download (legally).

We talked about the library earlier this week.  Go take a look at their movie section.  I was shocked a few weeks ago to discover that our local library has a far superior selection to our local big chain rental store.  The library may not have everything you’ve ever wanted to see, but I bet you could spend a year borrowing movies from the library and still not exhaust all your possibilities.  If they don’t have something you want to see, ask.  They may be able to order it from another location in the system.

I recently switched over to NetFlix from another movie service, because their Watch Instantly feature allows you to watch a large selection of movies, tv shows and documentaries on your computer or Xbox.  I love that there isn’t a new gadget required to start watching.  And sure, sending movies through the mail still requires energy, but Slate says it’s still pretty green.

Of course, if you live near a super cool independent movie rental store, make sure to keep supporting it.  Independent video stores are a dying breed.

To make your movie night complete, forgo the microwave popcorn.  Buy some organic popping corn from the bulk section of your natural foods store, and make your own kettle corn using Dianne’s amazing recipe.