Saturday, August 25th, 2012 - Join the 36th Annual Lazy Daze Arts and Crafts Festival in Cary, NC this Saturday!  For more information about the wonderful festival that features many eco-friendly artists (think recycled materials turned into beautiful artwork), please visit http://www.facebook.com/carylazydaze

We attended the festival in the past and enjoy the many festivities!  Also, there are multi-recycling bins set up at the festival to minimize waste.  In order to make your trip more eco-friendly, please follow the following tips:
- carpool or take the train there, parking will be limited so arrive early
- bring your own shopping bags (when you make a purchase, save the environment and use your own shopping bag)
- enjoy the activities onsite
- regret a previous festival purchase or you want to upgrade?  Bring your previously purchased item to the festival and speak with the booth owner, you can most probably work out a deal. 
- think twice before you take a free souvenir
- limit a festival map per family or better yet, consider using the large poster display map
- bring your own mug or cup for drink purchases (a number of food/drink stands will be happy to fill your 8, 16 oz, etc. mug or cup and may also offer you a discount for bringing your own mug/cup, just ask!

March 27th, Earth Hour came and went.  We were glad we were able to celebrate it this year.  It was actually not too hard for me to keep the lights off since I tried to keep my kids in bed by then.  


For more information on how successful this event has been worldwide, please visit www.myearthhour.org.


I actually have been trying really hard to keep our family Sundays, an "unplugged" day (no TV, no lights, no radio, no internet/computers, etc.).  It's been nearly impossible to go through the whole day like this, but keeping it as a goal, makes us consciously reduce our use of electricity at home on Sundays and this energy conservation behavior is trickling into the rest of the week.

As a junior in high school, I volunteered with the New York Public Interest Relations Group at the Earth Day celebration in New York City.  Back then, recycling was not part of the law and everyone was pretty cynical about environmental protection efforts.  My sister still recalls telling me that I was wasting my time and no one can make New Yorkers recycle. Fast forward 15 years and now recycling is part of almost every local or city mandate.  What a wonderful concept. However, during these past few years, the use of plastic bottles and consumption of low quality plastic items (ranging from toys, electronics to kitchen applicances) has caused our nation to adopt a "everything is disposable" mentality.  As a nation, we've taken two steps forward and three steps back.  

I am still a strong advocate for eco-friendly efforts.  The three Rs still hold true: 

Reduce - do not buy new unless needed (distinguish the wants from the needs)
Reuse - for things you no longer use, upcycle (aka use the item for another purpose) or donate to others
Recycle - support and follow recycling efforts

There are a number of great Earth Day events being planned around the world.  

Please visit www.earthday.net to find out more about local events.

I am bringing my kids to attend a Kids in the Kitchen event sponsored by the Junior League.  This is a free kid friendly event that teaches kids how to cook and prepare healthy meals.  They also learn about the benefits of play and exercise.  As I continue on my parenthood journey, I try to exercise constraint every day by not giving in and indulging my kids with "things."  Instead, I try to have them enjoy new experiences.  


If you would like to learn more about the Junior League and their events, please visit www.ajli.org.