Collectively, small lifestyle changes can make a huge impact on the environment–and your life. Looking for happiness and health? What’s good for the environment is also, it turns out, great for you. Here’s a collection of tips from the No Impact community.
I collect kitchen scraps (fruit and vegies) and feed them to Oscar, my worm bin. The worms eat the scraps and produce perfect compost, which I feed to my terrace garden. I grow tomatoes, eggplant, okra, beets, carrots, basil, rosemary, strawberries, and melon.
I also have a business designing green roofs. I spread the word about green roofs where ever I can. A green roof is a layered system that sustains a lush, growing layer of plants on a roof. It keeps the building cooler and helps to manage stormwater, among other benefits. A green roof can easily be teamed with solar panels to truly develop the potential of rooftop space.
This post was submitted by Inger Yancey.
In preparation for no impact week my friend helped to install a rack and storage pack onto the back of my bicycle. This allows me to eliminate my dependency on public transportation so that I can go to, the co-op, school and work, having no impact.
This post was submitted by Nick Rigger.
i’ve created a product to allow inviduals to:
1. spend less money
2. reduce their stress
3. reduce landfill
4. encourage community sharing of resources
this is a retail product that i’m expecting could, of only slightly, change the way people think of clothing and has the potential to reduce carbon footprints on a wide reaching scale. if you would like to receive one of the products for free. let me know.
Nik Bergenske
Stretch LLC
www.stretchllc.com
This post was submitted by nk.
When it’s time to cut the plastic Zip-tie off of something, Don’t cut the head off. Look at it and cut the tail off very close to where it is inserted into the mouth of the Zip-tie head. This leaves the head attached to a long tail that can be re-inserted when you re-use the Zip-tie. To preserve as much of the tail for several more re-uses, wrap it twice or more times around the next object you are zip-tying. This leaves you with only a small amount that will have to be cut off next time to release the Zip-tie. P.S. Wrapping a Zip-tie twice around something doubles the strength. You can probably guess what triple wrapping it does.
This post was submitted by Tom Kabat.
We’ve lived a minimalist lifestyle for thirty-five years in rural Alaska; fourteen years without power, telephone, or running water, and heating our home from the forest on our property. 13 acres includes original growth forest, carefully harvested for firewood, building materials and non-timber resources. The river-flats hold our gardens and small livestock raised for food and trail companions.
We shared our 20×20′ A-frame cabin with our three children who are now contributing young adults, two in the larger world of the lower 48 working to help realize change.
Our choices to live the way we have made sound ecological sense by requiring us to be as self-sufficient as possible and living far within our small financial means. It’s instilled a deep and abiding passion for place and community. Our kids are carrying those convictions with them and returning regularly to refuel while we maintain the homestead.
It’s been a happy, fortunate life.
This post was submitted by Adrian Revenaugh.