It's Easy Being Green!

One of the most unexpected effects of our move to Australia was the overwhelming feeling that our actions were creating nothing but waste, waste, waste.  It was almost sickening at times when we were surrounded with boxes, paper, styrofoam, plastic bubble wrap, etc., all of which we wanted out of our house as quickly as possible to reduce the mess and chaos.  Luckily, our relocation company, Crown Relocations, was quick to inform us that they recycle as many of the packing materials as possible, and the team spent a considerable amount of time breaking down cardboard boxes, rolling up packing paper, and separating plastic materials.

I guess it's appropriate that we moved to an extremely environmentally conscious country, where we immediately were given "baptism-by-fire" lessons in being more aware of our usage.  While I can reasonably say that Australia (or at least Brisbane) is at least a decade or more behind the States in several areas such as store hours (grocery stores close at 6pm on Sunday folks!) and internet speeds (most homes and even offices are still on internet access that is gained through a phone line, not ethernet or cable), they are decades ahead of the States in being green.  Many stores charge you extra for bags, homeowners are installing solar power like it's going out of style, they promote 4 minute showers to save on water, cloth diapers (or "nappies") are popular,  the list goes on and on. "Being green" is obviously high on the national agenda and the government is doing a lot to raise awareness and increase consciousness.

Here's a list of some of the EASY things we've changed to make our carbon footprint a little smaller these days.

• We reuse our "green" grocery bags instead of bagging the plastic ones.
• We only own one car, Cory takes public transportation to work each day.
• We are recycling all glass, plastic, paper, aluminum.
• We do more walking, less driving.
• We use the new "green" CFL light bulbs instead of old incandescent bulbs.
• We are not buying bottled water anymore, we refill a pitcher and put it in the fridge.
• We put our clothes out on a clothesline to dry when it's sunny instead of drying them in the dryer.
• We no longer use disposable plates or cups.
• We have chosen paperless billing for our utilities to save on paper.
• We turn off the water while we are brushing our teeth.
• We donate all gently used household items instead of throwing them away.

Now before you go running off saying that the Heitzmanns have become "tree hugging hippies" (which isn't such a bad thing by the way), there are still a lot of areas where we could use a green makeover...a lot of which have to do with being a large family.  Some things just aren't easy to part with like my comfy SUV that fits three kids and a weekend's worth of luggage, disposable diapers, ziploc baggies.  And while a lot of the things on my list are not new or brilliantly original, they are big steps for us, and the more of the population that gets on board with being green, the better off our world will be for our little ones.

Okay, I'm done.  But, before you go, enjoy a little Jason Mraz in this video about nature conservancy...it just happens to be one of my kids favorite songs!