I’m a bit late to the party but I’m going to post as part of blog action day. It’s a great idea: everyone posts on one topic at one time, creating a strong voice through the blogosphere. This year’s topic is the environment, which I’ve been meaning to blog about for a while anyways.

It’s the small things you do that can help.

I believe in the phrase ‘vote with your dollar’. Purchasing power applied according to your beliefs or ethics can drive change in our society. Businesses listen to the almighty dollar. So one of the first things I do is shop smart (shop S Mart…sorry, bad Army of Darkness reference! anyways…I digress). Ian and I spend money on environmentally friendly products like those from Seventh Generation. I started using their biodegradable bleach replacement, and it actually gets whites whiter than Clorox! We also buy organic when it’s reasonable to do so. The more we buy organic, the more is made and the cheaper and more prevalent it will become. Less chemicals is good for the earth, the animals and plants they would have been applied to, and for our health.

Next, remember the old phrase reduce, reuse, recycle. We are religious about what is recyclable and what is not. Every bit of plastic you throw away goes somewhere and sits for a very, very long time. Someday we’ll run out of places to put the stuff! Reuse tissue and ribbon from gifts, and turn old boxes into gift boxes. Reduce the waste you generate: buy cleaning products in bulk, and choose to receive your bills electronically rather than a paper copy.

There are bigger things you can do: volunteering, planting a tree, writing your representatives to pass tougher legislation on emissions. But start somewhere and make a difference for future generations.