There’s lots of talk these days about eating less meat and dairy to reduce your carbon footprint. While I agree in principle, I think the focus is off. How many times have you had success making a life change when you focus on what you have to sacrifice?
I think it’s much better and easier to focus on adding in more “low carbon” foods to your diet. When you do so, the amount of meat and dairy you eat naturally goes down.
For example. instead of trying to force your family to eat lentil loaf once a week, try cutting all the meat portions in half, and serve them family style along with a whole bevy of side dishes. Start off dinner with a vegetarian soup. Have baked beans, squash, broccoli and potatoes with the chicken. Bake some whole grain muffins or biscuits. You’ll have much better luck getting the kids to try curried lentils & yams, if you just add it to the table as an additional side dish instead of telling them they have to eat this instead of their favorite meal. If you take this approach you’ll find that your family is eating much less meat in no time, and the response won’t be “how come I can’t have my ____” but rather “Wow! This is a feast!”
I started with this approach over 10 years ago, and now my diet is 90% vegan. I’ve never felt like I can’t eat something… I just have more options on the table (literally).
People often ask me if I’m a vegetarian, and I’m never quite sure what to respond. I eat meat on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and 2-3 other special meals per year. I use some milk, cheese and the occasional chicken broth in cooking, and I eat eggs or fish a few times per month.
It’s so much easier to make small changes that you can stick with and feel good about than to try to go “cold turkey” (no pun intended) and end up giving up.
This post was submitted by Rebecca.
Thank you for posting my blog. In solidarity with the No Impact Project I have told my readers about you and also made a list of 12 things that I already live without to expand my focus of the blog! Here’s a link: http://ditchyourfridge.blogspot.com/2009/10/festive-12-days-list-of-what-to-ditch.html
I look forward to trying the No Impact Experiment!!
Peace,
Andrea
This post was submitted by Andrea Peloso.
OK… I kept hearing Colin’s experiment referred to as “the year without toilet paper” but everybody got very vague about exactly how that was accomplished. So for “no impact week” I did some research and decided to give it a go. So here are the details… hope nobody finds this gross, but somebody has to provide the details!
Here’s my method. I cut up an old T-shirt into wipe-sized portions and use them instead of TP. I tried it for both number one and number two, but decided that number two was a little too gross for me. I read on-line about one woman who used this method and then just washed them with her load of diapers. Since I am sans baby, that wasn’t an option for me. She had a small diaper pale with a lid by the potty and they just threw the wipes into that.
Well… I tried that for a bit, but since I generally only do about one load of laundry every 3-4 weeks, I decided it was gonna get really gross. I also figured I’d need a ridiculous number of wipes! So instead I just have a small bucket between the toilet and sink (actually it’s an old yogurt tub) and I collect soapy grey water from hand washing etc. After the wipe is used I just toss it into the bucket of water and let it soak. Then I wash them by hand once a day (takes about 5 minutes). I hang them to dry on an old plastic 5-rung hanger. If it’s sunny I hang it outside in the sun, otherwise it just dries in the bathroom.
At first I thought it would be totally disgusting, but it really wasn’t. It’s actually more comfortable to wipe with cloth than with paper. For number one, it’s really only a few drops that get wiped anyhow… so it’s really not any more disgusting than washing your underwear by hand.
So I think I’m gonna keep it up… I can already tell that I’ll save a bunch of money on TP!
This post was submitted by Rebecca.
I have lived without a fridge for the last 3 years and write a blog about how to do this and related ideas. I also live without a car, tv, cell phone, microwave, dryer, makeup, hair dryer, freezer, dishwasher, … I live on about $3 of 100% renewable energy a month.
Its fun, easy, saves money, and is on the the beginning!!
Please come and visit my blog and add comments, questions, or further ideas.
This post was submitted by Andrea Peloso.
We have two young kids, ages 33 mos and 9 mos. We use cloth diapers on the baby, which we saved from the toddler. Some were handed down from other kids in the family even! I wash them at home instead of with a service and I line dry them. We use one disposable diaper per 24 hours, at night only on the baby. The toddler wears 100% cotton underwear while potty training instead of disposable underpants. We also use cloth wipes for diaper changes.
We use washcloths for kid cleanups, microfiber towels on the Swiffer WetJet that I refill with homemade cleaner. We grow our own produce, fertilized with manure from our chickens. We compost all food scraps and put meat scraps in the dog bowls to reduce their feed.
We replaced our 1933 home’s woodstove and baseboard heat with a heat pump, and plan on replacing single pane windows and roof in the next two years.
I bought an 8 passenger vehicle with 21 mpg so that we can carpool with family we socialize often with. I only drive as necessary and combine trips whenever possible.
This post was submitted by Jessi.
I recently joined a business Mastermind group that meets right in the middle of my daily workout time every other week. I wasn’t sure how to fit both into my schedule at first; I’m as committed to my physical health as I am to my business health!
However, the meeting is close enough to home that walking there and back takes about as much time as my workout would take, so I decided to walk to the meetings, workout clothes and all. I take the more difficult, hilly route so that I can get the most benefit from walking. The walking also allows me, for this one meeting at least, to leave the car at home.
This post was submitted by Lisa Braithwaite.
When my husband and I moved to Los Angeles, we knew the city was extremely spread-out, it had a strongly entrenched driving culture and inadequate public transportation. Because my husband is the main bread-winner and his job was the main reason we relocated, we chose to live where he would have next to no commute. We rent an apartment 5 blocks from his office.
We walk to our health club, dentists and doctors. We buy most of our food from the farmers markets blocks away from us. If we eat out on special occasions like a birthday or anniversary, we take our business to a local restaurant we can walk to. I walk to the flower market to get my cats some wheat grass so they aren’t totally deprived of anything green. Though we do drive occasionally, we bought a second-hand car, a second-hand campervan (our version of vacations) and a second-hand motorcycle.
My husband has more time to relax. Walking is healthy. We tend to travel “slower” and look around at our surroundings more. We aren’t stressed or jaded by a long, tiring or aggravating commute. Driving is more enjoyable. We save on commuting costs and because I have carry everything home, I tend to shop carefully and wisely.
If someone reads this and counters that because they own their home and their job is far away, requiring a commute, then I would challenge them to find a way to overcome that obstacle. Selling may not be an option, but maybe they could rent their house out so they in turn could rent a place closer to where they work.
This post was submitted by Monique.
Improving one’s impact can be as much about what we don’t do, as what we do; and advocating for wider change.
Generally, I try not to use what I don’t need, use what I need wisely and purchase things made with good social, environmental and economic practices.
Here are some basic practices I’ve adopted over time, and that I continue to work to deepen and expand. These came about step by step, one after the other. Small steps add up if e do what we can and keep going.
• As above, buy few new items, buy mostly bulk foods, buy items in reusable, compostable, recyclable packaging; reuse/donate, compost, recycle
• Research companies’ social, environmental and economic practices, and buy from those with the best practices
• Use reusable versus disposable items – linens, mug, water bottle, etc.
• Eat only organic foods, almost all bulk/non-processed, preferentially local/regional, and virtually only grown in US, almost exclusively vegan
• Member of the organic CSA farm and volunteer there
• Grow some of my own food and preserve for winter
• Haven’t owned a car in 3 years, get around by bike, walking, carpooling, public transit, etc.
• Use 1,200-1,500 kWh elec per year in all-elec house: Use only CFLs, turn off water heater after shower, don’t use fridge when it’s cold out, switched out full size fridge for mini-fridge6
• Dishpans in all sinks to catch water and reuse on non-food plants and toilet tank
• Hand wash clothes with shower water and line dry
• Don’t get any junk mail, get paperless billing statements and pay bills online
• Use only biocompatible, organic/plant-based personal care/cleaning supplies
• Support causes I believe in with time and dollars
• Advocate for change – ask stores for more bulk items, let local recyclers know about opportunities to recycle additional materials, contact elected officials on policy decisions of concern, contact companies to ask for better practices, etc
• Thank companies with good practices and refer them to others
• Learn from others and educate via my own blog and freelance writing
This post was submitted by Melissa Schweisguth.
Eat it? Discriminatingly so. No need to be an urban foodie who says, hey I want to participate in a kill to take away the guilt. Just stop focusing on it. Bring about a resurgence in ‘Diet for a Small Planet’. I do eat wild game on occassion, that is gifted to me by hunter warrior friends out for their annual ritual of getting the deer, pheasant, or other wild-roaming animal.
But really, climate change will only happen if the entire world food system changes. Everything cascades out from that. And northern hemisphere westerners are the big elephant in the room.
This post was submitted by Beth.
I ride the school bus to school! At my school, we’re 80 percent solar powered and we compost all of our food waste! The school cafeteria also uses fruits and vegetables from our organic garden! I’m a vegetarian and a member of the “free to grow” garden club at my school.
This post was submitted by Emma.