Earth Day is April 22, how are you going to celebrate?

My mother has many nicknames and labels for me. Just this weekend, she referred to me as "Miss Free Speech," but one of my favorites is "Social Activist." I have realized that I am the radical of my family and most likely Matt's as well. One of my biggest causes is saving natural resources. I pester my parents about shutting off unneeded lights and I'm looking for a home closer to the office so that I can walk or ride my bike instead of driving. But one of my favorites (and one that Matt rolls his eyes at) is hanging the laundry outside to dry. Just my way of trying to be more responsible.

Now Earth Day is approaching and I am wondering what else I can do to take another step towards "no impact." I am investigating under the counter composters instead of running the disposal (I would go with a yard composter, but we are hoping to move into a condo soon). I have committed myself to taking the stairs instead of an elevator; I work on the 4th floor so I should get some strong legs from this. I am bringing a large thermos of water to work instead of using the disposable cups provided by our cafeteria. Plus, I am going to take my canvas bags to more than just the market to avoid coming home with more plastic (We use my parent's plastic bags as our garbage and dog waste bags). So think about what you can do, it does not have to be big. How about going to the library for books and movies instead of buying them, or buy them used? Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact flourescents and shut off lights when you leave the room. Just one Mom, please! For more ideas, visit http://earthday.gov, and email me with what you decide to do. I would love to hear from you.

If you think one little change won't make a difference, think again. Matt and I were talking this morning about our neighborhood. Today is trash day. We have one of those huge city garbage cans into which I could easily fit. Every week our neighbors load those cans to bursting with the lids popping up because they are so full. We put our trash can out most weeks, but if we miss a week, it is no big deal. It usually contains one grocery bag of garbage and a smaller bag of Goliath's contribution. The bags barely cover the bottom of the can. How can we have so little? We recycle everything we can. So just imagine if one more person on our street did that every week. What a difference it would make.