I love that there’s such a day as Earthday! A day where we can stop and reflect on what it is that we’re doing for our planet; both as a society and as individuals. Where are we going wrong? How we can improve?
Personally, I am very proud of my family and all of the “green” baby steps we’ve taken this year. Here are some of the things we’ve accomplished:
- We started an organic garden in our backyard. What I really love about it is that we haven’t had to buy salad greens in MONTHS! And I honestly think our homegrown salad greens taste so much better!
We’ve also enjoyed several other veggies, like sugar snap peas and green beans with more to come. - We’ve cut down on our electricity usage by 1) being more vigilant and turning things off when they’re not is use, 2) running the heat/AC only when really necessary, 3) putting our remote-ready electronics (TV, etc) on power strips and cutting the power off completely when they are not in use.
- We’ve eliminated chemicals in our home. Now we make our own chemical-free soaps for washing hands, bodies, and clothes. We also make our own chemical-free cleaning products for use around the home. These homemade products are better for the planet, better for our indoor air quality, better for our bodies, and better for our pocketbook!
- And lastly, we’ve cut down on waste. Because of our food allergies, we can no longer eat most processed foods. This one thing cut down on the amount of garbage we send to the landfill every week by a LOT. We’ve also cut down on other disposable products; shopping bags, paper towels, napkins, diapers (which we don’t need anymore!), feminine hygiene products, etc, have all been replaced by cloth/reusable alternatives.
For all the things we’ve done right this year, I still feel that there’s room for improvement. Over the next year, we’re hoping to keep taking more and more “green” baby steps! I’m hoping we can reduce our water usage by taking shorter showers and conserving more. I’m also hoping to set up a consistent and more comprehensive recycling program in our house. I would also love to expand our garden, start a vermicompost bin, and cut down on the amount of meat we eat.
Overall, I think we’ve had a pretty “green” year! Although I’m sure we’ve helped out our planet in some small way, the most noticable difference has been in our bank account. Being green has saved us a HEAP of green!! Yay for Mother Earth!!! ;P
