Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

Do you celebrate the day or do you ignore it? I think Earth Day is a wonderful holiday and I'm making efforts to elevate it to the status of the 4th of July or at least Halloween around my house. Since holidays usually have special foods attached to them I've decided we will eat vegetarian for the day, to start with. (Well I try; The Youngest ate leftover chicken tenders earlier, but eating leftovers reduces waste so I guess that can fit the theme!) We also make Earth Day Resolutions, similar to New Year's Resolutions only green. A few years ago, before it really caught on, I made a resolution to use canvas bags at the grocery. I was the only one at the time- the store employees where I shop started calling me The Bag Lady. Now everyone does it; I started a fad! ;) (Yes, I know I didn't start it, but I jumped on the bandwagon a lot earlier than most.) I'm so glad it's hip now, no matter who got it started.

Last year, hmmm, I just remembered- my resolution was to take shorter showers. Major fail on that one, but it's hard. It's heat therapy for me and soothes the fibromyalgia. Guess I need to make two resolutions this year to make up for it! I'm not quite sure what I want to focus on for the upcoming year. I've been trying to eat local but it's challenging around here since this isn't an agricultural area. I buy organic whenever possible and I'm hoping to get some tomatoes from the bush I've planted in our little teeny herb garden. My weight loss has also helped the planet- who knew that could happen? I find I get cold easily now that I'm thinner so we're keeping the thermostat warmer. (I live in a hot climate so warmer for us uses less AC.) DH isn't always happy about that but when he's at work it's toasty in my house! We use fluorescent light bulbs in most of our light fixtures (except for the computer room where it makes the screens go buggy) but that was something DH handled.

OK, OK, I've got it; first resolution- I'm going to try to find more vegetarian meals that my family will enjoy. Oprah had the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" on her show today and he suggested eating vegetarian one day per week. Right now we're eating one meal per week (the Black Bean Cakes- I have to post that recipe now that I have permission!!) so I want to increase that over the upcoming year to at least a full day. He said his family has "Meatless Mondays" and that sounds like a really good idea to me.

Second resolution- prior to Earth Day 2010, get the new energy efficient windows we need for our house. We have the money set aside so now I have to do the leg work to find a contractor and actually have the work done. That's something that will really make a difference in our energy consumption since we have the WORST windows! The gaps are large enough that lizards get in on a regular basis- shudder. It's a one time thing that will make an ongoing difference so I think that's a great second resolution. (And I still need to try to take shorter showers; sigh.)