A while back, I believe it was through Shivaya Naturals, I heard about a new challenge going on for this new year. It’s called One Small Change. The basic premise of the project is that each month, between now and Earth Day, participants choose one small change they’d like to make in order to be more green.

This is actually a difficult one for me. I already feel that we do so many things. Looking through the list of ideas on the site made that even more obvious.

Recycle (do it), use cloth napkins (yup), try cloth diapering (already there), replace your bulbs with LED or CFL bulbs (one to go), turn off your lights (pretty good about this), use natural cleaning products or make your own (done and done), drive your car less (don’t on a vehicle), buy a hybrid, turn your thermostat down (don’t control our heat), use the sun to warm your home through passive solar heat, bring your own bags to the store (usually, although we frequently reuse the paper sacks for things like wrapping), install a low flow shower head, stop buying bottled water (never started), unplug it (could be better), bring more plants into your home (current count – 0), always print double sided (hubby brings home scrap from work), when getting rid of things consider freecycle, craigslist or ebay (do not throw out as someone else is surely able to get some use out of it), support local farms and try to eat local (meat csa members, eagerly anticipating spring csa season), purchase wind power if it is available in your area, purchase products made with natural materials and that can be reused, purchase recycled paper products, use rags instead of paper towels to clean up messes (got that), use reusable lunch sacks, buy organic (already do), landscape responsibly by reducing the use of water needed (landscaping, what landscaping), donate time and/or money to green efforts, elimate the use of toilet paper by using family cloths (hmmmm….), don’t flush every time (already do, or is it don’t), put a brick or something heavy it he back of your toilet so it uses less water when flushed (our toilet has no tank).

As you can see from my annotations, there are already so many things we do. So many efforts we make to reduce our footprint on this precious earth of ours. So many ways that we go above and beyond, not even because we necessarily think about it, but because it is the way we are.

That being said, there is more to do. There is more that can be done. There is more that will be done.

For starters, this year I would like to reduce the number of disposable plastic ziploc-style bags that we use, and pitch, around here. During the month of January I would like to make a few reusable, washable, bags to use for lunches and snacks (maybe like this or this). Additionally, I would like to make a bigger effort to wash (hate doing this) the plastic bags that we do use.

It is a small change, but that’s the point isn’t it? I’ll let you know how it goes.