In my efforts to become a better, more well-balanced, educated, self-sufficient, likable, impressive, life-changing, earth-shattering, influential person, I planted some tomatoes.
Being the green person that I seem to be lately, I repurposed a plastic jug like the kind that house those bio-hazard orange cheese balls they sell at Costco.
(Though it wasn't a cheese-ball container. I kind of think if I ever ate one of those I might spontaneously combust, or grow a third arm or something - which
would be useful, but I still don't think it's worth the risk). I went to the Wal-mart to search for one of those little metal support systems that everyone uses with their tomatoes - but surprise surprise Wal-mart didn't have any...so I improvised. Wooden dowels and pipe-cleaner came in mighty handy.
Now I basically have tomato plants growing out of garbage and supported by more garbage. I feel good about it. In 5-7 weeks I should have some delicious tomatoes to eat. Yay for "urban" gardening!
Though I do love my mom dearly, today I'm channeling my inner hippie to pay tribute to a different mother: Earth.
Yesterday was Earth Day - which is quickly climbing to the top of my list of favorite holidays. We didn't get the day off school, but that doesn't mean we didn't celebrate. We started potato sprouts (with supplies I bought that morning and carried to my car in my reusable shopping bag), learned about the water cycle, watched some amazing footage from Planet Earth, and cleaned up the trash off the playground.
Once home I planted some seeds in a couple of flower pots I own, and one I made from an old milk carton.
*imminent soap box approaching*
100 years ago there were about 2 Billion people on Earth. Today there are nearly 7 Billion. In the next 40 years that will increase to over 9 Billion. That's a lot of people. And we're making a big dent. Last year our field trip was to the Landfill. We learned that landfills are designed to hold 12 year's worth of trash and we're filling them up in 5. Yikes.
This is a pretty fascinating look at some worldwide stastistics. Some of them are kind of scary. To sum up some of the more interesting stats - The world population increases by about 3 people every second, there are more overweight people than undernourished people in the world (about a billion of each), Earth has traveled about 290,000,000 km so far this year, there have been 2.2 billion Google searches today, there are appx. 15,000 days til all the oil on Earth runs out (that's about 40 years), the average temperature on the planet is 14.5 degrees Celsius (58.1 F), and so far today - it's about 5:20 - world governments have spent $6.3 Billion on healthcare - yep that's just today. There really are lots of other neato statistics on there, so take a look.
Anyway, in celebration of our planet, here are some easy things you can do to go green and make a difference:
Turn lights, electronics, and appliances off when you're not using them
Buy reusable shopping bags and water bottles
Reuse or recycle plastic bags, bottles, and cartons
Have an energy audit done on your home
And my personal favorite of the day:
Remember - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Go Earth!
*Spending less time tending to your actually makes it greener -- in every sense of the word. Most grass species fare best when they're kept at least 2 1/2 inches tall. The length creates more surface area to absorb sunlight, which creates thicker turf and deeper roots, which means you won't need to water as often. Save money by letting grass clippings remain on your lawn; it adds nitrogen and discourages weed seeds from germinating. You'll need less fertilizer and herbicide. Plus, leaving clippings on lawns means less in landfills; in 2005 Americans disposed of more than 12 million tons of yard waste.
