Beginning my green journey in Austin

Hi and welcome to my blog!

So I started to really care about going green and being healthy when I moved to Austin.  When I lived in New York, I thought my town was nice, but the conditions all around New York City made it a little overwhelming – the air and water seemed so polluted that it never occurred to me that there was anything beautiful to save.  Austin, though, really opened my eyes. It seemed like every day welcomed me with a beautiful blue sky, and people were outside and enjoying it. Being green and being healthy isn’t forced on you, but you can tell that people really care. Now that I have experienced what it should be like, I am really able to appreciate it.

I know “going green” is not easy and there are a lot of people out there wondering how they will do it and feeling overwhelmed because of all of the green products and tips out there.  I hope that going through this experience together will help.  I also hope that I gain lots of tips too from comments.

Now, I know that I can’t do this all at once.  I am married with two kids and I am working full time.  That’s no excuse not to go green, but it is a reason to take small steps.  I have been a recycler since I was a kid, but I didn’t really recycle everything that I could have.  I hope to change my habits to reduce, recycle and reuse.  Unfortunately, I am constrained at the moment from doing anything structural to my house (like adding solar panels) or property because I rent, but if it is something that can be moved to another house at a later time I can do it.

Green things I am doing now and will discuss:

• Recycling plastic, glass and some paper
• Using green bags at the grocery store
• Using Tupperware
• Using green cleaning products
• Reusing plastic containers I get
• Shutting off water when brushing teeth
• Turning off lights and tv when not in that room (need to work on this more!)
• Use tap water in reusable water bottles and not buy water in bottles
• Donate  toys and clothes

Some things on my to-do list – not in any order:

• Recycle paper
• Start growing my own food
• Reuse rain water (if it ever rains)
• Volunteer for garbage pickups

Since I started to go green, I also realized that my family needs to be healthier.  My son has asthma and my daughter has eczema so it was really important for me to take control of their diet and learn how to keep them healthy.  Our whole family has been exercising more, spending a lot more time outside and eating much better.  I will share some health stories and tips along the way as well.