Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my web site.  Let's keep the earth healthy together.  As I always say, "No matter what your age, you can make a difference!" 

My mom and I designed ecosavvykid.com for kids. But, we would love for you to share the information with the big kids in your life too!

We will focus on: recycling, reusing, reducing our waste, rethinking how we care for our environment, the natural world around us, how you can make a difference in your community and how we can educate our parents and our friends about making a difference too!  We provide links to cool web sites you should check out that offer great information or a product we really like.


Thanks, The Ecosavvykid, Jamie & Mom


Are you between the ages of 6 - 12?  Would you like to share your ideas, poems, articles about nature, making a difference or green ideas?  Email us:  laura@ecosavvykid.com.  We plan to add a kids column to the site and would love some of your great ideas!  Thanks.



MAIL CALL

We've received such great, positive emails from people that we decided we would share them with you. 

Ecosavvy Mom's Rants and Raves


Potty Talk

Kids, did you know you can waste 35 glasses of water by just letting the faucet run for one minute while you brush your teeth?! The eight glasses of water you are told to drink a day go down the drain in 14 seconds of running water.   Less than 2 % of the water we use is water we drink! This is all according to the Green Guide, A National Geographic publication.  Tell your mom and dad, grandma and grandfather, sisters and brothers...stop wasting water!  Check out the Green Guide too.  You can find it on-line and at your local bookstore!


A Shame and Disgrace



Every summer my family spends 5-7 days on Nantucket.  Both my mother-in-law and brother-in-law live there year round.  Many of my friends laugh that our summer vacation is spent on Nantucket, when we live on Cape Cod. Other than fall on Cape Cod I love summer on the "bucket".  The seductive, briney smell of the ocean waves as it hits the beach and mists my face, the endless blue-green of the water, colorful boats and long, deserted beaches. It is a place that appeals to all of my senses.  I love watching my kids chase the waves and scream as they crash at their feet.  One evening last week, armed with a glass of wine for the gorgeous sunset, we piled two squirming bathing-suited kids in the car and headed for the beach near grandma's house in Madaket.  As we pulled into the small parking area, this is what we saw (SEE PICTURE ABOVE). Needless to say we were not happy.  Colin echoed my thoughts, "What makes grown up people think this is okay to do?!"  Good question.

Wake up folks we need to take care of our environment! If you can carry the stuff to the beach you can carry it home and dispose of it properly.

All of you that are eco-friendly, take a bag with you whenever you go to the beach and help keep them clean.  Encourage people you know to do the same. 

For more information on protecting our oceans chekc out these two sites:

www.surfrider.org
The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers in Malibu, California, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 50,000 members and 80 chapters worldwide.

www.oceanproject.org

Eat Your Vegetables!

It's that glorious time of year again here in the Northeast, when vegetables, fruit and herbs come from near by instead of "Grown in Chile." No offense Chile!  Start eating locally this summer.  Here is a great site that lists local farms in your area.  Make it a field trip mom and dad! Heh kids look the vegetables come from the ground not the store!  If you live on Cape Cod click on the veggie for a guide to local information

Mom Says...Get your Biscuits Outside!

Looking for a trail, national park, camp ground or event outside.  GORP IT!  This site has all the information you need to get your kids outside and reconnecting with nature. So, as we say in our house, get those biscuits outside and turn off the computer and t.v.!



An apology to my grandmothers

I owe both of my grandmothers; both of whom have since passed away, an apology.  My hope is they have internet in heaven.  I had really good relationships with both and miss them very much.  They were both so different, and yet they shared a common bond; hardship and the need to make ends meet during tough economic times.

Last week my daughter came home with a bunch of papers all rolled up and tied together with a rubber band.  As I looked at her art work I dropped the rubber band into my drawer of used snack and sandwich bags, old produce bags and newspapers sleeves.  As I started to close the drawer, I looked again at the pile of stuff I had collected. It dawned on me--I had a “Depression” drawer.  Now I don’t mean a “bummed out” drawer.  I mean a drawer like many of your grandparents had.  A drawer filled with rubber bands, old twist ties, baggies, paper bags and left over napkins from McDonalds no one used. 

I remember how we all used to giggle about my grandmothers for their saving stuff instead of just throwing it away.  I how they would drop salt and ketchup packages that we didn’t use, in their purses.  One of my grandmothers couldn’t be taken to a restaurant without grabbing the left over rolls on the table and stuffing them in her purse announcing, “I’ll eat this for breakfast.” Inevitably, my mom or dad would roll their eyes and say, “Mom, the Depression is over!”

Maybe for them it wasn’t about the depression.  Maybe they knew, what I know now, we are one heck of a wasteful society.  Why is it such a bother to so many to reuse, donate and reduce our needs?  Think of all the things our grandparents did, naturally, that we now tout as “eco” ideas:

•          Reusing the above items
•          Line drying your laundry
•          Keeping the heat  turned down and wearing an extra sweater
•          Don’t drive unless you need to
•          Hand down items you no longer need or want to friends and families in need
•          Rain barrels
•          Using borax to clean
•          Taking short showers

Perhaps we are coming full circle.  Less is more.  Now when I open my “Depression” drawer I am not at all depressed.  I know that what I am doing is so simple and right.  You can say I am reducing my carbon footprint or call it what it is…I am not being so darn wasteful anymore.  I owe this knowledge to my grandmothers.  It just took a while to sink in.  Our generations’ mantra should be, “Take what you need, not any more than that.” 

This goes out to the two smartest chicks I had the pleasure of knowing Nana Germani and Nana Doris.