Earth Day My Way

I really enjoy Earth Day and all of the awareness it raises for the World around us. That same World that we each of us live in and with day in and day out. The hype of Earth Day brings to the forefront all of the promise and ideas that abound when it comes to being good stewards of the planet we all call home. I do my best to live thoughtfully when it comes to being green and caring for nature. Up-cycling is almost second nature in many respects. Old clothes that are too worn to be donated are turned into cute stuffies, pet toys and bedding, bags, collage-work, rags, etc. Magazines are shared amongst friends and family and then given to local doctor’s offices or used in art and then what’s left is recycled. What containers are used are sent to recycling or find new storage uses around the home. There is no bottled water in the house since there is no need what with a nice water filter and a few BPA-free reusable bottles or glasses. The coffee maker has a reusable filter and only natural landscaping is used to make the yard as hardy as it is pretty. Lights are used only when needed for the most part, we have no air-conditioner (more because of the age of the house, but we still have managed without it just fine). The list goes on and on and while I am by far not the best when it comes to lessening my carbon foot-print, I do what I can and most of it is really quite easy. It is a pain to have to take all of the recycling to the local dump and then sort it out into it’s respective bins (to rural (and locally unorganized – doh) for anything fancier at this point, I guess) and sometimes it is simply easier to get the cheaper item instead of it’s pricier and harder to locate green alternative but I am only human. Do you consider yourself a green person or like you’re living a green lifestyle but maybe aren’t at the same time? Whenever I use a “what’s your carbon footprint” calculator I tend to get this overwhelming feeling, like what I do isn’t near enough and why am I killing the planet and being so wasteful instead of doing more (yeah, I can be super intense and over-sensitive like that sometimes, heh). I do try and keep it all in perspective but it can be a bit much at times. All I know for sure is that I do love the Earth and all it has given me and keeps on giving me each day I call it home and that I’ll just keep on loving it back in my small, simple way.

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

Namaste ~ Ella