catherineldf | Entries tagged with greening of our lives

For previous years and things done so far, checkout last year’s post.

Since last Earth Day:

We’re down to one car. Due to family health problems, mind you, but less driving and maintenance and all.
More walking - we still don’t have direct bus service running past our house and I’m working from home so this has been the best option.
Joined the neighborhood Buy Nothing group which collects items for shelters, etc., as well as exchanging items within our community. Lots of targeted giving going on here and I’m really enjoying it.
The side lawn is getting covered in milkweed and clover. Putting down a bunch of wildflowers and more clover this year. We’re seeing more pollinators and watering and mowing less. Most of the watering comes from our rain barrel.
Doing better on meal planning and reducing food waste. We compost, in any case, but wanted to be more conscious about it as well as saving some money.
House remodel/new furnace/more insulation continues to pay off in smaller bills and a smaller footprint.
Looking at more ways to reduce plastic waste where feasible. This is a combination of using less to begin with (using reusables instead of single use, compostables, etc.) as well as trying to be creative about recycling and reusing. This is an area where participating in Buy Nothing is very helpful. For example, we save our plastic egg cartons to give to the food shelf, reuse cat food containers for storing grit which we use instead of ice melt or salt, give neighbors small containers for their projects, etc. Bamboo toothbrushes didn't work well for us, so I've switched us to Preserve ones, which are made from recycled plastic and can be returned to the company when used up for more recycling.
Evaluating items in terms or reusability. For instance, I save the boxes that book orders come in and rather than breaking them down, pull the labels off and give them to neighbors who are moving or who need more storage.
Prioritize purchases from entities that are locally owned and/or are as socially and environmentally useful as possible. I generally look for B Corps when we need to buy things and after the Amy’s Kitchen fiasco, try and check them out where possible. Examples include things like getting a bamboo riser and organizer for my laptop from Fully and getting a set up for storing puzzles in progress from Uncommon Goods. Local purchases include things like buying at the farmer’s markets, buying soap from local soap makers, etc. We don’t shop at the Big A at all, at this point in time.
I’ve traditionally done carbon offsets when the budget permitted but am pivoting to supporting more local organic and small scale projects. Examples include Renewing the Countryside (https://www.renewingthecountryside.org/projects) which works with farmers to get environmental easements and assists women starting small farms and the Mill City Farmers Fund, which gives grants to their participating vendors to install solar-powered greenhouses and buy refurbished farm equipment. Also looking at projects that are more water-focused and support indigenous people fighting or recovering from pipeline projects, etc. Examples here include Honor the Earth, Water Legacy and Friends of the Boundary Waters and Friends of the Mississippi.
Some things I forgot: began making my own goat's milk yogurt to cut costs and use less plastic; got a nonelectric food dehydrator to dry more of our own herbs, fruit, etc.; added wool dryer balls (they do reduce wrinkles and wry time) to our washing regime; started using refillable pens made by a local artist instead of plastic throwaways; and note re: the cats, who get a complicated diet due to food allergies - recycled plastic litter boxes, locally processed meat and we use World's Best Cat Littler (made from corn and is low dust because they have some respiratory issues).
Goals for next year? I dunno, survival? Keep looking for more things that help and don’t discount small changes on the household front. If we get very flush, look at getting a tankless water heater and an energy-efficient convection stove. Looking at green cremation options as well for end of life planning. And we’ll see. Get out there literally or figuratively and do what you can do! You can start small and build on that.

My standard intro: a couple of years ago, I started an annual Earth Day post on things we were doing to make our household greener. Previous posts: 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Some of these things may be useful to you and yours if you're looking to tread a little lighter on our poor planet. I also do it for me since it's a way to remind myself of what we've done so far and what I'd like us to tackle next.

It is worth noting that we've spent years on this, making a few changes every year. My goal has been to add a few new things every year, which we are on track for. I will also note that most things on my list have had a direct cost savings in the longer term, particularly the ones with start up costs. But there are also things we can't do because of finances or the state of our yard and so forth, such as growing all our own veggies (we manage some) and there are things that stay in the planning stages for years at a time while I figure out budgeting and so forth. We also own our own home in a very urban environment in a city which supports a lot of green programs and I've done quite a bit of research and planning on all of this to approach it holistically. I recommend Green America as a good resource for tackling environmental impacts from one social justice perspective.

What we've done so far:

Switched to reusables: lunch bags, dish towels, handkerchiefs, cups, straws, traveling utensils, grocery bags, yard waste containers, etc.
Switched to recycled/refurbished: all paper products, aluminum foil, electronics where feasible (refurbished iPads, router, etc.), some furniture, some clothes, plastic containers, food packages, garbage bags, etc.
Other things we reuse: wash and reuse plastic bags, recycle magazines and single use containers for art projects, buy bulk and reuse single use containers for storage.
Basic house greening: swapping out light bulbs to LEDs, additional insulation, improved windows, green cleaners, green care products, biodegradable cat litter, energy efficient appliances, solar fan in the attic to keep the house cooler in summer, water barrel, yard waste compost, city compost, city recycling, new plumbing with water efficient shower head, toilet and faucets, yard is completely organic and planted with pollinator-friendly plants, electric mower, we use grit to deice and our house is powered by 100% wind power through our utility.
Additional stuff: Committed to buying the bulk of our groceries at the local coops and farmer's markets.

In addition, we look for reuse and donation opportunities for everything we want to get rid of that's usable: clothes go to clothing swaps as well as donation bins, books go to libraries and benefit auctions, jewelry to benefit auctions, reusable computing equipment to organizations that refurb and donate it, etc. At this point, we compost and recycle much more than we throw out.
Committed to not driving anywhere a few days out of the month and carpooling more and taking public transportation when we can. Biking is not a option for us physically or scheduling-wise and we still need two cars for the moment, but I hope to go down to one car and car sharing in the future and we do walk a fair amount.
Meat free meals and days multiple times a week
Carbon offsets, particularly for plane flights and longer road trips. Offset programs that I like: Nature Conservancy, MN Tree Trust, Cool Effect, Million Metres Stream Project (if we travel outside the U.S., I look for local organizations to donate to).
Use CREDO Mobile for my cell phone as a much greener alternative to other companies
Investments - I screen out oil companies and other big polluters from my 401K, have my mutual fund holdings with Pax World Funds and own small amounts of stock in our local coop and in Terracycle.
Switched out my credit cards to cards with B-corp banks or credit unions. Regular accounts are at a local credit union.

What we've done since last Earth Day:

Well, we've certainly been driving and flying a whole lot less.
Had the attic refinished, including full insulation. Between that and replacing our ancient furnace with an energy efficient one, we've cut our natural gas usage by 35-40%.
Replaced the A/C with an energy efficient one (windpowered!)
Began converting the remaining lawn to clover - pollinators love it!
Growing some food, including getting a couple of mushroom logs, planting chard, cultivating raspberries and planting a service berry bush in the front yard.
Started using Ecosia as a search engine, when feasible. This is a German B Corp that plants trees when you do searches - they work with a bunch of international nonprofits, including the Jane Goodall Institute.
Switched out dental floss to refillables/recyclables, switched out my replaceable head toothbrush with a bamboo-handled one, switched to a metal razor with replaceable blades and switched out our plastic water filters for a Kishu Charcoal refillable metal one with compostable fill (the water does actually taste better).
Continued working on reducing our food waste, which is now at an all time low since I'm home all the time to cook.
Put more effort into buying our clothes from green and Fair Trade companies; we always did some, but are doing more now.

Next up:

We've done more takeout with plastic than I'm happy with so hoping to make some changes there while supporting out local restaurants. Many of the places we order from provide compostable or recyclable packaging, so it could be worse, but damn, that's a lot of forks at a certain point.
Finish replacing the lawn with clover (we're already down to mowing every 3 weeks or so and need to do almost no watering, apart from the rain barrel).
I was using public transportation more, pre-plague, so hoping to get back into that, more walking, car pooling, etc.
Look for more options to reduce our gas usage and possibly get a bidet.

Other things as I discover them.
And that's it for now. Feel free to share the things that you're trying or any questions you have about what we're doing.

Because we have traditions, dammit.
My standard intro: a couple of years ago, I started an annual Earth Day post on things we were doing to make our household greener. Previous posts: 2019 2018 2017 2016

Some of these things may be useful to you and yours if you're looking to tread a little lighter on our poor planet. I also do it for me since it's a way to remind myself of what we've done so far and what I'd like us to tackle next.

It is worth noting that we've spent years on this, making a few changes every year. My goal has been to add a few new things every year, which we are on track for. I will also note that most things on my list have had a direct cost savings in the longer term, particularly the ones with start up costs. But there are also things we can't do because of finances or the state of our yard and so forth, such as growing a lot our own veggies and there are things that stay in the planning stages for years at a time while I figure out budgeting. We also own our own home in a very urban environment in a city which supports a lot of green programs and I've done quite a bit of research and planning on all of this to approach it holistically. I recommend Green America as a good resource for tackling environmental impacts from a social justice perspective. And, of course, some of these things are on hold, given current conditions.

What we've done so far:

Switched to reusables: lunch bags, dish towels, handkerchiefs, cups, straws, traveling utensils, grocery bags, yard waste containers, etc.
Switched to recycled/refurbished: all paper products, aluminum foil, electronics where feasible (refurbished iPads, etc.), some furniture, some clothes, plastic containers, food packages, garbage bags, etc.
Other things we reuse: wash and reuse plastic bags, recycle magazines and single use containers for art projects, buy bulk and reuse single use containers for storage.
Basic house greening: swapping out light bulbs to LEDs, additional insulation, improved windows, green cleaners, green care products, biodegradable cat litter, energy efficient appliances, solar fan in the attic to keep the house cooler in summer, water barrel, yard waste compost, city compost, city recycling, plumbing with water efficient shower head and water efficient toilet and faucets, yard is completely organic and planted with pollinator-friendly and native plants, we use an electric mower, we use grit to de-ice and our house is powered by 100% wind power through our utility.
Additional stuff: Committed to buying the bulk of our groceries at the local coops and farmer's markets.

In addition, we look for reuse and donation opportunities for everything we want to get rid of that's usable: clothes go to clothing swaps as well as donation bins, books go to libraries and benefit auctions, jewelry to benefit auctions, reusable computing equipment to organizations that refurb and donate it, etc. At this point, we compost and recycle much more than we throw out.
Committed to not driving anywhere a few days out of the month and carpooling more and taking public transportation when we can. Biking is not a option for us physically or scheduling-wise and we still need two cars for the moment, but I hope to go down to one car and car sharing in the future and we do walk a fair amount.
Meat free meals and days multiple times a week
Carbon offsets, particularly for plane flights and longer road trips. Offset programs that I like: Nature Conservancy, Friends of the MIssissippi, Cool Effect, Million Metres Stream Project (if we travel outside the U.S., I look for local organizations to donate to). I have traditionally donated to Tree Trust, but they ae now self-sustaining through their various programs.
Use CREDO Mobile for my cell phone as a much greener alternative to other companies
Investments - I screen out oil companies and other big polluters from my 401K, have my mutual fund holdings with Pax World Funds and own small amounts of stock in our local coop and in Terracycle.
Switched out my credit cards to cards with B-corp banks or credit unions. Regular accounts are at a local credit union.
Scrap metal recycling and rag recycling, as well as getting a paper shredder so we can recycle more paper.
Doubled down on cutting our food waste with more meal planning, more freezing of leftovers and more focus on making sure leftovers get eaten by incorporating them into other meals and so forth.
Vote.

What we've done since last Earth Day:

Had a new energy efficient furnace and central air installed last summer. This is already reducing our electric bills and we're starting to see a reduction on gas too.
Redoing the attic (finally!) - happening right now, as a matter of fact. Between this and the furnace, we should be able to cut our house's carbon footprint by at least 50%.
Digging up more of the lawn and replacing it with native plants and clover. I'm thatching and seeding now.
Started growing a tiny bit of our own veggies and fruit.
Started using wool dryer balls with each load and are seeing a reduction in dry time (we didn't use fabric sheets to begin with, so no change there).
I changed jobs so I was taking the train and bus to work a couple of times a week before the state shutdown kicked in. Now going on to month 2 of working from home with only one car available, so driving a lot less. I will eventually be switching back to alternating public transit and driving when I have to return to the office.
Started bringing reusable straws and containers for leftovers when I eat out.
Swapped out our single use plastic water filters for refillable Kishu Charcoal ones. Gotta say, the water tastes better!
Vote.

Planned for this next year, in addition to above:

Less driving and air travel (not entirely voluntarily, but so it goes).
Keep working on reducing the amount of single use plastic that we use by switching to refillables, compostables, plastic-free packaging and reusables.
Look at installing a bidet.
Look into tankless water heaters. We couldn't install one before because of how our basement was piped, but that's been changed with the new furnace.
Vote.

Other things as I discover them.
And that's it for now. Feel free to share the things that you're trying or any questions you have about what we're doing.