There is this guy who calls himself No Impact Man.  He lives in New York City and he recently spent one year, along with his wife and daughter, living a carbon neutral lifestyle.  His story is inspiring and his site has been rated one of the top 10 “green” sites by Time magazine.  You will hear about him soon enough as there is going to be a book and a movie about his journey.

No Impact Man was a big inspiration behind My Grandma Was Green.  I thought if he could manage to do such an extreme experiment for one year, surely I could challenge myself to make some changes.  However, I have a few limits as I try to live like Grandma.  I feel hesitant to post them because you may find them laughable or disagreeable.  However, I am committed to documenting the changes I make with as much honesty as possible and these limits reveal where I am at right now.

Limit #1 Health: My year of trying to live more sustainably and simply will be much more enjoyable if everyone in my house stays healthy.  My kids and I take a few nutritional supplements every day.  I also order a couple of food items online and have them shipped to my house.  I hope I can learn a thing or two from my grandparents about healthy living but until then I am going to stick with the supplements and a few imported foods.

Limit #2 Sleep: Things will go down hill really fast if I or anyone else in my family end up suffering from “Grandma” induced sleep deprivation.  My husband and I have agreed to not put an air conditioner in our bedroom window.  We are also going to try to do without one on the main floor but we do have a window unit in each kids’ rooms.  We generally turn them on when the kids first go to bed and turn them off after their rooms have cooled.  Incidentally, you have to walk through the master bedroom to get to our daughter’s bedroom.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the fact that her air conditioner cools off our room a bit too.

Limit #3 Safety:  I am a fairly paranoid person (I think I have read far too many “Drama in Real Life” Reader’s Digest stories over the years).  Ideally, I would like to walk or ride my bike more places to save on gas but I will not walk or ride after dark if I am alone.  I also happen to think a secure window air conditioning unit is the safest way to cool my 2 year old’s bedroom versus a box fan stuck in the window.  Safety is another argument in favor of the air conditioner.

Limit #4 Marital Happiness: I currently stay home full-time while my husband works full-time but this project is not an argument for a return to the gender roles that were present in my grandparents’ generation.  I fully respect women who work as well as women who stay home and any combination in between.  Although I am spearheading this project, I am happier knowing my husband is willing to make these changes with me.  With that said, a great deal of waste is generated by the way we manage our home and so this project will deal with a lot of domestic issues.

I am sure I will revisit each of these limits over the coming year and that is a big reason I want to do this project.  Trying to live like Grandma will force me to examine my choices and the impact they have both locally and globally.