Small Steps 3

Saturday, September 23rd, 2006
How can the choice of your family activities impact the environment? I am refering to the social stuff of our lives - how we spend time ‘playing’ with others. I would start by saying that we should always play nice, as my mom always told me.

I don’t know the kinds of things that you do with your kids, spouse, sibs, friends but would suggest that the further they are removed from technology, the more environmentally sensitive they likely to be. Choose to be outdoors over in, choose to be active rather than sedinatary, choose self propelled activities rather that motorized. Play board games rather than video/computer, go on a picnic, play catch, kick a ball, go for a walk, visit a park, smell the flowers, make a snowman… you get the idea.

Inside our homes we have a great opportunity to positively impact our environment and save $. The little things will make a difference. Shut off lights, computers, tvs when you are leaving the room ( make sure that there isn’t someone still in the room first), turn the heat down 2 degrees and put on a sweater, shut the tap off when you are brushing your teeth or shaving. Rethink your morning routine and I bet you can find numerous ways to reduce your use and sabe cash. We will discuss other ways to inve$t in savings in the Reduce blog, next week.

If you have followed the blog or series you will recall that your choice of employment can have a dramatic impact on the environment. I am not taliking about us all becoming tree-hugging greenpeacers (that’s what one of my kids calls me) but thinking about the place and activities that dominate about 50% of our waking hours. I am not going to expound on this idea but if you have suggestions - send them to podcast@everydayaction.ca or post a comment here. I have one more $10 Starbucks card(their prices are going up) for a randomreader who submits an idea.