Happy Earth Day! A day late…but truly, it is earth day every day in our family. After a busy week of work and travel I didn’t have time to make an Earth Day post, so I’m catching up today.
In my experience, I never see my children happier, freer, more connected to the moment as when they are playing together in the great outdoors. So, my Earth Day indulgence is to share some of my favourite photos of my children connecting with the wild earth and enjoying themselves playing in nature. I’m also sharing what our family does each day to live lightly upon the planet, see our list at the end of this post.
As a family we do a lot to try to minimize our impact on the earth, to live a green lifestyle, to live lightly and respectfully upon this planet that sustains us and gives us life. Above all else I try to find ways each day to ensure my kids feel connected to nature and the health of our planet. This means lots of time spent outdoors enjoying life and connecting with the elements, whether it’s walking or cycling to the places we go, running bare foot on the grass, or eating snow.
Here are the top 10 ways our family lives lightly upon the planet:
- We follow a vegan diet to minimize environmental damage associated with animal farming
- We eat and buy local products as much as possible to minimize emissions associated with delivery transport. If not local products then responsibly manufactured, organic and small scale guide our purchases
- We live car free and either walk or cycle almost everywhere we travel within the city, year round
- We use reusable cloth shopping bags (these ones are great because they fold up really small to fit in your pocket or bag) and we use reusable produce and bulk shopping bags (these ones for produce and these ones for bulk)
- We package litter-less lunches with reusable containers. Our favourites are stainless steel lunch containers (like these for main dish, these for snacks and dips and these for drinks) and our newest love is for beeswax food wraps (truly amazing product! they may seem pricey but I guarantee you they are worth the investment, you can completely stop using all plastic wrap)
- We wear things out before replacing them
- We recycle and compost like there’s no tomorrow
- We put on a sweater (or two) rather than heating our home and drink cold water instead of air conditioning
- We plant indigenous plants in the garden that don’t need overwatering or chemicals to thrive and support bee populations
- We spend lots of time outdoors to cultivate love, enjoyment and respect for the earth in hopes that our children will make the best choices for the ecosystem as a whole
Over the next year we are working towards a zero waste lifestyle having been deeply inspired by the Devine Family and by Bea Johnson (her book Zero Waste Home is a must read and share!).
Earth day, every day.
What do you do? I would love to hear. Please leave a comment below, no need to sign in or make a profile.
You might also like:
Garbage Free: How to Make your own Delicious Raw Cashew Milk
Interview with a Minimalist: The Devine Family *** A family of 7 living in a treehouse
World Wildlife Day: What you can do to help conserve and protect wild plants and animals
Love Your Mother: The Most Sustainable Clothing by Luv Mother
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Thanks for your writings! I travel always by bike. Books in the freelibrary next to the entrance of the house. No television. No advertising. I buy local food nearby. just live with what ye need. Be happy with less. Central heating low! Be kind to yourself, family and nearby. Just work enough to live on it. and much more….
That all sounds fantastic, thank you for sharing! Be happy with less is probably the best thing we can do personally.
Such a great post, happy to say I was able to check off most of the ideas on your list. I would love to know more about planting indigenous plants. I’ve heard of it before, but could never find resources about which plants are indigenous to Canada or where I could find them.
Thank you Rachel! I’m so glad that you are already doing many of these things. If there are any important ones missing please share. In terms of indigenous plants, I would recommend searching good ol’ Google for your province/territory with the term “native plants” or “indigenous plants.” That’s how I started. There are many botanical interest sites that list local plants by province/territory in Canada. Good luck!
I love, love, love your blog. It is truly an inspiration. We are a minimalist family, but we have really fallen behind on some of our “green” living practices after our third baby. This is a great reminder to always pack litter-free lunches (which I think will be easier in a few weeks when we will be homeschooling full-time and not sending lunches to school). Thanks for your beautiful writing and photography.
Thank you Acadia! And I just today noticed that you linked to me from yours, thank you so much for that. Switching to litter-less lunches and other green practices takes a little time, but in the end is just as easy as any other habit, but feel so much better! Thank you for reading the blog and for your kind words. xo
Apart from the things on your list:
– repairing things instead of throwing them out
– giving away/donating things instead of wasting them
– sharing things with other people (books, tools, etc.)
– being mindful about the cleaning products we use
– maybe too much info, but using a diva cup/moon cup instead of pads or tampons
And by the way, drinking something cold when it’s hot outside actually has no cooling effect, quite the contrary… beverages like hot tea or anything at least at room temperature is a much better idea!
Thank you Jette! I will add these to a subsequent post on good green habits. I really appreciate reader suggestions, and these ones are great. I think sharing is a really important one, there are so many tools people own that they use only a few times a year that could be shared among neighbours or friends.
In terms of the Diva cup, I’m with you! I find the most superior product.
And, yes, I do know about the beverages warm in warm weather, but my family and many others don’t seem to believe this and still prefer the cold water — it’s psychological, I think.