I thought i'd do an Earth Day related post since it is Earth Day tomorrow and all! I have to say, we've been trying a lot harder around our house to be earth friendly. Here are some things on our plan so far:
#1: Start Recycling - We already recycle cans (most people do), but we want to make a better effort to recycle other things too. Our condo has it set up to pick up recycling, we just need to get a bin. Our plan is to set up bins for the different items that can be recycled and either put it out every week or take it somewhere. This month we plan on starting this.
#2: Growing a Veggie Garden - I'm not sure if this really counts as an earth-friendly plan or not, but it's a way we can get some healthy and organic food in our diet regularly. We've done this for the past couple summers, but this year we took it a step further and built a garden box on our back deck. We haven't always had the best luck growing veggies in buckets. I think we screwed up a little on our watering schedule. Our back deck gets tons of sun during the day so the plans dry out quickly. I think having a garden box will allow the plant roots to grow as needed, and since the box is pretty much just sitting on the deck with no bottom, the water can drain out easier. I'm excited for the weather to warm up so we can go get our plans and get it going.
#3: Using Cloth diapers - We don't plan on starting to do this until the baby is a couple months old or so, but we already bought our diapers so we're all ready. I have to say, the main reason we chose to do this isn't just to help the planet, but to save some cash! We will be using more water going this route since we'll have to wash diapers every couple days, but I think that's a lot better than filling up a landfill full of disposables.
#4: Using less water bottles - Last night i went and bought us each one of those Brita Water Bottles. We usually buy cases of bottled water, and half of them end up half drank and we dump out the water. We both have our water bottles with us at work, so this plan is already in action!
#5: Enjoying the earth more - I know one thing we've talked about is making a better effort to not spend so much of our life in front of either the TV or Computer. It seems like almost every night we come home and spend most of the evening parked on the couch. It's hard sometimes at the moment because i do need to rest a little more, but after the baby comes we plan to do a lot less time zapping our brains in front of the TV. We've already downsized our cable a ton. We got rid of the DVR and the 200+ channels and downgraded to just basic cable channels. Most of the shows we watch are on these channels, but it still keeps us from getting caught up in a dumb movie on a movie channel just because it's on. We can't tape anymore shows, so we won't spend a saturday getting caught up on what we've taped. The point of this whole plan is to make us get up off the couch a lot more and either get chores done around the house, spend more time on hobbies, or get outside for a bit. We'll see how that goes after the baby comes. I"m sure at first it will be hard, but i think we'll get a schedule goin after a month or so. I plan to take the baby (and dog) on lots of walks!
So those are the things we've been working on in our house to try and be more earth-friendly and enjoy nature a bit more. i think within the next month, we should be starting to work on them all if not doing them already.
