Five green things I learned in 2008

Five green lessons I learned in 2008:
(*And they're still true!)

1. The cheap solution can be the green solution. Baking soda, ammonia, you name it…many “kitchen” products can find a second, third or fourth life as various cleaning products. And a $6 package of Arm & Hammer at Sam’s Club is far cheaper – and takes less space – than a multitude of plastic bottles holding who knows what chemicals.
   
2. A drop in discretionary income doesn’t mean you have to drop environmentally friendly habits. Whether your household lost an income like ours did or you’re still reeling from the effects of gas prices by Sybil, you can take sustainable steps on any budget by swapping out old habits.
   
3. We’re now dealing with the 4 R’s of environmentalism: Reduce, reuse, recycle, re-buy. It seems that the trendy thing is to repurpose these days – whether you do it yourself or if you pay someone to do it for you (like some of the purses out there.) Also, is it me, or are more and more Goodwill and other resale shops opening up these days?
   
4. A cheap date isn’t a bad thing. The chefs in my family experimented with a multitude of recipes and local foods, with always interesting results. Buying locally at the new farmers markets helped us expand our menu, keep our money in our local economy, support sustainable producers and stick to an ever-tightening budget. And let me tell you, a home-cooked meal beats a box of Hamburger Helper or a fast-food meal any day.
   
5. Pick your battles, and don’t sweat it if you lose a few. While it’s a great ideal to move to an environmentally friendly lifestyle, the reality is it’s not as simple as turning on a switch. It’s a transition, and a slow one at that. And sometimes, you backslide. And that’s OK too. Because the steps that you did take can make a difference.

Happy New Year from our family to yours.

Landscape for health: Green you neighborhood, keep kids healthy

A local research study making headlines this week shows that the greener your neighborhood is, the more likely your children are to be healthier and less likely to be overweight.

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine, IUPUI and the University of Washington found ties between higher neighborhood greenness and slower increases in children’s body mass. The study focused on inner-city children, which demonstrates that you don’t have to live in the country or large lots to reap benefits from making green changes.

The government-funded research study used satellite images to identify and measure greenness, defined as on the amount and health of vegetation in the area.

"For children, physical activity is active play and that usually take place outdoors. We need to encourage them to go outside and play,” said Gilbert C. Liu, M.D., senior author of the study, which recently appeared in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Trees and other urban vegetation improve aesthetics, reduce pollution and keep things cooler, making the outside a more attractive place to play, walk or run.

“I love the idea that we can landscape for health," Liu says.

Surviving holiday travels

A 10-hour drive to the in-laws to celebrate the holidays is one thing. Doing it with kids is another. Doing it without generating lots of trash and headaches? Next to impossible, I’m convinced.

Family travel with a baby and preschooler in tow is an interesting experience, one that I’m increasingly amazed that my parents managed (and much better able to understand why exactly my dad seemed so darn insane). We’d pile into the car, the three of us crammed into the backseat, and my brother and I would elbow, knee and shove my poor sister into that middle “spot” that was reserved for the armrest (and her). Each of us had a backpack stuffed with things to help us navigate the 12+ hour drive to Grandma’s house.

Flash forward three decades, and I’m shaking my head.

Traveling responsibly with kids means, quite simply, keeping Mom’s sanity intact. There’s the large cup of Diet Coke from QuickTrip. Boxes of crackers and plastic rolls of cheese sticks to stave off hunger and help us milk an extra 15 minutes without stopping the car. CDs and books and toys littering the floor by the car seats. Bottles, emergency formula, baggies of defrosting “milksicles” in the cooler, disposable diapers and wipes crammed nearby.

You find as a traveling parent that all bets are off. You toss aside your lofty expectations of being environmentally friendly in everyday life and grab that extra package of baby wipes, which you lean on heavily for every clean-up catastrophe.

You pay a buck for a plastic-wrapped, pre-sliced package of no-taste half an apple at McDonald’s, simply because it’s the closest thing there to healthy and the kids had to stop for the bathroom and since have decided that McDonald’s is here, so we must be hungry.

You graciously accept that plastic grocery bag from your emergency stop just in case you need one at a later date.

You think, “Just maybe this once,” as you carefully consider the soda you swore your child’s lips would never touch before the age of 5 or a Happy Meal for lunch.

And that portable DVD player that you swore you would never let enter your home or car? It looks better all the time.

But then you look back, and you see your two little ones grabbing for each other’s hands in a silly impromptu game, and you realize that, sometimes, simple is OK.

Learning to eat "green" in winter months

I read this in an e-newsletter from the Indianapolis Winter Farmer's Market and felt it was worth sharing.

One of the many wonderful reasons to buy local food, is the savings in "food miles" - the distance food travels from farm to plate - and thus cutting down fossil fuel use required to transport food from great distances. The hard part, of course, is that in recent years we have become so accustomed to having virtually any vegetable or fruit available any time of the year, any day of the week, and pretty much any hour of the day. Transitioning to a more local food diet requires that we also begin to eat more seasonally. Greenhouses ease that transition for us, as we have seen with the lush bounty of salad mix and produce Seldom Seen Farm has been bringing to the Indy Winter Market.

However, in this part of Indiana, there comes a time when in order to eat "green" buy eating local and in season, we have to bid farewell to eating green, fresh produce. ... The greenhouse growing will pick up again in February and March as daylight hours extend, and you'll see more produce options returning to market.

For those for find seasonal eating especially challenging, the good news is that the more we as consumers choose to buy at farmers markets and from local growers, we prove to local growers that if they grow it, we will buy. In other words, following the success of winter markets, more local growers will invest in and plan for year-round greenhouse growing to meet consumer demand. So, consider making it your New Years resolution to NOT BUY California or imported salads, tomatoes, cucumbers or greens this winter!

Well,we don't feel like Magi

"The Gift of the Magi," a classic Christmas tale of giving until it hurts, is a short read but one well worth it this holiday season in particular.

Granted, you're likely like me and were exposed to to O. Henry's version in English lit -- or in my case, a bit earlier, in a version featuring Bert and Ernie on some long-ago Sesame Street Christmas special.

If you've never read this Christmas tale, it talks of a couple who give up their prized possessions to make their loved one's Christmas even brighter.

It hits close to home for me this holiday season. Like many families, we've had our share of financial and personal crisises. There are few worse feelings like wondering how to care for your kids.

And then a funny thing happened on the way to the holidays.

I got a not-so-subtle reminder that every one of us can make a difference in another person's life when I met a homeless man named Sherman. Our two meetings this fall and winter have served as a reminder that, no matter what life throws in our way, we still have choices and still can make a difference.

I got a reminder that little ones watch your every move. And my daughter and I have had a series of conversations about how we can be a Santa for other people. And so, we went through her clothing and shared what we could. The truly awesome thing is, from the hand-me-downs she'd received en masse the last couple of months, we had enough for her, the daughter of a woman at my company who could desperately use a bright Christmas, a few boxes for my friends at Fresh Start, a domestic violence agency, and still had enough clothes to share with not one but two little girls connected through a Christmas family project. And my daughter was there to wrap each box, she being in charge of the sticker labels and bows.

At the same time, I was reminded by a sister I know that I have to learn to receive to truly give. It's a tough lesson for me, being fiercely independent, a person who prides herself as being a person of her word and a woman who has always fought her way through a problem. Well, sometimes problems are bigger than one person can solve.

And so I've learned to swallow that sick feeling in my stomach and accept help. It is not easy. I do not care who you are, I cannot believe it ever becomes easy.

This Christmas, my children opened their stack of presents, many practical, some just for fun, and they came from the Santas in our lives. I had some friends - some open, some not, as well as some strangers I'll consider in my heart to be friends - who reached out to make sure my kids had holiday wishes come true. My daughter is thrilled with "Louie," her new doll, who is lying beside her as I write this, and tomorrow will likely find her "Tinkerbell" movie that she desperately hoped "Miss Claus" would bring her. My son, too little to understand, is happy to bat about the wrapping paper and push around a few toys.

This Christmas, I have little to offer my family and friends. Our gifts are sparse and homemade when they could be. Ornaments made by my daughter and plates of sugar and chocolate chip cookies, which are graciously accepted by others. A photo of the kids, bought in a steal of a package. And the offer of time.

Time. It's such a precious thing. It's something we count so greedily, whether wishing it away or wishing it would stop. What if we gave more of it, instead of unwrapping things under the tree? Maybe this world would be a different place.

Merry Christmas.