November APLS Carnival is Live!

The November edition of the APLS Carnival is now live at Sustainable Living and You: November APLS Carnival.

As the holiday rush begins, take some time to relax and read this month's thoughtful entries. They will definitely encourage you to think about all the blessings in your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November APLS Carnival Topic: Sustainable Living and You

When I began making changes to live a more sustainable life, I frequently thought, "There is no way I'll be able to do that!" when reading descriptions of what others were doing. I was simply overwhelmed at the distance between my lifestyle and theirs. Now I'm doing many of the things from which I initially recoiled and know that they were changes well worth making. I've talked to others who have felt those same feelings so wanted to explore this notion of changing behavior in hopes of encouraging folks to start making changes that currently feel enormous. I know there are some more modifications I have on my list that seem a bit overwhelming right now!

The questions I would like you to consider when writing about this topic include:

What have your efforts to live a more sustainable life taught you about yourself? Have you been able to change a behavior you initially thought you could not? What has surprised you about your own capacity in your efforts to live more sustainably?

If possible, please include specific examples of changes as I think those would be particularly useful to people trying to make those and similar changes in their own lives.

I'm really looking forward to reading what everyone has to say! Please email your submissions to steph@greeningfamilies.com by November 15. I'll post the carnival by November 18 so we can all learn from, and be inspired by, each other!

Thanks much,
Steph @ Greening Families

October Carnival is up!

The October APLS blog carnival, Proselytizing Green, is now up on my blog, Greenhab. We have some great posts from a number of contributors this month, so stop by and learn how your fellow green bloggers spread the word.

If you didn't have a chance to participate, but have something to share on the subject, be sure to leave a comment over on my blog.

Reminder: October APLS Carnival

Hi fellow APLS! This is just a friendly reminder that the deadline for the October APLS carnival is coming up. In light of Blog Action Day, I thought I'd extend the carnival deadline to Saturday, October 17th. If you're anything like me, you were up late blogging last night and may need a little break.

Again, the topic is "proselytizing green". Do you shout the green word from the mountain tops, try to lead by example, or keep your opinions to yourself? How and when do you spread the word?

Email me your blog at greenhabgoods {at} gmail by Saturday evening to be included in the October carnival.

October APLS Carnival Topic: Proselytizing Green

I wish I could sit down with all of you and chat over a nice big cup of organic tea...or wine (really, let's be honest). There are so many things I want to ask you and so many topics we could cover. I've finally narrowed down the topic for the October APLS carnival and have selfishly picked the subject of "Proselytizing Green".

I started my Greenhab blog a few years ago so I'd have a place to track my family's progress and ramble on about the ways in which we were greening our lives. For a while I felt like I was preaching the green word until I realized that the people reading my blog (other than my mom I guess) were already like-minded people.

Over time, I became more confident in mentioning environmental injustices to some friends, family and coworkers, but I'm not really an "in your face" type of gal. Now that my kids are in school I'm encountering things like fundraisers, wasteful lunches, junk-filled parties and the absence of recycling. I feel like the stinky hippy parent in a school full of affluent unstinky soccer moms. On the inside I'm throwing up a little in my mouth while, on the outside, I'm all "smile wave".

So, I'm wondering when, where, how, and how much you proselytize living green? When do you just let it go? When is it not worth it to start something? Or do you always speak up? How loud? Are you a tell-it-like-it-is person? Or do you try to take a gentle approach? And, although I use "proselytize" in the loosest way, does living a sustainable lifestyle feel almost like a religion to you?

Okay, I think those are enough questions for now. Talk amongst yourselves! But don't forget to send me your thoughts by Friday, October 16th. The carnival will be up on my blog on Monday the 19th of October. Email me at greenhabgoods {at} gmail {dot} com.

As always, please feel free to interpret the topic loosely. I don't want anyone to feel boxed in by the questions I've asked above, they're just some thoughts that came to mind. I'm sure if we were chatting over tea we'd have lots to share on the subject!

September Carnival Is Up

The round up of the September contributions is now posted at: http://crstn85.blogspot.com/2009/09/does-size-matter-apls-carnival.html

Thanks for all your contributions!
Tina

5 days left!

Just a reminder that there are 5 days remaining until the deadline for this month's APLS carnival. I just got around to writing my post so I now feel justified in reminding you. In case you've forgotten, and are in a reader so you can't scroll down to the other post, this month's topic is:

"When does size matter?"
I read a lot of blogs about families and I occasionally find myself thinking "Sure, that's easy to do if there are 4 of you". For example, I can't maintain a worm bin since I just don't have enough food waste for them to live off of. Other times I will tell someone about a green change I made and they think (or even say!) "Sure, that's easy to do if there's only one of you". Such as when I describe line drying laundry in my laundry room. So, what efforts that you make are easier to do because of your household size? Which are harder and make you wish there were a better way?

Submit a link to your post to tina.cardone1@gmail.com when you're done!

Also, apples season really has gotten off to a great start. I'm lucky enough to have an apple orchard a mile down the street and they also have a farm store/bakery right at the orchard. There's apple sauce and apple pie and apple crumble and apple everything you'd ever want, fresh and local and delicious. So, APLS, how do you like your apples?