Earth Day - April 22, 2008

In honour of Earth Day, Noah & I contributed the best we could by doing the following:

• did not watch TV (saved electricity)
• did not play any Xbox or video games (saved electricity)
• did not use our bed warmer's at bedtime (saved electricity)
  
• we used as little water as we could to brush our teeth (saved water) - this was entirely Noah's idea
• we went to the park to pick up garbage
• when we got a treat from Tim's, we walked into the store rather than going through drive through (saved some ozone)

Okay - so it doesn't seem to be very much but can you imagine if EACH one of us contributed in some small ways as this. My first goal for the activities today was to get Noah THINKING about what it means to be 'green'. I mean, let's face it kids are ignorant and we as adults have to teach them the importance (through example) of each person's contribution. We have all done things out of ignorance to our planet/environment that are harmful....and some of us continue to do so. But if you haven't started, could you at least try to start to THINKING of small ways that you and your family can do to help. Collectively all these efforts can and WILL make a difference.

When I first approached Noah (last weekend) about 'doing our part' for Earth Day, he was NOT very open to the idea. You know, to the idea of NO TV for the day or picking up garbage in the park or no Xbox. I'm happy to report that the more we brainstormed, the more we talked about the importance of these simple actions and the more we came up with ideas, the more he got involved & engaged about little things we could do to help the earth, to live a more 'green' life. It was encouraging to witness this type of awareness being aroused in my child. After we went through the drive thru at Tim's, Noah mentioned that we should re-use the paper bag (that he got his timbits in) for his lunch the next day. WAY TO GO, Noah - what a way to be thinking 'outside the box' - I would have NEVER thought of something like this!

When I arrived at daycare tonight (despite recovering from bronchitis and feeling pretty tired) I felt very excited about participating is such an important movement. Unfortunately by this point of the day, Noah did NOT feel the same. The poor guy had been hammered with Earth Day, Earth Day and more Earth Day activities. At school. At day care. At home. In fact, when I was excitingly talking about our plans for tonight - he was pretty insistent that he 'hated' Earth Day. Wooooooooh......I don't like the word 'hate'. Fortunately, but the time we arrived home I had a brilliant idea (simple but brilliant). I offered him a magic peanut butter cup - one that magically turned a sour mood into HAPPINESS! (I figured it may work because he is NEVER allowed junk food before supper) And VOILA, it worked. We giggled, laughed and were thrilled that these magical peanut butter cups brought Noah into a happy mood. So we called Jacques to share in the great news and we continued with our plans.

We had fun at the park....Noah had his MP3 playing, while I was literally 'yelling' at him to hear me while we picked up garbage. We both agreed that it was fun to do something like this TOGETHER. Isn't it always more fun doing things TOGETHER?

Starting next week, Noah & I are declaring every Monday "our" WEEKLY EARTH DAY and there will be:

• NO television
• NO xbox or ds video games
• NO bed warmers
• much more focus on things we can do to help the Earth

Please leave comments with ideas of how YOU contributed to Earth Day as well as ways that Noah & I can continue to contribute!

Below are some photos of our contribution to Earth Day - April 22, 2008!