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.
Do you have a video story from your No Impact Experiment? Share your story below:
I’ve been making my own cleaning and personal care products for about a year. My favorite is a fabric cleaner/freshener. Here is the recipe:
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup alcohol
2 tablespoons baking soda
50 drops essential oil (I like lavender for the scent and it’s also antimicrobial!)
Mix all ingredients in a spray bottle (there will be some foaming action with the baking soda and vinegar) and spray liberally! Works great on carpet! I sometimes use it as an all-purpose cleaner in a pinch.
Other favorite thing: I use Dr. Bronners castille soap for just about everything: Hand soap, shampoo, shampooing carpets, bathing my dog ect. I do not recommend for dishes!
My husband and I are doing the No Impact Experiment in a week and I’m excited to see what lasting changes we can make.
This post was submitted by Jenna.
I turn off the water after I’m wet, then soap up and shampoo my hair and turn water back on to rinse. It reduces the time the shower is on to less than 2 minutes.
On days where I do not wash my hair then it’s water in the sink and a washcloth and soap.
Less waste, clearer conscience, more time
This post was submitted by sandra Sawatzky-Cariou.
I use oranges shells to mop the floor.
You just have to boil them, and you save money and recycle!
This post was submitted by Alejandra .
Food waste – from fields and oceans, to stores and restaurants, to individual purchases and homes – is a huge contributor to climate change and other environmental problems, and equally a huge opportunity to turn things around. In November I started logging, on a whiteboard on my home refrigerator, every bit of wasted food, by type of food, date, and reason wasted.
Surprise – my household food waste has already gone down, I’m buying smarter (and a bit less), my fridge is less crowded, and I’m approaching cooking dinner more as a puzzle to solve (what can I make with what’s here) and less as an onerous chore. Somehow logging food waste has engaged my “game mind” – it’s a lot more fun than I would have expected. I feel satisfaction when I see that I haven’t written an “entry” for days, sort of like scoring points.
My husband and I already compost food scraps and some other organic waste, and use the rich dark compost in our garden. But there’s no reason to feed “our friends the micro-organisms and worms” expensive food gone bad!
Logging food waste is something almost anyone can do, for a week or indefinitely. I’m curious how my log will look a few months into 2013.
This post was submitted by Janet Weil.
Hi,
Watched your movie today, and I really enjoyed it. What was most striking was the fact that the viewing audience follow you through the process of educating yourself and utilising trial and error in your daily life to reduce your environmental impact. So many books/films address environmental impact are preachy, sensationalist and removed from the day to day realities of the very people their encouraging to change. Anyway, thank you – I will be applying many of the techniques you used in future.
My tip is: If you have a garden, reduce food waste by putting kitchen scraps outside for birds to eat. In cold winter months it helps sustain the birds, and can dramatically reduce your food waste. I’ve started doing this on a daily basis. I use this listing to make sure I maximize what I give the birds, without damaging their health.
http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/a/kitchenscraps.htm
To avoid attracting pests, only put food out in the morning, and preferably on an elevated surface (table etc.)
It’s lovely to hear their song & watch them feed in the garden.
Thanks again,
Kelley.
This post was submitted by Kelley.