We harvest almost all our food from the wild, from dumpsters, from our garden and from our 1.5 lot urban farm (laying hens, dairy goats and honey bees). We trap and eat Eastern grey squirrels on our urban lot and we harvest seaweed and shellfish from a beach 5 miles away from the house. We also fish from a lake 2 blocks from our house.
Among the benefits:
Reduce trips to the store.
Reduce use of pesticides.
Reduce food transportation.
Increase awareness of and connection to natural environment.
Learning self-reliance.
Humane treatment of animals.
Reducing populations of invasive species (animal and plant).
Eating healthfully.
We’ve learned to ferment foods, make our own yogurt and cheese, bake all bread, make our mayonnaise, can fruits and vegetables. And we will be experimenting with a modified root cellar (it rains a lot here) this winter. We still purchase vegetable oil, spices, salt, sugar, flours and coffee. And my Cuban-born husband still enjoys a sip of good rum now and then.
I checked off the category “More Time” below because I would say we have more LEISURE time due to our view that gardening, farming, dumpster diving and wild food gathering are very fun and leisurely activities.
We’ve made this conversion from uberconsumerism over a period of about 3 years. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas in the movie; we hope to try some of them out soon.
This post was submitted by Melany Vorass.
Watching “No Impact Man” last year really made me think about my footprint on this planet. I have been doing a lot of small things for years but after watching the DVD; Colin’s family inspired me to do more. I think about my actions everyday and how they affect our planet. I gave up paper napkins, towels. I have said NO to plastic bags(been doing this for years) I bring my resusable mug everyway. I have gone through my home and changed everything possible to lower my impact. I shop at Farmers markets and do not shop at grocery chains anymore. I read all labels on foods. There is so much we can all do to help our Mother Earth. If each one of us does these things we can really make a differece. Thanks to everyone that is making an effort to heal our planet. Living this lifestyle brings peace and happiness to oneself.
Namaste!
This post was submitted by Paula.
I started a blog kinda like yours, where you were writing about how you were trying to live greener. I am not going as fast as you did but I am trying hard to make it so we have a very small foot print. Anyway my blog says a lot more http://crystalclearmom84.blogspot.com/
This post was submitted by Crystal Scott.
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 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.
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.
We are two retirees who are re-designing our life to fit within a smaller footprint using Gardening, Recycling and Reduction in Consumption. We are converting the house garden into a living larder and working towards raising our own fish protein in our water catchment pool. The pool will have the added benefit of feeding our vegetable plot. We are Urban Foragers, collecting other people’s trash, using it to create our Eden. We have reduced our car mileage by 75% and soon be converting our car to Biofuel. The website is a journal or our daily adventure into a Low Impact Life.
This post was submitted by Yam Bean.
I just barely finished the Documentary and I was almost drawn to tears. This year I have felt a strong pull to re-connect myself to nature and to take steps to reduce my environmental impact. I keep the lights off as much as I can, I drive as little as possible, etc. After this video I will step things up a little by making most my trips by bike, I will study sustainable living with extreme conviction and I will do all I can to take steps to eliminate my impact. I just want to say thank you so much for doing this. It has helped me to grow as a person. Thank you.
This post was submitted by Jeremy Smith.
For a year our family (two children and their parents) lived on a simple basis in the swedish mountains. One shopping tour per month, wooden fired stove, water from the river. We reduced our expences 1/12 and where healthy and happy. Did home teaching for our children. A fantastic year as a family between midnight sun and minus 33 celcius.
This post was submitted by Lars Nyhuus Henriksen.
When you say no to disposable culture and invest in more permanent products you take less trips to the store, which saves time and money, and eliminate the waste you generate. Here are a few of the simple lifestyle changes that have made a big difference in the way I consume:
- Carry reusable bags in your car all the time and use them at ALL stores. Ever notice how much trash you have to throw away after a trip to the grocery store (packaging, tons of small plastic bags, receipts, etc.)?
- Stop using the little plastic bags in the produce section. Put your fruit & veggies straight into your cute cloth bags or ask “does this vegetable that I’m going to wash & peel really need to be transported in it’s own plastic wrap?”
- Give up paper towels. Seriously, you won’t miss paying for them, using them, or carrying the huge bulk pack home. Invest in more kitchen towels, use old t-shirts as cleaning rags, get pretty cloth napkins.
- Use cloth bags to buy from bulk bins when you purchase food such as beans, rice, nuts, etc. instead of buying from a box or can. When you get home, transfer the food into glass canisters & jars (I save all glass jars from pasta sauce, pickles, etc., remove the labels, and wash them for this very purpose).
-Invest in a sturdy set of tupperware (all different sizes) so you never have to buy plastic baggies again. I use my tupperware for everything from sandwiches to pre-portioned homemade trail mix. Best of all it can go in the freezer, oven, and dishwasher.
-If you order take out or delivery, save the plastic containers and utensils to reuse. Let the restaurant know if there is anything you won’t use, such as ketchup or napkins. They’ll appreciate saving their product & you’ll appreciate not wasting.
-Buy larger bottles of items such as shampoo in order to save money and generate less waste
-Lastly, choose your stores wisely. Every shopping trip and every brand selection is a ballot cast. Make sure you are voting for the company that respects your health and values.
This post was submitted by Destiny.