Going Green Conveniently

Half of modern hustle is trying to fit 25 hours worth of activity into 24. The other half is rushing around to pick up the conveniences that help us get it all done. But in the meantime what are we doing to the environment with all the energy over usage? I'm not proposing that we all disengage and live on eco-friendly communes (although doesn't it sound relaxing?), but we can put on and pull up our hemp based vegetable dyed green socks and do our part with just a little rethinking.

Yes, you can go green. The convenience you need does not need to make you an environmental sell-out.  Put yourself on an energy consumption diet and reward yourself for good choices. Like any new effort, even small efforts count: consuming less, wasting less, diluting what you do use. But how to get to cutting back on consumption without incurring a large headache?

Some of being a green mom is just stepping back from the constant accumulation marketing tells us our parenting experience needs to be. Stimulating the kids, upping their nutrition, keeping them safe, and giving them fun does not need to involve packaging, but we are accustomed to wrapped solutions.

We can trade toys, educational resources, clothes, and baby gear with friends or a formal community of parents. Sharing saves energy. We can get a break and increase fun without more gadgets. Opt to pay for services and experiences over stuff. It still contributes to the economy with less pollution.

Even simple measures like trading in your film filled camera and catching up to the digital age uses less product over time. Reducing weekend travel time is easy if you entertain at home or hang out with families in the neighborhood. You may find the stay close to home tactic freeing up time and energy. Bump up your recycling efforts a little no matter what level of reuse you're at.

Environmentally sound convenience dinner does exist. To pick up dinner and dry cleaning and the like, group the errands to save time, energy, and gas money. Even better, if time allows; walk, bike, or bus to errands. Nix fast food take out packaging and have a ready made salad and pizza from the supermarket or do farmer's market takeout and hit a roadside corn stand if you are near one. When you do pick up bags of burger, recycle those paper products.

Car pool for more than school and work. It works even better sometimes when you don't get tied down by a standing arrangement. Do what works day to day. Every time you take turns with someone nearby to run two kids to a birthday party or take pictures of the fieldtrip or dance class for them is one less person driving.

Do some of what grandma did. Your day might hold no time for using something like a clothesline, but if you do have one accessible you can stand outside and breathe a bit of cool air and hang a few thing out at night (even in the dark) and let nature work for you all the next day. If you like the idea, but don't have access to a line, use the patio for a few things. If you can't let go of your dryer, use it less: designate a towel per person for a few days and hang them to dry on the rack or tub between uses.

Even rethinking kids' art to make it functional saves a few trees. Get them to recycle paper in papermaking. Turn their school art into cards and gifts. Encourage them to build Lego creations and scrap wood forts. It is creativity that is redo able while still saved (take a picture for posterity). They can make funky art for the house out of recyclables: pick up fallen branches to paint lime green for centerpieces. Rock art for the flowerbeds is also popular with the kiddie artist and watch them beam when you frame paintings for the living room wall.  

Second hand shopping like neighborhood garage sales can double as family time and toy shopping. Examine new purchases for motive. New book or what it represents? How about sitting down with a big stack of books you pick up from their scattered places all over the house and reading them one by one to your child?

Sign up your family for selective deprivation. Adding to the playroom and the kids' wardrobes is fun, but don't accumulate for its own sake – have a theme. Add another character to the dollhouse, another playdoh cutter to the set, a few more cars to the mini garage and watch the kids continue to play with the same toy long after you thought they would. The same goes for clothing – accessories go a long way on the new and fresh factor.

Grab a new idea or two or scale back just a little everywhere and you will soon be operating effortlessly environmental.