How Do You Reduce Your Environmental Impact?
Mamaneen's post gave me a lot to think about and I'd like to share ideas on how we each choose to reduce our ecological impact. I'll be adding and editing this blog in a bit, just wanted to get this out there. Here are some things I do:
- I have reduced the amount of garbage I add to landfills by composting organic waste including food waste, yard waste like leaves, grass, and garden clippings, and paper. I recycle most of the plastic that comes into my household. Doing this has reduced our weekly garbage output from 3 full cans of garbage to a half can.
- I grow and can food. Gardening/farming does contribute to soil erosion, however a small home garden does less damage than paying into a factory farm system that has a huge impact on the environment. And it's a great way to get incredibly fresh organic food for pennies.
- I make a lot of the things I want and need. For example I make my own cloth pads, tablecloths, pot holders, etc. I needed a new apron for the longest time and made one. I want new kitchen mats and I'm making 2 out of plastic grocery bags (we usually bring our own cloth bags sometimes we get a plastic bag. I never throw these out and I have a lot to reuse). I want a new fluffy bathroom mat and I'm making one out of old clothes. I want a new purse and I'm making one with the help of my daughter out of old clothes. We need new curtains and I'm making these also with the help of my daughter. I need new bookshelves for my store and I'm building them partly out of recycled material from the dump. When I think of all the stuff I make rather than buy, I am amazed at how much money I have saved...I have spent less than $5 for the needles and thread I have used (I got a big bag of over 20 different colored threads at a thrift store for $3) this year. Come to think of it, I bought the pack of needles last year, ha.
- We have reduced our water usage and soap usage considerably this year. For example we have reduced how often we bathe/shower and we generally only use half the recommended amount of soap when washing clothes, dishes, etc. Shampoo is the only exception because I have very thick waist length hair and thus use twice the recommended amount, LOL.
- I air dry our clothes most of the time.
- My daughter started college and though she is living at home, due to mine and my husband's work schedule and her work schedule she needs her own car. We had got down to being a one car family, now fairly soon we are going to be a 3 car family. My car I'm converting to run on vegetable oil. My daughter would like to wait and see how it goes before we convert her car. My husband is ambivalent about it right now.
- I encourage my kids to make their own toys and/or trade toys. This holiday season I am going to request of relatives to reduce the amount of toys they buy for my kids.
- I keep large plants in every room of the house to keep the air nice and cut down on odors rather than use air fresheners or plug-ins or whatever.
- I use baking soda and vinegar to clean and occasionally peppermint or orange oil soap.
There are a lot of things I don't do and I'm pretty passive about agitating for better pollution control from area factories and what-not. I can do better on letter writing and other things that hold large corporations accountable. My city also won't accept certain plastics and other recyclable materials for the curbside recycling program, and I have been passive about finding out what the deal is on that. Another thing I'd like to work on is cosmetics, because I LOVE makeup and go through it...I'm gonna figure out ways to have less of an impact there (other than not wearing it, ha).
What are some ways you choose to reduce your ecological impact?
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I think for some of us mamas, the ideal is so far beyond our means or energy that there's a tendency to blow it off. So this year I've treated it like a dieter treats a diet: an attempt at better habits and baby steps. I've given up paper towels and plastic wrap and use lids on top of plates for leftovers and towels instead of paper towels. I try to use larger containers instead of individual ones (ie. for yogurt or when I do break down and buy soda) and have started putting fruit and vegetables directly in the grocery basket rather than plastic bagging them. Use homemade luna pad things when it is pratical to do so, walk to the deli by work for lunch instead of driving elsewhere, combine errand trips, reuse as much as possible around the house. I'm a big fan of semidisposabile tupperware in place of plastic bags as you can use one 1,000 times and still be in a position to throw it out if you must. Not throwing it out is better, but throwing one or two out a year versus 999 sandwich bags in the trash is a step forward I would hope.
"Good manners and bad breath will get you nowhere" (Elvis Costello)
Bad manners and varying breath:Exponential Detritus For Feeble Minds...
"Good manners and bad breath will get you nowhere" (Elvis Costello)
Bad manners and varying breath:Exponential Detritus For Feeble Minds...
I have seen little tupperwares that are designed for holding sandwiches at various stores. Maybe you could look into that. 
I was just thinking of doing a natural mamas blog about this very subject! Thanks for getting it out there, I just haven't had the time!
I'll come back and reply in more depth soon!
lm
let's start a natural mama's blog
Check out my daily photo journal:
http://ocim.livejournal.com/
Check out my daily photo journal:
http://ocim.livejournal.com/
We garden for our summer produce, supplemented by a local organic food box. In addition I make a very conscious effort to buy local produce whenever possible and practical.
We compost our vegi and paper scraps in the back yard. We also recycle quite agressively and rarely have a full garbage can to put out.
We air dry our clothes and wash them in an HE washer with half to a quarter the soap recommended.
We used cloth diaper for all our kids, with the occasional disposable.
We reuse or upcycle stuff whenever possible and use thrift stores and dumpsters to bring big items (couches, shelves, fabric) into our house.
We are a 1 vehicle house and I use my bike or the bus or my feet to get around during the day (though I am planning to get my driver's license soon).
* thrift shop is our main non-food shopping source for clothes, books, household items, etc. And gifts, for the right people
* cloth diapers, cloth napkins, washcloths instead of paper towels, cloth grocery bags, keeper/cloth menstrual pads
* homemade cleaners
* compost, recycle, reuse
* home garden & canning
* trying to buy things in bulk more and checking that when I do buy plastic (that food comes in, etc) that it is the kind I can recycle
* Encouraging my kids to use natural light and not artificial, when possible
* rarely use A/C, even though my neighbors think I'm crazy
* trying to buy as much organic food as possible
* if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down
* that's all I can think of for now
-cloth diapers most of the time
-dish towels instead of papertowels/paper napkins
-recycle as much as we can
-reuse yogurt tubs for leftover storage, or holding small things like beads
-we also do 'if it's yellow, let it mellow'
-buy most kid clothes at the thrift store, and a lot of their toys, too
-use less than the recommended amount of soap in the clothes washer and dish washer- it seems if I use the amount you're "supposed" to use, it's too much, and stuff doesn't rinse clean anyway
things we need to work on:
-air drying clothes more. We have a clothes line, but don't use it as much as we should.
-composting. Anyone know how to make a home-made compost bin?
-gardening-I would love to do it, and we have the space, but I can't seem to get into the gardening groove.
-me using more cloth pads. I have a few, and love them, but I end up using a lot of disposable pantiliners, which I feel guilty about. Is there such a thing as cloth pantiliners?
That's some squash seeds that were growing in my compost in the spring, LOL. The bin is just a big rubbermaid bin we had been using to store the kids' toys. We had 2 of them and after reducing the amount of toys they had we only needed one, so I reused this one for the compost. Mercury Man punched holes in the bottom for drainage. It's easy to turn the contents with a shovel and pack a lot in there. My other bin is just an old-school aluminum garbage can, here's instructions on how to make it bin, it's really easy:
http://www.ehow.com/how_16876_make-compost-bin.html
Yah, there are cloth pantyliner. I make my own pads in various thicknesses and for liners I just old knee-high socks. Cut off the foot part, cut the leg part to the length you desire and sew up the edges. Presto! You've got a nice soft pantyliner.
MSPmedia
The world is extremely interesting to a joyful soul.
~Alexandra Stoddard
Thanks! Do you put a snap or velcro or anything in the cloth to hold the pantiliner in place, or does it stay put without anything?
her site seems to be down at the moment (switching servers it seems) but her eis her blog
is to have less children than our parents had. We have one child, and that's probably going to be it. If we do have two, we have still cut the amount of children that each of our parents had in half.
We recycle and drive a biodiesel car that gets 50mpg and buy organic/local, but the thing is that we really aren't making as much of a difference as we can. After I finish school, the idea is to get together with a couple of other healers and massage therapists, a great gardener, someone who knows about building, animals, etc...and start an intentional community where we will build our communal living structures out of wood and cob, etc...you know, the real deal...
I think that intentional communities are the way to go if we really want to change our impact on the world.
"The Universe Molds Itself To Prove Your Beliefs"
"Fundamentally the markswoman aims at herself" DT Suzuki
When I saw the post, I was like "bleargh, I'm not doing jack, lately." But really, I am, so here it is:
1) Only having one kid biologically. After H, it's all adopting and fostering, I decided that a LONG time ago.
2) Recycling, of course. But actually reducing plastic usage, reusing what we do buy when possible, and buying products made out of plastics I actually can recycle around here.
3) Minimizing product use at all.
4) We're going to be using vinegar & baking soda to clean pretty much everything, from the beginning. I feel good about that.
5) Walking anywhere that's within 1.5 miles if the weather is good.
6) I'll be switching to cloth pads when/if my period comes back.
7) Cloth diapers. I need to line dry more, but...
Cooking "from scratch" when I can. This will get more difficult when I'm working full time, but for now, it's good.
25/MN and WA. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD2.5.
~ Prius 50 mpg
~ Reuse plastic containers
~ Recycle
~ Compost
~ Cloth Diaper
~ Unplug things, switched light bulbs
~ No AC
~ Line dry clothes (just got a new big clothes line that will fit three loads!!)
~ Natural cleaners
~ Natural soaps
~ Thrift when possible
~ Reuse!! There is so much stuff you can reuse if you just think about it. I use paper grocery bags for just about everything... suitcases, coloring books, storage, wrapping paper, etc. Plastic grocery bags are my trash bags in both bathrooms. Cottage cheese containers are the perfect tupperware, crayon bin, etc.
So quiet down cobwebs, Dust go to sleep!
I'm nursing my baby and babies don't keep.
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We were talking about this in the other thread and I think it's just best to do what you can do, you know?
I rarely buy paper towels and when I do, it cracks me up how quickly we go through them. When I use cloth it's like I don't notice how much I am wiping up spills and stuff.
The sandwich bags is definitely one I need to work on. My kids are older now and committed to helping reduce our ecological footprint, so maybe this year we'll do something different for school lunches rather than sandwich bags.
MSPmedia
The world is extremely interesting to a joyful soul.
~Alexandra Stoddard