organic aspirations: Happy Earth Day and Eco Kids

Can I just first say sorry to all who were worried abut me Tuesday when I didn't post Eco Kids. Seriously, I had my kids in the car, dressed, fed, and ready to play at the park in the good weather bright and early. As I was pulling into the park, however, I realized that it was Tuesday, and that I did not put my Eco Kids up OR share the code with Hannah. *sigh*

For Earth Day, we decided to volunteer for Collier Township's Annual Keep Collier Beautiful Day.

Take the family to clean up garbage in your neighborhood for Earth Day.

Photo by Sal Sirabella

We were assigned to the place where we probably would have spent our Saturday anyway, the Panhandle Trail. We collected about four or five bags of trash, but it was sad that there was an entire hillside of trash that we couldn't clean up because we had the kids with us.

We suspected that some of the mess was left over from the flooding cause by Ivan several years back, but many of the things left there were clearly things that people had no other way of disposing of. There were aerosol cans, tires, building supplies, oil change materials, and construction supplies. Scott made a good point that there is no place in our area (that we know of) where people can easily take these hazardous materials for easy recycling or disposal.

I think he's right. It's no excuse for dumping things on the trail, but maybe our public land would be more free of this garbage if people knew where to take it. I did a bit of research on Earth 911, and there are some places to take some of these things near us. Earth 911 is an easy site to use, you just type in your zip code and then click on what items you are trying to recycle or safely dispose of.

All in all, we were happy with all of the trash that we were able to pick up from one of our favorite trails, and it inspired us to bring a garbage bag when we geocache so that we can "cache in, trash out." We won't be able to carry as much as we cleaned up today, but we saw that even a little bit would make a difference.

We decided (even before we won a raffle at the lunch) to make this fun and purposeful event a yearly tradition for our family. On our way back to the car, we were pleased with how nice and clean the trail was, and we got some exercise, fresh air, and a few geocaches while we were at it!

Last week Eco Kids had an amazing week! Thank you for over 90 entries! Here are a few of my favorite entries:

Home Sewn Diapers by The Frugal Farm Wife

100 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day with Kids by Reading Confetti

Recycled Seed Planterss by Life with Moore Babies

If you were featured today, please share this button on your site!

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Please join me for the Eco-Kids Linky! I hope that you'll share some great family-friendly posts that are also friendly for the environment. Some ideas include:

Nature Activities
Outdoor Activities
Crafts made with re-purposed or recycled materials
Sewing and DIY home projects
Science Experiments
Posts on environmental issues for kids or families
Non-toxic living
Homeopathic Remedies

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Please follow both co-hostess' blogs, and visit some of the other posts and give them some encouragement! Please stick to posts and photos not giveaways or items for sale.

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Happy Earth Day and Eco Kids

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