In Which Lindsey Hearts the Planet

I'm all for going green and I wanted to do this post around Earth Day, but I just happened to be consumed with Other Stuff at the time and it didn't happen.  Anyway, especially since we had an entire week devoted to Cooling the Earth at school, I have been trying very hard to make some Earth-friendly changes.  I am already a recycling madwoman both at school and at home, we make all trashless lunches to take to school, we use canvas shopping bags, and we changed our lightbulbs to CFL's a while back.  I would say that we practice a good number of the Earth-friendly suggestions that are usually made as far as conserving, reusing, etc.  So I was actually looking for some new things, because, ya know, the more small changes we make, the bigger impact we can have.  (This message brought to you by Lindsey Crusades For the Earth).

Anyway, aside from no longer sending home nightly homework sheets (I now send 2-sided, 2-night homework or try to do better with paperless homework), here is what I found:

* Did you know that Nike recycles used sneakers (any brand) into gym floors? Click here to learn about Nike's Reuse a Shoe Program

* Crocs can be recycled, too.  Check out Soles United

* Many bottlecaps cannot be recycled in your regular plastic recycling bin because they are made from another type of plastic, but you can find out about the Bottlecap Recycling Program 

* Learn the real story of bottled water and its impact on the environment here at Story of Stuff

* I kept getting giant booklets in the mail from the company that handles my various insurances and retirement savings (not my personal statements but books and books of annual fund reports that go to all of their customers that I completely do not understand and always just recycle) and found on the inside cover of one of the books that you can opt to have it all sent online so I did that.

* Want to stop getting junk mail that you just recycle as soon as it comes?  There are many services that can do this.  Some cost money, others are free.  A local woman who does "going green" school assemblies recommended GreenDimes but it costs $20.  You can Google "stop junk mail" and fund a bunch of both free and pay services that can help ditch the junk mail.  Here, also, is a link from the Today Show with lots of info on stopping junk mail.

I've also made my blog carbon neutral, like many other like-minded bloggers... you post this on your blog and choose a button from this German website (it's in English), email them a link to your post, and they will plant a tree (along with the Arbor Day Foundation) to neutralize the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog.

(I can't link the button here but it is linked on my sidebar)

Here are a few more kid-friendly, eco-friendly websites to peruse:

Eco Kids , EPA Kids , Global Warming Kids , Green Squad , The Big Green Help at Nickelodeon (click on The Big Green Help) , National Geographic Kids , Kids Planet , Stop Global Warming , ClimateChange.org , We Can Solve It , Green Dimes , Care 2 , Ocean Conservancy , Earth 911

Happy belated Earth Day!