When Was the Last Time You Got Around to Volunteering?

A big part of improving our world is getting out and directly working on the problems we face. The troubles we’re facing only get worse when no one takes the time to work on them.

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it’s hard to find time to volunteer. With three kids and a home business, my life is busy. But at the same time, that almost makes it more important to volunteer. What better way to be a great example?

Where to Volunteer?

There are many places you can volunteer in any community. Some are more environmentally focused while others are more about helping the less fortunate. Either sort is a very good idea.

You can volunteer in a food kitchen. You can volunteer to help clean up a natural area near you. You can volunteer to read to kids at your local library. You can volunteer to build homes with Habitat for Humanity when they’re in your area or someplace you can go to help. You can volunteer to help a local CSA. You can volunteer to help bring environmental programs to your local schools.

You won’t always be able to do your first choice. Sometimes programs have enough volunteers and need to turn people away. Don’t let that stop you from volunteering. Look at other options or try again another time.

Not all volunteer opportunities will be right up there dealing with the problems that need to be fixed. You may be able to volunteer to help with the less obvious positions, such as keeping in contact with volunteers, helping with fundraising and so forth. These may not be as much fun, but they’re vital to many organizations.

Don’t Forget the Simple Things

Not all volunteering has to be big projects. You can do little things to make your community or the world a better place. Donate old glasses to Give the Gift of Sight.  Do a little guerrilla gardening. Offer a microloan through sites such as Kiva. Give a donation to a good cause. Tell your friends and family about the causes you support. Some of them might choose to get involved too.

It’s not always going to be easy to find the time or money to help out the causes you’d like to support. But if you don’t try at all, it’s never going to happen. Take some time and think about where you could be making a difference right now. Get your kids involved as appropriate. We can all make a difference if we choose to.

How to Choose Eco Friendly Children’s Toys

Children in the United States as a general rule have a lot of toys. I mean a lot. Often more than they can realistically play with. By the time you add in all they toys that you as parents choose for them, that grandparents provide, toys from other relatives, plus from friends at birthday parties, you’re talking quite a number of toys. How on earth are you supposed to keep that even remotely eco friendly?

It’s not easy. But with a little discussion with family and friends, and some good choices on your own, you can do it.

Start When They’re Young

It’s never too soon to start thinking of how eco friendly your children’s toys are. It’s even more important in many ways that you pick eco friendly toys for your baby than it is for your older kids. Who’s more likely to regularly put toys in their mouth, after all?

Buy and encourage others to buy toys that are free of phthalates if they must buy plastic. Be open about your preference for wooden and organic toys. If you’re clear about what you’d like to have in your home, many people will listen. There’s only so much you can do about the ones who won’t listen.

When it comes to painted toys and jewelry, you’re going to have to think about what’s in that paint too. Standards have gotten stricter for lead content in paint, but cadmium is also an issue.

Encourage Toy Trades

If you have family or friends with kids just a bit older, younger or right around the ages of your children, talk about handing down or trading toys. It’s a great way to keep kids using toys while giving them a fresh assortment regularly.

This can be challenging as kids get very attached to certain toys. If you’re doing a trade, beware of kids getting too attached to a toy that you had planned on trading back or to another child. Expect that trading and handing down will work better with some toys than with others.

If you can get this started when the kids are young, they are likely to be more matter of fact about handing down toys that they’re bored with. If they’ve never had to do it but you’re suddenly insisting, of course you’ll face resistance.

Buy Used Toys

There are many resources to buy used toys. Craigslist, thrift stores, garage sales and eBay are wonderful for getting toys relatively cheaply, and you can’t forget Freecycle for freebies. I bought my kids an old Atari 2600 so that they could play video games, and they’re quite happy with it. No need for a modern system, and the cartridges are really cheap, especially in comparison to more modern gaming systems. Yet the games are highly engaging and loads of fun for the kids and for us.

All kinds of toys and games can be acquired used. You will want to be aware of any potential recalls or safety issues.

And when your kids are done with them, you can sell the toys off too if they’ve lasted.

The Plain Cardboard Box

When you’re thinking eco friendly toys, you cannot forget the plain cardboard box. You may get one when you buy a new appliance or you may have to go to Home Depot to ask them to save a box for you to pick up the next day for your kids. However you manage it, a cardboard box can be made into a great playhouse.

Don’t Forget Outdoor Toys

Some of the best toys you can get for your kids will be the ones that encourage them to play outside. Kids need to get outdoors more than many do these days. Skates, bicycles, scooters, balls and so forth at appropriate ages encourage a lot of activity. Don’t forget shovels for encouraging them to help you in the garden.

You can also take the time to teach your kids to play classic childhood games that don’t require any accessories. Think about tag and hide and go seek. Outdoor play doesn’t need to revolve around a toy at all.

Could You Switch Your Lawn to Native Plants?

I’m kind of sighing here. Due to the homeowner’s association kicking up a fuss over an imperfect lawn – one spot simply refuses to grow grass, despite reseeding and trying to fix the sprinklers, my landlord is resodding the front lawn. If it were my home, I’d be looking at what else could go in there. I have the back lawn for the kids; I’d frankly rather not have a front lawn at all. Put something else in there!

A well watered lawn is attractive in its way. All nice and green. But it’s not green in the sense of being environmentally friendly, as a general rule. Most lawns get treated with harsh chemicals that then wash into sewers with every rain or runoff from the sprinklers. They take huge amounts of clean water, which is horrible for places where water resources are already strained. Most people trim their lawns with lawn mowers that have highly inefficient engines.

In short, they just aren’t that eco friendly, no matter how green the color.

A lawn is not the only path to an attractive front yard, however. If you want an attractive and eco friendly front yard, read up on xeriscaping and find some native plants.

Advantages of Native Plants

Choosing native plants for your landscaping has many advantages. They need little to no water, as they evolved to grow in the area you’re trying to grow them. That’s a nice savings on your water bill.

They’re also better adapted to the soil. This means you won’t need to spend so much time fertilizing them. If you’re using compost from your own kitchen, fertilizing isn’t so bad a deal, but when people use chemical fertilizers, as is far more common with lawns, it’s bad for the environment and frankly unhealthy for the people and pets who have to live with the chemicals there.

You can also find many beautiful native plants. It make take some searching, but most places have native plants available that you will be happy to have growing in your yard. Also plenty you’d be unhappy with, but of course you won’t be growing those.

You also won’t have to worry so much about spraying for bugs. Native plants are used to the local bugs.

You may also attract more local wildlife. This can be both an advantage and disadvantage, depending on your perspective. It’s great to encourage the local wildlife, but let’s face it – a skunk won’t be as welcome as a songbird most places.

What About the Disadvantages?

Native plants aren’t going to be perfect for everyone or every use. There’s a reason why I only want to have a front yard landscaped with native plants.

Most areas don’t have native plants that are good as a lawn, and that means it’s not so good a place for the children to play. That’s important to me as a way to encourage my kids to get outside regularly.

It can be much harder to find local plants that really suit your idea of an attractive yard, as you will have far fewer plants to choose from. This may not be a major issue in some places, but if you have a definite look you’d like to go for, it may be a real challenge.

What About Plants from Other Areas that Are Adapted to the Climate?

Nonnative plants that grow well in your area may also be tempting. They may well be a better choice than trying to grow a lawn in some ways. But they can also be problematic.

Nonnative species can become invasive, pushing out native plants in areas beyond your yard. Seeds don’t just stay put, after all. They get eaten and excreted by animals and bugs. They may get blown around by the wind. They grow where, if you knew about it, you’d really rather they didn’t.

The decision to use nonnative plants should be made carefully. They can allow you to really cut your water use and still have the yard of your dreams, but they aren’t perfect.

Especially in the Western part of the United States, it’s important to cut back on how much lawn area we grow around our homes. It uses too much water and is bad for the environment. Start taking a look at what you’re growing outside your home and start thinking about the best decisions you could make.

Ending on a Lighter Note

I have to note that the resodding is taking a really long time. We visited family over the Mother’s Day weekend, and on the way back home my oldest daughter commented in a rather disgusted tone, “I hope the sodding guys have finished the lawn.”

All parents know how hard it is to not laugh sometimes.

No Room for a Garden? Find a Community Garden

Not everyone has the space for their own garden. While you can do a little kitchen garden and grow some herbs and perhaps some tomatoes, it’s really hard to do a serious garden if you don’t have the space. You might be fortunate enough to have an option in some areas.

Some neighborhoods have community gardens set up. These may be many individual plots that you can sign up for or a single plot that anyone in the community can help with. It’s a chance for you to garden even if you don’t otherwise have the space. The American Community Gardening Association is a great place to start learning about community gardens.

If there’s a community garden already in your area, go find out how to join. There may be fees associated, as there are costs to running a community garden, from leasing or buying the land, to the cost of insurance, to the cost of water.

If you can’t find a community garden in your area, you might be able to start one with others in your area who would like to garden. Start talking about it in your neighborhood. Look for empty lots that could serve. Start talking to sponsors to help with the costs once you have enough people to get things going.

It can be challenging to start a community garden. You may not find the support you were hoping for. There may be some people flat out opposed to the idea. The only way you’re going to find out if things can work, however, is to give it a try.

It helps to remind people that a community garden isn’t just about giving people a place to grow flowers and vegetables. It’s a way to bring the community together. It’s a way to teach children about where food comes from and give them real experiences with growing food. It’s a way to make healthier foods more accessible.

Community gardens can even help to deter crime. They get people out into the neighborhood and helps them to get to know each other. There are more eyes outside, so to speak.

The people who participate in the community garden may even be interested in getting together on other topics of concern. You have one point of interest in common. You may be able to get members of the community garden group to work on other activities as well. It’s great for making needed changes in the community.

You will find being a part of a community garden to be a fair bit of work. That’s reasonable, as any sort of gardening takes significant effort. But you may have to add into those efforts the work needed to make the garden function for everyone, deal with disputes and cope with troublemakers. But you’ll be joining in efforts to really improve your community.

Can You Really Go Green By Working at Home?

Lots of people want to work at home. For most it has nothing to do with going green and everything to do with dreams. The dreams of a more leisurely lifestyle. The dreams of more time for their family. The dreams of an income they can barely imagine.

But working at home isn’t all about that. It can also be about being more eco friendly.

I’ve worked at home since late 2001. It’s mostly been fun, but also stressful, and I’m still far from the wild dream so many have of hitting it rich. But then I haven’t always had a home business either.

If you’re looking at working at home and wondering if there’s a shortcut to getting started without getting scammed, I’ll tell you the answer right now:

Maybe.

Whether or not there’s a shortcut depends on what you do right now. You see, it’s possible that your current job could become at least a partial work at home job if it’s the right sort of job.

That’s right, you could telecommute from your current position if that’s possible within your company.

This is obviously not possible for everyone. If you have to deal with people face to face, it’s not going to happen. If your job otherwise requires your physical presence every day, it’s not going to happen. But if that’s not the case, it might be possible. Or not. Much depends on the company you work for.

Go in and talk to your boss. Find out if telecommuting even one day a week is an option. With luck, you’ll get a positive answer.

If it’s a no, but you think you could telecommute to your current job, start working on changing the policy. Find out why the answer was no and figure out how to counter those arguments. Sometimes it can be done.

What If You Can’t Telecommute from Your Current Job?

Many people just don’t have that telecommute option for one reason or another. It’s a drag, but it’s real life.

If you’re serious about working from home, it’s time to start looking.

When you’re considering the eco side of working from home, be sure that you consider that as you job hunt. There’s not much eco to working for companies that generally don’t respect the environment.

You’re also going to have to learn about work at home scams. The dratted things are all over the place. Be extremely skeptical of any and all job offers, especially the ones which sound too good to be true. I run another website, Home with the Kids, which has a lot of tips on avoiding work at home scams you might want to read.

Most work at home jobs pay on production rather than hourly. This makes sense, as it means that they don’t have to worry about if you’re being productive during the hours you said you’d work. If you’re not productive, you’re just not getting paid!

What About a Home Business?

It’s amazing how many home business opportunities there are out there. You could join an eco friendly network marketing opportunity. You could do affiliate marketing. You could start your own website. You could do some other kind of business.

There are so many ways you could start a home business if that’s what interests you. The internet has opened things up tremendously.

The challenge is that there is never a guarantee that your home business will allow you to make a living. Running a business is hard work. If you want to succeed, you’re going to have to give it everything you’ve got and keep pushing through even when it seems like nothing is going right. Expect it to be hard and you won’t be disappointed.

Don’t trust any of the people who tell you it’s going to be easy to earn six figures in a year (or worse, a month!) working from home. People who earn that kind of money are very much the exception to the rule. Just as with any other kind of business, most home businesses fail. If you want to do a home business you had better be prepared for that.

Set Up Your Work Space

If you can telecommute or otherwise find a way to work from home, you’re going to need a good space to work from home. A dedicated home office is best, especially if you need quiet for your work, and some jobs do have that as an absolute requirement.

You can work from any place you can set your computer up if your work allows it.

You will want to be as free from distractions as possible wherever you set up. You don’t want to get started working and find that you’re unproductive because the TV is on or the kids are playing or anything like that.

Make sure that any supplies you buy as as eco friendly as possible. You shouldn’t be buying new gear unless it’s absolutely necessary. That includes your computer, which of course will be tempting to upgrade, but do you really need a newer machine or is the one you have quite capable of doing all you need it to do?

This May Take Time

For most people, getting to work at home isn’t something that happens overnight. It may take months to find the right opportunity or to get your current job to start a telecommuting program. Be patient.

If you’re starting something new, don’t be surprised if it takes time to earn an adequate income. Even when it’s a job rather than a home business it takes time to figure things out well enough that you earn what you’d like. Work hard at it just the same and find something that works for you.