Play hard, go easy on the environment

Hands down, my favorite playtime activity of choice is camping. My dad, who has enough will power for five people, has built three gorgeous canoes. He's also gone camping in the Quetico or Boundary Waters every summer for the past 25 years. Multiple trips per summer. Usually I avoid physical exertion of any kind, but I really get into camping. The little pleasures of life become amplified--a good swimming hole, tasty food, a loon call, and of course the satisfaction of good raingear and boots.

I've seen many green living websites where environmentalists sound like they're neo-Puritans, telling people to use 2-ply toilet paper and stop using A/C. That's just one side of the equation, and really not one that many people are going to get excited about.

Thing is, the most fulfilling moments of my life aren't from eating Big Macs or watching TV, it's from camping trips with dad, bike rides with my cousins, climbing trees, picking princess pine with mom, and a host of other (carbon-neutral) activities that allow me to interact with my environment up close and personal, without a car window in the way.

Earth Easy is a wonderful website that will transform the way your think about environmentalism.