Sometimes I think that it is a blessing in disguise that I don’t have more time to read, because the more I read about toxins in our environment, the more I want to just never let my kids leave my house (not that the home is much safer these days). When news about BPA in plastics first came out, I went through my cupboard and threw out every single plastic water bottle I had. I was thrilled when Nalgene announced that they had created a BPA free line so that I could have the convenience of a reusable water bottle without worrying about what else I was drinking.
I just finished reading Gorgeously Green – 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life, and it really got me thinking about the things that I do on a daily basis without even thinking about them. For the most part, as a family, we try to live fairly green.
We’ve made a lot of progress in recycling. A few years ago, when trash day came around, our trash can would be over flowing and there would be several more trash bags in my garage that had to be snuck into my neighbors trash cans or we would put them in my trash can after the trash was picked up and run the trash can across the street for a second pick up. The other day I was absolutely shocked when I went to take the trash out and there were only two trash bags in the trash can. Two trash bags for a family of 5 for the entire week. We’ve made progress. We’re throwing away less and recycling more.
We try and turn lights off whenever we aren’t using them and I have been experimenting with cloth diapers and discovered that they really aren’t as bad as I thought they would be. So for a lot of the book I was feeling pretty good about myself. The section on beauty products scared me though, and sent me right to the store to buy new deodorant and skin products. Gorgeously Green did give a lot of really basic suggestions that we can do to make our lives a little bit greener. I’m not quite ready to give up eating meat or put a compost bin on my kitchen counter but I’m making small steps.
There were several typos and misspellings in the book, which made the English major in my cringe and several of the website URL’s were inaccurate, but could be tracked down with a little bit of extra searching. Overall, Gorgeously Green is a great resource for moms who want to take small steps towards a greener life but aren’t quite sure where to start. I read the entire book in 2 days, and lately, between active boys and other commitments, that is pretty fast. Since it really is an 8 step program, I’m going to go back and start at step one and actually make small steps along the way. I like small steps. It’s a lot easier to make changes in your lifestyle if you don’t feel like you have to do everything at once.
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Thank you for the review. I had heard of Gorgeously Green, and you gave a great review of it. I am with you, I am trying to reduce my carbon footprint, but not ready to give up meat…. Or put that compost in the kitchen. I did try one outdoors a few years ago. You need to have everyone on board to make it successful…we weren’t there yet. We will be…
.-= Evelyn´s last blog ..Glow Girl! =-.