No Impact
John and I just got back from the local screening of No Impact Man. The main idea of it was something we, of course, have pondered before. We, as a family, are becoming increasingly more conscious of our impact on the environment. It’s nice to watch movies like this one to light the fire for inspiration to keep moving forward with our goals. John and I both liked the fact that the family doing this “no impact for a year” project had a well thought out plan for things to eliminate from their lifestyle. They also took into account that giving up all these normal daily conveniences was going to be hard, to say the least. So, the family went through cycles of elimination. They started with letting go of a few things, left some time to get used to the lack of whatever it was, and then moved onto the next goal on the list. This is something we plan to do. We’ve already made strides to begin this, but I think that now we are going to be a bit more aggressive with making these changes for our family. I have a brief list of ideas that John will most likely add to and organize for us later. But, the idea is to look all of the ways we could lessen our impact, and then slowly work towards checking off all items on the list. Some things may work out, somethings may lead to even bigger goals. Who knows where we will end with this, but I am really excited to be more proactive about limiting our impact on the environment. So, here is the list I have so far:
1. Reduce Waste
- Use re-usable shopping bags
- Use loose tea as opposed to bags
- Buy local milk and re-use container (preferably glass)
- Buy snack foods and cereals from bins and use re-usable bags
- Re-use glass jars
- Make our own bread
- Use mainly produce for meals
- Buy local cheese
- Ask for re-usable glass/plate/silverware at restaurants (Snobby? I think so!)
2. Less Electricity Use
- Wash clothes by hand (in bath tub) (This won’t be the heavily soiled loads, such as dirty diapers)
- Wash clothes after a few uses as opposed to one day of wear
- Dry clothes on line outside
- Use less lights/Use more candles
- Look into occasionally eliminating our need to use the refridgerator
- TV only on in the evenings
3. Store Rain Water
4. Catch water in sinks and use for clothes washing and toilets
5. Buy only used clothing (Not very hard for thrifters like us!) or any other necessity
6. Can or Freeze vegetables from garden
7. Ride our bikes more often
8. Make safe household cleaners/personal hygeine products
- laundry soap
- dish soap- Castile Soap with Rosemary and Peppermint
- dishwasher soap
- bathroom cleaner
- floor cleaner- Vinegar and water
- shampoo / conditioner
- body soap- Castile Soap with whatever essential oil combination I’m in the mood for!
- toothpaste
4 Responses to “No Impact”
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i just ran across a tutorial on how to make your own deodorant!
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-make-your-own-deodorant.html
Sweet, we were just talking about whether we should try deodorant too. Do you guys make any of your own stuff?
This is all so inspiring to me. Have you read Sara at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly? I admire the way their family lives (not completely no impact but totally do-able for me.)
Steph
I’ll have to check that out. I’m on inspiration overload right now, actually. We just saw Food Inc. for the first time last night. WOW. I knew most of this stuff already, and we have stopped eating meat at home, but this movie really got me back to thinking even more about what we eat. And the traditional farmer in that movie was great! His point about the treatment of the animals is reflected in the food and the respect for the people that are eating this “food”.
Anyway, I’m way off topic! I wish you and your family well, too!