Monday, March 11, 2013

No Impact Greensboro

I find it ironic that a little over a month ago I watched, and reviewed here, the movie No Impact Man by Colin Beavan.

And then what ho?  My fair city, Greensboro, decides to participate in a No Impact Week.

I am incredibly psyched!

Starting this past Friday there are daily activities you can participate in.

On Friday my whole family went to one of our local colleges, Guilford College (who has tons of green initiatives going on there), for an art exhibit by Bonnie Monteleone titled "What Goes Around Comes Around."


This is a giant wave made out of plastic waste from the Pacific Ocean.

What struck me about this exhibit was just what sort of things end up BACK in the ocean.  Things like empty bottles from motor oil and household cleaners, parts of surfboards, and tons upon tons of bottle tops.

Bonnie also had up some photographs that give a graphic example of what all of this plastic can end up doing to our animal life.



 (this is a bird's carcass filled with plastics which were fed to it by its unknowing mother)

I don't show these things to make you depressed, or guilty, merely just to make you aware.

Hopefully the movement will take hold and people will start to think before they buy and put a little more thought into what they do with their plastics.

To support those who chose to participate this week the City put out an action plan so that each day you can focus reducing your footprint in a specific area.

The week is laid out like this:

Sunday: Reduce/Reuse/Repurpose/Refuse
Monday: Energy
Tuesday: Transportation
Wednesday: Food
Thursday: Water
Friday: Green Home/Green Work
Saturday: Give Back
Sunday: Eco-Sabbath

So on Sunday we made use of tofu containers, drink cups from Panera, and large yogurt containers to plant some seedlings.

Today I plan to eat by candlelight, or natural light if there is enough of it, and have a family game night instead of TV watching (hopefully my children won't revolt).

What sort of things might you do today to reduce your energy consumption?  Do you have any good ideas for repurposing items?



4 comments:

  1. What a great reminder to reduce our consumption. Now that the days are longer, Ryan and I are going to make an effort to turn off all lights during the day, and hopefully eat by candlelight too! Thank you so much for sharing!

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  2. I am not so good at repurposing things, but I always recycle. I take my own bags to the grocery store, use my own water bottles and of course buy many things 2nd hand.

    I think the biggest offender is fast food. I rarely eat it but if we're on vacation and stop for a bite I am always amazed and saddened about how much packaging they use. It's so wasteful!!! Seriously, just slap the burger and fries on a napkin and call it good.

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  3. Two months ago my husband got so fed up with lights being left on in this house he took a Saturday morning and replaced the kids' rooms lights with smart switches and our laundry room, and the garage. So when you walk into the kids rooms the light goes on automatically and it has a life of ten seconds. (So it turns off after ten seconds.) We just got our power bill and we knocked off 105 dollars!! Can you believe that?

    Having said that I repurpose most of our brown bags for reuse at stores or wrapping paper. The kids draw on it, cut it and wrap with it. I thrift our clothing, a lot of it.

    But, I know there is so much more I can be doing. Always a work in progress.

    Take care,

    Shauna xoxoxo

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  4. What a wonderful initiative for your city to be involved in... and what perfect timing for your blog too! (BTW I'm loving your no impact posts!)
    The pictures of the turtle and bird carcass are horrific aren't they? Far too much trash ends up in our seas :( People, companies, government... everyone needs to take more responsibility and start playing their part in looking after this planet. If we're not careful, the damage will be irreparable.

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