Circle this Earth Day Event

Earth Day is just around the corner, April 22nd, and hopefully everyone is going to do something to celebrate this day. Everyday should be Earth Day but just like everyday should be love thy neighbor day (not sure if that is a real day), sometimes we just need a day to bring attention to issues and do some thinking. What I love most about this day is the education part. It’s a great opportunity to learn something new about the environment, what is happening for new inventions, technology, food, companies, community events, ways to participate through the year, etc. I have lots more to say about Earth Day, which to be exact is 36 days away, but until then you might consider circling this nifty event in your calendar, if you’re from the Chicago area.

It’s called, Green Scene on Northside’s grounds along the Chicago River. The indoor/outdoor festival is dedicated to raising community awareness about available eco-friendly practices. It’s the second annual event being held by, CASE. They’re a student led group and they started in 2004. It’s a very impressive group of students that actually care. If you’re near this event I’d consider checking it out, supporting the group of high school students and educating yourself on some really cool environmental topics from green dog poop bags, car sharing, vegan ice cream, organic lawn care or natural bedding. I won't be making the long drive but I hope to attend something locally. More to come on Earth Day but let he planning begin!

When:
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Rain or shine
12p.m. – 5 p.m.

Where:
Northside Prep.
5501 N. Kedzie Ave.
Chicago , IL 60625

Imagination + Box = Eco-Friendly Toy

When I think back to my childhood, I don’t have memories of toys or possessions. I remember playing outside until it was dark and making the bath water black because I was so dirty. A rock could be play money for playing store or twelve of them were a dozen eggs. A leaf suddenly became the dollar bill I needed to buy my dozen eggs! The ideas were endless and my imagination ran wild. That’s the natural thing about childhood, the imagination. It’s so fresh and vivid…and then we buy every plastic toy out there, videos, and video games and the vivid imagination fades. It’s sad really and I see it happening with my own four year old.

I’m an early childhood educator, I know that play is how children learn best. Not by watching a video, pushing buttons on a video game or having a thousand expensive toys at their fingertips. Children should be able to play with blocks and have them be more than just blocks. Blocks can turn into race cars, space ships, a house, a hamburger, and the list goes on. Too much has been created for our children and that takes away from their natural ability to imagine! Today I had a rebirth, I went to Fridge Blog. I had become desensitized as a parent and had lost touch with the basics of childhood and being a green mom!

April, with Fridge Blog, has an online store called, FridgeBoxWorld.com and it’s exactly what it sounds like, a place to buy a fridge box. As a preschool teacher, I’ve done dozens of cool things with a fridge box (bear caves, tree houses, haunted tunnels, play kitchens, castles, etc.) over the years. They were hard to come by and were usually broken down and damaged. With FridgeBoxWorld.com you get a heavy duty fridge box, you can use both sides, it’s eco friendly, non-toxic, made from recycled materials, and can be recycled. It keeps getting better…April donates a percent of her revenues to http://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org! Plus, Fridge Boxes to school teachers for sustainable storytelling workshops. Made in the U.S.A., no recalls to worry about and the children get to use their imagination to power this toy, not batteries.

I have one coming, thanks to April, and plan to build a hot air balloon out of it with my son’s preschool class! This was my favorite project when I was a preschool teacher! I’ll post the pictures here for you to see. In the meantime, visit the Fridge Blog and reconnect with what is natural about childhood…playing and the imagination.

Thursday's Green Tip!

Use your garbage disposal! It is more earth friendly then allowing the waste to sit in a plastic garbage bag, where it will decompose more slowly. When using a garbage disposal you are allowing organic waste to be sent into the sewer lines, where it will be digested back into nature. Organic waste is turned into fertilizer, after being treated by your community’s sanitary district.

The greenest option is to compost left over food and waste! For those of you with your own septic this might be a good idea, seeing that there are some that say garbage disposal waste can cause back-ups. Frankly, I’ve never had this problem and we have always had our own septic.

For a organic garbage disposal check out, Mother Earth News, for this DIY project!