No Impact Experiment Week - Day 3 - Part 1

Day 3! - Transportation

"Burn calories, not fossil fuels."

I think that day three will be easier for me than for some.  I've been living for a year now with no car.  My job is a 15 minute bike ride away from my apartment, and so is the train station and the bus stop.  I commute to work every day either on foot or by bike.  Occasionally when I go to my Japanese lessons I take the train, but it is still within biking distance if I so chose to attempt it.  Every once in a while I end up being driven in a car if there's somewhere that I have to/want to go that isn't close to any public transportation.  Also, sometimes people end up coming over to my house to hang out because there is no way for me to get to them.  Living in the middle of nowhere (as they do) can have these disadvantages.  So although I'm not driving, sometimes my friends come see me which I suppose still makes me part of the carbon equation.

YES! Magazine's Get Carbon-Free Poster

Steps:

Day 3, Step 1

Take stock of my habits - make a list of everywhere I'm going today and how I usually get there.  What alternative modes of transportation could I use instead?

-Today I am going to work (the Junior High School) and back home.  I will do as I usually do, and ride my bike there and back.

Day 3, Step 2

Throughout the day keep a list of everything I eat, where I eat, and where I purchase food.  This will help me get ready for tomorrow's challenge.

-I did not purchase any food today, and I already described my food purchases from yesterday.  Here is what I ate today:

-My homemade bread for breakfast.  (I am trying to use up flower that I bought a while ago, so I made bread during the day yesterday.) (Flower, yeast, milk, egg, butter, water, olive oil, salt, sugar) (At home.)

-Corn pieces that were cooked into the bread.

-Butter on the bread.

-Black tea.

-Green tea. (At school.)

-Instant coffee. (At school.)

-School lunch (fried chicken, milk, pork, egg and vegetable mix, rice, salt, vegetable soup)

-Green tea. (At school.)

-Homemade bread again and a pear for dinner. (At home.)

-As I already know what is coming, I am ashamed to admit that I barely know where any of this food came from, or what's actually in it.  I made the bread, but where is the flower from?  The butter?  The corn?  The yeast, milk, eggs, and sugar?  The only things I'm pretty sure about on the list above, is that the pear came from Yamanashi and the tap water.  I also think that a lot of the food in the school lunch came from Yamanashi, or from Japan at least.  Maybe not all of it, but some of it.

-I think that the "local eating" phase of the project is going to be quite difficult for where I live, but I do think that the purchase choices I make now will be better than choices I would have made before!

Day 3, Step 3

Take a moment to reflect on my day.  Was it a nice change of pace or a difficult one?  What benefits did I discover?  What could I improve in my experience.

-As I said, I don't think this is a hard step for me because it is the way I have to live everyday.  For one year I had an international driving permit that would have allowed me to drive a car or a motor bike.  Even before the No Impact Project,  I intentionally chose not to purchase a motor vehicle, and not to get a Japanese drivers license.  At the time I was simply hoping to save money.  I also knew that if I had a car, I would never use my bike!  I am glad that I made the decision to live without one though, because it makes my life a lot easier.  I am able to save a lot of money, and I'm also able to stay in shape just by going about my daily routine.

Day 3, Step 4

Write down five things for which I am grateful.

1) I am grateful for the rain.

2) I am grateful for the light.

3) I am grateful for having ambition.

4) I am grateful for having such a wonderful and blessed life.

5) I am grateful for my family, my mother in particular.

Today's garbage:

-Small memo, used both sides of paper (recycled, mixed paper)

-floss (garbage)

-tea bag (recycled, mixed paper and garbage)

-small, cut scraps of paper (recycled, mixed paper)

-pear core (garbage)

-tea leaves (compost at school)

-milk bottle top (recycled, mixed paper and mixed plastic)

-small portion of leftover lunch (compost at school)

Our school lunch is served on reusable plates, with reusable utensils.  The milk is even served in refillable glass bottles.  The only thing that usually gets thrown away is the occasional dessert cup, the small cap for the milk bottle, and any food scraps.  Even then, the food scraps get used in the school compost.

I did not buy anything new today, nor did I want to!  It's true what Colin says about getting past the immediate desire.  It does actually go away, and it does actually make you happier to be satisfied with what you have now!  The more I find I can use something over and over, the happier it makes me.  Today I broke a rubber band by accident.  I was about to throw it away when I realized that I would have to write it down and be accountable for throwing it away.  Just then it struck me!  I don't have to throw it away just yet, I can tie it together and continue using it!  So that's just what I did.  I felt happy that I was able to elongate the life of it, and to recognize that I "fixed it" instead of tossing it.

Also, I  had a memo on my desk leftover from last week.  I was finished with it, so I made a move to recycle it.  Again, I knew I would have to own up to throwing it away, and I realized that I could still use it.  There was still plenty of space left on the memo!  I crossed out the "finished" tasks, and left it where it was.  These two really small examples of reusing supplies may not seem like a big deal now, but imagine how big of a deal it would be if everyone did this?  If even I did this all the time?  I like the fact that I am held accountable for the things I throw away.  It makes me think about why I use it in the first place.  Does it need to be thrown away so early?  What other options are there?  At first, keeping track of my garbage felt like a pain or like I was being punished, but now I feel like I am really caring about the items I use.  Where did they come from?  Where will they go?  How many people were involved in making this?  What kind of story does it have?  Will it have?  I am starting to care about the resources involved in making it too.  It's amazing how such a small time and easy project has made such a big difference on my thought process.

(All of the steps are found on the No Impact Experiment Guide PDF.  Copyright 2011 No Impact Project)

Read about other people's experiences here.

"No Car No Problem," an article in YES! Magazine written by Orion Kriegman.

Make sure to download (but don't print) the No Impact Week “How to Guide”

More info at http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/get-ready-for-no-impact-tuesday-transportation.

Live Twitter chat today with Raj Patel, 2 PM EST

No Impact Experiment Week - Day 2

 Day 2! - Trash

"Discover how wasting less improves your life."

Today I moved onto the trash phase of the No Impact Project.  Yesterday I was told to collect my trash so that I could analyze it a little today, and from today on for the rest of the week I am supposed to cut back as much as physically possible on the amount of trash and waste that I produce.

Steps:

Day 2, Step 1

Empty my special trash bin from yesterday.  Separate the items into two columns, stuff that I used for more than ten minutes and stuff that I used for less than ten minutes.  How does this make me feel?

More than 10

-plastic straw

-french fry paper

Less than 10

-facial oil tissue (x4)

-receipts (x3)

-plastic sugar and milk container

-hand wipe (unused)

-purikura backing

-piece of paper from bag

-toilet paper


-It makes me sad that almost everything I threw away yesterday was only meant to be used for under 10 minutes!  The only reason the two items in "more than 10" ended up there, is because I took my time drinking my coffee and eating my french fries.  The second thing that I regret, is that nearly everything on this list could have been avoided.  The only thing on there that I haven't (and probably won't replace any time soon unless we install toilets like in Thailand and Cambodia) is the toilet paper, but everything else was simply unnecessary and wasteful.  I received the majority of the items unknowingly, and didn't know how to refuse them politely.  If everyone in Japan is expected to carry around small hand towels because they don't have paper towels in most public restrooms, why are we given napkins and disposable goods almost everywhere else?  Why are so many stores and households switching to disposable chopsticks and paper napkins?  The more I think about these things, the more I don't understand how society ever got to be this way.

Day 2, Step 2

Put together a no-trash travel kit for the week with something for drinking, a handkerchief/old T-shirt rag, Tupperware, utensils, and reusable produce bags. - CHECK-
-I have put together a simple "reusable, sustainable kit."  It consists of my personal grocery store eco-bag, reusable chopsticks, a small spoon, a small fork, a square of an old t-shirt rag for general use, a handkerchief, my thermos, a small Tupperware, and old produce bags that I can use again.

Day 2, Step 3

Stop making trash.  Reduce it, reuse it, recycle it.  Just don't throw it away.  Keep a special bag at home or in the office to keep track of the trash I make during the week. -CHECK-
-I will try to write what kind of trash I create here.  Read below for today's.  How are you doing?

Day 2, Step 4

Blog about these questions:

What did I throw away today?  Why was it hard or easy not to make trash?

-Despite staying at home most of the day, I was able to make a lot more trash than I expected.  Here is my trash list for the day:

-toilet paper (for using the toilet, as well as for using as tissues)

-toilet paper roll/tube (recycled into mixed paper bin)

-coffee grounds (no filter, I use a filter-less strainer)

-1 wrapper for vitamin tablet (recycled into mixed plastics)

-wrapper for shiso packaging (recycled into mixed plastics)

-small label from plastic bag (recycled into mixed paper)

-eggshells x2

-moisture reducing packet from a bag of flower

-I don't feel too bad about this list actually.  Much of it was able to be recycled.  I have eliminated paper towels and tissues (Kleenex) from my apartment, and am able to get by using rags and recycled paper toilet paper instead.  The garbage that was produced from the food was all stuff that I had laying around the house and wanted to use up instead of waste.  I had to go to the grocery store today, and the hardest thing I found so far about trash is food packaging.  Especially in Japan, it is nearly impossible to get food of any kind that does not come already individually wrapped and thoroughly packaged in either paper or plastic.  There is a store in my town that offers bulk options for things like pastas, sauces, vegetables and other goods, but other than this one store there is nowhere I can go that does not produce some kind of trash after purchase.  For foods that I had no choice, I decided to go with the "bulk" option to at least cut back on the waste.  At the vegetable stand, I decided to only buy what I could find not already packaged in plastic, however this limited my options significantly.  I brought everything home in the basket on my bike in my own reusable bags.
-I also found it a little difficult to pass by the things at the grocery store that I wanted, but didn't need.  For example, chocolate.  After his No Impact Project ended, I wonder what kind of items Colin Beavan remained to do without, and what he decided he would make exceptions for?

Day 2, Step 5

Be proud of my efforts and a great start to the week.  Write down five things for which I am grateful.

1) I am grateful for my amazingly supportive boyfriend who puts up with all of my new fads, and is being very helpful and understanding about my "rules" regarding the No Impact week.

2) I am grateful to be blessed with the basic human needs - physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

3) I am grateful to get the chance to do something I love every single day.

4) I am grateful for my loving family and friends.

5) I am grateful for all of the wonderful chances I've been given, and all of the opportunities and experiences I've had.

What kinds of things did you throw away today?  What could you have recycled or saved?  What could you have replaced with something reusable?  Share your comments and ideas below!

YES! Magazine - 10 Ways to Change Your Life poster

(All of the steps are found on the No Impact Experiment Guide PDF.  Copyright 2011 No Impact Project)

Read about other people's experiences here.


"42 Ways to Not Make Trash," an article in YES! Magazine written by Colin Beavan, the No Impact Man.

Make sure to download (but don't print) the No Impact Week “How to Guide”

More info at http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/climate-action/annie-leonard-on-life-after-stuff, http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/no-impact-week-with-yes, and http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/get-ready-for-no-impact-monday-trash


Live Twitter chat today with Annie Leonard, 5 PM EST