Tiny Choices Survey: Nicole!
By Jenn | July 25, 2008
Vital statistics (name, age, location, link to website/blog)?
Nicole, 27, St. Joseph MI, www.rimestimes.net.
How do you reside (apartment or house, roommates)?
I live in a house with my husband, daughter, and rabbit.
Are your housing decisions dictated by choice or necessity? Please explain.
A little of both. There are not many apartment/condo choices within a reasonable price range where we live. However, we chose to spend a bit more on our house (mostly city taxes) in order to live closer to
downtown in order to walk or ride our bikes to visit stores, events, and the beach. Plus, I live within 4 miles of my workplace, so I save on gas that way.
How do you travel (transit, car, etc)? Are your travel decisions dictated by choice or necessity? Please explain.
We have two vehicles, one a 10 year old Corolla with almost 200,000 miles on it-my husband drives this one to work, roughly 40 miles one way. The other car is a CRV which doesn’t get driven much, but just around town. I have started biking to work, as well as around town to save on gas.
Tell us about a Tiny Choice you’ve made in your life.
We’ve made many, but one of the best is the use of our bikes. We bike all around town in the summer, and try not to use the car unless we have to pick up something that is bigger than we can handle on the bikes.
What is the one environmental dilemma you personally struggle the most with?
New things. Everyone likes to have shiny new things, but we seem to struggle with the purchase of new toys, especially electronics.
What is one Tiny Choice you can make in that direction?
We have been using our current toys until they are completely used up. We also try getting toys from garage sales or Goodwill, or Freecycle instead of buying new.
What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you make that people question (in either a positive educational or a negative hassle way) you the most about?
The canvas grocery bags get a lot of attention. When we started using them about 4 years ago, it was hard to get the clerks to understand that we wanted them to fill the canvas bags, and not to use any plastic. But now, our local grocery stores are offering a $.05 incentive per bag to use the canvas totes instead of the plastic.
What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you would like every single person to adopt?
Canvas grocery bags. How easy is that? Really. We must have 20 bags around our house from various conferences and freebies, how many more does everyone else have. USE THEM! If you need one, come see
me, I have plenty to spare.
Do you feel like you make sacrifices for environmentalism? Please explain.
Occasionally, but usually they are good sacrifices. Like purchasing silly little things while we are out. We have stopped that practice so that we don’t have “stuff” lying around our house and also so we don’t encourage the manufacturing of more “stuff” in our world.
Are you generally: optimistic, pessimistic, neutral about environmentalism and the future?
Optimistic. I think a lot of attention has been put on the environment lately, and many more people are doing the small things to help out.
Topics: Surveys |
Good choices! You’re setting a good example for your daughter.
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