Shouldn't it be Earth Day Everyday?

I pray for my fish who died.
I pray for my hamster that died.
I pray for the twin towers and the people that died.
I pray for planet Earth on Earth Day.
I pray for the world.

Lord hear our prayers and the prayers in our hearts. *

* The above were taken from the morning prayers in my daughter's first grade class. I happened to be in the school and noticed she was prayer leader, so I got to observe in the classroom. The prayers were followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.

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Today my bloglines were filled with posts about Earth Day. I'll be the first to admit, I don't think of myself as a very "green" person, yet I find myself doing more and more "green" things. Most of them, I can say are subconscious.

• Last fall, we stopped using plastic grocery bags and got these reusable one's from Sephora. I can't say enough about them! We use them all the time. I still need to order an extra set. For those of you with TV Guide, they are the one's featured in this week's issue. Yes they are super strong. We can carry cans and bottles in them. For larger items, such as bottles of juice, I just forgo bags all together. Sure, it makes more trips carrying them in, but then I don't have a zillion bags all over the place. Or, if like yesterday, I'm buying totes (in this case, for the playroom) I just have them put everything in the box. Let me tell you, I get alot of odd looks when I say I don't want a bag for those 1-3 item trips!
• I support our local conservation district. In fact, I have a shipment of plants and bushes I need to pick up Friday. If you've read back through my previous posts, you'll notice that I spend alot of time in my gardens. They are nothing spectacular, but I've learned to view them as ongoing projects. It's great to see them grow year by year. As a person who likes to get things done immediately, it took me a while to appreciate their ever changing looks.
  
• I've tried in the past to grow veggies as well. And while I may not get enough to live off of for the summer, we get enough that we will try again this year. Our best crop is the wild raspberries which we can get bowls full of for two weeks straight at the end of June. What I can't grow, I like to buy at the local Farmer's Market in the summer. I cannot wait until they open again for the season!
• I'd like to try a rain barrel, but after researching and realizing that they need to be hooked up to a downspout for maximum benefit, it's just not feasible here. You see, our house runs off of solar hot water and all of the water from our roof run off is stored in collectors behind a wall in the basement. At least, that's what I'm told. I love having the solar system on the house, but would love to modernize it (it's one of the 70's type). Our next house will have a modern solar system which actually produces electricity.
• This year, we plan on adding a compost heap to the yard. We are not sure if we'll get a barrel or lay it out in a corner of the yard. I look forward to not needing to buy soil and compost each year!
  
• The kids have reusable sports bottles for sports as opposed to throw away plastic water bottles (I've checked and they are not the BPA #7 bottles) and they take lunch boxes packed with reusable containers as opposed to plastic bags for lunch. Even Husband does now as opposed to the grocery bags he used to bring. Sometimes, it's tricky trying to fit everything in, but we always manage.
• We recycle. Even the girls help with this.
  

I know there are other things we can do, like walk to school, but seriously, I can barely get out the door on time when I drive, so I doubt I'd be organized enough to walk. We've done it a few times, but with the three kids, it's more of a pain. We both drive, although Husband car pools and doesn't drive as often as he did. I'm trying to cut our errands to one trip so I'm not going back and forth. We still use paper napkins, although we have gotten out of our habit of using paper plates at home. We keep the heat up because I can't stand the cold.

But I've learned to accept that each small step helps. So things we may not do now, there may come a time in the future where that changes. That many of the things we do today, we didn't do a few short years ago. I like to hope that many of the things we do now, the girls will take with them and pass onto their families.

The videos were taken from YouTube and are lyrics by Jack Johnson (video number two by Jack Johnson and Ben Harper). The girls have a Curious George CD with those songs and love signing them. The other CD the girls like (although I have to admit, its a tad too earth crunchy for me) is Maria Sangiolo's Under the Mystic Sea. The lyrics are catchy and it gets the message across.

Going Green

I'm not one of these people who is a complete environmental nut-job. I'm also not one who is careless. I tend to be in the middle. So I think it surprised Husband when I told him I wanted some of the reusable grocery bags.

I had one or two that were given to me by the local grocery store when they started carrying them, but they don't fold real well and tend to take up alot of space. But I was getting so sick of the mounds of plastic bags that accompanied me home from every shopping trip. I hate how it seems like you end up with 10 bags for 15 items. Seriously, would it hurt to bag things together. So when I came across these bags:


I had to order them. They came in the other day and I can already say I love them! I used two last night to bring home what probably would have been at least a four bag trip to the store. They were light enough that I could carry them both in at the same time. And the best part is, they roll up into little rolls and can easily fit back into their carrying pouch. The pouch with all five bags easily fits into my purse, so I no longer have the excuse that I forgot them at home.

When UPS first arrived with them, Husband remarked on how small they were. He pulled one roll out and again commented on their tiny size. As he unrolled them, he changed his mind and said "I guess they are not that small". Then he wished me luck on folding it back up. Not only did I fold it right, but I did it again two more times. Yes, I can see, it's going to be fun shopping from now on.

In fact, I am already thinking of attempting to make myself a few more. After all, I did only purchase five. And I'm not quite sure where I put mine from the grocery store (although with it's size, it shouldn't be hard to find...).

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Around the same time I purchased these, I also picked up a lunchbox for Husband. Since we will no longer have piles of plastic around, I figured he'd need something else to carry his lunch in. The girls already have reusable lunch boxes as well as sandwich keepers.

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One thing Husband and I have remarked about the house that we like is it would be so easy to convert to solar. It already has the forced air heating system. We have been spoiled with this house. We moved in and it already had a solar system as it's primary heating source. It's saved us a ton, and we don't have to worry about oil or gas costs. The system itself is a tad old though, so the panels are a bit bulky (not that we spend much time up on our roof admiring them). And it only provides heat, not electricity. Our next house (whether we buy or build) we'd like to outfit with solar panels to provide both heat and electricity.

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Psst. The New England Mama's blog has moved. You can now find us here. So update your feeds and come visit. We don't bite.

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If you like those totes, keep watching. Someone may have brought two and may be using them for an upcoming contest. More about that later....