Green Ideas 2010 PT 3: Okay, I got distracted

In 2010 I planned to try a few Green Ideas; so far, during earlier reviews of my progress - or lack thereof - you may have noticed I didn’t do so well.

Yes, I only bought one new clothing item in two years but that was easy. I was once a long distance runner. My closet is full of t-shirts. And I love used jeans.

So, picking out my ‘retired guy’ uniform every morning was a breeze. Easy-shmeasy-lemon-squeezy, as I like to say.

But I didn’t score well with my last 5 Ideas; 40 per cent. If I scored that in high school I wouldn’t be where I am today. I’d likely still be working for the man, not sitting here in a well-worn t-shirt and scruffy jeans with a coffee in my hand.

Green Idea 4 (see side margin for complete list).

I wrote:

Vacation - I will walk to Port Bruce (65 km.) and push my gear in a baby-jogger. I just need one week of good weather.

I didn’t do that. Instead I biked about 4,400 km. to Halifax and back. That was adventure enough for one summer. Maybe I’ll go for the long walk next year. I love the idea.


["I had a promise to fulfill in Halifax": photo GH]

5. re Preserving Food I said:

I will hang onto my used canning gear and put up beans and tomatoes if my 'worthy attempt plot' produces sufficient quantities of produce.

Okay, the garden didn’t work out well. Only a few free sandwiches.

6. Solar Cooker

I will build a solar oven out of recycled materials, including a bulky wool sweater for insulation.

The windows that I set aside for the project were broken (not by me, not on purpose!), so I lost sight of that project.

Birdhouses. Bingo!! I said:

I will attempt to build 3 - 4 dozen birdhouses from rescued lumber, photograph them all and bore readers to death with all the brilliant details.

That mission was easily accomplished. I have birdhouses on the brain, don't I?

8. Haiti Relief (not really a Green Idea, I know, but I wanted to list my plan somewhere).

I will make two financial donations to the Red Cross (for Haiti relief) and work hard to repay my savings account by reducing restaurant meals and increasing meatless meals.

Done. Happily. Even on my 2 week long bike trip I cooked my own meals at the side of the road rather than eat at restaurants, where the smell of hot cheeseburgers is my undoing.

All in all, I didn’t score well in 2010 - but next year is just around the corner.

***

What Green Ideas did you try in 2010 that worked out well?

Maybe I’ll learn something.

Hey, it could happen!

.