We harvest almost all our food from the wild, from dumpsters, from our garden and from our 1.5 lot urban farm (laying hens, dairy goats and honey bees). We trap and eat Eastern grey squirrels on our urban lot and we harvest seaweed and shellfish from a beach 5 miles away from the house. We also fish from a lake 2 blocks from our house.
Among the benefits:
Reduce trips to the store.
Reduce use of pesticides.
Reduce food transportation.
Increase awareness of and connection to natural environment.
Learning self-reliance.
Humane treatment of animals.
Reducing populations of invasive species (animal and plant).
Eating healthfully.
We’ve learned to ferment foods, make our own yogurt and cheese, bake all bread, make our mayonnaise, can fruits and vegetables. And we will be experimenting with a modified root cellar (it rains a lot here) this winter. We still purchase vegetable oil, spices, salt, sugar, flours and coffee. And my Cuban-born husband still enjoys a sip of good rum now and then.
I checked off the category “More Time” below because I would say we have more LEISURE time due to our view that gardening, farming, dumpster diving and wild food gathering are very fun and leisurely activities.
We’ve made this conversion from uberconsumerism over a period of about 3 years. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas in the movie; we hope to try some of them out soon.
This post was submitted by Melany Vorass.
Watching “No Impact Man” last year really made me think about my footprint on this planet. I have been doing a lot of small things for years but after watching the DVD; Colin’s family inspired me to do more. I think about my actions everyday and how they affect our planet. I gave up paper napkins, towels. I have said NO to plastic bags(been doing this for years) I bring my resusable mug everyway. I have gone through my home and changed everything possible to lower my impact. I shop at Farmers markets and do not shop at grocery chains anymore. I read all labels on foods. There is so much we can all do to help our Mother Earth. If each one of us does these things we can really make a differece. Thanks to everyone that is making an effort to heal our planet. Living this lifestyle brings peace and happiness to oneself.
Namaste!
This post was submitted by Paula.
My partner and I belong to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Wyoming Valley. After Hilde Binford presented The Climate Reality Project at our church we decided to try and make an impact. For Valentine’s Day this year I replaced every bulb in our 3 story town home with CFL bulbs. We are waiting to see if it makes a difference in the amount of electricity we consume.
This post was submitted by Bill Browne.
I am an 8-months pregnant mother to a 16 month old. When pregnant with the first child I was adamant about cutting down on repeat purchases so that there would be more money for our family. My son is cloth diapered and we use cloth wipes; my forthcoming child will obviously get his diapers handed down. We never purchased a clothing item for our son; everything was either a gift or a hand-me-down (mostly hand-me-downs!) as was the crib, car seat, co-sleeper and some toys. We save glass jars and use them as water bottles and that has had the biggest impact on ME because I did use to buy single serve water or juice regularly so imagine the money saved. We no longer use paper napkins but have cloth ones. We have no cable, though we have a television where we can watch a movie at times. We bring our own bags to the supermarket and neither one of us clothes shops; most of my new clothes are handed down to me by my friends who have gained weight . We keep a very dairy-free home and buy no meat. We do buy eggs and at times salmon. (Outside the home, I will eat meat from time to time, but not often). My son was breastfed for 13 months (NO IMPACT AT ALL) and now I make his own ‘formula’ with a base of either homemade almond milk or homemade coconut milk and then supplemented with some superfoods, healthy oils, liquid vitamins etc. I wear no perfume or make-up and buy my (chemical-free!) soap from a Brooklyn based company (local!) My latest goals to conquer (or at least make a valiant push for) is to completely stop consuming plastic, to compost, and to grow some food in our apartment. This all takes time and energy, but once its habit, you don’t even think about it.
This post was submitted by Samantha.
My partner and I have made a commitment to reduce, reduce, reduce. We have set a 5 year plan which includes solar panels, growing our own food and eliminate commercial laundry soaps. We have successfully eliminated commercial laundry soap… and since it is nearly spring here in wisconsin and all our gardening plans are begining! I am happy to report that we have a large enough area that we can grow enough food to sustain us through the next winter. I am terrified of canning food as I fear botulism… however, my partner assures me canning is safe, SO… wish me luck!
Alas, that is all we have going on currently…
Thank you for everything… your movie changed my life!
This post was submitted by Erica.
In other part of the word, people never use toilet paper but water. I asked an Iranian friend, who told me how to do it in our western society. Take a bottle that you will fill with water (I use always 25cl to 50cl of water each time). When it’s time to use toilet paper… take your bottle and wash yourself with the help of your hand. You don’t need to dry yourself after, but if this sensation is too strange for you, then use a personal towel (not of paper of course!). Finally, don’t forget to wash your hands! I took me time to get the habit of replacing toilet paper with water, but now it works and I even find this solution better. I feel cleaner and fresher. When I tell that to my friends, they say that I’m crazy and that they wouldn’t do it. But anyway, nobody looks at you in the bathroom!
This post was submitted by Charlotte.
My Mom’s mason jars have replaced plastic baggies in my house. They dont leak and are easy to sterilize. I also use them for beverages at home and on the go. Ice water, iced tea and lemonade just taste better in a mason jar and the ring and lid make a perfect on the go beverage. Leftovers can be stored and re-heated in the jars.
I also use a bedside commode in my bathroom. After using replace the lid. Once a day I dump and flush, rinse and sprinkle with baking soda.
My kitchen does not have a stove. I started using small appliances like rice cookers, crock pots and a toaster oven instead. After 18 months of not using the stove I got rid of it.The month I quit using the stove my electric bill dropped like a rock.
I splurged on the thermal drapes at the dollar store and they also reduced my energy consumption.
This post was submitted by Rosemary Rierson.
Most gardening experts make gardening too complicated. Get a caardboard box and fill it with dirt, plant seeds. Be sure to plant only vegetables that you really love. The hardest part is the dirt which can be dug up, or your compost or purchased.
In the area I live in the utility company charges once for water conig into the house and then doubles that amount for sewage costs making water very expensive.Several years ago I bought a backyard pool with a pump to use as a cistern. My Brother did the work to have the gutter drain pipe funnel rain water from the roof to the pool. On laundry day I used a garden hose and the pump to fill my washing machine from my cistern to wash all my clothes. If you’re handy around the house you could expand the idea to get more uses out of your cistern.
This post was submitted by Rosemary Rierson.
I started a blog kinda like yours, where you were writing about how you were trying to live greener. I am not going as fast as you did but I am trying hard to make it so we have a very small foot print. Anyway my blog says a lot more http://crystalclearmom84.blogspot.com/
This post was submitted by Crystal Scott.
Recycling is the best way to help the environment. My trash has reduced to less than 50% of what I used to send to the landfill everyday since I started recycling years ago.
This post was submitted by Candice.