Treading lightly on the earth
 

I thought we could start a thread about ways you are working towards less consumption, less waste.
(if you are so inclined)

Just share what you have done or ideas you have and let's inspire each other.

Anyone?

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

1. We started composting our produce scraps/toilet rolls. I let it go south when winter came, but I want to start up again.

2. We are getting chickens. We have a little playhouse/shed type thing that was on our property when we bought it. Dh built the nesting boxes out of scraps from the demo for our basement. :rockon We won't have to supposrt factory farms and the kids will have a great learning experience.
We buy 10 dozen eggs a month so 10 chickens will give us what we use and enough to share the bounty with our neighbors :heart

More later. N needs to go to bed

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

1. We are planning a compost pile. Since we are renting we were concerned, but we figured it out.

2. We use Shaklee cleaners that do not add water. This uses less bottle waste and all bottles are recycleable.

3. I am interested in conserving rain water for the garden. We've been watching "Living With Ed" on HGTV and thought the rain barrell thing was genius. Our problem is living in SoCal we don't get a ton of rain...BUT, our neighbor's sprinklers come over into our yard and water stuff...just not thoroughly. So I've adjusted our sprinklers in regard to their usage and I may place barrells to collect their water. Ha ha. If their going to pay for the water to water our yard, I might as well take advantage.

4. Freecycle

5. Use cloth when possible. We use microfiber when cleaning, cloth dipes, cloth pads, etc.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

yeah we struggle with composting in the winter too, I just havent been able to come up with any good ideas :think :/ oh, yeah and dh wants to do a rain barrel this summer too, although I balked at it, because we grew up with one and struggle with the idea of it relates to being poor, which i know it doesnt.

compost in the summer.

reuse containers

recycle as much as we can, but they dont offer a whole lot here :/

cloth almost everything, no more details on that :shifty

lower the heat, dress warmer

limit trips to town

try to garden in the summer (does that count? :scratch )

make my own cleaners, which I agree, I go through, well, hardly any bottles anymore :tu

I know there is more but Im not remembering right now :O

We want:
be able to compost in the winter
get a hybrid
get a fireplace
dh has all these other cool ideas that seem pretty way out there (like living with Ed! :giggle ) but Im not sure they will ever come to be. its fun to think about though.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

oh my goodness, I just realized that our other neighbors rain gutter is broken and every time it does rain, water POURS off it and floods our dirt patch....that's awesome! I'm totally gonna do that rain barrell there!!!! :tu

These are advantages to having zero property lines...taking advantage of your neighbors. :giggle

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

The list of what we actually do is, sadly, much shorter than the list of things we would like to do one day! But, currently:

- hang our clothes outside to dry when it's not raining (and sometimes inside when it is)
- replaced our top-loading washing machine (which died) with a front-loader
- use cloth bags when we shop
- use cloth for cleaning, cloth nappies, cloth wipes etc. One day I hope all our "disposables" will be replaced by cloth
- recycle as much as we can
- compost
- eat a vegan diet (DD and I), and lacto-ovo vegetarian (DH)
- have an egg timer in the shower and "race" to finish washing before the time runs out :P~
- try and consolidate all errands to one day, so car trips are limited
- walk when we can, instead of drive
- gradually switching all our light bulbs to fluorescent

I think reducing our footprint/treading lightly, is one of those journeys we will be on forever. There will always be something more we can do, but as long as we're doing what we can, we're contributing in some small way. :yes

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Well, I'm planning to order a Divacup and more cloth pads with our tax returns
The kids and I have all switched to an almost vegan diet
We try not to drive very often, and do 2 or 3 stops when we do go out
we have a huge recycling bin
I have used washcloths and baking soda to wash my body and hair with, need to start doing that again instead of soap/shampoo
Also use baking soda for toothpaste, and to clean stains on the counters, walls, etc. when a magic eraser just won't do the job.
I have started cleaning our counters either with just water and a microfiber cloth (we have lots of those), or water and vinegar that I then clean the floors with.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

We're slowly but surely reducing our footprint :)

My baby is in cloth & my 3 yo is in cloth at night (daytime trained)
We use Glass for our milk and our milk/eggs/meat are local & delivered
I just bought some reusable bags - I'm waiting to have another errand to run to go pick them up.
I bought cloths to use instead of papertowels and that's working great!
That's all I can think of now...

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

We don't use paper towels.

By concentrating more on what is recyclable, I have cut down our outgoing trash from 6 cans to 3 per week.!!!!! :rockon

We were buying Dixie cups for the kids to brush their teeth. That's 8 a day! When our current supply is gone we will use our own cups.

I use cloth pads.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

I'm not as good as I'd like to be. I do use a diva. I wash once a week and don't sort loads. I use cloth diapers when I can. I try to buy less prepackaged stuff and I try to consolidate errands to one day whenever possible.

We can't really do a rain barrel because of mosquitos.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

We/I:
Use cloth diapers about half-time.
Recycle what we can.
Purchased/are paying for an outdoor wood furnace to significantly lower our propane use.
Use firewood to heat our home.
Use a Keeper and cloth pads, tho sometimes I break down and use pantiliners cause my pads are too bunchy sometimes. :O
Use less shampoo, body wash, laundry soap, toothpaste etc than recommended, because usually the recommended amount is too much and much of the product is wasted, meaning I run out faster and buy more sooner and have that much more to throw away.
Have chickens.
Have an organic garden in summer.
Don't go out much-- in order to save $$ on gas, but also means we are saving gas ;)
When we do go out we do more than one thing.
Hang clothes out when it's warm.
Use flourescent light bulbs.
Use rechargable batteries.
Buy organic when we can afford it.
Freecycle.
Use vinegar, baking soda, essential oils for cleaning. Or a very strong concentrate for the floors I got from Lehman's 2 years ago.
Think twice or three times before we make a purchase. Helps our pocketbook and helps the landfills, too!

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Well, I am just beginning on this journey, and my Dh is not on board yet. I love reading others' ideas to get me thinking.

Here is what I am doing now:
- Recycling as much as possible
- Use rechargable batteries
- Freecycling all the excess possessions we don't need
- Lower the heat, dress warmer
- Reducing use of paper towels/napkins and switching to cloth
- Switched from Dixie cups to our own cups for toothbrushing
- Stay home more

Working on:
- Reduce our trash output
- Consolidating errands
- Cloth/string bags for shopping (next paycheck)
- Switch to fluorescent bulbs
- Cleaning cloths instead of paper towels/ cloth napkins
- Natural cleaners
- Wearing our clothes more before washing
- Contemplating cloth pads

We cannot do a rain barrel. It is against the law as someone else owns the water rights to our property (true of almost all property in CO). It is weird to me, but tha tis waht happens in a drought state I guess. :shrug

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

you are not allowed to collect water from the sky? :scratch :hunh

Marcella - what do you mean zero property lines?

I rent so things are harder for me (cant use cloth dipes/pads because no washser) but I do use a diva and recycle and freecycle. We have an orange tree and just planted a banana one :smile

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

I am a recycling mad woman. This is what comes of living in a city where you were only allowed 2 bins of garbage per house, and you were in a shared rental. It's easy to cut garbage output when you need to make space in the only bag you get! I recycle just about everything I can. Our recycling station in town is currently closed, so our garage is my holding station. I just can't bear to throw out what I can recycle.

We cloth diaper, 2/3 of the time.
I'm going to have a garden this summer (woo hoo! a first for me - we've only had a yard since we moved here)
We buy locally grown veggies, in season.

There is more we're doing....just can't think of it right now.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

How fun, Heather. Fruit trees are great. We have some apple trees planted but I think we are a few years off getting any fruit.

We buy our produce at an organic co-op

I buy things in bulk when I can and cut down on individual packaged stuff. The Costco toilet paper is a great deal, but every roll is individually wrapped :/

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

-recycle we have one garbage pail per week tops
-cloth diaper
-buy in bulk when possible
-compost in the summer
-buy locally grown produce
-grow some of my own
-rain barrel
-no paper towel
-cloth napkins most of the time
-I try to cut down on meat Dh will not
-use compact fluorescents


It is a start

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Let me think :think

We recycle.
We try to eat local produce & not much processed stuff.
We finally figured out Cding for our 3rd baby; she is CD'd 99% of the time.
Dh rides the bus or bikes to/from work.
I've tried the Keeper with no success & didn't really like cloth pads. Right now I'm going on the no-AF-for-2-yrs-hopefully thing since dd2 arrived.
Declutter & give away things we aren't using to people in need.
Reusable bags for shopping.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

I have a few reusable bags for shopping but I always forget to bring them. I want some nifty ones for reusablebags.com that stand up on their own.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

--reuse baggies instead of throwing them away
--hang wash as much as possible
--teach my children the value and beauty of nature
--planting a tree in our city yard in the spring :yes
--having only one tiny car that is excellent on gas mileage
--using organic cleaners, shampoos, bubble baths, etc.
--using the energy light bulbs but candles as much as possible, hardly any lights during the day
--buying from local Amish organic farmers as much as I can
--buying natural milk from well loved cows (seriously, the lady sits in the pen and cuddles them :hunh :lol )
--research everything I buy
--shop at thrift stores as much as possible and use consignment to pass our clothes down
--using small chalkboards for some schoolwork instead of paper
--buying good qualilty natural toys and art supplies that can be kept for kids and grandkids
--saving good books for kids and grandkids, passing along others
--using the library as much as possible
--recycling
--no newspapers
--passing magazines and books all through our family instead of us all buying them
--organic/chlorine free or cloth diapers and wipes
--cloth pads
--all natural clothing materials for all of us
--going paperless with banking and bills

Treading lightly on the earth
 

Hmmm, :think

1) compost
2) garden in the spring summer and store our fruits & veges
3) recycle everything we possible can by using the free county collection boxes; as a result we only have 2 cans of garbage a month :jawdrop
4) use cloth dipes & pads and I'm converting from paper towels to cloth for cleaning
5) use natural cleaners
6) slowly converting major appliances to energy star
7) replaced our junky composition roof to energy star metal which will eventually have the side benefit of water collection for our lawn & garden

We'd like to get some solar panels but think that won't actually happen until we build our own house (like, when we retire ;) ) Also would like to replace our non energy efficient windows and need to insulate under our house to improve heat loss.

Great thread, Amy. Reading what every one else is doing is giving me some good ideas :tu

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

ohhhh...that's a great idea....

I must admit I do all that stuff...but it is mostly because it makes sense to not HAVE to buy all the time...not so much for an environmental point of view :O

This is us:

-we recycle
-we freecycle our stuff
-I joined the compact movement
-I buy organic/bulk foods(I hate packaging :rolleyes)
-we compost
-we garden a few things but mostly get our yummy organic veggies from a farm right here
-we use cloth everything (yes even toilet paper :yes)
-we wash once a week and hang dry as much as possible (mostly in the summer)
-we use/reuse jars for everything around here :giggle
-I use the keeper
-we Ec
-and when we do use diapers...there are cloth (I wash a few once a week)
-I make my own: cleaning products and salves for the whole family, tinctures...remedies
-we reuse our clothes all the time...seriously ...I am always dressed the same :laughtears...until it is really dirty
-We use reusable grocery bags
-we live in a small house (one bedroom) and have a wood stove



Ok that is all I can think of for now...oh and YES we do have TONES of idea....for the near future :rolleyes
keep them comin! :popcorn

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

I just wanted to add...when I say we wash once a week....I just wanted to make sure that everybody understood I was talking about cothes :shifty.... :laughtears

I just wanted to make it clear ;) :giggle

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

:laughtears

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

I can't say I do anything more or different than you all, but I'm wondering about liquid soap use. I do use liquid soap to wash dishes, hands and laundry. I usually water it down. I read recently on another list that table salt can be used to wash clothes. Can anyone comment on this? I haven't tried it yet though I did use it in my dishwasher a few times to see what would happen v. using conventional dishwasher soap v. using no soap. I didn't see a difference between salt and soap but less dishes got clean with no soap (lol IMO)

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Hmm, here's what we do:

Recycle everything that we can

Buy Organic (for financial reasons we're having to buy Organic only for the worst pesticide offenders but hope to go back to all Organic someday)

Buy in bulk for some items

Part of the year we get fresh raw goat's milk from my mom, she reuses glass milk bottles from a nearby dairy (this saves us the 30 min trip to get organic milk)

I use vinegar, Bon Ami, 7th Generation window cleaner and 7th Gen dish soap. That's pretty much it except for our laundry detergent which is commercial unfortunately.

We use a lot of cloth... we do use some TP (the kids prefer cloth, I do about 50/50) and probably a roll of paper towels every few weeks or so. I save the paper towels for nasty messes.

I use a Mooncup instead of disposable pads/tampons

We 'carpool' whenever possible for our 30 minute trips to get Organic groceries and visit friends and we try to limit those trips to once a week or every other week

We keep our thermostat 65ish in the winter and 75ish in the summer (we have to use A/C or stuff in the house gets moldy :sick)

Like others mentioned, we Freecycle or take stuff to the Salvation Army

We use handmade soap and organic/natural shampoos (except for dh :shrug) :rockon


We're planning to do in the next few months or so:

Start composting (Just an FYI, you get a nice looking countertop composter through Frontier... then you can just empty it in the composter outside once/day or so)

Start using more fluorescent bulbs (we already do in two rooms of the house)

In the last few years we bought a front loading washer that saves us $15/mo on our water bill and tons of water. Our new dryer is more efficient too and I hope to get our spinning clothes dryer up this summer. (btw, I paid about $25 for mine at Menard's, made in the USA ;))


Someday:

I'd love to have a garden, but we only have a small shaded yard. Someday we hope to move to the country so we can have chickens and a couple of milk goats. :)




----I am also going to get on the ball and start writing "Remove us from your mailing list" and returning all the darn credit card offers we get. We easily get 10-20 credit card offers a week. What a waste of mail! Thankfully we don't get too many catalogs these days. :) That's what happens when you're too broke to buy much. :lol :tu

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

People keep mentioning Salvation Army, do you include that in your treading lightly? Do people actually *throw clothes away*, like in the garbage?? I have never heard of such a thing! Maybe Im just living in a hole :bag

I like the chalkboard idea too... the kids go through so much paper, it drives me crazy :/ they have a chalkboard too. We shred and compost the paper, but still, it bothers me how much they go through, and i still even lock the paper up.

I am trying to go paperless billing as well, but some of it makes me nervous, I already forget the credit card bill sometimes :O :think THe thing that bugs me the most is all the junk mail, mostly cc offers, every single day we get at least 2 or 3 :td I dont know how to make them stop :shrug All the junk mail really ticks me off though.

Treading lightly on the earth
 

For the CO rain barrel law, look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_barrel

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

We don't have mail delivery in our town so I get our mail at the PO Box and sort all the junk out before I get back in my car :tu

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

ok, that is just STOOPIT

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

we do too, but I dont like cc offers in the PO garbage :shifty I open then and shred them. I guess it just bugs me that we get it at all. it still goes in the garbage, whether its the PO garbage or ours (and, at least I can compost it at home :O )

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

my kids are going through a lot of paper too. :huhn We do have some dry erase boards for practicing letters, numbers, addition etc but they still use coloring books and such.

I'm pretty sure these companies have to remove you from their mailing list if you request it. I did that with Capitol One (and I included some cookie crumbs because I was :mad :blush) and I NEVER get CC offers from them anymore.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

so you just return to sender or something?

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Our PO recycles it all. I just rip them up really well

I have heard of people stuffing all the contents of the offers back in to the envelope and sending it back to them :shifty

Treading lightly on the earth
 

You can also put yourself on the do-not-mail list for junk mail senders. At least it takes care of the reputable ones who keep up with the "do not mail" lists :) It cut our junk down considerably.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Amanda- how did I miss that you're preggers? :doh Congrats!

We put ourselves on the do not mail list a long time ago, do you have to do it again do you know? Our junk mail is almost exclusively credit card offers, with the occasional car insurance offer. :rolleyes

Treading lightly on the earth
 

Aww, thanks :grin My announcement post was kind of tucked away in the Cradled forum :O

I'm not sure if your information expires on the do-not-mail list. We just moved and so for a while we were getting tons of new junk plus all of the junk from the previous owners. Luckily junk mail is recyclable.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

yeah and you can make paper with it with the kiddos... :heart

But yeah I agree it is very bothersome and not just for the earth but for me too! I am on a no tele-marketers list and I can finally go on about my day without anybody trying to convince me to buy something...all day long!

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

Tell me more! :popcorn

My recent adjustments have been switching to CFLs (found them 6 for $10!) and using cloths instead of paper towels. I found cloths for $3 for 15 and I am using those for floor spills, ds spills, counter wipe ups, and what not. I catch myself reaching for a paper towel and have to remind myself to go for the cloth! I mean, for goodness' sake, paper towels are at the *cheapest* 89 cents a roll, and then they are cruddy and you have to use so many to do the job. 15 cloths for $3 is a good deal and it won't cost any more to wash them; they hardly take up any space.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

I bought a bunch of terry towels at Wal-Mart, I think they were $5 for a bunch (10?). I bought some cute oval baskets at the $1 store and keep some of the towels in a basket on my counter so they're easy to grab for spills and so they also have a "home" LOL.
I bought a Divacup and LOVE it! I also bought some lunapanties- I honestly don't really need them with the cup, but wear them just in case. I am SO happy not to have to buy pads or tampons any more, ick. And the cup is so much cleaner than even tampons, seriously.
Now I am also switching us to a vegan/whole foods diet- trying to stay away from as much processed/packaged foods as possible. Great idea for making paper with junk mail, my kids will love that. I bet my hs buddy will love to do it too.

Re: Treading lightly on the earth
 

-We sort/recycle our garbage We started with a FULL garbage can and now only have one bag a week in the can
-We have almost stopped using paper towels and use terry washclosth or knitted dish cloths
-We are avid (organic) gardeners and are SO close to haveing produce year round
-We switched to energy efficiant washer/dryer and hang dry most clothes during the summer (too damp here in the winter)
-We keep our house set at 65 during winter and do not use A/C (not that we really need it)
-We compost kitchen scraps and yard clippings (we have almost convirted all of our grass to garden)
-We use a push mower instead of a gas powered mower
-We hardly ever use packaged meals and really only eat out at places that share our efforts to protect the environment.
-We collect our rain (and our neighbors rain) :)
-We have switched to flourescents
-I try to use recycled fabric for many sewing projest
-We use paperless billing
I will keep thinking because there is more and dh just go home

What I am dreaming of doing,,,
I want a SMART car. / which I will power w/ bio diesel
(I am on the waiting list #6000 in fact...so I am saving but it will most likely be 2+ years)
We also are in the process of buying a home and are feeling very lead that we do not need a huge home. So much is wasted in large homes so we are looking to buy a house that is just our size and no bigger (or as dh says...with room for one more junt incase we are so blessed)

ETA: some more things we do