A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (aka before kids), I was the Green Defender. Or at least to Chris, I was the Green Defender. Basically, I was really committed to being more sustainable and conscious of our impact on this big, beautiful planet. But as our lives became a little more hectic, I became more and more tempted by convenience. Shopping local seems like a solid option until you have to take a toddler to multiple stores in one afternoon, especially when compared to free two-day shipping. (insert a shameful shrug). Now that my kiddos are older and much more likely to engage in fun projects and challenges, I thought this would be the perfect year to celebrate Earth Day and get back to our sustainable roots!
We began by chatting about what we could do or change about our daily lives that could have a better impact on the environment. Because my kiddos go to an amazing school that regularly have conversations around sustainability, they had LOTS of ideas! I didn’t want us to set ourselves up for failure by overcommitting, so we narrowed it down to three!
- Turn lights off when we leave a room.
- Turn water off when we aren’t using it (i.e. while brushing teeth)
- Reduce waste by recycling, composting, and reusing items more often.
To help with the last one, I taped a warning sign to our trash can!
We then did a cute little craft, painting rocks, for our new garden. Well…my painted rocks were for the garden. Their painted rocks were just, well, super cute painted rocks that got tossed into some of our flower pots. I tried! 😉
These commitments might seem like baby steps to some, but they are big commitments for a nine and seven year old! Plus, I think they enjoyed the break between school and homework!