Happy Earth Day!

To celebrate Earth Day, I thought I'd talk about those by now famous 3 R's; reducing, reusing and recycling. And note that if you follow Here We Go Again, she's pretty darn good at this stuff. I struggle a little more because of the time and the tired.

Reducing is the most "duh" of the three I think. It is the most "green" of the three as it eliminates even the energy needed to make or reuse the product in the first place, but it's not always as easy as it sounds. We're so accustomed to what we have and the packaging that comes with it that it can be hard to find alternatives. One of my favorite things we've done to reduce is that we've slowly been replacing all of our electronics and light bulbs with Energy Star certified products and compact fluorescent bulbs. Note though that proper disposal of CFLs is important. They contain mercury that can leach into the ground if not recycled or disposed of properly. Some states even contain laws against them ending up in landfills. Furthermore, virtually all of the components of CFLs can be recycled for use in other areas.

Reusing can be a lot of fun. Remember all those tire flower beds in the 80's and 90's? Okay, so some of this stuff isn't for everyone, but my favorite re-use we've done is the pet cage turned into a strawberry bed, a wall shelf turned into a shoe rack, and the cloth diapering. I've heard so many people refer to the water used to wash cloth diapers as just as much waste as making disposables, but they aren't taking into account all the water, energy and gas used in the marketing, production, packaging, transport and sale of disposables. (Not that I'm judging which one you choose - see the Hill to Die On post. ;-) I just don't like that myth being bandied about.) And I much prefer cloth napkins. They are so much easier to use, so much prettier and they're so tiny that it really adds nothing to a load of laundry.

As for recycling, this is where all that stuff falls that couldn't be taken care of in the first two categories. You have your home recycling. For example, newspapers used as pet cage liners. And you have your curbside recycling which is actually mandated in many counties. There are lots of arguments for recycling various materials, but I'll choose one of the easiest and most successful - the aluminum can. Read this for lots of cool information as to why it's helpful to recycle aluminum, but one of my favorites gets a lot of people who love wildlife. They say, "How am I helping an animal really by recycling? There's no impact." However, to that I say that we use a mineral called bauxite to make aluminum. Bauxite is found most abundantly in tropical and sub-tropical areas - including rainforests. Strip mining is the method used to obtain the mineral. Thus habitat destruction is a pretty big given in any bauxite mined area. When we recycle aluminum, we don't have to mine bauxite for that particular can etc. meaning you might have helped to save just one more bit of rainforest for a little longer. It also goes without saying that recycling aluminum is cheaper, more energy efficient and uses less water (also a finite resource) than creating new. It's very recyclable and most of our soda cans are made using recycled aluminum. 

And lastly, don't forget to support these endeavors! My recycled paper toilet paper (White Cloud makes a good one!) and from recycled products aluminum foil (Reynold's is my go-to) is cheaper than the competitors. And if we can support sustainable farming and products that benefit a local population, we're killing quite a few birds with one stone. Shade grown coffee is a good idea, but understand what you're buying first. Eco-mochilas (bags) make great, interesting gifts and are a product that helps people and animals!

Whatever your favorite Earth related activity, I hope you get outside and enjoy yourself regularly. It's a pretty beautiful world out there.