Cutting Out Recreational Shopping

Many people enjoy recreational shopping, where one goes shopping for fun without actually needing anything. Yesterday C suggested that we go to the mall. This immediately raised red flags for me since I've come to realize that we just have so much stuff (we fill all the closets in our home and we could still use more storage space). I asked him what he needed and he tentatively said work clothes. Upon asking about what type of work clothes he needed, I surmised that he didn't really need work clothes or if he really needed more work clothes, he should give away some of his current clothes.

My life isn't like Colin's at No Impact Man, but I am really starting to question the things that we buy. Colin is also helping to influence me to think more about my carbon footprint and my impact on the environment. One way I'm trying to reduce my impact on the environment is to cut down on my recreational shopping. Now for each item I buy that is non consumable, I think a few questions to myself:

Do I really need this?
Am I going to use this?
Do I have room to store this?
Is this going to replace something else I already have?
If yes, do I need this?

Ok I admit, I don't think about all of these questions before purchasing something. I do try to at least think about 1&2. If it's something that I'm going to use a lot and it's going to make my life a lot easier, I will go ahead and buy it (e.g. we just got a salad spinner).

Biking to Church

I love it when my husband and I are able to bike to destinations we normally would drive to. We've been biking around our neighborhood for the past several months. Finally we decided to bike to church rather than drive. Yesterday was our second time doing the 3.5 mile ride. The ride is fairly pleasant, but the San Francisco hills make it quite tiring.

In order to bike to church, this is what we we did:
1. Wake up early enough to have time for the ride
2. Make sure we eat breakfast (my husband, C, always does, no matter what. Sometimes I skip it)
3. Stretch for 5 minutes before hand
4. Begin biking
5. Stop at the gas station (on the way) to fill C's tires with air
6. Keep on biking until we get to church
7. Lock up our bikes
8. Attend church
9. Ride back home

I enjoy getting exercise with a purpose. While C and I also go to the gym, I really appreciate it when we're able to get exercise doing something we would have done anyways - it also allows us to be more environmentally conscious. I would say that it allows us to save some money, however, this time I was so tired from the biking, I convinced C to stop at our favorite SF restaurant for lunch.

Drink Tap Water

I saw this editorial on the NYTimes about drinking tap water. I'm really trying to cut down on my consumption of bottled water. Since I started making a concentrated effort (starting about 2 weeks ago), I have only consumed one bottle while on a bike ride. I need to get some of those free water bottles that I can bring with me

Semi Social Consciousness

I absolutely love cities. They are so convenient. As someone who hates to drive and is somewhat socially conscious (well to be honest, I'm only socially conscious when it is convenient to me or if it promotes something else I already believe in), living near public transportation is key. As an example of my social consciousness - I could not see myself getting an SUV anytime soon (maybe after I have kids) since they are such gas guzzlers. However, I love renting SUVs. This also may be related to my frugality. I wouldn't want to pay for the gas for an SUV, but when I rent, it's all reimbused back to me.

I remember reading an article in the New Yorker two or three years ago about NYC. If you look at the amount of pollution it produces relative to its square footage, it is astronomical. However if you divide the amount of pollution by its population, you find that it produces the least amount of pollution per person. I just loved the convenience of the city and knowing that I wasn't hurting the environment too much.