Living Green

When I was pregnant with Natalya we decided to use cloth diapers. Everyone thought we were nuts. I was always asked, "How hard is it?", "Isn't it a lot of trouble?" "What do you do with the poop?" But did you know that 50 million diapers enter landfills each day and they will stay there for about 500 years? Cloth diapering was the only option for us and turned out to be easy. We did it with both girls.

As a part of Blog Action Day, I am doing my part by letting you know what we do in our family to protect our happy earth. Still today, I am as green as I can possibly be. We are. We, as a family, do our part to protect the environment. It has become a lifestyle. And, again, it's easy. It's the least we can do. And you may think that you and your family can't possibly make a difference but it's you and those millions of others that say they can't make a difference that really could make a difference.

* We recycle!- Our community has a recycling program so we utilize it. Junk mail, plastic, tin goes in the bucket; magazines go to big bins set up at schools for recycling.
* I use canvas shopping bags- I try to never use plastic, and only use paper when my canvas bags have runneth over. Plastic bags go back to our grocery store because they will recycle them. And we try to remember to say, "That's OK, I don't need a bag."
* I try to remember to bring my own cup to Starbucks. They will put my coffee in it so that I don't have to leave with trash.
* We don't run the water unnecessarily.
* We xeriscape. Meaning our landscaping doesn't require much watering.
* I try not to buy water bottles. A tiny percentage of all water bottles are being recycled which means that the majority of them sit in a landfill.
* We use reusable plastic containers for lunches, not baggies.
* We split one napkin in half at dinner. Hopefully we will use only two napkins instead of four.
* We keep our blinds closed during the heat of the day keep our air conditioner from running more than it needs to.
* We donate a lot of stuff. If it's reusable it goes to Good Will instead of the landfill.
* We try to repair things rather than replace things.
* I try to buy bigger rather than many small. It takes less energy to produce one large container of yogurt than it does to produce several smaller containers.
* We turn off the lights when we leave a room.
* We really try hard (really try hard) not to buy those little things that we don't need. This is hard when you have kids. Junk toys and trinkets will ultimately end up in the trash.
* We talk about things that the girls understand and have an interest in. Like endangered animals and protecting the park.
* We pick up trash when we go for a walk.
* We play outside.
* We try to remember to turn off the tv when we're not watching it. We are working really hard on this one.

OK, you get the idea. And even though that list looks pretty long, I know there are still tons we can do. Hopefully the girls are learning as we live and will be able to carry these lessons with them. Because isn't it scary to hear about the demise of the earth? What will you differently today?



And in honor of living green, some pictures of the girls enjoying the great outdoors:


Natalya is really enjoying fishing with Daddy. This is her yesterday with her catch (and release.) She actually caught three!


And amazingly, Vienne's catch. Amazing because Vienne caught one within seconds of the line hitting the water. Perfect for her attenion span.