agrimmcnally's blog

why are there so many advertisers on this site?  i looked at the earliest blog entries, and they are so pure!  why am i finding so much crap about chiropractors and buying software?  that actually really bothers me......anyone else?

it kills me that i live in such a beautiful, wooded, animal-populated area and we have NO recycling pick up.  luckily, i found a drop off center that is sent from the heavens - they take EVERYTHING!

 so we've been pulling everything out we possibly can at our own house that can be recycled - and it turns out, it's A LOT.  our tiny kitchen garbage can is barely filled, yet we have an immense amount of recycling.  we made a pact to only put our garbage can out once a month, if not once every two months.  i think we can do it.  honestly, considering the amount of garbage we accumulated in one week, after pledging to recycle, i wouldn't be surprised if we only fill our big garabage can every three months.  we've found so many ways to recycle - the list of what NOT to compost/recycle is WAY shorter than what you can.

 but even better:  i put a call out to my facebook friends that live in our area to piggy back with us.  if they did the separating, we would take their compost (free soil for our garden next year!) and recycling.  within an hour, i recruited two friends!  one lives on the way to the recycling center, so no extra fossil fuels burned, and the other we visit quite often - so we'll pick up when we party (fun times coupled with saving the earth = fantabulous!).

it's like a light went on in our heads - my fiance has dedicated his environmental/wildlife studies to salvaging our Earth, and i have dedicated my day-to-day life (as well as his!) to doing the same.  once i get my math degree, i would love to see us join forces professionally and act as a research team.  captain planet at it's finest!

 our little world got so much better when we started truly caring and acting for the bigger (and more important) world.

 but i do have a question for those of you that read this and would like to help us:  how can we better recycle in the bathroom - i.e., tissues, shampoo bottles, soap, etc - i have ideas, but i am much more aware of kitchen and everyday recycling. we've cut back on toilet paper use (sorry for the TMI), but i need more!  shorter showers, yes!  but what else?? ideas, friends?

:)

day three of recycling our lunches:

rather than a half filled 50 gallon trash bag being used for my students at lunch time, we have reduced our waste to the size of a VERY small grocery bag.  we recycle our paper trays and our milk cartons.  we pull out anything i can throw in my compost pile, and any unused condiments and utensils.  i even have three kids that have now spearheaded the project themselves and do the sorting for the class.  even those that are unsure about what to recycle have the sense to ask someone who does know (me or my three liasons).

so proud of these kids, and sort of proud of myself for finally taking a chance and making recycling a part of our daily lesson.

 :)