be more environmentally conscious

Since my last progress report, I’ve done about the same. I’m pretty good about bringing my own grocery bags, and I pay attention to packaging when I’m making a decision to buy something, especially food.

I’ve talked a while about wanting to cut down on the amount of meat I eat, but I really haven’t done too much to improve that. I want to start by planning my meatless meals for the week first. So this week, I made some of my old vegetarian favorites—kale, black beans, salsa and rice, and kidney beans, zucchini and mushrooms in tomato sauce with polenta.

I know there are many other steps I can take, but sometimes it helps to focus on one thing at a time.

Since I first posted on this topic, I’ve gotten much better about bottled beverages. I have a water bottle that I use for exercise, and I am much more aware of packaging in general when I make my purchases. (This includes cutting down on my beloved diet coke with lime from the work vending machine, and replacing it with water or coffee in a reusable mug.)

I’ve also gotten better about reusable grocery bags. I broke down and bought a couple bags, rather than just using the over-sized canvas bag—the new ones pack the just the right amount of things and are so much easier to carry. I still sometimes forget, but still its progress.

I still do like to buy stuff! But I am trying to remind myself that buying something new (or at all) isn’t the only option. And I need to work on my driving habits and try to walk/combine trips as much as I can.

Some other things to consider— I would like to focus on cooking vegetarian more often, watching my water and energy consumption, and getting my bike back into use once its spring.

-Always bring reusable bags shopping, not just to the grocery store, but to other stores as well
-Buy a reusable water bottle for school/working out
-Convince my roommates to recycle more
-eat more locally grown produce

A few bad habits I’d like to correct:

- I’ve been buying bottled beverages before or after I go running. I know I’ll be thirsty, so I should bring along a reusable bottle.
- I still get disposable grocery bags, even though I own a canvas bag; I just forget to bring it.
- I don’t always consider buying used goods first, I have a tendency to buy things new even when a used option is available
- I drive places that I could walk, and don’t always consider combining errands into multiple trips

There are many more ways that I could work on this goal, but I think this is a good start.

I will stopping paper statements from all those companies who give me an option to do so.

I’ve quit using styrofoam cups at work, and I’ve started using those bags from Sobeys and Superstore so as to not use the evil plastic bags. I’m also trying to cut down on idling the car.

I’ve begun recycling, reduced water and electric use, begun eating less meat, especially red meat, am working on making my own shopping bags. I would say, while I’m far from being perfectly eco friendly, I am at least conscious.

I vow to learn more ways to take care of this planet.

And I have been doing a really good job at it too, making serious progress. It’s a multi-faceted goal for me. It’s not just about “the earth” as in the “think global act local” like with Freecycle, but micro-local. For instance, I recycled 6,720 pounds of scrap iron/tin/steel in June 2006 alone. That’s just SCRAP metal, not pricier metals like aluminum, copper, brass, etc. And at the same time, I removed that JUNK from my property – which was something I should have been working on like 7 years ago but it ended up being one of those “I’ll get around to it” things. It also helped out a lot because there’s no household income right now, hasn’t been in over a year, and it helped to pay for some things just to survive. I have another goal about “the pile” that actually falls under this goal, but “the pile” is something, truly, unto itself.

I’m not fully compatible with this goal right now, like I am still burning some iffy trash that is burnable, but I really shouldn’t because of fumes in the atmosphere and stuff. But I can’t afford to pay for community refuse removal or the local landfill (and the latter I wouldn’t anyway because I have gotten really anti-landfill) because I don’t have any money. I figure though that once I get through all of this accumulated stuff that I will be in a position to be able to fully recycle or reuse or donate or compost and I shouldn’t have any trash to be picked up anyway. I even rinse and save up tin cans for recycling. I think I’m doing pretty good.

After seeing An Inconvenient Truth last week, we’re determined to at least make our own footprint on this planet a little smaller.