Happy Good Friday, Earth!

Happy Earth Day, everyone!
I love that this year Earth Day and Good Friday fall together. Good Friday was the day Jesus Christ was crucified. The day He died for our sins. Three days later He rose again, making the world anew. It many ways it feels appropriate to honor Him but celebrating Earth Day as well.
It is the day we can plant the seeds, so that the earth can renew itself. If Christ had not done what was required of Him to save us, He could not have been resurrected. If we do not do what is required of us to save our planet, it will not be resurrected.
I love the symmetry of these two days together! What a wonderful way to honor the gifts of the Earth that the Lord has given us. What a wonderful way to show our gratitude for all that we have been given, by giving back and respecting God's creations.

Check out EarthDay.org for a Billion Acts of Green and local events.

Christian Science Monitor talks about how to fix environmental education.

Celebrate Earth by enjoying these amazing pictures taken by NASA

Take a look at the Fox Network "Green It. Mean It." campaign videos.

Pastor Craig Goodwin asks CNN: Are Earth Day and Good Friday an Unholy Alliance? (He takes a minute to get there, but his answer may surprise you.)

If there is any doubt in your mind about showing thanks for God's Creations on Earth Day, I offer you the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing, "For the Beauty of the Earth"

How to make recycled paper at home

Adventures in Recycling

For the past month I have been telling myself I need to take a picture of my ever growing recycling piles. And then today I took all the recycling to the receptacle, and completely forgot. So you will just have to trust me that for the past month I've had 3 large brown bags of sorted recyclables in the kitchen.
For those of you who regularly recycle, this probably won't sound all that interesting. But I have never lived in a place where I had to actually break out my recycling before. So this was all new and perplexing to me. (In the past I just dumped all my recyclables into one big bin together. There was no sorting. And therefore, no reason for me to analyze my waste.)
I learned a few interesting things by having to sort out my junk like that. First, I use a TON of paper! I really was surprised how much faster the paper bin filled up than the others. Second, wow do I go through a lot of plastic. And third, I hardly ever use any aluminum! That was a surprise to me. And I had no glass.
There were a few items I just couldn't decide what to do with. For instance, the dog food bag. It is recycled paper on the outside (or so it says), but the inside has a plasticky/shiny/slippery material. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that. The other confusing material was the backing/packaging that pills come in. The kind that you push through foil. Is that recyclable? I have no idea. And so those two items are the only things that went in the trash can this week. In fact, I didn't have any "trash" to take outside for 2 whole weeks. That was kind of cool. Oh and Styrofoam. My take out Chinese food comes in Styrofoam containers (which I ate at my sister's and put in her trash). Where does that go? They don't recycle it here in town, so do I just toss the evil stuff in the trash? I don't like that idea!
Next, I discovered that they do have recycling pickup here in our neighborhood, but only if you have all the right bins. I have none of the bins. So I had to take my bags (brown paper) down to the sorting center and dump it myself. It is an annoying hassle, but I think I can keep up with it.
My next plan is to attempt composting. I still haven't had the time to read up on it yet, or start the process. But one of these days I will get to it. I would love to not have any actual "trash" each week. The idea just excites me. Maybe I will ask Santa for a composter for Christmas?
Experience recyclers- help me! I need your advice! Where do I throw pill packaging and Styrofoam?