We Double-Dog-Dare You!
By tinychoices | April 7, 2008
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This month marks the 28th Annual Earth Day, and everyone knows what an auspicious anniversary the 28th one is - it’s good excuse for our First Tiny Choices Challenge! Will you join us?
We propose: we all pick a Tiny Choice we’ve been contemplating, and commit to implementing it for the remainder of the month. We’ll have weekly check-in posts where we call out everyone who’s committed and ask them for an update. At the end of the month we invite everyone to write a paragraph or two about their experience which we’ll summarize in a post.
So? Pick a Tiny Choice that you’ve been on the fence about, post it in the comments, and get ready to live with it until the end of April! If you can’t think of something right away, don’t worry. You can always sign up later in the month on one of the update posts.
Karina: I vow to (oh heck) give up plastic straws. It’s something I’ve been aware of for a few months now, and it bugs me every time I get a drink with a straw. I don’t even go out to eat that much! and when I have a choice I never take one! But when Jenn and I were writing this post my (local coffee-shop made) iced mocha arrived at the table and there was a plastic straw. Shoot! It’s going to be a serious pain to remember to ask as I order the drink each time for no straw, but I’m going to do my best.
Jenn: I vow to cook at least one time per week. This may sound like a tiny choice, but in fact it’s not so tiny for me. Entire multiple weeks often pass without a single home prepared meal… which translates into way too much waste generated with take-out food. And when I do cook I make sure to make enough so that I have enough leftovers for at least three more meals– which translates to three more meals less worth of take-out waste avoided. The Tiny Choices Meal List is going to be very helpful with this (clearly this “cooking thing” is an ongoing challenge for me).
Post your tiny choice for April in the comments, and join us in the April Tiny Challenge!
This is actually not a tiny choice, but it’s been on my mind a lot. I am only going to eat whole foods with ingredients that are readily identifiable to me. I’ve done it before, but in a half-assed way for maybe 2 weeks. This time, a month!
i am going to bring my coffee mug everywhere so i don’t use the paper cups when getting coffee:)..
i will cook a vegetarian dinner once a week (not counting the pizza and mac n cheese meals!)… thanks for the tiny motivation.
I live in an old apartment building and use power strips everywhere to make up for the paucity of outlets. My pledge is to arrange those power strips so I can easily turn off non-essential power-drainers when not in actual use.
I intend to get a power strip for my TV/cable box/DVD player so I can turn them all off when I’m not using them, and get better at remembering to turn off my computer’s strip.
I’ve recently started saving gray water from my showers to flush my toilet, since it wasn’t filling correctly, but even though that seems to have corrected itself, I’ma keep that up. I’m also gonna start timing my showers.
Once you do it - It’s easy! This is a tiny choice that my wife and I made a while ago. Take it a step further, though (I double-dog-dare you!), and tell as many people about this choice as you can this month. That way, your tiny choice has a multiplying impact!
(If they don’t care about the environment, remind them that they are wasting MONEY. Everyone cares about money!)
That comment about sharing your choice was regarding the power strip thing. My wife and I also reuse our “gray water”, but what you do with your shower and toilet is probably nobody else’s business!
LOL, Frank!
The average American creates 4.4 pounds of trash a day, I’m going try getting my personal number as low as possible. I don’t have a scale, so I’m shooting for one kitchen bag’s worth of garbage (or less) a week.
I’m finally going to start using the green bin and start composting. This will be a challenge, because I’ll have to get my parents to buy into it too. Oh, and I will also finally sign up with 41lbs to reduce my junk mail!
I vow to turn my computer off at night when I am sleeping, i somehow always forget this one… it’s the only thing I ever leave on when I am not using it.
I’ll only use the Hummer for trips further than five blocks.
April Fools’ Day was LAST week! Still, you had me for a second there! Funny!
(What’s NOT funny is that many people out there would consider that a noble and difficult sacrifice!)
Seriously, we need two bookends so, instead of buying something plastic and made by slave labor in China, I’m gonna make ‘em using empty CD covers (unfortunately also plastic and made by slave labor in China).
well i just said to jenn that i won’t buy any shoes this month… it was the first thing that popped into my head since i have a few other tiny choices i make every day. i would also like to try to eat some form of greens every day!
OK… Two Choices for Me this Month…
One (the hard one) No Plastic Bottles. That means no going to the vending machine located about 20 steps from my left elbow to get my 20-ounce bottle of wonderful green fizzy elixir. I am really addicted to the stuff, so this will be a challenge, big time.
Two (the easier one) No Factory-Farmed Meat! This rules out most fast-food, many pre-packaged foods, and a few other things I can and probably should live without. However (loophole alert!!) I will give up *buying* it, not *eating* it. (I need to eat up the stuff I already have.)
I look forward to checking in with success!
This is a very tiny choice, but it’s one that’s been bugging me. I only buy coffee drinks about twice a week, and I am TERRIBLE about remembering to bring my own mug. This month, and hopefully for every future month, I am determined to start bringing my own!
I will ONLY use my canvas bags for groceries for the rest of the month. Even if I forget them in my car, I will go BACK to the car to get them.
[…] most of the expensive, wasteful lunches I generally consume. If you want to join in on the fun, leave a comment on Jenn and Kari’s blog. They will be checking in on everyone who participates periodically […]
i am going to be more self sufficient when i have to work away from my house. that means bringing my travel mug with me, packing a lunch and not caving into the 4 pm starbucks craving.
I’m finally going to make cloth napkins and rags out of fabric I’ve had laying around for forever, and make sure we use them in place of paper towels as much as possible.
Quickest way to create way more rags than you could use in a lifetime — start a T-shirt quilt. You’ll be repurposing those holey (and holy) t-shirts you just can’t bear to part with just in time to free up their sleeves and backs for your rag pile.
Also, making napkins is super easy with a serger, just make sure you pay close attention to how you finish the corners.
[…] We Double-Dog-Dare You! […]
the only time i will use paper towels is if we have a little ‘accident’ in the house by one of our animals … cloth dishtowels for everything else - even the gigantic messes by fiance makes in the kitchen! :)
We used to have a cat that routinely overshot the box, leaving a nice puddle on our bathroom floor. After several rounds of using a pile of paper towels, I finally caved and started using rags made from my husband’s old undershirts. And you know? It wasn’t so bad. I just tossed ‘em in the laundry with the towels, and everything came out clean. We still used TP or paper towels for the (ahem) solid messes, but for the wet ones, rags work just great.
really - even for the cat overshoots?? i’m amazed, i have to say … what detergent do you use? maybe i just have stinky cats? aw …
anyway, we are usually in the business of solid messes with the dogs, however. they don’t mean it, but sometimes it just has to be. sweet things that they are …
oh, i guess i can add that a recent TC that i’ve made is to use the dog & cat food (and cat litter) bags as garbage bags … it is amazing the volume & weight those hefty bags can hold.
Ok - I am jumping on the band wagon pretty late here so please be kind to me. As discussed over dinner with my 5 1/2 year old and 4 year old, we’ve decided to make a huge effort in a simple task…..recycle our bottles and cans. The kids are VERY excited as my son shouted from the top of his lungs….”MOMMY I WANT TO SAVE THE EARTH!!” and thanks to Aunt Jennyfeet for getting us into this - we just might be on our tiny way to saving the earth.
A little late here, but Jennyfeet convinced me to make my tiny choice a little more realistic, so instead of no new plastics this month, I pledge to try to buy only foods with non-plastic containers, lids, and seals. Fake Plastic Fish has been inspiring me!
Thanks for the challenge, guys!
I’m going home to my parents’ at the end of the week and they just bought a new vehicle and decided to keep the old one for me to use. I’ve always been very clear that I don’t want a car!! So my tiny choice for when I get home is to NOT USE THE CAR!! It will be temping (we live in a town with very little public transport, and you can’t really walk anywhere from where I live) but I know I can do it!
Also, I’m going to say ‘no thank you’ when offered a plastic bag. I have my reusable bag tucked into my purse so that I can use that instead. I just have to remember to keep putting it back into my purse after I’ve used it!
My tiny choice(s) are: 1. eat out of my pantry and freezer first. no more eating out.
2. do my shopping at the farmers market.
3. no more wasting food.
I make a lot of tiny choices already — my next small choice is the choice to make bigger choices!
That being said, I will continue my campaign to turn out the lights around my dorm and classrooms (I live on a college campus), reduce my hot-water usage (which my dorm has helped with by having a broken hot-water heater), reduce my overall water usage, take my own bags to the store, purchase items with less packaging than their be-plasticed mates, purchase organic and responsibly manufactured food (I eat at a cafeteria, so that one is more tough) and so on!
It’s not just a one day thing — this needs to be a lifestyle!
That always drove me *mad*! When I was at school, in most buildings there were always so many empty classrooms with lights on, and who knew how long they we’re going to be empty that day!
I can’t cut out take-out yet, but I will vow to eat all my leftovers. Less food waste!
[…] We Double-Dog-Dare You! […]
for my tiny choice i’m going to let go of refined sugar, which has snuck back up into my diet. this makes me more mindful overall and sends my money toward organic fruit farmers instead.
I’ve decided to bring my lunch to work at least three days a week. So far I’ve brought my lunch every day this week, so I’m already at three - but I’m going to keep doing it! I’ve pulled out all my bento supplies and am having fun coming up with small healthy things I can fit in crevices.
I’m also going to try as hard as I can to buy only local fruits and vegetables, and if not local, at least grown in the U.S. This isn’t so hard with my CSA, but I often find myself supplementing with Mexican asparagus, Argentinian blueberries, etc.
I’ve decided I’m going to go back to collecting my food scraps in a bag in my freezer and bringing them to the Lower East Side Ecology compost stand at the Greenmarket every week. It’s kind of a hassle to throw things in my freezer instead of straight into the garbage….but I’m reading Garbage Land and I can’t deal with the guilt of contributing all that useful organic material to the landfill anymore.
I will get my cloth napkins out of storage and give up napkins. I’ve already given up tissues and it was not a big deal. This shouldn’t be too hard, either.
Along the theme of low impact days, I’m going to try to have at least one computer- free day a week.
okay - I’m coming to this late, but…
For the next two weeks, I’m going to make a serious effort to take my bike to and from my apartment, not my car.
I just discovered this site, so I know I’m late with declaring my Tiny Choice for the month of April, but I’ll make it a good one.
As a school teacher who constantly has a cold from the kids, I will give up tissues and use rags instead.
Thanks for such inspiring words!
My challenge is not to buy anything new. I’ll either buy it used or not at all.
[…] We Double-Dog-Dare You! […]
[…] “How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint”Tiny Choices Weekly Roundup | Tiny Choices on We Double-Dog-Dare You! « Contest Winners! | Main […]
Can I still jump in? I know April is a 1/4 over…Crunchy Chicken’s Throwdown challenge made me confront the fact that I’m still soundly in the Tiny Choices phase of eco-awareness.
Here’s my challenge: Turn off all power strips before bed. Both computer systems are hooked up and the TV/stereo stuff is on a SMART strip. The SMART strip takes care of peripherals during the day, but at night I want to keep the whole thing off. This week the computer strips have been off at night, but I set up the TV one on Sunday.
of course, Lauren! welcome to the challenge!
[…] to roz - reading this may hinder your April challenge. I’m very […]
[…] all! It’s time for the second weekly check-in of our April Tiny Challenge (wherein we & ya’ll have committed to an individual tiny challenge for the month). So, […]
[…] Tiny Choosers! It’s time for the third weekly check-in for the April Tiny Challenge (wherein we & ya’ll have committed to an individual tiny challenge for the […]
[…] in the beginning of April, we double-dog-dared you to join us in the April Tiny Challenge, wherein we all committed to implement a new tiny, or not so tiny, eco-choice for the month. […]
[…] in the beginning of April, we double-dog-dared you to join us in the April Tiny Challenge, wherein we all committed to implement a new tiny, or not so tiny, eco-choice for the month. […]
Thanks for the article.