“Hawaii Messages in the Waves", http://www.messageinthewaves.com/  by BBC.

“The Story of Stuff” http://www.storyofstuff.com/ , Anne Leonard

“Kilowatt Ours” http://www.kilowattours.org/ , by Jeff Barrie 

Watch a movie with your family.  Make it a family night, add popcorn to your movie, and enjoy!

Global warming and "being Green" have become items of great debate. Whether you believe that humans are causing global warming, or that the world is just going through a warming cycle, it is a proven fact that our options for dealing with the waste we create are falling short at best.

The first step is to choose to make a difference locally.

We are polluting and ultimately destroying our planet, our home. Getting involved in being part of the pollution solution is easier than you might think. The first step is to get familiar with the information. There is plenty of good reading out there that explains consumerism and the way we handle trash.

Here are some Eco warriors 101's

1. Plastic is not degradable. Once created it stays around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Most pollution is not intentional. We don't intend to send garbage into our streams, rivers, and oceans.

2. Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle.  What does this mean? It means to think about what you buy, what you use, what you discard, and how you discard it.

The little turtle that did not know any better

You place your waste into a trash can, bring it to the curb, and forget about it. Your trash contained a plastic bag that got blown out of the landfill and ended up in a stream. The stream dumps into a river, the river ends in the ocean. The plastic bag is eaten by a little sea turtle. The turtle dies because he starves, unable to eat or digest any food. The turtle’s body decades and the plastic debris are released to kill again.

It isn't the little turtle’s fault that he starved. He mistook the plastic bag for a jellyfish.  This really happens, and not to just one sea turtle, but to hundreds of sea animals.  For example, sea birds like the albatross, sea lions, seals, and entire coral reefs, are being killed by plastics.

What can you do?

One way to help stop this devastating cycle is to simply choose not to use plastic bags.

Do you think we can't live without plastic bags? Some towns in Australia have already stopped using plastic bags. They are doing fine. Here are links to how several towns succeeded in eliminating plastic bags in their communities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_6605000/6605435.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1717476.ece

You can buy plastics that are bio-degradable. The bio-degradable plastics are made from soy and corn. 

You can also write your government and request that bio-degradable plastics become mandatory and insist they support eco-friendly laws.

Recycle

When we started recycling the items on the list. We had so many items that we had to call the town to request a third recycling bin. We fill 3 bins a week and usually need to use some brown paper bags as extra collection bins. We have made recycling a family challenge.

Here are some simple changes my family made after watching the documentary "Hawaii message in the waves by BBC." This documentary was a very informative and entertaining look at the serious and harmful results of plastic trash on Hawaii's beaches and sea animals.

1. We no longer pack sandwiches in plastic baggies.

2. We use containers that can be washed and reused to pack our school lunches.

3. We never use plastic bags for groceries. We bring our own bags and/or we request paper-bags. We use the paper-bags to hold recyclables curbside.

4. We check all items we buy, and if they are recyclables, we recycle them curbside. If they are not recyclable we try to find a company that makes that product in a recyclable package for next time.

5. We buy local products, such as fruits, and veggies that are not packaged at all, and we do not use the plastic bag to hold them while we shop. We put all our veggies and fruits in the top bin of the shopping cart. This saves us throwing the small plastic bags away when we unpack the groceries at home.

6. Read labels at the store and buy items that are recyclable. Items that support our growth and survival.

Keep track of how much you recycle at home using your curbside recycling or a drop off program. Take photos and e-mail them to us. You can also snail mail them to 398 Palisado Ave, Windsor, CT 06095 c/o J.E. Mejias.  You may see your photos on our website in the near future!

Next steps

Now that you are armed with some new knowledge, you may feel compelled to learn more.  Make recycling and saving our planet a family goal.  It won’t be long before you start to see positive changes.

"We are not tree huggers. We are air breathers. We are Eco-Warriors." We are compelled to show our strengths and defend what is ours. We have the right and a duty to defend our environment and our planet. We have a calling to learn and teach a gentle and sustainable way of life for the generations that will follow us. We are the Green Eco Warriors.

If you are anything like us, you probably like or even love animals. You will probably want to preserve our planet’s natural beauty.  You want our rainforests, glaciers, and coral reefs to thrive.  

Let’s take back our fields, our parks our rivers, and oceans. Lets become ECO-WARRIORS!

ECO Facts

Recycling just one aluminum coke bottle saves enough energy to run a television for 3 hours.
Recycling just 3 feet of newspaper you save a rain forest tree.