April-May 2009 Low-Impact Consumption
Month-long Practice Guidelines
and Survival Kit

I pledge to bring my mindfulness practice into lowering my impact on the environment for one month.

This can be as hardcore or as you want it to be, or much simpler. We are using our activism discussion board as a resource to share what simple actions people are taking, and what obstacles come up. Depending on our experience, we plan gain insight into best practices regarding responsible consumption, and to expand this program in the future. You can also check out the podcast "craving" for a discussion of themes of responsible consumption connected to Buddhist philosophy.

Suggested Guidelines for April 2009 Month of Low Impact Consumption

1. Daily mindfulness meditation session of whatever length feels available and good to do.

You can end your practice with a few minutes of contemplative meditation practice, using the words "There is enough." If you are not familiar with contemplative (ie directed thinking) meditation practice, there are good simple instructions in the book "Turning the Mind into an Ally" by Sakyong Mipham.

2. Limiting Waste in the following areas

-plastic bags
-coffee cups
-napkins
-energy, lights, air conditioning, cell phone charging, computers
-Exploring Composting - resources available on the waste resources page

3. Travel

-utilizing public transportation, ride shares
-walking, biking whenever possible
-planning ahead to make less trips in the car (if you have one)

4. Food

-buy local as much as possible
-buy food with as little excess packaging as possible
-try to eat less meat

5. General

-limiting general purchasing and consumption of new products
-trying to use second hand stores, library, Craig’s list, freecycle.com, downloading music and movies…

6. Personal

-find something personal that you would like to add to your month. This could be working with the mental states that arise around a particular vice or low-level addiction that you would like to practice freeing yourself from. For example, in NYC, one community member is giving up cigarettes, one is giving up coffee, and one is giving up sugar all together!!!

7. Keeping a Journal and Sharing Your Experience

Share your experience with our community online! You can go to our 24-hour diary page and share everything you have consumed in a 24 hour period, Post photos to our Flickr group, and discuss general topics in our general discussion thread. This will create an amazing resource of shared experience that everyone can benefit from.

Low Impact Survival Kit

One of the big insights that came from those of us who did the practice last time was that if you started out with a few key pieces of equipment it became really easy to cut down on waste and actually saved money too.

- Drink bottle : mason jar, canteen, what have you, but try to avoid plastic since they are suspected of leaching chemicals and are generally less environmentally friendly
- Container for food/left-overs: tiffin box, tupperware, fabric wrappers
- Shopping bag: nylon, canvas, string bags
- Chopsticks, silverware: bamboo and eco-plastics
- Cloth napkin