Last week I had the great honor of speaking to my son’s class…. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Last week I had the honor of speaking to my son's elementary school class about caring for our planet so it is healthy for their future children. It’s always inspiring to hear what little kids think. Their observations and insights are raw and uninfluenced. When I asked them what they do in their daily lives to help the earth, almost all of them mentioned “trash” in one form or another. Whether it is picking up trash in their local park, or pulling plastic out of the ocean while swimming over spring break, or helping their parents sort garbage for recycling. Hearing this reinforced my commitment to making less trash in the first place! As I was showing them some of Esembly’s reusable home products and I was honestly taken aback by how excited they were by them! They blurted out the funniest things like: “We need those paper towels cause my mom is always yelling at us to not use so many cause they cost a lot of money” “I want 5 of those snack pouches so I can have a different look for every day in my lunch box" “My baby sister would kill for that dog diaper cause she loves our dog Spaghetti" My very favorite moment though was when I showed them our Sipper straws and how they “unzip” to clean all the gunk out inside. Their mouths literally fell open in shock as if I reveled some magic trick. When I handed them each a couple of straws to take home you would have thought I was Santa on Christmas morning. They simply couldn’t believe that these “fancy” (their word, not mine) straws were better for the planet AND had a secret feature. The little girl sitting next to my son yelled out “I can't wait to show my mom this. She’s not gonna believe it!!” Chatting with the kids reminded me that the choices we make in the products we choose not only affect our wallet and the environment, but they become what our kids see as “the norm.” A child that grows up using reusable straws, snack bags and paper towels won’t think twice to do the same in their households when they grow up. Older siblings that see their baby brothers and sisters wear cloth diapers are far more likely to make that choice for their own babies some day. Anyone with a teen or young adult will tell you that as parents, the most effective parenting tactic is modeling behaviors- even down to what they use to wipe up a spill! Best, Liz Turrigiano Co-Founder 254 36th Street Brooklyn, NY 11232 Unsubscribe