The Green Challenge

On my todo list is written, and this since last october, that i’ve been tagged by Luce and must write what i am doing to introduce environmental sustainability into my daily life – i know it’s been a while, but i could not end my list before now.

I’ve been scanning through the changes i’ve done over the last years to participate in the healing of our planet, and re-reading what i wrote, i see that i sound quite pessimistic, and i’m sorry for that, it’s just really hard not to get confronted to issues which are really pushing my buttons. I love our planet, and when i look at what was done over the last 100 years, i feel hurt and saddened by how quick we destroyed what we should cherish. Our planet, the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms, and of course ourselves.

Still, i hope my answers can inspire some of you to move on, make changes, share and help other changes – and most of all, stay positive and joyful about the great opportunity of change that lays before us!!

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I support local agriculture
Since a year now, i get my fruits and vegetables delivered by Le Jardin des Anges – this way i support local organic agriculture, and get my food delivered with love and care by a friendly human being.

You can do the same, and either get your basket delivered or you pick it by yourself. You can find a listing of organic agriculture producers here;

I buy organic
Yes it is not the least expensive choice, but local and organic products are often much healthier.

Think that what you buy in food chains and so called groceries might be cheap, but you’ll pay of your health sooner or later. Nature is already paying the price for each and every mass produced food that you buy in the average grocery chains, so do humans wondering why cancer is now an epidemic.

A good rule of thumb i use before buying goods or food is asking myself if LOVE, meaning a careful and passionate human touch, was put into what i am about to buy – more than often the answer is pretty clear about if i should or not buy!;

I do not consume meat
I am vegetarian since 2000, i love animals and i do not wear fashionable animal skin, might it be shoes, clothes, bags, belt, and so on. Thus, i am not contributing to a system which exploit and slaughter animals in savage ways, in the same way that it is destroying our environment.

If you are thinking about becoming vegetarian, the web is full of resources about why we do not need to consume animal products anymore, here are some highlights:

A major 2006 report by the United Nations summarized the devastation caused by the meat industry. Raising animals for food, the report said, is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. The findings of this report suggest that it should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution and loss of biodiversity. Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale ….”

Growing all the crops to feed farmed animals requires massive amounts of water and land—in fact, nearly half of the water and 80 percent of the agricultural land in the United States are used to raise animals for food.6,7 Our taste for meat is also taking a toll on our supply of fuel and other nonrenewable resources—about one-third of the raw materials used in America each year is consumed by the farmed animal industry.

Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States, and since factory farms don’t have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air.9 And meat-eaters are responsible for the production of 100 percent of this waste—about 86,000 pounds per second!

You can read the complete article here and also ask google.

I try to inform myself and be a responsible consumer
We heavily research on finding ways to be independent from a system which makes each of us consumers participating in exploiting the planet.

More than ever, i think before i buy – who created this product, at which cost, in which conditions?

My wish is to get out of a system who made us dependent on energy, unworthy goods and most of all, a system that industrialized the alimentary chain, not for our good health, but for profit – this, at a terrible cost. Also, we respect water and dont over-use it.

Word of mouth
I think the best way to change our world is little by little, and by word of mouth, sharing with family and friends what i know about sustainable practices, changes in our way to consume, eat and live. I know they trust and love me, so my words have much more impact than those of any politician;

Diva Cup
I’ve made the switch to the Diva Cup a year ago – so i’m not part of this ‘feminine care product’ industry anymore.

If you are not aware of it, please know that in 1998, 7 billion tampons and 13 billion sanitary pads and their packaging made their way into landfills and sewage systems in the USA alone – so for each women making this change, we’ll all benefit, and nature too;

I ride my bike and walk
I do not own a car, i rent one if i need it and i am really careful with my use of this vehicle. I ride my bike and walk from april to november;

I recycle everything that can be recycled
and have lately gave up on the green recycling basket, switching it for huge transparent recycling bags, this to stop polluting with recycling goods flying around our streets on recycling days;

I carry my own reusable bag
I refuse the bags offered when i shop;

Composting
Unfortunately, we are not yet composting. We tried last year, but not owning a garden makes it impossible to compost on a balcony. But the experience we had with composting was really uplifting – and i advise you to do it if you have a small square meter of grass on which can land a composting box. To see organic waist turn out as super healthy earth was a magical experience, so was it to reduce our trash waist at half a plastic bag per month!

I have a short resource post on how to do your Urban Composting, read it here.

I am supposed to tag some other people, but i wont, i suggest you just go on and post your own green challenge – and let me know so i can read it!