We have two young kids, ages 33 mos and 9 mos. We use cloth diapers on the baby, which we saved from the toddler. Some were handed down from other kids in the family even! I wash them at home instead of with a service and I line dry them. We use one disposable diaper per 24 hours, at night only on the baby. The toddler wears 100% cotton underwear while potty training instead of disposable underpants. We also use cloth wipes for diaper changes.
We use washcloths for kid cleanups, microfiber towels on the Swiffer WetJet that I refill with homemade cleaner. We grow our own produce, fertilized with manure from our chickens. We compost all food scraps and put meat scraps in the dog bowls to reduce their feed.
We replaced our 1933 home’s woodstove and baseboard heat with a heat pump, and plan on replacing single pane windows and roof in the next two years.
I bought an 8 passenger vehicle with 21 mpg so that we can carpool with family we socialize often with. I only drive as necessary and combine trips whenever possible.
This post was submitted by Jessi.
When my husband and I moved to Los Angeles, we knew the city was extremely spread-out, it had a strongly entrenched driving culture and inadequate public transportation. Because my husband is the main bread-winner and his job was the main reason we relocated, we chose to live where he would have next to no commute. We rent an apartment 5 blocks from his office.
We walk to our health club, dentists and doctors. We buy most of our food from the farmers markets blocks away from us. If we eat out on special occasions like a birthday or anniversary, we take our business to a local restaurant we can walk to. I walk to the flower market to get my cats some wheat grass so they aren’t totally deprived of anything green. Though we do drive occasionally, we bought a second-hand car, a second-hand campervan (our version of vacations) and a second-hand motorcycle.
My husband has more time to relax. Walking is healthy. We tend to travel “slower” and look around at our surroundings more. We aren’t stressed or jaded by a long, tiring or aggravating commute. Driving is more enjoyable. We save on commuting costs and because I have carry everything home, I tend to shop carefully and wisely.
If someone reads this and counters that because they own their home and their job is far away, requiring a commute, then I would challenge them to find a way to overcome that obstacle. Selling may not be an option, but maybe they could rent their house out so they in turn could rent a place closer to where they work.
This post was submitted by Monique.
Improving one’s impact can be as much about what we don’t do, as what we do; and advocating for wider change.
Generally, I try not to use what I don’t need, use what I need wisely and purchase things made with good social, environmental and economic practices.
Here are some basic practices I’ve adopted over time, and that I continue to work to deepen and expand. These came about step by step, one after the other. Small steps add up if e do what we can and keep going.
• As above, buy few new items, buy mostly bulk foods, buy items in reusable, compostable, recyclable packaging; reuse/donate, compost, recycle
• Research companies’ social, environmental and economic practices, and buy from those with the best practices
• Use reusable versus disposable items – linens, mug, water bottle, etc.
• Eat only organic foods, almost all bulk/non-processed, preferentially local/regional, and virtually only grown in US, almost exclusively vegan
• Member of the organic CSA farm and volunteer there
• Grow some of my own food and preserve for winter
• Haven’t owned a car in 3 years, get around by bike, walking, carpooling, public transit, etc.
• Use 1,200-1,500 kWh elec per year in all-elec house: Use only CFLs, turn off water heater after shower, don’t use fridge when it’s cold out, switched out full size fridge for mini-fridge6
• Dishpans in all sinks to catch water and reuse on non-food plants and toilet tank
• Hand wash clothes with shower water and line dry
• Don’t get any junk mail, get paperless billing statements and pay bills online
• Use only biocompatible, organic/plant-based personal care/cleaning supplies
• Support causes I believe in with time and dollars
• Advocate for change – ask stores for more bulk items, let local recyclers know about opportunities to recycle additional materials, contact elected officials on policy decisions of concern, contact companies to ask for better practices, etc
• Thank companies with good practices and refer them to others
• Learn from others and educate via my own blog and freelance writing
This post was submitted by Melissa Schweisguth.
Eat it? Discriminatingly so. No need to be an urban foodie who says, hey I want to participate in a kill to take away the guilt. Just stop focusing on it. Bring about a resurgence in ‘Diet for a Small Planet’. I do eat wild game on occassion, that is gifted to me by hunter warrior friends out for their annual ritual of getting the deer, pheasant, or other wild-roaming animal.
But really, climate change will only happen if the entire world food system changes. Everything cascades out from that. And northern hemisphere westerners are the big elephant in the room.
This post was submitted by Beth.
Why spend money on plastic storage bags when bread usually comes in a perfectly reusable bag? I save all bread bags to store things like cheese, leftover meat, veggies and other items. Unless there’s a hole in it, there’s really no reason to toss it! Better yet, make your own bread.
This post was submitted by Lynn Hasselberger.
If you have a cell phone just for emergencies or to make a call a couple of times a day, there is no point in spending over $40. a mo. for cell phone service. I use a prepaid phone (tracfone) I buy 60min. of air time for about $20.00. This activates my service for 3 months. Most of the time I don’t use up my minutes. You can buy a double minutes card for $49. or 120 min for $29. So I usually only pay about $7.00 per month for my cell phone.
This post was submitted by Robert.
Once-a-month-cooking is a style of meal preparation where you prepare enough dinners for a month in one day, then freeze them. This can reduce impact in a number of ways:
- Cuts down on trips to the grocery store, and lowers your weekly groceries enough that you might be able to bike for the rest of your shopping trips (or use a stroller with storage, if you have young kids).
- Allows you to buy bulk, reducing packaging
- Allows you to combine certain energy-consuming steps for some meals so you only use energy once but prep in bulk, e.g., sauteing veggies for multiple meals or browning ground beef. You can even cook two meals at once, freeze one, and then use the microwave to reheat it a week or two later – overall using less energy than heating the oven twice while still getting that oven-cooked flavor
- Encourages you to avoid restaurants and convenience foods that tend to have a larger impact both on the earth and on your wallet
Most people who do this need a deep freezer, which does use some energy, but with a second-hand energy-efficient chest freezer (stand-ups are more convenient but less efficient) it’s actually very, very little (our electricity costs for the freezer are about $2.50 a month).
Search online for “Once a month cooking” to find techniques, tips, and recipes.
The non-environmental advantages to this are:
(a) Prepping this way is much faster than prepping and cooking a meal every day. I can pre-prep one to two dozen meals in a single day, depending on how much I plan beforehand and how repetitive the meals are. If you prep 3 months worth of the same two meals (with some variation so they don’t get boring – e.g., bean soups with different beans and seasonings, or pizzas with different toppings) in one day, it can go really fast – and after three months, you’ll have a different meal every night of the week for 6 days out of your week.
(b) You are less likely to eat out or buy heavily processed convenience foods on a busy night if you have meals ready to go at home. This is both cheaper and (for most of us) more nutritious. Plus, using raw ingredients like rice or beans is much easier if you can cook or soak weeks worth all at once – so you are more likely to use these healthy, affordable kinds of ingredients.
(c) You can do OAMC with friends, which can both make it more efficient and more fun – plus results in more variety – or make it a family activity.
OAMC is sort of the opposite of “slow food”, which I also think is a great movement, but it still accomplishes many of the same goals for families that really don’t have the time or budget for a perfectly cooked, super-fresh meal each evening. People who normally can’t do “slow food” may actually find that OAMC frees up enough time that they can actually spend more time on finding good food sources, eating meals slowly and truly enjoying them, and really making food a way to connect again.
This post was submitted by Ethel.
Dear Colin,
I wasn’t sure how else to reach you but I just wanted to write and say Thanks! I heard you speak at the library last night (I was the girl on your far right up front- that came in late) I just wanted to shake your hand and say:
You did such a good job! Thank U for being here
To see a place (HP) that’s always represented affluence responding to your message- that means a lot.
It was especially inspiring to hear the personal invocation.
- Thryn, a liberal arts grad pursuing a career in community horticulture
This post was submitted by Thryn Murray.
I turn off my appliances after I use them (e.g computer, printer, radio, tv, etc) by flicking the cut switch on the wall socket or extension lead. I try to use the washing machine fewer times by carefully selecting which clothes I wear and alternating between them until the machine is full. I wash my dishes by hand in a basin and rinse in another basin. I put on another jumper instead of turning up the heat. I use energy saving lamps almost everywhere. I take short showers most days and only take a longer one once every week. I walk, take the bus, take the train and try to limit my car use (only for work or heavy shopping. I bake two cakes in the oven instead of one, saving preheating it a second time. I boil only the quantity of water I need and when I have a pan on the fire, I use the lid to reduce the quantity of gas I need. I cook pasta for a minute or two only with the gas on and then turn it off and put the lid on for another 5 to 10 minutes depending on the type of pasta. It works a treat! There are so many things you can do! And I live just as comfortably now that I’ve gotten used to it.
This post was submitted by elisabeth.
We bought an older house that had a very old central air conditioner. When it broke, I bought a 4000 btu and a 5000 btu window air conditioner. These were floor samples and I got both for a total of about $120.00. They are energy efficient and I put one at one end of the house and the other at the other end. At the hottest times of the year (about 90-95 degrees our power bill only gets to a maximum of $68.00. That beats central air any day. Both units have a power save feature that cuts them off completely when the set temp is reached. This works fine and has saved about $3,000.00 for a new central unit and much lower monthly bill.
This post was submitted by Robert.