Mission statement

So I took an Ecological Footprint quiz online today, thinking that it couldn't do me any harm to learn about how to recycle aluminum foil bits or anything else that I wasn't already doing. I wasn't expecting to be scared out of my mind by the fact that I was doing more harm than good to the environment! Me- we're talking been vegetarian six years, vegan three, into recycling, uses Dr. Bronners, the whole big "modern hippie" shabang- almost. I didn't realize that my "Footprint" was more like a bulging crater in the Earth's surface! There has to be a better way!

The terrible thing is, my huge size of my footprint wasn't caused by something obvious, like traveling, or consuming packaged, overseas goods; it was gigantic because of everyday things, like how many minutes I spend in the shower, or how often I run into town to do errands. I'd like to think that some of my actions that weren't calculated- like how often I shop secondhand and donate used goods, don't run the tap water, and eat a strict vegetarian diet- help offset my impact, but it doesn't appear to be doing much. Which means I must do more.

So here it goes. I will reduce my footprint little by little by choosing a new, simple thing to do each day. Over time, I'm hoping it will help build me a more sustainable approach to life. I want to prove, both to myself and others, that making eco-friendly choices isn't hard and doesn't have to be drastic. I think that's what scares a lot of people. They think that to become environmentally aware, they have to suddenly stop living how they've always lived, and that's not true. Sure, you have to change some (bad) habits, but there has to be a way for everyone to live happily and sustainedly, and now I'm off to try it.