Above Average And Not Proud Of It

www.blogactionday.org

We're thinking of the environment today, folks. What do you do on a daily basis to be good to our earth?

This has been on my mind lately. I should be doing more, me thinks. However, a small start is better than no start at all. Perhaps we should use Blog Action Day as a starting block. I think we should keep doing that which we are currently doing for our health, our environment, our pocketbook. Then, those of us who are slacking a bit in the conservation, I-have-a-larger-than-average ecological footprint department can add in a few other bits in order to have a better influence on our environment.

I was over at ZeroFootprint calculating my own ecological footprint. The news is not pretty. Me and mine create roughly 10.7 tons of CO2 per year. Yikes. The average Canadian or Torontonian is listed as 9.1. I'm above average and I'm not proud of it.

Even worse, I was over at Global Ecological Footprint. A sustainable footprint is said to be 15 global hectares. The average is 21 global hectares. Mine? 32.22 global hectares. Again, above average and not very proud.

We recycle. But only most paper products in our home.
We don't compost.
We use compact fluorescent lights, but have halogen in the kitchen spot lights.
We use electric heat.
I use vinegar or environmentally friendly cleaning products including biodegradable laundry detergent and dish soap.
I buy cotton clothes for the kids when possible.
We use reusable shopping bags for 3 out of 4 grocery shops.
I buy organic, local produce some of the time.
I can't seem to phase out my use of saran wrap.
We don't walk enough, even though we live right in town.
I use the internet to cut down on consumables in our schoolwork.
I am making an effort to cut our weekly screen time for a number of reasons.

Just this weekend we used foam insulation to seal some drafty spots in our townhouse. We sealed up the windows with plastic (hmm...trading one evil for another?) in the kids' rooms as they are typically very cold rooms. Having to heat with electric heat, we are hoping that any small improvement will help keep the heat in and the cold out.

I wanted to share even our meagre efforts because I'm sure I'm not the only one that can improve. We all have to start somewhere, right? This is my dismal starting point. Care to share yours? Some of my favourite bloggers are doing much better than I am. Make sure you've poked through the blog list in my sidebar and see if you can figure out who the inspirational ones are.

By the time Blog Action Day 2008 rolls around, I hope to be doing better. Do you think I can pare it down to the national or global average? Better than average? I'm going to aim for better than average and see how I do.