It just needs a name…
Thank you for visiting again. I know things have been a little sporadic and all over the place around here lately, but that’s why this blog is called “Mad Mad Life!”
It’s time to reveal my “because everyone needs another personal project that they don’t have time for” idea. If you recall my tease from the other week, I’m going to spin a new web site off from this one, one with a more concentrated direction, so I can go much more in depth with a topic that has probably meant more to me over the past couple of years than almost anything else. It will tie together interests that I’ve visited here such as backyard vegetable gardening, conservation, environmentalism, and even facial scrub (really!), and bring them all together into a resource that will be useful to people form all over the globe who are interested in living in a way that has a less negative impact on the earth, with a focus on self-reliance. And the topic is something that I (and 1,790 other web page authors call) “backyard sustainability.”
Backyard sustainability is the term I use to describe what we can do as individuals as a matter of course in our daily lives, to ultimately reduce carbon emissions and the destruction of our environment (ecocide). It’s basically as simple as that. As individual citizens, particularly in the cities and suburbs, we are faced with probably 100 choices each day that can result in either a greater or lesser impact on our environment. From the container we use to hold our morning coffee to the method we choose to dispose of that container (or the choice not to dispose of it at all) to the place we buy our food and the products we use on our lawns, in our kitchens, and even on our bodies, it is amazing how many seemingly small things we can change that can ultimately not only reduce our carbon emissions but also result in a far less destructive impact on the plants and animals on this earth, and ultimately, on ourselves and our children. This site will focus on actions that we as individuals can take to have a direct impact (or, direct negative impact) on the environment, as opposed to things that corporations or whole societies could or should be doing. Thus, my idea is that each of us in our own little corners of the world, in our suburban or city homes, can all make little changes to ultimately have a cumulatively positive effect on our earth.
I’ll go into more detail when I launch the new site, which should happen soon. The main hangup at this point is deciding on its name. I have several ideas that I’m excited about except they bear the usual web site naming problems: 1) The name is too long for a URL, or 2) The name is already taken by another site. So, since the site can’t have a home until it has a name, I’m holding off until that’s all finalized. Meanwhile I’m getting some of the content started so that once it goes live, it’ll have something to say for itself.
Naturally I’ll announce its grand opening, and I hope you’ll tune in.
(If you have any ideas for a great name for my new site, please feel free to do some brainstorming in the comments section, or send me an e-mail!)
How about something along the lines of “a smaller print?” I’ve not searched availability, but it’s a great spin on the smalller footprint, and dog themes
Great! I had not yet considered the footprint angle. Thank you.
I LOVE this! (I’m here via twitter, btw. It’s Amy from LeashWeCanDo).
Whenever people are resistant to thinking green, they usually use the same tired story as the whole “but my one vote doesn’t really count.” So frustrating! I think it’s so important to focus on the little things that add up. For instance, buying organic does cost more, but you don’t sign a contract when you do it. I buy what I can organic, when I can. When the budget’s just too tight, I’ll buy fewer organic things and try to get those things organic the next time.
When people ask me about buying dog waste bags that are certified biodegradable and how much more expensive that is than using grocery store bags, I tell them that if they just buy 150 bags for $15 and only do that once a year, that’s saving 150 plastic bags from going in the garbage and they can then recycle those and use a reusable bag. If someone can’t afford to do it every time, that doesn’t mean they can’t do it SOMEtimes.
Love the idea. I think I own a few eco named sites that I intended to do something with and never did. I’ll see what they are, though they might not be what you’re looking for.