A little goes a long way:

In high school, (many, many years ago), I had an English teacher who would always try to talk with us about the importance of recycling and doing our part to save the earth. Sadly, at that time, the only thing I heard him saying was: "DON'T USE HAIRSPRAY!" And, to a teenage girl, that's like telling a person not to breathe. Now, in hindsight, I completely see how ridiculous I was being. If I'm being completely honest, recycling was not something that we talked about or practiced in my household growing up.

For those precise reasons is why we've introduced the practice of recycling in our home to our now 4-year-old son as soon as he was able to grasp the concept of "throwing things away," and the importance of recycling. So, you've asked the question what am I doing to help reduce my carbon footprint, and, it's exactly that; being the change that I want to see. My husband and I make sure we are very intentional about recycling, reusing items and reducing where we can. We include our toddler in this process and talk with him about the importance of what we are doing.

Our son helps his dad on garbage/recycle pick up days. He gets very excited about being able to make sure that everything that should be goes into our recycling bin. He also loves to assist his dad with rolling our trash & recycle bins down to the end of the driveway to be picked up. We talk with him about loving and being kind to the earth because we all are relying on one another to survive. We will continue these practices in our home so our son can continue them in his own home, with his own family when that time comes.

We believe in the notion of each one, teach one. I firmly believe in the power of repetition, and making things fun so that our son will want to continue with the practice of helping us reduce our carbon imprint. Additionally, beyond recycling, we do our best to reduce our use of harmful materials in our daily routine. The plates, cups & utensils that we use for our son are all made from recycled materials.

I honestly wish that I could locate my former English teacher now and share with him that although it may have seemed that his pleas were falling on deaf ears, it is something that has stuck with me, and now, I am intentionally doing my part to help our planet. Something else that really resonates with me now that I'm an adult and have a child of my own, is him saying that he just wanted earth to be healthy for his daughter who happened to be a baby at the time. As a mother, now, I hear him loud and clear as I have the same desires for my own child.

We’ve seen and felt so much of the bad in the world, we want to do our part, and spread some good. One of the best parts of me is my son, so it feels different being able to journey with him, to help make our world and environment a better place for us all. Parenting can be tough, and I know from shared conversations that we often feel like we’re floundering our way through, and not really getting a whole lot right. This, for my husband and I, feels the exact opposite of that.

Overall, we will continue to do our best to lead by example. Wherever we find opportunities to make better choices about how our daily lives are impacting the environment, we will do so. And, I know, that our son will continue this way of life long after we are gone because it will be ingrained in him, and that is something that makes me very proud. I also know that wherever my high school English teacher is, if he had a chance to see me now, I sincerely think he'd be beaming with pride! #eachoneteachone!