It's a start

So Matthew has caught the low/no-impact bug and, as with most of his new passions, he is persistently trying to get the whole family "on board." Since reading this guy's blog, we've been trying to reduce the amount of junk we buy, eat, and especially throw back out into the big, green world.

What have we been doing? Mostly we've been more picky about what we buy. And here's a little list of other things we have done, many of which were inspired by "No Impact Man."

• We became members of the co-op within walking distance from home. There we can fill our own containers with bulk food, purchase local and organic produce (do you know how far YOUR bag of baby-cut carrots traveled?), and easily find other products that, if they have to be packaged, are done so out of recycled/recyclable materials.
  
• We don't buy cups of coffee anywhere unless we brought our own mugs.
  
• We avoid buying cookies and other "treats" (we probably should avoid buying anyway) because of their packaging.
  
• We take the bus when we can, even though with a toddler and a newborn we tend to look a little like a small circus.
  
• We are calling businesses and asking them to stop sending us junk mail.
  
• Matthew makes granola every week with Leah and, in addition to some cage-free eggs, has that for breakfast every morning.
  
• I made my very own batch of chocolate cupcakes -- NOT from a box!
• I hang the clothes on the line outside whenever I can, although lately with 7+ inches of rain in a week, it's been a bit hard!

So, we won't win a peace prize or be Al Gore's heroes or anything, but it's a start. And so far, minus missing junk food, it's been quite easy to do. I can foresee that the things we have to think about now will become second nature to us and buying anything in styrofoam will seem as awful as throwing away an aluminum can.