Maintenance Corner
With Earth Day next month (April 22, 2018) we'd like to start the focus on making a few meaningful choices with the help of your household, yes including children! The following five simple choices can make a difference not only to the earth, but also to the overall cooperative. These tips will also start a strong foundation for children.
1. Pre-Cycle
Consider the container before buying anything. Teach children about over packaged products like plastic-wrapped cheese sticks or individual baggies of carrot sticks. Buying things in bulk containers can help limit what you put on the in the trash dumpster. Less trash in the dumpster can reduce pick ups at CTC which in turn is less money out of the operations budget.
2. Bring your own bag
Sure, we all have them, but do we remember to bring them to the store? Give your children the important task of reminding you to pack the bags before running errands and bring them into the store.
3. Conserve Water
We know to turn the water off while brushing our teeth, run full loads of clothes and full loads. And since most of you don't have dishwasher, you don't want to forget that the the number of dishes you have to wash can be reduced. Kids will grab new glasses because they forgot whose was whose and you end up with a dozen half filled glasses that end up in the sink. Here's a clever way to reduce the number of dumped water glasses and unnecessary washing.
To put an end to the pileup in the sink and better keep track of everyone's glass, decorate plain wooden clothespins with each child's name and attach it to the rim of the glass they receive in the morning. At the end of the day, the kids turn in their glasses and clothespins so they can pin a fresh cup in the morning. Now you will wash less and the kids play a part in saving water every day. You are also conserving overall water consumption for the cooperative directly.
4. Eat Better
Bring children to the local farmers' market where they can chose a variety of fresh items. Take them home and compare these fresh foods to their favorite snack. Blindfold them and set out a sliced fruit and a bowl of single served fruit gummy snacks they love so much. After a taste test, see if these little food critics begin to start asking for fresh fruit on the go instead.
5. Turn off the lights
Remembering to turn the lights off after leaving a room is a skill to be taught. Have your children take on the role of the "switch supervisor" and walk through the house turning off any lights that are not being used. Light can account for 15% of a homes energy bill. This not only makes contributions to helping the earth, but also the overall budget of the cooperative.
There is more to do when it comes to helping the earth. But for now, these are a few strong foundations to teach your children (or yourself). Tips and tricks found from Parents Magazine April 2011.
Watch for next months special Earth Day events CTC will be offering.
Check out our video for some small reminders on our policy on Trash & Recycling at CTC. Lets keep CTC a beautiful living environment!
