The challenge has me thinking beyond the specific items I aimed to do. For example, today at home we vowed to dry our clothing outside, weather permitting, since so much of the electricity we use goes to our clothes dryer.
This one-month challenge has me thinking about other ways to "green" my life. The one we came up with today is that we'll be drying our clothes on a rack outside as weather permits, since clothes dryers use so much electricity.
Carpooling with Gavin means I get to work super early to seize the day. I was feeling proud of myself, but our hard-working Advancement Director beat me here before 7 AM!
Reducing your paper mail can be such a freeing action to take -- by reducing what is coming in, you can reduce what is going into the recycling bin too. How does it make you feel? What is the next step you will take to reduce your waste?
Going paperless takes away the weekly guilt of tossing stacks of junk mail and bills into the recycling bin. It's more complicated to opt out of credit card offers and other junk mail, but that's next on my list.
What do you think contributes to people in North America eating more meat than in other places, and what does this say about North American values and ways of living? How do we start shifting a meat-focused food culture?
I think having meat farmed in the mass quantities that it is contributes to our high level of consumption in North America. The power of marketing also can't be underestimated- all the fast food commercials have their impact on our consumption. I think a huge benefit to moving towards less meat would be the shut down of the massive meat farms and having only locally raised meat available at markets.
I spent time trying to find planting containers that were food safe. Some new planters, imported, gave off terrible chemical fumes. Not safe for growing a garden for additional health benefits. I've discovered you can find safe, stock pots and large pans at Goodwill that will be portable and much safer to grow mini vegi gardens or herb gardens. Much cheaper, too!