"Becoming Green"

Have you ever noticed how some things in life seem to have a snowball effect? You start doing one small thing, or make one small change in your life, and all of the sudden you've made a lot of big changes or your life is going in a different direction than you had planned.

I never really intended to "go green". Honestly, I am not too concerned with global warming, and didn't really think that I could make that big of an impact anyway. I liked doing things the way that I did them, and I liked the convenience of my "throw away" lifestyle.

I'm really not sure what the first decision I made or the first small change that pushed me in this direction was. I think back and maybe it was my decision during pregnancy to go through labor and delivery without outside interventions. I had a mostly unmedicated labor, I did not receive an epidural, and Kaelyn came into this world in the most natural and beautiful way. I'll have to write my birth story another time. :) Maybe it was my decision to breastfeed from day one. There is not a more "green" activity then breastfeeding. No formula to be produced in factories, shipped across the country, shelved in grocery stores, purchased and brought home where you mix it with water and make it in a bottle (that may be made out of harmful plastics) and then the bottle has to be cleaned after each feeding. Breast milk requires no extra production and creates no extra waste. Maybe it was my decision to use cloth diapers (that's a whole different post too). Maybe it was when Jer lost his job and we had to be more "frugal" and resourceful. I don't know, but somewhere along the way I changed, and I am finding myself more concerned with "going green" then I ever imagined I would be. I am continuing to make small changes that will add up to big changes in the long run, and I see my life going in a different direction than I had previously thought it would. I am continually thinking of, or seeking out new ways to change, either my actions or my thinking, and I am proud of the decisions I have made and the direction I, along with my family, am headed.