Beautify Your Neighborhood and Beyond

To wrap up my Earth Month posts, I thought I'd suggest to my readers one final way to love on Mother Earth: clean up your neighborhood!

Now, to my readers who live in Switzerland and other equally tidy countries, this post will not make a whole lot of sense to you. But for those of us who live in cities that lack crews of workers whose sole job is to polish the garbage bins around town, it's up to us to make a difference in the cleanliness of our urban surroundings.

Luckily, if you live in San Diego, there are lots of volunteer opportunities to beautify this fine city. One particular organization, I Love a Clean San Diego, hosts an annual Creek to Bay cleanup as well as other beach and river cleanup events. You can even volunteer to add "no dumping" stencils to unmarked storm drains around your neighborhood. A clean San Diego is a beautiful San Diego!

Vintage Fashion Does the Earth Good

1. Nordstrom Sweater, 2. Silk Reworked Vintage Dress, 3. Reworked Vintage Mexican Top, and 4. Silk Blouse

 Happy Earth Day!

In case you've missed my past few posts, I just wanted to let you know that during the month of April I've been sharing some of the ways we can love La Pachamama all year long, not just during Earth Month:

Buy Used Books

Support Fair Trade

Bike Whenever Possible

Eco-friendl-ify Your Home

Today, I'd like to briefly discuss my favorite way to honor my other mother: I proudly wear vintage fashion! Much of the fashion that is available and affordable to the average consumer is "fast fashion" (you know, that stuff that clogs our landfills and hogs a ton of non-renewable resources with its cheap-and-quick manufacturing process). However, we can follow the motto of "recycle, reduce, reuse" by donating our unwanted clothing and spending our hard-earned cash on gently-worn-yet-totally-reusable vintage and resale fashions.

How do you feel about vintage fashion and thrift shopping?

The Striped Awning: Ornamental AND Functional

... and good for your other mother, as a matter of fact. Yes, that's right. Covering your windows with awnings can drastically lower the amount of heat that builds up in your home, thus cutting the amount of energy you need to cool your house. (Yeah, us Americans love our air conditioners!) They can be solid colored, of course, but the ones that catch my eye are of the striped variety. (I adore stripes: on shirts, dresses, linens, umbrellas... whatever!)

Isaiah and I are almost close to being ready to buy a house. And over the past few days, we've sure had fun looking at listings online and daydreaming about our future home. One particular house we found doesn't have very much curb appeal, but I got to thinking about how darling it would look with some striped awnings over the front windows and back patio. My favorites are black and white with a pale yellow stucco. There's also navy and white or crimson and gold...

Click here to learn more about other ways to make your home more eco-friendly.

Credit Where Credit Is Due:
Photos from top to bottom -- black and white beauty, black and white with pale yellow stucco, and crimson with gold.

Bike Whenever Possible

ZamBikes -- Bamboo Frame

It's healthy, fun and respectful to your other mother. The more you bike or walk to nearby destinations, the smaller your carbon footprint. 

Interested in getting involved in the cycling movement? Join Critical Mass (bike rides every last Friday of the month in different cities around the world).

Want to make even more of a difference? Buy a bike from a company with a conscience, such as this one from Zambikes International.

The frames are made from bamboo and the construction of these bikes provides employment opportunities for local Zambians.

Photo above was taken at the San Diego Custom Bike Show, April 9, 2011

Support Fair Trade

Back in this post, I went into a lengthy explanation of the Fair Trade movement. Nonetheless, I decided to mention Fair Trade once again in honor of Earth Month because its sustainability practices are so loving toward your other mother that it's totally worth it to bike all over town to find Fair Trade certified products! (More on our favorite local coffee roaster in a future post -- they offer an excellent selection of Fair Trade certified coffee.)

I was quite pleased to discover the other day that Whole Foods carries Fair Trade certified bananas -- yay! If you are a lover of coffee, tea or chocolate (and now bananas!) the easiest way to support Fair Trade is to swap out your regular supermarket brands for those that are Fair Trade certified. Happy shopping!

Fair Trade Certified Bananas from Whole Foods

Check out SERRV and their stylish range of Fair Trade certified gifts, like these fancy dates from Palestine.

Medjool Dates

Although I have yet to see Fair Trade cotton products in my current neighborhood, I could easily find Fair Trade cotton socks and undies at the supermarkets in Switzerland. C'mon, San Diego, let's get with the program!

Fair Trade Cotton Bag (purchased at Thalia Books, Switzerland)

Buy Used Books

April is Earth Month, friends! During the entire month of April, I'll be posting about different ways to love and respect your other mother, Momma Earth. 

As the title suggests, one way to honor thy mother is to shop at your local used bookstore. In addition to saving a few trees, shopping at a used bookstore can be such a lovely experience. You can find rare, out-of-print books as well as little gems you don't find at Borders or Barnes and Noble.

When you're looking to pick up a classic for your next read, why not check your local used bookshop to see if they have it in stock!

Here are some treasures from one of our favorite local bookshops:

Max and Moritz (German tales of a pair of troublemakers) and a signed copy of Pig Pigger Piggest (a variation of the three little pigs classic)

Naughty Boys!

One couple I used to babysit for in Switzerland had a copy of Max and Moritz from their childhood -- a true German-language classic!

Superlatives Galore!

Being a teacher and fan of children's literature, I am always on the lookout for new titles to share with my students. This version of The Three Little Pigs features Witch, Witcher, and Witchest instead of a big, bad wolf.

For your Rolodex:

Maxwell's House of Books
8285 La Mesa Blvd
La Mesa, CA 91941
(619) 462-3387