Earth Day 2008

Today is Earth Day. I have no desire to get preachy right now. There are things we can all do to be more environmentally friendly. We know that. I just want to share a few things that I do that I feel good about when it comes to my impact on the earth. We all do what we can, and what works best for us. This is what I like to do to lighten the load on the earth:

Reduce:

• I registered with CatalogChoice. This website helps you stop getting all those annoying catalogs that you never wanted in the first place and that you can't seem to get off their mailing lists. It's really easy, and saves paper.

• I buy local whenever I can, decreasing the amount of fuel used to bring my food to me. I shop at Sweet Peas Marketplace, a small local-owned store. I'll buy produce at the Cache Valley Gardener's Market, which starts up again on May 10th. I buy beef and lamb that are raised and butchered locally, supporting a family farm.
  

• We will be planting a big garden with the neighbors, and are hoping to grow a LOT of our produce for the year (so if you know anyone who enjoys endless hours of canning tomatoes in the summer heat, send them our way in August!).
  

• I should do more, but as the weather gets better I'll use more forms of alternative transportation. The bus system here is great for getting around and up to campus. Plus it's free! Miss Doodle loves her bike trailer, and biking is good exercise too!
  

Reuse:

• A great resource for re-using and re-purposing stuff is Freecycle. You can offer things up to people in the community that you'd like to see be re-used and kept out of the landfill. You can get things for free rather than having to search the thrift stores, and you can get things (like scrap lumber) that thrift stores won't take. It's great!

• I shop thrift stores. It's a great place to get inexpensive kids clothes (which they're just going to get dirty and outgrow soon anyhow). Plus they usually support a good cause, like CAPSA.

• We have a lot of reusable cloth products, from cloth shopping bags to napkins, dish towels, and of course, cloth diapers. I like the dish towels and napkins because they're sturdy, easy to clean and it's a lot less paper products going in the trash. The cloth diapers, well - they're just so dang cute!
  

• We use reusable mugs and water bottles for transporting liquids and staying hydrated. Again, less waste.
  

When we can't reduce our use or reuse what we do have, we recycle it! Packaging matters, so whenever I can I buy things in less packaging or in re-usable or recyclable packaging.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!