There is a book out called "No Impact Man" (also a documentary film on the same topic} however the book has many more interesting details. The short synopsis-for one year a family of 3 attempts to have no negative impact on the environment, they go to extremes; no food in packaging, cloth diapers, no mode of transportation other than bikes or their own two feet.
After reading it I was extremely motivated to take action in my own life, to have less of a negative impact on the environment and to be more involved and aware of my daily choices. Simple things like- grabbing a free bottled water from the fridge at work, grabbing a snack from the vending machine, taking a long shower just because I knew I would feel cold getting out; these were things I was starting to examine rather than simply go through the motions. I have always enjoyed testing my self control and will power, I figured if I can raise the bar for myself and help save the earth why not?
These thoughts didn't start with this book the book simply helped me take a leap of faith that I could not only change my personal decisions, we as a family could try to do it together and grow together in very positive ways while doing so.
As of today these are just some of the changes we have made:
1)put our selves on the "no crap mail list"
2)canceled all but one of our magazine subscriptions (our library does not carry Latitudes & Attitudes- our sailing magazine that helps keep our dream alive!)
3)stopped using paper napkins- only use cloth
4)reuse and recycle anything and everything rather than throwing it out
5)purchase clothes at goodwill (we are very lucky to have great thrift stores in our area)
6)simplify our life-de-clutter, donate, regift(everyone does it, its ok as long as its something good!)
7)compost
8)no paper towels-we use rags from old clothes and cloth napkins
9)eat local, I would say we are an 80/20 household
10)car pool more
I thought it would be a lot harder to change our lifestyle then it actually is. Car pooling and my compost are probably my two favorite items on the list. I love that Bill drives us to work-I am not a morning person so it is nice not to have to experience road rage on my way in any more and on the way home I drive. By the time we get home we have both discussed our work days and we leave it at the door. As for my compost I ordered 1,000 worms from this worm farm on Long Island (as local as I could find this time of year) and built them a home in an extra plastic container we had. So now I can compost year round! The worms are like my new pets, they hang out in their home which is in our dining room. It's kinda of a conversation piece when we have people over. I like keeping them in the center of the house rather then the basement, I figured if they were in the basement I could forget to check on them. They are pretty awesome they eat about 1/3 a pound of food a day, not that I can really tell, but they are producing soil!
Ok I guess I must admit I also love not using paper towels. I thought I would never be able to not use them. Bill was totally against giving them up, he didn't know how we could go with out. One day I just removed them from the counter, filled a bowl with cloth pieces and told him these were our new "paper towels". He was willing to give it a shot once he realized I had something to fill the void. Tonight I realized it has been 2 weeks without paper towels!!! Well other than when Riley got sick on the carpet...yes I broke into the old stash to clean that up...the thought of laundering a cloth with his vomit was too much to handle.
Bill suggest we only watch 4 hours of TV per week-I'm game, lets just hope it lasts. It is winter in Upstate NY, this is my time for hibernation, I hope I don't cave :)
