Eco-Friendly Choices (Day 23 of 30)

Let me begin by saying...the 4-week countdown is ON!

So last night, I participated in a Healthy Child, Healthy World and Seventh Generation twitter party. We talked about eco-friendly choices, and it made me really think about how many eco-friendly choices I have made, especially since giving birth to Lydia:

• Breastfeeding
• Cloth diapering
• Reusable shopping bags
• Recycling pretty much everything I can
• Donating unneeded goods to charities
• Composting
• Gardening using seeds from my kitchen
• Reused tire mulch under our playground set
• Greener household cleaning products
• Organic food choices
• Using reusable bottles for water and a Brita pitcher instead of buying water bottles
• Some eco-friendly toys for Lydia
• Conserving energy as much as possible 
• Not using excessive quantities of gas - just driving when I need to
• Refusing plasticware, bags, packaging in restaurants as often as possible
• Reusing containers, butting back on zipper bags

I'm sure I'm forgetting several, but it feels good to confidently make these choices. Being more eco-conscious is a way of life. It makes you think about each decision you make, how it affects your life, the lives of your children, and the future generations. 

Junk Mail

I love getting things in the mail, especially orders I placed for new products, samples to try, and giveways I've won. I try to reduce the waste by going paperless on my bills by paying through the internet whenever possible. I went out of town from Monday to Friday, just five days, and came home to a huge pile of mail. Check out this picture below. On the left you'll see all of the garbage (junk mail, packaging, etc.) and on the right you'll see the items that I am actually keeping.

This picture may not be too shocking to some people, but when you consider the ecological impact of all this junk mail and packaging piling up, I think it's pretty scary!

So what to do with all this junky mail? Well, here are a few ideas:

1. Use the backs of all of those credit card applications, insurance offers, etc. as scrap paper. Just to jot down random ideas and phone numbers.

2. As long as you cut out the little plastic openings in envelopes, junk mail can be shredded and composted. You can also cut up cardboard into little pieces and place them in your compost bin. Just avoid any papers/cardboard with a glossy finish.

3. If you don't compost, place the paper in your recycling bin.

4. Repurpose cardboard boxes. Try cutting the top flaps off, and you can use them to organize drawers, important papers, magazines in the bathroom, your child's' school work, etc.

5. Try to reuse boxes and shipping envelopes (especially those pricier ones with the bubble-wrap lining). My husband just made fun of me the other day for keeping a shiny blue bubble-wrap mailer. It's kinda been sitting on my couch for a few months now...but I am waiting for the perfect gift to send to a friend in it. It's really a nice mailer!

Now, I know there's a way to limit the amount of junk mail you receive, but I fear not receiving the mail I need. Has anyone tried this?? Any other suggestions for junk mail??

Just one garbage bag!

I've always been fairly aware of the need to reduce waste and recycle as much as possible. When I worked in a local public school, I used to hate how much paper was wasted. I used to keep a large paper bag in my classroom to bring home all of my paper for recycling, and sometimes some of the other teachers would contribute. The amount of unnecessary waste in just one school is unbelievable.

This week, we did the most amazing thing. Between my husband and me, we only filled ONE GARBAGE BAG with waste. That probably doesn't sound like anything too noteworthy, but if you think about how much garbage one accumulates in just a day, it's pretty awesome. We've been recycling everything imaginable (we actually have more stuff in our recycle bins than we do our garbage can). Just as important is our "compost."

When asked, I always tell people that I compost, but I never actually did. Here's sorta my composting evolution...

I used to just put everything food-related down the garbage disposal.

Then I started collecting it in a bowl on the counter. When I accumulated a bunch, I'd put it in a blender with some water, and make a nasty puree. I'd take this puree and pour it over my herb/veggie garden in my backyard. I'm sure this made my soil nutrient-rich, but it destroyed my somewhat-decent Black & Decker blender.

After that, I just started tossing all of my food scraps into my garden (after collecting them in this ceramic "compost" container I got at TJ Maxx). This seems to work okay, but it's still not quite right....

Then I came across this "How to Compost" post at Mommy Has to Work. I'm starting to collect what I need to begin this process properly. I'll post photos of my garden and my compost bin once they are both up and running. I'm excited about maintaining my garden so naturally.