How will you recognize it?
Today we are as a family trying to have a zero garbage day. Just a fun thing to do and hopefully make the kids realize the amount of garbage that we generate daily. I am curious to see if this little experiment causes them to rethink some of their choices are a continuing basis. Or if they will look at things differently when we are out in the grocery store together.
My friend Kathryn, Daring Young Mom , has a fabulous series of posts about living greener. They are honest, funny, and realistic. Because let’s face it, most of us do not want to weave our own clothing from hemp fibers or give up our cars and bike 40 miles to work. One of the things on her list for living a greener life is to “wean off of bleach by 2010″ That makes me love her a little bit more, because I have a not-so-secret love affair with bleach.
Now if we could just remember to bring the reusable grocery bags back to the store with us, we would be all set.
So tell me, what changes are you making, or thinking of making, this year to live a bit greener?
I’ve forgotten my reusable bags too many times at the grocery store. Now, they have a sign permanently attached to the building right where you walk in asking you if you remembered your reusable bags. I think it’s just for me! I actually turned around and walked back to my car and grabbed them last week.
Comment by divrchk — April 22, 2008 @ 9:08 am
Err, I just bought a bunch of reusable bags (though I still forget them sometimes) and we switched to those twisty new lightbulbs. And we already have a natural, local-vegetation lawn that doesn’t need watering (or maybe we were just lazy, there). Now if only we were well-off enough to afford a gas efficient or hybrid vehicle!
Comment by Brigitte — April 22, 2008 @ 10:28 am
We bought a share in a local farm and stopped buying juice boxes and bottled water.
Chris says: When I first read this I was so confused… like they were bringing you crocks of water or something. Now I get it.
Comment by sharon — April 22, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
We are not using any motorized vehicle today. Walked kids to school & Husband grudgingly walked to work.
We also reuse all of our “plastic” grocery bags (because I can never seem to remember the reusable grocery bag), to line our 6 small garbage cans. & take extras to the local Senior Center where they use them to deliver “meals on wheels”
We receive & pay our monthly bills on line. accurate, easy, less paper, & no lost bills found behind couch.
& the Hybrid car is great (we get 42 mpg), but better at lower elevations though.
I won’t go into the list of things that we continue to do, which is much longer:(
Comment by Delany — April 22, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
I finally got in the habit of using all the reusable grocery bags I bought.
We also bought a water cooler for our kitchen and use refillable water bottles. Because of the expense of a total switch-over, we’re replacing our light bulbs with the new ones as they burn out. 
We’ve been trying to drive less, but we live 10 miles from the nearest town, so this one is trickier. It’ll be LOTS better once soccer is over for the season!
Comment by Teresa — April 23, 2008 @ 8:07 am
While we were enjoying our picnic lunch and playing at the park, we all brought our gloves and some bags to pick up the trash. The kids did a really nice job, although my 19-month old liked wearing the gloves more than picking up the trash!
Comment by Shannon — April 23, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
I have a tip for your grocery bags that you reuse. When you get home unload your bags at the door and then put the reuseable grocery bags back in the trunk of the car as a way not to forget them. You could also use the kids wagon or toy strollers to load the grocery’s from the car to take into the house and have the kids do this as a choir.
Comment by 4bzAR — April 24, 2008 @ 10:10 am