Hi. I’m not completely sure how I got here. It sounded like a good thing at the time, but now, staring twelve months into the future, I’m realising the scale of what I’ve taken on with this challenge. Reducing my consumption is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and I guess I thought it was time to ‘walk the walk’. I remember watching the film ‘No Impact Man’ and being both inspired by their dedication but at the same time being horrified at the scale of sacrifices they made, such as having to make your own deodorant.
Anyway I’m here now, so I’d better stop whining and start on a plan of action. So here goes. My plan for the next 4 weeks is to do….. nothing. Yes that’s right, absolutely nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true, I’m going to carry on as before, not changing a single thing. What I intend to do is record every single purchase I make, from the 18p piece of fruit to those big purchases. After a month, I’ll compile the results and I’ll hopefully have a good idea of what I’m consuming. Armed with this information, I can start to make choices about how I spent my money, and see if I can reduce my consumption and still remain a happy ray of sunshine!
So why am I doing is this way I hear you cry? Well I’m a geek, have been ever since I could add up. I was the ever -popular (!?) class swot who always put his hand up in class, desperate to answer. I love numbers, and since I did train to be a scientist I’m starting this project with some data gathering.
I did a similar survey for an Open University project on my water usage, and the results were quite interesting. My average daily use was about 72 litres/day (L/day). In the graph below look at how much water is flushed down the loo, about 25% of my daily usage. Just one (luxury) bath a week used 84 litres! Hopefully I’ll see similar revelations with my consumption results. Oh well here goes……..