Green Goals for Summer
One of the truisms–or cliches, depending on how you look at it–that I’ve been known to spout is that different seasons offer different opportunities for and challenges to green living.
In New England, spring brings us outdoors, making it easier to choose walking and biking over driving, and calling us to our gardens. But it’s also the time when we begin applying chemical fertilizes and pesticides to our lawns.
Summer provides an amazing variety of produce from a plethora of farms, making it an absolute pleasure to buy and eat locally grown. But it’s also the time when wasteful and inefficient irrigation can stress water sheds.
Especially for the parents of school-aged, fall presents us with a chance to make better choices about the food we parents send to school and the packaging we send it in. But the start up of extracurricular activities can mean a lot of driving, and the amount of planning to maintain a carpool can sometimes overwhelm even the most organized parent.
Then there’s winter, which can sometimes seem like one big green living challenge: no more locally grown food; it’s often too cold, snowy and dark to walk or bike to work; our old and drafty houses keep aging heating systems running overtime.
Of course many of the opportunities for and challenges to green living are not seasonally dependent–it’s no easier or harder to bring your own bags in the summer than it is in the spring. But the many seasonal variations got me thinking: perhaps it would be a good idea to think about my green living goals seasonally and to leverage seasonal changes to help me form better habits, especially in those areas where I’ve had difficulty making lasting change.
Let me give you an example: while I have almost entirely freed my family from disposable water bottles (the one exception is when we fly), I am still reliant on disposable coffee cups. I routinely forget my reusable mug when I’m out and about, and now that the hot weather is here I am much more likely to stop into a coffee shop and get an iced coffee or tea in the afternoon. All of which led me to think: OK, it’s time to finally give up disposable coffee cups. If I forget my reusable mug (which works for cold as well as hot drinks), then I won’t get anything.
So here goes: my green goals for summer:
- No more disposable food and beverage containers. And I mean no more. I’m going to buy reusable take out/left over containers for when I eat out and I’m going to forgo coffeshop drinks if I forget my mug.
- This includes–in a modified form–the grocery store. The bulk bins at my local Whole Foods are calling my name. I’m going to buy as much as possible in bulk and reuse the containers as much as possible.
- Line dry all my laundry. Right now we probably line dry 25-50% of our clothes, but during the summer there’s no reason not to aim for 100%.
- Build up a supply of preserves to help us eat local into the winter. We got a good head start from the 40 lbs. of strawberries we picked last month. My goal is to keep it up by preserving blueberries, peaches and tomatoes to last well into the winter.
- This one involves my husband but I’d like to see how many days a week we can leave one of our cars parked. I’ve been arguing for a couple of years that we could get away with one car and he doesn’t agree. Summer is perfect opportunity to put this to the test and see how we do.
So there you have it. My green goals for summer. Are you waiting on bated breath to see how it all works out? I’ll be sure to let you know!
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Carpooling is another great idea!
During the school year we try to incorporate as much carpooling as we can into our daily schedule. Not only does it save energy, it saves time and money, and it’s often more fun for the kids to ride places with their friends than with their boring-old parents…
Keep the ideas coming!
Comment by Rachel White — July 22, 2010 @ 4:31 am
Hi,,,Rachel. That is really a great list to follow. I think all of us must follow what you are doing. I enough demage has been done to the nature, and now its the time time to stop it. Car pooling is really a good idea, it can turn the things around if followed by mass. Isn’t it good to be the first one.
Comment by Runka — July 22, 2010 @ 5:46 am