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.

Bike time!

I've been meaning to post about this all summer but every time I sat down, I had another random idea and posted that instead. So today:

Get a bike, get on it and go somewhere!

As a kid, my parents drove me to school every morning, and later, I drove myself. There were no school buses going to my school so we drove the 20km to school, while other friends walked (from a much closer distance). It sounded crazy to me that anyone would ride their bike to school. (Though I knew it'd be possible if I lived closer too.) If someone had asked me what a good distance to bike to school would've been, I wouldn't have been able to say, because I had no concept of the distances vs. speed vs. effort ratios of riding a bike. I had also gotten into the bad habit of driving absolutely everywhere...



Fast-forward a few years and a move to Finland later, subtract the car and money to buy a car but add a shiny yellow bike, and here I am.
This summer I decided to challenge myself. My work place is 7km away (by car) and about 7.5km along a bike path. It sounded like a crazy distance to me at first but I tried it out anyway. It turned out it wasn't the distance that was challenging on this route, but the incline. One morning, after crawling out of bed and procrastinating as much as I could before leaving the house, I biked to work. Even better, I biked back too. It felt really rewarding walking into the office (admittedly a little sweaty, but you can bring a change of clothes too) having already done half an hour of exercise that day. I only took the bus once or twice more after that (on days I thought would be rainy after already biking during the rainy ones - again: change of clothes are key!) but I much preferred my bike. I also have to say, that I have a one speed Jopo (somewhat of a favourite in Finland, pictured above) and I need a fair bit of effort to make my way up hills. As a result, I have people zooming past me every morning as I make my way slowly towards my destination. But I've had a lot of time to think during those trips, and it's quite nice to slow down and take the world in.

In any case, if I can do it, you can do it too!
I have to admit that Finnish bike paths are far more prominent than Toronto ones but short trips to the grocery store are a great way to start, and are especially easy with a basket.

New habits: Start shopping at your local farmers' market.

I couldn't sleep in today, so I decided to wake up and start my day early. The farmers' market a few blocks away is open until 2pm on Saturdays (and every weekday morning) but I like having time to browse so I hopped on my bike and headed there. I've been shopping there for about a month and I only just realized that, although I'm cooking different things, I use more or less the same ingredients every time. I started by walking up and down the isles and looking at all the produce and prices, making mental notes as I go.

What to bring:
+ Bike and bike basket (it speeds up the whole process)
+ Cloth bags to hold everything while walking around
+ Containers (like the Tupperware I already own) or other bags for messier items which need packaging ie. berries
+ an egg carton, if you're planning on buying eggs.

What to look for:
- check the prices.
- check how the items are packaged. wrapped in plastic? put in boxes?
- where do the products come from? I noticed this summer that people were selling cherries from Portugal, for example. Or lettuce and cucumbers wrapped in plastic from the same source as the grocery store (Here I failed to see the point of buying from those stalls.) Talk to the sellers about their products and origins.
- After doing a good warm-up walk around, you'll notice many of the same products on the tables. The products you see most often are those which are in season. In season products are a more sustainable choice than those which require extra resources to produce. I'm still learning "what grows when" but the visual aspects of it at the market makes it easy to understand :)



So now that you know what to look for and what to bring, you just need to find your local market and go there! I love coming home and admiring all the freshness, and I get a thrill out of knowing the stuff is local and not covered in plastic!