Earth Day

As I was folding a basket of clothes this evening and watching Oprah's Earth Day special she talked about the "garbage swirls in the ocean." We watched a program about this on the Discovery Channel a while back. I was reminded of one of my favorite talks by Julie Beck. This is just an excerpt...

Mothers Who Know Do Less
Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.


As parents we want to give our children everything. But often giving them less is really giving them more. It is my position that the best thing we can do for the earth is to consume less in the first place.

If you don't want the toy that comes with a kids meal, don't order the kids meal, ask for no toy or better yet skip the fast food altogether! I tried to avoid plastic toys when Awsumb was little and soon realized that wasn't going to happen. But I consciously think about what we are buying to add to our own growing "sea of plastic" here in our own home. Now, if we could just get toy makers to stop boxing things with out all those extra twist ties and layers of plastic packaging!

Don't buy so many things in individually wrapped packages. Although individually packages snacks may seem easier, it only takes a minute to pour a few goldfish into a little cup for your child. Same with juice. I don't like to use individual juice boxes at home. Instead I buy a big bottle and even usually add water to it when I serve it!

We are lucky to live in an area with an extensive recycling system. We have three large trash cans. The 1st is for regular trash, the 2nd is for all recycling (bottles, paper, cans, glass etc.) and the 3rd is for yard waste (food scraps and things like pizza boxes). We pay more money depending on the size of the can we have for our regular trash. In my neighborhood most people pay for the smallest size trash can for their regular trash, which makes the recycling can bigger in comparison. I think it is a great challenge to try for more recycling that regular trash each week.

A couple months ago we tried to go for a whole month without going to Target (which , if you don't already know, is where you buy all the plastic and bring it home in plastic bags! LOL!) This was really only truly possible because I have a good supply of soap and other needs stocked. We really did try, but eventually we ended up going in the last week and I don't even remember what for.

Next time you are checking out, or better yet, filling up your cart, think about what you are consuming and if there is a better way! As I always say, we vote with our dollar!

I think about Julie Beck's talk often. Especially this paragraph. "Choosing carefully or not at all" can be applied to other areas as well, such as the activities a child participates in. Do you spend more time driving around with your kids than at home just hanging out? More about this later...

(Read more of this talk by following the link "Mothers Who Know" in the Parenting and Family Links along the side of this blog.)