New Earth Day Traditions

It seems that Earth Day has become this forgotten holiday. I remember Earth Day when I was a child, and it was a big deal. I remember my mother buying us Earth Day shirts and we did Earth Day projects at school. It was a big deal. This year, with two small children of my own I want to make an impact for Earth Day. I want them to understand how our everyday actions affect the entire planet, and how us using resources impacts the entire Earth.

So, for my Earth Day project I have a big plan. It includes recycling, gardening, energy saving (less electricity, and planning activities so we use the least amount of gas), and a few other fun surprises. For the next few weeks leading up to Earth Day my children and I are going to discuss some important topics and I even have a few fun projects in mind.

First on our list... recycling. We found and set up some recycling bins. We used bins that we already have in our home, so that we aren't creating more waste. We used recycled paper to create picture and word labels so that even my non-reading four year old knows what goes where. We have a dry erase board for our shopping list, and at the end of the week we take a picture of the list with my phone, and use that to shop with instead of using paper.

Next on the list... reducing our consumption. Lights off! That's our first plan. Lights don't come on in the house until it starts to get dark. Before that we are opening the blinds and using natural light as much as possible. We are also purchasing a programmable thermostat to save on energy in that area. Our next plan to save on energy and resource consumption is to plan our driving. We will make our list at the beginning of the week and plan one day to do errands, and plan according to our town layout, making a plan that uses the least amount of running. (Bonus: this plan helps with the enormous gas prices too!)

Our biggest plan, and most important is our garden. We will use resources we have around our house, like cinder blocks, to build our garden area. We are also going to start saving rain water in barrels to use for watering (less water consumption and lower utility bills). We can keep mosquito's away from this by adding apple cider vinegar to our barrels, which is a natural bug repellant so it will benefit our garden as well. I have also done a lot of research to figure out which plants grow best with one another, so we will have them all strategically placed in our garden. And we are using our food waste to create a compost!!

Our last plan is a pretty difficult task for our small town, but we are going to give it a shot. We are going to try to buy local as much as possible. This will be easier now that the farmer's market in our town is getting ready to open back up, but it will still be a challenge. We will be searching out local farmers to purchase our beef, chicken, eggs, and pork from, as well as any veggies and fruits that we don't grow ourselves.

I am a little nervous about our gardening adventure, so it will be a learning experience for us all! But, I am so excited for the opportunity to teach my children how to respect and use our Earth. I am hoping to start a new trend in our family to make our entire year an Earth Day; but, I at least know that this will be the start of a good Earth Day tradition for our family!! I want this beautiful planet to be here for my children, and their children, and their children to enjoy for generations to come!!