The simple act of unplugging electronics when you aren’t using them not only reduces energy, but could save you as much as 10 percent on your electric bill.
With Earth Day’s 40th anniversary on April 22nd (Thursday) fast approaching, Cascadian Farm wants you to join the celebration by pledging to follow a few eco-friendly tips on Facebook. Choose from eight different pledges, ranging from reusing clothes to reducing your speed while driving on the highway, and find the one that fits your lifestyle. For each person that signs a pledge now through May 31, 2010, Cascadian Farm will donate $1, up to $40,000, to the Organic Farming Research Foundation, which fosters the improvement and widespread adoption of organic farming systems.
As the Organic Farming Research Foundation continues to sow seeds to transform agriculture, you can do your part to initiate a positive change for healthier foods and a healthier earth by visiting http://www.facebook.com/cascadianfarm and signing the pledge that’s right for you.
Dedicated to organic goodness since 1972, Cascadian Farm products are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers or genetically engineered ingredients. With your help, we can all live greener together.
Visit CascadianFarm.com to learn more and download a $1.00 coupon today!
The kind folks at Cascadian Farms through MyBlogSpark, have provided me with a prize pack to giveaway to one of my readers in honor of Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary and Cascadian Farm’s Earth Day Pledge on Facebook!
An Important Note for my Reader’s: these are NOT GLUTEN-FREE products! I wanted to participate in this giveaway to help spread awareness of Cascadian Farm’s Earth Day Pledge and encourage everyone to get involved, even if in one small way. I obviously cannot review the products for you because, well, you know, that whole gluten “thing” kinda gets in the way! 😀 When my prize pack arrives in the mail, I am going to donate it to my local food bank. You could do the same or give it to a friend or loved one who can eat gluten!
The “Live Green Together” prize pack includes Cascadian Farm Cereals and Granola Bars, including: Fruitful O’s Cereal, Cinnamon Crunch Cereal, Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars, Dark Chocolate Almond Granola, Dark Chocolate Almond Granola Bars, Oats & Honey Granola and an Eco-Friendly Grocery Bag.
To enter this Giveaway, simply answer this question in the comment reply box:
What changes have your family made (or plan to make) in an effort to live “greener?”
I started my own journey of “greener” living just over a year ago, when I all but quit using paper towels. I was a paper towel-aholic! In place of paper towels, I found some great shop towels at Costco and Sam’s Club, a 30-pack of towels costs less than $20 (which is still less than a club pack of paper towels!). I bought 3 packs and I now use those instead of paper towels and just throw them in the washing machine at the end of the day. It is better on the environment and MUCH BETTER on my pocketbook!
I also started to recycle, unplug most of the electronics in our house when not in use, and just recently, we planted 4 fruit trees in our backyard and I started making my own non-toxic cleaning supplies. These are just a few of the very simple things that we can all do to reduce our carbon footprint and take better care of our planet for future generations. They are also very helpful, especially in today’s economy, to add money back into your wallet to spend on products that really matter… like organic whole foods (*most* of which are naturally gluten-free (I’m talking Fruits and Vegetables here)! See where I am going with this?). 😀
I will use a Random Number Generator to pick the winner on Friday, April 23, 2010.
Good Luck! 😀
I have been recycling/reusing things for quite some time. My husband is finally on board with it since we have a new recycling program that gives you incentive points for the volume that you recycle. We also have started using more reusable containers instead of plastic baggies for lunch (love the EasyLunchBox). We have also bought real water bottles instead of purchased bottled water. I almost always drive slower than the speed limit, because it's much better on my mileage. I like the idea of the shop towels. The wasted paper towels really drive me nuts!
Suzanne,
Glad you like the Easy Lunchbox, aren't they awesome?
I need to work on the driving thing… I have a genetic "Lead Foot," LOL!
We have tried to live greener by bringing in our own bags to the grocery store. It doesn't feel like it has a huge impact but I'm sure in the longrun every bit helps!
You know Erin, it doesn't "seem" like much does it? I felt that way too, but there is a bigger cumulative effect going on! 😀
Good idea on what you'll be doing with your "gluteny" products coming in the mail. We are taking steps – one thing at a time – to really change and become greener. We recycle. We now use reusable grocery bags (which I love – I can schlep a bunch of groceries without the basket to the car, and in one trip from the car to the house, with these babies!), and I've recently found a spongelike thing that works well for washing dishes and wiping down counters – and it can be thrown in the dishwasher, and it dries up quickly (unlike a rag, which tends to get clumped in a ball and mildewy), and so we're using less paper towels. Once my cleaning products run out, I have plans to make natural ones. We're growing a small garden, and I'm contemplating a compost pile. One small, permanent change at a time makes a difference!
Alta,
I could not have said it better myself! 🙂
I teach three and four year olds and each year the children make a recycle robot out of a plastic garbage can and we use it to recycle our juice and water containers. I'm hoping if we start them young to care about our planet it will carry through to adulthood.
Cindy,
I agree and think that is the key point we all need to keep in mind. Just like with eating well, if we, as parents and educators can "plant these seeds" for our children now then there is hope for a better tomorrow.
Case in point, I was diagnosed with celiac disease when I was 31 and trying to undo a lifetime's worth of "taste bias" was utter hell for me. It IS possible, but hard nonetheless. Making the choice to get my kids eating better at a very early age will be with them for a lifetime. They may stray for a time as they get older, but I know they'll eventually come back. I believe the same concept applies with taking cake of our planet.
Even if an adult has a "glass half-empty" attitude, I encourage them to "think outside the box," at least for our little ones. It has a funny way of coming back to you… in a very good way! 😉
I love to read your blog because of your honesty! Sometimes I feel like I'm in the twilight zone with my feelings over being diagnosed. I loved reading your statement about how difficult it was to undo your 31 years of eating one way. I was diagnosed at 55 and I found it a HUGE challenge to get over missing all the foods I used to eat. Thanks again for your honesty. (:
Our family of five used to fill two garbage cans with trash every week. Thus, we were paying extra each month for the second can. Recently, our city started offering recycling bins, where we can recycle newspaper, cardboard, plastics, aluminum — essentially everything but glass. It gets picked up every two weeks and driven to a major recycling center in Denver. (We are in NW New Mexico).
Since we started recycling, we no longer fill the second trash can, and it is AMAZING the difference in how we feel about our impact on the earth. The girls will even stop me and say, "Mom, don't put that it the trash, that's recyclable!"
We also take in our own bags into the grocery stores, use reusable containers for food and juice/water, and walk instead of drive whenever we can. We are within walking distance of a grocery store, a Walgreen's, several convenience stores, and the girls' school. We are very blessed.
I'm a 23-year-old single mom living in Kansas who has really only truly become aware of our planet's environmental crisis this was January. Since then, I have started roughly an acre of organic (AND natural pesticide + herbicide free) veggies, switched my elderly father's, my daugher's and my own diet to the healthiest we can concoct (losing my daibetic father a whopping thirty pounds and shrinking!), and have begun to reuse and compost everything possible. We have the barrels waiting on the side of the house to install a DIY solar water heater for summer use. I've sold my gas guzzling eighties model Cadillac in exchange for a 50cc scooter that I use on my incredibly and deliberately, infrequent trips into my nearby town. We've installed two new windows to help with cooling our home, since we are keeping the AC turned off from here on out. The spring weather has already dipped to the low forties and the heat remains exempt. In the end, if I can sustainably provide for my family while doing everything possible myself – the planet wins, my family wins and my conscience finally gets to take a vacation. This is a case where truth and reason absolutely take the cake. There isn't much use in denying what is required of us because there is and will be a reckoning for us all and our children….and their children. When you can, make the right choices for the environment, because it will be near impossible to repent from our wastefullness.
Recycle cans and newspapers.
Hang clothes on outside line during warm weather.
Shop at second hand stores.
We recycle everything that we can!
We grow what we are able, buy in bulk, and make as much from from scratch as possible – just like "they used to do in the Old Fashioned Days" as one of my kids said 🙂
We also buy all our clothes used and pass them on. Since we have 8 children, we have 10 people using the same 2500 sq ft home and the same Suburban (our only vehicle).
Thanks for the offer – we love this brand!
We take advantage of curbside recycling but it is somewhat limited. I save the other materials that should be recyclable and give them to a friend who is able to recycle more in her town.
I asked for & received a compost bin for my birthday, so that is our next step into trying to live a little greener.
Another major change for us is to use real plates & glasses when we have company rather than using plastic.
We also use reusable water bottles rather than plastic bottles.
We've made lots of changes around here!!
Take bags to the store
If I get plastic bags use them for trash liners
Use the liner from cereal for wax paper
Recycle, recycle, recycle
Wash clothing in cold water
Unplug appliances not in use
Use ceiling fans to keep the air from running
Open the windows!
Buy local and organic
Shorter showers
Turning off the faucet while brushing teeth
Buying recycled products
We are doing more walking to the store whenever possible.
We are trying to be more green by being aware of where are food comes froom and planting on our garden.
i always buy recycled products to reduce the waste materials on this planet.:.-
Solar water heater is a very good technology because it helps conserve electrical energy for heating;'"