Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to all! Of course, every day should be Earth Day, but it's still lovely to acknowledge it today. Rather than focussing on all of the negative issues of global warming, pollution, blah blah blah, I've decided to take a positive spin on today. I've been thinking about it lately, and there are so many opportunities we have to choose to look at issues from the positive side and we still take the negative. I do, anyway. For example: grumble, grumble grumble about the price of oil. Negative 'solution': continue grumbling. Positive solution: find alternate sources of energy (we're buying a wood stove - I'm excited!), drive less, put on sweaters instead of cranking up the furnace, etc. I believe that rying to do what I can a little bit at a time (buying environmentally friendly cleaning products, drying clothes outside as much as possible, using a reel lawn mower) to be kinder to the earth is better than being defeatist about the whole thing. I'm trying to take that approach to work as well - doing all that I can and knowing that I've done that much, rather than thinking "Well, it probably wouldn't make a difference if I did that anyway." So, in the spirit of my positive spin, here are some links to some earth-friendly and interesting things:

Straw Bale House links:
The Last Straw
The International Journal of Straw Bale and Natural Building

Strawbale house links

Yurt links:
Rainier Yurts

(This article is a little out there, but interesting anyway) Yurts: Round & Unbound

Cleaning and house stuff:
Seventh Generation

Natural Home and Garden Magazine (my new favourite - it takes a pro-active spin on everything related to the house and garden, is beautiful to look at and a great resource)

Simply Clean A line of Canadian, fragrance and phosphate-free, biodegradable household cleaners which I love - the laundry detergent is amazing and has gotten out stains that I couldn't remove with Shout. They're available at our local Superstore and health food store.

And because there's always plenty of negative and saddening news everywhere, check out happynews.com and Cute Overload. Guaranteed to make you smile!

Happy Earth Day!