Earth Day Tuesday 12

In honor of earth day, Twelve things we do as a family to be more earth friendly.

1. We've replaced our regular incandescant lightbulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs to use less power and energy.

2. When we go shopping (grocery, Target, Wal-Mart, etc.) we bring reusable bags instead of using more plastic bags.

3. If we do end up with some plastic bags from the store, we re-use them for trash bags in our bathrooms and cars or we recycle them.

4. We recycle. A lot. It's amazing to me how much this simple process has cut down on our trash we generate. As a family of 5, we make a lot of trash! I would estimate recycling has cut it in half. And I'm a little crazy about it. I've been known, during family parties, to take recyclable things out of the trash can and to tell everyone, "Don't throw that out - we recycle!" We even recycle our junk mail!

5. We use only cold water to wash our clothes, saving energy. I bet I use the hot cycle twice a year, if that.

6. We only run the dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer when we have full loads.

7. We buy approximately 75-80% of our produce either locally from farmer's markets or organically. I feel very strongly about this, as it supports our local economy, ensures my family is ingesting the smallest amounts of pesticides possible, and helps to sustain farming in our community.

8. We have a programmable thermostat set to adjust our heat and air at night or while we're gone to lower settings so we are using less energy while we sleep and are away. (But you know that air doesn't get adjusted much in the summer -- we like it chilly here!)

9. We don't purchase bottled water but instead use reusable bottles we've already got.

10. We've lowered the temperature of our water heater to 120 degrees.

11. We use cleaning products made from natural materials to limit the chemicals used in our home. It wasn't even hard for me to give up my Clorox Wipes, and I really thought it would be!!

12. We've opted out of any catalogs we received that we don't actually purchase from. And I LOVE some catalogs! I think we only get two or three now.

We certainly could improve buy doing things like using a low-flow shower head (in the works), using cloth diapers (gave it a shot -- no longer in the works!), and composting (in discussions). I think, however, we've made a good start!