As a result of Colin’s empowering text, I reduced my commuting miles in NH by 30. I look to increase that distance after trading my mountain bike for a road bike (I won’t buy new either, thanks Colin).
As a means of getting my kids excited about reducing our waste, we broke out the markers and crafted a “credo” on the wall — very liberating,fun, and effective.
Later this spring I am taking a course on preserving food from our vegetable garden and / or local farmers. Mason jars will be the method.
As a teacher at a local high school, I am also encouraging the use of “Happy Hank” (carrying a hankerchief that farmers carried for years) to replace papel towel waste in the restrooms.
This is only the beginning — thank you No Impact Man!
This post was submitted by Ryan Mahan.
One of the best decisions my family has made is to get rid of our cable service. It is amazing how much more time we have to do the things that we love- exercise, hike, read, etc. Plus we are saving about $80 a month by not paying for it. We are also not subjected to a daily barrage of advertising like we were before. Granted, this is a very small step, but I think it is a great first baby step towards having a lower impact, plus saving some money along the way. We have gone without for over a year now, and have made many additional changes in our lives to try to cut our impact, but things really got rolling when we made this move.
This post was submitted by Kyle.
I don’t drive my car or buy anything one day a week. I use solar power, 6 panels currently, and growing. I bathe using Dr. Bronners and 2 gallons of water only. I wash my laundry with Dr Bronners and baking soda in the tub then rack dry. I eat all meals at home. 80% of diet is grains, vegetables and fruits. I grow strawberries, blackberries and blueberries in my garden. I mow the back yard every other week. Always trying to find ways to adapt and lower my impact. Got the idea for the laundry by watching No Impact Man movie. Great site, might adapt some more ideas from here. Thanks
This post was submitted by Jason Bedard.
After being inspired by No Impact Man I decided to look again at the use of chemicals in my cleaning routines. I came across an article about soapnuts and consequently bought a bag to try. I cant sing their praises enough they are the most natural product on earth in my opinion. I boil 100g of them in 1ltre of water for 25 mins and hey presto i have 500ml of chemical free washing liquid which is enough for 10 washes. i store the liquid in an old glass jam jar in the fridge to keep it fresh.
This post was submitted by nina fletcher.
I re-purpose some of our old items or find new ways of using existing things. Some examples: 1) Instead of buying an artificial Christmas tree (common over here), I got some fallen bamboo branches in my backyard, placed them in a vase on a table, covered the table with a red bed cover, sprinkled some tiny pine cones on them and put some trinkets on the branches. 2) I used an empty Starbucks bottle as a decorative jar on my shelf. 3) I re-purposed some baby mattresses and a bed cover to make a little couch in my son’s room.
This post was submitted by Mich Nicolas.
I recently read that there is more lawn than wheat growing in the USA. I’m sure the stats are similar for Canada. With a growing urge to expand my urban garden, we decided to plant squash, pumpkins and beans along the fence line at the side and front of the house. The neighbouring children noticed us and helped plant and water them. Of course we will share the bounty with the children and teach them about the garden as it grows. We also hope to expand the garden/lawn.
This post was submitted by Shelley Essaunce.
For the sake of our planet, I went vegan 4 years ago after learning that:
-it takes 16 pounds of grain (often GMO) to produce a single pound of meat.
-animal agriculture is the #1 cause of deforestation and oceanic dead zones
-farming animals produces more greenhouse gases than, well, anything else because methane is 23x more potent than CO2
I then began to only by organics at the grocery store… and decided to reduce the amount of packaging my products have… then I began going to the farmer’s market.
Now, I don’t buy ANYTHING in packaging. All of my food comes the Whole Foods bulk bins (in reused bags) or form the farmer’s market, and I can honestly say I don’t miss anything, I have so much fun cooking and meeting my farmer friends.
This post was submitted by Kitty Jones.
As most people probably know already, plastic consumption needs to be decreased.
I no longer buy bottles of water but instead invested in a metal flask to fill with water from home and use time and time again.
This saves me money as I no longer have to buy bottled water (saving you time also), is better for the environment and is also healthier as most water bottles are made from the kind of plastic that leeches into liquid over time, and especially with reuse (PETE 1, HDPE 2 especially - if it’s PP 5 then you’re alright).
If you get a metal flask make sure it’s a stainless steel one as aluminium made containers are known to be harmful.
I also had a bit of fun with this by etching a design into the exterior metalwork and adding a paracord lanyard for personalisation and identification (no one’s mistaking it for theirs!) purposes.
No brainer!
This post was submitted by Jayc Dryden.
I refill my:
-raisin
-nut
-cerceal/granola
-flour
-sugar
-pasta
-beans/lentils
-rice
-ect
bags in the bulk bins! Check the bulk bins before you buy stuff in packaging! It’s usually cheaper!
This post was submitted by Kitty Jones.
I wash dishes in bowl with cold water and green washing liquid as my girl friend loves hot water, loves to leave tap on.
Drink more green tea rather than coffee -helthier and i bet better for the Env.
This post was submitted by dawid e ptak.