Low Impact Reflections IV

What did I like best about Low Impact Week? Throughout the world are bells, of one sort or another. They ring out daily calling the masses together. Like waves, spreading out catching ears and bringing in citizens to worship or gather; to learn and lead. Like these bells I felt a calling to come and join in Low Impact Week. I wanted to join in the gathering, I wanted to learn from you and I wanted to share with you. This is what I liked best about Low Impact Week; YOU. because of this project I linked over other sites and read about your challenges. I learned about your experiences and your failings, and in that I was able to accept mine. Of course I enjoyed the challenge of trying new things, and by in large most of the things that I tried out during last week I will continue to practice regularly. But without a doubt I liked the sharing and the community of change that we all became a part of. I believe that this type of community will be the catalyst to spread, by example, the word about these kind of changes. They're not that hard, but I think people get scared, or feel overwhelmed. Being a part of a community and having people that have either tried something already, or that are doing it for the first time with you will make it so much easier for people to want to try at all.
I congratulate everyone that took part in this challenge, to whatever degree, and thank those that supported us, whether they participated or not. Can't wait to see what you have for us next Crunchy.
P~

Low Impact Reflections III

Well today is the last day of Low Impact Week. Crunchy Chicken posted a Wrap-up post with a poll question (She is fond of those isn't she?) and I see that I fall into the greater bulk of people out there that were participating.

~I'm really happy with what I accomplished even though I didn't get everything done that I wanted.

I shouldn't even say that I did't get done everything, because to some degree I did, as least on the majority of my goals. I guess more than anything I just didn't get them done as well as I had hoped.
Let's run down the list shall we?

Unplugging appliances when not in use. TVs, Computer, Radios, Printer.
This one was my major busts. I didn't have the time or $$ to get the power strips that I had wanted too. Since all of my major appliances are very difficult to get to the plugs on. I am deferring on this till a later date. It is still very much something I want to focus on.

I will decide to not watch television for that week. I certainly have enough reading to catch up on.
I did my best on this one. I did not sit down to watch any shows, and when others in the house were, I occupied myself otherwise. This in particular made me realize just how conditioned I am to veg out. I mean I really had to make a concerted effort to not look. It shouldn't be that hard should it? As a family we did make some decisions that will impact this area for the foreseeable future though. We reduced by 1/3 our televisions, and reduced by 2/3 our TV service. (We wanted to cancel it completely, and just have the local channels, but I agreed to use the service for two years, and that time is not up yet. NEVER agree to any service lengths, I have learned my lesson. If they want my $$ it's on my terms!) We also spent a lot more time in the yard together, playing games or whatever. I am going to make a concerted effort to continue this.

Turn off water when brushing teeth, and/or shaving.
I did 100% on this one. I had begun to do this prior to LIW and will continue this forever.

No take out food, and no restaurants.
Did fairly well on this on, although when the wife got sick, and I worked later than expected, I did pick up some takeout once. Not much more to say about that.

I will eat as much as possible from my home grown foods, and choose locally produced foods whenever available.
I wasn't able to get anything from farmers markets or even the local private owned grocery that was local. Although, I did some serious research on the topic and was able to find a CSA that I plan to buy a share in next spring, as well as a local grass-fed cattle operation that I want to visit and will probably begin to buy from. I was able to eat something from my garden almost every day, and even managed to forage some wild asparagus one day for an extra special treat.

I will use a washable towel for hand washing and cleaning both at home and at work.
I did do this. It was not 100%, but was darn close. I found that I actually liked useing a cloth towel much more than a paper one anyway; they dry so much better. I am going to work at increasing my collection of cloths for this purpose and see if I can convert my kids to it as well, they are my big paper towel junkies. I do have to say with great pride though that the little guys have been very dilligent in making sure that all the paper towels that they do use, have been getting into the special bag for the compost pile "browns".

I will not drive to work. (This is my biggie.) I will instead use pedal power.
I did this, 4 of 7 days. Not bad, but not 100% either. The weather turned bad this week, and when it turns bad here in the spring it ain't light showers, it's thunder and 60mph sustained winds. I know I know what a wuss huh? I have to say that I really grew to like riding to work; I really began to feel more tied to the community. As a side note to this, the family and I began a routine of riding every night together. We were able to find some new parks that we hadn't been to, talked to some neighbors, and had a great time together. We also got a hold of a second hand bike trailer that will shortly be converted to a grocery getter / picnic gear toter. This will be the summer of the bike for us for sure!

I have a compost bin, but I will make a bigger one from recyled materials, and will compost as much of my household waste as possible.
I got the composter built, but have not migrated my compost over to it yet; again, weather impeded. I did however as mentioned above with the p-towels collect as much of our compostable household items as possible and integrate them into my composter. I actually expanded on this by collecting coffee grounds, filters, banana peels, paper towels, etc from my office as well. The compost is cooking along well, and I hope to have a finished batch very soon.

I will use organic and/or homemade cleaners to do all of my household cleaning and washing. (This is a change that our household plans to make on a permanent basis.)
I did use homemade household cleaners, and my wife A~ began to use organic soaps in the laundry as well. I loved the feeling of knowing my family and I could breath the cleaners and not get sick from them, and A~ actually told me she was swearing off bleach after seeing how well the A&H Super Washing Powder worked. We made cleaners from vinegar and lemon juice with a couple of drops of citrus essence for scent and added a couple of drops of teatree oil as an antiseptic and were very happy with it. This is definitely a change that is here to stay.

I guess I would have to say that over all Low Impact week was a success for me. I feel like it really gave me a chance to think and re-evaluate the way that I do things on a day to day basis. I have to say thank you to Crunchy Chicken for the idea, and to everyone else that was participating. I agree with CC that we should continue the dialogue and fellowship that we've built through this project. I didn't have a lot of comments, though the ones I had were great and much appreciated; I did notice a lot of new visitors lurking about though and would like to welcome them and invite them to get involved, post a question or comment, and give some of the things that we have all been talking about a try.
Namaste all.
P~

Low Impact Reflections II

Well, some good news and some not so good news. First the not so good. One of my goals was to unplug our appliances (tv, computer, vcrs, etc.) when not using them. I have not done this at all. Hey, I'm just being honest with you. I never did get a chance to get some power strips, and most of my things are in cabinets that make it very difficult to get to. I know excuses, excuses. My wife and I still want to get to this point; actually, it's something that she first mentioned to me. The other thing that I have not done terrible well at, or terribly bad at for that matter has been the television watching. I have not been watching it, per se, but for instance, in the mornings, my kids are watching cartoons, and I catch a glance without thinking about it (Yeah, I love cartoons, I just have to admit it.) and at night my wife watches television in bed while going to sleep. Try as I might, it's darned hard to lay in a bed and not watch it.
On the up side of this, we did call and reduce our Direct TV package by half down to the bear minimum programming, and cancelled TIVO service, (For the summer mind you, I've been warned about taking it away forever.) as well as dropping the extra receiver that we rarely use, yet pay for to put in the home theater. We, my wife and I that is, have been really good this week about doing other things with the kids. For intance, playing a new dominoes game that I got from my parents for my birthday. Thanks for that by the way guys, what a fun game! Also, every night we have been taking a bikeride for I'd guess a mile or two with our kids. They all get to take turns "leading" us around our community and we talk and enjoy the perfect late spring evenings; so far we've found a new park, criused the grounds of the Jr. High school that our oldest will go to next year, and found the ultimate stash of wild Asparagus growing along the irrigation ditches near the new park. (Watch for a post on that one, what a find! I'll document it soon, and try out some to tell you how it tastes.)

The good news, is the my sweet darling wife informed me that I could officially claim to have inspired her. She told me on Friday that she decided that it would be a great idea to take rides every couple of days with the kids to the Local stores for our grocery shopping. I, however, would need to either make her a trailer or get her one so that she could get the stuff back to the house. We sent that wish out to the universe, and the powers that be put us in touch with a very good condition duo seat child carrier trailer for $35.00 as a second hand store. a couple of dollars worth of parts and I should be able to rig up a connector for the bike. (Again, watch for an update to this.) All in all, this has been a great weekend. I can't say that I've been able to meet all of my goals, but I feel pretty good about the progress that I've made so far.

baby steps, baby steps; we walk before we run!

P~

Low Impact reflections

Well, Day two down and I have a few reflections to share with you.
As I said before, I had begun to ride to work a couple of days before the LIW began. Friday I took it to a new level. I needed to run some errands after work, stop by a junk yard to check on something I thought I saw while driving by and stop at the local farmers supply store to pick up some hardware to finish my composter with this weekend. Anyway, I decided that since I'm trying to conserve gas, and I could make these places be on the way home if I took a little bit longer path home so I did. I guess it turned my 5.5 mile trip home into more like 8 miles, but a lot of it was down hill and I felt great doing it. I've begun to notice a lot of different things while riding around. For instance, I see the same guy every morning standing at the bus stop out on main street; now he waves to me and I to him. Yesterday while taking the long way home, I crossed over one of our irrigation canals and watched 6 or 7 barely hatched ducklings cruising along behind momma, something that I would have blown by during my daily driving. I feel a little more connected to my community this way I guess. I see people, even the ones in cars because I make eye contact with them when they are getting ready to turn. I catch the smell of the farmers harvesting early hay, and share a wave with other bikers as we pass.
As for some of my other goals; I think I've done pretty well so far on most things. I brought a small hand towel to work to use rather than using the paper towels, but both times I went to the bathroom I forgot it so I had to walk back with wet hands and dry them back in my office. I didn't cave and cheat though. On a side note, for the last couple of weeks I have been using a separate bag at work for all of the paper towels that I use there. I bring them home periodically to throw in my compost pile since I don't really have any "browns" to add but am "green" rich. I have been doing the same with p. towels from home as well. This works great by the way, and I can't believe how much longer it takes to fill a trash bag without p. towels. I have also been collecting our used coffee filters in an old coffee can at work and toted them home on Fri. to add to the pile.
My family and I went out for a movie that we had had planned for a couple of weeks, (Can't pass up free tickets to Pirates of the Carribean) and I passed on lunch when everyone else grabbed a quik bite after the movie. I was hungry, don't be mistaken. But one of my goals was no restaurants, so I passed.
I've had some other things that I've noticed so far, but I think I'll let them develop a little more before I share them.
I hope everyone's having a good experience with this so far.
P~

Low Impact Week

Today begins Low Impact week. I posted my goals some time ago and although I haven’t gotten everything set the way that I had hoped to, I feel as ready as ever. I have been able to ride to work and back at least 3 times so I know I can do it. I’ve already started to cut down on the television watching. (Just for the record, I will still watch a movie with my family this week if we decide to but not by myself; I don’t think it is right to isolate from my family in order to reduce my impact). I have actually started to turn off water while brushing and shaving, and have begun to use the organic cleaners that I mentioned.
I think that my biggest difficulties will be with unplugging the appliances and eating locally. My garden has not yet begun to yield much more than a little spinach and some strawberries and rhubarb and I wasn't able to get the appliances set up for easy access to the plugs. I'll do my best though.

I will blog over the next week about my experiences with all of this and I hope to hear from any of you that are participating as well. I’ve noticed that the list of participants has grown quite a bit over at Crunchy Chicken.
Have fun everyone.
P~

Low Impact Week Goals

Crunchy Chicken posted some great ideas over on the main Low Impact Week section of her blog. Many of these we already do around our home, I won't go into them in much detail because I see this challenge as being about what new things we can do to conserve and reduce our impact; suffice it to say that we do at least some of the ideas in all of her suggestion sections. I personally have come up with what I think are reasonable next steps for myself, and that I will be focusing on for that week. They are as follows:

1. Unplugging appliances when not in use. TVs, Computer, Radios, Printer.
2. I will decide to not watch television for that week. I certainly have enough reading to catch up on.
3. Turn off water when brushing teeth, and/or shaving.
4. No take out food, and no restaurants.
5. I will eat as much as possible from my home grown foods, and choose locally produced foods whenever available.
6. I will use a washable towel for hand washing and cleaning both at home and at work.
7. I will not drive to work. (This is my biggie.) I will instead use pedal power.
8. I have a compost bin, but I will make a bigger one from recyled materials, and will compost as much of my household waste as possible.
9. I will use organic and/or homemade cleaners to do all of my household cleaning and washing. (This is a change that our household plans to make on a permanent basis.)

This is the list I have come up with. I think it includes a fairly well rounded grouping of tasks from all areas. I will commit to these for the duration of the Low Impact Week and will keep you updated on my progress and impressions of each of them. In the coming weeks I will prepare for these actions by assesing what needs I will have during that time to make sure that I am successful. Some actions like number 9 I will begin to phase into as our current cleaners are expended so I may actually begin prior to the Low Impact Week start.

If anyone reading this plans to participate in this challenge, I encourage you to either post your action items in the comments here or at Crunchy Chickens blog, and look forward to participating with you.

Low Impact Week

Crunchy Chicken, as inspired by converstion over at No Impact Man, has come up with a great idea, Low Impact week. I fully support this idea, and to one degree or another I will be participating in the challenge. This whole idea I think goes right along with the way I believe that environmental impact should be addressed. It should be a personal matter. Not to say that we shouldn't talk about or raise awareness of it, or what would I be writing about most of the time? But I believe firmly in personal responsibility, and in our own personal journey to find our stride and live deliberately. I encourage any of you reading this to give it a look see, and set a goal for yourselves... I mean it is only a week right? I will post my goals soon, and see what I can do to prepare.
P~