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 used to work at a music school full of starving musicians. Every year we’d have an annual “Women’s Clothing Exchange”. We’d choose a week, set up tables and racks in a spare classroom, then we’d all clean out our closets and bring in anything we didn’t want anymore. Then we could all take whatever we wanted from what other people brought in. When it was over, we took the stuff nobody wanted to the thrift store.
It was great fun and we all got new clothes out of the deal. You could do this with a group of friends, or a church group, and for people with kids it would be a great idea to do a children’s clothing exchange. I’ve seen some groups do it with lots of rules, but we never found that to be necessary.
This post was submitted by Rebecca.
You can really cut your laundry chores back if you simply wear things several times before washing them. In my house the rules are it only gets washed if it meets on of the following criterea:
1) It’s visibly dirty (if it just has a little spot sometimes I’ll just wash out the spot instead of throwing the whole thing in the laundry)
2) It smells. Try hanging your clothes in the bathroom or someplace by an open window when you take them off at night. The next morning give them the sniff test. If they pass, put the hanger in the closet, if they don’t throw it in the hamper.
3) if it’s hopelessly stretched out. I have a few pairs of dark colored jeans that never show dirt. But after you wear them 5 or 6 times, the knees start getting really stretched out so I end up washing them. Sometimes you can get a few more wears out of them by hanging them in a steamy bathroom and they’ll get a little of their shape back.
By following these simple rules, I only do about 1-2 loads of laundry per month.
This post was submitted by Rebecca.
Eat locally, eat organic, eat vegan.
Hang dry clothes.
Wash clothes in cold water.
Take own bags when shopping.
Buy less stuff.
Eat organic.
Converted backyard to a big vegetable garden.
Reduce size of lawn.
Ride bike or walk more often.
Use a reusable water bottle (absolutely no plastic water bottles!)
Recycle everything that is recyclable.
Reuse stuff that is not recyclable as much as possible.
Buy whole unprocessed foods as opposed to packaged processed foods.
Use CFLs.
Use thermostat.
Quick 2-4 minute showers.
Don’t pre-rinse dishes before loading dishwasher.
Use a reel lawn mower.
Buy eco friendly laundry detergent, cleaning products and personal care products.
This post was submitted by Anu Kamath.
It took 12 years but I am finally car-free and loving it! I started by commuting one, then two days a week by bicycle from Hayward to Redwood City across the Dumbarton Bridge on San Francisco Bay. You’ll need wicking clothes (ski underwear is good and cheap, and looks pretty cool actually if you layer them aesthetically); rack & panniers for long commutes like mine; drink lots of water 24 hours before the ride; 75 - 100lb armadillo tires inflating them every 5-7 days; and “crystal stick” mineral deodorant if there are no showers at your worksite. When I moved to Oakland and recalled a fellow bike commuter who rode 5 days a week from Alameda to Palo Alto (BART to Union City), I said “I can do that”. So I slowly increased to 3 and 4 days/week and by 2005 I was my doing my 4days/10hr. work schedule all by bike and train in a loop around the Bay. About 30 miles of bike riding and 45 miles of train. I was able to read everyday for an 1-2 hours and get much better information than via TV, was physically fit and relaxed at work, and eating and sleeping like-lovin-life.
Then last year my car was stolen. I had tried to share it with folks in my area, but seems folks are addicted to 24hr access and haven’t learned to decouple from car tyranny, so I just let it go. No more $600/yr auto insurance for a car I never used. No waiting in traffic, no gas stations or repair nightmares. I figure now that I have taken an early retirement and live locally my car-free live-local lifestyle is saving me about $3000/year in car costs and about $200/month in groceries and meals. I shop at the market, go to movies and meals and travel anyway in the Bay Area on bike and train. I even commute to see a girl friend in Portland, bringing my bike with me on Amtrak. It’s so much fun and stress free, I wish I had been doing this my entire life.
Here’s a link to Carbusters Magazine so you can keep up with the latest in Car-Free developments across the globe…
http://www.carbusters.org/index.php
Happy Trails!
Sandy Sanders
This post was submitted by sandy sanders.
I wanted to have a measurable effect on the impact of more than just my family’s lifestyle. As soon as I had the down payment and income, I bought a 4-plex and we moved out of the similar apartment we had been renting to our very own eco-plex! Over the last year, My partner, my 6-year old and I have been greening the 1960′s era building located in a very walkable, low income neighborhood in midtown Anchorage, Alaska. Now we provide an increasingly energy efficient place to live to others with compost, recycling, permaculture gardens, potlucks, and other amenities. This has saved us a lot of money over buying a typical single family house, provided increased social interaction, and the central location, near my work, my child’s school, and some of my tenants’ work saves us all time. I blog on this project at the webpage above, with the hope of offering it as one model of a way to live more sustainably while giving those who must or choose to rent the option to reduce their impact.
This post was submitted by Michelle Wilber.