Photo Credit: Flickr/Frank Kehren
Here we are preparing for days three and four of the No Impact Challenge, the days of no impact transportation and less impact food. I say less impact food, because you can really make yourself crazy with trying to eat without making an impact at all. But a little planning and preparation should make these days less daunting:
Transportation -If you think about it, cars have expanded our world. Gas-propelled transportation has made it possible to easily get to places that would take hours or days to travel by foot to travel to. But, our earth cannot support the space, resources and air quality that cars require if we were all to drive all the time. So let's challenge ourselves to no cars this week!
Start this part of the challenge by really thinking about where you need to go this week. Make a list of your planned outings for the week and see how you can avoid using your car to get to where you need to go. Try active transportation as your first choice: walking, biking, skateboarding, scooter-ing, pogo-sticking, cart wheeling. You get the idea. Are there any of your planned trips that you can self-propel to? Active transportation is great because it uses no fossil fuels and contributes nothing to climate change. Plus, it doubles as your exercise which helps you feel good and stay fit.
Okay, I admit, some of our destinations are too far to self-propel to. I am not at a fitness level that would allow me to bike the fifteen miles to work. So I need to have another viable way to get to the office. Enter public transportation. Even though the bus system is powered by fuel, it is still better for the environment since the people riding the bus are not driving individual cars.
If you find your week is taking you places that are not easily accessible by bus, use your car sparingly. Make one round of errands rather than several mini-trips so that you are making the most of your car time. Also, avoid peak traffic times if possible and by all means, do your best to avoid idling situations. I know for me, spending less time in my car makes me very happy. Start thinking about how your transportation can be modified for no impact week and beyond. How can you change things up so that you are still getting around efficiently as well as becoming happier and healthier in the process?
Food -Many of you, like myself, lead busy lives and food is sometimes an afterthought. But let me tell you, conquering this challenge may be one of the most rewarding not only for the environment, but also for your health and your happiness. The No Impact Challenge is as much about taking care of ourselves as it is about taking care of the planet and this part of the challenge is asking you to eat as locally and sustainably as possible. How can we change our relationship with our food and be better stewards of the environment and our own bodies?
Since we have already committed to not producing garbage, you may not have realized but we have also committed to stop buying fast food. It's not very good for you anyway so let's do our best to cut that habit. And let's face it, so not local.
Another not local - packaged food. Think about all of the boxes, bags, and cans on the inner isles of the grocery store, where all of the processed food lives. Are there ways you can avoid those foods and use fresh items instead? Look closely at your grocery cart and consider all of all the packaging for fresh or perishable items: plastic wrap, plastic tubs, Styrofoam trays, plastic bags. Try to buy the items with the least amount of packaging as possible. Bring your own produce bags for fruits and veggies, and bring containers to buy bulk foods in.
Once you get used to shopping this way, try expanding your challenge to the 250 rule: only buy food that was grown within 250 miles of your home. Start by figuring out just what that means and how you will adhere to it. If I follow this rule, I may never eat an avocado again and I don't think I could do that! But it does make me aware that I should buy the California avocado instead of the one grown in Chile and trucked up here.
So now what? We have eliminated almost everything that we are accustomed to eating! What is left behind is local and seasonal ingredients that you can use to make your own food. From scratch. Yes, it will take some planning and investigating, but it will also be amazing! You control the ingredients and therefore the nutritional content of what you are cooking. Remember that all that stuff on the grocery shelves have salt, sugar, fat and chemicals used to preserve them for longer life in the store.
Visit www.noimpactproject.org to sign up for the challenge that starts on September 18th. And click here for my tips on how to negotiate days one and two.
Eco Home Consultations provides green living consultation services to households in the Seattle area. Learn more at www.ecohomeconsults.com;or email questions about this blog or other green living issues to Melissa@ecohomeconsults.com
Comments
Leave a comment