I figured that spending two weeks in the environmentally-progressive city of San Francisco would only further cement my “green” beliefs, and after less than a week it already has.

The convenience of going green is something that turns a lot of people away ­— with busy schedules and lives, it is difficult for people to dedicate a lot of time to a more sustainable lifestyle. But San Francisco really does a good job of bringing the sustainability to you, making it easier for people to replace habits that are unhealthy for the planet with ones that have less of a negative impact.

Recycling as easy as trashing     
Before I left for San Francisco, I was at my hometown’s mall with an empty aluminum can and nowhere to dispose of it except for a garbage can.  I chose to put the can in my purse until I could recycle it somewhere else, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how convenient it would be to have recycling cans alongside trash cans so that it was easier for people to avoid sending their aluminum, plastics and glass to the landfill.

So of course, it was eerie to walk the streets of Oakland, looking for a place to dispose of my gum, and find trashcans with recycling receptacles on top of them. It seemed almost too simple — built-in recycling bins on top of trash cans. They take up the same amount of space on the ground, but they just slightly taller than the average trash can.

This creates an awareness to the consumer that there is more than just one option for discarding goods. By giving someone the option to choose where their garbage will go, it builds a consciousness that might not have existed or been as strong about recycling.

Did someone say organic?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much organic food in all of my life as I have in just a few days in San Francisco.  Even AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants — and former Cleveland Indian Omar Vizquel — has a farmer’s market concession stand complete with organic food choices.

And the grocery stores are the same way. Within a few blocks there is a Safeway, a traditional grocery store; Trader Joe’s, a grocery store that offers exotic, local and organic foods; and Whole Foods, a traditionally expensive but still organic and natural foods store.  People aren’t cornered into choosing between supermarkets like Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Target, and easy access to local, organic and natural foods is unbelievable.

Beyond just selling organic food, there is a real aura of locality that is equally as beneficial to the environment. Local people using local ingredients for their local businesses to serve local people. Aside from a KFC down the street, there is barely any kind of chain restaurant within walking distance.

Subway isn’t just a restaurant
Chatting about public transportation is easier to do when discussing big cities because they are so congested that pubic transportation is a profitable investment. But being able to hop onto the subway or a bus (I haven’t ventured onto the cable cars yet) while avoiding both traffic and the gas pump is quite a change. Of course, it isn’t free, but it’s so convenient that it makes me wish I could just hop on a train to get from Athens to Cleveland every time I go home for the weekend.

These are only a few examples of how bringing the sustainability to the consumer can be beneficial, and I’m sure I’ll observe many more before I leave to return to Ohio. That isn’t to say this is the perfect city, or that other cities and towns are not as good because they don’t have the same conveniences. What it does say is that people are willing to embrace a sustainable lifestyle, but it helps if it’s a two-way street. People wanting to change is not necessarily enough — it is a great help when cities and businesses accommodate those people by offering alternatives; who knows, they might find the environmental demographic is larger than they thought.