Thursday, April 22, 2010

Wrap Up

Today, Earth Day, is the culmination of the One Small Change Challenge. Since January, my family and so many others pledged to make one change each month that would impact the environment in a positive way. Here's a wrap up of the changes we made, and how we've been doing with them since:

In January, we decided to be more conscious about the food in our house. Since then, we have done our best to use up our perishable food before it goes bad. This change was pretty straight forward and we found it to be a matter of organization, and just being more aware of the inventory in the fridge.

For February our change was to try to use only one trash bag a week. We do not succeed in this goal each week, but it has made us more aware of products we bring into the house, and how they relate to the trash that leaves the house. Hopefully, with time, we will have just one bag out there on the curb each and every week.

In March, we did away with paper towels. Easy peasy. With more rags than we know what to do with, we haven't looked back.

Our April change was to use baking soda and vinegar to their fullest potential. We have found so many recipes and have made the switch to natural cleaning products (and volcanoes) seamlessly.

So there it is! Our participation in the first One Small Change challenge was a fun and enlightening, though we still need to work on a few of our changes. We were super impressed with the efforts other families made. Some were things we'll aspire to—like taking greater steps to reduce our water usage. Some others, well, we just aren't ready for—like the family cloth. But what we learned is there is always room for improvement.

I know for sure we are not going to stop here, just because the challenge is over. In fact, I'm already scheming up a few other changes for my family in the coming months.

A big thanks to Suzy and her family for organizing One Small Change.
Happy Earth Day!

11 comments:

  1. bravo amy! but I think you're a wuss for not going full monty with the family cloth. Come on! What about mother earth?

    You've inspired me. When we run out of paper towels, I'm going the way of the rag.

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  2. Well done! How satisfying it must be too! To make such tangible changes as a group! Yeah, the family cloth would definitely be too hard core for me too. I even wonder if that really would be more earth friendly, with all the laundry that's needed for the process...

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  3. What fantastic changes you've made. Us too, we aren't stopping here. It's amazing how the little things count so much. Here's to us all and our planet. Happy Earth Day friend.

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  4. Thanks for the great wrap up! You made some great changes and I am excited you plan to carry on throughout the year!!

    Congratulations on all your changes!
    We are keeping the blog active year round, so stop by for blog posts offering support for those who wish to continue the challenge, ideas, inspiration, and guest blog posts. If you would like to be a guest blogger, we would love to have you (email me at suzy@hipmountainmama.com)
    Thanks and congrats on all your efforts!
    ~Suzy

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  5. Oh Amy. You give me such inspiration. What great changes. And no paper towels? That is a big one. I am not ready to part with mine yet. The food yes, the baking soda and vinegar yes,the garbage would be tough but something to strive for. Congratulations!

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  6. Yipee very well done!! Congratz on all the changes! This is such a wonderful wrap up and you inspired me! Have a lovely merry happy weekend and love to you!

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  7. bravo, amy! we ran out of garbage bags and decided to switch over to biodegradable trash liners. i'll call it my may change. : )

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  8. Hi thanks for stopping by!

    What wonderful small changes you have made here. It's really inspiring to read what others are up to. I am going to invest in some soda now to go with my vinegar. The rags I have some of, but could do with using more.

    I try extremely hard to reduce my rubbish per week, but there is so much packaging about. Should go to the market more I guess!

    Great ideas

    A.x

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  9. Family cloths a no go area for us too! Congratulations on everything else - you definitely did your bit! :D

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  10. Hi Amy, I hope you are getting my comments. You did great on this challenge. So many incredible changes all doing their little part to save the planet. Good job.

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  11. GOOD FOR YOU! I am so impressed. I love your photo!
    Nicola

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