How I did it: By blogging.  I started a blog that recording the daily struggle to find the right things to do.  I challenged myself to report on various aspects.  I found other bloggers that were participating in the Riot4Austerity, the Independence Days Challenge, and various local eating challenges.  We trade ideas and encourage each other.

I am not "done" with this goal, but I am taking it off my 43Things list.  I will continue to make changes as long as I am alive, but I no longer need a website to remind me to work on it.

18% of energy in the US is used to produce, ship, and store food, so a lot of our efforts focused on changing our food shopping and eating habits.  We also reduced our home energy and water use, and out trash output.

Some of the things we did:

• replace lightbbulbs with CLF and LED lites
• stop electricity vampires
• stop buying bottled drinks
• caulk doors and insulate windows
• insulate attic with recycled cotton batts
• stop using oil furnace
• expand my organic food garden
• plant fruit trees
• learn to can
• find local farmers
• patronize farmers' markets
• buy food in bulk
• get reusable shopping bags
• take fewer showers
• stop using the electric dryer
• use indoor and outdoor clothes lines
• let clothes get dirtier before washing
• got a rain barrel
• start a worm farm
• compost yard waste and paper
• reduce trash into and out of house
• reuse more containers and materials
• recycle what we can
• build a library of self-reliance reference books
• take a course about greening my house
• take a canning safety course
• take a garden planning course
• buy very little new
• buy more used
• buy local
• meet your neighbors
• find a task to share with neighbors
• buy some bulk food with friends
• develop a workshop for youth
• help a neighbor child grow tomatoes
• reduce to one family car
• buy books used and share
• buy music digitally instead of CDs
• use netflix instead of buying DVDs
• build a recipe collection
• made 72-hour bug-out bags
• store 3 weeks of clean water
• store 3 months of bulk food
• make our own yogurt
• make our own bread
• make our own soup, stock, sauces
• cook from scratch
• eat more whole grains, legumes, and greens
• eat less packaged food
• explore noncommercial toiletries
• use cloth kitchen towels and napkins
• ask old people for ideas

Lessons & tips: There is no one way to do this, no "right path" or a single guru that will lead you to the things that YOU can do, or the things that make sense for your family.  Seek inspiration from the stories of others, but don't compare yourself to them.  Compare yourself to how you were doing a month or a year ago.

This is a lifetime journey, and many other people will join you on it.  As our knowledge of the world evolves, so will our wisdom about how to live in it.  Technology will help us, as well as hurt us.  There will be conflicts between the needs of various people. Just keep pluggin' away.

Resources: Find a group of people, online or off, to form community.  This is not a solitary effort.  Cooperation and collaboration will be required.

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Dec 17, 2008, 04:07PM PST | 2 comments | 2 cheers