Earth Day

****So, I thought that I published this post on Sunday, but apparently I hit the wrong button and only saved it.  I am VERY disappointed, since I was trying to celebrate Earth Day with you all!  I hope you enjoy reading about it anyway.****

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

In case you aren't familiar, Earth Day falls each year on April 22.  It's the celebration of environmental awareness movement that started in 1970 and is still celebrated today.

It's important to take care of our planet.  While we may not be here forever, each generation should get to enjoy a land that hasn't been junked up by those before them.  We Americans consume- a lot. And are quite wasteful compared to other countries.  I've made it a personal goal to be less wasteful and more aware of my impact on the world around me. How, might you ask?

We recycle.

I thought it was ridiculous how much trash only two people could produce, so we started recycling to cut down on what we send to the landfills.  We have 4 bins set up to collect: cardboard, mixed paper, plastics, and aluminum & glass. Right now our so-called "bins" are really various sized trashcans that are lining our hall to the extra bedroom. This is not a very good system, but we've been dealing with it for a while now.  Hopefully we can come up with something better in our new place.  Auburn has a pretty decent recycling program.  However, they do not do curbside pickup at our trailer, so we make trips to the recycling center where everything is labeled, and you just dump your recycling right in!

We use reusable shopping bags.

It takes a while to get into the habit of remembering to take these to the store, but I've finally caught one.  Except one time recently where we made a big Walmart trip and I had a bit of a panic attack at the number of plastic bags that was used for our items.  Reusable shopping bags can hold SO much more than the plastic ones, and they are super durable.  Plus, fewer bags = fewer trips to and from the car!

We use a water-filtering pitcher & have re-fillable water bottles, instead of buying bottled water.

These are the best travel bottles we've ever owned. They keep your drink of choice cold for a long time.  If you add ice, there will still be some left at the end of the day!

I can only speak for myself on this one:  I am conscience of the amount of water I use during my morning routine and nightly routine.  I turn the water off while brushing my teeth and washing my face so as to not waste so much.  There is no point of letting all that just wash down the drain.

(photo from thedailygreen.com)

The products you buy also sends a message to producers.  Lots of manufacturers are getting these signals from consumers and changing their ways- from less packaging to fewer harsh chemicals, "green" products are more available on the market than ever before.  I am trying to replace some of our everyday products with more natural or eco-friendly for our own health and the environment's.  Remember our "green" frying pans from Christmas?  And the DIY Laundry Detergent?  I also recently replaced all of our cleaning products with Method products.  (Thanks to Target coupons + manufacturing coupons, I got each for 99cents!)

And this is my favorite face cleanser:

So I wouldn't classify us as "tree huggers" just yet, but every little bit helps!
What do you do to help better the world we live in?
Here's a link to a quiz to determine your ecological footprint and ways to reduce it. I was required to do for a class (Global Consumer Culture) my 2nd year at Auburn and thought it was pretty interesting.