I have always understood that having no impact on the environment occurs one step at a time. This week gives me an opportunity to be more conscious and reduce my carbon footprint with respect to commuting. In February 2009, I took a job that increased my impact on the environment more than ever in the last 10 years. I commute 46 miles per day by car. Needless to say, this takes a toll on the environment and my physical health.
To kick off Day 1 of the No Impact Challenge, I have uploaded a youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM-ppJ6dt3Y.
I also would like to encourage you to participate. You can find out more by going to http://noimpactproject.org/ to get started.
When I started this blog it was to try and make sense of all the do’s and don’t of the moving to a more “green” life. Since then, I’ve gotten a job that requires me to commute almost two hours a day. Needless to say this sucks. Not only from an environmentalystandpoint but a physical one as well. It was suggested that I take the train or in my case trains. It would take me three or more hours to do so.
In many respects the job I went to mirrors my gasoline consumption in terms of being more wasteful because I’ve started wasting more paper, food, and time. The company is a very heavy paper consumer, that is, they use a whole hell of a lot of paper. In fact, they have a green committee that prints, the “green” newsletter and posts it on a bulletin board on each floor. I found that hilarious. What I find depressing is that less than six months ago, I was using much less paper and gas, now I feel like I walked backed to the nineties and can’t stop.
Is the green movement helpless when companies waste so much under the guise of prodouctivity?
The modern American life does not lend itself to being eco-friendly. It is too convenient to carry plastic bottles, throw everything in the trash, and zoom here and there in our 21 MPG cars. Although I want to do my part to make the earth cleaner and healthier, I must confess the messages out there are confusing, absurd, and often overwhelming. It can be downright crazy. In fact, I am not alone in these feelings. When I talk to most people I know, conservation and sustainable living is the last thing on their mind. Not because they don’t care but because their immediate needs of housing, food, work, family and transporation are pressing. Besides, there are only 24 hours in a day. So, in order to save my sanity, I’ve decided to journey to green one step at a time. This blog is an attempt to document that journey given time and budget contraints.
