Lola's post over at Two Black Sheep was the "I must need to pay attention to this because I'm seeing it everywhere moment" for me. As a follow up to Lolly's post, I knew I needed to re-commit.
Check out some of this goodness I found.
First, have you seen the video "The Story of Stuff"? You should definitely watch it ... a good simple presentation of what's wrong with our current system and some very practical suggestions for what we can do better. (It's designed for use with kids, but I think is great for even us grown up children).
Once you're into the idea, think about signing up for Freecycle. I found a group right here... just 2 minutes away and joined right up. (If you haven't seen this group before it's a way to give away, and receive, second hand things ... a fab idea if you are going to reduce your consumption-purchasing of new things). I'm thinking about all the things I can donate to someone else who can get good use out of them.
To have the best chance at success with my Victory Garden goal, I also need to plan carefully for my garden. S and I have decided to use the Square Foot Gardening method this year to see if we can get more bang for our buck. Seriously, anyone can have a garden with this method... even if all you can have is an old wine barrel somewhere. I had to spend time researching this and plotting (pun intended... =] ).
Want a little more video inspiration for a garden? Check out this video from the Urban Homestead.
Looking for a blog to give you weekly inspiration to be more sustainable? Check out The Green Life.
Here's what I am aspiring to ... Challenge 7: Nothing new in your shopping cart. Could you commit, for just 7 days, not to buy anything new (other than food, medicine, safety items)? I know I could do this ... I'm sure I've done it before. I wanted to start my first week yesterday, but I
This is the problem, is it not?
My compromise, I think, will be to allow myself these purchases, and then my 7 days will start -- or maybe my 7 days starts tomorrow with the allowance that I can purchase these limited items as a compromise. After all, I guess reducing any consumption is better than consumption gone wild.
And last... boy did my reading list grow yesterday. I visited my library yesterday (yeah me... here's one book I didn't buy) and checked out In Defense of Food. I really liked The Omnivore's Dilemma and, so far, I'm liking this book even more. On interlibrary loan is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. After that I have a nice long list of things to read based on Lola's and Lolly's suggestions.
And now, really last, I joined several of the Ravelry groups Lolly mentioned and went through all the last forum posts. I love seeing how my knitting world coincides with my sustainability world. I love it when we all love the world together.
Go out and be inspired my friends. I'm going to turn off my computer now, use less energy, and be happy.
4 comments:
Thank you for all these links! I've been thinking about starting a garden this year, but digging out sod on my own is the major deterrent. :/
I did a "Nothing New..." kind of challenge for the entire month of January this year. The first week or so was really hard, but after that it became a habit. Now it's nearly the middle of March and I'm still doing pretty well with it. I'm still knitting from stash and have only purchased three books so far this year (that is AMAZING). It actually feels good to use what I have and to spend time rather than money. You'll be glad you tried it!
Great links and inspiration from you, thank you!
wow those are some great links! thank you for sharing! I read Not Buying It, over a year ago, a very interesting concept.
Oh thank you. This was a timely and good reminder for me. Lots of great links in this post!
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