Two New Years’ ago, I made a resolution to be a better steward of the environment. Several months and one deployment later my record has honestly not been too hot. I promote and support anyone’s efforts to make those small daily changes that help make Earth a nicer place to live, but when put into action, I fell short of my (and Planet Earth’s) goals! So, I bring to you, in honor of Earth Day 2009, my new environmental resolutions. I’m going to tell you the small changes I hope to make in my life to help the environment and in doing so I hope you’ll help hold me accountable and adopt similar changes in your life!
Recycling
I hate making excuses for myself, but I’m fairly certain that if there was a service that swung by to pick up my recycling, I would do a much better of keeping this up. Also, my garage is a mess. So I resolve, to declutter the garage and buy some fun recycling bins. I’ve heard that if you have kids, you can paint them with chalkboard paint so they can draw on the bins to make the task of recycling a little more exciting. I agree that in this day and age, there is no excuse to not recycle. So, I pledge to you that I will restart and stick with it!
No more grocery bags
It is so hard for me to remember to bring my own bags to the grocery store. Sometimes I feel so guilty about this that I buy tons of the permanent ones at the check out line, just because I’m too humiliated to opt for the plastic bags. Some grocery stores give away a window decals that remind you to “Bring your own bags.” My mom sent me such a decal from Publix in Florida, so excuse number two is eradicated from my resolution list!
Use friendlier products
I already do this to some extent, but I will pledge, when compared to another product, to purchase the product that is more environmentally friendly. One product I’ve been excited about is Bissell’s Little Green carpet cleaner, which is made entirely from recycled plastics. I read in a Wal-Mart ad that for every customer who bought a Little Green machine, it would be like recycling two million bags of trash! Why on earth would you choose an alternative!
Save money, save the world
For the first time ever, economical can be associated with environmental. For instance, making the sustainable choice and supporting your local farm economy at the Farmer’s Market, may indeed be more affordable than buying your fruit and veg in the grocery store. And in fact, there’s no need to spend you hard-earned bucks purchasing new, expensive cleaners in fancy (non-environmental friendly) packaging, when you can just come up with your own homemade solutions. I pledge to make environmental friendly choices everyday – especially when it will save me money!
So I put myself out on a limb and have made my Earth Day resolutions. Share yours by leaving us a comment. We’ll check back in periodically to see how we’re keeping up!
Photo by: Elly Zee
