So what has changed because of this week?
1. CONSUMPTION/TRASH: This week made me want to reduce more the amount of trash and recycling coming out of my house. A) We need to buy less packaged items, ask stores we frequent to provide items without packaging, ex: in bulk, and put pressure on the companies buying large volumes of packaging and Styrofoam trays to ask their suppliers for compostable packaging. Ex: cardboard printed with natural instead of toxic dyes. B) I am starting to refill bottles I already have with cleaning products, shampoos etc bought in bulk or homemade. There are a surprising amount of recipes online for easy-to-make and healthier alternatives to store bought cleaners/soaps.
2. TRANSPORTATION: A) Why are more kids not walking to school? Some can't because they live too far away and need to be bused, but many others can. If we think back to our own childhood, wasn't walking to and from school some of the most memorable times? B) I want to help more people get biking in Hudson. I am going to look into setting up a workshop for people to maintain, repair, add baskets / trailers and customize their bikes to make them better modes of transportation for short distance travelling around town when there is no snow.
3. FOOD: I am going to try to eat vegetarian at least one night a week and am making plans to grow more in my vegetable garden this summer. If you want to grow interesting heritage species not available from garden stores, order your seeds now. (www.cottagegardener.com is one of many places to order). If you want to eat more year-round from local producers, sign-up for the Marché de solidarité Vaudreuil-Soulanges by sending an email to demarche@cldvs.com - I'll see if we can put a link to download the pdf form on our site.
4. ENERGY: Didn't change much, put up retractable clothesline in basement for winter drying.
5. WATER: The only thing I came up with was to put bottles filled with water in the tanks of our two toilets to use less water per flush. I am also going to look into cost of collecting rainwater and/or grey water to reuse in our home, if feasible I'll try to implement in the future.
6. Joined RAN (Rain Forrest Network) www.ran.org because trees are so important to environmental health. Sent information to see if I could become part of the Water Analysis by Volunteers Network and start testing the local waterways for dangerous pollutants, waiting to hear back.
Christine
Monday, January 18, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
No Impact Project: Water
I think we’re pretty good about water consumption in my house. The tap is never left running during tooth-brushing; we have a front-loading washer, which uses far less water than a tub-style washer; our taps and shower head all have aerators; we replaced our toilet with a low-flush version; we don’t water the lawn or power-wash our house or driveway.
But there’s always room for improvement. I have a bad habit of rinsing dishes before they go in the dishwasher and I let the water run while I wash pots and pans. I’m trying hard to break the rinsing habit and tonight I’m going to plug the sink instead of letting the water run.
By the way, I’m using small baby cloths as hankies now and it’s going great. My bathroom trash can is empty and it’s really no trouble. It’s not even gross. The key is to change hankies liberally—they’re so small it doesn’t make a difference to the laundry pile.
LKS
But there’s always room for improvement. I have a bad habit of rinsing dishes before they go in the dishwasher and I let the water run while I wash pots and pans. I’m trying hard to break the rinsing habit and tonight I’m going to plug the sink instead of letting the water run.
By the way, I’m using small baby cloths as hankies now and it’s going great. My bathroom trash can is empty and it’s really no trouble. It’s not even gross. The key is to change hankies liberally—they’re so small it doesn’t make a difference to the laundry pile.
LKS
Thursday, January 14, 2010
No Impact Project: Day Four: Food
Eating local food mid-winter in Quebec is a bit of a challenge. However, on my trip to the grocery store, I was pleased to realize that most of my regular food choices are grown/produced/harvested in Quebec, many others come from other parts of Canada. I made a couple of changes, such as choosing mussels instead of tilapia and forgoing bananas, which are usually a staple in my home.
My big sins are the chest freezer in the basement that’s full of beef and my family’s daily reliance on dairy products. It’s my understanding that conventional beef and dairy production is an environmental nightmare. The beef in my freezer, however, is local, grass-fed, and organic, and we only partake of its contents once or twice a week. My son’s (outrageously expensive) organic milk now comes in reusable glass bottles from Ontario.
Still, we buy a lot of non-organic cheese and butter and until my local stores stock tasty organic alternatives, I don’t see that changing very much. Home-baked treats made with butter are something I’m not willing to give up, nor is the deliciousness of cheese and its convenience as a protein source.
LKS
My big sins are the chest freezer in the basement that’s full of beef and my family’s daily reliance on dairy products. It’s my understanding that conventional beef and dairy production is an environmental nightmare. The beef in my freezer, however, is local, grass-fed, and organic, and we only partake of its contents once or twice a week. My son’s (outrageously expensive) organic milk now comes in reusable glass bottles from Ontario.
Still, we buy a lot of non-organic cheese and butter and until my local stores stock tasty organic alternatives, I don’t see that changing very much. Home-baked treats made with butter are something I’m not willing to give up, nor is the deliciousness of cheese and its convenience as a protein source.
LKS
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Day 3 No Impact Project
Well, it’s mid-week, ‘Food’ Day of the No Impact Challenge and so far it has been a somewhat normal week for us, although we (I should say ‘I’) are monitoring our habits even more closely. We’re generally pretty good about trash (recycling and composting make our volume of garbage much lower). This week, one difference is that we have quite a lot of tissues due to some runny noses and I don’t feel ready to switch to hankies that need to be washed… yet!
Our recycling bin was less than half full this week and we try to minimize our purchases of overly packaged foods.
The food issue is a difficult one and I challenged myself to buy foods produced in the province of Quebec rather than the 250 km radius which is tough. Quebec potatoes, onions and carrots are easy to find but other ‘staple’ fruit and veggies aren’t. I would also really miss my kalamata olives, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar if I was to do this for a whole year!
Transportation Day fell on a bad day for me as I had a doctor’s appointment downtown which I had made months ago so not good! Living in the village, I do however walk a lot and get lots done locally. It’s fun and good exercise too. My husband takes the train to work as often as he can but having only 2 trains daily really limits its practicality and it seems that the option of driving to Vaudreuil often ends up turning into driving right downtown once he’s on the road.
On the energy level, we are very conscious of not having the whole house lit up and the kids are frequently reminded to shut the lights when they leave a room (start good habits young!) We also added some insulation to our house this year so that should make a difference in our heating consumption.
I have reduced the amount of water I use for washing dishes in the sink (1/3 full rather than ½) and that was a pretty easy adjustment. A good habit I started a while back is to put all water that comes back in my kids’ reusable drinking water bottles from their lunchbox right into my watering jug or even straight into a thirsty plant.
In the end, being conscious of our daily habits and trying to find ways to minimize our footprint is a huge step in helping the environment and the more you do it the better you feel! All these actions don’t go unnoticed and can help others make these changes and then the impact of our lessened impact is even greater. So keep it up, it’s our future!
Chantal
Our recycling bin was less than half full this week and we try to minimize our purchases of overly packaged foods.
The food issue is a difficult one and I challenged myself to buy foods produced in the province of Quebec rather than the 250 km radius which is tough. Quebec potatoes, onions and carrots are easy to find but other ‘staple’ fruit and veggies aren’t. I would also really miss my kalamata olives, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar if I was to do this for a whole year!
Transportation Day fell on a bad day for me as I had a doctor’s appointment downtown which I had made months ago so not good! Living in the village, I do however walk a lot and get lots done locally. It’s fun and good exercise too. My husband takes the train to work as often as he can but having only 2 trains daily really limits its practicality and it seems that the option of driving to Vaudreuil often ends up turning into driving right downtown once he’s on the road.
On the energy level, we are very conscious of not having the whole house lit up and the kids are frequently reminded to shut the lights when they leave a room (start good habits young!) We also added some insulation to our house this year so that should make a difference in our heating consumption.
I have reduced the amount of water I use for washing dishes in the sink (1/3 full rather than ½) and that was a pretty easy adjustment. A good habit I started a while back is to put all water that comes back in my kids’ reusable drinking water bottles from their lunchbox right into my watering jug or even straight into a thirsty plant.
In the end, being conscious of our daily habits and trying to find ways to minimize our footprint is a huge step in helping the environment and the more you do it the better you feel! All these actions don’t go unnoticed and can help others make these changes and then the impact of our lessened impact is even greater. So keep it up, it’s our future!
Chantal
No Impact Project Day 4 - Food
Since Day 4 of this project is all about eating food with the lowest impact on the earth, this is the recipe I’ll make for my family tonight. It uses Quebec grown vegetables available in January (!) and is vegetarian, so has less impact on the earth. The only non local items are the kidney beans (although perhaps one could find some grown in Quebec) and I had to use canned tomatoes (checked that they were at least from Canada) as I didn’t have any frozen from last summer’s local crop. Also could not find local salt, pepper, vinegar or caraway seeds!
This makes a lovely red, burgundy and orange stew that cheers and warms you on a cold winter night.
(Local!)Ukrainian Beet and Bean Stew
1 tsp vegetable oil (try locally grown sunflower oil)
2 cups sliced Quebec onions
3 cups water
3 cups Quebec cabbage
1 cup Quebec carrots
3 cups chopped Quebec potatoes
4 cups peeled cubed Quebec raw beets
3 cups undrained whole tomatoes, chopped (frozen from this summer or canned if need be)
2 tsp caraway seeds
2tbs white or cider vinegar
1/2tsp salt
2 cups cooked kidney beans (okay, hard to find grown in Quebec but try soaking and cooking a big batch and freezing in reusable containers to avoid cans and transport)
1 taps dried dill (1/4 cup fresh) (also could be dried from crop this summer, though I didn’t!)
Ground black pepper to taste
Yogurt (Quebec company like Liberte)
In a pot, heat oil, add onions and saute 4 or 5 minutes until browned. Add 1 cup of the water, cover and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots and simmer covered for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups of water, the potatoes, beets, tomatoes, caraway seeds, vineggar and salt; bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes, until the beets are tneder. Add the beans and dill. When the stew is hot, add pepper to taste. Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt. Taken from: The Moosewood Restaurant Favorites.
Debbie
This makes a lovely red, burgundy and orange stew that cheers and warms you on a cold winter night.
(Local!)Ukrainian Beet and Bean Stew
1 tsp vegetable oil (try locally grown sunflower oil)
2 cups sliced Quebec onions
3 cups water
3 cups Quebec cabbage
1 cup Quebec carrots
3 cups chopped Quebec potatoes
4 cups peeled cubed Quebec raw beets
3 cups undrained whole tomatoes, chopped (frozen from this summer or canned if need be)
2 tsp caraway seeds
2tbs white or cider vinegar
1/2tsp salt
2 cups cooked kidney beans (okay, hard to find grown in Quebec but try soaking and cooking a big batch and freezing in reusable containers to avoid cans and transport)
1 taps dried dill (1/4 cup fresh) (also could be dried from crop this summer, though I didn’t!)
Ground black pepper to taste
Yogurt (Quebec company like Liberte)
In a pot, heat oil, add onions and saute 4 or 5 minutes until browned. Add 1 cup of the water, cover and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots and simmer covered for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups of water, the potatoes, beets, tomatoes, caraway seeds, vineggar and salt; bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes, until the beets are tneder. Add the beans and dill. When the stew is hot, add pepper to taste. Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt. Taken from: The Moosewood Restaurant Favorites.
Debbie
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Consumption
I received this from a friend of mine, who was living on a boat with her three children and her husband and is now back on land. I like how she describes the difference between buying something and bartering:
So here we are, back on land, back in the world, not to say in line. Even from our distant countryside, our world never ceases to amaze us. « Financial crisis » did we hear as we were sailing towards Tonga. « The world is changing » kept repeating the few newspapers we managed to put our hands on in Fiji. « The world must change » threatened journalists on Vanuatu radio. If that was the case, could someone explain to me why the selection is still so large that it took us one and a half days to find THE bath tub, among the five dozens we saw in the numerous stores we wandered in, soul lost and brain-dead, in the middle-size town near our house? And that's not all: you can buy clothing, cooking, decoration, gardening stuff, all of it eco-friendly, who cares as long as we stay consumers. I am like everyone else, I fall in the traps and become once again the pray of my desires, convincing myself they are needs. Country girl that I have become, I make rare incursions into town, where I gather unnecessary treasures which I bring back to La Garde and enjoy with a vaguely guilty greediness. Far gone is the barter we used to practice in the Pacific. The beauty of barter is that, in an exchange, one is never certain of the value of what one gives and one receives. Many times, we were given so many fruits and vegetables to thank us for a few trifles we had offered that, moved by the islanders' generosity, we added a few tee-shirts, caps, cans or books in their outrigger canoes. Barter creates links that are clearly not established with a supermarket checker. And, above all, makes you feel the strange and rare, at least rare for a European, exhilaration there is in buying only what one needs...
Christine
So here we are, back on land, back in the world, not to say in line. Even from our distant countryside, our world never ceases to amaze us. « Financial crisis » did we hear as we were sailing towards Tonga. « The world is changing » kept repeating the few newspapers we managed to put our hands on in Fiji. « The world must change » threatened journalists on Vanuatu radio. If that was the case, could someone explain to me why the selection is still so large that it took us one and a half days to find THE bath tub, among the five dozens we saw in the numerous stores we wandered in, soul lost and brain-dead, in the middle-size town near our house? And that's not all: you can buy clothing, cooking, decoration, gardening stuff, all of it eco-friendly, who cares as long as we stay consumers. I am like everyone else, I fall in the traps and become once again the pray of my desires, convincing myself they are needs. Country girl that I have become, I make rare incursions into town, where I gather unnecessary treasures which I bring back to La Garde and enjoy with a vaguely guilty greediness. Far gone is the barter we used to practice in the Pacific. The beauty of barter is that, in an exchange, one is never certain of the value of what one gives and one receives. Many times, we were given so many fruits and vegetables to thank us for a few trifles we had offered that, moved by the islanders' generosity, we added a few tee-shirts, caps, cans or books in their outrigger canoes. Barter creates links that are clearly not established with a supermarket checker. And, above all, makes you feel the strange and rare, at least rare for a European, exhilaration there is in buying only what one needs...
Christine
No Impact Experiment – Day 3 Transportation
Because we live out in the burbs, this is a difficult one for my family. I work from home and both my children walk to school. We try to keep the kids activities local with the exception of music lessons. But, I do use a car to go swimming two to three times a week (if only Hudson had an indoor pool – any Hudsonites with a lap pool willing to rent out time??). Today I’ll do some tai chi instead of swimming. I’ll try to go to the closest pool more often (still a 15 minute drive away), even though the opening hours aren’t as convenient as the one 30 minutes away.
Our biggest problem with regards to cutting down on transport is that my husband works in Cote Vertu, 48km from our home. Up until this point he’s been driving our fuel efficient Honda Civic as his workplace is too far from the train station (would entail 4hours of commuting per day) and carpooling 25% of the time (co-workers in the area have alternating schedules).
We were so excited when the A40 bus going from Vaudreuil to Cote Vertu was announced. So today, I decided, was the day to research the logistics of having him take this bus. Went to the website www.citlapresquile.qc.ca. Discovered that taking a bus from Hudson to the Vaudreuil station is now possible!! Apparently the Hudson bus going to Vaudreuil is new. Also discovered you can use the A40 bus ticket on the Hudson bus without paying extra and that you can buy the tickets at Depanneur Shaar (10 for $34). Very convenient! The A40 bus leaves 5 minutes after the Hudson bus reaches Vaudreuil, fabulous, very well planned out! He can leave the house at 7:05 and be at work by… 8:35 after the 20 minute walk along the freeway. Ah but then, coming home… They haven’t linked the arrival in Vaudreuil to the departure to Hudson nearly as well as the morning busses. He’ll have to wait for busses and only get home at 7:30…. Which means a 12 ½ hour work day. So this isn’t going to work for us. The best thing to do would be drive to the Vaudreuil train station which will save him 45 minutes of commuting time. He could leave the house at 7:20AM and be home at 6:35PM.
After doing this research, I called the CIT (450-424-2485 ) to request better coordination between the A40 arrival times in the PM and the Hudson bus departures at that times. Apparently the city of Hudson pays for the number of busses leaving Vaudreuil and coming to Hudson and each bus costs $10,000 a year! (St.Lazare also pays a small amount of this.). Okay, this is a lot of money. Is it worth $10,000 so a couple of dozen people (small community) are more convenience to take the bus from the train station? I will let the city councilor in charge of the CIT know the difficulties we are having with the current schedule.
Debbie
Our biggest problem with regards to cutting down on transport is that my husband works in Cote Vertu, 48km from our home. Up until this point he’s been driving our fuel efficient Honda Civic as his workplace is too far from the train station (would entail 4hours of commuting per day) and carpooling 25% of the time (co-workers in the area have alternating schedules).
We were so excited when the A40 bus going from Vaudreuil to Cote Vertu was announced. So today, I decided, was the day to research the logistics of having him take this bus. Went to the website www.citlapresquile.qc.ca. Discovered that taking a bus from Hudson to the Vaudreuil station is now possible!! Apparently the Hudson bus going to Vaudreuil is new. Also discovered you can use the A40 bus ticket on the Hudson bus without paying extra and that you can buy the tickets at Depanneur Shaar (10 for $34). Very convenient! The A40 bus leaves 5 minutes after the Hudson bus reaches Vaudreuil, fabulous, very well planned out! He can leave the house at 7:05 and be at work by… 8:35 after the 20 minute walk along the freeway. Ah but then, coming home… They haven’t linked the arrival in Vaudreuil to the departure to Hudson nearly as well as the morning busses. He’ll have to wait for busses and only get home at 7:30…. Which means a 12 ½ hour work day. So this isn’t going to work for us. The best thing to do would be drive to the Vaudreuil train station which will save him 45 minutes of commuting time. He could leave the house at 7:20AM and be home at 6:35PM.
After doing this research, I called the CIT (450-424-2485 ) to request better coordination between the A40 arrival times in the PM and the Hudson bus departures at that times. Apparently the city of Hudson pays for the number of busses leaving Vaudreuil and coming to Hudson and each bus costs $10,000 a year! (St.Lazare also pays a small amount of this.). Okay, this is a lot of money. Is it worth $10,000 so a couple of dozen people (small community) are more convenience to take the bus from the train station? I will let the city councilor in charge of the CIT know the difficulties we are having with the current schedule.
Debbie
I can easily reduce my consumption. In fact, I look forward to bringing less stuff into my home. My un-recyclable garbage is only one small bag a week. I can even improve that. What I find most challenging is transportation. For this entire week, I will have only used my car twice. Apart from a Go Green meeting and a large grocery order, nothing else was essential. But that's this week. In order for our family to make a significant change in this regard, frankly we'd have to move. Our bucolic lifestyle does not lend itself to many transportation alternatives as a larger city might. But there are still things we can do without much sacrifice. Our next car will be chosen for its fuel efficiency and low emissions first. Instead of deciding the morning of, I will decide meals at the beginning of the week and make less trips to the grocery store. I will make sure that the children are carpooled to their activities when feasible. I have always consolidated errands, particularly those that take me out of Hudson. And of course there's biking and walking - always great. To be honest there's not a lot more I think I could do but I'm open to suggestions.
Kirsten
Kirsten
Monday, January 11, 2010
No Impact Project Day 2
Today's goal was to reduce the amount of garbage we create. Here is what our family created yesterday in terms of garbage: kleenex,non-recyclable food wrappers such as a net holding oranges and frozen veggie bags that can't be recycled, ruined items rescued from my teething puppy's mouth, dental floss and pencil shavings. In order to reduce our garbage today, I decided to carry a cloth hankerchief (yes, there is a bit of a gross factor here but I'll get used to it). I'll remember to buy frozen vegetables in all plastic bags or boxes that can be recycled and oranges, well, an environmental purist would say maybe I shouldn't really be buying those... Can pencil shavings be composted? Bought the dog a bone (brought it home in a reusable container!)so hopefully she won't be ruining things today.
Had a friend over for tea. I was about to make our usual green tea (in individual packages) but decided to serve some lemon verbena tea that a friend brought me from her garden nearby - no packaging and local!
Debbie
Had a friend over for tea. I was about to make our usual green tea (in individual packages) but decided to serve some lemon verbena tea that a friend brought me from her garden nearby - no packaging and local!
Debbie
No Impact Project: Day Two
If I'm only looking at my own personal trash, not my family's as a whole, I'm doing pretty good. I've got two recyclable items and a tiny amount of cotton from hemming a pair of curtains. I can't think what to do with the cotton apart from stick it in my kids's craft box and hope they make something of it someday.
As for the family's trash, well that's another story. Mostly it's food wrapping, such as the elastic band and cellophane the broccoli comes in, and tissues. I really do my best not to purchase overly packaged food, but it's hard to avoid sometimes. At the grocery store any fruit/veggie that's not wrapped will have a plastic sticker on it, and at the health food store they wrap everything in plastic claiming it dries out if they don't. Grrr! I resolve to complain about this at my local stores on a regular basis. Summer is easier because we get most of our plastic-free veggies from a local farmer.
Cloth hankies are on my to-do list for this week. I've also resolved to empty the vacuum into the compost instead of the trash. It's mostly dog fur. That's good for compost isn't it?!
LKS
As for the family's trash, well that's another story. Mostly it's food wrapping, such as the elastic band and cellophane the broccoli comes in, and tissues. I really do my best not to purchase overly packaged food, but it's hard to avoid sometimes. At the grocery store any fruit/veggie that's not wrapped will have a plastic sticker on it, and at the health food store they wrap everything in plastic claiming it dries out if they don't. Grrr! I resolve to complain about this at my local stores on a regular basis. Summer is easier because we get most of our plastic-free veggies from a local farmer.
Cloth hankies are on my to-do list for this week. I've also resolved to empty the vacuum into the compost instead of the trash. It's mostly dog fur. That's good for compost isn't it?!
LKS
I'm cursing the box of 72 fruit bars I bought last week. My thought was "....mmmm, an apple in every bar....my kids really do love them and they're so convenient". Well now there's piles of foil wrappers in the garbage, several of which I consumed. I also whish they had never invented pre-washed, organic lettuce in a plastic box. I'm standing in the produce section and my thougt is "wash each piece of lettuce and spin dry or throw in a bowl and have dinner ready 5 minutes earlier". There's some garbage that's difficult to avoid but these are items where I have to make more of an effort. The garbage that I'm creating now is from items that were all previously purchased. The real test of reducing my garbage comes when I'm back at the grocery store. I will also make an effort to eat less meat. There are many benefits to this of course but the one I'm thinking of now is to avoid those rediculous styrofoam trays that meat is sold on. One of the worst offenders in my mind.
Today at my gym I asked if they would put their sugar in those diner style glass jars instead of individual packets of sugar. The response that I got was "that would be too unhygienic...all those people touching the same sugar container". You have got to be kidding me!!
Kirsten
Today at my gym I asked if they would put their sugar in those diner style glass jars instead of individual packets of sugar. The response that I got was "that would be too unhygienic...all those people touching the same sugar container". You have got to be kidding me!!
Kirsten
Sunday, January 10, 2010
No Impact Project: Day One
Reducing consumption is today's challenge. The idea is to eliminate all unnecessary purchases and borrow, buy used, or make it yourself when something apart from food absolutely must be purchased.
No consumption for a week is fairly easy for me. I've been weaning myself slowly from the shopping habit over the years. When I do shop, I'm a big fan of buying second-hand.
The only two items apart from food that I would have purchased this week are disposable diapers and garbage bags. I usually use cloth diapers on my eight-month-old girl during the day and disposables at night or when we go out. By chance, I have seven disposables left, which I will save for nighttime use, and I'll just use cloth the rest of the time. Not a big deal at all.
As for the garbage bags, we use them to line our outdoor can, which is pretty silly really. We're already using smaller bags in the kitchen. They can go straight into the garbage can without another layer of plastic, I'm sure.
So far so good, but it's early days yet!
The Feu Vert/Go Green Hudson gang is blogging on the No Impact Project website, but we'll post some of them here too.
LKS
No consumption for a week is fairly easy for me. I've been weaning myself slowly from the shopping habit over the years. When I do shop, I'm a big fan of buying second-hand.
The only two items apart from food that I would have purchased this week are disposable diapers and garbage bags. I usually use cloth diapers on my eight-month-old girl during the day and disposables at night or when we go out. By chance, I have seven disposables left, which I will save for nighttime use, and I'll just use cloth the rest of the time. Not a big deal at all.
As for the garbage bags, we use them to line our outdoor can, which is pretty silly really. We're already using smaller bags in the kitchen. They can go straight into the garbage can without another layer of plastic, I'm sure.
So far so good, but it's early days yet!
The Feu Vert/Go Green Hudson gang is blogging on the No Impact Project website, but we'll post some of them here too.
LKS
Day 1
Today I have to look at my consumption. This is something I think about often but I appreciate the opportunity to look at this more closely.
I like to shop. I usually congratulate myself when I go to the mall because I seem to be the only one who stuffs all of my purchases into an oversized purse instead of taking a bag. What I don't usually want to ask myself is "How much of a difference will this item make in my life aside from the short thrill of the purchase?" I need to take time to consider this every time I buy something that is not truly needed.
Today I was in Montreal with my sister who is shopping for her upcoming wedding. I was in an expensive store where the prices were marked down up to 60%. Seeing very expensive merchandise marked down that much makes you suddenly aware that it really never had much value in the first place. I felt a little shift take place.
From my entire day spent downtown, I brought home two empty creamers and a stir stick that I had to retrieve out of the garbage when my sister gently reminded me that I had to keep all my garbage.
Kirsten
I like to shop. I usually congratulate myself when I go to the mall because I seem to be the only one who stuffs all of my purchases into an oversized purse instead of taking a bag. What I don't usually want to ask myself is "How much of a difference will this item make in my life aside from the short thrill of the purchase?" I need to take time to consider this every time I buy something that is not truly needed.
Today I was in Montreal with my sister who is shopping for her upcoming wedding. I was in an expensive store where the prices were marked down up to 60%. Seeing very expensive merchandise marked down that much makes you suddenly aware that it really never had much value in the first place. I felt a little shift take place.
From my entire day spent downtown, I brought home two empty creamers and a stir stick that I had to retrieve out of the garbage when my sister gently reminded me that I had to keep all my garbage.
Kirsten
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
No Impact Project
Up for a challenge in 2010? How about the No Impact challenge? Starting Sunday, January 10, the Feu Vert/Go Green Hudson gals are doing a one-week carbon cleanse and we’re hoping you’ll join us.
The challenge is based on the experiment by New Yorker Colin Beavan, a.k.a. No Impact Man, who decided to try living one year with less impact on the environment. Beavan, his wife, child, and dog lived for a year without producing trash or carbon emissions, without using electricity and only buying locally-produced food.
On January 27, we’ll be screening the film about their experiment at the Hudson Community Centre for free, but meanwhile we thought we’d try the mini-experiment ourselves and see what comes of it. Beavan’s website claims that the cleanse isn’t about suffering and deprivation (you can be sure that we won’t be turning off the heat in our Hudson homes mid-January), but about finding out whether all our so-called modern conveniences are really making us happier.
We’ll be signing up for the challenge on Beavan’s No Impact Project website and writing about our experiences here. If you’re doing the challenge too, please feel free to post your own comments about it.
The challenge is based on the experiment by New Yorker Colin Beavan, a.k.a. No Impact Man, who decided to try living one year with less impact on the environment. Beavan, his wife, child, and dog lived for a year without producing trash or carbon emissions, without using electricity and only buying locally-produced food.
On January 27, we’ll be screening the film about their experiment at the Hudson Community Centre for free, but meanwhile we thought we’d try the mini-experiment ourselves and see what comes of it. Beavan’s website claims that the cleanse isn’t about suffering and deprivation (you can be sure that we won’t be turning off the heat in our Hudson homes mid-January), but about finding out whether all our so-called modern conveniences are really making us happier.
We’ll be signing up for the challenge on Beavan’s No Impact Project website and writing about our experiences here. If you’re doing the challenge too, please feel free to post your own comments about it.
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