the world is in our hands

Earth day should in context be every single day of our lives. Ya know, celebrating its beauty, conserving its resources ... and feeling what Noah is feeling in this very picture with the earth pillow over his head.

We've been making small transitions to a greener life-style since moving into our first home 6 years ago. The extra space in the kitchen allowed us to store bins for sorting recyclables. And since watching Inconvenient Truth, I have been unplugging the toaster after each use - which is now only mildly annoying in the mornings.

Our Earth Day celebration started with a long bike ride to the library where we found a handful of books on preserving our earth. During the kids' nap times, a bird had flown down our chimney and trapped itself in our skylight. It gave up and flew to lower ground - the breakfast room where I have real branches draped over the windows. How perfect. Aaron was able to free the bird and afterwards declared, "today is Earth day - the day the Patenaudes opened their home to wildlife." While I got a chuckle out of this - both Ava and I got "eeeewwwww" goose bumps.

We spent the afternoon at a nursery in search of small trees and seeds to grow our own wild flowers and herbs. The kids were amused by the forest-like greenery surrounding them and the rich texture of leaves that tickled their finger tops.

Before going to bed, Ava and I read The Earth and I by Frank Asch. Ava noticed a dead fish laying in a bank of junk and said "fish is sad" - and I agreed, explaining what happens when people throw garbage into the rivers. "The fish get sick - but see, this boy cleaned out the garbage, and planted flowers around the river - and all the fish are happy again."

I spent a lot of time thinking about the "earth" today and how everything goes around in full circle. So when Aaron wanted to buy weed killer at Home Depot today - I protested - proudly.

Green Resources:

1) Going green and becoming more eco-conscious seems to be trendy in Dallas as with all new things in this southern metropolis. In fact, I stumbled upon a unique high-end eco-boutique by the yummy name, Strada Verde [which translates to "Green Street" in Italian] in downtown McKinney. The owner Diljit Binning approached me with a personal tour of her lines. Maybe she thought I was a reporter since I was holding a notepad [I just got out of a client presentation located off the square]. Evenso, I was smitten with her British accent and products of eco-fashion. Purses made out of upholstery from vintage cars, shoes made out of recycled plastic, bamboo cotton tees and rugs made out of flour bags.. many items handmade by "local artists." Their opening night was tonight in fact - and I'm sure it was a stunning event.

2) Go Online. More and more are popping up, but sites I found full of good ideas include:
WFAA Project Green I Dallas Green Zine I TreeHugger

3) Things to do today: Don't run water more than you have to; run full dishwasher loads only; switch to energy-efficient bulbs [don't like the ugly fluorescent color like me? swap them out in rooms and fixtures you don't use often - like the guest bath; recycle - it's soo easy its ridiculous; and finally re-use - think about how you can give things you are about the throw away new life [I use cans of formula to store my craft utensils, empty plastic food containers, like yogurt, as tupperware, and plastic grocery bags as trash bags.]