Asheville Area Episcopal Youth

I have been passionate about preserving resources since the '70's. I started by using canvas bags for grocery shopping (still have those humongous bags because they are STURDY, though when full, impossible to lift.)

Final day of the challenge (or maybe it was yesterday?). I've been faithful to my personal challenges and only missed one day (because of an incredibly long day at work) checking in!  I doubt I will walk by a light switch without checking to make sure it's off (even the automatic lights at work usually get my attention - and my action! - sorry,...

About half of western NC's energy comes from coal. Other resources include gas and hydro-electric. At this time, there is no nuclear plants in the area.  Coal, of course, is a horrible pollutant: not only does it tear up the planet when it is mined, smoke and leftover sludge are both detrimental to the environment. Coal is nasty, as we used to...

Being outside is seasonal for me, usually. My work has me outdoors most of the day from early June until mid-August, then less and less as weather gets cooler. The problem for a culture that is indoors is that the connection between human life and the life of the natural world becomes less obvious, and so we tend to believe that it doesn't...

Probably, those of us who were reared by parents who grew up poor in the Depression of the 1930's were fed meat because that generation's wealth grew to a point where they could actually afford meat on tables regularly; the result is that Baby Boomers grew up expecting meat at almost every meal. With the counter-cultural movements that began in...

We use plasticWe bags. We keep them to use with our cat's litter box when we clean it. We use them as trash bags in our cars, and sometimes use them to carry food when we travel. We are looking for options for other car trash and carrying food, but I have found them to work better than anything else (when they do not have holes) for dirty litter.

Stop using paper towels and use cloth towels instead.   Print fewer pages from my computer.   Buy and use a reusable Keurig single cup coffee serving. Use cloth grocery bags instead of plastic bags. Find out if it is possible to have a mulch pile outside without attracting bears.

I will keep my showers short and save more water by putting out rain barrels for watering the outside plants and garden.

My challenge is circling back to post something!  I am happily burying all food waste in our garden.  The plants and microbes love it and we usually only send one bag a week to the landfill.  I am interested in lowering my use of consumer plastic-wrappers etc.  Looking for ways to go plastic-less!

I was not expecting to be dreaming about the EcoChallenge, but two nights in the past week, I have! It would be nice to be able to say they were good dreams, but I found them to be more exhausting than anything else. Getting used to being more careful and mindful about the environment is something I hope will come more naturally with this...