Earth Day 2010

But I do care.

I do know that I can make a difference.

I am not going to change the hole in our ozone layer. I’m not going to save the world with some major campaign about how we are all doomed if we don’t make a change. I can hardly say that the small and minor things I do to take care of my little plot of green-space are news-worthy. (Nor do I want to give the impression that I am doom and gloom! The Earth is ours to enjoy.)

But what I do is significant to me, for me, for my family…

– I inconspicuously hang my fresh-from-the-wash clothes on a dryer rack on our deck when the weather is nice.

– We recycle. Our local garbage-carrier gives us two garbage cans. One for recyclables. One for garbage. They make it very easy for us. No sorting of paper, cardboard, glass, metal required. Just dump it all in the ‘green garbage bin’.

We FILL our Recyclable bin every week. We could probably put our blue-garbage bin (for non-recylables) out once a month and it still wouldn’t be full… but THAT would literally-REEK. So it still goes out once a week with it’s one lowly bag of garbage for the landfill.

– We compost in the Spring, Summer, Fall; eggs, coffee-grinds, non-dairy or -meat, smelly vegetables and fruits from the back of my frig that I forgot all about. I took a plastic-garbage can. Put holes all around it with a drill. Put an old plastic tablecloth on the top and secured it with a couple bungee cords. During the summer I roll it around on the ground once in awhile. Makes for perfect garden materials the next spring.

– We grow a garden. Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Peppers, Lettuce, Carrots … it’s a bit extensive for our suburban-neighborhood. The garden sits perfectly on the south side of our house. It leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment. Then last summer I started canning! That is a great feeling of accomplishment. We still have some veggies in the cupboards from last autumn. I made pasta sauce with herbs from the garden, home-grown tomatoes and a whole bottle of wine (I’m sure that is what makes it good!) that my husband claims is the BEST EVER. (He is not a ‘compliment-giver’. So I know he must really like it!) I made pots of it and canned it. We just used the last one last week.  (I’ll be sure to share the recipe in the future.)