Green Guilt

Happy Earth Day everyone! I will be celebrating this year by planting some plants, eating some lettuce from our garden, and teaching our little ones about how valuable our earth is. I am so happy that this day is so widely recognized now. I remember becoming aware of this day 20 years ago, when it was just a trendy grass roots event. Now it is on a level that has national attention. Wickepedia says that Earth Day actually started in 1970! How far we have come!
So, in this business adventure of mine, I now purchase nearly all of my paper supplies from vendors that sell recycled paper products (30 to 100% post consumer waste) and who use renewable energy. I also recycle diligently! All paper scraps that result from my creative process are either repurposed or recycled. In fact, I will soon be placing small packs of punched flowers and tags, made from my scraps on ETSY.
Recycling, reducing, and reusing really has become a way of life for us. We are constantly looking for more ways to decrease our carbon footprint. I am in the planning stages of creating a compost bin to use for our garden. My plan is to obtain a plastic garbage can and drill holes in the bottom for drainage. This will help us decrease the amount of food waste that ends up in our trash (we already separate our green garden waste for our city to collect). A good friend of mine made a compost bin this way and swears by it. I will keep you updated on if this is truly a good option, rather than purchasing a $100 compost bin.
Even with all of the things we do, I still have green guilt. We use far too many paper towels, and I am increasingly feeling guilty about all of the water it takes to have a nice green lawn, and we have 2! We do use both of our lawns quite a bit, our back yard lawn is not really that big, and it gets well used. Our front yard lawn is a bit bigger and gets just as much use since we have 2 little ones who enjoy soccer, T-ball, chase, you name it. My husband and I were recently watching an episode of Living with Ed. This show is quite entertaining and informative. The basic story line is Ed Begley Jr and his wife Rachelle are avid environmentalists, Ed a little more so than his wife. He is constantly striving for more environmental gadgets and methods, while she is trying to maintain a normal life with a conscience. During a recent episode, Rachelle had a section of their yard replaced with fake grass. It ended up looking quite nice, and they were quite pleased. The idea of a fake grass yard is enticing, especially when you think of the water reduction, and the work reduction compared to maintaining a lawn. But we just aren't there yet.
For now, I think we will just water a little less frequently, use a few more hand towels, and start that composting project. But I will keep adding to my environmental wish list. Solar panels...grey water reuse system...wind turbine...electrical master switch... sigh.