Happy Earth Day!!

Happy Earth Day everybody! How are you celebrating? I remember Earth Day a few years ago. We were in California and I saw a few earth day specials on TV that really impacted me. I saw land fills as well as piles of things Americans go through each year. I saw plastic bags, food containers, and diapers. I was shocked at what the average American household goes through each year. I told Gary that night before we went to bed that I wanted to do something to reduce the amount of waste we were contributing. The next day, I bought some reusable bags at the grocery store.
Lately, it seems more and more people are getting on the "green" wagon. It has become so popular that even my local grocery store has signs in the parking lot reminding people to bring in their reusable bags. I love that they even say, "thank you for bringing your bags" at the checkout; back in Utah, I was a pain in neck to the grocery sackers who would look at me like I was crazy when I would hand them my bags. Changing the type of bag you use at the store is just one small change you can do to make a positive impact on our environment.
Here is a list of things we do or try to do to be more "green"
-Use reusable bags

-Don't use produce bags..you're going to wash them anyway, right?

-Replace some or all of your light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones

-Keep lights off during the day and open your blinds/curtains

-If it is cool/breezy outside, open your windows and turn off the AC

-Teach children to turn off the faucet when they are brushing teeth

-Get a whole bunch or rags or cute wash cloths to use instead of paper towels..you will get used to it, I promise.

-Consider cloth diapering - I have had a great experience with them and have a lot less waste to throw away. Disposables take hundreds of years to decompose.

-Shop at your local Farmers market. You will get food more sustainably grown with less pesticides that took less gas to get to you!

-Recycle!! It may cost you a few dollars a month to participate in a neighborhood pick up program but it is worth it. Since our program will take almost everything that is recyclable, we have only been throwing out about 1 bag of trash a week.

-Reuse...try buying second hand. I have had some great purchases of clothes, books, decor, etc. at the local DI/Goodwill. Also, you could learn the art of re-purposing(I'm working on this awesome skill!)

-Reduce! Consider how much you buy in clothes, toys, individually packaged food items. Maybe you could live with less? Buy food in bulk if you can and try to find stuff with less packaging.

This is an example of things we try to do but I know ther are more..like growing your own veggies or making your own clothes. What are some things you do??