Sometime during the last two years our "green" behaviors have greatly reduced. Sure we're still doing some green things:
-We're enrolled in renewable energy options for our electricity sources
-We mainly buy organic dairy products
-Most frequently my personal care products are safer alternatives (Burts Bees & Alima make-up)
-Our recycling bin is frequently more full than the trash
-Hub canned his own salsa and we've made a few soups from scratch
-We planted & harvested from our raised beds this summer
-We bought the chickens to hopefully have good eggs
-Kitchen scraps go in the compost bin
-We switched to a HE front loading washer & eco detergent
-We buy about 1/5 of our food & home products in bulk
-The heat is set at 62 at night and no more than 64 during the day if we're home
....and I'm sure I could list a few others
However I/we have gotten out of the habit of a few things like:
-Cleaning with non-toxic products
-Using reusable tote bags rather than plastic
-Only using safer alternative personal care products
-Choosing second-hand rather than brand new
-Driving less
-Buying less
-Using less disposables (ziplocs, razors, paper towels, etc)
-Using less plastic everything
.....and I'm sure I could list a few others
Now I can't remember which blog it was where I saw the idea, but somewhere in the enviro blog-o-sphere someone wrote about the idea of trying to embrace a new "green" change for an entire month in the coming year. One change each month for the twelve months. You could continue that change beyond the month or you could just move on to a different one. I thought it might be a good idea (especially to try to re-embrace some of the behaviors that we already know are better) so I approached hub with the idea, and we've decided we're going to give it a try. I'm not entirely sure how it will work, but hopefully it'll help push us back into the right direction.
We haven't exactly laid out any plan, but the month of January is supposed to be "Only Buy Used" except for food & personal care products. The month of February is supposed to be "Buy Nothing Extra." And so far, that's as far as we've gotten.....but I did happen to pull out my reusable shopping bag for my grocery run last night, so hopefully that'll be one of the months too.
We'll see how it goes, but hopefully we'll stick with it and get back into some of our healthier and greener behavior patterns!
-We're enrolled in renewable energy options for our electricity sources
-We mainly buy organic dairy products
-Most frequently my personal care products are safer alternatives (Burts Bees & Alima make-up)
-Our recycling bin is frequently more full than the trash
-Hub canned his own salsa and we've made a few soups from scratch
-We planted & harvested from our raised beds this summer
-We bought the chickens to hopefully have good eggs
-Kitchen scraps go in the compost bin
-We switched to a HE front loading washer & eco detergent
-We buy about 1/5 of our food & home products in bulk
-The heat is set at 62 at night and no more than 64 during the day if we're home
....and I'm sure I could list a few others
However I/we have gotten out of the habit of a few things like:
-Cleaning with non-toxic products
-Using reusable tote bags rather than plastic
-Only using safer alternative personal care products
-Choosing second-hand rather than brand new
-Driving less
-Buying less
-Using less disposables (ziplocs, razors, paper towels, etc)
-Using less plastic everything
.....and I'm sure I could list a few others
Now I can't remember which blog it was where I saw the idea, but somewhere in the enviro blog-o-sphere someone wrote about the idea of trying to embrace a new "green" change for an entire month in the coming year. One change each month for the twelve months. You could continue that change beyond the month or you could just move on to a different one. I thought it might be a good idea (especially to try to re-embrace some of the behaviors that we already know are better) so I approached hub with the idea, and we've decided we're going to give it a try. I'm not entirely sure how it will work, but hopefully it'll help push us back into the right direction.
We haven't exactly laid out any plan, but the month of January is supposed to be "Only Buy Used" except for food & personal care products. The month of February is supposed to be "Buy Nothing Extra." And so far, that's as far as we've gotten.....but I did happen to pull out my reusable shopping bag for my grocery run last night, so hopefully that'll be one of the months too.
We'll see how it goes, but hopefully we'll stick with it and get back into some of our healthier and greener behavior patterns!
1 comment:
I think that this is a great idea! I am looking forward to seeing how it goes for you. If you find the blog again that you got this idea from, can you post it? We are working on greening up our lives some more as well. During the holidays everything seems to go backwards for us. I think mainly out of convenience, unfortunately.
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