Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day Reminders
(a previous post)

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.

Psalm 65:8

At lunch, I wrote a list of things I currently do to be more eco-friendly. Making lists help me because I can sit here and think, "Oh, I don't really do enough!" but when I write a list I ending up thinking, "Wow! Go me." lol. I like to challenge myself in this area more every year because I do have a conviction that God doesn't want us to just trash the earth He created. I still buy used books though. Since I tend to read more than one book at a time, I've decided to recycle magazine pages and make my own bookmarks. Here's a simple one below (with musical notes) in which I doubled one thicker page over from a magazine and used a glue stick to seal it. Another idea I found was to take an envelope, cut of a corner, and write your favorite quote on...then voila! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, baby!

Want other ideas? Below are some of the things I do:

1.       Have mostly eco-friendly light bulbs

2.       Take advantage of the recycle programs at home & work

3.       Try to carry my own travel mup & make coffee/tea at work

4.       Bring lunch to work

5.       Drive a hybrid

6.       Have house plants in every room of the house & in my office

7.       Buy mostly free range, grass-fed meat

8.       Only get organic eggs

9.       Buy local veggies when possible

10.   Buy Horizon 2% reduced fat, organic milk

11.   Have one dinner per week that’s vegetarian

12.   Purchase vintage furniture, gifts/decor from antique malls

13.   Stay at sustainable B&B’s/hotels while on vacation

14.   Use breeze to cool house whenever possible

15.   Do not buy bottled water but use tap

16.   Installed programmable thermostat at homed

17.   Outside lights are eco & turn on by light sensor only

18.   Low flow shower heads

19.   Only wash full loads in washer & dishwasher

20.   Leave grass clippings on lawn

21.   Water early a.m., and water deep once or twice per week if it hasn’t rained

22.   Do not buy clothes that are “dry clean only”

23.   Eco-friendly Christmas tree & LED lights

24.   Decline shopping bags when I can carry the items

25.   Hang blankets & sheets to dry instead of using dryer

26.   Only have one appliance in kitchen plugged in (coffee maker)

27.   Try not to use Styrofoam

28.   Reuse any plastic bags I end up with (especially for pet waste removal)

29.   Receive my bills electronically & pay bills online

30.   Keep my cats indoors (safer for them and cats kill over 1 billion small birds/animals every year. 1 outdoor cat averages 40 kills per year…which is okay for me if they are only killing snakes and mice – lol)

31.   Wash most clothes in cold water

32.   Gotten off junk mail lists

33.   Have an inside light on a timer

34.   Solar lights outside patio

35.   Have an eco-friendly bamboo mattress and sheets

36.   Have mats at my doors to catch dirt

37.   In process of changing out plastic lunch containers w/glass

38.   Recycle magazines for book marks

39.   Reuse wine corks for decoration projects

40.   Reuse old bricks & rocks from my property for garden path and flower bed lining

You are probably already doing a lot of eco things and might not even realize it. If so congrats, and I hope you'll add one more! God gave us a beautiful earth and I want to care for it and appreciate Him for it.