Earth Day

Earth Day is coming up in a couple of days.  Ever since I can remember, Earth Day was a favorite of mine.  My mom can tell stories about how my activism for the Earth started at a very young age.  I was obsessed with making sure no one on ever littered and I would cry about the trees in the Rainforest that were being cut down.  I would even on occasion make all of my neighborhood friends pick up trash on any given Saturday.  I would drag bags of trash into our driveway and my mom would have to figure out what to do with all of it.

It's no surprise that taking care of the planet is still important to me now.  As I've gotten older and run a household, I'm finding out that taking care of the planet is harder than just reduce, reuse, recycle.  We live in a society that is built around consumption and all this consumption is doing harmful things to the planet.  Here are some small things that you can do in your everyday life to help out.

Reusable Grocery Bags

Reusable grocery bags are how I really started getting into running a greener household.  They are relatively cheap and once you start using them, you will never go back.  I can fit SO much more groceries in one of those sacks then I can in five of those tiny, flimsy plastic ones.  If you are like me and you have a tendency to forget your grocery bags at home, keep a few in the trunk of your car.  I have a few different types of reusable bags, but these are my favorite!

Drinking Tap Water

Where do I start with this one?  Bottled water is an industry filled with craziness.  We have water (which Americans already have access to) shipped across the country just so we can have it in bottles and have the chance to prefer a certain brand over another.  The amount of money in oil spent to make these bottles and to ship them is insane.  Next time instead of reaching for the convenience of a plastic bottle that will be thrown away, grab your own water bottle and fill it up yourself.

Making Food From Scratch

While making food from scratch has several great benefits, cutting back on artificial ingredients, tastes better,  costs less, and cuts back on plastic packaging.

Biking

My husband and I recently purchased bicycles.  We love them!  We are fortunate enough to live in a bike-friendly town and we can't wait to ride bikes more often in place of driving cars around town.  This takes a little more forethought, like finding bike routes, leaving enough time arrive at places and thinking about the weather.


This is a few years old, but a nice little Earth Day gem.  The Story of Stuff!