No Impact Week - Day 5: Energy

Thursday was no/lower energy day so we figured we should reduce the use of appliances and lights around the apartment. In addition, we turned the heat slightly down from chilly to what felt like none existent. (not completely off so the pipes wouldn't freeze but the heaters were cold so I'm not sure that made any difference.)

Oh yeah, and at some point, this happened...

This is pretty much what we did step-by-step:
1. Make a list of all appliances and lights and anything that uses electricity, whether re-chargeable batteries or plugs, etc.
2. Look at list.
3. Unplug everything possible. (including TVs, radios, stereos, whatever you have! We put these on a powerstrip and turned the whole thing off. Also, your wifi router - not on the power strip - can be unplugged when you leave the house.) We didn't have THAT much stuff but it was nice to try to make some new habits. For example, I always unplug the coffee machine and toaster but I'd never thought to unplug the microwave before.
4. Figure what we could cut down on...and then forget about list.

Basically, we didn't enforce anything super strictly, but we only used what we needed. Tried to open the fridge and freezer less (by putting everything in a pile beside the fridge before loading it in) though this didn't always work. The temperature outside wasn't quite low enough to empty the freezer but it might be later on.

One thing I found really challenging was not using kitchen appliances as much. Since we were relying on mostly unpackaged, unprepared foods, they needed quite a lot of cooking (ie. beans: 12 hours of soaking, 2 hours of boiling - who knew!?) This brought up interesting questions for whether these would just be easier to purchase packaged and pre-cooked so as to save the energy used cooking them since they're probably done more efficiently en masse. The guide recommended eating raw foods but since we'd planned the menu at the beginning of the week, we didn't really have this option. Though I'm wondering, what raw foods produced locally could have served as a meal? Any thoughts?

That evening we tried to keep the lights off as much as possible. Although it felt like we'd missed the point since we were sitting in the dark on our computers, we still played hide and seek! (oh yeah, I kid you not :) ) and some board games (though we had to turn the light on at some point because we couldn't see the board clearly by candlelight.)

Which brings me to my last and final point, candles. I had candles burning all day long pretty much, but not the good kind. From what I understand, only beeswax and soy candles are good, whereas all other candles have some kind of plastic content and are burning different toxins into your air. I was just trying to get rid of the candles I already have instead of chucking them, but honestly, I'm not sure that's a good idea even. Any thoughts on this?

No Impact Week - Day 4: Food

Wednesday was food day! The instructions asked us to note down where we'd be eating and to figure out whether the food was locally sourced or came from further away. Since we'd already bought most of the food for the week though, this information came a bit late (I'd read over the manual but it's 17 pages so some details slipped through the cracks.)

We decided that since sticking to none packaged, in-season foods, this was a worthy effort. Also, the within 200 miles rule would work great in places with lots of seasonal variety, like New York or the San Francisco Bay Area but much harder to stick to in Finland. What grows within 200 (320km) of here? That's why if we'd do it right next time, we'd probably decide that whatever comes from Europe (not necessarily the EU's definition but actual Europe, would be legit.)

Otherwise, it wasn't hard not to buy anything, not to create any waste, not to drive anywhere (since we don't have a car)...but it also felt like somehow I wasn't trying hard enough either. I've been doing a fair bit of reading about perceptions and social pressures for my thesis and it seems that once you put something out there (ie. I AM DOING NO IMPACT WEEK) you're more likely to stick to it since you blabbed to all your friends that that's what you're doing. So in a way you start to feel dishonest if you're not putting your best effort in. But as I said in my last video, the difference between taking and bus and riding my bike, didn't really feel like it'd make a difference in impact (since you save so much time by jumping on whatever bus comes by, but that bus is running because of demand and it is burning fuel... but it'd still be running anyway since that's better than all the people on it driving cars instead.)

SO - any thoughts on that? It took me awhile to bring this up because I don't feel great about it (and other shortcomings over the week) but didn't want to make it seem like I was doing everything perfectly and effortlessly.

Showing you just how easy bread is to make.

I think the title of this post pretty much sums it up: bread it easy to make. I've had this bread recipe for a little while and I've been making it every now and then. I wanted to post about it previously but I hadn't figured out how to add any value to it before I made it again today.

By taking photos along every step of the way, I hope to visually convince you that making bread can be extremely easy. I'm going to go as far as set a goal for this post as well: to inspire at least one person to make this bread! (So please let me know if you do end up making it.)

As for why I want to convince people to make bread, I have a few reasons.
First off, I believe that making food from scratch is something that everyone can come to enjoy and the more you do it, the more adventurous you'll want to be with your recipes and the more you'll like cooking.
Secondly, connecting with food can help us connect with the environment and learn more about food in general, how it's made, and what you're actually paying a company to do for you (for example, is it something you can do yourself and actually enjoy?).
Thirdly, making your own bread saves you the (mandatory) plastic bag that comes with it.
And finally, it's a fun and relaxing way of doing something handy, without too much time or effort.

Get your recipe from the 101cookbooks website and follow along.


Mix yeast and warm water, add some runny honey and let it sit until some bubbles form.


In the meantime, measure out your flour and oats.



Mix your dry and wet ingredients.


Place them in your pan and let rise.




About 10 minutes before your bread is done rising, preheat your oven.


And for the end result, you can bet it looks as good as it tastes.

Big thanks to Heidi Swanson for adapting and posting this recipe. Once again her website is: www.101cookbooks.com. And clicking the link will take you straight to the recipe itself.

Veggie recipe: Quiche aka. salty food pie.

A few months ago, my friend Mette taught me how to make a quiche, or as we refer to it "a food pie." Tonight I made the recipe again, and made the crust from scratch. If you're just starting out though and want to see how easy it is, you can also buy frozen crust, but either way, I find this quiche looks like it requires much more effort than it actually does ;)


I initially forgot to take a picture and dug right in. Sorry about that!


What you'll need:
- 1 egg
- 300g flour (you can try different combinations, I used about 100g of spelt and 200g of regular all-purpose)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons water
- basil, pepper, and whatever other spices you'd like to use
- 150g softened butter (not completely melted but very soft nonetheless)
- 75-100g of your favourite cheese (I used feta)
- A variety of veggies: onion, broccoli, leek, zucchini or any combination of them.

Preheat your oven to 180-200C.

To make the crust:
Soften/microwave the butter and stir in the flour. Mix until consistent then add a dash of salt. Stir in the 3 tablespoons of water and ta-da! Your crust is ready!
Spread it in your pan (You can use a pie pan like I did in the picture or a square 9"x9")

To make the filling:
Chop the vegetables and grate the cheese. Break your egg, beat it a little and add your spices. Add a bit of milk, stirring it in until you can lift the fork without getting that thick egg-y texture, but rather, a slightly more liquid-y feel. Fill the baking dish with veggies, top with the egg mixture and cheese.

Cook for about 40 minutes and enjoy.

Lazy Sundays: more sustainable take-out

Some days I'm bouncing around, up early to go to the market or willing to bike across town to get the food I want without any impact, whereas other days are lazy days. Yesterday was one of those day. We went to a wedding all day Saturday and came home around 4am. Though I wasn't full of energy, I do have a rather regular internal clock, so when I woke up at 9am and couldn't fall back asleep, I kind of figured it would be a slow day.

When deciding what to whip up for dinner (in the mid-afternoon), I opted for my favourite Chinese restaurant: Shanghai. Although this place has little to do with environmental benefits, I made efforts to reduce the waste resulting from my visit.

Today's tip: When getting take-out (or eating-in and taking home leftovers), bring your own containers and bags.

You may have a few objections, so allow me to explain:
- The walk to the restaurant is a welcome stroll on the lazy day. Fresh air never did anyone any harm, nor did a leisurely stroll (unless your doctor has put you on bed rest and forbidden all types of movement) so take advantage of this.
- Some days you don't want to sit at the restaurant so you can bring your own containers and take the food home with you. This can be especially handy if you're dining-in as well, because the portions at some places (like this one) will last you 3 days anyway.

I'm still working on perfecting this... sometimes my containers are too small and I end up with a box of styrofoam (out of two), which breaks my heart so that motivates me to bring the right sizes in the future or specify exactly what I want. Yesterday, I brought a plastic bag I had at home only to end up with my plastic bag and another one (apparently they thought mine was too small) holding the other container. Next time, I'll make sure to come prepared and not to be shy about specifying why I'm going out of my way to bring my containers over there.

In any case, what about you guys? Where does your motivation lie? Is it in using natural products, eating organic, reducing emissions or packaging waste? How have you (or are you/will you) made changes to your regular habits (big or small) to incorporate your values?

Shopping habits: one way to avoid packaging.

If you've gone to the grocery store in an attempt to find foods with minimal, sustainable or recyclable packaging, you are not alone. Although everything needs to be packaged to some extent, or at least shipped somehow, waste can be cut down on by bringing your own reuasable 'packaging' to the store.

Eliminate plastic and other forms of packaging waste by shopping at stores where you can choose your product, choose whatever quantity you like and pay by its weight.

These stores usually offer you plastic or paper bags to bring your stuff home in but they actually have a good thing going. You can bring your own bags (I've been reusing some small plastic/paper bags I already have) for now until I get some cloth ones. Some people have or make their own bags for these purposes... some examples of which you can find if you search "food storage" on sites like www.etsy.com... which I did for you right here. Although I'm a bit clueless with the sewing machine, you could also try to make your own bags!

If you're really in a bind, try bringing your own containers and asking them to weigh them (or weigh them at home if you can) before you fill them. To be honest, I've had some weird looks regarding this (perfectly acceptable) request after which the cashier insisted I should use a bag (and then transfer my purchases into the container). Needless to say, I'd rather shop at the place which gives me a discount for bringing my own bags (like Runsaudensarvi on Kauppakatu 4 in Tampere) but now I know to bring bags instead of containers to that specific store.

So keep an eye out for these stores. I know about Bulk Barn in Canada and Punnitsee ja Säästä (weigh and save) in Finland but those are just the chain... there are some great independently owned ones out there too (and those are usually owned by people who are more interested in their customers values!

Veggie recipe: Club sandwiches

I've procrastinated enough! Now's the time to unleash the first of many vegetarian recipes... I've only been waiting for the day when I made something that looked beautiful enough to take pictures of (because what's a recipe without a picture?) or the day I didn't forget to take a picture of something delicious before I ate it.

So you're already probably wondering how club sandwiches can be veggie... they definitely can! But really the name is because it's a spin-off of a club sandwich recipe we started making ages ago (with chicken and bacon) that slowly morphed into the veggie deliciousness you'll witness today.

So here's what you'll need to make this for 2 people:
- ciabatta or focaccia bread (from your local bakery, grocery store or made from scratch, see the bottom for more info about this)
- 1 big/medium tomatoes
- 1/2 cucumber (sliced)
- 1/2 red onion (white is great too, I just prefer red)
- 1 avocado (I buy mine a few days beforehand to give it time to ripen)
- some feta cheese
- your favourite mustard
- your favourite ketchup
Feel free to play around with some of your favourites, change the textures, or pick up whatever you have in the fridge. You'll be surprised how something so simple can taste so good.

How to whip it up:
1. Prepare your bread (make it from scratch if you want, put it in the oven if it needs to be cooked post-purchase or just slice it if it's fresh)

2. Cut your tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, avocado and onions into thin slices.

Not a Heinz commercial.

3. Put the ketchup and mustard on the bread (or not, it's up to you!)
4. Carefully place the ingredients in the sandwich, being attentive to texture (crunchy vs. soggy) and taste. Also, these usually get pretty big so realize that you'll have to consolidate the 2 slices before you eat it.

5. Consolidate aka. put the two slices together and don't let go of them until you've finished eating...

6. And I guess by now you're already enjoying the best sandwich you've ever had!

Some details...
The first few times we made this, we bought ciabatta from the grocery store (wrapped in a rather thick plastic). It was ready-made but needed to be warmed up in the oven. A few weeks ago we got a similar bread to ciabatta fresh from the bakery in our grocery store (this was a little better and came in a paper/plastic bag). Most recently though, my friend Lauren came over and we made focaccia from scratch (thank you!). I had never made bread before but today was my second time making this recipe with home-made foccacia and it's by far the best. When you're feeling adventurous, try it out with your own bread. We used the following recipe.
The only adjustment made was the addition of fresh basil instead of Parmesan.

In addition to being delicious, I've managed to cut down the plastic waste of this recipe to almost 0. The only thing that still contains plastic from the above ingredients is the feta cheese and the ketchup (which was already in our fridge). Otherwise, it feels pretty good to make such a great meal with such a small trade-off.

Finally, don't expect to get something this good at most restaurants; I am constantly disappointed when I order similar things. Either the bread or the ingredients are not as fresh, or as well-selected.

Now it's your turn, how did the recipe turn out? What did you change? And did you take any pictures?

Changing perspectives: Food.

What do you think of when you hear the word vegetarian? How about vegan?

Depending on your relationship to food, or animals, people will have a wide variety of answers to that question. The question can also be posed this way:

What do you think of when you hear the word carnivore?

I can't answer those questions for everyone, but I can tell you what I think:
- There are less-than-ideal conditions in some slaughter houses,
- Cruelty to animals is a reality (either through living conditions or slaughtering practices),
- You can't know about cruelty/slaughtering practices from looking at the meat, so it's difficult to know what you're supporting through your purchases,
- Animals which are used to produce dairy, even if not slaughtered for their meat, can also lead horrible lives,
- and finally, raising animals for meat-production for the growing global population is not sustainable and produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases.

There are other reasons but from those listed above, it's not hard to see why people are opting to be vegetarian or vegan these days.



Yet I found myself wrestling with this choice... (this is going to sound really lame) but I love bacon and salami. I could sacrifice steak no problem, I'd pretty much given up chicken in 2005 (though that was more of a phobia) and I never actually purchased meat to cook at home because I didn't really know how to cook it (though I did buy it frozen or processed somehow). But the fact of that matter was, I was still in no way vegetarian. And then I saw this video...

Graham Hill: Why I'm a weekday vegetarian | Video on TED.com

The idea is very simple: meat used to be part of a diet consisting of many other things, but over the course of the past few decades, it's become the main event. As the earth's population continues to grow, this rising trend is not sustainable. So instead of giving up meat forever, a choice which is not desirable for some, nor imaginable for others, people can decide to consume less meat. In this case, it means eating a vegetarian diet from Monday to Friday, and consuming meat only on weekends.



I've been doing this for over a year now and I can say, it's working out really well. I first started off exactly as Graham described in the video, eating vegetarian food from Monday to Friday and having some meat on the weekends. Then some weekends, I wouldn't have meat at all (because I learned I could easily live without it), while some weekdays I opted for some meat... it has since become a flexible guideline rather than a rule. I am still too ashamed to call myself a vegetarian because I know I am not one, but something should be said for people making conscious choices towards more sustainable living as well.

So give it some thought. Whether it's trying out weekday veg., having one vegetarian meal a day or a week to start out, there are an endless number of possibilities which you can tailor for yourself. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas!

Making tough choices? Figure out your priorities.

I met my friend Donna today because I'm helping her organize a community garbage pick-up event this coming Sunday and we had some running around to do. One of the spots we ran through was Tampere's central square, which is host to a variety of festivals and different vendors throughout the summer. This is one big reason that the center has tons of garbage flying around it but there are also nice things available there. This week, the theme is French Cuisine and products!

The bakery has a line running through the square (it's run out of a truck) and other vendors are selling candy, fresh nuts or even soaps! I noticed a huge stand of French natural soaps from Marseilles and couldn't resist. I promised myself that I'd stop buying liquid soaps, in an effort to reduce waste. In addition, I've been buying only soaps without any waste at all (no packaging, no bags, etc.) They usually tend to run about 5-8euros/bar but I get such joy out of using them that I don't mind paying a few euros extra, and they last long too.

Today in the square, the soaps cost 5 euros each or 5 for 20 euros. I got so excited but there were a few things to consider:
+ no waste
+ natural soaps
+ great price
- driven in a truck from France
- production impact unknown
= how do you calculate that?

In the end, I came home with 5 bars of them and had a photo shoot! It's sometimes hard to make decisions like that but those decisions are part of every day life. I'm trying to make lots of choices at the same time, and all my intentions are good: I don't want to have a negative impact on my surroundings. But this takes some getting used to and should be done step-by-step (especially since this is in the sub-title of this blog.)

So the moral of this story, and the lesson for this post is: Figure out your priorities.

If energy and water are more important for you, focus on those. If emissions are on your mind, reduce those first. If waste is your most pressing concern, start with that. I could keep going but you get the point. So long as you're aware and you start somewhere, you're heading in the right direction.

And now for the photo shoot... (these should last me about a year!)