June's Mini-Eco Challenge

It's hard to believe it's almost the end of May and that Memorial Day weekend has come and gone. I had a really, relaxing, enjoyable weekend. Our community pool opened and we walked or biked to the pool each day (I'm going to do a post later on in the week about how to make your pool membership greener). We went to two BBQ's. Saw the Indiana Jones movie. And last night we had an impromptu neighborhood party on our friend's front lawn until it was time for all the kids to go in and cleaned up for bed. 

It's time to get back to work though, and I thought I'd turn our thoughts A Little Greener Every Day's next mini-eco challenge. In May, we had five people including me choose one or more of the challenges that I put forth. This month, I'd love to have six people (or more) participate in a one week challenge that will run from June 1- June 7. 

Here are this month's challenges:

Challenge #1

Cook a dinner made with only locally grown, raised, or made foods. The farmer's markets are open now and many of them offer more than just produce. You can get meats, eggs, and breads at most farmer's markets. 

Challenge #2

Ditch the paper towels. Use rags to clean up messes instead of paper towels. Of course, you shouldn't just throw the paper towels in the trash. Stash them away where they are out of sight, out of mind so when a kid throws up or a cat coughs up a fur ball, you've got them for the truly gross jobs.

Challenge #3

Make your own coffee with organic, fair trade coffee for an entire week instead of heading out to the coffee house. Heading out for coffee in your car uses up gas, creates pollution, and usually ends up with a paper cup, a cardboard sleeve and a stir stick in the trash. 

Challenge #4

Walk - Buy a pedometer and set yourself a challenging goal in miles. At least half of those miles must be walked by taking yourself somewhere on foot that you normally would have driven in your car. This will take some time management, but you can do it.

Challenge #5

Pick one of last months challenges. They included taking no plastic or paper retail/shopping bags, taking navy showers, packing trash free lunches, hang drying all your laundry, and choosing from a list of environmental books to read. They were good challenges. No reason to exclude them. If you choose one or more of them last month and have continued past the week, challenge yourself with a new one. 

I'm going to take on challenge #1, #4, and #5 - from last month I am choosing another book but one that is  not on the list (I've read all those). I'll be reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. That book can be added to the challenge list.