Earth Day: How We Celebrated April 19th

For all intent and purpose, Earth Day is celebrated this weekend since April 22 is a weekday.  On Tuesday, April 22, I plan on going to Green Drinks.  This month’s speaker is Sadhu Johnston, the Deputy Mayor of Chicago and also Chicago city chief of the Department of Environment.   I’ll report back on Wednesday on that front.

Today started out well.  We were concerned that our Saturday would be filled with rain.  I am assistant coach of my daughter’s first grade soccer team and we had a game at 9am.  We were lucky for a couple reasons - 1. the game fields are in our neighborhood and we walked there - and 2. the rain held off until about 20min after the game ended.  I know you’re sitting on the edge of your seat wondering - yes, they won handily - 9-2.  I think our key to victory was that we teach our kids position - and they listened - whereas the other teams still swarm.

Our Earth Day Saturday went as planned.  The soccer game was great and it was nice that it was first thing in the morning.  The next event was to load our car up with household hazardous waste and drive to the city for a recycling event.  The in-laws brought over some old paint and batteries for us to recycle as well.  We got to the event and had to get in this long line of cars.  We thought that was a good sign. People are actually participating - in droves!  There were various drop-off points throughout a large parking lot for the different types of recycling.  In addition to recycling, they were offering rain barrels and compost bins for sale to residents of the City of Chicago (which we are not), a free CFL and a free Sigg-like water bottle.  Here’s what they were accepting for recycling:

• Household chemicals (paint, anti-freeze, oil, etc)
• Prescription and non-prescription medications
• Computers and electronics
• Gas cans
• Lawn mowers
• Plastics #1-5,7, paper, cardboard, glass

Personally, we dropped off two gas cans.  They were offering environmentally-friendly replacements in exchange for your old one (but they were out when we got there).  We dropped off around 10 gallons of paint if you add up the old gallons, quarts, and pints.  We inherited a lot of old paint with our house when we moved here in 2001.  We took all of our #5 and #7 plastics that we’ve been saving because they don’t allow us to put them in curbside recycling - that was a relief to finally get rid of that stuff - we had a lot.  It was also nice to get rid of all of our old batteries, too. 

Now, here’s the real reason we went to the event.  We were kinda getting paid to drive to the city to participate.  If you brought your old gas-powered lawn mower and gave it to the city, they gave you a certificate for $100 towards the purchase of a human or electric lawn mower.  We were pretty excited.  I didn’t even have to try to sell my mower on Craigslist or something - I just got a $100 for it.  Now we have 45 days to buy a new mower and turn in the receipt and proof-of-purchase and I get my cash.  The mower I want is pretty expensive, so getting $100 off is awesome!  They even gave me a coupon code from Neuton in which they’ll give you a $100 off - so it’s essentially $200 off a Neuton mower.  Too bad that’s not the one I’m buying… STAY TUNED for that post

Earth Day Saturday, Part 2

After the previous event, we headed back to the burbs since the rain had subsided.  There is a great state park in our town that was having an Earth Day event from 12-4pm.  We arrived there around 2pm.  There were all kinds of booths and events happening.  It was a real family atmosphere.  The kids got to make kites and fly them out on the nature path.  They also got to see a wolf and pet a tame skunk.  There was a blacksmith there and various “settlers” showing off how they used to live years ago.  I saw one guy make fire by bow drilling - I want to learn that.  We skipped the face painting, but stopped at the Home Depot section.  They gave the kids each a wooden bird house kit that we can make at home. 

Overall, it was a really great day.  I hope tomorrow - which is supposed to be sunny - is as productive, educational, and fun for all of us.  Happy Earth Weekend, everyone!