Happy Labor Day weekend to you all from the green team here at 5 Minutes for Going Green! Here are some interesting reads for your long weekend:
-Geek Dad creates an incredible Styrobot, all from styrofoam he collected over the past several years. Check out the awesomeness.
-Last week, our own Crunchy Chicken had some exciting updates on the distribution of pads for her very important and very successful Goods 4 Girls organization. Go read about what happened in Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda.
-Another one of our rock stars, Mama Bird, pointed out the lack of environmental awareness among the American Dental Association.
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Last weekend we had a family picnic and went to the beach to find rocks. My son is into fossils and thinks he will be a archaeologist and a truck driver. I cheated and decided we would go to Subway and throw this into the cooler for our picnic. It was a long week and I wanted a break.
Rightly so.
Anyhow, even Subway gives toys in the kids meals and to reduce the waste, my children share a meal because neither will finish a entire kids meal. Small eaters. My son looked at this dinky plastic key chain and said:
“That’s dumb.”
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Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you. -Cynthia Kersey
Do you remember as a child when there was no such thing as obstacles? I remember always asking my parents “why not?”. It was inconceivable to imagine that I could not Do or Be anything I wanted. Do you remember that feeling as a child? The sense you had that all things were possible? Take five minutes and have some fun with me because today we are going to do some dreaming!
In the last couple of years I have really come to appreciate the dreaming side of myself.
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When I bought my little cutie, Rex, I felt like a new parent. He was so tiny and dependent on me. I had many questions about what food to feed Rex or how to care for his health, now that I was living a more green life style. I had some nay sayers that couldn’t believe I cared, he was an animal. Go to the pet store and get whatever. Well, yes but he deserves to be well taken care of and if I don’t take good care of him he won’t live as long. Taking care of our pets will decrease costly vet bills.
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I’ve found there are several aspects of my journey towards going green that require me to slow down my usual crazy, hectic pace, and, I admit, this isn’t always easy. When you decide to do things like prepare your meals from scratch, grow a garden, make your own yogurt or dry your clothes outside on a clothesline, you have to A) plan ahead and B) allow yourself the time to accomplish these things. This doesn’t always make for an easy transition in a world where time is money and we often over-schedule our lives.
When I first started drying our laundry (everything from cloth napkins to clothes, linens to cloth diapers) on a clothesline this summer, I was frustrated with how much time it took, specifically to hang everything up.
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In the spring the boys and I started organic gardening at Lincoln Park Farm in the Zoo’s The Edible Garden. Since then we have spent every Wednesday morning with our friends at the organic garden learning, farming, eating and weeding. Each task brings a new invaluable experience. The latest being the revelation that putting your hands in the dirt while gardening relieves depression!
Kord Staley, one of our farmer friends at the Edible Garden, shared this with me after seeing my big satisfied smile while I sat and picked weeds and it makes complete sense. Here I have been researching natural ways to cure my intermittent depression.
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When I had my son, four years ago I was far from green, but my husband was–kind of. He was the one that hassled me to recycle or to not go over board on purchasing and consumption. I was the wife that threw the soup can out verses cleaning it and recycling. Sorry, but I just wasn’t in to it and frankly, I didn’t get it. Now, I’ve got it. Funny thing is, it took having my second child for me to wrap my head around toxic chemicals and how bad they are and how I want to be more earth friendly.
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Written on
July 21, 2008 by
SusanC
#8DCB41, #7A7700, #1D3403…No, I’m not speaking Klingon nor are these words from a lost episode of Seinfeld. These are hexadecimal values or “hex colors” and they are all shades of green. Jennifer K. and her husband are olive and after reading Sommer’s post, I felt compelled to share a little bit more about me. I guess, to confess.
When I was asked to participate as a writer at 5M4GG, I was honored and then a little concerned because going green is still somewhat new to me. I was never a fan of the color green. I was a Brownie, but never became a Girl Scout.
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Written on
July 18, 2008 by
SusanC
People no longer snicker when they learn your latest find was something you picked up at the local thrift store. In fact, thrifting, gifting, swapping, or repurposing (or reusing) your gently used (and sometimes barely hanging on) clothing, books, and other personal items can save you money, and keep a little more green in your pocket.
This hobby is not new to our hippy and hipster era. In the 80’s, a favorite pastime was “thrifting,” which involved shopping at second-hand stores, garage sales, flea markets, etc. in search of that vintage or unusual find. My passion was clothing and I found so many beautiful dresses fit for a princess attending a ball, which I bought, and of course had nowhere to wear.
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I’m calling myself this today. When it comes to going “green”, having a green website, being recognized locally for my efforts and just being noticed more for going green in my small town…I sometimes feel the pressure. For example, I had coffee the other day with a family member and as we drank “organic” coffee I added sweet and low to my drink. She seemed surprised and called me out on this. “How can you be green and natural and use man made sugar?”, she said. Good point. Except, I went through weight watchers and lost a ton of weight and became addicted to diet soda and sweet and low because of the “0” points.
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