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.
If you have a cell phone just for emergencies or to make a call a couple of times a day, there is no point in spending over $40. a mo. for cell phone service. I use a prepaid phone (tracfone) I buy 60min. of air time for about $20.00. This activates my service for 3 months. Most of the time I don’t use up my minutes. You can buy a double minutes card for $49. or 120 min for $29. So I usually only pay about $7.00 per month for my cell phone.
This post was submitted by Robert.
Once-a-month-cooking is a style of meal preparation where you prepare enough dinners for a month in one day, then freeze them. This can reduce impact in a number of ways:
- Cuts down on trips to the grocery store, and lowers your weekly groceries enough that you might be able to bike for the rest of your shopping trips (or use a stroller with storage, if you have young kids).
- Allows you to buy bulk, reducing packaging
- Allows you to combine certain energy-consuming steps for some meals so you only use energy once but prep in bulk, e.g., sauteing veggies for multiple meals or browning ground beef. You can even cook two meals at once, freeze one, and then use the microwave to reheat it a week or two later - overall using less energy than heating the oven twice while still getting that oven-cooked flavor
- Encourages you to avoid restaurants and convenience foods that tend to have a larger impact both on the earth and on your wallet
Most people who do this need a deep freezer, which does use some energy, but with a second-hand energy-efficient chest freezer (stand-ups are more convenient but less efficient) it’s actually very, very little (our electricity costs for the freezer are about $2.50 a month).
Search online for “Once a month cooking” to find techniques, tips, and recipes.
The non-environmental advantages to this are:
(a) Prepping this way is much faster than prepping and cooking a meal every day. I can pre-prep one to two dozen meals in a single day, depending on how much I plan beforehand and how repetitive the meals are. If you prep 3 months worth of the same two meals (with some variation so they don’t get boring - e.g., bean soups with different beans and seasonings, or pizzas with different toppings) in one day, it can go really fast - and after three months, you’ll have a different meal every night of the week for 6 days out of your week.
(b) You are less likely to eat out or buy heavily processed convenience foods on a busy night if you have meals ready to go at home. This is both cheaper and (for most of us) more nutritious. Plus, using raw ingredients like rice or beans is much easier if you can cook or soak weeks worth all at once - so you are more likely to use these healthy, affordable kinds of ingredients.
(c) You can do OAMC with friends, which can both make it more efficient and more fun - plus results in more variety - or make it a family activity.
OAMC is sort of the opposite of “slow food”, which I also think is a great movement, but it still accomplishes many of the same goals for families that really don’t have the time or budget for a perfectly cooked, super-fresh meal each evening. People who normally can’t do “slow food” may actually find that OAMC frees up enough time that they can actually spend more time on finding good food sources, eating meals slowly and truly enjoying them, and really making food a way to connect again.
This post was submitted by Ethel.
I’m vegan now about 2 years and buy everything I can from the local farmers market. Veggies & fruits are fresher and generally cost less. I feel I’m choosing an ethical path regarding fellow earthlings and I know I’m financially supporting my community as well.
I also search out anything I need via the used market first - It’s more fun, economical and gives “old” items a second life! And I don’t throw anything that still has a use - I tub the items up for my own garage sales.
I also patrol my local parks for discarded aluminum cans & have a hand crusher so hundreds of them can fit in a smaller space.
This post was submitted by Bea Elliott.
Dear Colin,
I wasn’t sure how else to reach you but I just wanted to write and say Thanks! I heard you speak at the library last night (I was the girl on your far right up front- that came in late) I just wanted to shake your hand and say:
You did such a good job! Thank U for being here
To see a place (HP) that’s always represented affluence responding to your message- that means a lot.
It was especially inspiring to hear the personal invocation.
- Thryn, a liberal arts grad pursuing a career in community horticulture
This post was submitted by Thryn Murray.
I turn off my appliances after I use them (e.g computer, printer, radio, tv, etc) by flicking the cut switch on the wall socket or extension lead. I try to use the washing machine fewer times by carefully selecting which clothes I wear and alternating between them until the machine is full. I wash my dishes by hand in a basin and rinse in another basin. I put on another jumper instead of turning up the heat. I use energy saving lamps almost everywhere. I take short showers most days and only take a longer one once every week. I walk, take the bus, take the train and try to limit my car use (only for work or heavy shopping. I bake two cakes in the oven instead of one, saving preheating it a second time. I boil only the quantity of water I need and when I have a pan on the fire, I use the lid to reduce the quantity of gas I need. I cook pasta for a minute or two only with the gas on and then turn it off and put the lid on for another 5 to 10 minutes depending on the type of pasta. It works a treat! There are so many things you can do! And I live just as comfortably now that I’ve gotten used to it.
This post was submitted by elisabeth.