Earth Day 2011 - Challenge to myself

Happy Earth Day Mama Earth
I, like many urban/suburban yuppies in their thirties, love to think of myself as eco-conscious.  An eco-savvy, organic cotton wearing, recycling and reusing, farmers market veggie buying, all organic baby food feeding, veggie gardening mama is what I strive so hard to present.  But when you look at my daily actions what am I actually doing for our mama earth?  Today I woke up and saw all sorts of lists online about the small daily things you can do for the environment and thought "am I really eco-conscious?"  Where did I take the wrong turn?

Let's see...  In my twenties, studying Environmental Education for my graduate work was an opportunity to do something and take action on a daily basis, it gave me a chance to dream big about what I would do in the future and on the downside to judge others for their inaction and my perception of their laziness.  I dedicated my life then to stopping the cycle of adolescent consumption by encouraging girls to become active and connected to the outdoors.  Guiding trips, creating curriculum, volunteering, were all ways I could do this. 

Now I work for a teen retailer and base my family's livelihood on getting teenager's to consume more.   I have spent these years telling myself this contradiction is necessary and really helpful as it provides an income for me to impact a greater breadth of environmental justice, or necessary for my growth as it gives me an understanding of the benefit of consumerism to our world and not just the detrimental aspects.  Whatever it is I am telling myself I cannot ignore the laziness I have succumbed to on a day to day basis.  So, starting today, with the help of anyone who is willing to support me on this challenge, I will stop being lazy.  Every day for the next year I am looking to do one small thing for the environment.  I have usually ignored the suggestions for those tiny things you can do thinking I only want to do BIG things.  But what good is holding out for BIG things if I am not doing them? 

Thank you for reading and please help support me on this challenge.  I will need it as I have found it is so easy to be lazy each day and do not want to fall into that again!

Happy Earth Day everyone!