My Green Report Card

I thought it would be fun to share what we’re doing right and wrong, and welcome any suggestions or comments. Maybe you’ll get some ideas, and I’d love to get some new ideas from my readers.

Things I need to work on:

• Beat my coca cola addiction
• Find an earth friendly ant poison for when I want to get rid of ants in the house
• Take shorter showers
• When the recycling bin is full, take the extras to the recycling depot instead of throwing them in the garbage
• Buy a wagon and walk to the store to pick up groceries instead of driving (it’s only 1 km away)
• Use that same wagon to pick up my son from school (it’s less than 1 km away)
• Buy less frozen packaged organic foods for convenience and pre-cook meals for quick lunches and dinners
• Set up a cistern to collect rainwater to use for watering the garden

Things I am doing well:

• No toxic cleaners in the house
• About 80% of our groceries are organic
• We’re growing an organic veggie garden this year
• We’re growing organic fresh herbs
• We donate our unwanted stuff (clothes, furniture, toys, etc) to our local recycling centre for resale
• We donate our pop/juice/wine bottles & cans to a charitable organization to return for a refund
• Most of our house lights use low-energy bulbs
• At night we turn all the lights off except for one small lamp in the room we’re using
• We have a fuel efficient compact car and combine all our big errands into one trip into town every other week
• We use canvas shopping bags when we go shopping
• We purchase local produce
• We support local businesses and artists
• I am vegetarian and my husband eats vegetarian meals at home
• We rarely eat out and enjoy trying new recipes at home
• We use a Brita water filter jug instead of buying bottled water
• My son wears good quality (free) second hand clothes passed on from friends
• We try to buy second hand clothes and furniture if possible
• We try to utilize the library for books and DVDs instead of purchasing them new
• Both my husband and I work from home and have no commute
• We use the local freecycle group for donating stuff we’re no longer using, or to find stuff we need
• Our computers and accessories are on power bars that we switch off at night
• We recycle everything we can, compost kitchen food scraps, and have very little trash going to the landfill
• When I was singing in a local community choir I carpooled every week with three other women
• We supplement our electric baseboard heaters with a wood burning stove, and use it to burn all our leftover paper/cardboard/newspaper/flyers
• Instead of using a space heater in our unheated bedrooms in the winter we bought electric blankets and only use as needed

Did I miss anything?

How’s your Green Report Card Looking?

Transportation Issues

I have the most embarrassing vehicle. I drive a 1992 Ford Explorer and it’s a gas monster. It is NOT an environmentally friendly choice in any way shape or form. A fuel sensor needs to be replaced and it emits great clouds of gaseous fumes. Even more painful to me is that it costs $30/60 km. That’s 50 cents a Kilometer!!!! YIKES!

So we have come up with a solution. As I’ve mentioned before, I am getting remarried in June. We have debated the pros and cons of becoming a one vehicle family. My darling fiance drives a Toyota Corolla that is amazing on gas, and has a lower impact on the environment, so it is a no-brainer which vehicle we’ll be keeping. Here’s some things we considered when making our decision. I realize it’s not the right choice for everyone, but it certainly is for us.

Pros of having two vehicles:

Convenience – we never have to share a vehicle when schedules overlap.

Camping – when we go camping it’s a perfect vehicle. You can load it up with everything you might need (including firewood), and still have room left over.

Pros of having one vehicle:

Cost – we save over $3000 a year in insurance, maintenance and gas.

Exercise – when my new hubby moves into my condo he will live close enough to walk to work. On days that aren’t great weather wise, he can carpool with his co-worker who drives past our place everyday. Or there are other options… I can drop him off, or he can bike, or he can jump on the bus and be there in under 5 minutes. Extra bonus, he saves on a gym membership!