My name is Nancy Weil and I am mother of 3 children, age 5 and under, with our last one on the way! We live on Mercer Island and enjoy the perks of Northwest living. I was postpartum from #2 when I started feeling environmental anxiety after seeing the film “The Inconvenient Truth”. My children’s and grand children’s futures flashed before me.
At the end of the movie Al Gore suggested replacing just one light bulb in your house with a mini compact fluorescent to make a difference- I changed 48! Then I switched our household over to all recycled paper products and started sending my kids to school with reusable lunch boxes. Then I could breath better.
Just recently I started feeling short of breath when I would read articles about global warming or noxious at the landfill statistics mentioned in magazines. Unfortunately, it wasn’t this pregnancy. What pushed me over the edge was an article I read on the cover of the NYTimes “Smuggling Europe’s Waste to Poorer Countries” about countries illegally shipping trash in ship containers to foreign countries and dumping them there because they didn’t want to adhere to new, more expensive international environmental laws. I couldn’t take it anymore, soda can/newspaper recycling wasn’t enough for me.
I decided to ramp up our style of recycling, I implemented composting in our kitchen, I make my own sparkling water with “The Penguin”, we use clothes napkins and I became militant about shutting down my computer and house lights before going to bed. This was just the beginning, what else can I do!! I decided that getting the word out was a great way to help “SAVE THE PLANET”. Everyone I know cares, but not everyone has the information. I went to my children’s preschool, the SJCC and asked if we could create a Sustainability Committee to help green the school. After many e-mails and meetings, things are underway.
The more I talk about what I am doing the more I hear, “Hey honey, do we compost at home?” or ” What is a mini compact fluorescent bulb?” which is all I want- let’s get the conversation started! I would love to bring to you, in this forum, information, ideas and solutions to everyday problems and answer questions that would make us all live a more sustainable lifestyle! Here is some info on what I just discussed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/science/earth/27waste.html – NY Times Article mentioned above
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/lunch-bags-more-food-containers-c-4_20.html – Reusable Lunch Boxes
http://www.sodastreamusa.com/catalog/2 – make your own soda
http://www.amazon.com/Globe-4860201-Ultra-Mini-Fluorescent-Incandescent/dp/B000GBBUDE – Compact Fluorecent Light Bulbs
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/products – Recycled Paper products for your home
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Kudos to the mindfulness meditation
community for taking time out for
themselves and prioritizing what is important
as individuals, as families and as
a community. Our children learn
our priorities by experiening
how we spend our limited time
and resources. Thank you
a pediatrician
Thanks for sharing — every little bit counts. I didn’t realize homemade sparkling water was possible. Thanks for the tip!