Monday, May 2, 2011

Every Day is Earth Day

I kinda missed Earth Day. But that's not for lacking of caring. I'm a pretty serious mother nature freak in one too many ways. I started with an odd obsession for saving the earth back in the early 90s. I believe I was a finalist in the 3 R's poster contest in the 5th grade. When I was about 12, I personally called to sign up for recycling curb side pick up, making my mother oh so annoyed by having to sort and store plastic and glass items (we were country bumpkins so pick up was only by request and only like once or twice a month).


In college I joined up with a fellow bio major to try and overall the college recycling program and in chiropractic school I tried to use my position in student government to start a recycling program, which turned out to be my least successful effort because chiro students are apparently jerks and throw trash in recycling bins for no good reason. And don't be surprised if you see me grabbing a plastic bottle off the top of a trash can to take home and recycle.

Anyways, I have a weak spot for nature and constantly try to improve my own lifestyle to make it more earth friendly. It's hard to do all at once, so I try to pick something new a few times a year and hope that eventually I'll be virtually sans trash. Currently I'm working on using less paper towels. At first I was going to try and eliminate them all together, but I thought that was a bit too unrealistic. I'm sure there are people that do, but I think messes and cleaning projects just require paper towels. So I'm working to only use them for those real messes and gross occasions. I've taken to using washable rags for wiping down countertops and light clean and bought a batch of cloth napkins. I think it's been a fair attempt so far. I think I have to remove the paper towel rack from the countertop area all together, so I won't automatic grab for them.

Another big help in lowering our trash producing is a little revamp on our township's recycling program. They're now accepting plastics 1-7 instead of only 1 & 2 and have a 'single stream' program, meaning sorting cardboard and paper products from plastic, glass, etc is no longer necessary. Our old township starting using RecycleBank, a great single stream program offering rewards for the amount recycled, which was so successful they eliminated the second trash collection day. I wonder how I go about implementing that program here?

I've also switched back to compostable trash and dog poo bags. I used these for a really long time but the old shipping cost off the old website I ordered from was ridiculous. I switched over to a partially recycled trash bag that I found at our local grocer but never like them as much. The BioBags are now available on Amazon.com and eligible for free super saver shipping. I also use the 3 gallon bags for our kitchen compost bin.

BTW...Our compost is doing AWESOME this year. More on that later.

Our last eco/earth/nature friendly contribution for this year is signing up for a local community supported agriculture (CSA) for fresh, seasonal produce. I'm so excited for our first share next month! And even more excited to share the recipes I come up!



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