Thoughts on Earth Day

With Earth Day quickly approaching (April 22nd in case you forgot), I started thinking about what I am doing to teach my children environmental stewardship. Here are a few of our favorites (at least those that we had pictures for!):

CLOTH DIAPERS

Using cloth diapers saves the landfills from disposable diapers that take 500 years to decompose and fill the soil with urine and feces (only 1% of people actually dump the fecal matter in the toilet before throwing out the diaper). Add in the financial and aesthetic benefit and it is hard to pass up cloth diapers.

CLEANING

Instead of using chemicals for cleaning, we primarily use vinegar and baking soda. Not only does this prevent harsh chemicals from entering the water and soil, it is healthier for our family.

FOOD
We try to eat as much organic food as possible, which isn't always easy on a budget. Brother, Sister, and I do, however, we a vegetarian diet (Daddy is a semi-vegetarian), which is both healthy for our bodies and the planet.





And my all time favorite way to be earth friendly? Come on, if you know me you can guess.



BREASTFEEDING


Now, I could talk for DAYS about the benefits of breastfeeding, however, for the purposes of Earth Day, I will outline some of main environmental benefits of breastfeeding:
No formula cans, bottles, etc in landfills
No water to mix with formula or to wash bottles
No energy (electric and water) to make formula and plastic for bottles
No energy needed to transport formula and bottles to stores
No runoff pollution from making formula and bottles
Best of all, it’s free!





So I have shown you a few of our favorite ways to be Earth friendly; tell me some of yours.