My Green Journey

I did not grow up being green! I honestly am not sure how this all started, all I remember is being disgusted by how we as Americans abuse the Earth. From a faith perspective, as a Christian I strongly believe that we were put on this earth to love God, each other, and our planet. When God created Adam he told him to tend the earth and care of all the animals on it. When you take a look at the earth today it's obvious we are not doing our job.

The ice caps are shrinking, animals are dying in a mass extinction the likes of which we haven't seen since the end of the dinosaurs, we are dealing with the biggest oil spill in history, we throw so much away that children in cities like the bronx are afflicted with asthma which is caused by the massive amounts of garbage that is incinerated almost in their own backyards. You tell me if we are being good stewards.

Yes, you can get angry and point fingers, you can say laws need to change (and they d0), but the most important actions lie with the individual. Nothing will change if we don't make it change. Put your money where your mouth is! Now, I understand that this is a HUMONGOUS change to make, it took me a long time to get where I am now.. But you can do it. You MUST do it! This is yet another reason I am beginning my consulting work; besides Americans destroying their bodies with unhealthy lifestyles, we are destroying our planet. I want to help people make the transition to a sustainable lifestyle. For ideas, here are some things my family is doing right now:

1. For a family of four, we fill one small trash can per week (no liner, they impede things from breaking down), one recyclable size-d bag of recycling a week, and we compost our food scraps.

2. Cloth diapers

3. Hang our laundry to dry

4. Garden

5. Eat locally and in season

6. Purchasing sustainably - this incorporates used as well as eco-friendly companies

7. No air conditioning unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, which is usually for long enough to cool down the upstairs so my boys can nap.

8. Cut down on water and electricity usage

9. Eliminated all harsh cleaning/beauty products and use only natural products.

10. Houseplants to clean and filter the air inside

11. Driving much much less

12. Walking to the grocery store and places that are close for entertainment

13. My husband drives a scooter instead of a car when it's nice out. We own one car and one scooter

14. Talk it up to try and get others involved!

15. No disposable paper products. (For the gross factor we do have a roll of TP for our guests, and I am using organic products for that one week a month..)

16. Make things from scratch so you don't need to buy more.

These are the short list of things my family is doing to be green.. If you want help "going green", let me know! I'll give you a free consultation and will help you transition to a green lifestyle. :)

The Family Garden

This is my first year with a vegetable garden. We are attempting to garden organically (surprise!) and are learning so much! We have faced HUGE problems with a gigantic slug infestation. We have tried all the old tricks, (beer in pie tins, etc) to no avail. Yesterday I went to check on the garden and when I looked underneath one of my lettuce plants I was stunned to find dozens of slugs. It was the same story under each lettuce plant. After consulting with my grandma, I decided that the best move for my whole garden is to cut out all of my lettuce and try to save the rest of my garden from these invasive pests. I shook each plant out and slugs were falling out like rain. GROSS! Nate and I spent 20 minutes at the sink pulling off good leaves and rinsing them off, which led to the finding of at least 2 dozen more slugs before the night was done. *sigh* However, the rest of my garden looks very good and I'm hoping I'll be able to eradicate these villains!

Chunky Crayons for Little Hands

I love crayons. I love the look of them, the feel of them in my hand, and the smell of a freshly opened box. I'm a huge nerd, but I'll admit it! However, when you put crayons in the hands of my little people, they break. I've found the best way to involve little guys in making their own, toddler-sized crayons!

Toddler-Sized Crayons

1. Take the paper off of the crayons and break them into small pieces (Little ones LOVE to help with this!)
2. Put them into separate muffin tins. They can be separated by color, or mixed together to create neat combinations)
3. Pop them into the oven, 7-8 minutes at 250. When they are done, stick them into the freezer to harden, then tap them out.
4. Color away! :)

No 'Poo!

After getting rid of the majority of our chemical products I began thinking of ways to eliminate or replace the remaining products we have in our home.. Currently I am working on my shampoo/conditioner. Recently I tried Dr. Bronners as a shampoo, but was left with limp, greasy hair. I have heard quite a bit about using baking soda/apple cider vinegar as a replacement, but was skeptical. Well, I gave it a shot and I am amazed! AMAZED! My hair is soft, non-greasy, and relatively tangle-free! I honestly cannot believe how well this worked.. Seriously, you have to try this! Here's the link to an instructable. :) Enjoy!

No Impact Week: Day Three (Wednesday)

Day 3 of no impact week was "transportation". For the most part, Nate and I do very well with this. We have one fuel efficient car, and a scooter, which my husband drives to work during nice weather. I don't usually go anywhere, but when I do I almost always go the quickest way (more for my sanity because two boys sitting that close is always a recipe for disaster).

I will be trying to make more effort toward public transit and carpooling in the future, as well as walking more. Unfortunately, my bike was stolen last year and I still haven't replaced it, and my husband doesnt have one himself. Maybe this summer. :)

I have realized that I am not quite following the directions of "no impact week" to a 'T', because I trying to figure out how to make these changes permanent, which takes a little more easing in. For example, when it comes to the food challenge, today, I am thinking of recipes and ways to make locality and organic my top priority, but I am going to finish off the food we have, buying the "right stuff" when I run out. More on that topic later... enjoy this beautiful day!

No Impact Week: Day Two (Tuesday)

Today was day two of No Impact Week. The challenge was to make no trash. This was difficult. I am pleased that we have so little food with packages, but there are still some. I had to remember my challenge and figure out how to not make trash. It was extremely difficult when I went over to my mom's today, packaged food heaven, and had to keep the boys away from things. Of course, when I wasn't looking they were given little boxes of raisins, etc. Oh well. By the end of the day I ended up with only a few things in the trash. Said raisin box, a straw from Will's drink, and some plastic wrapping from a string cheese package. That's pretty good I think. Well, up until we ate dinner at a mexican restaurant and was served paper napkins with a styrofoam cup for Will! AAAHHH! On to day 3 tomorrow! :)

No Impact Week: Day One (Monday)

Hello everyone! Yesterday Nate and I began an experiment called "No Impact Week" This week there is a national challenge to live for one week without making any environmental impact, easing into it gradually of course. The event actually started Sunday, but we didn't find out until Sunday afternoon, so we started yesterday.

Yesterday's challenge was to stop consuming new things. Being on a tight budget has made this a little easier than it is with most people, especially since we already did our grocery shopping. However, we are in the market for a new table, so instead of going to the furniture store we began browsing Cragslist to see if there were any cool used tables. Uhm, a plethora! I am very excited to try and get a neat vintage table. I think my biggest problem living in the greater Des Moines Area will be to find out where I can buy things without packaging.. There are a few stores that make it easier, but nothing that has say, pasta, without packaging that I know of. Hmm.

Nate and I have gradually been "going green" for a while now, so some of this will just be a little push farther past what we are already doing. I'm very excited for this big change! We're talking about how to extend this experiment past a week and see what happens. :) Another step we made in our quest to make our life about family and not about things was to move our television out of the living room and into the closet, unplugged, facing the wall for the summer. If there are a few shows we are desperate to watch *cough* LOST *Cough* we can watch them on my laptop. Long post, I know, but that's all for now. Stay tuned for the response to today's challenge. :)