For one year I bought no clothes for myself - new or used. The point of this is not what you might assume. It is a way to recalibrate your mind away from consuming as pleasure seeking or pain avoiding. Other ways I’ve done this is to have Buy Nothing Tuesdays, or Eat Local Meals, Weeks or forever! What I found is that my trip was busted - like Colin, I went a long time thinking being grumpy at SUV’s or ‘talking about ecology’ was actually doing something positive. I call that ‘David Suzuki Syndrome’. You just get mad and nothing happens. This year I’m buying no food at work, I’m packing or going without. I stress this is a method to change the way I think (or don’t think) but just consume without need or really the wherewithall to continue apace.
This post was submitted by Jan Morrison.
Reclaim hours each day by breaking a channel surfing habit. If you need to unwind, take the time to truly unwind.
Take back your weekends by skipping trips to the mall, which are specifically designed to suck up your time.
Find precious downtime to read, think, daydream, and sleep by taking public transportation instead of driving.
My neighbor (we live in a duplex) is elderly. I offered to combine her recycling with mine. We started out with just (!) the newspaper she receives daily. Then I started retrieving the paper from the street and putting it on her porch for her - after adding the bag it is delivered in to a pile to bring back to the grocery store. Every so often I tell her about something else she can recycle, for example, glass bottles, or the boxes food like pasta comes in, and she begins to add that to the pile. When she is resistant I kid her along but try to add something like “Think of it as something you are doing for Sam, Michael and Julie” (her great-grandchildren). I think it put things into a different light for her!
This post was submitted by Pat.
My partner and I have made more sustainable living a permanent choice. We built our small (600 sq ft) house mostly out of straw, earth, trees we cut ourselves, and other, mostly on-site or local materials. We live off-grid with solar panels and a microhydro system. We have solar and wood-heated hot water. We have a composting toilet and reuse our graywater. We are in the process of growing our own food, much of it from trees. Most of our water comes from our roof or a pond. My partner commutes to work with an electric bike most days (otherwise a Prius). We have already met the UN’s climate goal of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions, yet we pretty much still live a US middle class lifestyle (except that we don’t fly for vacations). It helps that we chose a rural area with permissive building codes, but many of these things are possible in urban neighborhoods and suburbs.
We have been empowered by taking control of our ecological and social impacts. By being more self-reliant, we don’t have to work at jobs we hate that are raping the planet. In addition, our lifestyle supports our health, with lots of exercise and good food. Individual choices like ours won’t solve the problems we face by themselves, but they are a crucial part of the picture.
This post was submitted by Rain Tenaqiya.
Turn off the water in between rinsing. Each minute you spend with the water running is 2 gallons of water used. If you turn of the water while you lather up, you can at least cut your water consumption in half!
Since doing this I’ve noticed that I also spend less time getting ready in the morning. My showers are just a lot shorter.
This post was submitted by Doug.
Use your cell-phone like a land-line. Don’t answer your phone when you are spending time with your friends or family unless it is an emergency or your were expecting the call. In fact, don’t carry your phone with you throughout the day if you’re not anticipating a crisis of some kind. Turn your phone off at night. Make designated times for phone conversation with people you care about. Stop sending text messages. De-activate this function from your phone, both outgoing in incoming. It takes an incredible amount of energy and electricity to power your cell phone - and all the information it exchanges. Control the way you use technology! This goes for email too - try checking your email once a week, or once a day, if once a week is impossible. Then, set aside one chunk of time to respond to emails, instead of multiple times throughout the day. This will allow for more time for other (more physical) activities. Also, your eyes will appreciate it! And again, you will save power from not using your computer and the internet so often.
Thanks!
This post was submitted by charlotte sullivan.
We keep the Sabbath. On Sunday we don’t do anything that makes others have to work, i.e. go shopping, eat at a restaurant, take a drive (in case we have a car problem), go to the movies. Instead we plan ahead for the items needed to cook and bake for Sunday. We go for walks.
This post was submitted by Karen.
To give my dryer and electric bill a break, I hang clothes that normally would go on hangers (shirts and pants) to dry on the hangers. Not only do I save electricity, but I save the into-the-dryer-out-of-the-dryer step. As a bonus, during dry winter months, it also puts humidity in the air. During the humid summer, the clothes dry faster in the sun, however.
This post was submitted by Angela.