Tag Archive: green living

Teaching Your Kids To Be Eco Friendly

There are so many stresses on the environment that many scientists believe we are in the midst of one of the largest extinctions that has ever occurred on earth. Add to that the fact that many of our natural resources are finite, instilling a sense of awareness and care for the natural environment is incredibly important for today’s youth. A generation without concern for the world’s precious ecosystems and natural resources may be the final stressor that pushes the world into a dangerous imbalance that it won’t be able to recover from. How can parents help kids be eco friendly, be caring stewards of the beautiful environment they live in?

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Green Inconvenience

I do a lot of the “usual” green things. I recycle. I compost. I shop second-hand. I carry reusable grocery bags and a stainless steel water bottle. I walk my daughter to kindergarten and back every day. I turn down my thermostat and put on a sweater.

But there is an obstacle to my green efforts – much of the time, I don’t want to be inconvenienced by going green. I bring my reusable grocery bags when I go grocery shopping, but if I occasionally forget, I don’t sweat it. I drink tap water, but when I forget my water bottle at home, I sometimes buy water in a plastic bottle.

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Staying on the Green Bandwagon

You know how the easiest way to stick to a diet is to not bring ‘problem’ foods into the house in the first place? Well, I’ve found I do the same thing with keeping to a ‘green’ diet. There are certain (decidedly un-environmental) conveniences I simply can’t resist if they’re easily accessable, so instead I don’t purchase them at all.

Maybe I have the will power of a knat, but I find this works for me. Out of sight, out of mind! The following are non-green items I try to avoid like the plague (because if they’re in my house, I’ll gladly use them!):

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Paper towels and napkins.

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Sometimes, I’m a Big Green Hypocrite!

I am, by no means, perfect when it comes to green living.

There are many, many things I know I can easily replace in my home that consume energy. I can easily do more.

So why don’t I? Because I’m used to convenience. I like my food processor and my coffee maker. I love my vacuum and my lawnmower. I had once made a vow to begin replacing items in my home with green equivalents, if or when they broke down or got used up. Old habits die hard. My first instinct is to head to Walmart and pick up a replacement at a very low, low price.

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Hard To Be Green When You Need To Dry Clean

Help! My healthy, green lifestyle has produced a serious conundrum. On one hand, I am making genuine progress with my health. Acupuncture and massage have improved my sense of well being while giving up dairy has alleviated my chronic sinus condition allowing full, relaxed breathing. Much better.

On the other hand, I am a big admirer of fashion and although I have a very meager wardrobe in comparison to the typical woman, I am left with a tough decision. Where to take my dry cleaning? Although I have many clothes made from eco friendly, organic materials that are able to be laundered, I have a variety of vintage and second hand items that genuinely require dry cleaning.

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When Good Food Gets Wasted

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Have you ever wondered what kind of stuff people find in dumpster bins? Think it’s all rot, filth and mold? Better think again! I thought I was in the know about all the different lifestyle choices out there but I learned a new word the other day – Freegan. Perhaps you know of one?

The term Freegan is coined by combining the two words, vegan and free. According to one Freegan site “Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources.”

In order to free themselves as much as possible from the ethical issues that come along with participating in the conventional economy, a Freegan opts for only eco friendly transportation such as bikes, train hopping and veggie oil vehicles, squatting or low cost housing, community gardening and reclaiming green spaces, and minimal to no employment.

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All The Brown Material You’ll Ever Need For Your Compost Bin

At my house there is never a shortage of green material (also known as wet or nitrogen-rich matter) – orange peels, corn husks, dinner food scraps, yard waste, etc. – for my compost bin, but when it comes to finding brown (also known as dry or carbon-rich) material, in the past I’ve often ended up coming up short. The trick, of course, to getting compost to work and breakdown into that coveted nutrient-rich soil is to have the right combination of both green and brown matter.

About a year ago, however, I posted my first Green Tip of the Week suggesting that my readers keep a bag or two (or three) of their dry fall leaves to use throughout the coming year as brown material to add to their compost pile or bin.

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Pick a winner – of the fruit and veggie variety, that is!

For the past few years, my family and I have gone to a local farm each fall to pick some of our own vegetables. For $10 per person (for anyone older than 3; babies and toddlers are free of charge), you go on a hayride to various vegetable fields (carrots, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, pie pumpkins, etc.) where you can pick to your heart’s content. We usually only pick enough to last us a couple of weeks, but not this year. Oh no. This is the year I’m getting serious about local food preservation.

Pick Your Own fruits and vegetablesThat won’t be the only farm I will visit this year.

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Walking the Talk

When I realized I was ready to take the next step in my journey going green, I signed up for the Chicago Conservation Corps (C3) Leadership Program. Their mission is to recruit, train and support a network of volunteers who improve their surrounding communities and schools through environmental service projects protecting our water, cleaning the air, restoring the land and saving energy. After the initial orientation in late August, I was hooked.

Not since my college days wearing Birkenstocks and dreaming of the Peace Corps have I felt such a rush of pure optimism. Learning so much. Hands on helping where it counts.

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All It Takes is Some Green Talkin’

You never know what yakking about green issues is going to elicit. Sometimes it’s a “give me a break already” but when my child’s Kindergarten teacher overhears me advising my neighbor about composting tumblers, she has a surprise in store for me. “Oooh!” she says. “I had worms in my classroom in Texas! Can you set me up with a worm bin?”

I’m totally excited and totally game. But I’ve never done worm composting in my house. What to do? First step? I read Worms Eat My Garbage. Great book, recommended by my sister-in-law, who’s a master organic gardener and 10+ year vermiculturist (is that even a word?).

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