Buy Nothing, an experiment in anti-consumerism

Well, I guess that I’m long overdue for a post.

Since school started I’ve been very busy as per the usual. Between crew practice five days a week, trying to captain a fencing team, full time classes and part-time work, things have been a little hectic. But I have a few minutes so it’s time to chat about our progress.

In my Environmental Sustainability class at Portland State, we’ve talked a lot about sustainable lifestyles, economies and industries. The first day of class we were asked to calculate our ecological footprint using the website: http://earthday.net/footprint/

It is an interesting calculation that estimates how many planets it would take if everyone lived like you. For example, when I took this quiz my total footprint was 5 acres. In comparison, the average ecological footprint in the U.S. is 24 acres a person and compares that to the available 4.5 biologically productive acres per person worldwide. If everyone lived like me we would need 1.2 planets. Take the quiz and post your results!

In the same class, one of our term projects is to do two personal water audits using a kit from the city. Basically you calculate how many gallons of water per minute every fixture in your home uses. Peter and I are lucky enough to be living in a LEED Silver certified building that happens to be furnished with low-flow showers, sinks and toilets. My calculated water use (at home) this last week was 91.35 gallons. Not bad considering the average American uses 173 gallons per day. I am astonished by that figure especially when you consider the world average is just 43 gallons per day.

Peter and I have started to do more of our grocery shopping at the local People’s Co-op which is a convenient 3 mile bike ride from our apartment. It is a great little food store in an awesome cob building. They carry all organic, mostly local foods as well as natural and organic bulk foods and tons of yummy vegan treats.

After learning about the policy side of pesticides and herbicides in my Environmental Law & Policy class I have stopped buying non-organic produce all together. It is amazing how many known carcinogenic pesticides there are that are still being used on produce today.

I feel like our buy-nothing experiment is working well. I tried to use my debit card to buy groceries the other day and I couldn’t remember what my PIN was. That is a pretty awesome feeling. Plus we have been making our own kinds of fun. Instead of going to a movie theater and paying $8 a person for a two-hour movie, it is much more fun to watch a DVD and make cupcakes with a good friend.

This last weekend I worked on making a gift for an upcoming birthday. I won’t reveal yet what it is but I am very proud of making something so useful out of reused material that I had laying around.

–Jenny