A small change

Late in December, I came across a new (to me) blog: Hip Mountain Mama.  Suzy, the author and hip mama, is very committed to making this world a better place.  She has created One Small Change, encouraging us all to make a positive green impact.  Here is more from the site:

“We want to challenge each of you to make 1 change each month leading up to Earth Day (April 22, 2010). It can be small or it can be huge, but all we ask is that you decide on something you will do to make a positive green impact and follow through with it. If everyone makes 4 changes between January and April, this can have a huge effect.”

I have been aware of the wasteful packaging, and over consumption of resources for a while–too much plastic shrink wrapped products, cardboard boxes that hold crackers/cereal/cookies are probably 1/3 bigger than the food inside, catalogs, junk mail, and advertisement flyers filling my mailbox regularly.  So my January change is to minimize the use of wasteful packaging.  Shopping my food options, looking for the wisest use of recycled materials, proportionate-packaged items, updating catalog choice, to ensure we don’t receive any more unwanted subscriptions, and significantly reducing my own contributions to over-packaging.

When school resumed last week, I had several thank-yous to hand out, from holiday gifts.  Since these cards did not need to be mailed, I decided to express gratitude sans envelopes.  With a trusty Sharpie and a few scraps of muslin–voila! one small change.

This idea may seem little, but I am hoping it will be a stepping stone in a more mindful way of living.