Tuesday, November 27, 2012

No Impact Week - Day 3: Transport

Mostly a review of no waste day, with a quick note about transportation:



I should also clarify that we didn't buy everything at the market, as I forgot to mention in the video since I was too busy babbling, but rather went to the Punnitse ja säästä (Finnish Bulk Barn) first, then the market place then the grocery store. The only packaged item we bought was a small can of tomato paste (it was 25 cents, the really small ones). We found that the market only have quite small sized vegetables (albeit organic) but they were also quite expensive. This was alright for a few ingredients, but I decided it was worthwhile to get some stuff at the grocery store as well for a bit of a compromise. Also, when dealing with tiny root vegetables, even if organic, the smaller they are, the more annoying they are to peel!

We also used some ingredients in our cooking that we've had for ages, such as spices, and others which 'turnover' regularly but still have some packaging, like butter, ketchup, mustard, olive oil.

Today we also bought dishwashing tablets since we'd run out. I tried googling home-made solutions on my phone (however last-minute). I think this didn't work for two big reasons:
- the sources I access most easily are in English, and thus contain ingredients easily found in Canada or the States, such as Borax. I tried searching in Finnish (after we'd already gotten home with the box of detergent) and it seemed there was some confusion among Finns who had read similar solutions and were trying to find equivalents in Finland. All in all, my search led me nowhere.
- until Juha pointed out that we ran out of dishwashing tablets/powder, I was entirely oblivious. This also meant that I had very little time to prepare a search on viable options. The unexpected is not the friend of the best-intentioned consumer as change in patterns seem most challenging when time is lacking, and we often find this too difficult to overcome and instead retreat to old habits. (or at least that's my spin after reading 32748923748394 articles related to my thesis =/)

Monday, November 26, 2012

No Impact Week - Day 2: waste (morning video)

On a sleepy Monday morning, I thought the way to get the day started was to try something a little different: a video blog to keep track of the progress so far.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

No Impact Week - Day 1: Consumption

Today is the first day of No Impact Week in our house!

I thought it might be a great way to get back into blogging, but also to keep a record of the week's findings to have for learning and sharing purposes.

The No Impact Experiment is a week (8 days to be precise) during which you change your habits to live more sustainably and see what you can change on a long-term basis, what you can't and why. For more info about the week or how to participate in your own, check out noimpactproject.org The idea is that it just might make you happier.

Or click here:


Day 1: consumption

The first day focuses on consumption and is rather fitting for the time of year, especially with Black Friday having just passed.

Already, I have to make a confession. Juha and I have both been looking for winter coats for what seems to be an endless amount of time (about 3 visits to Stockmann over a couple of weeks). Due to a 20% off sale this weekend, we put a coat on layaway Friday and went back to pick it up today (we only later realized that it would be purchased on no-consumption day, go figure.) Since we tend to buy relatively little, and keep our coats for years (his old one was 8 years old, mine is about 6) we figured the purchase was justifiable and there was no point going back a week later and getting it at full price just for the sake of the experiment. It was in no way an impulse buy. For some of the other items on my list, such as a lighter backpack (mine seems to weight a ton when empty!) I'll be checking out some second-hand places around Helsinki to see if there are any viable options.

But before my ramble confession, this is what happened:

I started off the day by reading the newspaper online and catching up with what's going on in Canada. To my delight, thestar.com had an entire "hot topic" dedicated to Black Friday. Since the green community has spent the last week buzzing about Black Friday, and its counterpart "Buy Nothing Day", I expected the Star would have some thoughts on the topic, regardless of their opinions. But I was sorely disappointed when clicking on the topic, several articles opened up:

- Canadian retailers fight back against Black Friday deals
- Canada’s Black Friday: Internet provides hassle-free bargain hunting, if you know where to look
- Canada’s Black Friday: Holiday shopping levels off, as online takes off
- Photos: Cool holiday gift ideas
- Black Friday shopping? Only on impulse, thanks!
- Black Friday shopping: Personally, I prefer to do some homework

So with a bit of hesitation, I decide to give the last article a try. Maybe it has something on sensible consumption and how to find more stuff second-hand, buy less overall, etc. (You can read the article here, but no need to waste your time.) Basically the author is against impulse buying, and compares her friend's impulse buy of a Mercedes Bens, with the complexity she faced when buying a horse... is this journalism?

In any case, one thought-provoking item in the news was the appearance of Black-Friday in the headlines, alongside a very brief article about yet another garment factory fire in Bangladesh killing at least 112 people (these happen quite often and always seem to leave dozens of people dead).

The two do not directly relate; I will admit to that. Regardless, I do feel that we owe some thought to the victims who slave away to make us an endless assortment of clothing and were tragically killed in the process. I am not trying to guilt anyone about this, just to bring some thought about where our clothes come from.