1 Mother 2 Another

About a month ago I started doing research
for a piece I was writing for Earth Day, looking for
parent-friendly tips for recycling, reducing our impact on the
Earth, saving energy and so forth. The longer I dug, the more I
realized I simply couldn’t cover it all in one day.


Being good stewards of the created Earth is imperative, for our
kids’ generation but also for our own. I’m not going to
give you all the rousing environmental speeches here – we all
know we need to be better at this whole eco-friendly thing. But
being environmentally responsible often feels like a lot more work
and a lot more money, and the results seem intangible, so we give
up before we really start.

So for the rest of the week I’m
going to be giving you practical, easy steps you can take to reduce
your family’s impact on the environment. Over the next three
days we’ll cover ideas to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Raise
the Next Generation safely, healthily, and hopefully easily. Then
on Friday I’ll hand over all the websites I’ve spent so
long digging through – your complete Reference list to keep
you from getting overwhelmed with what can seem like a daunting
task. And I’ll throw my favorite books on the list as well,
in case you’re searching for that kind of help.


Finally, as I said, this week is a celebration of Earth Day –
and what celebration would be complete without gifts? So listen up:


I’ve had two companies offer to donate gifts: href="http://www.healthychild.org" target="_blank">Healthy Child,
Healthy World; and target="_blank">Mamaisms. Healthy Child, Healthy World will
be giving away one copy of their new book href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHealthy-Child-World-Creating-Cleaner%2Fdp%2F0525950478%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bs%3Dbooks%26amp%3Bqid%3D1208378664%26amp%3Bsr%3D8-1&tag=1mother2anoth-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325"
target="_blank">Healthy Child, Healthy World: Creating A Cleaner,
Greener, Safer Home at the end of the week. This new
book is essential for any parent looking to take simple steps
towards a safer, more environmentally conscious lifestyle.
I’ve been reading their site for years and just ordered my
own copy the day it came out last week. So if you’re
interested, email me (Jennifer@1mother2another.com) and I’ll
enter your name in a random drawing. And by random, I mean all your
names go on a piece of paper and Maddie draws one out of a hat. Ok,
not quite that homemade, but almost, so don’t go asking for
my Price Waterhouse credentials, ok? Just send me your name,
we’ll do the drawing next weekend and announce the winners a
week from today.


The second giveaway – one of you lucky moms is going to get a
href="http://mamaismsgear.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=7&zenid=f336afc3664ad65b42c1d513cdeb5816"
target="_blank">“Keep It Clean” t-shirt from
Mamaisms. To win that one you’ll have to do a bit of work,
though, sorry: email me or post with your best tip for being more
eco-friendly, and I’ll choose the best suggestion next
weekend. You’ve got all week to come up with something, but
if I’ve already posted the suggestion it doesn’t count,
sorry. Post as often as you want, or email me if you’re shy.


So get to work with your ideas, email me to enter to win the book
(I promise I don’t collect email addresses to sell), and get
your pens and paper ready to take notes the rest of the week.


Recycled paper, of course.