Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Lessen Impact Challenge at FourFront Design!

EcoFront has started a Lessen Impact Challenge for all employees of FourFront Design. The purpose is to become more aware of how we as individuals can become more sustainable in our work and home lives.

The idea came from No Impact Man, who attempted to live a zero-waste lifestyle with his family for an entire year.




EcoFront has developed a six week program, attempting to bring awareness to what our impact is on the earth. Each week focuses on a different challenge: consumption, transportation, trash, energy, water, and food.

This week marks the beginning of our challenge, focusing on consumption. The idea is not to completely stop consuming; rather to generally become aware of what we buy, why we buy it, where it comes from, and if we can make this habit more sustainable.



A few examples of the week's challenges include:

  • Not buying anything for 3 days this week.
  • If you do buy something, buy locally.
  • Donate, recycle, or sell 5 things.

We had a lunch discussion on Monday to kick off the week, where we showed The Story of Stuff and and the first clip of No Impact Man.

Personally, I've found it astonishing how hard it is to reduce my use of disposable products (plastic baggies, paper towels, etc.).

FourFront employees, what's been the biggest challenge for you? Leave a comment below!



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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 22, 2011 at 10:54 AM

    Not buying anything for 3 days!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LeighSeptember 22, 2011 at 12:14 PM

    Paper towels!!! They're so convenient but so bad...

    ReplyDelete
  3. AaronSeptember 26, 2011 at 6:10 AM

    The biggest challenge by far was not using disposable products and paper towels. At home using a washable towel was easy, but at work I had to seek them out. At FourFront we have three rolls of paper towels available, but only two washable dishcloths. When I buy bulk items I tend to use a plastic bag (technically disposable), but thankfully at Breadroot Co-Co there are re-used containers available.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JessicaSeptember 26, 2011 at 7:19 AM

    I agree! Paper towels are a tough one. Check out Garry's post about that from earlier in the year:

    http://ecofront.blogspot.com/2011/03/ever-wonder-how-many-paper-towels.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. KendraSeptember 26, 2011 at 10:32 AM

    I think the hardest part for me was being adaptable when my usual routines were upset. For instance, I thought that not buying anything for three days was going to be a breeze...but it turned out I couldn't do it last week. It seemed like between diapers and other unplanned events that I was always making a trip or taking a short cut. To get the most out of this challenge it will pay to be adaptable and slow down for a few minutes.

    ReplyDelete

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