Green Meme #1

Julie over at Towards Sustainability has tagged me for a meme. I have never done a meme before, but I figure that it is just like an interview for a green magazine, but kind of local (and not in a magazine!).

Here are the Guidelines:
1. Link to Green Meme Bloggers (click on the pic above).
2. Link to whoever tagged you.
3. Include meme number.
4. Include these guidelines in your post.
5. Tag 3 other green bloggers.

Anyway, here goes.

1) Name two motivations for being green?

A well documented motivation of mine was attending a screening of An Inconvenient Truth back in September 2006. Before that date, I was just as ordinary as everyone else. I experienced many emotions after that movie, and went about changing my ways towards a sustainable lifestyle.

The second motivation is my family, and the future unborn generations to come. I want them to have a nice planet to live on, and not the trashed one we are creating at the moment.

2) Name 2 eco-UNfriendly items you refuse to give up?

I am not sure I have any left, maybe the PC, but it doesn’t draw much power. But seeing that I make my own, it is then not very eco-unfriendly. When I dispose of it, it will be recycled via a reputable e-waste processor.

Maybe my big screen rear projection TV, but once again, it draws much less power than an LCD or Plasma, so it is a vice I can live with.

3) Are you at peace with or do you feel guilty about number 2?

No, I am totally at peace with these two items. They are the greenest I can make them. I switch both off at the wall at night to avoid standby power.

4) What are you willing to change but feel unable to/stuck with/unsure how to go about it?

Greywater recycling is my biggest hurdle at the moment. I recycle the washing machine water onto the ornamental garden and fruit trees, but I would love to capture all of the waste water from the shower and bath. Unfortunately the outlet pipes are at ground level, and I would have to cut through 15 cm of concrete to install a decent system. Maybe sometime down the track, when I have run out of other projects and when we go to stage 4 water restrictions.

5) Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average? (http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx)

Yes, it is about 3.5 tonnes of CO2e per year, according to the calculator above. I buy GreenPower and GreenGas and Honda paid for carbon offsets for my car when I bought it. The big ticket items are food and clothing for us. We try and buy local food if we can’t grow or bake it ourselves, but it is so hard to get bread flour around here, so I get it from Adelaide. We still shop at Aldi for essentials , but only buy their Australian produce. The National average carbon footprint for Australia is 16.3 tonnes.

6) What’s eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?

The eco-frustrating thing is that our local council has done the bare minimum to promote any type of climate change action besides the standard curb side recycling collection. They are improving, but not fast enough for me.

The eco-fantastic thing is there is actually an environment team employed by the council to heighten local awareness, but I don’t think they received much funding. The other thing is that I live here, so it can only get better. 😉

7) Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow your own?

We grow most of our own vegetables, but not enough to be self sufficient like in the Good Life. We do our best with the land we have, and practice organic gardening techniques. It is very hard to buy local in Melton, except if we make a special trip to Bacchus Marsh where there are large market gardens. It is about 15km away, so not too bad.

8) What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?

Watering the garden at 6am on a Sunday morning! No, really it is the frustration that I feel when I meet ignorant people who don’t care about our future. Unfortunately, I meet a lot of these types of people, but it is improving. However since the financial crisis, Climate change and the environment have taken a back seat, and that needs to change quickly. The Financial crisis will only last for a few years, but Climate Change will be with us for a very long time if we don’t change our ways soon.

9) Do you have a green confession?

I have a crush on Tanya Ha. I think she is a very cool lady. Don’t tell Kim or my green thumbs will be in a vice!

10) Do you have the support of family and/or friends?

Always, even most of my siblings and both parents are fairly green. Kim is my biggest fan, but the kids think that their dad is a middle aged hippy, but still pretty cool! They even go to rally’s with me.

So, now I get to tag three more green bloggers. So here are the lucky recipients.

Teena @ Green Lettuce Soup (welcome back Sis)

Kate @ Inner City Garden

Deb @ Footprint Reduction in the ‘burbs

Enjoy.