As I stated before, we're trying to get 100 suburban families to participate in our "thoughtful consumer" challenge this summer, between June 1 and September 9.
If you and your family are interested in taking the challenge for a week or more, please email me at MallMom@live.com with your family name (or nickname, if you prefer to remain anonymous), so I can keep track of everyone.
Email me, also, if you're interested in being a guest-blogger for a day (or more), and I'll set you up. You can leave comments and tips on reducing consumer waste in the comments section, as well.
We're really hoping to generate some discussion on what it means to be a conscious consumer in the suburbs, and how we can all make a difference in reducing waste in our community. We'd love to hear from you!
As promised, here are the rules my family and I decided on. I'm sure we will add to these as the project goes on, but for now, this our jumping-off point. These will be posted next to our family diary:
OUR RULES OF THE GAME
1. STORE PURCHASES
No store purchases unless they are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Food, medications, gas—no brainers. But can you do without those individually packaged snacks? The bottles of iced tea? The gum? Every single purchase has an impact. Think it over before you buy. And if you absolutely need something, try to find it used first.
2. ONLINE PURCHASES
No online purchases. The packaging is too wasteful.
3. ENTERTAINMENT
Seek entertainment with minimal environmental impact. Miniature golf requires no electricity. The public pool is there whether we swim in it or not. A walk in the woods or a visit to an art gallery is a great way to spend the day together. Rethink “fun.”
4. TRANSPORTATION
Drive only when absolutely necessary, and try to combine several errands in one trip. Plan your route carefully. Carpool, walk, or take public transportation whenever possible.
5. REDUCE WASTE
Try to figure out ways to reduce our trash output. Look for new uses for things we would typically throw away. Choose products with no packaging, less packaging, or recyclable packaging.
There they are! Wish us luck. (Deep, deep breath...)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
The Suburban Experience
I think the suburban experience is a unique one, because we who live in the ‘burbs are spread out over a much larger area than our city-dwelling counterparts, which means we usually can’t easily walk to schools or grocery stores or shops.
Biking isn’t practical (no bike lanes on these crazy, winding suburban roads), nor is public transportation widely available. We have to drive everywhere, so we want to make it worth our while.
We also tend to live in bigger homes and have much more space to store stuff, therefore we don’t have to be so choosy with our purchases. How many times have you bought something, only to discover later that you didn’t really want or need it. But instead of taking it back you stuffed it in a closet somewhere, just because you had the room to do it?
Personally, I’m a terrible offender with food. I can’t get out of the grocery store without a minimum of two full bags, even if I go in there with the intention of buying three things. (Though I can say I’ve been religiously using my cloth bags.)
I have a pantry chock full of dusty canned goods and boxed products, some of which have languished there for years. I feel too guilty to throw them away, but they’re out of date and not suitable for donation, either. So I just push them to the back of the cabinet and load up on new stuff.
That will someday be old stuff.
That I will not throw away.
One of my goals during our one hundred days is to plan meals more carefully, and try to buy only the stuff I really, truly need for the week. I’m also going to attempt to use whatever isn’t out of date in the pantry. I have a feeling we’re going to have some interesting dinners.
Tomorrow I’m going to post the set of rules my family and I have come up with for this challenge.
Biking isn’t practical (no bike lanes on these crazy, winding suburban roads), nor is public transportation widely available. We have to drive everywhere, so we want to make it worth our while.
We also tend to live in bigger homes and have much more space to store stuff, therefore we don’t have to be so choosy with our purchases. How many times have you bought something, only to discover later that you didn’t really want or need it. But instead of taking it back you stuffed it in a closet somewhere, just because you had the room to do it?
Personally, I’m a terrible offender with food. I can’t get out of the grocery store without a minimum of two full bags, even if I go in there with the intention of buying three things. (Though I can say I’ve been religiously using my cloth bags.)
I have a pantry chock full of dusty canned goods and boxed products, some of which have languished there for years. I feel too guilty to throw them away, but they’re out of date and not suitable for donation, either. So I just push them to the back of the cabinet and load up on new stuff.
That will someday be old stuff.
That I will not throw away.
One of my goals during our one hundred days is to plan meals more carefully, and try to buy only the stuff I really, truly need for the week. I’m also going to attempt to use whatever isn’t out of date in the pantry. I have a feeling we’re going to have some interesting dinners.
Tomorrow I’m going to post the set of rules my family and I have come up with for this challenge.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Talking Trash
For the past 23 days we've been weighing our household trash (not including recyclables) before we take it out to the big green can. To our shock and disgrace, our little family of four has been averaging about 42 pounds of trash per week. For those of you without a calculator handy, that's 2,184 pounds a year--not including Christmas detritus, which probably adds another 40 pounds or so. That's more than a ton of trash per year. A ton. From one average family.
The rough total for just the families living on our street? About 61,000 pounds (30+ tons) per year.
Now imagine a neighborhood. A town. A city. A state. It makes me sick just to think about it.
Where is all this trash going?
According to www.zerowasteamerica.org, the U.S. has more than 3,000 active landfills, more than 10,000 old, out-of-use municipal landfills, and probably many thousand more private and commercial dumps. A disclaimer on the site warns that most of the information there has not been updated since 2002. Does anyone believe things have gotten better since then?
I'm beginning to feel a sense of urgency I did not have when we first began this.
The rough total for just the families living on our street? About 61,000 pounds (30+ tons) per year.
Now imagine a neighborhood. A town. A city. A state. It makes me sick just to think about it.
Where is all this trash going?
According to www.zerowasteamerica.org, the U.S. has more than 3,000 active landfills, more than 10,000 old, out-of-use municipal landfills, and probably many thousand more private and commercial dumps. A disclaimer on the site warns that most of the information there has not been updated since 2002. Does anyone believe things have gotten better since then?
I'm beginning to feel a sense of urgency I did not have when we first began this.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
The Start of Something Big
For the past eighteen days, my family and I have been preparing for a social experiment. Can we go 100 days as non-consumers? Can we buy only those things we really, truly need? (And what are those things, exactly?)
The idea first came to me when, during a particularly consumeristic week, our garbage can was overflowing with bags, boxes, packing peanuts and other flotsam and jetsam related to the Art of Buying. "We need a bigger trash can," my husband said.
As I crammed yet another shirt into a closet that was clearly ready to burst, I thought, "Bigger trash can? We need a bigger house."
And then I stopped myself, and realized how crazy our lives had become. I could no longer fit all my kids' clothes into their drawers. My home office was piled to the ceiling with excess stuff. Our basement, our attic, our garage, our garden shed? No room at the inn.
We don't live in a mansion, by any means. But we've got plenty of house for a family of four (and one spoiled dog). Lately, though, it's been feeling more like storage space than living space.
All of us, even our five-year-old, have our weaknesses. Webkinz, tech gadgets, games, books and clothes. We love our stuff. But do we really need it?
This isn't (completely) about lessening our impact on the environment, or saving money, or making a point, although I suspect we'll do all those things over the course of those 100 days. What it's mostly about is rethinking what's important. Finding out why we feel the need to keep up with the Joneses.
Starting June 1st, I'm hoping we find out.
The idea first came to me when, during a particularly consumeristic week, our garbage can was overflowing with bags, boxes, packing peanuts and other flotsam and jetsam related to the Art of Buying. "We need a bigger trash can," my husband said.
As I crammed yet another shirt into a closet that was clearly ready to burst, I thought, "Bigger trash can? We need a bigger house."
And then I stopped myself, and realized how crazy our lives had become. I could no longer fit all my kids' clothes into their drawers. My home office was piled to the ceiling with excess stuff. Our basement, our attic, our garage, our garden shed? No room at the inn.
We don't live in a mansion, by any means. But we've got plenty of house for a family of four (and one spoiled dog). Lately, though, it's been feeling more like storage space than living space.
All of us, even our five-year-old, have our weaknesses. Webkinz, tech gadgets, games, books and clothes. We love our stuff. But do we really need it?
This isn't (completely) about lessening our impact on the environment, or saving money, or making a point, although I suspect we'll do all those things over the course of those 100 days. What it's mostly about is rethinking what's important. Finding out why we feel the need to keep up with the Joneses.
Starting June 1st, I'm hoping we find out.
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