Mary Isakson
I polled several friends recently to find out what each of them does to promote a green approach to life for her family. The almost universal initial response was an admission of guilt for failure to do more, which I heard even from moms who are quite environmentally aware.

It is easy for each of us to value and respect our environment, and sometimes hard to put this into practice. Fortunately, the second-clearest message I heard from my friends was quite practical: Limit your consumption. The most common way to implement this is to reuse!

Whether it's take-out containers or outgrown clothes, toys or books, consider a way to reuse items before trashing them. Try a twenty-four-hour challenge period: Try to think of alternative uses for every item that you lean over to toss in the garbage during that one day (Whew!).

Besides complying with your local recycling programs, you could also try the following:

• Many public libraries accept donations of used books. In New York City, Project Cicero partners with schools and other community groups to collect and distribute new and gently used books for distribution to local under-funded schools and libraries. The National Book Foundation has also posted on their website a list of organizations throughout the country that accept donations of books.


• Perhaps you do not have a favorite young niece of nephew to accept your children’s hand-me-downs. In my apartment we keep a shopping bag in the front closet especially for outgrown clothes and toys. When the bag is has been filled by my daughters (surprisingly often), I drop it at the local thrift store. Luckily for me, it's only one block from my home.


• A fun alternative may be to organize a clothing drive in your apartment building, school, church, temple, block association, or office. Children can easily participate, helping to write or decorate the signs or fliers promoting the event, and helping to bag the items for pick up. Tips for organizing a drive can be found at CharityGuide.org.
• Consider secondhand shopping yourself. It this brings to mind an image of an unappealing old shop, shed the musty image and remember that there are plenty of quality reusables on the market (think ‘antiques’, think ‘vintage’, or simply think ‘cheap!’).