make a smaller ecological footprint

out of four of these wooden pallets that I tied together at each corner (I recycled them from a nearby building site).

I’ve taken up a series of new ecological habits:

1. I wash myself using the sink (no more showers or baths) changing the water twice. I’ve noticed that my skin is softer, shinier and is less dry. I think the reason is that I pass TWICE over my skin, once with the soap and once to rince it off with the wash cloth. I must admit that I get cold taking showers and baths. The sink wash system lets me stay half dressed while I wash one half at a time. As for the time it takes, it is about the same as a shower!!

2. I dry the wash naturally instead of using the dryer. It takes more time to put up the wash though (10-15 minutes) instead of 3 minutes to throw the clothes in the dryer. I wash using cold or tepid water instead of hot. I also run the washing during the night which is less costly. We have night and day electricity consumption couter. Plus it is more ecological to use electricity when no one is using it rather than in the evening when everyone is using it. The downside is that it can take several days to dry especially if it is rainy outside. The other downside is that I still haven’t figured out a system for drying my sheets. I have a tower drying rack that works fine for clothes-sized items, but not sheets!

3. The negative side of moving is that now I commute to work. I need to use the car (twenty miles or 30 kms each way) because I have three children to get to school and daycare and usig public transport means taking a bus and two trains (with a laptop, luches and documents!!). As of september all three kids will be going to school 2 kms away from the house and I won’t need to commute much anyore because my work contract is finished. I do need to find a new job though!!!

4. I’m setting up the garden (needs planning and planting etc). I hope to have a compost pile, garden my own veggies and fruits and herbs.

5. I recycle glass, paper, cardboard, cans, tertrapacks, etc. (I’ve already been using chlorine-free, 100% biodegradable diapers).

6. I replaced 90% of the bulbs in the house by economical low-watt energy saving ones.

7. I plan on making my own bread.

I didn’t change much since last time I filled it out but now it would take 1.4 planets if every lived like me. It’s getting better. Soon its going to get worse because I’m going to move from an appartment building to a house. The good thing is that I’m going to recycle all my garbage because I’ll finally have enough room to store all the stuff.

When I decided to calculate my own ecological footprint, it took 2.1 planets to sustain the world’s population if everyone lived like me. Hmmm…..I gotta do something….