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Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)
Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)! If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a complete list of all the challenges we’ve taken on so far.
There’s a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read through it … however, if you don’t have the time right now, you might find the following quick-click links helpful:
This past week was so much fun! We began our month-long challenge to reduce energy use by 10% and some of you are well on your way with readings taken and a plan in place. Our week-long challenge asked that we go vegan for a day and wow … there were recipes and menu plans flying around the Internet. Some people found that meatless meals are easy to incorporate into any diet … others found that it takes some planning and, perhaps, a little education on vegan nutrition. Hopefully everyone had fun, tried something new, and will be able to add at least one meatless meal a week to their diet.
The Honor Society are those people who help us spread the “green” word by writing a post about our challenges and/or leaving pertinent comments. Let’s see what they had to say this week:
EcoGrrl is an omnivore but shares that nearly half of the people in her office are vegetarian or vegan. She often brings treats to share and recently found this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. For her vegan day, she had oatmeal with jam for breakfast, vegan pizza for lunch and risotto with porcini mushrooms, shallots and hazelnuts for dinner. Yum! She says, however, that it was a challenge and required a lot of attention to detail. Regarding the energy challenge, she’s having a tough time because of a less-than-conscientious tenant. It’ll be interesting to learn how she handles the situation.
Rachel chose not to participate in the vegan challenge. For the energy challenge she suggests that we take our baseline over a period of time rather than with just one reading … for example, take a reading at the beginning and end of the week to get an idea of one week’s use and then reduce that number in future weeks. Great idea, Rachel … that will help even out any unusual events. She’s having a new heating system installed and, with testing and all, her readings won’t represent true usage. So, instead, she’s going to write about how the new system will impact electrical use once it’s up and running.
Argentum Vulgaris was all ready to tackle this challenge but then … he realized that eggs aren’t vegan. So he went vegetarian for day. Want to know what he whipped up? Find out in this POST. Knowing that AV is a chef, I “double-dog dared” him to try another day of veganism with what I’m sure would be interesting dishes. As of this writing … not sure if he took me up on that dare. In this ARTICLE, he did a little research and found that there are many foods which might be thought vegan but which are not. It’s an interesting list!
The Shopping Charity picked up several #CTWW tweets about your articles … was one of them yours? That edition also contains some great pieces on lung cancer … definitely worth a visit.
I love Alicia’s enthusiasm. She and her family went vegan a few months ago and it sounds like they are having fun with new recipes! She recently made chili out of chick peas, black beans, onions, garlic and tomatoes and served it with vegan cornbread. Mmm! Alicia shares that they haven’t found a vegan recipe yet that they haven’t liked.
Mandi says “The benefits of being vegan are amazing- you help the planet, your body, and so many animals.” She points out that clothing made from animals (leather, fur, etc.) should be avoided because chemicals are typically used in processing … definitely NOT Eco-friendly. Be sure to check out Mandi’s site … she has many excellent articles about being vegan and a whole page with recipes. By the way … thanks, so much, Mandi for including Reduce Footprints in your list of Favorite Blogs.
Jennifer is a vegetarian and, except for a small amount of milk and an occasional dollop of mayo on a sandwich, has vegan days without thinking about it. She recently enjoyed a mock tuna (mashed chickpeas, celery, pickles, green onion, mayo) sandwich for lunch and says she likes it better than she ever liked the “real thing”. Jennifer shares a recipe for [Almost] Vegan Lime Cheesecake HERE. Oh wow … I’m seriously drooling over this recipe!
Mrs. Green is gearing up for the energy reduction challenge. In this POST she shares that she often takes a reading and is always surprised that there is room for improvement. She does have one activity going on this week that might skew the data … head on over to her place to find out what that is. Even though Mrs. Green has some reservations about a vegan diet, she completed this week’s challenge. How’d she do and what does she think? You’ll find out in this ARTICLE.
LaTisha says that she’ll try to go vegan this week but admits that she enjoys getting her protein from chicken and turkey. She will, at the minimum, try to cut back on animal products. Great, LaTisha … that will definitely help!
Alana Lanai stopped in – great to “see” you Alana. She says that she buys mostly organic food. So Alana, is that in addition to buying vegan food or are you an omnivore?
Emma Cooper recently did a brave thing … she challenged herself to write about any subject suggested by her readers. So … here’s the idea I came up with: “How about the best ways to reduce energy use in the cooler months.” Oh yeah … always looking for more tips and ideas to help us meet a challenge. Emma is a true “pro” and accepted the challenge by writing this POST. In it you’ll find out about snakes and refrigerator magnets. Huh??? Oh yeah … energy saving ideas!!
Nicole, another brave woman, decided to take her family along for a vegan day … without telling them. But wow … with this MENU I don’t think she’ll hear any complaints! In this POST she shares a great way to help us cut our energy use by 10%. Here’s a hint … it involves Christmas lights.
Katie and her husband try to work in a vegetarian meal once a week but her husband is a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy. Even so, she’s embracing vegan food for a day and bringing her husband along for the ride. First, she decided on a MENU. Oh my … Banana and Peanut Butter Oatmeal, Chipotle Veggie Bowl and Black Bean and Avocado Quesadilla (without cheese). Doesn’t that sound good? So … did Katie succeed? Did her husband join her? Did they like the food? You’ll find out the results HERE. And finally, you’ll find out how Katie will approach the energy challenge HERE. Wow, Katie … you were busy this week (and we benefited)!
If every American skipped meat and cheese one day a week, what kind of environmental impact could we realize? Stephanie answers that question in this POST. I think you’ll be amazed … I was certainly surprised. She goes on to share a lot of information about switching to a plant-based diet, including her favorite vegan chefs and a typical day’s menu in her house. And the “pièce de résistance” … a recipe for Lemon Pie (oh my).
We had good thoughts from our Twitter friends:
From @nonmom:
For my small #ctww I am going to turn my furnace back ‘off’ when I get home to save power etc. Don’t need it this week, fleece is fine 
From @givetreegifts:
We have a portable solar panel power pack in our south facing window. We use it to recharge our ipod, etc & take it along camping
From @ethicaldeal:
Here’s our Vancouver’s Community Manager’s Secret Chili Recipe..http://ow.ly/7iaEn
The #CTWW Gang are those folks who share our challenges on twitter using the hashtag #CTWW. This week we had a record number of “Gang” members … 66. WhooHoo! If you’re a Twitter member, I highly recommend following them … they have a lot of great things to say. Let’s meet them:
My final thoughts: Living a “green” life means that we make choices which will impact the environment in a positive way … or, when a negative impact is inevitable, choices that minimize the harm. Often, our choices must be balanced with life … health issues, safety, etc. While a long-term vegan diet may not be for everyone, a meatless meal now and again is doable. In my opinion, we owe it to ourselves and our environment to make the effort. Opening our minds to new cuisine is one simple way to change the world. And who knows … maybe it’ll be a culinary adventure filled with fabulous, Eco-friendly delights.
Great job, everyone! If you wrote an article, I have Stumbled, Tweeted and Facebooked it. You can help spread the “green” word by using the share feature at the bottom of this post.
This week’s challenge idea comes from Jen. It’s perfect for this time of year! And don’t forget that we have a month-long challenge in play so if you haven’t started that one, now’s the time! Here you go:
If you’ve already prepared your home for the cold months ahead, we’d like to know what you’ve done. Please include tips, ideas and any do-it-yourself advice.
What do you think? Are you up for this challenge? I know that you are!!
Until next time …
WE’RE CHANGING THE WORLD … ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!
For additional green living tips and ideas, please visit Reduce Footprints at
reducefootprints.blogspot.com
Read more at Reduce Footprints
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