What DO you do?

Spending Time

Each time I go to the grocery store, I end up staring at a wall of products in the whole foods section, and make a vow to do more research when I get home. I mean, how can I tell by looking which shampoo is best for the environment? And if I hate the scent it comes in, is a different bottle of the same brand just as safe? Or which breakfast cereal is least harmful? And healthy? And something that does not taste like the pellets for the wood stove?

There are some things I am pretty confident about (yogurt, bread) and others that set my head spinning. For example, there are Organic eggs, and Cage Free eggs, but it's almost impossible to locate the Organic Cage Free eggs - the one that is both.

The thing is, I rarely sit down with my computer and do my research. When I do, the terms seem so complicated and the ingredients so baffling, that I start to feel ill and need to walk away. I mean, I don't know what's in my shampoo. Do you?

Eggplant Parmesan

Wednesday's dinner is meatless. This is environmentally sound, as meat production and distribution creates pollution. I also believe it to be quite healthy, if it means we're eating more vegetables.

But finding meals I think the family will eat is tough.

I ran across this one in my stash of recipes to try. It was passed along to me because it is rumored to bring on labor in pregnant women. I was pregnant at the time. With my oldest son. Who will be six in three days. So you can see it's been sitting there for awhile.

Eggplant Parmigiana Alla Scalini's

It took awhile to make, honestly. I used all organic ingredients, except a few of the spices, which I already had, and the mozzarella. I'm not sure I cooked the eggplant enough. And then none of my kids would eat it. Or touch it. I didn't even tell them it was eggplant, but they glared at me and said they hated it before they even picked up a spoon. When my husband told them it was chicken, my four-year-old told me it was good, but he couldn't eat it because of the bones.

So... it's not vegan. It's vegetarian. And it's worth a try.

ABC's 123's and the 3 R's.

Last week I was surfing the web looking for "Summer Homework" ideas for my kids, and I just happened to notice that Scholastic has a "Green Living" section for parents on their website.

Green is in. It's very in. Everybody's doing it. But like all fads, it's subject to change. I'm afraid that at some point someone or some corporation will dangle something shiny on the other side, and we'll turn our heads, forgetting how we wanted Green only moments before.

I would like to instill in my children a need to care for this Earth and all living creatures on it. But I know that, even though they may see me use reusable grocery bags, they also see many who do not. While they may see me use green cleaning products, they also hear people say I'm a fool for doing so. While I might speak about buying less and making do with less stuff, they see the stuff they do not have. After all, do all adults live the way their parents would have liked them to? Not hardly.

Seeing this section on the scholastic website fed me a little bit of hope that maybe I can create a lasting impression.

Water Challenge

Today's challenge has two parts:

1 - buy a reusable water bottle.

2 - stop buying bottle water. Ever.

Seriously, I don't understand why people buy bottled water. Water bottles cause so much trash it's unbelievable. And it takes three times the water you're buying to make the actual bottle. Not to mention the oil and energy the bottle production takes.

If you're worried about safety, buy a filter. But at this point, I really don't think there's any excuse for it.

Here's a little more on this subject.

Car Miles - fail

I've given up on trying to reduce my car miles.

The truth is, I rarely go anywhere unless I have to. I will do almost anything to avoid having to leave the house. But sometimes you just have to. I have to take my son to school. Or pick him up. I need to go grocery shopping so we can eat. I suppose I could reduce our activities, but that just seems wrong.

So, while I won't drive around for the sake of driving, or leave my car on so I can listen to the radio while I wait for school to end, I'm not going to stress myself out wondering if I really needed to bring the kids to the pool or the library, or if we should have just stayed home.

So now I'm going to have to find some other ways to be green. Thoughts that come to mind are:

- going through my soaps / cosmetics
- finding new meatless dishes
- making a few home improvements, such are fixing the leaks around the windows and getting new insulation in certain areas. And fixing a few leaks. And checking the electric wiring in the house.

Changes

There are going to be some changes on this blog.

Again.

Or at least I'm attempting to make some changes to the format of this blog. Again.

This blog is an experiment, and I like to think of it as something alive and growing, something that can change and be what I need to to be, or what I would like it to be. But to date I find it difficult to keep posting every day. It's not like my other blog, which is about my life and my children, but about actual efforts and steps that I am making in a certain direction. When I don't post I feel guilty that I am not taking this journey or task seriously. When I do post I feel that I have nothing to say, and that my words are mostly meaningless drivel.

These new changes are made with an eye toward organization. Each day of the week is dedicated to a specific idea or area. This will make it easier for me to post. It will also make it easier for you, the reader, to read. I will include weekly challenges, like the one I did on Tuesday, small ones, for those of you who dare to accept them, and sometimes for me, because I won't have done all of them yet. I might also open a forum for vegetarian and vegan meal ideas, and those irritating links to other websites and articles and products will be easier to avoid. Or find.

I thank you for your patience, if there's anyone there still with me. My hope is that the new format will be more welcoming, less chaotc, and... you know... better.

Energy Challenge!

Energy Wise or Energy Water? Go here to see!

It turns out I produce less than the regional average of Co2 per year. And less than the national. According to the calculator. But the calculations are, of course, done with my input, and I'm not so sure I have certain things right, like the miles I put on my car or the fuel efficiency. Still, it's kind of cool.

And if you're interested in tips, there are Mini Energy Calculators, which tell you not only where you can save the earth in your home, but save money, too! Again, my problems come when I realize that I have no idea how to go about re-insulating my home, or how to fix those cracks I can see around my windows.

Finally, you can go on an Energy Diet! I think this is funny, because I've compared my journey to losing weight. It's really just small tips for each month, broken down in smaller bites to make then easier to swallow. I'm big on making changes this way, because gradual change is easier to take than sudden lifestyle upheavals.

Dish Washing Challenge

CHALLENGE: Dish Washing Liquid

I try to avoid washing dishes by hand as much as I can. But there are some things that can't be helped. Some dishes do not fit in the dishwasher. Others just shouldn't go in there. A few will not come clean or will break.

And for this, we need dish soap.

Soap is one of those funny things, green-wise. I've always thought of soap as being clean. After all, it's soap. It gets rid of dirt. But soap is actually made of chemicals and all sorts of things I can't spell or pronounce, and even if I could I have no idea what they actually are.

According to the label in my Seventh Generation Dish Liquid, "If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 25oz. petroleum-based dish liquid with one of our 25oz. plant-derived product, we could save 129,000 barrels of oil."

Now, I have no idea if this is true. I have no idea how much dish liquid out there is petroleum based. If I had more time and didn't have my kids shouting in my ear for snack right now, I might actually do some research. Or maybe I wouldn't. But that isn't going to change this challenge.

You probably have dish liquid in your house. If not, you should eat out less and stop washing your dishes with shampoo. CHECK THE LABEL. It should tell you if it is petroleum based. Now, try switching to a greener brand. I'm not talking about every soap you use, just your dish soap, here. We're starting small. Just dish soap. Try to find an eco-friendly alternative to the one you currently use.

It might not work as well, and that's OK. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But my brand seems to work just fine. You can always try another kind. Change takes effort, but this can be done. Let me know how it works out.

Go Compost Yourself!

OK, OK, I know it's been awhile. And I promised I would get better at this particular blog and post more. Posting keeps me aware, keeps my goals top of mind, and lets me look back on occasion to see how I'm doing.

Well, life has gotten in the way. There are only so many directions one can be pulled in, and my attention got directed towards my son, his academics and T-ball, and a choir concert my choir is doing in (gulp!) five days.

But I can tell you this: not only is my vegetable garden mot growing anything, but my composter isn't working. I mean, nothing is happening in there. Except the pile of vegetable matter is growing. What can I do?

I Always Liked Him

Ah, if I were childless in the city.... I'd be like this guy.

Havoc Among Nature

I haven't been posting as often as I'm spending every moment I can outside pulling things up by their roots. Prickly weedy vines have overtaken all the lovely flowering bushes and are winding around tree branches, ready to pull them down, too. I've been out there with loppers and clippers and cloppers, cutting lives of trees short, depriving birds of nesting places, and removing bugs and worms from their natural habitats.

Nature fights back, though. My arms are scraped and scratched, I have puncture wounds from thorns as big as fencing foils, and my face hasn't bee this sunburned in years. YEARS! I suppose I've gotten out of the sunscreen habit.