Earth Day

When I was in grade six my teacher asked the class to draw a picture of what it meant to be environmentally friendly. I drew a house with solar panels and trees (because that’s a good combination) and windows and skylights and a big shade porch.

Now that I’m an adult I realize that it isn’t really that easy. For starters, I’ve got trees so solar panels and wind turbines aren’t really possible. You can’t just go and add a big shade porch. And windows, well, they’re not cheap.

Instead I focus on the little things. I separate our garbage and recycling. I have a backyard composting system. I’ve been using cloth shopping bags for over fifteen years. We buy primarily real food that doesn’t come in packaging. We only eat meat a few times a week. And I limited our use of paper towels, plates, and all things disposable.

There’s still lots more that I can do, and I’m looking forward to the day that I’m fuelling my car with something other than gas.

This year for Earth Day I’m committing to spending 30 minutes outside cleaning up the garbage that has blown around our neighbourhood over this long, long winter. It may not sound like much, but you’d be surprised to see how much trash I collect.

This planet has given me so much, it only seems right to give a little something back.

Are you with me? What’s a change that makes sense for you?