It's been a few years now that being 'green' is a very popular thing to be. It's pushed on us by the media, politicians, schools and scientists. It's all a very good thing but don't they know that many of us have always been green? Mind you the goal was to save money not save the planet but at the end of the day it was a good thing!
I grew up in a home where my parents conserved heat, made us turn out lights that were not necessary, we used things until they were completely useless and then they were often repaired instead of replaced, my mom bought local produce, were only allowed short showers, we saved up errands for one day and stayed on our end of town.....I could go on! When we moved out of our townhouse to a home with a yard, then the composting began, the garden was grown to supplement our diet and the lawn clippings left on the grass to dry. We probably were the only house on the block with only one garbage can for pick up instead of two on garbage day! Those life lessons have followed me as I now have my own home to manage. We are sticklers for being careful with electricity, waste, and recycling. There is one thing though that I cannot manage to do....wash my whites/bedding in cold water. That is my one indulgence and no one could convince me otherwise :)
Recently our neighborhood was selected to be the test-pilots on a year long program in which the city will now pick up our kitchen compost on a weekly basis. I have my own compost bin in the backyard so really, it's not necessary but I am playing along for now. I like the handy bin they provided for the kitchen anyhow!
So there you go! Being green has not been any big life adjustment for us. We've just continued to do what we've always known is right. Treat your resources with care and don't be wasteful!
5 comments:
I'm with you Rach. I like lights turned off, Dave likes the furnace turned off, and we don't like replacing this before we try fixing them! But I wonder how successful the kitchen waste pick up will be with garburators being popular in most new homes?
Good to see you are carrying on a family tradition. However, our motivation was economy, not ecology. Now this generation has two good reasons to 'go green'.
That's how we were brought up as well! I remember being told to turn the water off while shampooing and soaping. That is my indulgence now.
I try to instill these sorts of principles in my boys. Hopefully they'll be passed on to the next generation!
I wish we received those nifty kitchen compost bins. Richmond went "green" this year, and we are now not allowed to dump any food/recyclables in the garbage.
For us Mennos, it is second nature, but for the rest of the city it is soooo very foreign to compost.
That is a handy dandy container. We garborate or throw things into the trees. Good stress relief.
BUT part of me wonders if it wouldn't be better to have some compostables in our land fills. Just a thought.
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