My Earth Month Efforts

Okay, so April is Earth Month. I feel like I'm better than most at being "green" all the time. But my family is going to step it up for this month. I took Aiden to the library yesterday and we got some books full of ideas. So here is what we are going to do this month:

*No eating fast food (all of the packaging that comes with fast food is very wasteful and they do not recycle)

*No driving unless we NEED to be there (obviously Joe needs to go to work and I need to go to school, anywhere else we need to go we will go on the way to or from work or school; no special trips)

*Along with that, we will play outside and walk to the two parks within walking distance from our house, as well as do fun activities at home; without using materials or gas

*We will not buy anything we don't need (the only things we will buy are essential groceries and essential gas; there is no need to clutter our lives with things we don't need)

*We will make meals from what we already have and only buy things that are needed ( we have so many things in our cupboards and freezer that we always just pass over, we will also eat all leftovers before making new meals to cut down on waste)

* When we do buy groceries, I will not buy processed foods or overly packaged foods

* We will make an effort to recycle or reuse everything we can

*I found some great programs going on in the area this month. We are going to several programs at the EcoPark on animals and nature, we are going to do a marsh walk/cleanup, we are going to go to the Green Fair at the Waldorf School on Earth Day and much more stuff!

*April 11th is "Pull the Plug" Day, we will not use any electricity on this day (the only exception being keeping our refrigerator plugged in, but everything else will be off, including lights. I'm excited for this one...should be interesting :)

*April 19th-25th is the annual Coulee Region Turn off the TV Challenge. No TV!

I'm sure all of this sounds excessive, at least that's what my husband said :) But it's only for a month. I'm hoping that after a month of "green" living, we will adopt some of the changes permanently.