No Impact Week - Day 4

Forgive me Colin for I have trashed...and driven...and eaten Cheeze-Its.

TRASH:

Here's my trash list for the last few days, ya know, for those who are interested in going through other peoples trash:

• Night time Pull-Ups - 3 a day
  
• Plastic clothing tags from new jammies my mom brought the kids
• Plastic wrapper from Trader Joe's frozen fish
• 4 small backings to kids Halloween tattoos
• Contents of the dustbuster
• 1 very broken crayon
• My 6yo's lunch crusts
• A cheese packet from Annie's Mac N Cheese
• Stonyfield Farm yogurt topper
• Plastic straps from 2 new doors that my father-in-law and husband installed in our house
• Trader Joe's Sesame Sticks bag (so yummy)
  
• Taco seasoning wrapper
• Wrapper from a package of ground bison meat

What I didn't do.

• Reach for a paper towel instead of my perfectly good, handy, useful, compostable Skoy cloths.
• Allow my semi-potty trained kids to get away with Pull-ups during the day. (cleaned up a lot of pee though)
• Throw out food scraps that I normally would have just because the kitchen composter was full and I think it's way too gross to go empty. I emptied it. For the first time. You're welcome honey.
• Throw out a perfectly good reusable ziploc bag just because the food that had been in it had gone bad and I really didn't want to have to clean (smell) it.
• Fill the trash can in one day. Or even two days. Crazy!

It turns out that food waste is one of our biggest trash contributors, and being thoughtful about our garbage kept me from dumping that waste when it could be turned into beautiful soil for our spring garden.

TRANSPORTATION:

We do not live in a city. In theory, I could walk to a specialty grocery store nearby, in about 45 minutes. Maybe more, because I gave away my double stroller and my 4yo would whine the whole way about why my 2yo gets to ride in the stroller and he doesn't. Then he'd say his knees hurt and he'd drop to the ground and whimper. I'd continue walking, because there's no way I'm going to cater to that kind of behavior. Then I'd come to a crosswalk and realize, that yes, actually I did have to go back for him because they tend to call the cops on people who leave their 4 year olds on the other side of a busy intersection even though they deserved it because they were whining...again. So, no, we're not going to do that.

Nothing is close. The library, the playgrounds, the schools...not only are they too far to walk, but they're not even near each other. The same is true for a hardware store and a shopping center and a large retailer (Target), they're all 23 minutes away from me, and 23 minutes away from each other. So grouping trips is tough. When I do need a Target run I try to buy it all so I can not go there again for a few months. It's been working out. I'm also, of course, trying to buy less so I don't need to go out at all.

EATING LOCAL:

Yeah, they just don't make Cheez-Its around here. I've looked. They don't make Doritos either. Bummer. These were a house staple when I was growing up. Around here, they're a treat, a sometimes food.

What they do make is Stonyfield Farm yogurt and milk, so I buy that. And I love picking up organic potatoes that come from Massachusetts. And I get my meat from a lovely local CSA called Chestnut Hill Farm. So, we're not doing too shabby. I also try to buy a lot of organic products, with the hope that at least the production of these items had a lighter impact on the planet.

SUMMARY:

I guess what I'm saying is, we're not doing too shabby around here. I don't have any feeling of failure about this project so far. I have not followed it as closely as I could or as closely as some will. But where I am now and where I was 5 years ago is like night and day. Every day I take active steps and I think, I truly stop and think (when I'm not mindlessly picking up cute tassled boots for my daughter), about what I'm doing and what more I could be doing. And even when I do buy those boots, those not snow-appropriate thus not seasonally required and not reused but cute, soft and well-loved boots, I think about it. Maybe next time, I'll walk right by them. Maybe.

People must recognize that the only way this lower impact way of living can be successful for the masses is if everyone just takes it a little at a time and gets to a point where they're doing the best that they can do and still live lives that are happy and meaningful to them. That's what I'm doing. So far...happy. :)