As I predicted in this post on caring for the earth, Annabelle wants to pick up garbage all the time . . . whenever we spot debris in our neighborhood, the park, or in a parking lot, Annabelle says to me, “Gotta clean it up, right?” Most of the time I nod at her, smiling, happy that I am raising an eco-conscious kiddo (though every now and again I do wonder whether she’ll grow up and resent her crunchy, somewhat hippie mamma and childhood. One of my worst nightmares would be for my daughter to grow up and join a “drill baby drill” rally . . . though kids often do go through that phase when they do anything they can to distinguish themselves from their parents, right? Ughhhh, the teen years . . .). So as I was saying, most of the time, I encourage her new obsession with picking up litter . . . we carry recyclables home when we spot them during our daily walks and we talk about how we need to take good care of the earth so that the earth stays healthy (I explained to her that garbage makes the dirt get yucky and sick). Friends joke with me about Annabelle’s (inherited?) need for a sense of order . . . I see it as a good quality: she wants to help keep the environment clean.
Our household’s evolving commitment to the environment continues to grow; I won’t list all the changes we’ve made to our family’s lifestyle in order to help the environment, but I will share a few easy ways that we try to get Annabelle in on the action: we keep a small vegetable garden (reducing our dependence on commercial foods and shipping), we tote reusable bags and decline plastic at non-food stores, we recycle (on Sundays, she helps sort and place our recyclables at the curb with her dad), we pay attention to food packaging (though I’m not entirely sure Annabelle “gets” it), we bike and walk as much as possible (my husband bikes to work daily), we monitor our water use (taking baths together and by minimizing water use in our gardens), and we eat local and organic foods (something I hope Annabelle understands more about as she gets older).
In the coming weeks and months, I hope to get back in the saddle and start composting again (we have a vermicompost that I store in my laundry room and have neglected to keep up with); feeding worms and mixing up dirt should be right up Annabelle’s alley . . .
There is so much that our family can do together to help the earth. Looking for ideas? This week, I’m offering Christopher Corr and Fred Penner’s Whole World book and CD, and eco activity workbook by Barefoot Books to one Green Mamma reader. Just leave a comment on this post sharing one way that you and your family help planet earth stay healthy and you’re entered to win.
I promise to announce the winner sometime at the end of next week (though my hubby may have to sign on and share should our baby decide to arrive before then, :-) ).
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We try to recycle and reuse by shopping at our local thrift shop.
I am undertaking a conscious effort to reduce the plastic we use, and I’m really getting into gardening.
Oh, and I was laid off so I don’t drive nearly as much anymore. Just trying to look on the bright side of that one. ;)
We have a vegetable garden which my girls LOVE to help pick from. and a daily trip to the compost pile is big excitement too. Although sometimes they like to look at the compost a bit longer than my stomach can handle!
We no longer buy plastic water bottles, but use stainless steel ones, also our garden is now organic ;-) Thank you!
We do as much as we can to leave a smaller carbon footprint by eating “seasonally” as much as possible, buying locally and eating meat only 3 meals a week.
Hi I am finally back in blogland after a rough pregnancy and a delightful but sleep-depriving newborn! Great to hear you are expecting – goo dluck! Don’t worry about entering me in the competition as I don’t expect you to post to little old New Zealand – although the prize looks great – our big thing for this year is massive car reduction – 2 ‘car days’ a week is the goal. We already do a lot but the biggies are meat consumption and fuel consumption and we have a long way to go!
What a fun giveaway and I loved reading all the ways you help Annabelle understand that the Earth needs to be healthy. That is so important!!
My favorite Earth-friendly moment in my household was when Emily questioned me about throwing something in the garbage. “Is this recyclable?” No, it’s not recyclable. “Can we give it to someone else?” No, I don’t think so. “Can we make something with this?”
By the time she got to the third question, I knew she “got it”. We should all ask such questions before throwing something in the garbage!
Wonderful post, I’m always looking for new ways to be thoughtful of the environment. Annabelle is quite the steward! We compost for our kitchen garden, decline bags and use reusable bags, reuse glass containters, bus to work, use cloth diaps and get all fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market.
LOVE this post! We do many of the things you mentioned above, but I am always looking for new resources and ideas. I’ve been trying to teach my little one about turning off lights and other things around the house to save electricity. It’s such a hard concept because electricity isn’t quite “tangible” but I think we’re finally starting to get it- it helps when she sees a toy of hers “run out of batteries” and makes the connection about energy & power & making things work.
Thanks again for sharing this- and for all the great activity ideas in your last month of posts. I’ve been inspired to order some books on Waldorf early education! Praying everything goes smoothly as you welcome your new little one.
I bought this book for my niece last year and would love to have a copy for my 2 yr. old son!
I purchase all earth-friendly cleaning supplies and bath products for our family.
Great post! We try do a lot of things to try to help our planet stay healthy (I’m an environmental scientist/engineer, and some of my courses in college were real wake up call to me). So, can I pick one thing? Hmmmm…..we don’t throw any food scraps in the garbage – compost!, and in general we try to reduce our trash through reuse, recycling, and trying to avoid excess packaging when possible.
Your little girl is a true environmentalist already; you and Matt should be so proud!
I’d love to share this with my students at school, who are my “little children” at the moment. We’ve organized clean-ups of our courtyard at school in the past, and a recycling plan for the school last year. This year, I’d like to help them publish a book on their green efforts!
Hugs and all the best on your new arrival!
Ruth
We work at our farmers market with a few other families, we all harvest organic veggies herbs and my family gathers flower bouquets from our garden. The goal is to have the children be involved in gathering and preparing and at the stand they are the ones (mamas and papas on the sidelines) who are selling, making change, tallying the organic goodness. Most if not all of our customers use their own cloth bags or carry their things away in their bare hands. We do the same and I feel like this is one way of many that we show mother earth that we care for her it also shows our children just where our food comes from and how important it is to farm organically and to buy local saving on packaging, gas for the big trucks to truck in food, middle men and the list goes on… we bring our clean used jars back to our local beekeeper for our honey, our egg cartons back to our neighbors who sell us eggs, we recycle our jugs back to the maple syrup farmers when we need more, bring our cartons back to the berry farms to pick more, we save yogurt containers to sell seedlings at the farm stand and recycle glass jars for our bouquets, and sew and sell cloth bags for market.
Thank you so much for the offer!!
Also, best wishes for you to have the type of birth you want. I really hope all goes your way!!
Just one thing for Mother Earth? We’ve changed up so much stuff since our son was born. I’m going to name a few: cloth tp, napkins, and “paper towels”, we did EC and have been diaper free since 18 mos., larger organic veggie and herb garden, buy local when we can, carry our own bags, we own a Prius, our cleaning supplies are vinegar and bs, our shampoo is bs, clothing from thrift stores or garage sales, big compost pile, we recycle what we can’t reuse. I think our biggest though is that we’re a vegetarian family (19 yrs for me). Its good to read what others have written because I have more work to do (I love having the lights on).
Again, best wishes for your family and your new addition.
Hello :)
Your blog is beautiful – I love that b+w photgraphy!
Umm, what do we do for Mama Earth? Let’s think: we’re vego + we recycle (my 3 year old did it just this morning!) + we buy organic at the farmers market + we use natural cleaners (go the vinegar! :) + we bring our own green bags when we shop + we only have 1 car (despite the fact that 2 would be far handier at the moment ;) + I love thrift shopping + giving away our own clothes & more when we don’t need them anymore + having energy-efficient globes +… I’m sure there must be more.
However, there is still much more we *could* be doing – so I’m looking forward with hopes for a more sustainable life. I try to limit my supermarket shopping to only once per month but I’ve been topping up at the local store & would like to minimise my purchases from these big companies + our water heater has broken so we’re looking at being able to go solar + I really could get my bike fixed up with a munchkin seat so we could ride into town + we need to get a new compost bin + start a small organic veggie garden… so many plans!
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