Earth Day

I was told last summer, that I had changed since I was 20. Instead changing the world I had become a domestic diva, (I'm sure there is a compliment in there somewhere). I actually disagree with that statement. Yes, I'm not working with a group that is tackling environmental issues on a daily basis and considered radical. I have implemented many of those ideas in my household and I have seen many of those ideas become mainstream, such as organic foods, CSA's, fuel efficient cars, and everyone seems to want access to solar and wind power, not just those granola loving hippies (which of course I try to channel that side of me every once in a while). I think my friends and I were ahead of the trends. In fact, we might not have been the environmentalist of the 70's, but this green awareness has been boosted by the environmental work of my generation. In fact, many of the attitudes of this "green" generation have been en grained into every one's psyche from their parents and that is what I am in the process doing to my little ones every day with our little day by day routines.

So as a domestic diva (I think I have someone fooled) I use rags as much of possible, instead of paper towels to clean up messes, dust, etc. I avoid plastic baggies as much as possible and use reusable containers instead, for leftovers, freezing items, and my daughter's lunches. I am one of those people who uses alcohol, vinegar, and even baking soda, though I just love my Fantastik. The thermostat has been set to 67 degrees for the past few years, though with the newborn we raised it to 69. We try to use fans in the summer instead of air conditioning, though we still use it. We turned in our minivan and are now driving a smaller car that gets 9 miles more per gallon, though with the new baby I see a minivan in our future...hopefully there will be an affordable hybrid version down the road. Then there are the electric bulbs, shorter showers, energy efficient appliances, etc.

But there is still much more to do, so in the next year these are my goals:

1. Join a CSA

2. Grow some vegetables successfully of course

3. Use my own shopping bags more often

4. Teach my children to turn off the bathroom light-may not be attainable, probably really frustrating

5. Get my compost pile going

6. Reduce our vampire appliance use of electricity

7. Recycle more glass

8. Use my own coffee cup

Let's see what happens next year and maybe change the world just a little bit at a time.