Going Green

I don't usually get up on a soap box unless it's something that I feel is really important. So here it goes. Yep. I'm trying to go greener, much to my husband's chagrin. He doesn't think my little efforts make that much of a difference, but I do. I put out my recycle bin every Thursday morning. The only thing I didn't like about this is that they wouldn't collect cardboard, so I very dutifully took it to the local recycle center. Just recently, they changed their program and started collecting cardboard. Yea! The big thing I noticed when I started recycling all our cardboard was that it cut our trash in half. I was amazed at that.

Now I have recycled for years. But I was really moved by a show I saw on the National Geographic Channel called Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. It was based on a book written by Mark Lynas. It told his version of how the earth would be impacted with every degree of increase in temperature. It was very interesting. All I could think about was what will our planet be like for my children and grandchildren. So I do my little part and hope to pass this good habit onto my children.

Another thing I have done is stopped buying disposable drinks for my kids lunches. I bought plastic drink containers and the small Koolaid packets that you just add sugar (except I don't add as much sugar as the directions say) and put that in their school lunches. Saves money - yes. Less trash - yes. Kids like it - yes! I also made reusable sandwich and snack bags. Now I don't have to keep buying those plastic bags that end up in land fills. (By the way, I'm selling these, more information to come later!)

Now, if any body else has a green tip, I want to hear about it. Tell me what you do to keep our planet clean.