A Greener 2008
reduce reuse recyle and all that
Green Green Green. You're seeing it more and more on the news, on TV shows, in magazines. "How to go green", "Green up your life", "Reduce your carbon footprint". I'm psyched that its catching on. I'm all over that bandwagon.
We try to do lots of little things to reduce our trash output and to increase our recycling. I know we can do more -- so I'm making an effort to pick up more small things we can do to reduce our footprint.
- Use cloth diapers: With 10 or so diapers a day -- resuable cloth diapers really reduces the amount of trash we put out. Yes there's the added energy / water used to wash them, but there's arguments that its less of an impact than the creation / disposal of plastic diapers. In the summer I'll start drying them in the sun -- that's supposed to help with staining, too. The thing I like most about cloth diapers is that they hold in mess SO much better than the disposables I've used.
- Recycle: Luckily, our township does bi-monthly recycling of paper, cardboard, plastics 1 & 2, glass and cans. I wish they could handle other plastics -- it bothers me to throw out those other containers.
- Compost: I love our compost bin, it doesn't smell (its got a nice screw lid on it), it makes pretty soil for the yard, and it helps to reduce all the trash we throw out. This year we're actually going to buy a 2nd composter because this one is all filled up.
- Reusable bags: My big goal this year is to remember my reusable bags whenever I go shopping. I'm getting much better at using them at the grocery store. Its getting ingrained in my head. I just need to get better at remembering them at other stores too.
- Lights: We've changed out most all the lightbulbs in the house to those new longer-lasting lower-energy bulbs. You don't have to buy them as often and you use less energy.
I want to do more. I figure if I start doing one new "green" thing every month, then I'll make some good headway towards being greener, reducing our energy bill, reducing our trash output and reducing our carbon footprint. Here's some of the stuff I'd like to start:
- Buy local: This year we're going to buy our fruits and veggies locally as much as we can. We looked up some local organic farms and my goal is to make weekly trips to Mill Creek Organic Farm in Medford, NJ to get our produce. Local and organic. How great is that. I just wish we grew more apples on the east coast. I pretty much eat an apple a day...
- Walk more/Drive Less: One of the great things about living in this town is that I can walk into town, and even to the super market (granted, its a microscopic supermarket, but they've got all the basics).
- Eco-knitting!: Even my knitting can get in on the "Green" thing. Yes, I know I love green colored yarn... but there's other types of "green" yarn -- yarn made of bamboo, corn, milk, silk, organic cotton, local wool, all sorts of good stuff. I joined an "Earth Day Yarn Swap" on Ravelry.com. I'm really excited to see what kind of yarn I can find for my swap partner and what kind of yarn I receive. That'll be cool.
- Green energy supply: This one will require a bit of research. But I need to find out if we can buy our energy from a supplier who gets their energy from eco-friendly sources.
I think the thing I like about all this stuff -- is that it gives you those nice "warm fuzzy" feelings that you're doing something good to help out the planet. My daughter is going to be living in this world a lot longer than I am. I want it to be a nice place for her to be, too.