One small change - February

As we enter another month in the One Small Change Challenge I have to admit it was a little difficult to find something to change. No, I am not "Mother Earth" incarnated, but my family and I are very aware of how our actions affect the environment. I decided to ask my husband and son what they thought we should do for the next three months of challenges. They had some great ideas! Let me start with last months change and then go on.

In January we started to compost our vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, and yard waste. I found there are some more things we can compost as well, dryer lint is one, and pencil sharpenings are another! It has been a very easy transition and we can actually skip a week of garbage pick up almost undetected!
On to February.. For this month and from now on we are going to reduce and hopefully eliminate our use of "single use items" these include coffee and drink cups, disposable cutlery, condiment packages, take out containers, disposable napkins and tissues. This may seem like a lot, but really we already use cloth for most things around the house so we are just going to be sure to bring them along with us when we go out, especially to eat.
I wrote a post on my website here about many of the options available to use in place Styrofoam take away boxes. We just need to be diligent and remember to bring a container when we go out, in case we have left overs or want to get something to go! This idea has been on my mind for a long time and as you can see from the top picture, the amount of garbage created everyday in an average food court is unbelievable. I think these things should have an environmental tax on them, and restaurants should be given incentives to provide compost-able or recycled materials in there take away items, but that is a post for another day!

For now we are going to be more aware of the garbage we create both inside our house and when we are out. We decided that if it is necessary to buy and use some single use items we must bring it home and compost it or reuse it!

One not so small change, but a challenge to be sure!