ecoyear

I am starting by modeling myself on a book by Regina Leeds called "One Year to an Organized Life", which I got from the Larkspur library.

In this book, the author starts by assessing whether we have any hidden reasons from our past for insisting on being disorganized, for running late for things, for losing papers in piles. Then, she goes on to tackle one room in the house each month, and branches out to organizing other aspects of our lives.

I long to be organized, and now with all my possessions in containers, it feels like I can start over.

But I don't want the same old annoying stuff in my house. I want stuff I love, is beautiful, very useful, and not too numerous. And most importantly, I want it non-toxic and not harming the planet. I also want it not to have caused the suffering of the workers that made it.

That said, I am not going to replace everything I own (I moved it, after all). But I can still make a wish list, and some key changes. Finally, I can get rid of things that can't easily be replaced but aren't really that useful.

For example, I won't change all our clothes to organic cotton and handknit organic wool. However, I can get us organic cotton pajamas, thus instantly reducing our exposure to chemicals for 7-10 hours each day. Then, I can add organic cotton bedding to my wish list, and develop a list of organic cotton clothing companies so I can check in for sales once in a while.

I'm also realizing that many sections follow the following pattern:

Month 2, I will tackle the kitchen (also month 6 - there's a lot to say about food!). The first week will be a general approach entry, the second week, a concrete step that can be taken; the third week is an "activist" step, because our actions must go out into the world in order to truly change our lives, and finally, the fourth week is a "more difficult" step that you probably already know would make a very significant impact. For Month 2, I came up with the following steps:

1. Find time to cook

2. Find local food purveyors

3. Thoughts on genetically modified foods

4. Radically reduce meat consumption