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Loving Mother Earth

Posted April 21st, 2008 by ArizonaMoms

lessons

So April 22 is Earth Day. Are you doing anything special?

At our house, we haven't made time to go to one of those weekend events where you plant trees or learn about recycling. We're usually at soccer, tennis, parties, etc. But we try to be responsible.

I'm not riding the bus, but I telecommute twice a week and traded my V6 for a more fuel efficient car.

My kids know not to throw cans, plastic or bottles in the trash. They save aluminum to take to the recycling center for money. It's not a lot, but they do get enough for a treat. The know to look on plastic for a 1-6 and place in our recycling box. Our trash can, except in the spring when we are trimming our trees, is usually 1/3 full while our recycling can is always full.

We're starting to buy those canvas bags for the grocery store. I plan to get more tomorrow and use it as an Earth Day lesson.

We've changed out many of our lights to more energy efficient bulbs.

We also walk to school when we're not late. I'm hoping to walk all week, especially since the weather is so nice.

I'm also working to get away from all those individually wrapped snacks, opting instead for healthier snacks that will fit in a small plastic container. But I'll have to work on my husband on that one since he's the one who grocery shops. The funny thing is if the place he's at doesn't recycle, he saves his containers until he gets home. I need to work on that one.

Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.

OK, we had a rough start

On April 21st, 2008 ArizonaMoms says:

OK, we had a rough start this morning, so we didn't walk - barely made it before the tardy bell. I need to get my daughter to keep her sneakers in the shoe rack behind her door. She's blaming the delay on company. "The little girl must have hidden them."

Everyone one now knows we are walking the rest of the week. So we'll have to have everything prepped the night before - as we should but don't always do. Case in point: today.

I am finally going to make

On April 21st, 2008 susan_hampton says:

I am finally going to make the leap and invest in the reusable grocery bag. Since I tend to shop all over, I plan to just pick up one every time I go somewhere for groceries, and soon I should amass a nice collection without noticing the extra investment (I just won't buy donuts for a snack on the way home that day :)

Susan & Neil Hampton have three spectacular children, Alexander, Isabel and David, plus one amazing teenager, Eric. Susan does community outreach for arizonamoms.com.
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” - Margaret Atwood

My son and I are looking to

On April 21st, 2008 lisamommy says:

My son and I are looking to find some activities to work on tomorrow for Earth Day. It should be lots of fun...to plant the seed of how we can start planning on helping "Mother Earth."

LisaMommy is a discussion leader in Paradise Valley/Scottsdale area for arizonamoms.com. Her two boys are ages 5 months and 3 years old.

I saw a lady with one

On April 21st, 2008 lovemy4 says:

I saw a lady with one plastic bag in her purse, she told me she uses it for one item stops, Unloads it at home and puts it back in her purse. The plastic bag doesn't take up much space in her purse and it stops her from needing new bags. I have a bag of cloth bags that I keep in the car and haul in every time I go into the grocery store, it is so easy. (Safeway had a coupon in the paper for a free canvas bag btw)

Also, we now have a restaurant bag, that waits by the garage door for when we are hustling out - that contains the plastic cups with lids that kids usually get at restaurants, only we ask that they use ours so we don't get new ones. If one family of 4 did that every night at the restaurant over 1,400 cups WOULD NOT get used once and thrown away in a year! The same bag also has the entertainment items for the restaurant, so we are grabbing it anyway. The kids used to be horrified, but now they seem kind of proud.

We also try to eat left overs. Sometimes it's hard, but it saves lots of packaging being used and waste.

Happy Earth Day everybody!

Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.

I love the idea of the bag

On April 22nd, 2008 ArizonaMoms says:

I love the idea of the bag in the purse. The only time I've done that is after sending back something at Target. I figured it was a perfectly good bag, and since I was picking up something else, I'd just use that bag. I have gotten weird looks, but it meant one less bag in my house.

I love the idea of bringing in your own cups. We have tons at home that I use whenever kids come over or at our soccer parties (seems they come around every 3 months). I've recycled many. And I hate how quickly they pile up. Guess we eat out too much.

We did walk to school today.

On April 22nd, 2008 ArizonaMoms says:

We did walk to school today. And instead of the plastic water bottles, I filled up some coffee mugs - long story, but I couldn't get to the plastic water containers we have -that worked out great because they kept the water cold during field day activities.

I'm taking canvas bags to the grocery store after work. Got my green Sprouts bags ready.

I'm also sharing these ideas aimed at kids and water conservation sent to me from Kansas City-based nonprofit WaterPartners International:

- Keep an egg timer in the bathroom and see who can get their showers down to three minutes and still get clean!

- Together with your family, list as many uses for water as you can. Does your family use water differently in summer and winter months?

- Carry a gallon jug of water around the outside of your house to demonstrate how millions of women and children walk hours each day to collect water for their families.