Good Evening
It occurred to me today that stay-at-home motherhood might be beneficial to the environment.
I hope no one goes "Duh" at this personal revelation. Maybe I haven't been paying attention.
So, where has this come from?
Well, I was collecting clothes off the clothesline, which I've been using as much as possible during our wet summer. Why do I do this? Well, it saves money by not using the electricity that the dryer would. I have the time to do this because I do not work outside the home.
We don't have a vegetable garden for a lot of reasons, but next year I would like to try a small one. Maybe we'll get it right this time! I do know that other people have gardens. I do not know anyone who keeps a big garden while also working full-time. Growing our own veggies would save money and also provide produce which would, hopefully, be of better quality than that which we've been invited to purchase this season. If we grow things we can preserve, we can eat some of the produce through the Winter, too, when food is even more expensive.
We will not be able to produce all our own food, but the time I can put into growing our own food will help.
How is this an environmentally sensitive practice? Well, I would not likely be using chemicals, so that footprint would be smaller. There would be no fuel involved in shipping the food. If I preserve, the food will quite possibly end up in glass bottles which have been used and re-used many times.
I can often go days between trips into town. If I worked, I might need another vehicle, and would definitely be burning more fuel getting to work and back.
As an at-home mum, I have the "luxury" of choosing cloth diapers, cloth dinner napkins, and rags instead of paper towels, without having to worry about the increased laundry load.
I also think I can get by with a smaller wardrobe, so fewer resources used there, too.
This would be stewardship, I think. Not only can I care for my family in person, but I can use fewer of the resources God has given us.
That many of these practices also save money, it helps extend the single income on which we rely. Money saved not earned is money not taxed.
I realize that working or not working is not a choice some have the option of making for themselves, and the Church does not, as far as I know, have a position on this. But I think the ideas I present might be new to some people.
God Bless.
It occurred to me today that stay-at-home motherhood might be beneficial to the environment.
I hope no one goes "Duh" at this personal revelation. Maybe I haven't been paying attention.
So, where has this come from?
Well, I was collecting clothes off the clothesline, which I've been using as much as possible during our wet summer. Why do I do this? Well, it saves money by not using the electricity that the dryer would. I have the time to do this because I do not work outside the home.
We don't have a vegetable garden for a lot of reasons, but next year I would like to try a small one. Maybe we'll get it right this time! I do know that other people have gardens. I do not know anyone who keeps a big garden while also working full-time. Growing our own veggies would save money and also provide produce which would, hopefully, be of better quality than that which we've been invited to purchase this season. If we grow things we can preserve, we can eat some of the produce through the Winter, too, when food is even more expensive.
We will not be able to produce all our own food, but the time I can put into growing our own food will help.
How is this an environmentally sensitive practice? Well, I would not likely be using chemicals, so that footprint would be smaller. There would be no fuel involved in shipping the food. If I preserve, the food will quite possibly end up in glass bottles which have been used and re-used many times.
I can often go days between trips into town. If I worked, I might need another vehicle, and would definitely be burning more fuel getting to work and back.
As an at-home mum, I have the "luxury" of choosing cloth diapers, cloth dinner napkins, and rags instead of paper towels, without having to worry about the increased laundry load.
I also think I can get by with a smaller wardrobe, so fewer resources used there, too.
This would be stewardship, I think. Not only can I care for my family in person, but I can use fewer of the resources God has given us.
That many of these practices also save money, it helps extend the single income on which we rely. Money saved not earned is money not taxed.
I realize that working or not working is not a choice some have the option of making for themselves, and the Church does not, as far as I know, have a position on this. But I think the ideas I present might be new to some people.
God Bless.
