Happy Earth Day! We didn’t do anything special for the Earth today, we mostly did a lot of special stuff for the house – cleaning, organizing and more cleaning. But I figured it was good to take a pause and give a little love to Mama Earth.
Speaking of which, have you taken the footprint quiz yet? The quiz is based on national consumption averages and is supposed to give you an idea of your Ecological Footprint in relation to other people in the country and area you live in. I took it again and we just scored a 16. But I took it a few months ago (back before we had efficient cars) and we were over 20, I think it was 22. A 24 is average for our country and area. But even at 16, if everyone lived like we do, we would need 3.7 earths to sustain everyone. That is scary.
I have always been pretty environmentally mindful – I had an Environmental Studies minor in college – and J. used to tease me and call me a “tree hugger” (although I do shave under my arms, thank you!). But I realized lately that I have started to become really lax on a lot of stuff. I’d like to use the excuse that I just don’t have time, but I know the real reason is that I just became very lazy.
Then after we moved a few weeks ago, I realized that I need to get back on the ball. I want to preserve this Earth and leave something for my grandchildren. Something beautiful and livable. In my quest to find a place that would recycle my boxes from our move, I found a recycling center at Caltech that recycles EVERYTHING! Every kind of plastic, every kind of paper, cardboard, so I have become very, very diligent about recycling, reusing, reducing again.
I’ve always bought organic, in-season, and locally grown, when possible – but now I am committed to doing more. Finding biodegradable detergents that I can live with, and the earth can live with. Walking as much as I can. Combining trips when I can’t walk. I’m going to try to get our family score as low as it possibly can go.
Next on my list…potty-training A. so I don’t have to guiltily throw away any more icky diapers.
My footprint is huge but I know it’s because I live in the sticks and have to drive 25 miles each way to work. Everything else my scores were alright. At least I drive an energy efficient car that gets over 30 mpg. Thanks for the eye opener.
Wow. I would need 4 earths for my score of 18. Thanks for sharing this! I definately go out of my way to take everything possible to the recycling center. I love walking places because it’s such a pain to load two kids into the car. The thing I have the worst time with is buying locally grown/organic because it’s usually more expensive.