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Monday, April 21, 2008 - Stewards of the Earth
April 22 is the Earth Day. There may be the argument that this is a secular day, but Genesis 1:26 tells that that we were put in charge of the Earth. I think this means that God wants us to be good stewards of the land. Growing up in the ‘70’s around the influence of the ‘hippie tree huggers’ (no, my parents weren't hippie tree huggers), I have tried to live an eco-friendly way of life. That’s not to say that I am totally green, because I’m not, though we try to make conscientious choices. There are some simple things that we have been doing for ages that I hope have made a difference.
1. We use cloth napkins all the time. Over the years I have made them from discount fabric (from 1 yard of 44” fabric you can usually get 12 napkins), bought them at tag sales, and, when the kids were younger, we used inexpensive facecloths. You not only save trees, but they are much sturdier than their paper counterparts and last for ages.
2. Speaking of facecloths, we never invested in those diaper wipes. We kept an old cool whip tub, filled it with warm water and a facecloth for all our diaper changes. We also applied a thin layer of Vaseline before putting the diaper on and none of the kids ever had a diaper rash.
3. We have been using cloth shopping bags for years. You can find these now at various grocery stores for about $1 and some stores offer a 5-cent credit at the check out for each one you use.
4. Weather permitting; we hang our clothes out on the line. This saves on energy use and the electric bill. (Blogger Friend School Assignment 8)
5. We used reusable sandwich containers, snack containers and water bottles packed into mini coolers whenever we need a sack lunch. We also use reusable storage containers for leftovers and the pantry.
6. We try to recycle what we can whether it be by bringing it to a recycling facility (in SC they have it at the convenience centers where we take our trash making it easy) or using reusing it around the house or for school.
7. As most homeschoolers can attest to, we use a lot of paper, but the rule in our house is you must use both sides. We keep little baskets to store our scrap paper in. Below is an example of what I pulled from cleaning out my files at the end of last year. I was amazed at how many companies only print on one side. I recycled anything that was printed on only one side into scrap paper and this is what I came up with.
I used my paper cutter to cut some of this into 3" squares
Look how much came from that stack.
And this is what was left from cleaning out the files of 1 years worth of bills and reciepts that I couldn't recyle.
These are only a few things that can be done to help take care of our planet. There are so many more and most are not as expensive as buying a Hybrid. Recycling, conservation and just plain conscientious thinking can do wonders.
Here are some links I found if you were planning on doing some Earth Day activities with your kids.
Education World-Happy Earthday Lessons Plans
The Teachers Guide- Earth Day Lesson Plans
Teachervision-Earth Day Teacher Resources
The Science Spot- Earth Day Lesson Plan Links
South Dakota Department of Education- Earth Day math
A to Z Teacher Stuff-Earth Day Theme
The Teacher's Corner-Earth Day Themetic Unit
Note: Tomorrow is the last day to help my daughter reach her goal at her Virtual Home and Garden Party. See the top of this blog for details. We haven't had much luck, but we do appreciate those that have ordered. Thanks again.
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Monday, April 21, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by kellieann
Great ideas, as usual! I think I'm going to finally invest in some of those shopping bags. I just get tired of the mess of trying to save and recycyle the plastic ones. Liked the cloth napkin idea too. However, I do like a baby wipe. =)
Monday, April 21, 2008 - Thanks!
Posted by CherylinMA
For the wonderful earth day tips! I didn't even know and now I am inspired to go make some cloth napkins. I've been looking for a site to link to tonight and yours is perfect for the occassion.
Thanks for stopping by my site. :)
