BETTER MOM-TO-MOM
Green
makers
For Motherboard moms,
eco is a family value— and
family fun, from recycling
to gardening.
G
reen, Eco, Environmental,
Once upon a time, the only
people who routinely spoke
these words were tree-hugging
hippies. Forty-one years after
the first Earth Day, it’s common language in
catalogs, at the grocery store, in our thoughts,
and— believe it— tripping blithely from the
mouths of our kids. In anticipation of the
annual April celebration, we asked The Moth-
erboard,
Better Homes and Gardens'
online
community of moms, what kind of role envi-
ronmental awareness plays in their family life.
A big one, we learned. And maybe not for the
reasons you'd think. For moms today, an eco
sensibility is more about being a good parent
than being a good Earth steward.
Old-fashioned values. “I
hate waste, Even
before it was trendy to be ^environmentally
friendly/
my family would wash out glass
jars, reuse aluminum foil, use junk mail for
scrap paper, and so on. Not only does it keep
garbage out of landfills, it saves money! 1 don't
spend money on anything unless I've thought
of a way to reuse something else for that
purpose. Now they call it iupeycling/ but we
used to just call it common sense.”
Everyone counts.
“If one person or one
family can make a small difference, why
shouldn't it be me or our family?”
*
Know your sources.
“We talk A LOT about
where our food comes from. If we don't know
where it comes from, we probably shouldn't be
eating it. The closer the food is to its origin,
the healthier it is for us. It's also a ton better
for the environment to have fewer middle men
in the production of our food,”
[motherboard
a million women strong
Second nature.
“We're trying to teach our
kids the value of recycling and conservation,
because if they grow up with these values,
it will become habit; they won't even think
twice. It will simply be a way of life.”
The Motherboard is
Better Homes and Gardens'
online
community of moms. For more mom-to-mom intelli-
gence and inspiration, visit themotherboard.com. Every
tip, recipe, and idea is inspired by Motherboard’s million
moms like you who want a simpler, better life right now.
B E T T E R HOMES AND CAItUKNS I
A PHIL г о II I
BHO.COM
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