Gardendaze

On Monday, I talked about the many ways my life had changed since that first Earth Day in the 70s or even since I first “married” my house and my husband 22 years ago. These things are all changes for the better and they are so automatic that for the most part I don’t even think about them–which makes them far easier to incorporate into daily or weekly routines.

What sorts of things am I talking about? How about lighting for a start. Does anyone use incandescent bulbs anymore? Or how about CFLs? For the most part, our home is all LEDs and I am so grateful we’ve made the switch both from an energy efficiency standpoint, but also as someone who gets dreadful migraine headaches. The LEDs are much easier on the eyes. The CFLs have an almost imperceptible flicker–but if you get migraines and are sensitive to light, you know what I am referring to.

Then there are the reusable totes. I hope most folks are using those by now. They save so much plastic. I did recycle my plastic bags prior to using these–but if I never have to take a plastic bag, it so much the better. I just place them back in the car when I am finished and they’re ready to go for the next time (the question of laundering–or wiping the insides of the plastic-y ones, is best saved for a different discussion).

And then there is recycling. Of course, the optimal goal is to have as little trash or recycling as possible. I am in awe of those families whose yearly trash fills a shoebox. I am not there–or anywhere close–yet. Still, our trash goes out just once a month (in winter months–in summer we roll the bin down more frequently just so it doesn’t become more fragrant).

We do have more recycling than trash. Our bin is full every two weeks without fail. I like to think that that is because we make a concerted effort to recycle every single thing we can–and that’s partly it. The other part is that we still get too many paper newspapers (I can’t convince The Spoiler to go digital) and too much junk mail, sadly.

One Monday, I will talk about the many ways the garden is improved from that original Earth Day in the 70s!