There's a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read through it ... however, if you don't have the time right now, you might find the following quick links helpful:
Last week we conducted a waste audit in our homes. I believe that this is one of those activities which should be revisited from time to time because waste seems to sneak into our lives. Perhaps we toss a piece of paper into the trash bin instead of recycling it ... or maybe we pour melted ice down the drain instead of using it to water a thirsty plant. Every time that we leave our computers running all night, let food go bad in the refrigerator or even use incandescent light bulbs ... we are wasting. So doing an honest audit raises our awareness ... and that's always the first step in making positive changes.
The Honor Society are those people who help us spread the "green" word by writing an article about our challenges and/or leaving pertinent comments. Here's what they had to say:
Mrs. Green is a Zero Waste Superstar ... so when she completed an audit, did she find any areas for improvement? Find out HERE. On our previous challenge about plastic wrap, Mrs. Green talks about safe food storage in this POST ... can you guess what types of containers she uses?
Here's what Alicia had to say about our waste audit: " I went to the How To Reduce Your Household Waste post and was really happy to see that we are doing a lot of "right" things. We use CFL bulbs and replace our filters often,we insulate our water pipes and adjust our thermostat. We use a bucket when washing our cars and only turn the water on to rinse we also replaced all of the shower heads in each bathroom. The ones we installed not only conserve water but filter out chlorine as well which when chlorine and hot water mix it causes a very bad gas that is really harmful to breathe. I turn the water off when brushing my teeth but my husband is having to work on this one. We also need to work on using more rechargeable batteries. Even though I don't have to buy many batteries they haven't been the rechargeable ones.All in all I think we are doing pretty well but this has helped me see where we can improve in certain areas. Thanks."
In Change the World Wednesday – 18th July Argentum Vulgaris accepts the challenge. I can't wait for the results! Stay tuned ...
EcoGrrl, who suggested this challenge, did an audit. Here's how it turned out: " As I get garbage pickup only once a month with a small garbage can, I'm in a real test situation now to see how well my tenants do, as I'm renting out both extra bedrooms in my home now! First month was great - went from 1/2 a can to about 3/4 as both of them work &/or travel a lot. I reiterate recycling and composting over and over, and they've been good at that. So while it's not personal reduction, the fact that three are still not filling up one whole bin in a month is pretty cool :) The one thing I can't get them to do is to not wash in hot water! I keep finding the wash on hot and wish there was a way to block it :( "
Green Gal has returned to our fold (welcome back, Green Gal). In this Article she says that she won't be able to do a home audit because she'll be on a trip so ... what will she do instead? Something we all need to do! Click over to her post to read about it!
Tina talked about our challenges HERE and included some wonderful, inspirational quotes ... so perfect for CTWW!! Thanks, Tina!
Cat reduced waste in a wonderful way. Curious? Find out in this PHOTO.
Do you know about Parkinson's law? Rewinn takes that law and applies it to our challenge. It's a very interesting way to look at waste management. Read Parkinson's Law Applied to Garbage Cans: A #CTWW Challenge/Response to learn more!
Ann has been connecting with her roots. Check out this POST where she talks about her trip and shares a link to our challenge with her readers.
Our Twitter friends shared their thoughts:
From @givetreegifts
- 8 Simple Ways to Reduce Household Waste bit.ly/LEpnwV
- 57 Ways to Protect Your Home Environment And Yourself... # 27 Reduce Household Waste... bit.ly/k3QqDB
- Household Waste Reduction Tips bit.ly/MHNyw2
- A unique approach... One simple step to reduce your household waste bit.ly/B6s7s
From @gwened02
- Waste audit: getting DS1 to use the toilet instead pull ups will help
From @thenewauthor
- Have you joined @smallftprints for #ctww? You should, it could be you going through a change!
From @modernecolife
- Join @ModernEcoLife for #CTWW towards greener lifestyle & waste audit. We love recycled spaghetti glass jar repurposed into chic flower vase
The #CTWW Gang are those folks who share our challenges on twitter using the hashtag #CTWW. If you're a Twitter member, I highly recommend following them ... they have a lot of great things to say. Let's meet them:
My Final Thoughts:
Living on this planet means that waste will be generated ... we're human, we have an impact ... and there's no getting around it. Some people will see that as defeating ... but I see it as an opportunity because we can always do better. Conducting an occasional audit helps us identify areas for improvement and helps keep wasteful habits from creeping into our lives. It's the least we can do as tenants of the earth.
Thanks, everyone! If you wrote an article, I have Stumbled, Tweeted, Facebooked and posted it on Google +. You can help spread the "green" word by using the share feature at the bottom of this post.
This Week's Challenge:
This week, let's identify some areas to work on ... here's your challenge:
This week, suggest a challenge. This can be a repeat of a past challenge, a version of something we've already done or something completely new ... anything which you feel we should address.
And/Or ...
Tell us about something you're struggling with ... a green-living activity which is difficult to adopt in your life.
Tell us about something you're struggling with ... a green-living activity which is difficult to adopt in your life.
I'm looking forward to your ideas!!
Until next time ...
WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ... ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!
I have a suggestion that benefits both our planet and our health. Pick a food item that you buy in a package still and find an alternative such as beans, cereal, tomatoes, etc. Your challenge is to utilize that alternative and tell us how you did!
ReplyDeleteCTWW is up and running on:
ReplyDeletehttp://ecocrap.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/change-the-world-wednesday-25th-july/
Some things to make you think and my rubbish audit.
AV
1) My suggestion would be to focus on what we do when we're out at restaurants & cafes - do we use their paper napkins or do we bring our own with us (a friend of mine makes them out of scraps of cloth)? Do we accept their plastic fork or do we have our own (I keep a bamboo spork in my purse)? Are we thinking as hard about being green when we're dining out as when we are dining in?
ReplyDelete2) The above would be my challenge as well. Certain restaurants I know are really sustainably focused who I go to but others I realize that I never really think about if their cheese, meat, produce, etc. are organic/local/etc.
I struggle sometimes with remembering how must waste is generated by eating out. It often feels easier to just buy food for lunch instead of preparing it at home, and stopping by Starbucks often sounds delicious... But most fast food or to-go establishments generate waste--not to mention it costs more money than just eating the food already at home, and it often isn't the healthiest choice. This week, I'll challenge myself to say no to eating out as much as possible... I am living at home until Sunday when I go back to school, so we'll see if I can convince my family to join me! Thanks for the opportunity to reflect on my own personal habits and come up with a challenge to try and tackle them.
ReplyDeleteI'm baaack..hopefully for a long time!
ReplyDeletehttp://outwardlypleasant.blogspot.com/2012/07/change-world-wednesday-struggles.html
As a business graduate and a small business owner myself, I'd like to suggest that we try and conduct a SWOT analysis on our whole green living lifestyles.
ReplyDeleteThis is normally a business planning exercise and basically means listing your:
S = Strengths (your own strengths)
W = Weaknesses (again your own)
O = Opportunities (external factors that might allow you to be even greener)
T = Threats (external factors that threaten your green living)
Doing this allows you to focus in on the areas that need improvement and try and safeguard against threats that might arise.
More info on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis
http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/save-world-save-trees.html
ReplyDeleteTrees, tie me up a tree when I die, the tree that was planted when I was born with my placenta buried. NZ Maori custom
Here's a link to my post about how the challenge went for me this week! Can't wait to read everyone else's and get some new ideas for challenges! http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2012/07/ctww-eating-in-and-reducing-waste.html
ReplyDeleteSince our business is products that you put on your skin my suggestion is to see if you can go a week without putting any chemicals on your body. That means reading the labels on all of your beauty products like lotions, creams, lipsticks and make-up as well as deodorants, toothpaste, shampoos, conditioners, shaving cream and hair styling products. We sometimes don't think to check these products thoroughly and when we do are amazed at the hidden chemicals lurking there. Remember your skin is the largest organ and we absorb so much of what we put on our skin into our bloodstream so we want to be aware of what we are absorbing.
ReplyDeleteThe big thing that we have a challenge with is because we live so far out in the country we have to do a good bit of driving to get most anywhere. I would love it if our cars ran on biodiesel!
Okay, at the end of the summer (but not yet!) we might take stock of our vacation modes (transportation, food, accommodation) and figure places where to reduce our (carbon) footprint, and make a note - so that we can take what we have learned into account when planning for next summer's holiday.
ReplyDeleteUgh. I will have plenty of places to trim the carbon.