It's DAY 1 of the No Impact Experiment, also known as the YES! Magazine No Impact Week! Today's theme is CONSUMPTION, meaning that we will be focusing on minimizing/limiting our buying habits for the week. Although consumption is the theme for today, everything we learn and attempt today will be applied to the rest of the week as well.
The daily themes are as follows:
Sunday - Consumption
Monday - Trash
Tuesday - Transportation, Take Action
Wednesday - Food
Thursday - Energy
Friday - Water
Saturday - Giving Back
Sunday - Eco-Sabbath
But really, it's more like this:
Sunday - Consumption
Monday - Trash, and Consumption
Tuesday - Transportation, Take Action, Trash, and Consumption
Wednesday - Food, Transportation, Take Action, Trash, and Consumption
Thursday - Energy, Food, Transportation, Take Action, Trash, and Consumption
Friday - Water, Energy, Food, Transportation, Take Action, Trash, and Consumption
Saturday - Giving Back, Water, Energy, Food, Transportation, Take Action, Trash, and Consumption
Sunday - Eco-Sabbath, Giving Back, Water, Energy, Food, Transportation, Take Action, Trash, and Consumption
Each day builds on the last, so not only do you have to worry about the new challenge, but you also have to keep up the standards from the day before, and the day before, etc.
Because I am half a day ahead of readers in the states, when I post at 9:30 PM JST, it will only be around 8:30 AM EST. Hopefully by reading about my challenges, experiences, frustrations and breakthroughs before your day has really begun, you will be able to gain eco-confidence and get ideas by reading my No Impact Week blog entries.
This weekend I went to Tokyo to visit my Saitama host family and friends from Denison/Waseda. If I had known about the No Impact Week earlier, I probably would have tried to change my plans to go to Tokyo. I was unable to change my plans but luckily I was able to come back to Yamanashi early, and going to Tokyo actually gave me a lot to think about and write about regarding consumption.
So on to day 1!
The challenge of the day is to "do more with less."
Annie Leonard has done a lot of research, has written a book, and has started a program about "stuff." It's called "The Story of Stuff (Project)." Below is one of the many videos and resources from her website. One of the things that sticks in my mind is that 99% of the stuff we buy will be trashed within six months. Think of the things that you buy, own, and use. How much of it will you keep longer than six months? How much of it was produced to be used only once before it is thrown away? How did our culture get this way?
Day 1, Step 1
Type up a list of all the stuff I need to buy this week. Delete the items I can live without. For the rest of the items, can I purchase them second hand? Can I borrow them? Can I make them myself?
I need to buy:
-This week I don't actually need to buy anything other than food, which does not count here. There are things that I could buy to make my life more ecologically sustainable in the long run, but for now I've decided to use things that I already have lying around the house instead of buying anything new.
-This week I don't actually need to buy anything other than food, which does not count here. There are things that I could buy to make my life more ecologically sustainable in the long run, but for now I've decided to use things that I already have lying around the house instead of buying anything new.
-Omiyage for the people back at school that knew I was going to Tokyo. I think I will not buy these omiyage. The majority of the people don't know I went to Tokyo, and I think I'd like to do the best that I can with the project. This won't be as big of a cultural blunder as it would have been if I didn't bring anything for my host family. The co-workers at my school will live.
-Omiyage from Hakone/Izu at the end of the week. I think I will cancel this too. They will probably just blame it (my "ignorance") on me being a foreigner.
Put an empty, reusable bag in a private place at home. Fill it up with all of my trash, recyclables, and food waste. Make sure that nobody else's trash gets in there but my own. This will help me for Monday's challenge.
Color key:
Manufactured to be used once = red
Manufactured to be used over and over = greenHere is a list of the trash I made today:
-4 pieces of facial oil tissue
-receipts for karaoke and lunch
-plastic straw in the "mandatory one drink"
-plastic milk and sugar wrappers for that one drink (iced coffee)
-(possibly) a hand wipe package and napkin. I didn't use mine and left it behind at the restaurant, but they may have thrown it away anyway.
-purikura backing (once I use the sticker)
-paper under the french fries I ordered at lunch
-receipt from my milk purchase -My host mother made me breakfast this morning. I'm sure she used packaged goods and dried some dishes with paper towels, so whatever garbage she used on me during breakfast should be counted here.
-A piece of paper that I took out of the bag that my host mother gave me.
-I did not keep it of course, but I "disposed of" toilet paper every time I went to the bathroom.
-Have you thought about the kind of trash you create? What do you tend to throw away the most? When I'm at home, the majority of my trash ends up being food scraps. I looked into making a compost but was denied permission by the landlord. I will think more about this and see if there's a way I can work around the rules. Food scraps could easily be given back to the earth to create rich and healthy soil!
Day 1, Step 3
Just for the week, try not to shop for new items. Will I find something better to do with my time and money? Could I use this time to spend with friends instead?
-I don't think this will be much of a problem. I rarely shop as it is. Recently I've been wanting a personal planner/calendar for 2012, but I will hold off on it for now. It's not something I need, and I could probably make one for myself using recycled resources. I'd say my worst shopping habit in general is buying books and stationery goods. Not a terrible habit, just not a good one. How much of this should I cut back on after the week is over? How much is OK and how much is negative consumerism? Is all consumerism negative? When should we tell ourselves that it's OK to have something new? Is the point that once we replace the shopping habits with better habits, like socializing in the community, we no longer want whatever it is we thought we wanted? I'm pretty sure that this is the point. We replace shopping with social interaction, community, and other activities, and we realize that we don't really want those other things anyway! This week I will be spending a lot of time with friends!
-Today I went to lunch and karaoke with my friends in Tokyo. After karaoke we took pictures of us all together in a karaoke booth. I think that taking these pictures broke the rules of the first step, but at the time I didn't feel like I had much say in whether we went or not. I could see the picture counting as buying something new, but what about karaoke? Does it count, or not really? It's not a product. I won't be able to take the actual thing home with me, only the memories. It's something that many people can use over and over again. I'm going to count the karaoke as a social event (but maybe not a very eco/green one...) and the purikura photos as an accidental slip-up of day one. Wow. This is much more difficult than I expected it would be! If it's this difficult for me, someone who thinks about these things on a regular basis, how difficult would it be for someone who is trying the No Impact Experiment "cold turkey?"
Day 1, Step 4
What is the hardest part about decreasing purchasing? Blog about my experience, thoughts, and overall consumption habits. Am I doing anything new or unique?
-In general I don't really like shopping, but after just coming back from Tokyo I can see how some people are really dragged into the whole consumerism culture. On my way in by train, the closer we got to the city, the more clear it was that fashion was a really important aspect of Tokyo. Trendy bags, wallets, nails, hair, makeup, outfits, everything! As I was sitting on the train, I was thinking about how cool everyone looked, and how could we convince people to give up shopping if even I fall into this trap of longing for it? But then I tried looking around for the happy people. Were these fashionable people happy, or was looking at them just making me think I would be happy? None of them were smiling. Actually, the woman sitting across from me looked absolutely miserable despite her cute, put-together outfit. I envied her for her look, but what else? Immediately after arriving in Shinjuku I went to the station restroom. There was a long line of young, trendy women waiting patiently. All of the bathroom mirrors were occupied by fashionistas putting on or fixing their makeup; adjusting their hair or outfits. My mind started to wander, when I heard someone throw up from one of the stalls. No, not just one of the stalls. Several of the stalls. This was definitely not something I wanted to be a part of.
After leaving the station I was bombarded again by cute clothes and cute things. Every person who walked by had something that I wanted, and every window and advertisement, too. "Oh yeah! I want a new jacket! Oh yeah! Those shoes are cute! Oh yeah! That's a neat phone!" So I took a step back and tried to think about it reasonably. If I bought that phone right now, would I be happy? Maybe I would be interested for thirty seconds, and then I would realize what a dent it made in my wallet. Or maybe I'd use it for two days and need a new technology high. Shopping gives you temporary surges of happiness, but it's like any drug. Soon you need to use again in order to get that feeling of happiness back, or you need to use more just to get back to the same level of "high."
-I also got a chance to visit my host family for a little while during my weekend trip. At first I thought that going to Tokyo would be a bad thing for the project, but I actually think it helped open my eyes to it! Since I've known my host family, they've always had a lot of stuff. They are about to get their new host student tomorrow, so I helped them clean up a bit. There were piles and piles of stuff that they didn't know what to do with. A lot of the stuff will soon be thrown away, because I couldn't convince them to take it to a used-goods store. Some of the stuff being thrown away hasn't even been used, most of it still perfectly fine. I think our biggest problem as a society or a culture is that we want the cutest, newest item, and we buy it impulsively. We often buy things that replace what we already have, even if it's still in good working or usable condition. Then we simply throw the old thing away. I'm definitely not perfect and I buy things impulsively too, but I'm trying to make myself more aware of this and think about it, try to figure out why I do it and what I can do differently.
-My habits as of now are: I shop only a very little, and I usually shop for clothes, furniture, and house appliances used. I like giving away or reselling things opposed to throwing them away. Every once in a while I indulge, and I buy books and stationery or other objects that I don't need. In general, I have tried to stop using disposable goods such as napkins, tissues, and paper towels. I use old rags for cleaning, and buy 100% recycled paper toilet paper.
Day 1, Step 5
Answer the e-mailed survey.
(All of the steps are found on the No Impact Experiment Guide PDF. Copyright 2011 No Impact Project)
"Join us today at 2:30 pm EST as we chat with environmental leader Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and author of Eaarth. Contribute to the conversation by going to twitter.com and searching for #noimpact." - Lilly Belanger
"Be Happy Anyway," an article by Sarah van Gelder and Doug Pibel
Well, thanks for reading Day 1! Any questions or comments? Mistakes and corrections? Write to me about it.
Tomorrow: Trash
-Lana
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