foodperson.com

This is a little off-topic, but…an audience member (a neighbor, actually) posed a good question at Lawrence’s first Sustainability Town Hall Meeting: What are 10 everyday kind of things we all can do to live more sustainably?

Panelist Simran Sethi rattled off a few ideas:

1. BYOB 1: Bring your own bag when you shop. Besides resulting in essentially indestructible trash, the bags also consume a significant amount of energy in their production.
2. BYOB 2: Bring your own (water) botter instead of a disposable plastic bottle, and make it aluminum, which won’t leech bad stuff into your water as some plastics potentially can.
3. Shop close to home.
4. Buy products from close to home, such as those at your local farmers market.
5. Use natural cleaning products that won’t leave potentially harmful chemicals in your home.
6. Plug your appliances into power strips and turn them on/off at the strip (rather than using more electricity to keep your microwave armed and ready than you do cooking with it).
7. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.

Bryan Welch of Ogden Publications (publisher of Mother Earth News, among other periodicals) added:

8. Use compact flourescent bulbs.

I might add:

9. Compost your (non-animal) kitchen and yard waste.

10. Don’t drive when you could walk or ride your bike.

What would you add to this list? We’re talking daily-life things here, not major projects. Click on the Comments link below, and add to whatever comments may (or may not) be there. I’d love to hear and share your ideas.