Not great, unfortunately. Traveling this weekend in order to work on estate issues for a deceased relative. No time to cook, no veggie snacks, no yoghurt-making, etc.

I am surprised by how it’s not easier to meet my objectives. I do a lot on my own anyway and some of my objectives are not so easy to do when one is very busy, such as making my own DIY household product each day. As somebody working everyday on a climate change project (ppmgame.org), I thought crushing these challenges would be a breeze.

It seems like I spend lots of money on potting soil every year, and it all comes in plastic bags. I make sure to cut the bags at the top and once they're empty, I rinse them and re-use them to take my recycling to the transfer station. This year, I found a way to avoid the whole situation since the horse farm near my house is very happy for me to take material from their pile of composting manure. I do collect it in plastic 5-gallon buckets, though. And yesterday, I found some turtle eggs, which I assumed were snapping turtles, but it seems more likely are sliders, since there were only about a dozen of them. Being careful to keep them oriented the same way I found them, I transferred them to a large pot of manure, and will try to keep them safe from marauders. How fun that would be to see them hatch!

I had no idea how involved and what a time suck this would be. Nevertheless, anything that will enlighten me to plastic alternatives I will give a try. I was offended when I went to the plastic neutral link and saw I was going to be instantly charged a subscription fee if I had clicked on the accept button. Majorly tacky. I am already doing quite a few things that are suggested, and though I am not a vegan I eat very little meat, usually some chopped turkey which I add to burritos, pasta, ect. For me to go a month without meat is not unusual.

I picked up some garbage while out for a run on the rail trail in Stamford. Unfortunately when cutting the grass they cut all the garbage up into  a lot of small pieces which makes it a much more tedious task.

While out hiking today (Windham High Peak) I was surprised how little garbage there was on the trail. I only found four pieces and two of those were on a ledge. Unfortunately the parking lot had a lot though.

In case you haven't read the EcoChallenge home page, I like their mission statement:

OUR STRENGTH IS IN OUR NUMBERS
We believe the solution to the planet’s biggest challenges lies in the power of collective action. By taking action in our own lives and inspiring the people around us, each of us contributes to a world of impact.
Come back and check in on July 1 and watch our impact add up.