Mom Goes Green

As part of our Spring Break ritual, we spent yesterday at an annual indoor amusement park and yes, we were breakin’ rules!

Every single one of the two dozen entrance doors had a huge sign screaming “NO OUTSIDE FOOD OR BEVERAGES!”  I entered prepared for battle knowing that, below the stroller, we had four stainless steel bottles filled with water, and healthy snacks, including bananas, cereal bars, crackers and raisins.

We were immediate approached by a security guard that needed to see inside my purse and survey the goods.  While my purse “passed” I was expecting a ‘flag’ on the rest of it.  When he took a look under the stroller, he didn’t flinch at the bottles!  (Wheww!)  The other bag held the snacks and my cameras and when he asked to see inside I hoped to just pull out the cameras and be done with it, but I grabbed the whole bunch of bananas and pulled them out instead! (Oops!)  WHAT made me think a bunch of bananas was a camera, I’ll never know, but the security guard just smiled and said “that’s fine.”

It was such a relief that we weren’t sent back to our car for simply trying to make healthy choices during our visit, but this isn’t always the case.  Last summer we were nearly cast out of a children’s amusement park for bringing our own food. Our choices of food (to buy) included everything from chick’n nuggets and fries, to cotton candy and ice cream, but not a single, solitary, healthy choice in the whole joint.  Staff approached us as we all ate yogurt and told us to “thrown it away or get out”!  I was livid, but we tossed them (to avoid ruining our kids’ day) but I actually went to battle on that one and later emailed the management (even suggesting healthy foods that had a long shelf life).  Their reply?  “We’ve tried. No one wants that.”

Could I really be the only parent who wants to have healthier options when we visit amusements parks and other “kid activities”?  I don’t think so (and don’t get me wrong… I do allow treats!), but sometimes there doesn’t seem to be ANY choice other than those disgusting processed, fried, fatty or sugar-dripping foods.

Suddenly it doesn’t become so much a “green” matter of recycling, organic foods, eco-friendly serveware or avoiding bottled water, but how NOT to give them a smorgasbord of things I don’t feel really guilty about later.

Been there?  I’d love to know if you have a solution… or are you simply a “rule breaker” too?

Back at the beginning of the school year, I talked about my mission to eliminate the trash that our daughter could potentially generate from her lunches during the course of the school year… 67 pounds of it, in fact!

67 pounds is truly the estimated annual weight of lunchtime trash generated by the typical child.  When you think about all of those disposable “things” (the drink containers, single-serving foods, wraps, napkins) it’s really not surprising.

While I did plenty of shopping to find all of the perfect items (mostly in blazing pink, because our girl is a girly-girl!) I have discovered a solution that could have saved me all of the hassle (and CO2 emissions from on-going shopping!) It’s a product from a great company called Kids Konserve.  Their Waste-Free Lunch Kit has everything you need:  a recycled cotton lunch bag, a stainless steel bottle, two stainless steel food containers, a food cozy (for wrapping foods) and a cloth napkin!  The stainless steel components give you peace of mind too, so you don’t have to worry about all of those horrible chemicals leaching into the foods!  And it’s super cute to boot!  I wish I had discovered this a lot sooner!

And although the school year is in the homestretch, they don’t need to be just for school lunches… they’re perfect for picnics, playdates, travel or anything on-the-go, AND Earth Day is just around the corner, so this is the ideal time to make this change.

In celebration of Earth Day, Kids Konserve is also offering all of my buddies a 10% discount on any purchase, now until April 30, 2009.  (Just enter: mgoesgreen at checkout.)  And when you think about all of the wraps, napkins and single-use food containers you WON’T have to buy now, you’re going to save a lot of money in the long run!… (you can thank me later!)

So, while you can’t actually “take back” 67 pounds of trash, now you know a simple way to prevent it!

Well… it’s back-to-school time. Wait. (blink, blink.) I thought it was still June.

Unfortunately…no. I’ve been desperately working on getting in the school mode, but I’m just in such denial that my sweet “baby” girl is going to be gone, all day, five days a week!

We’ve had major discussions about lunchtime and what she would like me to pack. Our school is so-so on nutritious meals, but our daughter has chosen to be a “brown bagger.” However, that’s in name only because we’ve taken lots of steps to insure that she won’t be creating too much waste at lunchtime. In fact, an interesting little stat I found on Greenopia:  “An average kid using disposable lunch wrappers generates 67 pounds of waste per school year.”… YIKES!

So, to our “low-/no-waste” lunch plan.

Buy a lunchbox. There are so many cool ones to choose from, kids can certainly find one to love. Buy a reusable bottle and/or thermo. No matter what beverage you choose, it will accommodate…and there won’t be any disposable bottles/boxes to throw away later. No paper napkins. A quick stop at the dollar store and we have cloth napkins to last her a week. Buy a cheap set of silverware. No need to toss plastic in the trash daily. Or, if you use plastic, wash & reuse. NO Ziplocs or plastic baggies. Like I mentioned before, I bought a bunch of small containers for the kids’ foods and snacks, so these will accompany her to school each day!

I was concerned that within the course of weeks the containers, thermoses, etc. would get left behind at school and never find their way back to us, but I discovered a great product from Stuck On You. They are vinyl name labels that can be placed on all of these items and they are waterproof, microwave- and dishwasher-safe (so you won’t be replacing name labels with every washing!). Our daughter’s are pink with flowers and she LOVES them. They have tons of other great products too (labels, tags, and a great starter pack) if you want to check them out.

So, as I venture into a teary-eyed send-off to our daughter, I at least know that when the year ends, there won’t be 67 lbs. of trash in a local landfill with her name on it.