I never really gave Easter and the environment much thought, mostly because I don't really celebrate Easter, but I was happy to find out that the White House did give it some thought for their annual Easter Egg Roll. According to an article from npr.org: (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/03/white_house_easter_egg_green_l.html?ft=1&f=103943429)

"In a continued effort to make the Easter Egg Roll more environmentally friendly, all eggs have again been crafted in the United States from Forest Stewardship Council-certified hardwood. The packaging has also been designed to minimize waste and environmental impact, helping to create a 'greener' Easter Egg and Easter Egg packaging. ...

"The 2010 Easter Egg Roll will take place on Monday, April 5th. The White House Easter Egg Roll is focused on promoting health and wellness with the theme, 'Ready, Set, Go!'.

"All of the activities will encourage children to lead healthy and active lives, which is a central part of the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative, a national campaign to combat childhood obesity."

It's a pretty cool statement that the White House is making for the environment and human health. I wonder if it will catch on into the homes across America? If you celebrate Easter, do you think about the environment when celebrating? If so, how?

Im all about using real eggs if you have a use for them after. I am a huge fan of eggs. In my ¡easter egg hunt, I will use the left over eggs to make a great picnic. YOu can put them in salads, make egg salad sanwhiches, or my favorite, deviled eggs! Take these picnic items to a national park, reserve or your local park and enjoy the beauty of nature!

Here are some recipes for egg salad:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Egg-Salad-I/Detail.aspx

Happy Hunting!

I love Easter, mostly because I get to spend time with my family and watch the little ones hunt for eggs. There are various ways to make Easter a greener holiday. I remember my Easter baskets as a kid being filled with that decorative plastic Easter grass that is terrible for the environment and has no other purpose than to fill space in the basket. A great alternative is shredded paper. It can be colored or just stuff from the recycling. And of course there is the candy in the baskets Choosing candy that has less packaging, is organic or fair trade certified is a great green choice for sweets. Making your own holiday treats is also a great idea such as egg or bunny shaped cookies. And now for my favorite part, coloring the eggs! Something I plan to try this year, that I haven't done before is using natural dyes to color my hard-boiled Easter eggs. As a kid I always used the store bought kits that come with color tablets that you stick in cups of water, but there are spices, fruits and vegetables that can create beautiful dyes for eggs. So if you have little ones, this is a great creative way to green your Easter activities. For a list of natural ingredient dyes and a great how-to guide visit about.com at:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/holidayhowtos/a/easteregg
dyes.htm

For all natural, fair trade certified candy you can visit the website http://www.naturalcandystore.com/.

Easter was originally a rite of spring, a holiday to celebrate the sun's return from darkness following the spring equinox. The egg was said to represent fertility and life. Some argue that Easter began as a pre-Christian, Pagan holiday while others argue that it arose with Christianity. Either way, it began as a celebration of the natural world, an idea that has been obscured over the years by shreds of plastic grass and foil-wrapped chocolate eggs.