I’ve always been conscientious of leaving less of a carbon footprint behind, but with recent new Green news and information coming out, we found it to be a good time to reassess our home and our business to see what else we could do to lessen the impact we have on our planet.
Now that Rene and I are parents, we pay attention to many topics we didn’t used to pay attention to. We are far more sensitive to what we do and what we could do LESS of in order to leave behind a better world for our children and our grandchildren.
~ Compact Fluorescents ~
One of our first changes around our home and studio was swapping out our old light bulbs for energy efficient compact fluorescents. Not only are they cooler (emitting less heat) but they use a lot less power and have a longer rated life. According to the Wiki, changing to one of these bulbs can save 2000 times its own weight in greenhouse gases! That’s a big deal! Think about the changes we could accomplish if all the households in our country made this simple change!
~ Consuming Less Water (and hot water, too)! ~
There are some days when all I look forward to is a nice long hot bath at the end of the day! However, with the pressure of water conservation, we have made changes at home and the days of long hot showers are no longer! Some of the other little things that we do now in order to conserve water are simple. For example, we now only water our lawn once every 10 days for just a few minutes.
When I do laundry, I always make sure to do a full load as you use a lot less water with full loads than half loads of laundry. Rene has made sure to check all the faucets in the house and the toilets for leaks. And we have purchased a timer for our water heater, which has already saved us some dough in our monthly electric bill!
And one of our more expensive goals for this summer is to switch to solar powered heating panels for our pool instead of using our regular pool heater. Check out these links for tips on how to reduce your water consumption at home:
~ Curbing the Plastics! ~
By far, we are most concerned with our use of plastics in our home. We’ve made a number of changes after educating ourselves on the hazards of the plastics we use and the plastics we use for food storage and consumption, especially for our little ones!
When they ask us if we want paper or plastic, we say neither! We bring our own reusable green bags that we bought at Publix for $.99 each. With four of these bags, we always have plenty of room for all of our groceries and we use ZERO plastic bags! All of the stores sell them and there’s no excuse not to use them anymore! Go out and buy a reusable bag each time you buy groceries or stock up on essentials. You will soon have enough so that you won’t have to use those nasty plastic bags. And make sure to keep them in your trunk so you always have them handy!
Before our trip to the Conservancy earlier this year, we never really knew the impact that plastic bags had on our environment. Turns out, plastic bags are a big threat all the way around! Not only are they made from petroleum, but some of these bags use inks and colorants that are toxic. They end up killing our wildlife and domestic animals when they end up as litter and if that wasn’t bad enough, they take years and years and years to break down into smaller toxic bits, which contaminate waterways and soil.
Another way we have reduced our use of plastics is by using a Brita water filtration pitcher instead of buying bottled water. We also bought Thermos’ for the entire family, eliminating the need to use plastic water bottles completely. But perhaps most importantly, we have completely removed the harmful use of Bisphenol-A in Polycarbonate sippy cups and bottles for our babies. THAT was a very important step that we took in safeguarding our girls’ health. If you are a mom and haven’t heard about B-free plastic sippys, tableware, bath toys, teethers and bottles, MAKE sure to check out this site for more information:
The Z Report on BPA In Children’s Feeding Products, Third Edition
We use the Foogo Thermos sippy for Helena and the Foogo leak-proof straw bottle for Ali, along with the Foogo food jars for Ali’s lunch box. We love Thermos’ Foogo products and recommend them highly. Best of all, we no longer use plastic products that are laden with chemicals for our girls!
~ Pesticides and Cleaning Products ~
We use no pesticides on our lawn and use only natural means to deter the critters. We have also switched to Seventh Generation cleaning products for our home. I am not a total clean freak, but I like a clean home and Seventh Generation provides sound products that work AND are safe for both my family (including Hound dog and Charlie) and the environment. Check them out! They have a ton of great products to keep a sparkling home and take care of baby and furry friends, too!
~ Paper Products and Use ~
All of the paper products we use at home come from recycled materials. We have also made conscientious efforts to reduce paper waste by using LESS overall. For example, I recycle packaging for things like art projects for the girls. Cereal and oatmeal boxes make great supplies for projects!
We have also opted out from the TON of junk mail we receive. What a huge waste of paper junk mail is! But most importantly, in our business, we now only print our promotional material on recycled paper using soy-based inks and we try to reduce the need to use so much paper in general. That means we always try to communicate with our clients using electronic means if at all possible before resorting to sending paper consumables.
These are just a few things we have done to help preserve a little bit of the environment. If we all do just a tiny bit, imagine the changes we can make! And in the end, we preserve this magical place we call home for future generations. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope it inspires you to make changes in your own home and life. Stay tuned for more!
Have a wonderful day,
Astrid
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But it’s always great fun and it keeps me on my toes and the competitive edge is invigorating!
