Earth Day

Emily posted about Earth Day and it really got me thinking. I was going to write a comment on her blog, but I realized I have A LOT to say. All of the sudden, it dawned on me that this earth stuff- reduce, reuse, recycle- going green- has become a big part of our lives. Its been a slow process- so much so that it has snuck up on me. One small change to recycle cans to another small (ok big) change to use cloth diapers to a small change of finally getting reusable shopping bags. Emily asked for ways that we reduce, reuse and recycle so here it goes.

What we already do:

• use cloth diapers and line dry them instead of using the dryer
  
• minimize a/c and heat usage by using fans, windows, and keeping the temperature reasonable
• Use towels and washcloths instead of paper towels and tissues 95% of the time
• Use cloth napkins every day
• turn off the water when brushing teeth, washing face, etc
• run dishwasher and washing machine when they are full only (I try- sometimes a clean dishwasher is more important to me)
• reuse towels a couple of times- we switch towels out twice a week on tuesdays and fridays
• recycle
• make my own baby food (saves lots of little jars- although i do recycle them when I use them)
• fill up my Nalgene bottles every night with tap water instead of bottled water
• use rechargeable batteries for everything that needs AAs
• use mostly CFLs
• wash almost all my clothes in cold water
• reuse paper- print on both sides, save mail only printed on one side for printing or for Kiran to color on
  

Things I'm thinking about doing

• reusable baby wipes
• composting
• making my own cleaners (I inherited a lot of cleaners from my grandmother when she moved out of her condo so my frugality says I should use them up first)
• starting a teeny tiny garden- maybe just one vegetable at first
• getting a programmable thermostat
• reusable shopping bags (I actually accumulated 3 free ones during Earth Day week but I have yet to remember to take them in shopping with me!)
  

Things I should do but don't:

• take short showers- whew I've lived with a limited (5 min?) shower and I just love love love my hot showers. When else am I ALL BY MYSELF?
• fly less- oh but I love to travel. I hope my other green measures offset my huge carbon footprint that I make by flying

One big change that we have made is our recycling habits. We started out just recycling the newspaper. Then we realized we can recycle all paper. Then since we were taking the paper to the recycling center, we figured we could start saving steel, aluminum, glass, plastic and cardboard to take as well. Then we realized we were down to about two bags of garbage a week so we canceled our trash truck service (much to Kiran's dismay) saving money every month. We are lucky that our recycling center also takes household garbage (and Christmas trees!). Now almost every time I throw something away, I ask myself, "Is there something reuseable that I can use instead of this?" I've started using more plastic containers for freezing instead of ziploc bags and towels and washcloths instead of tissues and paper towels.

I do think its very important to be careful with the resources God has given us. And to be honest, some of the enviromentally friendly things we do were orignally fuelled by frugality. I'm ok with that. I'm learning how to balance being frugal, being resourceful and being sane. I'd love to hear things that you do (or don't do) that are green!