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 posts with label barriers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barriers. Show all posts
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
No Impact Week - Day 3: Transport
Mostly a review of no waste day, with a quick note about transportation:
I should also clarify that we didn't buy everything at the market, as I forgot to mention in the video since I was too busy babbling, but rather went to the Punnitse ja säästä (Finnish Bulk Barn) first, then the market place then the grocery store. The only packaged item we bought was a small can of tomato paste (it was 25 cents, the really small ones). We found that the market only have quite small sized vegetables (albeit organic) but they were also quite expensive. This was alright for a few ingredients, but I decided it was worthwhile to get some stuff at the grocery store as well for a bit of a compromise. Also, when dealing with tiny root vegetables, even if organic, the smaller they are, the more annoying they are to peel!
We also used some ingredients in our cooking that we've had for ages, such as spices, and others which 'turnover' regularly but still have some packaging, like butter, ketchup, mustard, olive oil.
Today we also bought dishwashing tablets since we'd run out. I tried googling home-made solutions on my phone (however last-minute). I think this didn't work for two big reasons:
- the sources I access most easily are in English, and thus contain ingredients easily found in Canada or the States, such as Borax. I tried searching in Finnish (after we'd already gotten home with the box of detergent) and it seemed there was some confusion among Finns who had read similar solutions and were trying to find equivalents in Finland. All in all, my search led me nowhere.
- until Juha pointed out that we ran out of dishwashing tablets/powder, I was entirely oblivious. This also meant that I had very little time to prepare a search on viable options. The unexpected is not the friend of the best-intentioned consumer as change in patterns seem most challenging when time is lacking, and we often find this too difficult to overcome and instead retreat to old habits. (or at least that's my spin after reading 32748923748394 articles related to my thesis =/)
I should also clarify that we didn't buy everything at the market, as I forgot to mention in the video since I was too busy babbling, but rather went to the Punnitse ja säästä (Finnish Bulk Barn) first, then the market place then the grocery store. The only packaged item we bought was a small can of tomato paste (it was 25 cents, the really small ones). We found that the market only have quite small sized vegetables (albeit organic) but they were also quite expensive. This was alright for a few ingredients, but I decided it was worthwhile to get some stuff at the grocery store as well for a bit of a compromise. Also, when dealing with tiny root vegetables, even if organic, the smaller they are, the more annoying they are to peel!
We also used some ingredients in our cooking that we've had for ages, such as spices, and others which 'turnover' regularly but still have some packaging, like butter, ketchup, mustard, olive oil.
Today we also bought dishwashing tablets since we'd run out. I tried googling home-made solutions on my phone (however last-minute). I think this didn't work for two big reasons:
- the sources I access most easily are in English, and thus contain ingredients easily found in Canada or the States, such as Borax. I tried searching in Finnish (after we'd already gotten home with the box of detergent) and it seemed there was some confusion among Finns who had read similar solutions and were trying to find equivalents in Finland. All in all, my search led me nowhere.
- until Juha pointed out that we ran out of dishwashing tablets/powder, I was entirely oblivious. This also meant that I had very little time to prepare a search on viable options. The unexpected is not the friend of the best-intentioned consumer as change in patterns seem most challenging when time is lacking, and we often find this too difficult to overcome and instead retreat to old habits. (or at least that's my spin after reading 32748923748394 articles related to my thesis =/)
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