Eco Alley

Living Green with Connie Pumphrey

My employer maintains that if you make yourself do something regularly for a year, it will become a pattern in your life forever.  I agree and, for that reason, think New Year’s resolutions are a good thing.  My year of buying nothing new was a life changing event for me because I looked below the surface of consumerism to why we fill every square inch of our houses with stuff, then rent offsite storage facilities when the house can’t fit another item.  Less stuff made sense to me and it feels really good to know what I own and be able to locate it within 5 minutes. 
The year 2010 was not an epiphany but more “tidying up.”  We are passionate recyclers, try to complete the cycle by buying recycled products and containers, read labels on products and avoid harmful chemicals, and buy as much organic, locally grown food as we can (we’re at about 50-60%).  We’ve reduced power consumption, installed a “cool” roof and are very careful about water usage.  Still, we calculated our carbon footprint and it isn’t as good as it could be.  The annual output of greenhouse gas emissions for a two person household is 27 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) - mine is 29 and my husband’s is 21.  Mine tanks because of the number of miles I drive to work each day.  (The Nature Conservancy has an easy-to-use site if you want to calculate your CO2 output.)
My goal/resolution for 2011 is to reduce my own carbon footprint by 7 tons to 22 tons.  If I take public transportation a couple of days a week, reduce the amount of red meat in my diet, and a few other things, it should be easy.  The other option would be to make my husband walk to work to offset my output - hmmm.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

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