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´m a brazilian frutarian-vegan girl. I´m 20 years old, and I decided to become a vegetarian when I was 17.
Since that I started to search for information about vegetarianism… And then, after 2 years and a half, I (re)descovery fruitarianism. All my search was to become simple, and with that cause no-impact to our planet.
Of course I study a lot about that, and I begun to live this way of life. It changed all my life, how I see the world, nature, my self.
Today I do know what is a healthier life, a healthier body, I heatlhier mind… and the consequence, obviuos, is the no-impact. All my “trash” is 100% organic, and it´s totally rich to compost.
I always use eco-bags, I go buy my fruits and vegetables riding a bike, and I always buy local food.
I don´t need to use anymore desodorant, body-lotion, shampoo and a lot of things…because now the consequence of my choice is health.
And I always have energy to exercise every day, at least 1 hour or more!
This choice was possible because I descovery this website :www.foodandsport.com of Dr. Douglas Graham. And then I bought his book
” The 80/10/10 Diet”. After that, all I can say is that cause no-impact to your body and our planet is totally possible and natural!!!
I hope you can discovery that eating simple can change a lot our world (inside and outside)for better!
Good Luck!
Malu
This post was submitted by Maria Luiza.
We only get coffee if we have our own cup with us - no cup, no coffee. We only shop for food if we have our cloth bags. We save all the shower and bath water to flush the toilet, wash the floor, water the plants, and don’t shower daily. If we are buying cheese (from the market) we wrap it in a cloth napkin, we never need any kind of plastic. We compost food scraps, recycle all paper, tin, glass. Pick up from the street and collect number 5 plastic lids and collect other number 5 plastic from random places to take to whole foods for Preserve recycling. We pick up the menus that are delivered and send them back to the restaurant or recycle them. We try to get to all those free terrible coupons in plastic bags before the supers of the buildings on our blocks do (they just get tossed), and we recycle them, and use the plastic bags they come in for trash (the very little we have). We open carefully and re-use any envelopes that come in the mail. We shop from our local farmer’s market and are CSA members - eating locally and seasonally is much better for us and the planet. We ride our bikes everywhere, never take a cab. If we are going far, we’ll take the train. I bartend once a week and have a no-straws policy strictly in place. Most all of our clothes are hand-me-downs or second-hand/vintage, and we don’t throw any clothes in the dryer and only wash with cold water - to save energy and the life of our clothes. we use the library for books and movies. we have a strong unplug policy, always unplug phones, computers, the tv, all of it when not in use… um, i might be missing stuff but that’s where we are at and how we live. This is exciting to get to have a community sharing the No Impact Cleanse week in unison.
This post was submitted by Stig.
I am presently doing a masters degree in environmental studies and I am a vegetarian, basically a vegan. I never eat fast food, and rarely eat out at all, but when I do I choose wisely and locally. At the grocery store I buy mostly raw fruits and vegetables and very little packaged foods (just tofu, granola and almond milk) and I am always looking for ways to reduce my packaging even further. I always reuse all plastic bags that I acquire (which isn’t very much) and I make my own meals in reusable containers everyday. I don’t shop much and when I do its usually second hand. I can’t afford it if I wanted to. I am very careful with my energy use (I’m very anal about turning off the lights and conserving water). I bike EVERYWHERE, in fact most people think my biking habits are a little nutty since many areas of Toronto are NOT bike friendly. I also walk a lot and when its too cold (I can’t afford warm bike clothes) I take transit. I value friendships and personal relationships as well as personal growth, money and material goods are merely tools to me, they are of no significant value. This has made a huge impact on my life and my goals. I am a genuinely happy person, and I don’t needs ‘things’ to remain that way.
This post was submitted by Sarah Rotz.
I use large glass jars, like the ones from pickles, veganaise and spaghetti sauce to store my bulk dry goods like flour, beans and nuts. I use small jars from jams and mustard to store my bulk spices. I am careful not to damage the metal tops when opening the jar for the first time and I add a sticker with the item description on the front and top. Glass jars keep dry goods fresher longer and they are easier to see through than fancy plastic storage containers. They also look like I am extremely organized when I open my pantry!
This post was submitted by wendy kirsner.
Make the switch to an ebook reader - this is a great idea for schools, and for personal and corporate use. Saves the amount of paper that needs to be printed for books and used for note taking, low energy, and efficient because everything is stored in one place and can be easily shared and moved. Plus it’s easier on your eyes than a screen.
For the workplace it’s a great idea for meeting rooms, you can easily share documents with the entire room. If there are any texts to be read they can also be viewed on the ebook reader instead of on paper/computer screen. Notes can be easily taken, stored and shared as well.
I am not yet using this plan, but I am getting one for myself in a few weeks. I think if everyone gets used to this new technology, especially for school - it could have drastic positive impacts!
This post was submitted by Natalie.