No Impact Experiment - Day 2 Trash/ Day 3 Transportation

Wow.

More trash than I care to admit.

Mostly? (I'm embarrassed to admit) disposable diapers. We do cloth diapers during the day and disposable when we are going out and at night...or if we have a lot of company. Note to self..much room for improvement here. Other than that? 2 plastic bread wraps, kleenex (which we'll honestly probably stick to) and lots of baby wipes. (which we also use to dust).

Interesting trade off I've made in my head. We stick to kleenex and baby wipes. Yet we use cloth napkins (paper towels are just for major cleans) and avoid paper plates and cups. We decided a  year ago to stick to real dishes unless we had over 20 guests. For some reason 20 is the magic number for us to switch to paper products.

Last night? First community dining of the year. 4 families..we used the real stuff:). Enjoyed some good food and conversation on the deck..

As for food trash. We already compost- mostly eggshells and coffee grounds mixed with small amounts of fruit and veggies. Bigger quantities of leftovers go to deer and chickens. We already recycle (aluminum, paper, glass and plastic).


We are also asked to minimize purchases of things in bags, boxes, cans. Other than small yogurts containers. (when we buy big containers..it goes bad before we finish), 2 cereal boxes a week and brownie mix box..we pretty much already do this. A necessity for Austen and his dietary restrictions. So really?

It is the diapers I need to be more conscious of. 

Today? Transportation.

We are to keep track of our transportation today...starting with looking at the food we eat for a day and where it has been transported from.

Simple:
Breakfast..oatmeal, fruit, toast, yogurt - all local
 Lunch: pita and humus (hah..GA and WI),boiled eggs- very local (backyard), fruit (local)
Dinner: cheesy-corn casserole..(venison..Big B hunted..local, corn..local..cheese..local..onion..local), the rest is fruit and veggies..all local

Next is to keep track of our own travel:

How convenient. We are having a pajama day today!..

Actually Austen will go to the Club later..he is volunteering and Tuesdays they do their city wide paper recycling.. He will take his bike!

Carpooling, biking and driving are the only real transportation options here in the Tx. Hills. Just no public transit to speak of. Walking? Maybe ...depends on what kind of time you have. At least 30 minutes to get to town...more important is the weather. Hard to convince yourself to walk in triple digit weather.

This IS our absolutely worst area of waste. Without a doubt. I do not see it changing any time soon.

We minimize our trips to other cities. Big B carpools to work. But soccer season will start soon. This is 3+ trips a week for Cody. I go into SA twice a week...to take Levi to my sister..and to bring him back. I am trying to combine all SA errands into those days.

Still there are 3-4 days a week when Cody, Austen, Levi and I stay home.  So maybe, just maybe? It sort-a balances. (sigh) ...or not...