No carbon footprint? Wow

During Ethics class, my instructor played a video of a man named Colin Beavan and his wife who decided to live a no-impact lifestyle. They undertook a year-long experiment, together with their 2-year-old daughter, to see how they can live a life without harming the environment. That means no taking public transport (ride bicycle), buying from supermarkets (buy from something like our wet markets aka whole foods market), no buying new stuff (no bags, clothes etc), no detergents and shampoo (make your own), no lights (beewax candles) and no toilet paper. Oh wait there's more, no meat & fish, no taking lifts, planes (for people in the US, it means you can't visit your relatives living in another state), no soda or carton milk (you fill up your milk from like a big big bottle with your own flask), bringing out own cloth bags everywhere, can't eat at restaurants and no fridge. And by the way, they live in New York City.

That was 2007 and the experiment is over. I guess they took back some stuff, probably toilet paper? It certainly put me to shame cos I'm finding it a little hard to maintain my twice-a-week vegetarian lifestyle. This week, I've been trying to do it daily, but slipped into temptation over 2 meals. Amanda, my best friend, tried out vegetarian for 2 weeks in May 2010 and she said, "When I did it, it really wasn't hard at all. I did it because it was a challenge. But now, no one challenge me, so point doing it."

So I'm a little inspired now to try to reduce as much waste as I can. I can't compost my waste even if they're biodegradable, cos my family will have a big issue having me keep soil, worms and decaying stuff in a big box. And my biggest guilt? Driving to school each and everyday. And everyday on a weekend to anywhere. Much as I try to reduce my consumption in other things, i do trump over many of my friends just based on my car fuel consumption. (About 40 litres every 2 weeks?) In Amsterdam, Amanda and Shun and I rode our bike everywhere. It made our trip so much fun and it wasn't tough at all. But in Singapore, it'll be many years before we find any shred of political will to transform our road grids to include bicycle lanes.

So some stuff I'm gonna do:

1. Avoid buying things that require packaging. Er, ok that pretty means everything. Probably I have to bring a cloth bag and a tupperware everywhere I go. So if i want to grab some bread, I will have to ask the staff to pack in it my tupperware. Same for take-aways at coffeeshops. Otherwise, I'd have to eat-in.

2. Think like 5 times first before buying anything. That is going to be a big issue cos I like shopping and buying new things. (I don't even want to think how many shoes I've thrown away) I wanted to buy some stickers at Daiso today, but couldn't bring myself to do it cos i know they'll be thrown away after an event.

3. Try to be a full-time vegetarian. This is hard hard hard. Hmmm, the only vegetarian meal I truly love is salads from Salad Stop! A typical salad will include lettuce, grapes, oranges, toufu, brown rice, apples, broccoli, sunflower seeds, potato, cucumber, string peas, corn, chick peas and a dressing called orange mint. Talk about yummy! But it costs $9.50. I think on the basis of health and nutrition, $9.50 is totally worth it. Yet, knowing I'm a student and having the very Asian value of saving, spending $9.50 is simply put, a splurge. OK, the other two options are yong tau fu and economic rice (aka Cai Fan) which is typically one-third the price compared to salad. (but not as shiok)

I do feel quite alone in all these. Even among my close friends, few agree with me. The familiar saying "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" is true. If you've read this far, I'm super grateful and I hope you'll at least give it some though about your impact on the environment.