The Everyday Environmentalist

With gas prices at the level they are, everybody’s thinking about the environment these days. And that is a very good thing. Whether or not you believe in global warming isn’t really the issue: as Christians, we are called to be stewards of creation. Here are a bunch of everyday things that we can do to preserve our beautiful Earth.

And conveniently enough, caring for the environment *usually* saves you money, too!

In the Kitchen:
1. Take your own bags to the grocery store. Cloth is even better than paper or plastic.
2. Buy fresh, not prepackaged. Mac & cheese from scratch really doesn’t require more time, and veggies you cook yourself lose less nutritional value.
3. Buy organic.
4. Buy local.
5. Grow your own vegetables.
6. Compost.
7. Recycle.
8. Wash and reuse Ziploc bags.
9. Wait to run the dishwasher till it’s full.

Vehicles and driving:
10. Slow down! The faster you drive, the more gas you burn, and it doesn’t save any significant time anyway.
11. Make one trip to the grocery store for the week—IOW, plan and shop with a list.
12. Combine trips & walk from errand to errand when possible. Not when convenient, when possible.
13. Take advantage of public transportation.
14. Carpool.
15. Make sure the tires are at the proper pressure (you get better gas mileage).
16. Change Your Air Filter.
17. Make your next car a hybrid.

Around the house:
18. Buy refills on cleaners instead of a new squeeze bottle every time
19. Buy used, and don’t buy things you don’t need.
20. Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs.
21. Turn the lights off.
22. Turn the computer off, or at least to standby
23. Unplug Electronics. They draw power even when not in use.
24. Use Recycled Paper.
25. Print on the back sides of used paper for rough drafts.
26. Turn the thermostat up a degree in the summer and down a degree in the winter.
27. Seal doors & windows with caulking or weather strips.
28. Get double pane windows.
29. Replace old appliances
30. Set the water heater no higher than 120.
31. Take Shorter Showers.
32. Dry clothes on a line instead of in the dryer.
33. Use a Push Mower (the kind without power.)
34. Plant a Tree

For the Family:
35. Use cloth diapers. There are diaper services that can do the cleaning for you.
36. Toilet train early.
37. Practice Natural Family Planning. No plastic, no chemicals, no waste.

Today my novel, The Beggar’s Queen, was released. Check it out at www.thewildrosepress.com!

The Beggar’s Queen not your typical romance novel. For one thing, it’s longer, and there’s a whole lot more to it than the romance. For another, there’s no sex. I don’t write the formula, because I don’t think the formula reflects what true love really is. To me, sex is trivialized and cheapened when it is laid out on display. So instead, I focus on how Hero and Heroine (Phillip and Cecily, in TBQ) come to grow to love each other over the course of time. I believe that’s more realistic, and as such, a richer and more complex story.

Of course, The Beggar’s Queen is a medieval fantasy, so who am I to be talking about reality? :)