SCRiver-15-Final-DarkFriends of the St. Clair River LogoSCRiver-15-Final-DarkSCRiver-15-Final-Dark
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Watershed
    • Strategic Plan
    • Our History
    • Staff & Board
    • Jobs & Internships
  • Our Programs
    • St. Clair River Area of Concern
      • Drinking Water
      • Habitat Projects
    • Community & Youth Education
    • Restoration & Stewardship
    • Community Science
      • Chronolog Stations
      • Pollinator Initiative
      • Macroinvertebrate Monitoring
      • Stream Leaders
      • Spongy Moth
      • Nest Box Monitoring
    • Bridge to Bay Trail
    • Blue Water Sturgeon Festival
      • Sturgeon Stories
    • Sturgeon Full Moon Lighthouse Climb
    • Storm Drain Project
  • Get Involved
    • Protect Our Watershed
    • Recreation
    • Donate
    • Adopt A Sturgeon
    • Volunteer
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Thumb Coast Watershed Guide
    • Resources
    • Water Quality Hotline
✕
Show all

So, How’s Your Quarantine Going?

By Amy Meeker-Taylor on April 29, 2020

This past Sunday I sent my son out to take the trash to the curb. This is normally a long process but he was back in three minutes. “All done! There was hardly any trash.” How can that be? People are staying home. Shouldn’t there be MORE trash? That’s when it dawned on me, the things we are doing to keep us safer at home may also be safer for nature!

True confession time – we were a take-out family. I rarely cook at home. I have a middle schooler on a busy schedule and we are often gone from early morning until late at night. Even though we take our own cups and utensils, we still manage to generate a lot of take-out containers. True confession number two – every weekend I empty my fridge of our used take-out containers. However, over the past six weeks we’ve cooked almost every meal at home. I’ve taught myself to cook things from scratch. We eat leftovers for lunch. I’ve managed to waste less food and generate less trash without even trying!

While writing this blog, I reached out to some of you to find out how your new habits might be benefiting the planet. Some of you are driving less, consolidating trips, walking or biking when you can. You take daily walks, learn things aren’t as far away as you thought they were, and stop to look at things that you never noticed from your car. You use your time inside to watch documentaries or read books to learn more about nature and ecology. As it turns out, Safer at Home might just mean Safer for Nature.

Did you know it takes an average of 66 days for a behavior to become a habit? What new lifestyle habits will you move forward with after your quarantine ends?

Share
4

2 Comments

  1. Jeanne Mackay says:
    January 1, 2021 at 1:10 am

    Congratulations on reducing your waste, Amy! I wish I could say the same. I have replaced eating out with occasional take out which I didn’t do at all before the pandemic. I used to bring my own beverage container when I stopped to get coffee somewhere but that’s no longer allowed 🙁 If I have my wits together I remember to say no plastic utensils or napkins when I place a takeout order. On the plus side, I’m doing my part to support our local restaurants. Kate’s is using cardboard containers-no polystyrene or plastic. Overall, though I think I’m doing more cooking and eating a better diet.

  2. Ellen Conard says:
    May 11, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    We definitely drive much less! Because we have groceries delivered to our home and don’t shop at retail stores, we no longer accumulate those ugly plastic bags. I now wash out lightly used ziplock bags and bread bags and reuse, which I routinely did thirty years ago! In a pinch, I even use large potato chip bags for soiled kitty litter! All our meals are cooked at home so try to make good use of leftovers. I found a great recipe for a frittata using leftover spaghetti noodles and now freeze ripe bananas, lunch meat and bread. I found last year’s homemade frozen gooseberry jam at the bottom of the freezer and enjoy it on toast. Donating to my compost pile has become a priority and have planted several cool weather crop seeds in vegetable garden. I have put on puppet shows for preschool granddaughter to watch through our window and have used the same large metal sign for three different Happy Birthday signs. (Repainted with new name and # of years!) BUT…I miss the social contact and can’t wait to enjoy that again, however until then “carry on”.

Vision

Blue water, green spaces, clean air, for all, forever

Mission

To protect and restore the St. Clair River watershed through community education, environmental monitoring, hands-on stewardship, and advocacy

Donate

Your support makes a difference.

Give a Gift

Volunteer

Our Stewards are volunteers.

Sign Up

Contact

(810) 730-5998

Email Us

Join

Subscribe to our Thumb Coast Watershed Guide.

Subscribe Now
Board Login | Volunteer Login
©2023 Friends of the St. Clair River Watershed – a 501(c)(3) non profit organization.
Website powered by Eighth Day Media, LLC

DONATE TO FRIENDS OF THE ST. CLAIR RIVER

Imagine students with their boots in the mud, hands in the dirt and feet in the water, using nature around them as their classroom. Your support makes a difference to thousands of students every year!

Thank you for your continued support.

 

DONATE NOW