The Global Footprint quiz is a fun and eye-opening exercise that roughly estimates how many planet Earths would need to exist to support everyone if they all lived like you do.
Your results break down how many global acres are needed to sustain your lifestyle and sorts your ecological footprint into a pretty, if disturbing, pie chart.
Take the quiz and then use the site’s tool to explore scenarios for reducing your footprint.
Your challenge for today, or the next time you grocery shop, is to figure out 4-5 dinners to cook for the week and make a list based on the ingredients needed. Shopping with a list of exact ingredients will reduce the amount of food you end up throwing away.
Grabbing a bunch of cilantro or a couple of leeks in case you might need them contributes to a diverse and well-stocked fridge, but may backfire if you have no need for the cilantro and leeks before they rot.
Get out those cookbooks or browse your favorite online recipes and get organized!
You know how it goes: You need two things from the grocery store a mile away, and then, in the opposite direction, a book from the library, and also a prescription from the pharmacy in the next neighborhood. All on different days.
Today’s challenge is more of this week’s challenge. Plan ahead as best you can to avoid taking several short trips for small things.
Can those two grocery items wait until you’re heading that way for something else? Can someone grab the library book on his or her commute to work? Is it possible to save your errands and run them all at once?
According to ecomodder, chaining errands, which warms up your car, is more fuel efficient than several short trips, particularly in cold weather. (The ecomodder link also includes a whole bunch of hypermiling tips you might be interested in).
This week, try to merge outings as much as you can.
Photo: Courtesy of George
Photo: Glen Scott
This one is hard for us. We love clothes and get bored easily. But we’re going to try embracing slow fashion as much as possible and hope you will, too.
Slow fashion has different meanings to different people, but in general, slow fashion is defined as buying fewer items of clothing that are better made than, say, H&M or Target items. They are manufactured more carefully, with knowledge of the supply chain. Often, these clothes are created environmentally responsibly as well, with organic or sustainable textiles.
Your challenge today is to read up on slow fashion.
NPR: Slow Fashion Shows Consumers What it’s Made of
Digiday: WTF is Slow Fashion?
Crain’s: How to Live a Slow Fashion Life
There’s always time for shoe shopping. Especially when the shoes are crafted largely, or better yet, entirely, from post-consumer recycled materials. In addition, style is a necessity. The canvassy, hempy look is fine sometimes, but we really like that these featured shoes don’t necessarily conjure the smell of patchouli.
If you’re in the market for new shoes anyway, look into cool kicks from companies that strive to make environmentally responsible footwear.
Rothy’s 3D prints its adorable flats out of recycled water bottles.
Po-Zu, a British company, uses natural fibers like spider silk, pineapple leaf fibers, and cork, among other innovative materials, to create its sole-ful shoes.
Simple shoes incorporates recycled materials in all of its shoes.
The People’s Movement, in their own words, “creates eco-hip footwear and accessories that stand for reduction of single-use plastic”.
El Naturalista manufactures some super fun shoes and their eco-innovation is admirable as well.
If you’re looking to go greener in your home, cloth napkins handily beat out paper napkins. Treehugger does a great analysis on why cloth is more environmentally friendly.
Today, if you have cloth napkins, pull them out and start using them. If you don’t yet own any, try to buy organic cotton napkins, linen (which is made from flax and doesn’t require as much energy to grow as cotton), or hemp.
Here are a few purchasing options:
Crate and Barrel Linen Napkins
Set of 4 Berry Hemp + Organic Cotton Napkins
If you’re crafty, you can also make your own napkins out of fabric scraps.
And, remember, when its time to launder those napkins, wash them in cold water.
Did you know that 85% of the energy used for washing clothes and household linens comes from heating water? That’s right. Running the actual washing machine uses only 15% (or less) of the power necessary to launder your stuff.
Terrapass says that a switch of all U.S. washers to cold water would mean a savings of about 3o million tons of CO2 a year. That’s a lot of CO2.
Some detergents (powders) don’t work as well in cold water, so check into cold water detergent. Or just make sure to use a liquid.
CNET has a cool post on how detergents work, if you’re interested.
So, that laundry you’re going to muddle through today or this weekend, wash it in cold water rather than warm or hot – it’ll save energy and prolong the life of your clothes.
Idling cars produce the same exhaust that driving cars do. If you’re stopped for more than 10 seconds (other than at a stop light or bumper-to-bumper traffic), turn off the engine. That’s right, crank that key to the left or push the button and let your motor rest. The Environmental Defense Fund says that for every 10 minutes your car is off, you prevent one pound of carbon dioxide from being released into the air.
Here’s more from EDF about idling and why it’s no good.
So, at least for today, don’t let your engine run unless absolutely necessary.
Your challenge for today is to mend an article of clothing you would have otherwise thrown out. Here’s a video tutorial that shows two different ways to mend a small t-shirt tear. This technique can be applied to similar cotton or cotton blend fabrics as well. (Be careful using a hot iron on fabrics made mostly of synthetics.)
Also, here’s a post with several tutorials for different types of stitches.
If you don’t own the supplies to mend, use this opportunity to gather them. It doesn’t cost a lot to assemble a basic sewing kit. (Add various small spools of different colors of thread to this). And then you will have it for the next time something inevitably, but not irreparably, rips.
Photo: Nic McPhee
If you live in a rural area, you’re already composting, yes? You have a pile out back of food scraps breaking down into black gold that you spread over your garden or give away to someone else. If not, please start this.
Grist.org says that food scraps and trimmings make up 26% of U.S. waste. When breaking down slowly due to lack of air, such as in a landfill, compostables also produce methane.
If you live in an urban area, composting is a bit more tricky. Happily, many cities and even a few smaller towns offer curbside compost pick up. If your municipality participates, you probably already know about it. If not, it’s worth a call to solid waste management to urge them to partake in composting.
In the mean time, you need a countertop bin –
This one, even though it’s plastic, is the best we’ve tried, and we’ve tried a lot
You can also go with stainless
A simple bowl can work fine, too.
And you need a pile in your backyard or a container in which to compost. Here’s a great tutorial on composting in an apartment or other small space.
If you’re going to make your compost outside, you can find some elaborate ideas for building compost bins out of pallets.
There are also all kinds of composters available for purchase. The only drawback to these, besides the cost, is that you’re buying something made of metal and/or plastic that will eventually end up in a landfill.
Here’s are some great tips on composting.
This might be a daunting project for some of you. So even if you can’t commit to composting right now, take a little time today to think about it. Maybe at some point you’ll have the bandwidth to make composting a reality.
This seems like a small thing, but if you are a straw-user, consider investing in stainless steel straws. They last for years, are easy to clean (especially if you also purchase a small straw brush), and have no effect on the taste of your beverage. If you really want to get serious, you can take your straw with you to coffee shops or juice bars instead of using one of the provided plastic and paper covered straws. We own the Endurance stainless straws and highly recommend them.
Shopping through Amazon Smile is a painless way to donate to your favorite environmental charity (with no cost to you). A half of a percent of your purchase will go directly to your chosen eligible 501(c)(3) organization.
First go to the secure Amazon Smile page (this is different than the regular Amazon front page). From there you can choose your charity. We donate to NRDC and The Nature Conservancy, but Sierra Club, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and many, many others are available.
To make sure all of your Amazon purchases generate income for your charity of choice, you need to bookmark the Amazon Smile page and go through that every time you shop. Don’t do what we did and order something expensive only to realize later that you could have also given a generous sum to an organization in need.
