The Hummingbird Project Spreads Its Wings
Upon reading the post for themselves, two fellow bloggers decided this was a challenge their readers needed to read about. I was more than happy that this came to fruition and hope that it further inspires people in this country, and the world, to do something this March. Please check in with Emily at the Family and Life in Las Vegas blog and Meg at the Do Good blog to support our fellow hummingbirds!
My First Moves
- Donated clothing and household items to the Vietnam Veterans of America. This just proved to me that the universe was waiting for me to Do Something this month. When I checked my mailbox the day after the hummingbird post their was a postcard with a bag in there from the VVA. They were requesting donations (especially clothing) for them to sell to raise money for their organization. According to the postcard they would be in my area on March 4th - since that was Do Something Day I considered that a sure fire sign that I needed to take action. I called in, scheduled a pickup, and by the time they arrived on Friday morning, we had gathered together five bags of clothing and one bag mixed of household items and board games.
- Started my kitchen scraps bin for composting. I began researching things to compost right away. As soon as I found out that nearly everything I throw away when cooking could be composted, I got started. I have a large plastic container that I noticed the seal was getting more weak in... its days in food storage service in my kitchen were limited. I decided it was time for it to change roles. It is now my kitchen scrap container and I keep it in my freezer (I have read about this in a couple of different places).This is it so far. I am pretty sure I have to come up with an outdoor composting system by the end of this week!
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| I can't believe how quickly this is filling up! |
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| Check out the Baglady blog! |
- I took the ASAP pledge and adopted a baglady. In my research about composting I came upon the story of a a wonderful woman named Shirley Lewis and her work as the "Baglady" in Northern Ireland. When you show up at the Baglady Productions website you are instantly greeted with a video of Ms. Lewis talking to young people and local politicians about what they all can do to make sustainability a priority for their country. Her idea is genius ~ sell the kids and the parents will follow. I remember, as a child, being the one to tell my mother and father to "buckle up!" every time we got in the car. We were taught about the unconditional nature of this action, and for their sanity's sake, our parents followed our beckoning requests. The Baglady wishes to instill this same type of relationship with children and their parents about the environment, from firsthand experience, I simply know this will work. While at the site, there are numerous reminders to take "The ASAP pledge" yourself. The ASAP pledge simply requests that you
"Make your contribution to the new ASAP World [As Sustainably as Possible] by pledging to give up one thing, and take up one thing."
This was pretty simple for me, after watching the baglady video where numerous children pledged to shut down their XBox, or commit to shutting lights off when they leave a room. I decided my thing to give up would be leaving my computer(s) on standby ~ I do this all of the time! So, from now on, when I walk away from my computer I will SHUT IT DOWN. The thing that I will take up, is one I have already pledged here on my blog: composting. The more and more I learn about it, the more I realize that this can dramatically affect the amount of waste in my home!
- I am working to get a composting workshop here in Staten Island for a group of interested participants. It truly seemed as though the stars were aligned for my March moves. The day after posting the challenge I received an e-mail about a master composting course ($40 for a seven day course) starting on March 16th. I inquired and found out that it was not for a beginner like me, but the gentleman running the course would be happy to arrange a workshop for me if I could find a small group of people to join me. I was elated! I am awaiting to here what topics he would like to share, so I can then extend a more detailed invitation to the possibly interested parties! In the meantime, I am learning as much as I can on the Internet.
I'm really happy I started this Hummingbird Project for myself because it is pushing me to do things that I always talk about or think about doing that stay, seemingly forever, on my list of things "To Do." While my condition(s) do limit my actions, I am pleasantly surprised to find out how much I actually can do. In addition to these moves I made this month so far, I was also asked to become a participating author on The IH Brain Pain Blogs, a blog about and for IH patients. I have been wanting to contribute to my IH community for a very long time, but had no idea what I could do this is just the perfect opportunity! March has been marvelous so far (even though I have been sicker than I have been in a really long time....) and I hope I can keep being the hummingbird I know I can be!
Resources
I found a lot of cool sites think month so far while trying to start up my own actions, so in case anyone is interested in making some of these moves, here's some good stuff!
- 163 Things You Can Compost The title says it all, but honestly, after reading this I think I can dramatically reduce the amount of waste coming out of this house!
- Composting at Home 2 Easy Methods YouTube video by Enviromom.
- How to Make a Compost YouTube video by KitchenGardeners.org.
- The Rubbish Diet A challenge to reduce the amount of rubbish your home produces. I have only skimmed this so far (this is where I found the Baglady and got swept away!), but this idea intrigues me.
I would love to know what my other hummingbirds are doing out there! Remember this is a MONTH LONG challenge, so join in ANY time!
What's something YOU DO that we can replicate in order to make great changes from small moves?
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