Friday, April 22, 2011

Earth day 2011

In honor of Earth Day, I took a little carbon footprint quiz. (take the quiz here)
Now, if you know me at all (and all 3 of you do), you know that I'm kind of a recycle fanatic.  (admitting it the first step).  So, I thought I would do fairly well on the quiz with the whole compost/recycle/second hand/thrifting/gardening nonsense that we occupy ourselves with around here.
well, not so much.  My score was 4.5.  What this means is that if everyone in the world lived like I live, it would take 4.5 Earths to support that life.  Really?  What would happen if I didn't compost/recycle/second hand/thrift/garden????


According to the quiz, here are my problem areas...
I have running water.  and electricity.
I have a car.  well, 2 of them.  and the tires are flat on my bike.
I read the newspaper.
And I fly on airplanes.  

So, I continued on to see what the suggestions are for reducing my carbon footprint...
um, 
ride my bike.  everywhere.
use less electricity.
eat less meat.
grow more of my own food.  or only purchase food grown within 200 miles (goodbye bananas.  and grapes.  and lots of other things.)
oh, and don't fly on airplanes.

By doing all of these things, I can reduce my number to 3.5  (or 3.5 Earths to support such a lifestyle for everyone on the Earth.

So, I am going to try and do all of the things suggested on the list.  except for the last one.  Rick is registered to run in the New York Marathon next fall and that is too far to ride my bike.


 our attempt at composting
 Peaches grown within 1 mile of my house.  
Even though I drove around the block to pick them and haul them home.
 thifted yard chairs.
brought home from Montana.
proof that we buy local

 growing our own food.  quite a success.
 Green cleaning products.
I actually quite like the smell of vinegar for cleaning.
a little more success at gardening.
our radish crop helped feed us for about 8 days.  great.

1 comment:

Jonathan and Teresa Herlevi said...

After my London trip, where I walked and road the tube everywhere I vowed I would walk more places upon returning to the states. Needless to say, I found it quite difficult due to a lack of sidewalks and well just laziness. It is pretty sad that there are cars in the parking lot at church where no one lives more than 2 blocks away.