Where things go...

Yesterday, we were driving on a country road to go visit a friend in her new home when we went by a dump site. It had high mountains of crushed metal scraps... my 2nd grader was HORRIFIED! Our exchange went something like this...

"Why do they leave that there like that Mom?" she said with passion and extreme concern for this urgent situation.

"What do you want them to do with the garbage, love?" I asked.

"Not just leave it on the Earth!!!"

So on went the discussion as we kept driving about what happens with the things we throw in the garbage. Her response:

"I'm NEVER throwing ANYTHING out again!!"

My response: "Well we better stop buying things too then because it always results in more things needing to be thrown out in the end - packaging, broken things...!"

Well, that was ridiculously over the top to her... and there lies the problem. We are so comfortable in our wasteful lifestyles that any major sacrifice to address the serious issue of waste management becomes a difficult one to tackle on a personal level! It's easy to remain ignorant (I'm not preaching but rather including myself in here) when we don't often see it like we did yesterday and we just see our garbage picked up at the curve to go to some distant land we don't think much of...

And so we continue to live our lives, my daughter with a new awareness of the problem our wastefulness causes for the environment, and perhaps we'll get better and better as a family and a society to make smarter decisions about what we buy and discard.

Side note: For one, I've become much more aware of the amount of waste packaging produces... so that influences what products I put in the shopping cart... ie. I've never liked toilet paper and paper towel that are individually wrapped within their larger package... so much plastic! Now I'm noticing other packaging too... like juice boxes and water bottles... we've been bad for that because they're so convenient and recyclable... but they're still waste that need to be processed and that could be avoided... And what a movement to see all major grocery stores in our area push reusable bags and charge for the plastic ones now! I wonder when other retail stores will follow suit?

You know, my daughter's disgust at those mountains of scrap metal and garbage was a great reminder to me about how desensitized I've become about the whole situation... I truly should feel more of the urgency she did yesterday in the face of the blatant problem of waste management.

No Apologies

Okay, I'm an environmentally-conscious person... I mean, I have a biology undergraduate degree with a focus on ecology... and I do all kinds of things to care for the environment, always trying to be aware to mind the environment when I can...

Though I do strive to live greener, I have found my showers increasingly getting longer the past few months. Now I know it's not ideal, but I don't apologize for it! (my 6-yr old came home one day talking about caring for the environment and she dared ask - along with a long list of things - if I took long showers...BUT I do all sorts of other things!!!)

I didn't used to take long showers. I was all about keeping the hydro bill down and not using so much hot water!

You see, my showers are one of the few moments in the day when I have PEACE! I mean... no one pulling my on arm to do this or that NOW... for those few minutes, I can just block everything and everyone OUT. When I was teaching last year, I had a quiet commute to work (when I wasn't carpooling that is). This year, peace and quiet seem to be rare in the day other then my weekly evening pilates class and the times I manage to get out for a run in the mornings (and even then I have a 3 1/2 year old talking my ear off some days from the stroller!)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to promote disregarding the little things we can do to care of the environment (and reducing our hydro bills!), but I AM saying that it is important to take time out for yourself to keep sane and healthy! Particularly when you have little ones after you every minute of the day (though I'm sure it gets tough as they get older and need to be chauffeured everywhere as well)!

I laughed at my friend's blog post about the need for a bit of space from her young ones... you might relate too!

Happy Earth Day!

Today I started off my day with my first grader on my case about having given her garbage in her lunch the day before. She wasn't complaining about the food, but litterally about the fact that her lunch was not "garbage free"... this week is Earth week at school and the teacher has taken away the garbage and recycling receptacles, challenging the kids (and parents!) to live garbage free! So she looked through her lunch this morning to make sure that it would fit the bill... I got a passing grade, but it's not easy to be fully garbage free!

With our kids being increasingly educated about the environment, I'm sure my girls will continue to challenge me on taking better care of the Earth! I remember recycling just coming in as I was in high school... things change fast over time! Now we've got the green bin, we're recycling batteries, you name it... And kids in school are using terms and concepts we never really talked about... like thinking about the number of miles our food gets transported to get to the grocery shelf, challenging us to buy more local to further reduce our carbon footprint...

Today being Earth Day, I thought it would be a good day to link you back to a post I wrote in the fall called "What's your act of green?". Check it out!

What's your act of green?

I just saw a commercial on CBC Television asking just this question. They call it "One Million Acts of Green", one act at a time. The commercial featured Canadian TV personalities as well as David Suzuki stating what their "acts of green" were (everything from turning off the tap when brushing their teeth and using energy light bulbs, to Suzuki's picking up at least one piece of garbage per day and putting it back in its proper place). Then they ask us again: "What's your act of green?"

That got me thinking... well, I usually always use cold water to do the laundry; I rarely use the dishwasher (unless it would be completely full... which is rare) because I find it wastes too much water and energy to run (and I want to be able to use that cup I need NOW!); I am a diligent (for the most part) recycler and composter (I love the green bin! Not sure why they accept diapers in the green bin, but it sure helps me to reduce my garbage which only gets picked up every 2nd week); I keep the thermostat in the house at reasonable levels (not HOT in the winter and COLD in the summer... we adjust it at night as well); I turn off the tap when I brush my teeth too (habit); and we just started putting our 1st grader on the school bus (finally) which saves us tons of gas from driving back and forth because her school is not close (I spent 1.5-2 hrs in the car every day just to drop her off and pick her up... there were also many other factors acting as motivators for this one); I try to use reusable grocery bags (but I most often seem to forget them at home which is of no use to me when I'm at the store check-out... but I try!); oh and I've carpooled to work when it was convenient to save on gas (prices have gotten to be ridiculous in the last year in particular!!)

Okay, despite my ecology background from my university studies, I'm no environmental guru... I get it, I try, but I'm no environmental superhero! I'm not a fan of the energy bulbs and the odd food or yogurt cup will end up in the garbage instead of the green bin or recycling... And many of my "acts of green" aren't always environmentally motivated (that's usually a bonus!) - more often they are motivated by saving money, convenience, necessity, or just plain habit... Nonetheless... they count! And I think that's just the point of this new campaign the CBC is launching... it's all the little things that add up and end up making a difference.

Our next acts of green? Retrofitting our home with a more efficient furnace (ours is about to croak) and replacing drafty windows and doors (weatherstripping the windows until we can get to replacing them... the doors should be done in the next week or so - YAY!). We're going to do a home energy audit before the renovations, which could give us up to $10,000 in federal grants and provincial rebates - another YAY! (http://www.homeperformance.com/).

Visit http://www.onemillionactsofgreen.com/ and add your acts to the grand total. As the CBC promo says... "Because you don't get to a million without starting at one. So, get ready to go green. One act at a time." So... what's your act of green?