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As we sit in front of the television, computer screen or iPod and check the world news, do we ever think what impact our device is having on the polar bearsat that moment? The subject of global warming is so vast and so overwhelming that sometimes I find I want to insulate myself, and retreat away from news of rising floodwaters, extreme drought, loss of habitats and thawed permafrost forever. But it is not possible or plausible to look the other way. As I write it is mid-February in coastal Connecticut, and I have yet to plant my daffodil bulbs. The good (but bad) news is, I will do it today as the ground simply has not frozen. Gone are the years of 12 foot high snow drifts and weeks and weeks of skating on the local pond. Have you noticed?

We can all do things to help. No one person, or family, or town or country can change the effects that decades of ignorance have caused. We can start and we can continue and we can spread our ideas and teach our children. This is the world we will be leaving them after all. Try to show your children every day little ways to make changes. The same way you are teaching them to wash their hands and say please and thank you and to do their homework, you can teach them to draw on both sides of paper or to shut off lights when they leave a room. The same way you teach them to clear the table you can teach them to scrape their plates into the compost bin and to dump the remainder of their water into the houseplants, and not down the drain.

I am no expert. I am a self-educating housewife and passionate gardener. I cry when I watch nature shows and Christian television infomercials about hunger in Africa. I am a mother. I am a typical American. And I am responsible for my little corner of the planet.

A typical day for me includes many opportunities to make changes. It all started when we bought this house. Our budget allowed us to purchase a much larger home. We could have easily ended up in one of the 2500 square foot colonials down the street, but we made a conscious decision to stay small. We chose a small 1600 square foot Cape cod style on a small slope that backed up to the woods. There is shade in summer and sun in winter. We reinsulated the attic and installed an exhaust fan so it's warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, and it's cheaper to maintain. The ceilings are standard 8 footno towering grand hallway to eat up all my oil-fired heat. It's cozy and functional. It suits us just fine.

When I grocery shop, I use cloth

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