I recently came across an article on Mother Nature Network that discussed things our grandparents did that we all could take a lesson from. Especially those things that saved precious personal and natural resources.

This got me thinking about things MY grandparents (and PARENTS for that matter) did that I really need to rediscover and recommit to. When you think about it, our parent and grandparents did many “eco-friendly” things long before we knew our ecology even NEEDED a friend! Yet another case of “everything old becomes new again.”

Eco-Friendly Things Our Grandparents Did

Used A Clothesline for Drying Clothes: Clothes dryers have come a long way in energy efficiency over recent years, but the average home clothes dryer has a carbon footprint of about 4.4 lbs. of carbon dioxide per load of laundry. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “the biggest way to cut the environmental impact of cleaning clothes is to stop using a clothes dryer.” Besides, there’s nothing better than sheets and pillowcases hung in the sun to dry. Clothes last longer when they air dried too.

Grew Their Own Food: Not only is there an incredible sense of accomplishment in growing your own fruits and vegetables, but you also ensure that your crops aren’t sprayed with pesticides and you can control the types of seeds and transplants that you sow and grow. Choose heirloom varieties whenever possible. My grandparents ALWAYS grew their own food. All you need is soil, water and sun!

Preserved Their Own Food: Canning the food your grow in your garden is a great way to preserve fresh foods without having to invest in an enormous freezer. I would love to have a “root cellar” full of home-canned goods like my grandmother did. Very little food was wasted. If people today practiced even a portion of what our parents and grandparents did, there would be a lot less food going to waste.

Keep reading for more things our grandparents did when “green” was just a color!

ABOUT JILL: Jill Nystul is the creative force behind One Good Thing By Jillee. She started the website in June of 2011 and has enjoyed a meteoric rise in readership since that time. She attributes this success to savvy readers that desire to enrich their lives while recognizing the need to conserve time, money and resources. Her background in broadcast journalism and television talk show production have proved to be the perfect complement to her blogging career and website mantra: “Sorting through the beautiful clutter of life to find that One Good Thing each day and sharing it with you.”

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