Happy Earth Day 2008

Earth Day 2008
Originally uploaded by momofthreewi

Earth Day is a wonderful opportunity to take action in caring for our planet, the only place we have to live and the home we need to leave in good condition for the many generations yet to come, our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond.

It's easy to say "What can one person or one family really do?" but you would be amazed. If every family just made one or two of these changes, the overall impact would be tremendous. We can't realistically do it all. I admire those families I've read about that are on a major mission to do everything they can to "go green" in their own homes, but some of the ideas they are doing are pretty overwhelming. Thinking you have to do "all or nothing" will stall the progress you REALLY CAN make to save this beautiful planet before it's too late for our future generations. I believe that teaching my children better ways to care for the Earth will leave a lasting legacy, as they then teach their own children and so on.

Our family has been taking many steps to do our part in helping to preserve the Earth for those future generations, not only on Earth Day, but every day.

I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of the things we're doing at our hous, perhaps in the hopes that it will inspire you and your family to take a few steps to help save the Earth in your own home.

First, take a look at the first photo in this post. That was taken yesterday after we spent about 30 minutes picking up trash along the bike/walking path behind our home. We filled several bags with trash in just a 1/4 mile or so stretch of the path! The kids were on a mission to get everything they could find and it was great to see them so motivated to make this small part of the Earth more beautiful. We had a great time out in the fresh air as a family, getting some exercise and doing something good for our community at the same time.

Some other simple steps we've taken as a family include:

Perhaps one of the most obvious: RECYCLING. If you aren't recycling everything you can, why not? It doesn't take much more effort than throwing something into the garbage can, but it has a huge positive impact on our planet! It takes CENTURIES for aluminum cans to break down if thrown in the trash!



Another change I made in the past couple months is switching to reusable grocery bags. I purchased 7 reusable bags for $1 each and I keep them in the car. When I go to the store, I bring them in with me instead of having them use the plastic ones (which are a major problem in our landfills...scientists' best guesses are that it takes DECADES for plastic bags to break down!) I personally prefer the reusable bags and we use them for many other things as well. We even have a local store that gives us a 3-cent rebate for every one of my reusable bags we use during a shopping trip. It's a small amount, but every little bit helps. I've used these bags at several different stores and none had a problem using my bags instead of theirs.


Something we changed in our home quite a while ago was our lightbulbs. We use energy-efficient bulbs wherever possible. They are a bit more expensive to purchase initially, but they last MUCH longer than regular bulbs and they save a ton of energy.

Along those same lines, Steve recently put a motion sensor light in our laundry room. This is the room where we come in and out of the house most often as it's connected to the garage. Our pantry is also located in that room as well as (obviously) our washer and dryer. The room gets used often and the light was being left on A LOT. I asked Steve to install a motion sensor light, which took him just a few minutes. Now the light comes on when someone walks in and it turns off a couple minutes later (unless someone is still in the room). No more turning on the light to get something from the pantry and having it stay on for hours! We also have one of these lights installed in the kids' play room.


The last way our family is helping the Earth that I'm going to mention today (there are others we do , but no time to list them all right now) is by purchasing organic produce. We have a box of fruits and vegetables delivered right to our home twice a month. Organic produce isn't affected by pesticides and chemicals which harm both the environment and our bodies. It's often locally grown, which saves on the pollution of delivery trucks bringing these items from all over the country, and it supports the local farmers. We also purchase organic eggs and hormone-free milk from the same resource. The cost is reasonable, it's very convenient and I feel better about what my family is eating.






My family is challenging you to share what you're doing to help the Earth! Please post a comment if you're doing one or more of our ideas or something I didn't list here. My kids look forward to seeing what others are doing! Enjoy Earth Day...every day!