The end of a Low Impact Week

This post marks the end of the first 5 days of low impact me. It has been an interesting week with lots of things I learned, many of which surprised me. The most interesting thing I learned this week was that it is relatively easy to feed a three person family for a week with only $100. Our family tries to keep it under $250/week but often doesn't make it because we try to buy organic and local. I wonder if we are really making that much of a difference by buying local/organic in terms of the environment, especially with something else that I learned this week: that driving more to get to local food actually pollutes more then buying commercial food.

This week I glimpsed America at its best and its worst. We are a culture of inventors and innovators, but all that creation comes at a price. Lights are wonderful things, much less dangerous then torches or candles, but the power has to come from somewhere. I wonder if burning a candle or using a light creates more CO2...I guess that I will carry with me forever the realization that although our lives are high quality, that quality comes at cost.
I would really like to share with people how easy it is to give up a few things that may not matter much when it's just you, but how much it would matter if everyone gave up just one thing.
Challenges:
Whole Group:
Turn off lights that are not needed (Reduce CO2 emissions)
Personal:
Plant something every day (Offset carbon emissions)
Don't shave (Reduce polluted water/waste)
No plastic bags (Reduce waste/use of fossil fuels)
I will take shorter showers (Reduce CO2 pollution and waste water)

So taking shorter showers is becoming more and more easy. I am able to have the water running for perhaps 2 or 3 minuets and get just as clean as if I took a longer shower. On the other hand I have a lot more time in the morning. Win Win. The only thing that is hard is turning off the warm water when you are cold. Oh well...