I grew up in the country, with hippy parents who grew their own food and made their own tofu. My sister and I spent more time outdoors than in during our early years, exploring the creeks, woods, and wild blueberry patches surrounding our home in upstate New York. Exploring the natural world was an important part of my elementary school education, I spent summers at farm camp, and my family spent vacations watching the wild horses at the beaches of the Chesapeake, swimming in the Long Island sound, and camping in the woods of Maine.  No one called it “environmentalism”, but I grew up with a great respect for the earth and its creatures. And I’ve always wanted the same for my children.

When Lily and Missy approached me with the idea for this challenge and the blog, I have to admit I had gotten a little off track. Life with two small kids is all-consuming and I’ve found myself compromising on a lot these past few years, just to get through each day. But our kids are the most important reason for why we should care about what happens to our planet. What’s that saying?? We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Well, we haven’t been taking very good care of it, and I want to do something to change that.

Although it may seem that we are each such small players in this big picture of climate change and global warming, I am an eternal optimist and I truly believe that everyone can do something. How can we afford not to???