PB + J Monday

I’t’s Christmas Eve!!!

I can’t believe it’s here already!

Ok, enough about that, back to PB+J Monday…

This week I thought I’d share with you an inspiring person and her very green challenge.  Several years ago Vanessa Farquharson decided to challenge herself to a year of becoming more “green”.  Her experience and determination to see the challenge through to the end was very impressive and deserves to be shared.

Here is an excerpt from her blog during the living green challenge, giving a brief explanation of what she was doing….

“Welcome to Green as a Thistle. My name is Vanessa, I'm a journalist at the National Post, based in Toronto. When I saw the documentary An Inconven— no, just kidding. Now that organic is the new bl— OK, no, seriously now. In short, this blog began somewhere between guilt and earnestness, between dissing Stéphane Dion's dog (named Kyoto) and finding myself amongst a group of eco-hipsters drinking hemp beer at an anti-styrofoam party. I decided to take on a bit of a challenge: Spend each day, for an entire calendar year, doing one thing that betters the environment. The idea was that everything I did, I kept doing (so if I switched brands, it was a permanent switch; if I turned down my thermostat, I kept it down), so that by day 365, I'd be living as green a lifestyle as it gets. It was a gruelling year, but in the end, it proved that being an environmentalist doesn't necessarily mean being a smug hippie, nor does it have to mean compromising aesthetic values or good wine. You can read more about what I learned in my book, Sleeping Naked is Green, or just keep reading this here blog. Now, I'm mostly writing about whatever the heck pops into my head (isn't that a novel concept for a blog?).”

Yes, she is sitting in an empty fridge.
Not using  fridge was one of her challenges.

She has since stopped posting to the blog and moved on to other projects but her living green challenge still sticks with me and you can read all about her amazing year on the blog and in her book “Sleeping Naked is Green”.

Available at Amazon

Take a look at her list of changes, all 366 (because it was a leap year!).  Some of her changes were small (like switching to Eco-dent floss) and some were pretty big (like turning off her oven for good).  She has continued with some of the changes but there are others that were a little too much and she had to let them go.  This list is a great reminder that changes don’t always have to be big, like not using a fridge or a car, but that the small things you do add up and can make a difference.  

Have a beautiful Christmas everyone!!