This is Lily's good friend Amelia and I thought this fit well with what I wanted to write about today. I just wanted to share something about our lives that has been changing recently. We have been exploring what it means to live green. This started several months ago when we started thinking and talking a lot about community and what that means and how we can be a part of it. Days after that, our good friend Melissa started Tacoma Green Families, (http://www.minuetstudio.com/) she wanted it to be a family and a community resource for people to use to be better stewards of what we have. We've met a few times and had some great discussions and this month we're going to be meeting at Terry's Berries for a fun day of apple picking and cider making. It's really a great community thing for our family to be involved in. Now I can't say that our lives have changed dramatically, this has been a slow process so far for us, but we're getting there. We definitly think more towards recycling and natural cleaners. One website that has really been inspiring and informative to me is: http://www.thegoodhuman.com/
I get an email everyday that has news stories, information and tips. This is not something that I want to become fanatical about or exclusive. I don't want people to feel uncomfortable around me, I just want to do what I can to make sure that I'm living the way God would want me to live and I think those two issues go hand in hand.
I get an email everyday that has news stories, information and tips. This is not something that I want to become fanatical about or exclusive. I don't want people to feel uncomfortable around me, I just want to do what I can to make sure that I'm living the way God would want me to live and I think those two issues go hand in hand.
So there's a little info on what I'm thinking about. There's tons more, so maybe I'll keep trying to add some thoughts. Below I posted this article from http://www.thegoodhuman.com/ about the changes the writer has made in order to live more green.
Ten Ways We Became More Green To Help The Environment.
The last year has been big for us, as we have gone out of our way to try to make ourselves as green as possible without changing our lifestyle too much. I get emails all the time from people thinking that the small things they do will not matter, so why do them at all? In response, I wanted to put together a list of thing we have done (both small and large) to try to encourage others to do the same. If everyone does the small things, they will have a big impact worldwide.
1. We have switched grocery stores. Instead of going from store to store, we now do all of our fruit and vegetable shopping at the Farmer’s Market and all the other “stuff” we get at Trader Joe’s. This way, we can save money AND eat the most organically-grown goods that we can.
2. We sold my wife’s car. I have been working from home now for 12 months, and living here by the beach has its perks in that I do not need a car anymore. I can walk anywhere I need to go, be it the grocery store, post office, bank, etc. I do have a bike that I use to ride to tennis class, and I have a bus pass and Flexcar membership in case I need to go outside my bike riding range. This not only lowers our CO2 output, but we have one less car payment, one less insurance payment, and one less parking spot to pay for. It has been about 6 months now and so far so good. If you live somewhere like I do, consider getting rid of one of your cars!
3. We are making a conscious effort to try to buy organic cotton and sweat-shop free goods. I just recently bought a pair of eco-jeans from Levi’s that cost me no more than a pair from the Gap. My wife just bought some vegan natural makeup from Whole Foods, and she says it feels totally fine.
4. All chemicals in our house have been banished…we only use natural detergents, cleaners, room sprays, and soy candles. I either make them myself or we buy Seventh Generation or Method products, which work great as well. Even our hand soap is all natural and paraben free. Its the small things that add up, remember that! And these things don’t really cost any more than the regular stuff!
5. Canvas bags are our friends. We no longer need any of the bags that the grocery store tries to make you take with you…even though some of them tend to look at you funny if you bring your own. We have 4 canvas bags that we bring with us to the store every week, so we never get asked paper or plastic. As for the little plastic bags that produce goes in, we keep those as well and bring them back to the store each week.
6. We have replaced every light in the house with CFL bulbs. The light is the same as regular bulbs, but these last 10 years and cut your electricity costs significantly. They are available in almost any size now, so you can even replace those weird shaped bulbs in the bathroom!
7. Living in Los Angeles, running your air conditioning can get expensive…so now we go without. Of course, it took moving to the beach to do so, but still, we don’t even have an air conditioner in our place. Cheaper on the bill, and less emissions to cool down our house! If you do have AC, be sure it is on a programmable thermostat so you don’t have it running 24/7.
8. Power strips, power strips, power strips. Even when they are not “on”, your electronics are sucking down power, sometimes at almost 50% of what they use when fully on! When we aren’t using them, we have our TV, DVD player, stereo, computer, monitors, etc on power strips that we shut off at night. That way no phantom power is being used. Saves money and CO2 emissions!
9. Use public transportation. This goes along with #2 above, but we use it even when we have access to our car. When we need to go somewhere that our closest bus line runs to, we hop on board. No need for even more cars to clog up the road when the bus is cheap, easy to get to and you don’t have to worry about parking.
10. Recycle your scrap paper into homemade notebooks. My wife started doing this and I never even thought about it! Anything that we print or she brings home from work that we no longer need, we cut up into 4 squares and make into little notepads we leave around the house. You know, paper has two sides! We have not bought notepads in a long long time!
The last year has been big for us, as we have gone out of our way to try to make ourselves as green as possible without changing our lifestyle too much. I get emails all the time from people thinking that the small things they do will not matter, so why do them at all? In response, I wanted to put together a list of thing we have done (both small and large) to try to encourage others to do the same. If everyone does the small things, they will have a big impact worldwide.
1. We have switched grocery stores. Instead of going from store to store, we now do all of our fruit and vegetable shopping at the Farmer’s Market and all the other “stuff” we get at Trader Joe’s. This way, we can save money AND eat the most organically-grown goods that we can.
2. We sold my wife’s car. I have been working from home now for 12 months, and living here by the beach has its perks in that I do not need a car anymore. I can walk anywhere I need to go, be it the grocery store, post office, bank, etc. I do have a bike that I use to ride to tennis class, and I have a bus pass and Flexcar membership in case I need to go outside my bike riding range. This not only lowers our CO2 output, but we have one less car payment, one less insurance payment, and one less parking spot to pay for. It has been about 6 months now and so far so good. If you live somewhere like I do, consider getting rid of one of your cars!
3. We are making a conscious effort to try to buy organic cotton and sweat-shop free goods. I just recently bought a pair of eco-jeans from Levi’s that cost me no more than a pair from the Gap. My wife just bought some vegan natural makeup from Whole Foods, and she says it feels totally fine.
4. All chemicals in our house have been banished…we only use natural detergents, cleaners, room sprays, and soy candles. I either make them myself or we buy Seventh Generation or Method products, which work great as well. Even our hand soap is all natural and paraben free. Its the small things that add up, remember that! And these things don’t really cost any more than the regular stuff!
5. Canvas bags are our friends. We no longer need any of the bags that the grocery store tries to make you take with you…even though some of them tend to look at you funny if you bring your own. We have 4 canvas bags that we bring with us to the store every week, so we never get asked paper or plastic. As for the little plastic bags that produce goes in, we keep those as well and bring them back to the store each week.
6. We have replaced every light in the house with CFL bulbs. The light is the same as regular bulbs, but these last 10 years and cut your electricity costs significantly. They are available in almost any size now, so you can even replace those weird shaped bulbs in the bathroom!
7. Living in Los Angeles, running your air conditioning can get expensive…so now we go without. Of course, it took moving to the beach to do so, but still, we don’t even have an air conditioner in our place. Cheaper on the bill, and less emissions to cool down our house! If you do have AC, be sure it is on a programmable thermostat so you don’t have it running 24/7.
8. Power strips, power strips, power strips. Even when they are not “on”, your electronics are sucking down power, sometimes at almost 50% of what they use when fully on! When we aren’t using them, we have our TV, DVD player, stereo, computer, monitors, etc on power strips that we shut off at night. That way no phantom power is being used. Saves money and CO2 emissions!
9. Use public transportation. This goes along with #2 above, but we use it even when we have access to our car. When we need to go somewhere that our closest bus line runs to, we hop on board. No need for even more cars to clog up the road when the bus is cheap, easy to get to and you don’t have to worry about parking.
10. Recycle your scrap paper into homemade notebooks. My wife started doing this and I never even thought about it! Anything that we print or she brings home from work that we no longer need, we cut up into 4 squares and make into little notepads we leave around the house. You know, paper has two sides! We have not bought notepads in a long long time!
2 comments:
Thanks for linking to me and glad I can be an inspiration to you! :-)
Yet another reminder that I need to switch my light bulbs, and turn off my power strips! I was actually just thinking about that yesterday!
Easing green action at home? Composting. Supposedly gets rid of an amazing amount of trash, and makes from great mulch/fertilizer for your yards (or so I've heard..I live in an apartment).
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