No Impact Week

A couple weeks ago, Seth and I watched the documentary about No Impact Man. (If you've never heard of him, he attempted to live one year without making any impact on the environment while living in New York City... This meant buying nothing new, eventually no electricity, creating no trash, etc.) The documentary made me start thinking about the things I do and what I consume. I would say I try to be a fairly responsible and conscious person when it comes to the environment... Even though, I'm aware that there is more I can do.

A couple weeks ago, my sister-in-law mentioned No Impact Week, which started this Sunday and will go through next Sunday. Having just watched the documentary, I was inspired to look into a little more and see if Seth and I could somehow find a way to have our own sort of No Impact Week.

Although we aren't going to the extremes of No Impact Man, obviously I'm on the computer right now, we are trying to make some changes for the week and hoping that some of them will continue and become new habits. I thought I'd share a few notes about what we have done so far and also what other goals we have. We made our goals with the help of the pdf document they provided with suggestions and tips for each day.

Sunday - The focus was consumption and putting an end to it. Some of this is probably already taken care of, because often times, I get my clothes from the cool thrift stores here in the city. I also try to borrow books from the library or from friends, or I enjoy the finds from the neighborhood stoops. This does make me more conscious of this aspect of my life, and I will continue to find alternatives to buying new. (I follow freecycle and at times find items I'm looking for on there...)

Monday - The focus was trash and trying to create none of it. Seth and I have created trash, but it has been interesting as we have attempted not to the last few days. We've been reflective over the trash that we've created, and I've also shared ways that I've attempted to create less trash... For example, at work I LOVE LOVE LOVE to use sticky notes. In attempt to create less trash and not use sticky notes, I've started reusing paper. I took the stack of paper I've collected and cut it into smaller pieces, stapled it together and use those scraps instead of sticky notes. I've also realized that I often have scraps from food and maybe it would be a good time to look into composting. (This has been in the back of my head for a while, and now I'm setting a deadline that by July we'll have a compost set up...)

Tuesday - The focus is transportation. Seth and I do not own a car and haven't for almost 2 years. We take public transportation as our form of transportation. It would be nice if we could get bikes and bike places instead of using public transit, but with our current living situation, we cannot do that. When the weather is nice, we do try to scoot and skateboard places, but there isn't much else, at this point in our lives that we can really change when it comes to transportation. I do know that, from where I stand right now, I'd love to Never own a car again! (But this probably depends on living situation.)

There are also a few other parts that have not come up yet, but we've already started being more conscious of them: our use of electricity and our use of water. Is anyone else participating in No Impact Week???