No Impact Week - Day 1: Consumption

Today is the first day of No Impact Week in our house!

I thought it might be a great way to get back into blogging, but also to keep a record of the week's findings to have for learning and sharing purposes.

The No Impact Experiment is a week (8 days to be precise) during which you change your habits to live more sustainably and see what you can change on a long-term basis, what you can't and why. For more info about the week or how to participate in your own, check out noimpactproject.org The idea is that it just might make you happier.

Or click here:

Day 1: consumption

The first day focuses on consumption and is rather fitting for the time of year, especially with Black Friday having just passed.

Already, I have to make a confession. Juha and I have both been looking for winter coats for what seems to be an endless amount of time (about 3 visits to Stockmann over a couple of weeks). Due to a 20% off sale this weekend, we put a coat on layaway Friday and went back to pick it up today (we only later realized that it would be purchased on no-consumption day, go figure.) Since we tend to buy relatively little, and keep our coats for years (his old one was 8 years old, mine is about 6) we figured the purchase was justifiable and there was no point going back a week later and getting it at full price just for the sake of the experiment. It was in no way an impulse buy. For some of the other items on my list, such as a lighter backpack (mine seems to weight a ton when empty!) I'll be checking out some second-hand places around Helsinki to see if there are any viable options.

But before my ramble confession, this is what happened:

I started off the day by reading the newspaper online and catching up with what's going on in Canada. To my delight, thestar.com had an entire "hot topic" dedicated to Black Friday. Since the green community has spent the last week buzzing about Black Friday, and its counterpart "Buy Nothing Day", I expected the Star would have some thoughts on the topic, regardless of their opinions. But I was sorely disappointed when clicking on the topic, several articles opened up:

- Canadian retailers fight back against Black Friday deals
- Canada’s Black Friday: Internet provides hassle-free bargain hunting, if you know where to look
- Canada’s Black Friday: Holiday shopping levels off, as online takes off
- Photos: Cool holiday gift ideas
- Black Friday shopping? Only on impulse, thanks!
- Black Friday shopping: Personally, I prefer to do some homework

So with a bit of hesitation, I decide to give the last article a try. Maybe it has something on sensible consumption and how to find more stuff second-hand, buy less overall, etc. (You can read the article here, but no need to waste your time.) Basically the author is against impulse buying, and compares her friend's impulse buy of a Mercedes Bens, with the complexity she faced when buying a horse... is this journalism?

In any case, one thought-provoking item in the news was the appearance of Black-Friday in the headlines, alongside a very brief article about yet another garment factory fire in Bangladesh killing at least 112 people (these happen quite often and always seem to leave dozens of people dead).

The two do not directly relate; I will admit to that. Regardless, I do feel that we owe some thought to the victims who slave away to make us an endless assortment of clothing and were tragically killed in the process. I am not trying to guilt anyone about this, just to bring some thought about where our clothes come from.

Dyes, Colours and Spring!

It's been awhile since my last post but those of you who know me know that I have not abandoned green endevours.

I recently came across this video posted by a high school friend of mine on Facebook (Thank you @Kali Carys for posting!) and I thought it would be a great way to ease back into blogging. Click here for the video: DIY dyes from your kitchen & garden: magic of living colo(u)r.




It doesn't have all the details you might need for actually dying your own fabrics but it's a great source of inspiration to get you thinking about dyes and natural colours in a different way.

This peaked my interest because I took part in organizing and chairing a panel discussion about Corporate Social Responsibility in the textile industry back in December 2011. We invited panelists from the industry, from the academic community, from the consumer association of Finland, etc. After turning over all the metaphorical rocks there were to be turned on the issue, paniking about all the environmental and human rights issues, as well as other externalities, I wonder if any of the class' participants felt that the panel had really answered their questions or calmed their fears. I, for one, felt more overwhelmed than ever, albeit grateful for the chance to learn more about the indutry and perhaps conduct some of my own research.




One of the most memorable questions I remember asking the panelists, and which was answered by the representative of the textile and fashion industry went a little something like this:
"Generally speaking, the textile industry is chemically intensive. The chemicals are used in the process of dyeing fabrics, printing and finishing the clothes, which pollutes bodies of water around the factories. The latest Greenpeace report states that as much as 70% of the rivers, lakes and reservoirs in China are affected by water pollution and hormone disrupting chemicals were found, discharged from factories and which can be hazardous at low levels. One devastating effect of these chemicals can be that they accumulate up in the food chain.



This may sound like a naïve question but is there a possibility to remove all the hazardous chemicals from the production?
Can you comment on how H&M plans to remove 80% or all of chemicals by 2020?"

Funny enough, I don't recall an answer to the question but just the beginning of the answer: "Practically speaking, the clothing industry is a chemical industry..."

Granted, I was standing on a stage trying to listen and plan how the next question would go but for me to remember exactly what was said, I would have to watch the video. Overall, and as you can probably tell by my memory, the answer was disheartening and not necessarily what I had wished to hear. That being said, and if you've already watched the video above, you might be smiling because I did eventually get an answer to the question. Yes it is possible and yes, some companies are doing it! Not just in less damaging way, by not dumping the waste straight into rivers and dying light colours first then adding darker colours to the same water but instead by just using plants and natural dyes.



In any case, I was exciting to have found such an informative and inspiring video. Not necessarily because I'm going to start dying my own clothes in the 4m2 bathroom of my apartment building (well why not!?) but because it gives you an appreciation for people who are doing it and who are sharing their passion through their own businesses. If anything, I get the feeling that if we all play a small role in conserving the world's natural resources and helping one another do it, we'd start to feel more interconnected than ever before.

For more about the label mentioned in the video, check out Adie+George.

Netcycler: a new kind of Craigslist.

One person's junk is another person's treasure.

Truer words have seldom been spoken. So in that spirit, please click here to be redicredted to the netcycler website.

The idea is:
1. You sign up.
2. You post of list of stuff you'd like to give away.
3. You make a wish-list of things you'd like to swap for.
4. You find said-stuff, or people find your stuff and you arrange to meet and trade stuff or send it by mail!

I especially loved this as a pre-/post-move project...which I may be doing myself so I'm looking forward to trying the website out. Any thoughts?

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.

Quick tip: Use up your products before you throw them away.

I'm going to keep today's post short and sweet. I got home from Helsinki today to find that one of our tubes of cream had been cut down to size. Although this concept was not in the least new to me (I think it's a pretty standard tactic) I had never thought to do it myself. So a big thank you goes out to Juha (who has been reading No Impact Man) for giving me this idea!

So today I say: Before throwing out your empties, make sure they're actually empty.




It might seem like a small difference, but every little bit helps. So if cutting open the tube gets you an extra 2 uses, and you have ie. 50 uses in total, then for every 25 tubes, you'll save one tube. Ideally, it'd be great to eliminate tubes, but if you're not there yet (and you're not alone) then might as well make the best of what you have!

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.

New perspectives: Speak up!

Photo credit: here.

Some days I have the motivation to run a marathon (figuratively speaking), write tons of posts and talk to enough people to keep the idea going and have them inspire me in return. But since we're all human, that feeling can't always last forever without any interruptions. There are days that get you a little down and feel a little blue about the current state of things. Of course, this is a reality we deal with every day and it's ok to feel like that, so long as you don't let that feeling distract you for too long.

I'll give you an example. A few weeks ago, I ordered some stainless steel straws from www.lifewithoutplastic.com. My mom and dad brought them over from Canada because I saw them 2 weeks ago and I was really excited to receive my order of straws (along with some really great non-plastic food storage containers) as well as see my parents! I'm not proud to say, my straws are still packaged and sitting on my table...(I'll go unwrap them now!)