Comments on: Jewcology Question of the Week #1

By: Sarah Osborne

Sarah Osborne — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 09:16:15 +0000

Recycling paper is definitely a very easy environmental change. Many businesses and schools use a lot of paper and this is a very easy change they can make.

By: rick wice

rick wice — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:11:49 +0000

recycling things at home.

By: Noam Dolgin

Noam Dolgin — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:52:58 +0000

I’ll correct myself and say eliminating meat, especially beef, has allowed me to greatly reduce my resource use and greenhouse gas footprint. in one fell swoop.

By: Jesse Glickstein

Jesse Glickstein — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:37:42 +0000

The easiest change for me was being aware. Even when I fail to live up to my expectations in regards to responsible environmental behavior, I am aware of it and continue to try harder in the future. I think awareness also allows me to make responsible choices whenever I can and to be open to others suggestions for ways to constantly do better.

By: karen walsh

karen walsh — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:58:40 +0000

The first thing I did was get rid of the paper napkins, I bought pretty wash clothes, there is always room in the wash for a few extra wash clothes and even room on the clothesline when it comes time to dry them.

By: avram davis

avram davis — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:47:59 +0000

The biggest change for me has bee moving to the country and living rurally; working toward raising most of the food we eat and eventually the energy we use.
Dolgin’s comment about reducing his carbon footprint by becoming vegetarian is disingenuous. While it may, in some circumstances reduce carbon, vegetarianism raises a whole host of other problems, including the widespread disruption of small game through widespread planting; the mass destruction of habitat all over the world (most egregiously in Brazil) to accommodate soy for tofu, mono cultural planting – the list just goes on and on. As Wendell Berry pointed out, it is far better to simply know the food; where it is grown and who grew it, to the best of our knowledge.
A Davis
newtorahfarm.org

By: avram davis

avram davis — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:34:15 +0000

By: Evonne Marzouk

Evonne Marzouk — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:36:16 +0000

putting a bottle filled with water (and some pebbles) into my toilet tank. Since the bottle was plastic, I had to weigh it down with some pebbles… a fun project for my son. It saves so much water and I don’t even have to think about it!

By: Deborah Klee Wenger

Deborah Klee Wenger — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:59:08 +0000

One of the easiest environmental changes I’ve made at home has helped us virtually eliminate paper towels. I bought a big bag of T-shirt material rags, and cut them into six-inch squares. I put all these little squares in a nice-looking hanging bucket next to the paper towel rack. They are so small that they can easily get washed with the rest of the laundry — no extra loads. To sop up bigger spills, like when the refrigerator coughs up something, I keep old hand towels under the sink. At mealtimes, we use cloth napkins.

By: Noam Dolgin

Noam Dolgin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:46:51 +0000

Can I answer the question now?

The easiest BIG change I ever made was giving up meat. Just by this one choice I was able to reduce my carbon footprint by close to a third!

What did you do?