Earth Day

22. April 2010 · 1 comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags:
Day 35: Only one earth
Image by lorda via Flickr

Today is Earth Day.  I won’t be doing much of anything to celebrate or contribute.  Which isn’t to say that I don’t think it’s important.  It’s just that I try to do things every day that are good for the planet.  I recycle.  I drive one very fuel efficient car, and the other car isn’t bad for a mini-van.  I try to walk to places when I can.  I use earth friendly cleaning products.  I vote for people who want to end global warming.

Yesterday, I happened on this New York Times opinion piece about letting the lawn go.  I can really get behind that.  If I could reasonably grow a meadow without feeling guilty, I would. Our yard is by no means the worst on the block, but opposite us is a guy that, I swear, goes out with tiny little clippers to make every blade of grass completely even.  As Wright says, I don’t have time for that, and it’s convenient that being lazy is the best way to accomplish an earth-friendly yard.  Most people, my neighbor included, use chemicals to get their lawns into golf course shape, chemicals that are bad for the earth.  There are organic means of getting your lawn looking good, but it takes a lot more time, time that most of my neighbors don’t have.  So they have nice lawns but aren’t putting the same effort in as the guy on the corner.  His is spectacular while theirs are merely above average.

So, my Earth Day contribution is to not do anything to the lawn. Not that I was going to, but now it’s a goal.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Notes from the Weekend

10. September 2007 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Soccer lineupSoccer began this weekend. Last year, Geeky Girl essentially dropped out because they placed her in the wrong age group (too young) and she didn’t find it fun anymore. This year she’s in the right age group. Yes, she’s the smallest one in that picture to the left. But she is crazy fast and determined. She almost scored 3 times. I was pretty darn proud of her. When a lot of the other girls were slowing down and dragging, Geeky Girl was still zipping down the field. It was a really hot day. Very hard to keep your stamina on a day like that. Most importantly, I think she had fun, and it’s good to see her running around outside.

I’m trying to reinvigorate my exercise program, which for now involves mostly walking. I likeFinding our coordinates walking. I don’t need any special equipment (though I do own a pedometer) and I can mix it up by taking different paths. On the weekends, I’ve decided to have my workout involve geocaching. So, we went on our first geocaching trip on Sunday. We’ve been to this spot before, an estate just a few blocks over from our house. We *still* didn’t find the treasure. So, we’re going to move on to another location next weekend. We find our locations through this site. I think the kids were disappointed we didn’t find the cache, but we went for ice cream and water ice afterwards to make up for it.

In addition to getting outdoors more, I did some more work to become environmentally friendly. I purchased some recycling containers and some reusable grocery bags. Our recycling has been pretty hit or miss. I hate our system. Not only do we have to separate our recyclables, but we also have to put them out on separate days. It makes it really hard to keep up with. Also, they pick up clear glass but not colored glass. Colored glass has to be taken to the recycling center. We have way more dark/colored glass than clear. I found this site pretty useful in finding products and information about steps to becoming environmentally conscious.

So how was your weekend?

Please consider donating to my efforts in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure