A Little About My Monthly Challenges

So, I started the whole "monthly challenge" thing kind of by accident. It was November, so a bunch of people were doing NaBloPoMo, and then there was a group of people doing NoBloShoeMo which was 30 days of showing off your shoes. So I thought I'd put my own little spin on NoBloShoeMo and do a month of paring down my shoe collection. And then when that was done, I thought, "Well, that was fun, let me try another monthly challenge."

So it was random fluke that made me start the whole monthly challenge thing, but I found that the challenges gave me something to a) write about and b) focus on for the month.

And now that I've completed three monthly challenges I think I can safely say that I think they're a very effective tool for changing habits. For instance, when I started DeSloFooMo, I was terrified. I *lived* on pre-packaged one serving meals: Trader Joe's packaged salads, frozen mac and cheese, the occasional Lean Cuisine. I assumed that I would try out cooking for a month, and that would be that. In January, I'd be back to my pre-packaged convenience meals.

Except, that it didn't happen. This past month, I ordered delivery three times (all with friends.) I got fast food once (I had a desperate craving for Subway.) I got a pre-packaged one serving meal exactly never. That's right. I went from someone who lived on pre-packaged meals to not eating one once this month.

The monthly challenges have allowed me to sort of test the waters, to take challenges on that I would normally never take, because I can tell myself, "Oh, it's just for a month." But guess what? After the month is over, my habits have re-formed.

Similarly with JaLeDiMo, I was freaked out about giving up toilet paper. But, it honestly hasn't been as big as a deal as I was making it out to be. So, I'm not going back. I like my spray bottle just fine. I didn't love the handkerchief thing, but I'll probably keep it unless I have a bad cold (in which case I'll probably use recycled tissue.)

So, what started as a fluke has turned into a very effective tool for me for re-shaping my behavior. Tune in tomorrow for my February challenge.

Arduous and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

You know that children's book that starts out, "I went to bed with gum in my mouth and I woke up with gum in my hair?"

That's the kind of day today was. The kind of day where I wake up tired and vaguely stressed over work and politics. No real reason for stress either, mind you.

And then I forgot to pack a lunch. So I ate some soup that was leftover from my lunch yesterday. And then at 6:00pm, I realized that I had an appointment after work and I also had forgotten to pack a dinner and also that now if I stopped to get dinner, I'd be late. So, I went without.

I finally came home tonight around 10pm, starving, exhausted, and a totally wreck.

And now I've eaten, and decompressed a little, but I still feel largely like this day has thumped me flat on my back.

And all I want to do is crawl under the covers and go to bed, but predictably, I have stuff that needs doing. Ah well.

When The Environment Clashes With Your Choice of Beer

Last night, I was thinking of you, Jennie, when I resolutely abstained from the gross three dollar PBR. Unfortunately, it seems that PBR is the only thing that Spaceland has available on tap, so instead of ending up with a washable glass of beer, I ended up with a disposable bottle of Amstel Light. I hope they recycle! I actually almost thought about putting the empty beer bottle in my purse and taking it with me to ensure it was recycled, but I didn't because it seemed possibly illegal and at best, very sketchy. "Hi officer, why yes, I DO have a beer bottle in my purse. But I'm not a drunk who carries around beer bottles, I'm just a wacky environmentalist!"

Yeah, no.

So I might have to go back to the PBR, gross and hangover-inducing as it is. Because A#1, it's three bucks, A#2, it's on tap, and A#3 it's domestic, right? So fewer fossil fuels?

Or maybe I should be drinking liquor. I dunno, people, anyone have an idea of what my greenest option would be at a standard bar with a standard drink list? I kind of think given that I drink one serving of alcohol 1-2 times per week, bottled, imported beer is probably the least of my concerns, but on the other hand, the quality difference between an Amstel Light and a PBR is probably not THAT huge that I couldn't just deal.

This Is The Story Of A Scrubby

Lately, I've been finding myself at Trader Joe's ogling their nylon scrubbies. Yeah I know that's a weird thing to want, but five and a half months of non-consumerism will do that to you. (Other things I covet: a soap sleeve, a square Pyrex baking dish and ummm a Wii.)

Anyway, nylon scrubbies sort of fall into that gray area for me where they're clearly durable items, so I can't really buy them new, but they're also not the sort of thing I can buy used. So, I've been doing without, which has kind of been a pain, but became even more of a pain when my dishwasher broke.

Enter Chile the Genius and her re-thinking it challenge.



This WAS the bag that held my delicious California clementines. It's now my new nylon scrubby. I'm very proud.

AUGH

Apparently there's some sort of microwave malfunctioning virus going around. A mere day after Crunchy Chicken noted that her microwave touchpad was malfunctioning, mine started malfunctioning as well.

Luckily, for now the "Ez On" button is still working which basically means that I can still microwave things in 30 second increments. Awesome. Let's hope that button keeps holding up.

Rainy Sunday Reading

I wanted to highlight some great reads on the internet recently:

Brave New Leaf has the text of a letter from Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer regarding peak oil. It's a very interesting, not to mention surprising letter from Shell. Here's a key nugget:

Regardless of which route we choose, the world's current predicament limits our maneuvering room. We are experiencing a step-change in the growth rate of energy demand due to population growth and economic development, and Shell estimates that after 2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand.

Elsewhere, Chile tipped her readers off to a fascinating National Geographic article regarding the drying of the Southwest (including Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, and our very own Hell-A.) It's so worthwile, that I wanted to call attention to the article as well. As bad as the news is (and it's bad)I found some reason for optimism here as well:

Every utility in the Southwest now preaches conservation and sustainability, sometimes very forcefully. Las Vegas has prohibited new front lawns, limited the size of back ones, and offers people two dollars a square foot to tear existing ones up and replace them with desert plants. Between 2002 and 2006, the Vegas metro area actually managed to reduce its total consumption of water by around 20 percent, even though its population had increased substantially.

Lastly, an absolute must read from Scientific American: a plan to produce 69% of the U.S.'s electricity and 35% of its total energy needs by 2050 through solar energy. Here's a taste:

Solar energy’s potential is off the chart. The energy in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year. The U.S. is lucky to be endowed with a vast resource; at least 250,000 square miles of land in the Southwest alone are suitable for constructing solar power plants, and that land receives more than 4,500 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of solar radiation a year. Converting only 2.5 percent of that radiation into electricity would match the nation’s total energy consumption in 2006.

There's a lot of depressing information and statistics out there, and peak oil and climate change are reasons for grave concern. But in a world of limited resources, I believe very firmly in one virtually limitless resource: human ingenuity and adaptability. Every time I get depressed about the world around me, I remind myself of this. We can effect change. We just have to want change.

The Bath Mat Is Still Wet

Just sayin'.