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Shift Your Habit: Easy Ways to Save Money, Simplify Your Life, and Save the Planet by Elizabeth Rogers. Three Rivers Press, 2010.
When persuading reluctant family members and friends to a “green” lifestyle, we usually encounter two big objections: money and time. The evidence in the store is that the green option is more expensive and that acting conscientiously, by either making your own, recycling or making a lifestyle change, is a big hassle.
Elizabeth Rogers, the author of Shift Your Habit, disagrees and she has found the evidence to prove it. Shift Your Habit suggests hundreds of simple changes, from opening your blinds and using sunlight to get work done during the day, to bigger changes, such as holding swap parties for clothing and entertainment items like video games. Each of the suggestions is environmentally-friendly and frugal, which overcomes the “it’s too expensive” objection to making a green lifestyle change and some of the tips include a “Good For You” section, meaning that it improves your health or saves time.
We continue to be inspired and disturbed, optimistic and pessimistic, excited and depressed. Seems that we are also not alone in these oscillating waves of emotion. But what is clear is that it’s emotion in the form of love, passion, and fulfillment that is driving us towards a sustainable future and giving meaning to our lives. We feel driven to do what it is we do. Check out the end of this post to see our latest ideas…
So here’s a quick snapshot for the goings on here at Eco-Sense.
A busy summer building the cob bathroom (with composting toilet) at the local lake. So far we have about 150 hours of volunteer time invested.
Donations are being accepted to the “Highland Park and Recreation Association”. Tax receipts issued for amounts over $50.
There has been a great deal of publicity on this project (and composting toilets) including the Goldstream Gazette, CBC radio, Monday Magazine, and Chek TV. It’s been busy around here! Continue Reading →
by Deborah Merriam, of ecoDomestica reDesign
School’s out, and summer vacation is upon us. If you’re like me, you’re trying to think of good ways to keep your kids entertained. How about these summer eco-activities?
1. Enrol your kids in summer camps and classes for budding naturalists, like those offered at Edmonton’s Devonian Botanic Garden or John Janzen Nature Centre. My daughter was at camp at the DBG in the rain this week and LOVED it.
2. Plant a fruit tree or vegetable garden together: you’ll be growing memories and your own food. Yes, many garden centres and some farmers’ markets still have transplants available if you didn’t get it together to start from seed. This year, we’ve planted corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a pumpkin plant in the sunny back corner of our yard. Continue Reading →
By: Samantha Magnus
Composting toilets may be the flush of the future
Ashlie Ferguson appreciates poo. One Monday night in February, the UVic student hosted a poo party in her James Bay home, complete with turd cookies (okay, macaroons) and chunky chocolate-dipped bananas. The celebration was for Ferguson’s new self-built composting toilet, so the treats had the secondary function of, uh, fuelling the endeavour.
The guests’ reaction was a mix of fascination and disgust. “The initial concept was a little off-putting, but all aspects of queasiness have been subdued,” says fellow student Brendan Anderson. Since he lives close by, Anderson jokes that he now comes over just to contribute to the project.
But for Ferguson , recycling her refuse is the next step in living an environmentally conscious life. “It’s a whole new way to walk the talk,” she says. She is simply extending green eating to the follow-up; that is, what to do with food ex post facto. Continue Reading →
