Another month, another challenge! This month is all about positivity. We are reaching the point of the year where the weather starts getting our hopes up for summer by being (relatively) nice sometimes. Which is of course immediately followed by a biting cold snap and 8 inches of snow, just to bring us back to reality. It seems like a perfect time to focus on brightening everyone's moods with some good old-fashioned kindness. My goal for this month is to do one random act of kindness every day. So far this has mostly consisted of giving people cookies. People seem to like cookies.
I feel like a little bit of a liar. I started this year being all, "I'm going to make changes all about sustainability" and then two of the first three aren't really about sustainable living at all. However, as I look over my list of potential ideas, I am reminded more and more that this is a process. There are a lot of things that just aren't feasible yet for various reasons. For instance, I'm looking forward to eating locally for a month, but I really need to wait for it to not be winter in order for that to actually work and be enjoyable. And there are a lot of things that I need to do before I can go completely 100% zero waste.
I'm still making small changes all the time that are helping to build to some of these bigger challenges, like working on replacing the kleenex that just ran out with handkerchiefs. (I really thought it would be fun/easy to find old school handkerchiefs secondhand. I am learning this is not the case.) I'm also just trying to change my mindset. Now, anytime I go to reach for something disposable, I stop and try to figure out what I could use instead that wouldn't create any waste. It's interesting and a learning process. For example, I learned that fork tines are no replacement for toothpicks when trying to get cookie dough out of all the little crevices in a plastic cookie cutter (any other suggestions?). I also learned that pretty thrifted dishes are a great way to share cookies with others, though I did not find a better way to protect them than with plastic wrap. (Tins, I think decorative tins might start to become a thing in my life...)
I am also continuing my commitment to no fast fashion. I will share more about how that's going in another post but overall I'm digging it. I actually have quite a few things to share from February, so stay tuned. Much ruminating is afoot.
I feel like a little bit of a liar. I started this year being all, "I'm going to make changes all about sustainability" and then two of the first three aren't really about sustainable living at all. However, as I look over my list of potential ideas, I am reminded more and more that this is a process. There are a lot of things that just aren't feasible yet for various reasons. For instance, I'm looking forward to eating locally for a month, but I really need to wait for it to not be winter in order for that to actually work and be enjoyable. And there are a lot of things that I need to do before I can go completely 100% zero waste.
I'm still making small changes all the time that are helping to build to some of these bigger challenges, like working on replacing the kleenex that just ran out with handkerchiefs. (I really thought it would be fun/easy to find old school handkerchiefs secondhand. I am learning this is not the case.) I'm also just trying to change my mindset. Now, anytime I go to reach for something disposable, I stop and try to figure out what I could use instead that wouldn't create any waste. It's interesting and a learning process. For example, I learned that fork tines are no replacement for toothpicks when trying to get cookie dough out of all the little crevices in a plastic cookie cutter (any other suggestions?). I also learned that pretty thrifted dishes are a great way to share cookies with others, though I did not find a better way to protect them than with plastic wrap. (Tins, I think decorative tins might start to become a thing in my life...)
I am also continuing my commitment to no fast fashion. I will share more about how that's going in another post but overall I'm digging it. I actually have quite a few things to share from February, so stay tuned. Much ruminating is afoot.
1 comment:
We switched to cloth napkins and cloth wipe raps instead of paper napkins and towels. Not going back.
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