Going Beyond Earth Hour – Activities that Help Reduce Human Impact on the Planet

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Carmen

Earth Hour is a global event that takes place near the end of March each year. In this hour of darkness, 152 countries in 7000 cities, hundreds of millions of people turn out all non-essential lights to show how a small act can make a difference.

But that is not all Earth Hour is about. It’s not just about turning off your lights for an hour and seeing how much the power usage drops. The organizers of Earth Hour say that the measure of success and actual goal of Earth Hour is to go beyond the hour. Doing activities that help reduce the human impact on the planet everyday; demonstrating how small acts done on a regular basis contribute to a sustainable planet.

In 2011, the logo ’60’ which represented the 60 minutes of darkness; was changed to ’60 +’ to promote going beyond the hour. Projects were initiated all over the world, to help protect and sustain our planet. Projects such as planting 5000 trees in Uganda and protecting 3.4 million hectares of sea in Argentina and there are many more.

But it’s not just about the big global projects, though important, it’s also about doing what we can close to home, in our own backyards. We can make simple and easy changes to reduce our usage and impact on the planet.

10 Activities that Help Reduce Human Impact on the Planet

Here are 10 ways to help reduce your impact on a regular basis and are things you can easily involve children (the ambassadors of our planet) in doing:

Use LED lightbulbs – studies have shown that this alone significantly reduces our power usuage. The cost to buy the bulb long outweighs the savings
Install a programmable thermostat – these are more accurate and easy to use helps reduce your heating bill
Recycle – this may seem obvious but there are still many people who don’t recycle. If you already do, go the extra mile such as recycling your coffee cup when you go out for coffee or get a refillable one
Carpool – even sharing a ride with one other person saves one car. If you choose transit or foot, saves even more!
Use reuseable cloth bags – get the kids to decorate the bags
Have a candlelight dinner hour – the kids will love turning the lights and having dinner by candlelight. Or set the mood for later with your partner post bedtime 🙂
Have a picnic supper – serve a variety of cold dishes, such as yummy salads, fancy sandwiches and a no bake dessert
Grow your own garden – even a small garden plot can be fun and rewarding. If you don’t have the yard space, get an old wooden pallet and put garden fabric on the back and fill it with dirt. Voila instant garden!
Compost -many communities in Canada have a green cart program, but it’s easy to compost in your own backyard.
Create your own Earth Hour project either with your family or within your community

Remember that each action, no matter how small, can contribute and reduce the overall impact on the planet. Start by picking one or two things that you would like to do and go from there. If we each do a little bit, it quickly becomes a lot.

Getting Grounded

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Carmen

Luke

My son Luke loves being outside. When he gets up from a nap or we are coming home from being out he says, “Mommy I want to stay outside.” And as much as I can I say “Sure” and let him play. He’ll just putz around in the backyard, exploring, driving his trucks or digging (either snow or dirt depending on the weather). The other day he was out there for a long time filling up a bucket with snow and moving it, then filling it again, over and over.

Yesterday though when he asked to stay outside and I peeked out a few minutes later to check on him, he was lying in the dirt pile in our veggie garden, eyes closed and soaking up the sunshine. It was so cute, unfortunately I was too slow to get a picture! He looked so peaceful and content. He looked up when he heard me and I asked him if he was getting grounded; he said yes. I went back to what I was doing and then checked on him a bit later and he had gone back to lying on the ground once again.

I truly believe that he was getting grounded, lying there in the dirt (and a little bit of snow) reconnecting with the Earth. It is something that we all need to do on a daily basis. It helps keep us balanced and connected, peaceful. As children I think we naturally do this, we know what to do and when we need to do it. We also have no problems getting into the dirt or lying on the ground. We know we need to feel the warmth and comfort of Mother Earth’s embrace and root ourselves; but as adults we get busy, we tend to forget and we spend much less time outside. We lose that connection that is vital to our energy – then we feel unbalanced and unfocused and begin to wonder why!

For kids it comes I think they just get grounded naturally and do it easily because they are still so close to source and are ‘freer’ without the responsibilities of cooking, cleaning working and running a household. But as adults it is even more important for us to ensure that we are grounded and to teach our kids how to stay grounded as they grow up. The best way to ground yourself is to go outside, even if only for a few minutes, but sometimes we may not be able to do that right away. So what do you do when this may not be possible?

Here are some quick and easy tricks to getting and staying grounded even when you can’t get outside.

Drink lots of water -staying hydrated keeps us in the flow and maintains our connection to the Earth
Carry a grounding crystal – black tourmaline, smoky quartz, obsidian, hematite
Smoky Quartz
Spend a few minutes imagining your favorite place outside – close your eyes and visualize the ocean, waterfall, meadow full of flowers, whatever you like, just pick a place outside
Wear red- red is the color of your first chakra, or root chakra and is related to grounding or rooting you to the Earth
Take off your shoes – even if inside your bare feet touching the ground will ground you
Get a plant, fish or something live for your office or home – bringing in live energy inside where you are working/ living will not only brighten the environment but the routines of caring for these things will ground you
Eat root vegetables – vegetables that grow below the ground such as carrots, potatoes, turnips
Organize a desk, drawer, etc.
Go to bed early
Nuture yourself – go for a massage, take a warm bath

Of course if you can get outside do so! Some of these activities will ground you quickly and make you feel great:

Go for a short brisk walk at lunch
Put your hands in the dirt
Garden (you can also do this inside with a potted plant or start seeds)
Lie down on the ground for a few minutes
Roll down the hill (remember when you were a kid and you rolled down a grassy hill how much fun that was? I was always laughing and giggling by the time I got to the bottom)

Being grounded provides us a solid foundation and makes us feel safe. It establishes our energetic connection with Mother Earth and provides us with a feeling of being balanced. Take after your kids who just lay down in the dirt, even if only for a few minutes, it does wonders. It’s also a great way to play and connect with your children which is something we could all use more of in our lives as well!

How do you stay grounded?

5 Minutes for Mom

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Carmen

Chloe, Luke and Matthew

Being a Mom has many duties, demands and challenges, but it also brings us many benefits, rewards and love. My heart just melts when the kids are playing and all of a sudden I turn around and Luke is standing there, he looks at me and says “Mommy I want to give you a hug”, he does and then he resumes playing.

Becoming a parent is job that we sign up for for life, once we are in we can’t decide to quit and look for another, take a vacation or check out. We are there forever, no matter what. But no matter what, we as Moms (parents) need to take care of ourselves so that we can be the best we can for our families. If we are not happy then the family isn’t happy.

I agree sometimes it can be challenging to even find 5 minutes for ourselves, but I have found that with a little creativity, it is easy to do and those little 5 minute breaks, help make the day easy, happy and flowing.

It’s easy to incorporate these into your day (and many of them you can do with the kids so not only do you take care of you, you can do it easily while also engaging the kids)

Breathe – yes we breathe all the time but how often do we stop and take a really deep breath, one that fills the lungs. Deep breathing does wonders for our body and brings us back to a relaxed state. Stop, breathe in for the count of 4 and then release for the count of 4, do this 3 times and you’ll find yourself in a very peaceful state. Even better add a drop of energizing essential oil like peppermint or wild orange in your hands and cup them over your nose breathing in deeply. Doing this will instantly provide you with a natural pick me up.
Dance – moving our body is key to keeping things flowing. Dancing uses your entire body, put on your favorite music and dance away! You can easily do this with the kids but be warned they’ll probably want another song when the first one is done 🙂
Go outside – fresh air does wonders for us. Whether you go for a quick walk, are gardening (getting your hands in the dirt), or you stand out in the backyard for 5 minutes, the fresh air is a great way to regenerate and de-stress. Take a deep breath while you’re out there or do a grounding activity imagining you’re a tree with large roots going deep into the ground (this one especially is fun to do with the kids as they love to imagine and be creative)
Chat with a friend -just expressing ourselves or touching base with another person can brighten our day. A listening ear always helps or just makes us feel better.
Smile -this is so simple but makes such a difference in how you feel. You use more energy when you frown, and if you smile the people around you will smile too. It’s contagious!

Of course it is important to also schedule some longer periods of time for ourselves, without the kids, such as going for a massage, bubble bath, coffee, hike or date with a friend; as we need these too to keep our spirits happy, to regenerate and de-stress and be the best we can be for everyone.