Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Welcome

Welcome! In 2009, I resolved to start a blog and to be more GREEN in my ways. Thus I find myself writing a blog about becoming more green, documenting musings, ideas, and real changes I'm making for me, my family, my community and mother Earth.
Disclaimer: I'm still a suburban working mom with a fairly laid back preppy style. I don't strive to live perfectly green because I don't think it's possible (unless I were to make some major life changes like give up my job or house etc). But I do strongly believe we can all do our part to make the world a better place for our children, and that we can save money in the process. To me it's easy - a WIN-WIN. This world has its challenges a plenty, and I'd hate to think I didn't do my part to make life healthier, safer, and less taxing for my children. I'm not saying I don't want them to work hard, but I do mean I don't think they need to pay for our abuse of using too many non-recyclible materials, watch their health suffer because our generation didn't bother to try to reduce emissions or reduce the widespread use of antibiotics and genetically modified corn-based diets in the meat we eat.
As a working mom, I strive for efficiency at home, because my time at home, and especially with my children is sacred and limited. I want to make the most of it. I will pay a little more for convenience sometimes, but not at the expense of our health or the environment. So for example, although it makes packing lunches easier, I'm trying not to purchase individual yogurt cups for my kids. It saves packaging and money if I fill my own plastic containers for the girls with plain yogurt and fresh or frozen fruit. (I'm not thrilled about using so much plastic, but that is another story for another time).
So what have I done lately that is green? I am the proud new owner of my own seltzer making machine from the Soda Club! My husband and I both have a weakness for seltzer. We don't drink soda at home, but we love bubbly water. I was getting so tired of lugging 1 and 2 liter bottles into the house and starting to feel pretty guilty about all the wasted plastic, too. I remember thinking and saying to my husband that we need a solution to make our own seltzer at home, and then wah-lah, soon after I found a link on Tree Hugger to the Soda Club! The Soda Club sells a variety of carbonated beverage making appliances which are compact and affordable. We purchased a kit that included 2 rental and reusable CO tanks, bottles for storing the seltzer, and even a bunch of free samples for soda and seltzer flavors. Just as claimed, it's easy to use and even kinda fun to make your own seltzer at home! I'm sure it will not be long before we're seeing our return on this investment given all of the seltzer we were buying. And, I'm feeling pretty green! Yah!

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