My Final Thoughts

I will be honest, the hard part of this assignment for me was not doing my best to reduce my eco footprint, it was not even saving water, using less electricity and gas, buying eco-friendly products or using public transport. No it was not any of these, it was in fact reporting the changes I have made over the 3 months on my blog. It has taken me a long time to get here and as I look back on my first posts I am happy with my achievements throughout this assignment.

I have managed to reduce consumption of gas, electricity and water and maintained a reasonable amount of waste leaving the home.

I would like to point out that I have always been pretty conscious of how much water I use so the reduction was not huge however I have started to recycle the dishwater to use on the plants outside which I think is great!


The small changes in the bills I would say has a small part to do with being extra aware of how often electrical and gas appliances are used but I also believe the weather has played a part too. I have not had the heater on for a while so that has definately made a difference.


I have also been driving my car much less and as a result I have taken in more of what my local area has to offer! (Mind you public transport has made me loose a few hairs when trains are cancelled and I am running late for uni!)


Overall I have enjoyed this assignment and look forward to maintaining the practices I have put into place. 6/ 16 has gone GREEN and I plan to keep it that way!!

TIME TO REVEAL MY CURRENT ECO FOOTPRINT!

The time has come to see if I have been able to reduce my Eco -footprint over the duration of this assignment.

My initial Ecological Footprint according to the EPA website:

If everyone lived like me, we would need 2.6 Planet Earths to provide enough resource!

Food makes up 46% of my ecological footprint (I eat a lot of meat).

And to support my lifestyle, it takes 4.7 global hectares of the Earth's productive area.

Current Ecological Footprint

If everyone lived like me, we would need 2 Planet Earths to provide enough resource!  A reduction of .6 Planet Earths!

Food makes up 48% of my ecological footprint. I must admit I am surprised about this. I thought I had changed my diet enough to at least make a bit of difference here in a good way, instead the results show an increase of 2%. Maybe I did not accurately record my food breakdown in the initial footprint?

Goods 9%

Services 28%

Shelter 11%

Mobility 3%

And to support my lifestyle, it takes 3.5 global hectares of the Earth's productive area.

ELECTRICITY - ORIGIN

To come

GAS - ORIGIN

Account period: 27-8-2010 to 27-10-2010: 61 days

Usage: 2070MJ's

Average Daily usage: 33.9 MJ (2 people)

Amount: $46.73

Average cost per day: $ 0.92

Greenhouse gas emissions: 0.11 tonnes C02

WATER:

Unfortunately I have forgotten to bring my diary back to the farm so that I can type the water usage for most weeks in the blog. I know from memory that both Ben and I use  below 155litres per day. I believe this has a lot to do with the following: we do not have a washing machine, we have a flushing policy which you would have already read about, we only fill the bucket in the kitchen sink half way when doing the dishes and we try (and succeed most of the time) to only have 3 minute showers.  I will have to check my diary again to be positively sure but I think we only managed to reduce our water usage by a few litres as we have always been water wise even before this assignment.

LAST RUBBISH WEIGH IN.....

I have found it hard to reduce the household waste however I am much more aware of what I throw in the bin and what I can recycle. For almost three months the waste (for two people) has stayed at about the same weight each week, general waste at approximately 3kgs and recycling at approximately 2- 2.5kgs. I personally do not think this is too bad for two people however I know it is possible to go better and when I do I will post the results even after the assignment is finished!

Final weeks rubbish

Weight of general waste: approx 3 kg

Weight of recyling: appro 2.5 kg

Recycling!

Biodiversity Audit - Take 2!

OK - So my first attempt at completing the Biodiversity Audit at Ripponlea Estate was near impossible! The place is so big with far too many plants for me to count as you could see by the pictures I posted earlier in my blog. This time I decided to take a stroll to Alma Park to see what I could find. Below is a picture of the native plants I saw which were shadowed by much bigger exotic cypress trees and oaks. I believe that completing the Biodiversity Audit in schools would be great for students to discover more about the biodiversity of their schools and what improvements can be made.

Clean and Green

Cleaning product I purchased last week. It was a pricey $12.00 (well pricey for a uni student) so hopefully it works well. At least I know I am doing right by the planet!!

I was walking down the street just over a week ago and I finally decided to check out the local organic shop I always walk past. From the moment I stepped in through the door I felt good! Seriously, being surrounded by fresh, organic produce and environmentally friendly products made me feel relaxed and good about myself. I was one of the people who cares about our planet - it was like I had found a new hip club! And as I wondered down towards the back I was mesmorised by the yummy food the had on display. Although the prices were slightly above what I would normally pay for a salad or a foccacia they looked amazing - and so FREESH! When I had stopped gazing at the wonderfully vibrant food I was drawn to the eco friendly cleaning products. I knew we were almost out of bathroom cleaner so I purchased the Enviro Clean product that you can see above. I also bought Sukin Shampoo which is a natural and carbon neutral product. As I walked out of the shop with my bottle of Enviro Clean bathroom and toilet cleaner and Sukin Shampoo in my enviro bag I felt great!

 

http://www.glohealth.com.au/index.asp 

WATER Usage

From diary

To eat less meat!

Over the past two and a half months I have been trying my best to eat less meat. I am more conscious of how much meat I buy and how often I make meals that contain meat. I recently found this information on the website http://www.mygreenlife.com.au/

which I thought was very interesting.

In 2005 the University of NSW and CSIRO conducted "A triple bottom line analysis of 135 sectors of the Australian Economy" called "Balancing Act" from which it is possible to calculate the environmental impact derived from a dollar spent in any of the industry sectors analysed. Using the 'meat products' sector the environmental benefits of reducing your meat consumption by half (to the recommended levels) are as follows:

• Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions - 7,092.8 kg CO2
• Reduction in water use - 206,627 litres
• Reduction in land disturbance - 51,150 m2 or 5.115 hectares

These figures suggest that current meat consumption results in over a third of our ecological foot print. So eat well and help us move to a more sustainable and healthy diet.

One of the recipies I found online that I want to try is the  Summer Chili Stir Fry with Seasoned Potatoes

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    1 teaspoon curry powder
    1 teaspoon sweet basil
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
    1/4 teaspoon chili powder
    1/4 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
    1/2 cup breadcrumbs
    2 large potatoes, peeled, diced, and boiled to soften - not to a mash (or try sweet potato for a lighter option)
    1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    1 to 2 portabello mushrooms, chopped (a.k.a., field mushrooms)
    2 cups cabbage, cut into thin ribbon strips
    1 cup broccoli, chopped
    1/2 cup carrots, peeled and diced
    3/4 cup rice, prepared to package directions (I use long-grain brown rice)

Directions:

Potatoes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat shallow baking dish with vegetable oil or non-stick spray.

2. In a bowl (big enough to stir through the potatoes), combine curry powder, basil, salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and vegetable stock powder followed with breadcrumbs. Stir well. Stir in potatoes until they are seasoned. Lay the seasoned potatoes into the baking dish and place in oven to keep warm.

Stir Fry:
3. Heat another tablespoon oil in another skillet. Add field mushrooms and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Toss in cabbage. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.  Stir in broccoli, then stir in mushrooms. Leave to fry on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn down to low. Add carrots and whatever seasoning you like. (I used a sprinkle of chilli powder, a large sprinkle of sweet basil, 1 teaspoon of curry powder and half a teaspoon of vegetable stock powder.)

New discoveries in local area

Muku Organical Baby - 68 Glen Eira Road

Shop owners: Aya Okunoya and her husband

Oh this shop is so cute it makes me wish I had a reason to buy baby clothes.... Haha
Here is the run down about Muku.

Two years ago Aya’s young baby was severely affected by a rash from a

cotton vest. She was shocked to learn that today's cotton is often exposed to

chemicals such as fertilizer, herbicide, defoliant and dyes which can also

harm the farmers of cotton. She was inspired to create a range of baby wear

comprised of pure organic and mainly undyed cotton particularly to protect

new born babies.

Her shop is in tune with her and her husband’s desire to demonstrate the

changes needed to protect the future of the earth and its children.

How sweet are these booties!

Awwwww, cutest little bib!