Weekly Check-In: April Tiny Challenge!
By Jenn | April 15, 2008
It’s been a week since we first posted about the April Tiny Challenge, wherein we all choose a tiny choice and commit to it for the rest of the month. So, let’s check in with all the Tiny Choosers and see how it’s going!
Karina: “I vow to (oh heck) give up plastic straws.” Week 1 Update: I went to a wedding this weekend and I got two small plastic straws. Shoot! So far I am 0 for 1 in the number of opportunities of straw refusal where I actually was able to refuse straws. I need to try a little harder for the rest of the month.
Jenn: I vow to cook at least one time per week. Week 1 Update: Well, I did it– I cooked one time last week! Sure, it was late Sunday night, but it totally counts– and the best part is that I had enough leftovers for 2.5 more meals. It’s a good start.
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Readers, here are the commitments you made–please leave a Week 1 Update in the comments below and let us know how it’s going!
lorelei: 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!
michele: i am going to bring my coffee mug everywhere so i don’t use the paper cups when getting coffee.
MamaBird/SurelyYouNest: i will cook a vegetarian dinner once a week (not counting the pizza and mac n cheese meals!)… thanks for the tiny motivation.
Harper: 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.
Rachel: 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.
mikea: 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.
yaiAnn: 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!
Leslie @ the oko box: 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.
Mickey Z.: 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).
roz: 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!
Frank: 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!
greta: 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!
martha in mobile: 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.
kayte: 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.
Beth: 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.
cat147: 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! :)
Trish: 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.
sg: 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!
Allison: 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!
beatfreak: 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.
Martina: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!
Lauren: I can’t cut out take-out yet, but I will vow to eat all my leftovers. Less food waste!
dahlia: 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.
Rachel: 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.
Julia: 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.
Jennifer: 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.
Sangu: Along the theme of low impact days, I’m going to try to have at least one computer- free day a week.
stacey: 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.
nikkapotamus: 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!
SuzyCat: My challenge is not to buy anything new. I’ll either buy it used or not at all.
Related posts:
- Second Weekly Check-In: April Tiny Challenge!
- Third Weekly Check-In: April Tiny Challenge!
- April Tiny Challenge: Tell Us Your Story
- April Tiny Challenge: Your Experiences
- October Tiny Challenge - Check In!
- August Tiny Challenge: Food Choices!
- October Tiny Challenge!
Topics: Activism |
the food scrap collection is going fine. i’ve gotten my boyfriend to do it too, but not my roommate sad :-(. and when we went away this weekend to a b&b with our own kitchen, i was pleasantly surprised that our hosts had a designated jar for food scraps that they compost in their yard! the real test comes tomorrow when i have to wake up early to go to the greenmarket on way to work…
i’ve had an almost no-computer day. still needing to resort to it to look up contact info or directions, and respond to emails at a minimum. with the nice weather, it would be good to designate one mostly outdoors day a week.
Happy Birthday Kari!!
I’ve had mixed results in the re-organizing of my power strips so I can turn off multiple items when not in use.
Bedroom, check.
Living Room, I’ve rearranged the strips but have been spotty in remembering to turn them off. I need it to become part of my daily rhythm.
Kitchen, I’ve fallen down here. I thought it would be the easiest because most of my kitchen electronics (of which I have way too many — maybe that should be my next Tiny Challenge) are already plugged into power strips but the strips are not easily reached and I haven’t made the extra effort. This weekly reminder is hopefully the push I need.
i am a total FAIL! i bought new shoes like 2 days later.. cuz my feet hurt wearing impractical shoes. i did buy the MOST COMFORTABLE shoes every from ECCO. here is what their website says about their environmental direction:
ECCO develops business strategies and operates in a way to ensure sustainable development and environmental stewardship. We’ve developed technologies that reduce the use of materials and energy resources, minimize waste, prevent excess pollution, and recycle waste from production units. Together, these tactics help to minimize our overall environmental footprint.
so at least they are trying?
on a good note - been eating lots of greens!
Way to check in anyway!! Honesty is good!
You will do better next time, and even better the time after that. Failed Budgets/Diets/Eco-resolutions lead to successful ones, if you repeat the attempt often enough.
the very day i committed to the challenge, my boyfriend bought my favorite flourless chocolate cake and vanilla ice to go with it. i ate them. they were delicious. on sunday i forgot all about my challenge and had a cup of gelato. otherwise i’ve stayed clear and feel great! i led a yoga retreat this weekend where we ate all raw; i’m shining and happy.
So far so good! I was able to get biobags from the store and have been religiously putting all food waste into the bin! It’s pretty amazing how fast I can fill that up especially because I’m cooking a lot. It’s been a bit of a challenge to get my parents to do it. But I remind them when I see them. I think I should probably change its location to make it more accessible to them.
On the junk mail front, I still have to sign up for 41 lbs! Will get to that this week.
I forgot to go into the storage closet and get my cloth napkins out but I haven’t used any napkins this week (I must not be a very messy eater).
we used cloth napkins for a dinner party the other night - woo hoo! they are still in a pile on the dining room table asking to be cleaned, though. ha!
as for not using paper towels at work - COMPLETE FAILURE. ugh. but, in my defense, this sad establishment is working against me meeting that goal. i vow to try harder, darnit.
Veggie meal recap: Spinach lasagna (in the crockpot no less) — woo hoo! Thanks for the push. Next up: figuring out what soup I can make with the wood ear mushrooms and bok choy I got at the farmer’s market…
Plastic Bottles - Done! it has been tempting, but I am persevering! Perfect Score!
No Factory-Farm Meat… Tough!! VERY freaking hard resolution. I haven’t actually directly bought any, but I have contributed to the Meatconomy by eating it when it has been available. This, of course, causes replacement meat to be bought on my behalf, which is kind of economically the same as buying it myself. Darn You, Fungibility of Resources!!
However, resolution #2 was just to give me an excuse to buy home-grown meat from Sequatchie Cove Farms, which arrives (frozen) tonight! Tomorrow night… Guilt Free Burgers!!
I posted late in the week when I had already fulfilled my “tiny choice,” but I’m still at it! I brought a bento lunch one more day last week (making it only one day of the whole week where I went out - a HUGE change for me - and that was for lunch with my boyfriend so it doesn’t reeeeally count) and have brought it once so far this week.
On the local-produce front, I’m doing okay! All the produce I bought last week was organic, and all of it was either grown locally or at least was labeled as being grown in the U.S.A.
I did buy some craft supplies I needed for a project, but I only bought what I needed…so tempted to buy more.
Oops. It was a rough week last week, and by the time I got my much needed special friday coffee drink, I completely spaced out on the bring my own mug promise. On the up side, when we went out to our local coffeehouse for breakfast this weekend, I did remember to ask them to give me my coffee in a mug. (They have glass mugs, but they tend to default to the paper cup unless you specify.) So, I guess that means I get half a tiny choice star? I will try to do better this week.
Big kink in my plans for this month: my old fridge (that I nicknamed “Fridgy”) died. I have been without a fridge for the whole week, so living without new food in plastic has been tough. I have made steps to be more mindful when I am purchasing food at the grocery store to avoid plastics (caps, too). It’s really hard, but I am trying!
At least the new fridge will be more energy efficient than Fridgy from the 1970s…
I didn’t do too bad with my low garbage output plan. I wound up with a 3/4 full 30 litre kitchen bag for the week. I kind of cheated with my challenge, the week before I made the commitment, I had even less garbage. But by making a point to do this, I’ve become very aware of how much packaging is on basic things like food. The big problem with my challenge? Food in the garbage. I have to start composting food waste. Between the food composting and watching the packaging on things I buy, I think I can reduce my output even further.
[…] Weekly Check-In: April Tiny Challenge! yaiAnn: 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! … […]
sorry to be so late checking in…I was helping out the over-80’s family members. I did pretty well at only using my cloth bags for groceries. I would have done better had I not been traveling: I am a creature who needs routines to establish new habits!
i have been doing pretty well on my tiny choice. of course, i’ve only worked out of the house four days this month but i brought my mug with me every one of those four days, took my lunch in three days and never bought silly coffee drinks.
i’m working out of the house tomorrow and have my soup all packed up and ready to go!
make money online…
It also got me to wondering what it is that people get from these things. Do people really draw motivation from this stuff? I have been reading Darren Brown’ s Tricks of the Mind , or at least re- reading sections of it, this week. He points out that…