I suppose there is a spectrum for how much or how little effort you put into taking care of the Earth. Six months ago I probably fell in the low-middle; I did the easy stuff, but I didn't go out of my way. By nature I'm a rule follower so I did the basics: recycle, don't litter, drink out of reusable water bottles, turn the water off while brushing my teeth, and turn lights off when I leave a room (Bryan might disagree on this one). I've found that since I've started reading more real food blogs and changing the way we eat I've made some little changes that have bumped me up a few notches on the spectrum.
Here are some of my new green ways:
I use these and these divided containers to pack Anna's lunch. I like them because it's one container that keeps everything separate. I usually have to use one of these little reusable cupcake liners for one more space. I also pack my lunch using reusable containers (usually for salad). I've drastically cut down on the number of plastic baggies I use in a week. Anna's lunch has recently been half a PB (natural) and J (all fruit spread) on 100% whole wheat bread (Aunt Millie's 100% natural), sliced apple, cucumber with hummus, and a treat. Right now she likes these fruit snacks. These do not have any artificial dyes, but the 2nd ingredient is corn syrup and the 3rd is sugar so they aren't exactly healthy but just slightly less terrible than original fruit snacks. It's really hard to stop giving her a treat even though she doesn't need it. I'll work on healthier treats over the summer.
I also bought these popsicle molds for smoothie pops and popsicles. If you are a fan of 100 Days of Real Food you might have discovered that many yogurt products are touted as healthy and low-fat, but they are actually just one more processed food that is full of sugar, artificial dyes, and unreadable questionable ingredients. The exception to this rule is plain yogurt sweetened with a natural sweetener like honey. I'm not going to lie - I think it's really gross and bitter even when mixed with fruit, so I'm not there yet. I make my smoothies in the blender with organic vanilla yogurt (contains sugar which is why it tastes better) and frozen fruit (strawberries and peaches is my fav). I pour the leftovers into the molds and make yogurt pops. The Weelicious cookbook and website have recipes for yummy natural popscicles to try this summer.
I was able to use my newest Target dollar bin find today at the grocery. Several weeks ago I was at Target looking for summer clothes for our Disney trip and other things I just couldn't live without when I found reusable mesh produce bags; I was super excited because I didn't have to put in any effort to search for them and possibly pay for shipping. They held up well with our heavy produce (apples and cucumbers) today. I suppose I will continue to use less plastic produce bags throughout the summer when I start receiving my CSA box!
The experts, or at least people on Today/Oprah/whatever, say making small changes like some of the ones I've been able to make go a long way. So, like making the changes to eat real food, making changes to be kinder to our Earth can be made with baby steps.
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