Recently I loaded up my three kids and hit the road to travel from North Texas to Florida. In a van. (Gas guilt much?) When we arrived and I unloaded the van, I was shocked to see the immense amount of trash that we ("we" meaning "they", of course) had accumulated in just 3 days. The only green living was the in the chocolate milk bottle left in the heat.

Honestly? It did make me think about what I was and was not doing and how I could live a more "green life" and pass that on to my children. I do a fair amount of my part at home by recycling. When I remember. And I always reuse my water bottles. Sometimes. And my car? A minivan. So far, not so good.

It isn't the pressure from the outside world that makes me want to go green at home. (Not even when it is everywhere you look on ads and on tv shows. Hello? Days of Our Lives? We get it.) It is the pressure from my 7 year old daughter and my 12 year old son that makes me want to learn more. They check bottles for recycle numbers and if one accidentally hits the trash can, I get a lecture. From them. (I can do without that.) And really? I want to help save the Earth and live in a world where this comes naturally and isn't something we have to struggle to do.

So I did what every net geek does: I hit the Internet to see what other Moms were doing.

I came across the blog EnviroMom. The first post I came upon caused me to do a spit take. I thought, "There is no way I can do that with my family!" Which was immediately followed by my conscience saying, "Why NOT?" Here is there challenge:

Have you ever looked in the trash cans scattered around your house?
What's in there? Paper towels and tissues? Food? Plastic packaging?
There is a lot of stuff in our garbage cans that doesn't really need to
be there, and EnviroMom's One Can A Month Challenge is going to help
you reduce the amount of garbage your household generates down to one
curbside can a month. Really!

One trashcan in one month. ONE. I could not imagine how my family could do it. However, I dug through the site and found some great ways to reduce my trash. Now, I don't think we are ready to get down to ONE can a month seeing as we are now up to two cans a week. But I am learning how to cut that down (with help from the family) significantly.

But being green is not just about trash and trying to do your best to recycle and reduce your trash level. Oh. So. Much. More.

Green Mom Finds is an amazing site whose mission is to find products and services that are kinder to the earth and better for our children and families. They help Moms find eco-friendly products and help educate those of us who are clueless on what products could be harmful to not only the environment but to our families. This is an absolutely wonderful site to find everything from safe toys to safe sunscreen. I mean, really, none of us want to bring any poisons into our home. I loved their recent article on recycling old crayons. Because those crayons that haven't melted into my seat are definitely "well loved." (And by well loved, of course I mean broken.) This is a must read site for Moms who want to know more about healthy, eco-friendly, family living.

Finally, I found Eco Child's Play, a site for green parenting for non-toxic, healthy homes. They just had a wondeful article on safe sunscreens. One thousand sunscreens were tested! Seeing as it is mid-summer in Texas, you can bet I need that one. Another great read on that site is how to involving your kids in eco-friendly living and getting them to take action.

Can kids really take action on the environment? Can they influence their parents to reduce carbon emissions?
Apparently so, says Cool the Earth, a new climate-change enrichment
program, launched by a mom in Kentfield, California. The program has
already saved more than 8 million pounds of carbon from going into the
atmosphere and has influenced 6,000 households to take 10,000 positive
actions to reduce carbon emissions.

That is impressive. And fablulous to keep the kids involved.

Of course, I also love the family blogs that are showing how they are going green. Rachel of The Simple Family has always been a favorite read of mine. I love the concept of her blog.

This website is our attempt at transforming our lives from your
“typical” suburban dwellers to one that is much more simple (and
sometimes green, too).

No promises to save the world. Just to live more simply. Now that I can live with. That is an example of a lifestyle I can start with and not feel overwhelmed with trying to do it all.

Because in the end? I won't save the world. But with the help of other Moms, I just might make my little corner of it a bit more eco-friendly.

What are you doing as a family to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle?

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Jennifer Satterwhite is a contributing writer for BlogHer (Mommy & Family), writes her personal blog Mommy Needs Coffee and is the founder of Mommybloggers.