Change the World Wednesday – 7th Jan

The first CTWW of 2015.

Small will be back in a couple of weeks.

Most of the people who read this blog are already ‘green’. As I said in a comment last week, I sometimes feel as though I am preaching to the converted, but I look at it positively, if I can reach just one more person…

This week’s challenge is something small.

Look at everything you have changed, or aspects of life that are now different; how can you can waste less of just one thing.

or

If you have already made a small change this year, tell us about it.

Over the past year, I have changed my life, in particular, my diet. I am not dieting, heaven forbid, dieting is a myth, counting calories is counterproductive; and I have read this week that ‘flushing toxins’ out of your body is a fallacy.

So what did I do?

I have changed some of the liquids that I used to drink. Previously, I wasn’t beyond drinking Coca Cola and boxed fruit juice and my milk intake was a lot, often more than a litre per day.

For the past year, I have all but stopped drinking all soda; I still have a little coke if I make a Cuba Libre, but I have had only one since I gave up soda.

Fruit juice in a box, don’t even think about it. I buy or grow fresh fruit and make my own juice without sugar,

I still drink beer. In fact my beer consumption has risen since the silly season; mainly because I have had less students and more free time. After carnival the students will return and I will have less free time.

My milk consumption is down drastically. So much that the last two litre boxes of milk went sour in the fridge before I could use them all; because I now only have milk in my coffee, and maybe one cold chocolate drink a week in the evening, whereas before it was a nightly ritual.

So, what did I do with the last box? Because I was sure that it would be sour in the morning and end up going down the kitchen sink too.

Before the milk went sour, I filled an ice cube tray with the last and put it in the freezer.

This morning I made my coffee as normal and put two milk cubes in it.

The milk cubes turned yellowish, but taste normal

Okay, that’s a small change, but it reduces waste and saves about half a litre of milk. I have enough frozen milk for coffee for the next three days.

So, what do I drink instead of Coca Cola? Sparkling mineral water! It’s also cheaper than Coke. So the saving is twofold, health and finnancial.

The end result was a weight loss without dieting and I counted not a single calorie. I just made changes.

How much weight have I lost… about 20kgs (44lbs).

I can walk easier, I have less reliance on my walking stick, I can’t yet run up the stairs at work, but I can walk up in a semi-normal fashion instead of taking them one at a time which was laborious.

So small changes can make a big difference.

What have you done, or what can you do this year?

Change the World Wednesday – 14th May

Early start this morning.

I went to bed earlyish last night, and as a result woke at 1am for nature. I discovered that my little Clorinha had been sick on the kitchen floor. Cleaned that up, then found the main act on the living room carpet. Cleaned that up and scrubbed the carpet with an old scrubbing brush that I keep for such unpleasant tasks. It was a scrubbing brush that most would have chucked, as it is well past its ‘best by date’.

The little dear is now asleep on my our her bed; it’s got the warm. She’s in my spot and I don’t want to disturb her just yet.

So, I get to talk qwerty to you for a bit and start this week’s CTWW.

Following last week’s dodgy belly, I am pleased to report that all’s well; I finally managed to eat normally on Friday, but it was a rough week. The best news is that I didn’t have to resort to BigPharma for a solution. A simple bottle of Milk of Magnesia did the trick for R$4 ($1.70).

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This week’s CTWW is a ‘Good News’ one.

This week share environmental good news. Unlike the challenge we did in November (see it HERE), which asked that we talk about all good news, let’s focus on our personal triumphs. For example, if you were able to overcome a green-living obstacle (recycling, composting, etc.), we’d like to share in your good news. Perhaps you are preparing to plant a garden this year or have upgraded appliances to energy-efficient models … let us celebrate with you. Maybe you’ve realized successes like turning off the water while brushing your teeth or turning off lights when you leave the room … we want to be inspired by your achievement. The idea, this week, is to share all the good, green stuff in our lives.

 

Generally, I consider my ‘greenish’ life to be good news. I have said before that much of my greenness comes from necessity being an impoverished English teacher. Being frugal often means being green.

I have made many small changes, often prompted by CTWW itself, that give me comfort that I am doing my little bit. Changing from incandescent light bulbs, composting and growing what I can in old tins, grey water use, reducing chemicals in the house, using old jars for pickles and preserves, upgrading to more energy efficient fans and reducing paper are all minor changes that I have made.

I acquired a new piece of furniture last weekend. No, I didn’t rush out and buy it. I found it in the rubbish waiting for collection on the corner. I think it was a TV stand as it didn’t have a top, just adjustable brackets where a TV could sit and wheels.

My new laptop table

I had the perfect piece of wood, found on another expedition, for the top and I have the perfect little table for my laptop when it’s at home on the weekends for private classes.

For me that is good news.

Clorinha is not right. She mewed plaintively in the living room and I manged to get her on the dirt box for a little vomit, then spent sometime petting her without her biting routine, just a nice stroking that made her purr. Now she’s asleep on the floor, which she never does. So, she’s definitely not right.

Here’s a little video that I shot yesterday morning of my rising star playing football in the garage.