Climate Challenge, Day One: Record keeping

               I am obsessive about record keeping. I’ll admit it. We track our solar production every week. I compare all of our bills to last year and spend hours quizzing Mark if they go up. I plan our meals, based on seasonal produce. Before we shifted over to local food, I tracked our groceries for a year; I knew that we needed about forty pounds of oatmeal for a year’s worth of breakfasts. I have tracked our percentages of very local, 100 miles, and distant food several times. I know what I have canned and dried each year. I keep a list of all the books I read (often rated).

I have systems as well. We use a daily/weekly/monthly cleaning chart. All of my recipes are divided by season.  We have packing lists for a backpacking trip as well as camping in the Ark.  I was trained this way. I poured over my mother’s 1957 Betty Crocker cookbook for hours; I was in charge of the weekly cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping while I was still in junior high. My mother worked and cooked dinner. I did the rest, as well as my homework. It was a fair division of labor.

                I mention this because it has made a huge difference in our ability to reduce our ecological footprint.  Knowing what you are working with and where you are starting allows you to make clearer decisions and to track progress. It’s good to revisit tracking after a few years, just to keep yourself  honest! This week, I am going to track some data:  steps taken vs. miles driven, a trash and recycling audit on Saturday morning (cleaning day), and how far our food has traveled, for a week.

Options:

Track data. Consider food, gas, electrical use, trash…whatever you want to reduce. Knowledge is power.

If you have a smart meter, do online, create an account and start poking around....where are your peaks and lows? What creates them? What can you do to cut back?