It seems like everywhere we go these days we hear mention of protecting the environment by doing our part and going a little greener. Green happens to be my favorite color, so naturally all this 'Green' talk has peaked my interest :). Sarcasm aside, I am actually no stranger to Greenery.
When I was in the fourth grade, I won the official "Earth Day" award for my master plan to save helpless seagulls from getting their feet and beaks stuck in the plastic 6-pack holders that beachgoers carelessly left on shore. Could anything be more useful? Later, in the fifth grade, my best friend Jessica Jones and I created our own neighborhood recycling company called J & A Recycling. Our mission was to go through everyone's garbage in town and separate rubbish from recyclables, all for a small price. The posters were made, the flyers were distributed and we thought we were saving the world one trash bin at a time. It didn't take long after going through our own household garbages to realize that we didn't have the stomach for it.
Those days in the Green are full of good memories, but that was when we lived in Oregon and they actually knew what and when "Earth Day" was. Since moving from Oregon at the age of 12, I haven't thought twice (let alone once) at the anniversary of Earth Day. But all that is changing now...
Fastforward 16 years and I am married to a wonderful man who (luckily) appreciates the eccentricities of his wife. In other words, he is always supportive of my big plans and my next big life-changing goal (like staying off of chocolate through an entire pregnancy...who could do that?!). However, this time, David was the one with the Greenest idea to date! Before I reveal our most recent world-saving step, I need to give you a little background.
We just moved to South Jordan, Utah from New Boston, New Hampshire. New Boston was a new world for us. We lived 30 minutes from a grocery store (add up the weekly gas bill if you want to feel pain) and lived on 3 acres of land. It was gorgeous - wild turkeys, deer, woodchucks, birds the size of small dogs and even porcupines. Beautiful as it was, it was the most inconvenient place we'd ever lived. The city did not operate their own garbage pick-up, so small private companies were available for hire. We were not given a garbage can, we were only told to put our bagged garbage at the end of our long driveway the night before pickup and they would get it in the morning. This seemed ridiculous considering there was no container to protect our trash from wild animals, but we did it anyway (and often picked up the mess the giant birds strung everywhere).
After the first day of garbage pick up, we noticed that most of our bags had not been picked up. Instead, they had been labeled with a large orange sticker and left for us. Thinking that we lived in a customer-oriented, capitalist society, I called the garbage company and asked what the deal was. They told me that the garbage man could tell by the weight of our bags that we had not separated the recyclables from our trash, so we would need to do that before they would bring them to the dump. When I got off the phone I think I used the phrase, "You have got to be kidding me!" about 14 times. They wanted us to dig through each bag by hand and take out things that could be recycled and put them in separate bags! I could not imagine any company expecting us to sift through rotten food, etc. and pull out aluminum cans and milk cartons. I thought it was the most inconvenient request I had ever heard. Apparently New Boston has a mandatory recycling law that everyone was supposed to follow. Since I am originally from the west coast (where land fill space is still abundant), I didn't realize the importance of limiting waste and the 3 R's. I guess I thought it was a choice to recycle and not a law! I'm sure it doesn't take a genius to realize that we learned our lesson and recycled from that day forward (better before the garbage goes out than after!).
Being forced to recycle really opened our eyes to a lot of things. We started being more careful about leaving lights on, began using fluorescent light bulbs and even tried to light a fire or two instead of turning on the heat.
Our stay in New Hampshire only lasted about 4 months, but it helped me to rededicate myself to the Green ways of my childhood. Living in South Jordan, we have a large garbage can and a large recycling bin. It is heaven! The best part is that we actually fill the recycling bin more than we do the trash can.
But the biggest earth-friendly decision we've made happened last week. David works in SLC, about 30 minutes or more from South Jordan. He calculated that he's been spending $12 a day in gas going to and from work. That is $60 per week and $240 per month!!! Each month we've been paying $117 in car insurance for his vehicle, not to mention the cost of maintenance, car washes and oil changes. David's car is paid off (luckily), but even without a car payment, we've been paying about $360 per month and about $4,400 per year!!!! These figures are just what this car has been costing us, not including the physical cost to the environment.
Once he realized this, David decided to sell his car to a dealership. He took a small portion of the money he received (less than $1,000) and bought a bike. He is now taking his bike to a bus stop everyday and riding the bus. His bus pass is free through his work and we pay $0 per month in gas, insurance and maintenance for him. He's also getting some good exercise and enjoying 45 minutes of reading time on the bus. Our pocketbooks win and so does the environment.
I honestly think we are the only couple in our entire neighborhood who only have one car. Most families have 2-3 +, but we like being a little "peculiar", even in Utah. I've also been thinking about one of President Hinckley's Be's - which involves Thrift & Industry and getting out of debt. Although we were not in debt because of the car, we were bound to pay a lot of money every month that could have been well spent in other areas. If you had an extra $360 every month, what would you do with it? It could be used for some fun date nights or family time. $4,400 per year is a great family vacation each year. Or think of the acts of service that could be done with $360 a month. We could help support someone on a mission or in college. We could help a single mother or a family who is struggling financially due to illness or unemployment.
So all in all, one small sacrifice can be financially ($4,400 per year), physically (exercise), mentally (less stress), emotionally (good feeling) and spiritually (service opportunities, frugality) fullfilling...and those are just the selfish reasons. The choice is also beneficial to the environment. An environment that I would like to leave better than I found it - for our children's sake and for everyone else.
To ease your mind, we have not turned into hippy granolas - David's hair has not formed into dread(ed) locks and I am still shaving my armpits. We still ask for plastic bags at the grocery store (they're good for dirty diapers) and my computer is on 24/7 (email is part of survival). So we are far from an Earth Day Award, but we are getting slightly closer. Next on our list is planning and planting a garden (using our land for something other than just looking pretty), actually rotating our food/toiletry storage (instead of just letting it all go bad and replacing it) and becoming more self-sufficient as President Hinckley suggested.
The seagulls may not be any safer and the neighbors may not have their recyclables sorted, but David and I are sleeping a little Greener at night.
Parker, our 2-year old son is all personality (as I'm sure most toddlers are). He has a priceless sense of humor, a crazy side (which manifests itself at 5 pm every day) and a gentle, cuddly side. He has been with us through more moves than most adults have had in a lifetime and he seems to adjust very well.
