Standing with my feet in the sand and looking out to the horizon I felt so at one with the earth. Everything in my field of vision was of this planet, nothing man-made. I could almost feel the pull of the sun and the moon that keeps the sea in balance. The earth's natural rhythm even soothed my baby to sleep as I held her in my arms. The ocean is magnificent.As I looked out on the water, I believe my relationship with the earth changed. Recently, I have felt that any efforts I could make to keep this planet healthy are too insignificant. But this weekend, I realized it is my responsibility to raise daughters who respect and love this earth. It's time to change how we live. Too many things that make our lives more convenient are hurting the planet. We have to learn how to live more simply. I'm not declaring any drastic changes at this point. My plan is to begin with research. I need to know more about what we can do.
We already recycle. We have energy efficient light bulbs. We eat organically. A few weeks ago, I cut meat from my diet. Right now I'm shopping around for [gasp] cloth diapers. Baby steps. I'm open to suggestions. Is there something you have changed in your life for the benefit of the environment?
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Use both sides of the toilet paper? (smile) I'm impressed you are taking small steps, Christy. If everyone would do the same thing, this earth would be much better off! Save your laundry, dishes, watering the lawn until after the sun sets - it puts less stress on the "system" we share with our neighbors and businesses. Set your AC 1-2 degrees warmer than normal - small difference to you, big difference to earth. When you run errands, do it in a loop to save time and gas on the back & forth. That's all my brain can think of now. Thanks for turning it on so early this morning!
Love the pictures. If you check out this website http://www.myfootprint.org/ on the right hand side there is a what can you do option with some ideas of what you can do as an individual. One of the best ideas they have is a way to stop junk mail from being sent to you (just think about how much paper is wasted in junk mail). Newsweek recently had a magazine about saving the planet. some of their suggestions included... buying Energy Star models of TVs, vcrs, DVD players, appliances (energystar.gov), use natural household cleaners (eartheasy.com) and buying locally (usda.gov and localharvest.org provide lists of local farmers markets). The eartheasy website has a lot of good ideas for living simply. thanks for a fun weekend. -Lauren
FYI I think on the myfootpring page you have to take the quiz first.
the issue lauren is talking about is the april 16th issue. i'm sure your mom has it (if you guys don't already get newsweek). they had good thoughts in articles, but a small thing at the end listed a ton of websites...so those are some thoughts.
lauren and i have thought about composting recently, and are thinking of trying it soon...
I too have thought a great deal about the cloth diaper thing. Did a lot of looking while I was pregnant with Sam... we should talk. Anyway, I got lazy and never ended up ordering any. Just easier to do the familiar I guess... sadly.
I guess my most recent environmental tangent is my cleaning products. While pregnant, I got really convicted about all the chemicals in my home, and changed over to environmentally friendly products (ie. cleaners, soaps, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, etc.) It's worked out well. It makes me feel good that I'm not polluting as much as I was... plus I think it's safer for the kids. The hardest thing has been giving up bleach. And I still use it every once in a while... I can't help myself!
I saw this article today and thought you'd find it interesting: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-oe-morrison7jun07,0,821016.column?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
That didn't seem to work ... try this one instead: http://tinyurl.com/youdmo.
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