Save our Planet the Good Old Fashioned Way

West Seattle mom Toni Wells and her family are helping to save our planet the good old fashioned way -- recycling, reducing and buying local.

Recycling bins "all over the house"

Toni says they have recycling bins "all over the house," and they're learning to grown their own food "a few veggies at a time." When they do shop for food, they look for local and/or organic produce. Toni applies her "buy local" philosophy to other products as well.

Buy it local - minimize the production & distribution network!

When we buy locally-made products, we are reinforcing a smaller production and distribution network -- one that doesn't tax our environment as much as large-scale production and transcontinental distribution do.

Apple juice for Washington moms, orange juice for Florida moms

One obvious example: if we all constantly relied on orange juice made in Florida, rather than say fresh juice made here in the Northwest, we are in effect supporting the use of more fossil fuels and pollution to transport the juice.

Local means less packaging, fresher and more nutritious

On the other hand, local foods require less packaging so they generate less waste, they are fresher and more nutritious because they didn't have to travel far to arrive at our tables. Buying local helps support our own farmers and communities.

Downsize to one car

Toni also tells us that her family has downsized to one car and shares carpooling duty everyday with four other families. In doing so, Toni's family is putting one less car on the road, which means less exhaust fumes, and possibly requiring one less parking space at the destination. By carpooling with other families, Toni is multiplying those benefits.

Turn off the lights and adjust the thermostat

At home, she makes sure the lights are turned off when not in use and the heat is turned down whenever possible.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, where we are blessed with a relatively mild summer compared with the rest of the country, air conditioning is not a necessity -- strictly speaking, that is. But the rest of the year is quite cool; spring is usually a late-comer; in fall, temperatures can drop very quickly, and winters can be both cold and wet.

It is during these cold stretches where even small adjustments can go a long way. "For most homes, the heating bill drops by about 2 percent for every 1 degree the thermostat is lowered," says the website for Washington's Utilities and Transportation Commission. "Lower your home's thermostat at bedtime or while you are away during the day. Setting the thermostat to 58 degrees while you're asleep can cut your natural-gas bill by up to 7 percent."

The most rewarding part...

The rewarding part about being a conscientious energy consumer is not the savings, but what it teaches our children about our limited resources. By involving her children Teryn and Dylan with her conservation habits, Toni is raising two future adults who will not take our resources for granted.