Happy Earth Day!

I'm kind of a "green" girl at heart. I feel strongly that everyone should be, but I know very well that everyone is not. Bummer! I wish I could do more to help shift the thinking of the world {on many issues, not just this one}. As for me, I love to recycle. I love my reusable grocery bags. I love cloth diapers. I love hanging my clothes on the clothesline. I love the fact that we make about half the amount of trash that our neighbors next door do . . . and only 2 people live in their house to our 7. Actually, I'm sad about the amount of trash that most people make. Even us! Earth day is a great opportunity to give these kinds of things a little more thought than usual. We need to be good stewards of our earth. We want our kids to have a safe place to live, right? Anyone seen "Wall-E"? It's not that far off base I don't think. I know God wants us to be good stewards of what He's given us and the earth is a pretty major part of that! Plus, no matter what your feelings are about God and what he would want it's a pretty obvious fact that we can't keep abusing the world the way we have been in increasing ways in recent times. People 50 or 100 years ago understood that pretty clearly. Why is it so tough for us? In all honesty I think we as modern-day Americans are pretty lazy & greedy and that's where most of it comes from.

My kids take cold lunch the vast majority of the time. So every day I pack lunches. 1, 2 . . . often 3. Our kids school has a "green team" and they have a "waste-free snack and lunch" challenge: try to pack your snack and lunch without creating any waste. For Earth Day today the school is attempting a "Waste-Free Wednesday" where for 1 day they will try hard to not create any waste in their whole school. I love it! My kids don't have much waste from their lunches, so I didn't realize how tough being truly, 100% waste-free might be. Kirb actually stayed home a little later this morning than he usually does and he knows that packing lunches can sometimes stress me out, so he packed them for me . . . what a guy! Thanks, babe! However, he didn't know about "Waste-Free Wednesday" so I had to make a few modifications. Usually my kids get a Capri Sun juice pouch in their lunches. Our school participates in a program where you mail in the used, empty pouches to a recycling company and they reuse them and make them into cool stuff like pencil pouches and tote bags and the like, so I don't feel TOO bad about sending those. However, even when recycled they don't qualify for "Waste-Free Wednesday", so I had to come up with an alternative. Also, Jacob loves granola bars, so Kirb had put one in his lunch. That "problem" wasn't too tough to solve . . . I just took out the granola bar. Anyway, after a little extra effort I sent my kids out the door with a completely waste-free lunch in their backpack. Whoo Hoo! It will be interesting to hear how well other kids {or, more accurately, their parents} did at being waste free. I asked a girlfriend about it the other day and she said, "Oh, I'll just have them take cold lunch that day" . . . ok, problem solved! My kids sandwiches {and sometimes other stuff too . . . snacks, crackers, cheese slices . . . whatever I can fit in there} go in their wrap 'n mat, so no sandwich bag to throw away there. I really like them. Also, it doubles as a placemat to put their other food on rather than the nasty lunch table . . . how handy is that?

So, just try to do a thing or two to be a little more "green" than you usually are today . . . on this years Earth Day. Please! And if you have a few free minutes (20 actually) and would be willing to watch this, it's pretty eye opening, I think.


If you can get your hands on a copy {that is, if you don't own your own copy already!}, today would be a great day to read "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss is one of my very favorite authors. That man was incredible . . . and way ahead of his time! The Lorax is one of my favorites . . . and it's very Earth Day-ish too!

One thing I can think of that I do {and plan to keep doing!} that could be done in a "greener" way is sending real cards and letters . . . made of paper . . . through the mail when I could just send an email or an e-card or "write on your wall" or some such thing. I do that stuff too {a little} and it's very useful for some forms of communication, but I WILL NOT stop sending real cards in the mail. There are some things that, I think, just warrant a REAL card {birthdays, great friends who need a little cheer in their day, Christmas, condolences, a new baby} and I'm not going to give that up! I just don't think that electronic versions can take the place, at all, of something handwritten and thoughtful that someone took the time to send you . . . ahead of time! {you can't send a "last second" birthday card through the mail unless you're ok with it being late!}. It takes thought, time, a little more money {although not much} and that extra something special that is lacking in other forms of communication. Do you really feel the same when you read an email or "open" an e-card as you do when you actually open your mailbox to find a real card {with your address written by hand . . . often in a non-white envelope . . . with a cute return address label with the address of someone special to you} that you can touch, look at and read over and over again while it sits in your windowsill? I sure don't. Maybe you do. That's ok. Let me know and maybe I'll quit sending you cards in the mail. How's that sound? Yup, I didn't really think so!

Happy Earth Day! I'd send you all an Earth Day card, but I suppose on this occasion that wouldn't be logical or appropriate! Enjoy!