Don’t B Kind 2 Earth Today

Instead, B Kind 2 the earth EVERYDAY! I love that Earth Day gives us the opportunity to talk about being green and puts the subject front center. I believe that we need to make small changes everyday, so please don’t just B Kind 2 Earth today, but make small changes that you will adopt forever. (Working on post through The Motherhood, but no compensation received.)

I’m going to be honest here. Could I be more green? Yes I could. I don’t have a compost pile in my backyard….I drive an SUV….and I often forget to turn my computer off at night. But what I have done is to be more aware of the waste that we produce as a family and I look for small changes we can make. I’m a firm believer that one small change CAN and DOES make a BIG difference.

Pledge to B Kind 2 Earth Day

B Kind 2 Earth Day is a project of Nickelodeon, the National Wildlife Federation, TheMotherhood.com and incredible bloggers (including me) and organizations across the country. You can pledge to make changes by liking the B Kind 2 Earth Day Facebook Page and filling out the promise.

As the Virginia State Leader for the B Kind 2 Earth Day project, I am encouraging you to make one small earth friendly change today and beyond.

B Kind 2 Earth Day Changes

Here are some of the small changes that can be made:

• Change all your lightbulbs to the energy-efficient bulbs. We started to do it slowly. As lightbulbs burned out, we replaced with more energy-efficient ones. Now that is all we have. These lightbulbs also last a lot longer so we change them less often.

• Take shorter showers. I admit, there are times when I’m stressed and standing under that hot water feels so good. But on a daily basis, I try to get in and out of the shower as quick as possible. If your kids are taking really long showers, try using a timer to teach them about the concept of time. They don’t know how long 5 minutes really is.

• Reuse the back of paper that your kids bring home from school. With 4 kids I get SO much paper. I recycle the ones that can’t be used and you can use the backs of some for scrap paper. Write your grocery list on it and then recycle it after.

• Turn your lights off. If you are always forgetting to turn your lights off, put them on a timer. Then you know they won’t be on all night. You can also charge everyone who leaves the lights on. This really helps kids to understand that leaving the lights on does cost money. Use that money to pay the electric bill. It may only be a few dollars but if you show your kids that they have to pay for the lights, they may remember to turn them off.

• Recycling paper, cans, cardboard and plastic daily. If your community does not offer recycling bins that is picked up with the trash, you can find recycling centers near you.

• Only do full loads. Run your dishwasher and washing machine only when you have full loads and use cold water to do your wash.

• Turn down your hot water heater. Just turn it down a degree or two. It can save electricity when your hot water heater does not have to work so hard to heat the water as high.

All of these changes may seem small when you look at each change in your family, but if everyone adopts these small changes into their family, it will make a big difference overall. Being green does not mean you have to go overboard and change your entire lifestyle. To me it means being more aware and making small changes.

Let’s Talk About Earth Day!

What changes are you adopting in your family to B Kind 2 Earth Day? How do you celebrate Earth Day?

Disclosure: I am working on this campaign through The Motherhood. B Kind 2 Earth Day is a project of Nickelodeon, the National Wildlife Federation, TheMotherhood.comand incredible bloggers and organizations across the country. I was not compensated in any way for this post.

Images courtesy of Microsoft Images.

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