Project Greening My Family

So my family (the adult members, at least) have decided that it would be prudent for us to learn to live more sustainably.  We have embarked on a journey of "greening" ourselves, so to speak.  It has been an interesting journey so far.  We have been reading a ton, have learned a LOT, and are excited about implementing some of the things that we have learned.

So far we've had some successes, and there are some areas where we need more work.  We have taken a big step toward reducing our energy use by cutting off our air conditioning.  We have not used the a/c in about 2 weeks.  This is a big step for us, because August in Georgia is not necessarily a cool weather time.  It really hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be.  For the most part, I usually forget that the a/c is not on.  I think this will ultimately go a long way toward reducing our energy bill as well (which we could really use).  On the other hand, we still really need to be conscious about turning lights off when we're not in the room, or when we just don't really need lights.  We also have to work on turning off appliances when they're not in use.  I have been pretty good at washing our clothes in cold instead of hot water.  This was surprisingly difficult.  I never realized how attached I was to the idea that white clothes had to be washed in hot water.  The next step is to buy greener products.  

The biggest thing for us, in the energy department is going to be turning off the television!  Really, that's an obstacle that is going to be much bigger than just energy.  I think, or rather I am pretty certain, that reducing our television usage will completely change our lifestyle.  I'm working on it.  It really ebbs and flows.  Some days we will watch very little tv, and some days it seems like the thing has been on the whole day.

Speaking of ebbs and flows, the greening of our diet has been another obstacle.  Some weeks are realllllly good, then it will be grocery time and everything will go wrong.  Or there will be some change in our schedule that throws off all that good eating.  This part is so important.  Our diet is entirely too grain based.  We definitely have to shift from a grain based diet to a fruit and vegetable based diet.  My cooking has improved by leaps and bounds, so much so, that I am even impressing myself!  I am currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and it is just reinforcing for me how important this shift is!  I want my family to be healthy, and to live in a healthy environment, so that my descendants can be healthy too!  I want to be a part of a shift towards health and wellness in this society, wherein states of dis-ease like diabetes are not normalized.  

I am so looking forward to growing things!  I have pretty much decided on container gardening until we get a place that we feel like we'll be in for more than a year.  That will start soon, I hope.  We also are going to work harder at recycling.  Whenever we start, I think I try to make it a big operation, and we end up falling short.  This time, I think we'll start smaller.  The final thing that we've decided to do is to start reusing.  We've always both really wanted to build and paint things, so instead of paying a lot of money (that we don't have) for things, we'll try to find them used at thrift stores, on freecycle, etc, and then fix them up!  Cheap and environmentally friendly!  Gotta love it!