4 posts tagged “sustainability”
I was thinking about New Year's Resolutions and all that rot recently. As oil reached the $100 per barrel mark and predictions of $4 per gallon gasoline, I really got to thinking.
I'm not a joiner most of the time, but I have always strived to find a better, if not more economical, way to do things. It's just not enough that I leave my thermostat set at 60 degrees in the winter (55 when I am gone during the day) and 80 during the summer. I haven't felt a rush of extra cash coming my way because I am that uncomfortable at home - in fact I still have a hard time paying the heating bill. My tiny house has the original windows, so there could be improved economy there, but new windows aren't in my budget any time soon.
I thought about all the 'lose weight' resolutions - one that I could certainly stand to make - and how many are broken before the end of the day on January 1. I decided to work on things in increments so that my goals were more attainable. A certain friend of mine likes to take me out to eat on occasion (you gotta love that!). In fact, he can call on a Tuesday to schedule lunch on a Sunday and he will stop eating Saturday at 10:00 am in anticipation of a good meal the next day. I can't do that, exactly (female metabolism and all), but I do realize when the food is good I not only enjoy it more, but I am satisfied with less. Family-sized bag of Doritos? Well, what do you do if you're a family of One?
I started with a Corned Beef on New Years Day. Made a small one, about 3 pounds) and ate it in small portions through dinner last night. It was fun having something special to look forward to when I got home. I'm not a vegetarian, but I often consider it, so a corned beef isn't something I would likely crave on a routine basis.
More than a year ago, I vowed never to go into a certain Big Box Retailer again (I won't mention it here, but it begins WAL). I have had no trouble with that. I can't say I haven't shopped in similar places, but I try to be conscious of why things cost so little whenever possible.
I use canvas shopping bags whenever possible and try to always have them in the car and at home.
I jumped on the compacting bandwagon for a time, but recently read about one compacter who decided to give herself a time-out instead of a no when she wanted to buy something. She had a mandatory 3-month wait when she wanted something new. A lot can change in three months, and you might just decide you don't need it after all! If I want it, write it on a list with a date, then I can buy it (guilt free, even!) if I still want or need it in three months. Right now I want a puppy or a kitten, but I have to put those on a 3-year wait... (and... if you've never seen the French Documentary, "The Gleaners and I," please get it. Get it at the library if you can!!)
So cheekymonkey sent me this link. Makes you think:
If I buy a $40 tube of paint, I am economical when I use it. I take special care when I knit with a $15 ball of yarn that I might not take if I found the same yarn in the dollar bin. I take exceptional care of my best brushes, but don't worry so much about the cheap ones I got in the craft store 'just in case' I needed one. Now that I have adjusted my mindset about the whole thing, I feel a little more empowered to actually make some lasting changes.
Driving to see Mom and Dad this past Saturday, I made up a little game of Good Farmer/Bad Farmer. It's true, there is a lot of corn in Indiana. There are also other things, but corn is the most visible crop when you're driving straight up the center of the state on US 31. It is October, well past harvest, but Monday saw a record high of 91 degrees F, so you can imagine the corn fields being in various stages of post-harvest and pre-winter condition. Good farmers are the ones whose crops are not clear-cut. You can still see about 10 inches of corn stalk, and strewn about the fields are corn cobs. Better still are those farmers who have fencing to allow them to let their livestock out to graze and fertilize the fields. I recall many times asking a nephew if he thought the fences were there to keep the corn in. This is a great question to ask a little kid. I'm no authority, but my guess is that farmers who raise corn are less likely to also have livestock these days, and I'm not at all sure why that's the case.
Bad farmers are the ones whose corn fields are clear-cut (again, no authority on the subject, but I call it clear-cutting if there's no evidence of any crop ever having been there). Seriously, do these folks vacuum their fields after harvest? They're practically smooth! My uneducated opinion is that the clear-cutting causes soil erosion. I guess this based on driving past those fields in the dry months of winter, watching the dirt blow in every direction - out of the fields. This just can't be a good practice.
Don't get me started on all the signage for genetically modified corn here in the Hoosier state! What are we getting at the produce stand, anyway? For the next two weekends at least, I'll be buying produce from local organic farmers. Oddly enough, a Sustainable Food Co-op has been difficult to find here. There are locally owned and operated markets in which to find good local produce all year, but convenient it is not.
There's no question I have made some small changes in an attempt to live a more sustainable life. That's a tall order for a packrat, I'll admit, but that's why I am making small changes and trying to stick to them.
I started with my bento boxes and tiffins. These are prefereable to disposable plates and utensils when considering lunch at work or school. I don't always use them, but I try to consider them when I can. I used my family-sized melamine tiffin to take fresh brushetta to a dinner party on Saturday night. I made the bruschetta with my own roma tomatoes and fresh basil. It was really very good, if I do say so myself. Everyone at that dinner had made something from their own yard and it was unbelieveable. Fresh pressed concord grape juice. Wow! It was delicious!
I spent some time this weekend felting thrift store sweaters. I have been quietly collecting wool sweaters for a while now, so it was most definitely time to get busy with them. I have completed two projects with them so far (and the progressive snapshots are on my flickr page):
The first is a skater cap for my nephew. I made it from the sleeves of a felted wool sweater. I hope it's not to cutesy for him, but if he doesn't want it, I'll keep it for certain!
The second is a skully cardigan made from thrift store wool sweaters. Obviously, I used the lighter sweater for the skull and crossbones, so I have a lot more sweater to work with. I'm considering trying to felt it more now that I have it changed around, as the green sweater didn't felt as much as I wanted it to.
I worked a bit more on my dachshund portrait as well, but it is still not finished.
The comfortable weather has had me sleeping with a fan in the window, rather than using air conditioning. With my recent property tax increase (121% from last year), increased utility costs in general, the expense of having my sewer line replaced in the Spring, and an upcoming increase in income tax, I can use the break from sweltering heat. The downside, I have found, is that I am having allergy issues like nobody's business. Benadryl has not been helpful with trying to re-establish a healthy sleep pattern. I can deal with it, but it really is an inconvenience.
Someone at work the other day asked me if I had seen the previous day's episode of Oprah. When Oprah is on here, afternoons, I am either at work or in class, so I hadn't seen it. I looked up the highlights of the show on www.oprah.com , and became fascinated with this guy and his Tiny Houses.
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses.htm
For a long time, I have been interested in eventually getting rid of all my 'stuff' (and there is a LOT of it, I assure you) and buying an Airstream travel trailer as my primary residence. The popularity of vintage Airstream trailers has driven the price up and therefore placed that project on the back burner for me. What a thrill it would be to break free of a mortgage and all my unnecessary posessions and be able to move along if and when I wanted to. These Tiny Houses are a viable alternative that is more realistic in many ways. I am fascinated about the prospect of buying plans, building a house myself on my existing property, then moving it to a more long-term location.
This is the S-House. It's 240 sf floor plan is on the Tumbleweed website. It is my current favorite, as I love the separation between the bathroom and the kitchen and the loft sleeping quarters. There is something I appreciate about every one of the houses this company offers, but just looking at the location of the one pictured here sets my heart racing at the possibilites.
If anyone reading this knows Jay Shafer, ask him how he feels about a woman and a dog moving in to his 95 sf house. I can make it work - I can! As of today, there is still a video feed to Jay giving Oprah viewers a tour of his house and he claims he can have four people in it at a time - comfortably no less! One more unrealized crush for me, I guess.
All of this tiny house research brings me to two thoughts. One is the motto I started using when I first started thinking about trading my bungalow for a rolling silver castle: "Dream Big, Dream Small... Just Dream!" The other is that this change of lifestyle really fits into my new Quality versus Quantity philosophy. So far I have applied it to beer and coffee successfully, but I am taking baby steps to increase it's use in my day-to-day life. Sustainable living is quickly becoming a necessity more than just a lifestyle choice for the environmentally conscious individual. I've said it before, but art supplies are going to be an issue.
