So today all of blogdom is supposed to blog about being green and saving our planet. Thanks Patti for the reminder!
So I thought I would just tell a little bit about what the Lance family does to be as green as we can. As you have all read about my cloth diaper complaints, you know we are not adding to the 2 million diapers thrown away daily in the U.S. (disposable diapers take 500 years to break down) YIKES! We use g diapers with a cloth inside during the day and the g diaper flushable at night.
WE have always been recyclers but my dear friend Karen inspired me to be a crazy recycler about a year or two ago. SO now we rinse out anything and everything that can be reused and recycled.
One of the hardest things for me has been giving up paper towels, you don't realize how much you use them until they are gone. So we use some towel type cloths from Traders for spills on floors and what not.
Dan went on a crazy rampage and replaced every light bulb in our house, I was kind of annoyed by it, I wanted to wait until the light bulbs burnt out then replace them. He did not agree.
We unplug everything when not in use, even just plugged in things take up a lot energy. Especially cell phone chargers, things with clocks, like coffee makers etc.
We educate our kids, Zeke knows what things to recycle and we read books to learn more and instill the green thinking in our everyday lives. We are still trying to change his mind about hummers but to no avail. Dan's mom said don't worry about it remember Mike (dan's brother) loved (really loved)wrestling and the wrestler figurines, but he got over it. So we will hope this obsession with Hummers will pass!
Using canvas bags at the grocery store and target. People still look at me funny at Target and try to ring up my own bags from home, asking do you know how much this was? I have to say beforehand these are my bags can you please put my items in there instead of plastic bags? It is getting better!
We started composting also this summer, I have to admit we have slacked lately with it, but someday I will make some soil and put it on my flowers!
We hardly water our lawn, it looks really brown all summer but come fall it starts to green up and the neighbors forget that we were the ghetto lawn on the block!
We try to do all laundry and dishwasher running during the evening or morning, not peak hours.
This one might be kind of gross but we have the "if it is yellow let it mello, if it is brown flush it down" motto. You waste less water by not constantly flushing, maybe that is too much information!
So these are just some of our everyday things we do to be green, it is a learning process and a sacrifice but so worth it when you read about water bottles taking 1000 years to break down! Use a nalgene bottle!
Happy green day!
