So for Earth Day today, I didn’t mow my grass.
Okay, so I probably wasn’t going to mow today, anyway. I have real grass, the grass that was here when the bison were still eating it, and it don’t need no stinking fertilizer and it don’t need no stinking water — during last year’s record-setting drought, it stayed green long past the time when most grass and many trees in central Indiana were dead or dying — and it’s tougher than most mowers. So it takes a bit of mental gearing up to challenge this grass.
I did, however, set aside a box full of items for Goodwill and Salvation Army while de-cluttering (reduce, reuse, recycle!) and I did all my cleaning with environmentally-friendly products. I live on a well, with a septic system, so environmentally-friendly is important to me; whatever I put down the drain I’ll eventually be drinking. I wish more people thought of it that way….
I’m not quite as decluttered as my sister-in-law Kelly, however, who’s been reading 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. I haven’t read it yet myself, and frankly the idea of limiting myself to 7 options seems really frightening in some areas, but I can certainly see the attraction in other areas.
I’ll be flying out to join Kelly at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference this week, which should be fun. I’m still trying to decide what opening chapter to take…! If you’re out there, please say hello and introduce yourself.
In the meantime, check out my friend Shawndra’s post below on solar cooking. She’s always posting her current dishes on Facebook, making the rest of us hungry, and she’s got great tips for reducing your carbon cookprint.
Laura, I look forward to meeting you at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference.
Kerrie
Cool! I’ll see you there!
You could start with The 100 Thing Challenge! I recently read that book and it inspired me to declutter like crazy around here. I think I donated three trunkloads of cloths to the Caring Center in Lebanon, and I actually made quite a bit of cash selling used books & DVDs back to Half-Price Books (that doesn’t happen often)! About a month ago I decided to try Project 333, which is wearing only 33 items of clothing for 3 months. Of course, I’m cheating on that too, because it seems more wasteful to not wear each of my three identical pairs of jeans than it is to wash one pair every couple of days. :D
I’m motivated to declutter, but I just need the free time to do it! I think I could probably swing 333 already; I kind of need a stylist. ;-) And I wholly agree with you about the jeans; you already own them, so save the water and detergent by using what you have. Makes sense.