Reducing Our Carbon Footprint

The recent warm weather, rain, and loss of snow has forced me to contemplate my negative impact on the environment.  Recognizing that 2012 was the warmest year on record and noticing the reduction in precipitation over the past few years makes me believe that we all need to take small steps to slow down global warming. 

While I feel overwhelmed thinking about the huge negative impact we are all making on our environment, I also know that I can be the change I want to see in the world and hope that others will also consider taking personal responsibility. 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Here's some of the things we are trying to do in our family to reduce our omissions and I'm hoping you have some other ideas to share or will consider making a small change. 

FOOD & DIET:

• Buy your eggs, meal and milk from your local farmer
• Grow your own food, join a CSA or visit your local food markets
• Preserve as much food as you can via canning, freezing or drying
• Eliminate some meat.  Consider meatless Mondays
• Buy organic food when you can
• Instead of storing food in plastic Tupperware, consider glass Pyrex storage containers or use canning glass jars.  You can find glass jars by the hundreds at thrift shops for cheap.

Eggs from my neighbors Brad and Barb Harvey in my Grandma's bowl

RECYCLE:

• Recycle everything you can locally (plastic, paper products, glass, etc.)
• Compost your green materials - read my compost blog here:  compost happens. 
• Use a cloth bag at the grocery store - because I feel so strongly about this I will blog about this entirely in a blog later this week
• Visit thrift stores - seriously, you will be THRILLED at what you can find and it's a great way to recycle

Here I am at our compost pile in late Fall

HOME ENERGY:

• Use an energy efficient heating system.  We use an energy efficient wood stove which does not contribute as much to the air pollution (albeit we contribute some).
• Use an energy efficient air conditioner and do not keep it below 72.  We do not have air conditioner and we like it that way except for about 2 days per year.
• Consider energy star appliances.  As our appliances have bit the dust we've replaced them all with energy start appliances - they do not seem to be any more expensive either.
• Replace light bulbs with the energy efficient light bulbs - as our light bulbs have burnt out we've transitioned over, but I do not use them in the kids room because if they break mercury is released and that is the most frequent place for us to break light bulbs.
• Unplug all your appliances when not in use
• Hang your clothes out to dry on your clothesline - below you will see Gus hanging up clothes

Here's Gustaf helping me hang up clothes this summer

TRAVEL:

• Ride your bike to work when you can.  I live 12 miles from work and I ride my bike in when I can and so can you!
• Check your air filter and tire pressure once a month to make sure you are not wasting fuel
• Consider a vehicle with better gas mileage

MY PERSONAL GOALS:

When I was talking to Chad about what I could do to improve our impact on the environment he gave me some constructive feedback.  He said I'm really bad at turning off lights when I leave the room (guilty) and I almost always keep my computer on (guilty as charged).  So, moving forward I'm going to continue to recycle, compost, eat organic AND turn off the lights and my computer.

So, tell me I'm not the only freaked out about this weird weather?  What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint?  I've been bummed out about our snow loss all weekend long, and I'm wondering what else I can do?  What do you think?

One last thing, if you missed my green olive blog here you go Green Olive Recipes , and I've since added a new delicious olive pasta recipe since yesterday too.

Thank for reading,

Kristin