Hello stranger...
It's been a long time since my last post. It is a brand new year. Happy 2010! We have been busy with life. School and work are great. AK loves Pre-K, and I am learning to love my new students. Well, they aren't so new anymore! They are a wonderful group of 5 and 6 year olds :)
I have discovered many new (to me) and interesting blogs out there. One, in particular, is Hip Mountain Mama. She has posed the One Small Thing challenge...and oh, I am ready for this challenge. The challenge is to to make 1 small (or huge) change each month leading up to Earth Day (April 22, 2010). This change being something that will make a positive green impact. When I read this I thought, "What an awesome challenge!" I began to think of the things we already do to help the Earth. I began making my own cleaners around Thanksgiving. I found a great hard surface recipe here, and I have enjoyed using it at home and in my classroom. I even made gift baskets containing the ingredients to make the cleaner for my family for Christmas. We also participate in our city's curbside recycling program. We have replaced our lightbulbs with CFL bulbs. We freecycle on Carroll County Freecycle.
There are some things I could really improve on. I have reusable shopping bags, but I usually forget to take them to the store with me. I have tried growing more plants, but seem to have a black thumb. I have tried to reduce the amount of disposable containers I use in mine and AK's lunchboxes, but I could do better.
As I think of what would make the biggest impact in my house right now, I think my challenge for January will be to use cloth to clean with, and stop using paper towels. I have one roll left. I will not buy more. I will use old wash cloths, t-shirts, and socks to clean and dust.
I hope you will challenge yourself to make a positive change. The Earth is depending on us.
2 comments:
Thanks for joining! Your first change is great and I commend you for giving up the paper towel! We use a lot of rags around here and keep one roll of paper towels under the sink for extreme emergencies...which is very rare!
Thanks and good luck!
Suzy
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I have an idea for getting rid of (or at least using less) paper towels in your classroom. Find a little hamper (or use a pillowcase) and throw dirtied cloth towels in during the week. On Friday, get a parent to take home the hamper, wash up the towels, and bring them back on Monday. It could be a student job to fold the clean towels and put them wherever you will store them... I think that could work! In fact, I might have to try that in my classroom... Let me know if you do it--good luck!
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