I am sorry for my long absence! All I can say is that life has been crazy, and it will probably stay crazy for a while. I feel bad that I didn't get a "Making the World a Little Sweeter" post done in honor of Earth Day last week. Oh well- better late than never.
One way to make the world sweeter is to watch how we treat it. Yes, I'm talking reducing your carbon footprint and all that. I think we all have a responsibility to take care of our beautiful earth. I would say you don't have to do anything drastic, but start with the little things. Pay attention to how much water you use, and try to turn off lights when you leave the room, or better yet, open the curtains and don't use electric lights during the day if you can help it. Turn your heat down a notch and put on a sweater during the winter, or turn the a/c down a bit in the summer if you can.
Obviously, you can help make the world a more beautiful place by minimizing the waste deposited on it. That is the challenge this month. Either minimize the garbage you generate by recycling, or grab a bag and go pick up trash for a few minutes.
Despite my shock and disappointment that there is no curbside recycling program where I currently live (I am, after all, an Oregonian at heart), I do try to recycle. I know of places locally that will accept paper and other items for recycling if you drive it over to them. But what do I do with all the glass and plastic containers? I have a hard time throwing those away. Unfortunately for my husband, this often means that we have bags of little glass and plastic jars and other types of containers building up in corners until I can find uses for them. (I guess my hording problem is actually the city's fault. Right?) This has, however, proven very useful to me so many times. Remember the time I needed a gazillion TP tubes to make decor for a Scout dinner? I had most of what I needed on hand already. And the time I decided to make a bunch of homemade instruments for my toddler to play with? We pulled out some of those glass bottles and filled them with water to make "flutes". My magazines and shoe boxes turned into wall art. Cheese boxes became a decorative stacking organizer box, a plastic bag became a shower caddy, a ring box a photo frame, and so on. Most recently, I needed a last minute gift for a neighbor friend, so I whipped up a batch of cookies, pulled out an empty hot cocoa canister, covered it with scrapbook paper and embellished it, put the cookies in the canister, and delivered it as is.
I was really pleased with it, and I have plans to do more! You could use formula canisters or chow mein noodle canisters and fill them with candy, cookies, treats, nice notes- lots of gift possibilities there. Use it as your gift wrap. My point is that even if you don't have a recycling program in your area, you can save lots of things from the landfill by cleaning, beautifying, and using them for whatever purpose you can come up with!
If you have time and want to go above and beyond, grab your friend/ husband/ kids/ room mates and go pick up trash you see on the side of the road, in a neighborhood park, walking trail, your own yard or wherever you see the need. I am going to put some plastic bags in our stroller so I can pick up litter I see when we walk to the park. If you don't have time to go looking for litter, make a conscious effort to not leave any litter behind and educate those you are with if they are prone to leave their mark on nature.
We can make the world sweeter by giving it a little TLC!
