It’s Time for More Eco-Friendly Spring Activities for Families!

Last spring, we provided some eco-friendly activities to help your teens get out, get active, and get green. Now with spring almost here again, we want to help provide a few more simply, environmentally-friendly activities you can share with your kids once the warm weather arrives.

With today’s technology, kids and teens don’t get outside as much as they should. In fact, researchers have found that today’s kids play for about four hours a week. This is much less compared to the 8.2 hours their parents played outside when there were kids. And after being cooped up all winter long, it’s time to get outside and get active!

One of the best places to get active is at your local park or nature trails. Whether you have little ones or teenagers, there’s plenty you can do at a nearby park. Whether it’s playing on the playground, having a scavenger hunt throughout the nature trails, or even picking up trash along the way, there’s no excuse to not get outside. And if you’re one of the owners of the 770,000 drones that have currently been registered with the FAA, spring is a great time to put it to use. Flying it around the park can be a great way to get some fresh air and cool pictures or videos.

Another great activity to do with your family is visit your local farmer’s market. This will not only allow you to purchase some fresh fruits and veggies for home but will help you teach your family about healthy, locally-grown food. Knowing where food comes from, and the benefit of eating fresh foods, can start your child off on an eco-friendly path early on.

Or instead of visiting a farmer’s market, why not try growing your own goodies at home? Having a garden at home can be an ongoing project and can teach your family about responsibility. Whether you’re planting fruits and vegetables, flowers, or some small herbs, the entire family can get involved in learning how to plant, care for, and harvest your new crops and plants. With some supervision, your kids can learn the responsibility of taking care of their very own garden.

Along with gardening, you and your family can get started on some sustainable gardening practices. Setting up something like a rainwater harvesting system can teach the whole family more about sustainable practices. Furthermore, your kids can see the direct impact when they get to use the rainwater to help their garden grow.

Whether you’re getting your hands dirty with some dirt, picking up trash at your local park, or simply getting out and enjoying nature, there are plenty of ways to get your family outside and doing eco-friendly activities everyone can enjoy.

Protect The Environment With These Eco-Friendly Food Habits

Many of us adopt good food habits to protect our health and well-being but what about the well-being of our planet? 

While it’s important to make choices that will have a positive impact on ourselves, it’s vital that we also make choices that will benefit the environment. By doing so, we will do our bit to combat pollution and climate change and pave the way for a better life for our children and future generations.

Here are just a few of the eco-friendly food habits that you might want to consider.

#1: Reuse food grease and cooking oil

After cooking, a lot of people pour food grease and cooking oil into their sinks and release it into the drains and sewers. This is bad news for two reasons.

Firstly, food grease and cooking oils can block drainage systems, so you will likely need to use the services of a plumber when your pipes and drains get clogged up. 

Secondly, food grease and cooking oils are very bad for the environment as they can get into the local sewer network and contaminate local water supplies. This has a devastating impact on water-based plants and wildlife as they can be coated and suffocated by grease and oil if it isn’t removed from the water. 

To protect the environment, store your grease and oils in old bottles or tin cans and find ways to responsibly dispose of or reuse them. Something along the lines of this ground beef drainer can be used to drain and collect your grease, for example.

If you want to get rid of your oil and grease, hand it over to your local collection site, either by visiting them yourself or by asking them to pick it up from your home. 

Alternatively, find ways to reuse your grease and oil. There are lots of ideas online on how to do this, including these creative uses for cooking oil

#2: Avoid foods with plastic packaging

It takes many years for plastic to decompose, so you should never throw your plastic packaging into the trash. Once it ends up at your local landfill, it will leak toxins into the environment that causes air pollution and kills wildlife. 

If you do have plastic at home, be that food containers or bottles, recycle or reuse them to protect the environment. 

The next time you go shopping, look for foods and drinks that are contained in biodegradable packaging. Lots of food brands use alternative packaging methods, so you shouldn’t have to hunt too far when you’re at your local supermarket. 

Remember to take your own carrier bags with you, too, as the last thing you want to do is add to plastic waste by purchasing more bags from the store.

#3: Find ways to use leftover food

Leftover food releases toxic methane gases into the environment when thrown into the trash, so think twice before disposing of the leftovers from your family’s dinner plates. 

Instead of throwing your leftover food away, find ways to reuse it. So, you could add your leftover ingredients to soups and other meal dishes that can be eaten later in the week. You could also add them to food dishes that can be stored and frozen until you are ready to eat them. 

If you don’t want to keep hold of your leftover foods, you could add them to your compost. Any ingredients that you don’t have the opportunity to reuse could also be given to your friends and neighbors who may be able to make use of them. 

Of course, you won’t have to worry about leftover foods if you avoid buying an abundance of foods with expiration dates. Be mindful of what you pick up at the supermarket and only buy the foods that you know you will have time to eat during the week. This way, you will reduce food waste and save money in the process. 

#4: Grow your own food

There are benefits to growing and cooking your own food. For one thing, you can be sure of what you’re eating, as you can grow your foods organically without the use of toxic pesticides. You also have an opportunity to spend more time outdoors, which will obviously be beneficial to your health. 

When you grow your own food, you can also reduce your carbon footprint as you won’t need to drive to your local supermarket to pick up the fruits and vegetables that you might normally buy. You won’t need to be reliant on food delivery services that use polluting vehicles either. 

#5: Buy locally

When we say ‘buy locally,’ we aren’t only suggesting you use a local store rather than driving miles out of your way to visit another supermarket or shopping center. Rather, we are suggesting you choose foods from the store that are labeled ‘local’ as these will have been sourced from nearby farmers or other local food businesses. 

When you buy local food, you support the hardworking people in your community who have produced it. There are other benefits, such as the fact that you (or your local stores) haven’t needed to use a lot of polluting fuel to collect the food or have it delivered. 

Locally grown food is also in-season which means it hasn’t needed a lot of energy-wasting manufacturing methods to keep it fresh. 

When you buy locally, you are doing much to support the environment. You are also buying food that is healthier and tastier if you can be sure that it is fresh and that it has been growing using organic farming methods. So, not only will you benefit the world when you buy locally, but you will benefit your taste buds too! 

Finally

You will protect the environment if you stick to these eco-friendly food habits, so make them a part of your life today. There is much more you can do, of course, so browse our website for further ideas and take the relevant next steps to make a positive impact on the world around you. 

The Benefits Of A Healthy Daily Lunch Meal At Work

Staying energized and productive throughout the day requires having a healthy lunch at work, yet too often, we fail to plan our meals properly and end up consuming unhealthy food and snacks that leave us feeling drained and uninspired for the remainder of our workdays. In this guide, we’ll be exploring some simple yet delicious lunch ideas you can easily prepare – something which many of us fail at. 

Benefits Of Healthy Lunches At Work

Eating clean and healthy lunches at work can offer multiple advantages for your overall health and well-being, from relieving stress to increasing energy throughout your workday and improving digestion and concentration. Eating well at work also gives you access to essential nutrients necessary for staying healthy and functioning optimally.

Plan Ahead To Make Healthy Lunches 

Planning ahead can make all the difference when it comes to healthy lunches. Take some time on Sunday afternoon or evening to come up with ideas for lunches you can easily prepare overnight, which will guarantee delicious food with minimal effort on your part. When attending work lunch meetings or client lunch meetings, remember to remain true to your eating plan. Although the temptation might arise to break it, remember that you still possess the power and authority to make healthy decisions for yourself. If you find yourself succumbing to an abundance of unhealthy food choices, at least limit how much is consumed at once. Consider having just two slices instead of four when ordering pizza for lunch at work. In addition, planning ahead can help with any labor-intensive preparation tasks you need to perform over the weekend.

Shopping Smart

When it comes to selecting ingredients for lunch, opt for fresh, unprocessed foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains whenever possible. Try to avoid pre-packaged items containing sugar, fat, and sodium while reading labels carefully when purchasing such items; additionally, make sure that healthy snacks such as nuts, seeds, or dried fruits provide you with an additional source of nutrition during your day.

Be Imaginative

Eating healthy during your lunch hour doesn’t need to be dull! With plenty of delicious and nutritious recipes available online and in cookbooks, lunch doesn’t need to be monotonous or dull! Get creative by exploring new cuisines! Salads, sandwiches, wraps, and bowls are all excellent ways of packing in nutrients that will give your energy boost during the day. Get even more imaginative by getting creative by repurposing leftovers from dinner or trying something you found online or in cookbooks!

Healthy Lunches With Healthier Drinks

Don’t neglect to add nutritious beverages to your lunch! Staying hydrated is key for maintaining energy and well-being, so instead of reaching for sodas and energy drinks, choose something like water or natural juices such as green tea, coconut water, or homemade diy orange juice instead – these provide ample hydration with additional vitamins and minerals benefits!

Making healthy lunches for work doesn’t need to be a tedious or time-consuming chore; with these easy tips, you’ll easily be able to create delicious and nutritious meals that will fuel you throughout the day. Remember to plan ahead, shop smart, experiment with recipes, and stay hydrated with natural juices and water throughout your lunch hour – an extra effort will ensure that it remains nutritious yet delectable!

9 Eco-Friendly Family Activities To Do This Spring

As the spring season approaches, it’s easy to start thinking about the warm weather and longer daylight hours, but it’s important to also think about the earth. Earth day falls on April 22nd each year, but it’s important to think about how to be eco-friendly year-round. Below are a few ideas of how to keep your family entertained and environmentally conscious this spring.

Make Recycled Crafts

Making fun crafts can be a great way to spend time together and make something fun. To add an eco-friendly spin to crafting, challenge your kids to create something that is entirely made up of recycled or reused materials. Depending on their age, you can give them a handful of materials to choose from, or you can let them loose to find things in your home and yard that are going to be discarded that they can use to make something new. This can help them develop their creativity as well as see that new things don’t have to be made up entirely of new materials.

Garden Together

Gardening is a great family activity that is also very eco-friendly. As the ground thaws in the spring, it’s a great time to get outside and get started on your gardening for the year. Your kids can help you with many gardening tasks, just make sure to take into account their age and ability levels when you’re asking them for help with different tasks. Plant some fruits and vegetables to be a little extra eco-friendly!

Find Ways to Save Electricity

There are many ways to use less electricity in your daily life, but if you work as a family to brainstorm ways to use less electricity, it can stick better in your kids’ minds. There are 5.5 million miles of local distribution lines for electricity in the United State’s electrical grid, and taking some of the stress off of that system can help it work more effectively and save energy. Something as simple as unplugging a device once you’re done using it or making sure that you turn the lights off when you’re the last one to leave the room can help save a lot of electricity over time. Figure out some specific ways that your family can decrease your electricity usage to make sure that you can actually cut back in your daily lives.

Bike Around Your Town

Once the weather is warm enough, start taking weekly bike rides to explore your town and the surrounding areas. It’s a great way to have fun family bonding time without worrying about polluting the environment. You can find new places that you might not have noticed if you were driving around your town, get some good exercise, and bond as a family. That makes bike riding one of the best eco-friendly spring activities for your family.

Cut Back on Your Water Usage

Similarly to saving electricity, talk as a family about ways that you can use less water. Only 1% of the water on earth is suitable for drinking, and while we can take that for granted in developed countries, it’s important to think about conservation. Some easy ways to cut back on your water usage include taking shorter showers, turning off the water while brushing your teeth or washing your face, and using a dishwasher instead of washing your dishes by hand. Ask your kids what they think they can do and try to achieve those water-saving efforts together.

Do a Park Clean-Up

Litter is a big problem everywhere, but especially in the places that see a lot of foot traffic, like popular parks or walking paths. Every time that you go to a place like that, challenge everyone in your family to pick up a certain number of pieces of litter. If you’re worried about what’s on the litter, you can pack gloves to use to pick up the litter as well as hand sanitizer. Over time, your family will be responsible for picking up a lot of litter and making the earth a little bit cleaner of a place.

Exercise Outside

When the weather starts getting nicer, it can be easy to want to spend every moment possible soaking in the outdoors. It’s a great opportunity to encourage some healthy habits with your kids by finding new ways to get moving outdoors. Depending on the size of your family, you can arrange games like soccer or basketball, or you can try for more solitary forms of exercise, like yoga. 28% of Americans have tried yoga at some point, and doing yoga outside is a great way to soak in the good weather and take care of your body at the same time. Getting outside to enjoy the weather while also getting out some energy and helping your body is a great way to spend the spring.

Go on a Flower Hunt

A flower hunt is a great way to spend time outdoors and keep your family entertained. Next time you’re at a park, challenge everyone to find as many different types of flowers as they can. If you can, have everyone take pictures of their flowers instead of picking them so that you aren’t disrupting nature too much. After you’ve found as many flowers as you can, go home and do some research to find out what kind of flowers they are.

Play in the Rain

Spring means a lot of rain in many climates, and playing in the rain can be a very fun activity. You don’t want to get sick from spending time out in the rain, so make sure that you’re being smart about it and properly layering up in raincoats and boots, and not spending too long outside. Once you’re done, dry off and warm up with a nice cup of hot chocolate or tea and watch a movie to get the full rainy day experience.

Being eco-friendly and bonding with your family can go hand in hand with these springtime activities. Teaching your kids about the importance of being eco-friendly is a great way to help prepare them to have eco-friendly habits as they grow up.

5 Last-Minute DIY Eco Easter Baskets for Green Kids

Can you believe that Easter is this weekend? One of my favorite parts of Easter is putting together a fun spring basket of goodies for Eben every year. This year, his basket will be full of natural and organic candies, naturally dyed eggs, a reusable water bottle, and a couple of great books.

Whether you are creating Easter baskets for your children or someone else that you love, here are 5 other baskets that I am smitten with and that can be put together last minute too!

#1: Just for Fun!
If you have younger children, they will delight in receiving a basket full of fun toys – especially wooden toys. I love these curated items from You are my Fave – the perfect combination of fun toys with just a smidgen of sweetness!

+ via You are my Fave 

#2: Nature Lover 
I love this Greenvine Basket from Pottery Barn – I think it would be a great basket that you could use year after year, changing the theme each time. It would be fun to pack with new books or card games for your child.

+ Greenvine Basket via Pottery Barn

#3: Chef’s Delight
If you have a child who loves to cook, why not surprise them with a basket full of their own cooking essentials? I would also include the ingredients to bake up a sweet treat together!

+ Chef’s Basket via Handmade Charlotte
#4:Bunny Pillows
Who wouldn’t take a bunny pillow over an Easter basket? Instead of chocolate, I would stuff that little pocket with a new book or two!

+ DIY Bunny Pillow via Willowbay 

#5: Little Farmer
This basket might be my favorite and is the type of basket that I would give Eben almost every year when he was younger. I even gave Eben a pizza garden for his 5th birthday – we planted it together and he loved it!

+ via Design Mom