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Welcome to the Earth Day Blog Carnival
This post is part of the 2012 Earth Day Blog Carnival hosted by Child of the Nature Isle and Monkey Butt Junction. Each participant has shared their practices and insights of earth friendly, environmentally conscious, eco-living. This carnival is our way to share positive information and inspiration that can create healing for our planet. Please read to the end of this post to find a list of links to the other carnival participants. Happy Earth Day!
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I had been intrigued by the idea of "un-paper towels." I worried, though, if they could be used in the microwave. I had been using paper towels when "nuking' sausage. The directions even called for it! I couldn't find anyone willing to state clearly that their unpaper towels could be used in the microwave. Then I found My Picnic Basket.
 My Picnic Basket (Etsy store)sent me this sample kit for review. Get free shipping from this Etsy shop by using coupon code: MOMMAJORJE. |
I arranged to do a review, but the shop closed temporarily before I could get it written and posted. I did, however, receive a set of 6 unpaper towels (and a couple other items). I immediately put these cloths into rotation and loved them!
They are very soft and worked FINE for nuking our sausage. In fact, the first time I used one for this, I rinsed the cloth and set it aside to dry. I later used the same towel to clean my counters and stove top. This sucker worked better than any other tool I've used on my stove top. Mind you, my husband cooked bacon that morning, which always leaves greasy splatters all over the entire stove top. When using a washcloth or any type of sponge, I always have to rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat before the stove top stops looking better than just smeared grease.
Then we moved in with roommates and most of our kitchen stuff stayed in boxes in the attic. We went back to (shared) paper towels, but I noticed we weren't using them very often. When we recently moved in to our travel trailer, I simply opted to not purchase any paper towels. I'm finding that moving is a great time to throw in other lifestyle changes, too! No one in my household has asked about paper towels at all! When one is needed, I simply hand over an unpaper towel.
The only issue we're having is bacon grease. I like to use these to soak up the excess grease off of bacon. I had switched to washing everything (laundry) in cold water (more green stuff), but that will not get the bacon grease out. So I'm still working out the kinks, but it feels really good to not be wasting money, trees, and space on earth for paper towels. The chemicals they use to make them (and make them white) are likely very bad for us anyway! These particular cloths are soft enough to use on your face, so I also use them to clean my toddler after her meals.
A couple of years ago, going green seemed impossible for my life. I am so pleased and proud to be getting greener (and crunchier) all the time! What green steps have you taken lately?
Thank you for stopping by the 2012 Earth Day Blog Carnival! Please check out some of these great posts:
- You are a Child of the Earth - Using the Earth as their classroom, Patti from Canadian Unschool teaches her 4 children their spiritual connection to the Earth and she accepts that loving the Earth can get really, really messy.
- Cutting Out Paper - Jorje of Momma Jorje shares how she went from curiosity and concern to actually cutting out the use of paper towels in her household. She is proud to be "greener" as each Earth Day passes.
- The World is Brown - Debra Ann Elliot of Words are Timeless believes in keeping the Earth green, but because so many people inhabit the Earth it is turning brown because people aren't doing their part by reducing, reusing, and recycling.
- 7 Child And Eco Friendly Activities To Honor The Earth (Plus Some Environmental Books For Kids) - Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares her favorite books that help children become more aware of the importance of respecting and caring for Mother Earth. In addition, she hosts a guest post outlining seven child and eco friendly activities to honor the earth.
- 5 Ways We Teach Our Children To Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - Valarie at Momma In Progress shares a few tips for encouraging young children to care for the earth.
- Little Changes - Big Results - Meegs at A New Day talks about how sometimes it’s the little decisions and changes that can lead us to find big results, and how she's baby-stepping her way to a more environmentally conscious lifestyle.
- Inspiring the Next Generation - aNonyMous at at Radical Ramblings hopes to inspire her daughter to live a green and sustainable lifestyle, in the same way she was inspired by her high-school science teacher, and talks about the changes her family are making towards this vision.
- Eco-Friendly Cleansers: Safe For the Environment, Healthy For Every Body - Rebekah at Liberated Family writes about safe and natural alternatives to toxic, household cleaning products..
- Lightening My Footprint with Cloth Nappies (Diapers) - Christine at African Babies Don’t Cry shares the biggest eco-choice she has made so far, and why she is so passionate about it.
- Clutter Free for a Cause - At Living Peacefully with Children Mandy's penchant for decluttering and simple living cuts down on consumerism, taking less of a tole on the Earth.
- Eco-Parenting: Homemade Bug Spray - Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares a homemade bug spray recipe that helps her family to enjoy the natural world while taking precautions against bug bites.
- Let the Scales Fall From My Eyes...Just Not Too Quickly - Kelly at Becoming Crunchy talks about the discomfort of no longer being able to live in denial over how her choices affect the world around her.
- Fostering Love of Earth - Justine at The Lone Home Ranger instills a love of nature in her daughters by embarking on their first backyard vegetable garden together.
- Being in Nature - Carrie at Love Notes Mama knows that just being in nature is more than enough.
- 5 Ways to Pass Down Environmental Values to Your Children - Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares how easy it can be to instill environmental values in your children.
- Viva Portlandia - Amy at Anktangle writes about the place she lives and loves in: Portland, Oregon. She describes the ways this green city makes it easy for her family to take care of our earth, and also the steps she's taking to further lessen her family's environmental impact.
- Conspicuous Conservationism - Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction examines the phenomenon of eco-conscious behavior as a status symbol.
- Time for Radical Sustainability - Terri at Child of the Nature Isle ponders how she can model a truly sustainable lifestyle for her children and raise them in a way that their environmental consciousness is as natural as breathing!
A big thank you to all of the 2012 Earth Day Blog Carnival participants!
