Little Kite Girl

So.  I’ve decided…kind of all of a sudden…that I care about the planet.  It started when we moved back to New England and had the option to recycle again.  (I know, I always had the option.  But my parents are actually pretty good at it.  Good job parents! And I recycle almost all of the time now.  Except when I’m in a bad mood.) And then I went all cloth diaper on my baby’s butt.  Mostly it was about the money issue.  And the cute butt issue.  But I started to feel a weird, warm glowy feeling inside about the fact that I was contributing less trash.  Every week when I brought the trash downstairs and it was one small bag instead of three big ones, I had a moment standing in the garage thinking, “Go me.”  And to tell you the truth,  it was the first time I’d felt that way since I stuck the 25 cent plastic ring of the week in the air and yelled, “Earth!” or “Fire” or “Heart!” Yes.  The last time I felt anything significant about saving the environment was back in the days of Fern Gully and Captain Planet and planting Earth Day trees.

I’ve been muy, muy wasteful since then.  It was like someone would offer me something organic or recycled and I was like, “Don’t you have something new with chemicals? Please?  Happy Feet?  Come on. What else you got?”

I don’t know why I care all of a sudden.  I find myself dreaming about solar panels and cloth napkins and steam mops.  So what am I going to do about it?  Well.  I’ve been trying to make a list of small things to do to try and be greener, but I keep making them and losing them. So now I’ll revert to this here blog.  Because apparently when I say things out loud to the Internet they get done around here.

So here’s the plan.

Wait, before the plan, it’s important to note that my husband, child and I are currently residing with my parents.  This means I can’t just randomly turn us into a hippie household overnight.  I must be stealthier.  We went a whole week without paper towels, but I don’t think anyone around here is going to let that happen again. Even though I DID move the plates nearer to the toaster oven to encourage their use in sandwich/toast construction.  But truth told, I do a lot of the cleaning (owing to the fact that everyone else here works a lot and I kind of like doing it, I know, ek) so I can probably be greener there.  Because no one cares how I do it as long as I don’t make the house smell like curry or something.  And really…you can’t get rid of all paper products.  Toilet paper, for instance, is very very important to me.  And one man’s paper towel is another man’s toilet paper.  That didn’t come out right.  Anyway.

Back to the plan.  There is NOW plan, and there is future plan.

I’ll start with future plan.

1) More cloth.  More CLOTH you say!? How can you do it?  WELL…we already use cloth on our kid’s butt.  And cloth in the shower.  I actually don’t know anyone who uses paper towels in the shower.  Silly.  Um…so I guess that leave napkins.  And I think paper towels are sacred to other members of my family.  Like, all of them except for me.  So I’ll have to leave this one off for the future.  But seriously, how cute are these napkins? (And then I think to myself, but I’d have to get a sewing machine.  Or use one.  And that takes energy.  IS THERE A SOLAR POWERED SEWING MACHINE??? Calm down, Erin.)(And also, we actually do use a lot of washcloths/drying cloths around here.  Again, good job parents.)

2) That’s it for the future plan.  I just wanted to make sure that got in there.  But I guess I’ll also go ahead and add in the whole green lunch box thing.  For Camper.  When he goes to school.  Sniff. I just hope he doesn’t get beat up for his cloth napkin.

NOW Plan

1) Steam mop.  I don’t know how I’m going to get you, but you’ll be mine.  And I will steam our floors clean.  With steam.  And hotness and germ killing watery freshness.  And it will be beautiful.

2) Homemade cleaners.  Again, thanks to Jonah Lisa for her help with this one.  I’m going to try the all purpose cleaner first.  Just to see how it goes.  And then move on from there.  Toilet cleaner, mirrors and window, tub…the possibilites are endless with a small list of things to buy.  This means instead of replacing my cleaners, I’ll be buying some plastic spraybottles and things like vinegar and borax and castile soap.  Once I figure out what those last two are we’ll be golden.  I intend to use this cleaner on things and see if anyone notices.  I don’t think they will.  Except for the fact that I just wrote this here.  And the fact that, like usual, things will be clean.  I’m thinking about just continuing to get my essential oils from momsmilkboutique, since I already use tea tree oil for our diapers.

3) Green air.  Coming on this winter I think I’m going to try to do a whole eucalyptus steam fresh thing for Camper in his room.  I think I can use the vaporizer we have now, until he gets old enough to try to dump in on himself…at which time we’ll have to get a cold air one…and stick some essential oils in there known for cleaning gross toxins out of the air.  Like eucalyptus.  And tea tree oil.  I know.  HIPPIE.  If we start to smell please tell me.  (Unless you like it.  I guess you can tell me either way.)

4) No no to plastic.  When possible.  John already digs wood furntiture, which inspired buying a wooden highchair and a real wood crib, etc.  I simply

don’t remember the rest of that setence.  I was mid thought when Camper rolled over on his glowworm, ignited its firey wrath and then freaked out.  He usually loves that thing.  Apparently not when it’s a surprise.

Moving on.

5) I WILL ACTUALLY USE THE GREEN BAGS AT THE SUPERMARKET.

6) After all the stuff I’ve read lately about plastic water bottles and their effects on…er…(rhymes with mesticles) I don’t think I’ll ever buy bottled water again. (And I don’t even have mesticles.) I’ve gotten pretty good at using my other metal-y water bottle that John got me.  Now if I could only wean myself off of the Diet Coke…

7) The travel factor.  I’m going to really, really try to limit my car trips this winter.  I know it’s hard, since my husband COMMUTES to work, but I think if I can plan shopping beforehand and think up fun things to do AT HOME, I can save gas and car time.

8)  Safe crap for craftiness.  Are you eyeballs falling out of the sockets onto the floor yet?  Do you know that there are ENTIRE WEBSITES about what to do with empty toilet paper rolls?  I’ve started secret squirreling trash away in the most organized fashion I know how to try to turn into treasures for Camper.  I think this will result in a) less buying of Crayola craft supplies b) more using up things we already have and c) ways to keep busy at home (and with friends) to avoid taking “drives” just for the heck of it.

Ways I already rock:

1) I use a laptop.  Apparently they use less power than desktops.  GO ME.

2) I use cloth diapers and wipes.  (In hindsight, this might be the reason I’m all about the green clean now.  I’ve seen how relatively small amounts of non-strong soap clean the grossest thing I wash.  After that, sure I can’t ditch the chemicals on the kitchen counter.  Because I just cleaned up some poo with SUNSHINE, HOT WATER and BAKING SODA. Ok. So I used a little bit of soap, too.)

3) I’m super awesome about turning off lights.  And we’re watching less TV during the day.  And maybe I’ll start going to bed with the sun.  Just kidding.  I wish.

Ok Internet, that’s it.  I’m going to try and become a Greener Me BEFORE January, so that I’ll have a running start on this whole resolution thing.  Because it’s our only earth.  And apparently I need more challenges in life.

What’s your favorite thing to do to be green?