Low-Impact for Life

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Let's live with purpose!  I'm making some changes, and sharing it with the internet because that's what we do now.

Lately I've been thinking about getting ready to potentially procreate and I've been trying to get my body in better shape to produce another body. That led to me thinking about all the things people buy for children, the care/feeding/clothing, etc., and how I really want to have a low-impact baby. And I began to wonder, I'm getting my body in shape, but what about my lifestyle? I decided to assess and try to live a more low-impact lifestyle before having kids, and this blog is to hold me accountable and share that journey.

My first steps were to do research on how others define low-impact lifestyles, what actions they suggest, and also think of things I'm already doing and rate how consistently I'm doing those things. This post will also act as a list of all the suggestions and changes I make.

What is a Low-Impact Lifestyle?
When the internet discusses low-impact, they focus primarily on environmental impact. I am also interested in participating less in consumer culture, which seems to be a related, but not entirely overlapping idea.

I also found a lot on low-impact lifestyles that seemed to indicate that you need to sell your house and live in a hut in order to achieve some low-impact goals. I am a normal person and that is not the kind of change I'm looking to make right now (plus, I don't even own a house, which limits some of the changes I can make to my residence). So I'm starting with small changes that an average person can easily implement and then we'll see where that takes me. I also don't want to quit my job and open a co-op or something, so these ought to (at least at first) be changes that anyone can make. My goal is to implement one new change a week. If you want to play along at home, please do and let me know how your own changes go!

Initial List of Downshifting Ideas

  • Week 1: Use fewer disposable items (none? can it be done? See you next Saturday to find out!)
  • Reduce packaging
  • Decrease my energy usage
  • Don't buy new when you can buy used
  • Tackle transportation
  • Reduce landfill waste
  • Stop ordering things online
  • Don't buy when you can rent or borrow
There are a LOT of suggestions on the internet for low-impact changes, but this is the list I came up with off the top of my head, so it's where I'm starting. These are also things I sort of do already, but not with any consistency. New items will be added below. 

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