Welcome

What is Growing a Green Family about in a nutshell?

Growing a Green Family focuses on how families of all shapes and sizes can live green (or live greener), while dealing with all the ups and downs of family life. Going green always takes work – sometimes small steps and sometime large. However, it can take even more work to incorporate green living skills into your life when you’ve got a family, a limited budget and very little free time.

Who is Jennifer? Aka your friendly blogger.

I’m a writer and mama in the gray and drizzling Pacific Northwest. I live with my ten-year-old son Cedar. I’ve been working as a freelance writer since 2002. In 2005 my freelance career started to shift from print writing projects to more and more web-based writing projects.

• See a list of my current clients and gigs.

Why green families?

Back in 2001, after my son was born, I became more interested in green living than I had been in the past. I looked to books and websites for support, but found few eco-resources that catered to families specifically. Most of the eco-resources were good, but only focused on general green living for individuals, green design or super expensive green goods – none of these resources were very family-minded.

I was disappointed that few green resources (if any) existed for families. This inspired me to create and launch Tree Hugging Family for a freelance client back in 2007. I adored THF, but wanted my own green family space, so I launched Growing a Green Family.

When it comes to green living, I believe that…

• Eco-advocates should be honest about how much work it can be to go green. There is a learning curve. That said, with support I know that any family can make green changes.

• All families can afford to go green. Even if you’re in a single parent family, a large family or anywhere in between. Green does not have to be expensive.

• Kids need more nature in their lives. Kids who don’t love nature won’t care about conserving it.

• Families deserve the truth about green products. I HATE lackadaisical green product reviews. One of my main goals is to inform readers about the real pros and cons of green products and offer tips on how to be a smart green consumer.

All the above said, welcome to Growing a Green Family. Hopefully you’ll stick around and gain some new ideas and skills for keeping your family green.