Happy Earth Day!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-22-2009, 05:47 PM

Today is Earth Day and as such, Oprah had an entire show about it. I only caught part of it, but what I saw was just astonishing! So much waste produced in the US but no one's really doing anything...

except maybe for us.

I saw that there are at least a dozen country that either tax plastic bags or ban them all together. Ireland charges $0.33 per bag and the use of plastic bags at grocery stores dropped 94%! With Superstore getting rid of plastic bags here in Calgary, I'm doing my part in bringing reusable bags and cloth bags (not to mention my purple bins) with me to grocery shop. I'll be doing it also during the sporadic trips. I've also been thinking of buying a backyard composter to help further reduce the trash that we put out of the house. Did you know that every American throws away 4.5lbs of trash per week a piece? That's just horrid!

So I've decided to do the following to help with my contribution to reducing my carbon footprint:

1) Composting the food waste.

2) Recycling all of my paper, plastics, bottles, aluminum cans, etc.

3) Reducing the number of harsh chemicals used in my household cleaning routine. This includes using natural products for my laundry, kitchen, bathrooms, etc.

4) Trying to get DH to quit smoking all together.

5) Getting rid of sandwich bags in favor of reusable containers for things like fruit and sandwiches.

6) Purchasing more reusable lunch bags for each of us.

7) Plant tomatoes, cilantro and dill and using the compost for the herbs/vegetables.

8) Buying a rain barrel to water the garden and the yard, thus cutting down on having to use hose water.

9) Reducing the purchases that I make where plastics, styrofoam and other products are concerned.

10) Buying a large box of CFL lightbulbs and replacing every bulb in the house.

11) Writing to the City Council to inform them about the amount of waste people are leaving in their yards that are getting scattered around, ingested by the local animals and polluting the ground water.

I need to do my part. Today was just a wake-up call to what harm I could have been doing to the planet all this time.

**guest002** · 04-22-2009, 06:51 PM

That's a good list. I'm just going to try to waste less and recycle more.

**FrugalMomof3** · 04-22-2009, 07:00 PM

Happy Earth Day To You too! I already recycle and try not to waste much, I hope I am doing my part.

**mommy4ever** · 04-22-2009, 07:53 PM

Hope you all have done something to honor Earth day.

Today I found an organic coop(produce) that will deliver to the door weekly! I did a price comparison, big savings over organic in the store, and it's actually within $2 of conventional, or the same, depending on current prices. So I'm going to support the organic movement!!!

I went to Organic Planet today to get produce that I can't find anything decent at our neighborhood market, it's all half rotten...ewww. And they were celebrating, I received free coffee Organic-Fair Trade. A slice of Organic Lemon Loaf(To DIE FOR), and a free re-useable tote! I had no idea when I went in, but was scolding myself for forgetting my bags!

The girls school celebrated, dd12 class had teh class computer(smart board) and lights off for an hour. DD10 class did it all day, dd5 class had them off too

DD12 is in charge of the recycling of cans and juice boxes for the whole school along with 2 of her friends. It's supposed to be a grade 6 project, but everyone else lost interest.

Happy Earth Day!