What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?

[okisok]

Mended pajamas and a sweater. Hung two loads of laundry to dry instead of electric drying.

[trashtalk]

Went to the native plant nursery and bought a dozen seedlings and starts for landscape plants that will feed the local bugs and birds.

[Loretta]

I started some catnip seeds indoors for my furry husbands.  Plants are cool. I also started 2 pots with cherry tomato seeds indoors. 

I’m sending a box of clothing to ThredUP to recycle/reuse.  I also am donating a trunk full of books and housewares to my local charity thrift store this week. 

[OtherJen]

Just signed up for a CSA half-share. From May through October, we will get locally grown, chemical fertilizer/artificial pesticide-free produce directly from the farmer every week. Healthier for us, for the farmers, and the earth.

(Yes, we could grow our own but have had limited success in the past.)

[Dollar Slice]

Took transit instead of taxis on a day when I was sorely tempted (L train weekend maintenance schedule, plus I injured my foot someone injured my foot for me on the way there). Four trains and a bus and a mile of walking instead of burning extra fossil fuels.

Stopped at the grocery store on the way home and decided to make a vegetarian batch cook this week. (Would be vegan except I'd rather use up chicken stock from the freezer than buy vegetable stock... I don't currently have any veggie scraps to make it homemade.)

[Frugal Lizard]

Hosted a potluck dinner with neighbours and used dishes  and cloth napkins instead of disposables.

[Beardog]

To conserve water while bathing:

Apply soap to underarms before getting in shower.

Use hand held shower head to fill bucket with cold water while I'm waiting for warm water to arrive.  Cold water collected in bucket is used to flush toilet.  (Applying the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" philosophy, I only flush solid waste immediately.  Generally I collect liquid waste and flush once a day.)  Wash only 'critical areas' most days with full shower about every 5 days or so.  Every other day just wet down my short hair to make it presentable rather than using with soap.  Use glycerin soap on body and head - no shampoo.

Use control on shower head to turn water off while washing my hair.  For a part time office rat, this level of hygiene is perfectly adequate.  And I don't have as much dry skin b/c I'm not constantly soaping my entire body.  And I save water.

[Miss Stachio]

Walked to work, saved food scraps for the community compost, eating plant-based meals, wrote a letter to city representatives to support bicycling infrastructure.

[tawyer]

Took tupperware to work to save leftovers from catered lunch instead of using disposable to-go box.

[Frugal Lizard]

Made a vegetarian dinner last night.  Hung a load of laundry to dry in the house.  Shoveled the drive instead of using a plowing service.

[gatortator]

taught a group of kids the 7 principles of Leave No Trace.

[Miss Stachio]

Finished reading Inconspicuous Consumption (borrowed from the library). Will be participating in freecycling much more, and being more cognizant of the impact of clothing purchases.

Earlier this year, I saved a floor lamp from a friend who was moving away and brought it into work. Now the glaring overhead lights are off and my office is lit by the LED in the lamp. The computer and other electronics are plugged into a power strip that I turn off every night when I leave.

[Tyson]

My general cycle of clothing goes something like:

But something new and durable.
Wear it till it rips, has holes, etc...
Put it in my rag box and use it as a rag.
Throw it away after it's too ratty to use as a rag.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Had a craving for that gross sweetened 7-11 iced coffee (don't judge, I have reasons). I emptied out the travel mug that I normally use for water and brought that to save the plastic cup and straw. And I walked there.

Yesterday, I mended LB's new onesie pajamas. Infuriatingly, considering he had only worn it a handful of times, the zipper had come unstitched and the pull kept falling off. I reinstalled it and sewed up the bottom so it will stay in place now.

Fortunately, he does not seem to have noticed that it is a smidge crooked now...

[JLR]

Our daughter works in a cafe. On Saturdays they throw out most of the food left at the end of the day (which is 12:30pm). Except on the days she works she brings home all the leftovers. So, I ate a leftover pulled pork and caramelised onion pepita roll, even though she has brought home so many of the last few years that I am tired of eating them.

[Loretta]

I doused my bathroom floorboards with a white vinegar concoction to get rid of the ants I’ve been seeing.  Then I did some laundry with a small dash of 365 Brand detergent without using the extra rinse function.  I’m trying to make a concerted effort to use less toothpaste, detergent, whatevs because I tend to be...heavy handed with soap substances!

[Dollar Slice]

I saw a big bag of plastic recycling that had somehow gotten way out into the street (in the bus lane on a major avenue in Manhattan). It hadn't been run over yet so I ran out and grabbed it and carried it to a nearby restaurant that had put some trash and recycling out for pickup, and left it in their recycling pile. I figured it it got hit by a bus it would end up scattered and wrecked and degrade into the environment, or get thrown in the trash at best.

[Miss Stachio]

Bicycled 18 miles round trip for a meeting across town and got to enjoy the sun and flowers starting to bloom. Repaired a pair of jeans that were starting to rip along the inner seam. Saved water from washing veggies and boiling pasta to water plants. Used the hay box method to make a batch of lentils and veggie broth (from veggie scraps). Vacuumed and wiped the dust from the condenser coils behind/under the fridge.

Found some of these tips interesting:  www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/29/50-ways-to-green-up-your-life-save-the-planet

[gaja]

I'm part of a project that tries to remove barriers between those in public administration who work with climate, and the rest of society. As part of this, we have tried establishing a forum for discussing ideas and sharing policy ideas and tools. But we are not seeing a lot of activity. Could you please have a look, maybe test posting there, and give me som feedback on what we are doing wrong?

https://pentahelix.eu/climate-forum-7/

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Brought my lunch to work in a glass jar that used to contain Better than Bullion, because I have been putting off buying more dedicated containers.

The lunch in question was not actually made with Better than Bullion, though--it used up the turkey broth that has been sitting in my freezer since Thanksgiving. Win!

[Miss Stachio]

Walked to work. Spot cleaned a small spill on a pair of pants instead of running a quarter load of laundry. Used up some herbs that were getting wilty in a quick chickpea salad. Started planting seeds in the container garden.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Coronavirus is not helping my carbon footprint! I've been Clorox wiping the shared desks at work, for instance, nad all that hand-washing (at work) involves paper towels. BUT instead of using some kind of specially-purchased device or disposable wipes for my phone, I mixed up rubbing alcohol and water in an old jam jar. I can dip a reusable microfiber cloth in it to disinfect my cellphone.

[gatortator]

so soy milk...   my family likes it fine but I stopped buying it because of packaging.   however if I make either soy milk or soy milk powder, I would remove this issue.  has anyone here made their own?  any tips or tricks?

[GreenToTheCore]

all that hand-washing (at work) involves paper towels.

Funny little video on how to minimize paper towels after washing hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FMBSblpcrc&vl=en

[Hirondelle]

I got toothbrushes from recycled plastic for the first time (also no plastic packaging!).

The regular store also had bamboo brushes, but as the recycled-plastic brand was on sale I went with these ones for now.

[HPstache]

Has anyone successfully canceled phone book delivery?  I swear we get a new one 2 or more times a year which is ridiculous.   I have not used a phone book in multiple decades.  How do I get off this list of environmental tragedy?

[Staunch Aim]

Biked to both the Goodwill and ARC thrift stores looking for flatware.  There were forks and knives aplenty, but not a spoon to be found.  Biked to the dollar where I found spoons.

I have my theories on the used spoon shortage (it's not the best part of town).

[MyAlterEgoIsTaller]

This weekend I didn't drive anywhere, buy anything, or create any trash except compostable food scraps.

[Frugal Lizard]

Lined dried three loads of bed linens. 

[Miss Stachio]

Has anyone successfully canceled phone book delivery?  I swear we get a new one 2 or more times a year which is ridiculous.   I have not used a phone book in multiple decades.  How do I get off this list of environmental tragedy?

Wow, I haven't gotten a phone book for the last 10 years. I did call the local news organization that sponsors the free weekly advertising 'paper' which has all the coupons and supermarket ads to tell them to take me off the mailing list. They said they would but it might take a while. It's been a month and I'm still getting the adverts so maybe I need to call again.

This weekend I biked to get groceries, bringing my own bags and panniers. I also biked to go birding. The data collected helps organizations evaluate the state of health of the bird population, and the state of the local ecosystem. While I was birding, I stopped to listen to a mockingbird cycle through its songs, mimicking seagulls, song sparrows, cardinals, and even a car alarm. A few other people saw me watching the bird and stopped to marvel at it as well. That was cool. On the flip side, this year's reported spring migrant birds and chick sightings are all earliest on record for the area...

[gatortator]

Has anyone successfully canceled phone book delivery?  I swear we get a new one 2 or more times a year which is ridiculous.   I have not used a phone book in multiple decades.  How do I get off this list of environmental tragedy?

try using https://www.catalogchoice.org

[lexde]

• Ate no meat.
• Working our tonight on a used stationary (commercial grade) bike after having canceled my gym membership - less driving, less demand, and certainly cheaper.
• Brewed my own tea (no extra plastic) for Arnold Palmers with dinner.

[Staunch Aim]

Hung my laundry to dry.
Reused water from cooking rice to cook oatmeal.
Pressure cooked some beans instead of opening a can.

[Miss Stachio]

Saved water from heating up shower water for watering plants. Biked to drop off compost and bring home some soil to start seedlings.

[Serendip]

Saved water from heating up shower water for watering plants. Biked to drop off compost and bring home some soil to start seedlings.

Oh that's a great idea to catch the shower water--I'll do this too!

[lazycow]

Fished a box of old chargers and cables out of the rubbish bin (bad husband!) and dropped them off at our e-waste recycling centre on the way home from other errands.

[middo]

Worked from home, so no petrol burnt today.  Looks like I may be doing it for a while, which is fine with me.

[okisok]

Spent some of my quarantine time cleaning up a local creek. I filled up one bag of trash and one of recyleables, putting them in the correct receptacles.
Put cotton fabrics scraps and cardboard in my compost bin to balance out greens & browns. Learned that Bausch & Lomb will accept contact lenses and the packaging for recycling! https://www.biotrueonedaylenses.com/one-by-one-recycling

[Poundwise]

I have been helping organize cloth mask-making groups in New York.  I think that soon wearing masks in public will be a fact of life for ordinary people. Though eventually industry will catch up to making enough disposable masks for medical facilities, the rest of us should be using reusable masks.

[Loretta]

Because I haven’t really worn clothing this week in self isolation I decided my laundry could wait until I’m off again.  I’m trying to wait until the loads are larger for a more efficient use of my washer and water supply. 

[okisok]

Cleaned my oven today. I started with a can of commercial oven cleaner that I've had for years, the kind that's so poisonous that I need to have the windows open and wear gloves. It didn't do a very good job, though I followed the the directions exactly.
I tried regular dish soap (I have a biodegradable kind) and it worked! I slathered on the soap with a bit of water on an 'unpaper towel' and a sponge. Let it sit for a few minutes, then got a bucket of water to rinse the towel and SCRUBBED. It looks brand new and the by products are safe enough to dump in the yard. (Next time I clean it, since this time had oven cleaner residue.) The can of poison is off to the chemical waste recycling. No more spraying that stuff in my house!

[Frugal Lizard]

Laundry on the line again.
Lots of cooking at home
We are really working on reducing food waste.

[Miss Stachio]

Used baking soda to clean the bathroom sink, tub, and toilet. Planted more seeds in the garden. Snipped some escaped vines that are choking the neighborhood trees.

[BECABECA]

Started a compost pile!

[trashtalk]

* Walked (instead of driving) to the ATM and a small local market to pick up coffee beans, flour, yeast and some treats for the kids for Easter.

* Got out our box of hollow wooden Easter eggs--we will use these for a backyard egg hunt on Sunday and then they are storable and reusable for next year

[BuffaloStache]

I feel like I've done a lot since being on a "stay-at-Home Order" during this Pandemic, but the biggest by far is going 100% remote at work. I *hides my head in shame* drive ~56 mi (90 km) round trip per day to and from work, something In loathe but do so that my family can live in a centralized location and my wife can minimize her commute (& actually use public transport a lot). I've easily not-driven 100's of miles due to working from home.

Another thought is that before this pandemic I tried to work at least ~one day per week at home. I'm hopeful I can stretch that to ~2 days per week when this is all over.

[ZsaZsa]

Working from home three days a week.
Digging dandelions out of the yard, rather than spraying them with toxic chemicals.

[diapasoun]

Our freezer is fuller than normal (not packed, but full), which is a nice bonus to freezer efficiency.

[screwit]

• I dug up dandelions and made dandelion coffee with them. It was ok - most of the flavour comes from the roasting, so it had those notes but none of the bitter coffee ones. It was pretty watery and I needed about 4 roots per cup because the roots were pretty small.
• Planted out a bunch of seedlings I started in our wintergarden in February
• Made facemasks for my extended family out of sheets I was going to get rid of. Not too happy about the fit so I'm going to give another design a go.
• Learned how to crochet and started using up some yarn that was in the cupboard from years ago, rather than going online and buying other random crafting supplies, which is what I really want to do!
• I bought a grow-your-own-mushroom kit two months ago. That finished fruiting and I used it to inoculate cardboard I pulled out of the apartment's recycling bin and pasteurized. That's now grown and today I'm going to start the fruiting part (I hope!)

[MrGrossGoatee]

Well, this is kind of the opposite, but I hadn't driven my car for about two weeks before today, when I went to get groceries. Hopefully the two weeks buy me a few bragging points....