My mom and dad were conservationists before it was cool

I was raised green and didn't even know it. Back before it was in vogue, my parents were already concerned about caring for the Earth and preserving it for future generations. I was taught things like "Take only pictures, leave only footprints." On our many family hiking trips, my father went so far as to clean up after others who did not follow the same mantra. 


We learned not to be wasteful, both out of concern for the environment and out of economic frugality. We were taught to use the same cup to drink out of all day, not to run water unnecessarily and to close the refrigerator. My parents turned the A/C and heater off at night, something that drove me crazy (you could always open a window or add a blanket they said). One of the most surprising, once I was old enough to appreciate it, was the fact that my mother would wash and reuse ziplock bags and "disposable" plates, cups and utensils. 

And we recycled. Obsessively. We recycled when it was highly inconvenient, when there wasn't a recycle center in every community. We would load up our tubs of recycling into the car and drive quite a ways to drop it off. My father, meticulous as he is in everything, taught me to rinse things out and sort them thoroughly into the tubs in the garage. He was also the person who would reach into the bins at the recycling center and reorganize items that others had dumped into the wrong place.

Many of these things followed me into my adult life, as things learned in childhood often do. I was somewhat surprised that not everyone was concerned with caring for the Earth, that not everyone wanted to find ways to not be wasteful. Of course, as most young adults will do, I chose to impress my friends rather than stick with my training. Although, when they weren't looking, I would often pick up trash they left behind. ;-)

Once I became a "responsible adult" many of the old habits began resurfacing. When I was first married, I tried washing ziplock bags (my husband thought I was crazy). I have become lazy in more recent years, but have been thinking about starting again. Since having a household of my own, recycling has been a part of it. When we still had our small apartment, it was somewhat of a challenge to find room for recycling bins, so we recycled only the basics. Now that we have a house, we have plenty of room to organize our recycling without having to take it to the recycling center every week (we purchased even bigger bins since my previous post). I still rinse everything out before putting it in the bins. 


The more I think about it, the more I realize it is not a big surprised that I am on a journey to become more eco-friendly and earth conscious. After all, being green is something that was instilled in me since childhood! Thanks mom and dad for teaching me to 


Enjoy my tiptoe through the tulips!