We Own The Lakes

Most of us enjoy the lake from time to time for recreational activities- all of us enjoy the lake for clean water, and the choices we are making everyday have an impact of the health of the lake. 

Here are some easy things you can do to ensure we get to kayak, swim, fish, ect, and drink clean water for years to come.

The David Suzuki Foundation has identified a list called the Dirty Dozen. Ingredients found in household cleaners and personal care products that are not filtered out by treatment plants or septic systems and go directly back into our water table, adversely effecting the whole natural system of our lakes. Switching to 'eco' labelled soaps, detergents, cleaners, and personal care products is one of the best ways to keep chemicals out of our water. These products have gone way down in price and way up in effectiveness in the last few years. 

Learn how to clean your home with vinegar here.

Hate weeds in the lake? Don't they just seem to keep getting worse? That is because fertilizers used on lawns take their natural course into our water table and make their way into the lake, feeding the weeds, not just your grass. Also weed killers kill off beneficial organisms and pollute natural systems. Check out these natural lawn care ideas. Consider a natural shoreline if you have a lake front property- everybody is doing it!

Nothing goes better with fishing (or most lakeside activities) than beer and smokes, but just as smoking is bad for us, butt's are bad for the water- makes sense right, you wouldn't drink a beer after it had a butt in it, so why would we want our fish swimming around in it. It isn't just butt's being thrown directly into the lakes either, it is littering butt's anywhere. In the city streets they make their way into the storm water that in most cases is untreated and heads right back to the lake. Same idea in the country only they travel with the water in the ditch. Use an ashtray in your car, your fish hut, your dock, and your pocket if needed- and don't blame anybody else when there is not an ashtray, it is still your garbage. 1 cigarette butt contaminates 1 litre of water!

Most of us live here because of the lakes, people cottage here because of the lakes, people plan trips here because of the lakes, and they eat at our local restaurants and use our local services because of the lakes. Our quality of life here in Kawartha Lakes depends on healthy, swimable, drinkable water bodies. 

Let us give back to the lakes-

they give so much to us!

All of the stunning local images in this post were taken by Jerry Holder- @coolhandjer follow him on twitter to check out his other breathtaking photos!



Thanks for reading my blog!
Julia Taylor
@sogreenithurts
Facebook 

Stuff- Get Over It

We want it.

We save for it.

We buy it.

We use it.

We put it in the basement.

We forget about it.

We find it again.

We cant get rid of it.

It stays in the basement for a few more years.

We get rid of it. 

We want stuff. 

We are obsessed- more, bigger, better.

It feels good for 5 minutes after you buy it- then that feeling goes away and we need to buy more of it to get the feeling back.

Its cluttering up our lives and adding no value.

Its making us work harder so we can have more of it. Stealing time from family and fun.

Then it is going to the landfill and cluttering up nature.


Detox from stuff.....for your sanity and for the health of the planet....

Do you have any weird attachments to stuff?

Is there a spot in your basement for stuff 

that you will never use but cant get rid of?

I would love to hear you funny stuff stories.

juliataylor@live.ca

@sogreenithurts

Facebook

Thanks for reading my blog!

How To Not Be Judged

It's easy to feel judged- 
and than we judge back. Why not stop the cycle and not feel judged in  the first place.

I was out with my kids in Bobcaygeon and of course the morning had taken me too long and my kids were getting 'hangry'. 

I ordered some food to go and grabbed a muffin to distract the kids while waiting. Instead of being distracted one of them rolled around on the floor, got muffin everywhere, and was pretty much acting like a drunk uncle. 

I felt like the other people in the cafe were thinking "oh my god handle your kids". Then I realized- no they are not, they are probably thinking "I remember those days, she has her hands full". 

They were sharing compassion with me, not judging me. I was the one who decided how to feel.

Since then I have been training my brain to think differently and in turn my interactions with people everywhere have been improving dramatically. Here is 3 things I do now to not feel judged.

I saw a documentary once about a man who travelled from India to spread good karma (and brought us yoga). He travelled from India to Canada to spread good karma!! Can you imagine the interactions he had with people? If you set an intention like that before you go into any type of situation the results are going to be positive!! 

Every time a negative thought about someone or a situation comes into my head - I think 3 good things about them. To really put this practise to the test I think about the people that drive me nuts the most.

Think about 3 Good things that happened that day then...

Mantra (repeat after me)
I love myself for the good and the bad
I love everybody else for the good and the bad
I will listen
I will have compassion for others and myself

Day dream
Think about all of the things I wish for and doze off

Disclaimer

I still have days when I want to tell everybody to f off, and there is always going to be toxic A holes out there- but the more I practise these things the more natural they come to me, and the better I and everybody around me feel. 

From now on I will make a concious decision to not judge people and instead bring positive energy and acceptance to people- and I will receive it in return.




Thanks for reading my blog!
Julia Taylor
@sogreenithurts
on Facebook

How Kawartha Lakes People Are Going Green

Green living is spreading in The City of Kawartha Lakes and it is all the David Suzuki Foundation's fault. 




Green Living 101 at the FreeU is over and the world is a little greener. In the 6 week program written by Lindsay Coulter (David Suzuki's official Queen of Green). Students were presented with a little education, allot of discussion, and green living goals to challenge themselves - picked by them, for them.


Check out the small things they will try that will have a huge impact on the health of our lakes...

• Home-made laundry soap X 5
• Home-made shampoo
• Try out vinegar to clean X3
• Switch to reusable feminine products
• Switch out Teflon pans for cast iron
• Stop using produce bags
• Start composting
• Stop ironing (to save electricity)
• Committed to recycling better X 7
• Take shorter showers

Are you passionate about Green Living? Maybe you would like to have this program or a version of it come to your community?  

Build community

Protect the lakes

Be healthy

I will be happy to facilitate or support you in engaging your community group with this easy, fun, green living challenge. Please contact me.

Julia Taylor
juliataylor@live.ca
@sogreenithurts
Facebook

PS- I really enjoyed this group and learned so much from them. I look forward to seeing them out and about and hearing about their green adventures!