Part 1 - Observing my Behaviour
Day 1:
I am definitely a person of habit and love my of routines. My partner will often tease me about knowing exactly what I will order when we go out to eat. On my way to work this morning I picked up my steeped tea with one milk and one sugar… my usual. I used to bring in my own cup but since Covid-19 started, I still buy my tea, but this time in a regular disposable cup. At lunch time I ran out, mostly just because I had the van today, to pick up lunch at Wendy’s. This morning I had the opportunity to make a lunch for myself, as I made 3 for my children, but because I had the van I knew that I would need a little break from the my class and that I would “treat myself” with a lunch out. After school, I went to go see my mom and picked up another tea on my way… strictly out of habit.
Day 2:
Picked up my tea – again – on the way to work. I also picked one up on the way home! That is two more cups straight into the landfill. Mulligan shares John Ehrenfeld’s work on consumption and this is a clear case of consumption, not for need, but of an addictive consumption of a brand (p.40-41). I reflect on why I am stopping to get the tea instead of just making it at home or at school. This habit began when I had my first child who decided that she hated sleep. I often could only get her to sleep by walking with her in her carrier or by driving her around. I would take “mini-vacations” by walking her up and down the street while she slept or by driving her around and picking up a drink and enjoying it in my parked vehicle. This repeated action turned into an unexpected habit that has been going on for almost 12 years. This is definitely part of my "self-care" routine but it is no longer serving me, our bank account, or our earth. My partner and I have been able to embrace a simpler life in many other aspects but often our impulse shopping, especially when it comes to quick foods needs to be examined.
Day 3:
Clothing swap day! Time to swap out those summer clothes for all the fall and winter ones. With the concerns around fast fashion this is an area I have been working on for the last couple of years. A few years back I found out some of the astonishing facts around fast fashion including that it is responsible for 10% of all carbon emissions and that 85% of all textiles end up in the dump (McFall-Johnsen, 2019) With three growing
children, who all have very unique styles. this is an area that we knew that this would be an area that we could make a big impact on with our small actions so try to be cautious around. Out come all the boxes from the basement, filled with so many different styles and sizes, all the winter jackets that have been stored in bins and the boots from previous years all came out today. All the summer clothing is pulled out, the youngest sets hers aside for her younger cousin, some of the clothing have already gone through 3 or 4 kids already.
Instead of having the leggings and t-shirts that are too stained go into the dump we try to squeeze a little more life from them by cutting them into strips as our family makes dog pull toys that we gift to the dogs in our lives.
As a family, we make a list of all of the things that we will need for the upcoming season. Thankfully it is not too long: one pair of winter boots, a jacket for my partner and my oldest, one pair of ski pants, a couple pair of pants for me and my oldest daughter and 1-2 sweaters for both of us. Our community has a very active free-cycle so I check there first and I am pleasantly surprised to be able to cross a couple of items off. I make a list and head off shopping.
I head to Costco to pick up some of the clothing items and some bulk items we will need for the week for lunches. Our family has a very busy week ahead of us so I pick up lots of extra prepackaged lunch items for our family. I also recognize that our family has the privilege of buying in bulk to save money and to have less of an environmental impact. Those who face greater poverty cannot go and purchase in bulk (Garcia, 2016).
One thing that I really took note of while shopping was how quickly I zip in and out of stores, I head in even if there is not something that I need on my list. I went to Costco and then went to an Outlet mall as I needed some clothing items for myself. I typically purchase my clothing at two or three different stores yet I entered over 10 different stores just to do a quick loop in them to see if anything jumped out at me or if there was a sale on something. I was able to resist buying anything in any of them except the Lindt store where I picked up a bar for myself to snack on over the week. Because I did not plan out the timing well, I also stopped for supper as I planned my shopping over meal times so I ended up purchasing my food even though we had supper already to go at home.
Day 4:
Another morning and another to-go disposable cup. I am going to keep a tally of how many cups I use - I think I am seeing very clearly what I need to work on! I know that these items are just part of planned obsolesces but I keep buying them.
Today is also the day that we had the expected payments for our regular payments such as our van loan, charitable giving and for our mortgage so I have already spent a lot of my pay cheque through automated payments while I slept. Yet as I was driving home today, even though I had nothing in mind that I needed to purchase, I had a strong desire to stop in a store to browse, something that I loved to do before the pandemic. On my way home I drive past lots of stores and restaurants. In my mind I was thinking, "Do I need anything from Giant Tiger? Anything from Shoppers? Anything from Canadian Tire? Walmart...?" I knew that our shopping list was empty and we had plans for supper so nothing was needed but these thoughts cross my mind every evening as I drive home. These are also the buildings that have the biggest signage and closest to the road so take up the most advertising space along the shopping centre square. The constant barrage of signs and advertising definitely does make me feel as though I need to purchase something.
Before the pandemic, I would often stop at one of these stores just to pick up one thing, but inadvertently pick up multiple items. I am sure many of these items made up the trash months later, many times not even lasting the full 6 months after purchase (Leonard, 2007).
Day 5:
Halloween is almost here!! We love Halloween in our house and we love to go big here for costumes and for decorations. A few years ago we decided to go for a bit of a simpler approach to this holiday. We were trying to do it all and it ended up just being too stressful for me as the mom. We decided to still pour our energies into this holiday but instead of trying to keep up with the consumerism of the holiday, we would spend more time enjoying the time together and less about the stuff that we were buying (Mulligan, 2018). All three girls (ages 6, 10, 12), actually want to go together this year and they want matching outfits... I want to just go and buy them something to match as I feel like this may be there last year that they will want to go together. But I know that them creating their costumes together will create way more memories and that is more important than the having (Mulligan, 2018).
I gave them the guidelines that they can have up to $5 each to supplement their costume if needed but otherwise they need to borrow, look online on free giveaway sites or to create their own costumes with items that we already have. It was worth it, in so many ways, as they spent most of the afternoon going through all of the closets, toy
bins and recycling to try to figure out what they will go as. It still has not been decided but this is them from last year with the same guidelines.
Introducing Anne of Green Gables on the way to Queens University, a Whoopie cushion (which we got for free as the sound button didn't work but apparently making the farting sound is more fun anyway), and a cute lion (an old hand-me-down costume).
Day 6:
Another day of Halloween planning and I am really feeling the emotional pull of wanting to purchase more things today. I am examining where that desire is coming from. I believe part of it comes from the fact that I did grow up in poverty and my mom worked so hard to make ends meet so we never had the chance to get the fun decorations and the store bought costumes. I always thought that when I would have more money, I would do the store bought items.
Annie Leonard (2009), in the story of stuff quotes Victor Labow, an economist, who stated that "our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and the use of goods into rituals, that seek our spiritual satisfaction, in consumption" (12:18). I definitely feel this with Halloween. When I think of my childhood, I remember cut out bats from construction paper, reusing costumes from cousins or building or sewing them. Now there is the pressure to buy the big blow up yard decoration, the LED lights, the bins worth of decorations and the latest costumes in store. It has become a ritual to go and look for more decorations at each season, to buy the next and the latest items to add to our already full homes. I know that my friends and I have talked about this frequently and my group of friends feel the pull to buy more to make it look like we have it all together.
It turns out, my mom had it right, the simpler was better and looking back it was the memories of decorating and the creativity that has carried me through. Because of the forced sustainability, all of us girls in my family, my sisters and I, are all creative and good up coming up with something from nothing... like stone soup. When we all bring something to the table, we all can do more. Similar to how if we all do something small to help the earth, it will go far in terms of sustainability.
Day 7:
Today was an extra long day at school, 2 students are away awaiting Covid tests, my own daughter is awaiting her results and, I am the chair of PAC and we have a meeting tonight, and I am in the midst of planning a virtual conference for 500 teachers next week. It has been an exhausting day and yet I feel a pull to buy something, even if not for myself. I have the feeling that if I would go shopping, head out to eat, I would feel better and less overwhelmed. As Norris writes, I feel consumed by consuming (2011, p. 13). I am seeking fulfillment and wellness and the message that has been fed to me is to do these things I need to consume more (Norris, 2011, p.14).
None of the things I want to purchase are bad things, thank you gifts for all the teachers at my children's school as an act of gratitude on behalf of PAC, picking up the gift cards and maybe myself something from a local book store for the conference and the presenters, something to cheer up my daughter who is missing her friends while being stuck in her room awaiting her test results. In the past I would have shrugged these things off as things that need to get done now so I should just go and get it done.
Reflecting on the Nelson article and my own reactions to my day,
and days similar to today, I realize that I am using the purchasing of items as a way of inserting relationship into my day. By buying the next item, being effective and resourceful in
my consumption, I will have the value that I am seeking (Nelson, 2011, 174). Instead, I have carefully added these items to my to-do list, as they are not things that need to be done today, took a drive through neighbourhood that is in full autumn beauty, and then went home to be with my family - and made my cup of tea at home.
Day 8:
Shah (2003) asserts that "consumption now helps to define and answer who we are". That quote has been resonating with me over the last few days. My purchases are often out of routine and want and not out of need. Every action also is communication or a desire, a need. This leads me to wonder what need or desire is being met when I impulsively head out for lunch, even though I have one packed, or to pick up a drink on the way to and from school. I was reflecting on this as I chowed down on my chicken wrap from Wendy's and an iced capp, and I am wondering if I am trying to create an identity that shows that I have "made it", that I am successful. Growing up, I was not afforded these luxuries, but this is now something that I am able to financially do; but the bigger question should be even if I can do it, should I?
My items that I was stressing over yesterday are much easier to deal with today. Yesterday when I was upset and stressed, I was longing for shopping, shopping for anything, in almost a frantic sense in order to fulfill a need for calm. I was looking for compensatory consumption (Shah, 2003) and not for purchasing them in a logical sense. Today, I am feeling more in control so I decided to get the items that are needed in my various roles: honorariums, thank you gifts, and get will gifts. For most of it I decided to order online and do curbside pickup so that I can avoid the desire to buy more items once I get there. For my daughter, I decided instead of getting her another thing, that I will most likely just get annoyed at as it will end up cluttering up her bedroom, I picked up her favourite soup.
Day 9:
Another drive, another tea... this is the area that I will be focusing on over the next couple of days. Shah (2003) discusses how although compensatory consumption can make people feel better for the short term it often ends up causing additional stress. For my family, we have often continued in this way of going out to eat and getting quick drinks on the way to various places and then we will quickly pull back and try to budget in multiple areas in hopes of trying to save some money. We then try to address multiple areas all in one big swoop, usually when an unexpected cost occurs. The reasoning tends to be from a financial standpoint and not from an environmental and sustainability standpoint. This time, I am hoping to create a longer change in my behaviour by changing my motivator and by working on just one habit at a time. In the past I have also just given up because I "fell off the wagon" despite the research by Lally, Jaarsvld, Potts, and Wardle (2009) who show that "missing an opportunity to meet the goal did not affect the habit formation process"; so if I am doing something correctly much of the time, even if I sometimes forget or don't follow through, that is better than not doing it at all. One of the groups I belong to called Balance 365 has a saying that is "All or something" and that is what I will be striving for over the next couple of day.
And the big reveal... how many take out drinks did myself and my family consume over 9 days (oh boy, is this embarrassing …)
Part 2 - Changing the Behaviour
Day 10:
Today is a day at home and I will not be doing any shopping or heading out today so I thought I would take advantage of the time to create a more thought out plan in order to plan for success. Stuart Bill, as cited in Mulligan, says no individual action should be dismissed as being insignificant if that personal action can be sustained and be part of a broader action plan (2018, p 160). This is my small action plan, it may be small but I am hoping it will open me up to more opportunities and be sustainable.
The Plan:
Research by Babauta (2019) as cited by Balance 365 is that "research shows that changing one habit in your life at a time will result in an 80% chance of success. When changing two different habits at the same time, the success rate drops below 35%. Change three or more habits at the same time and the “ success rate of these habits drops to almost 0%. The more changes you try to make simultaneously, the less likely you are of being successful with them" (2019, p. 17). In Balance 365 they use this research to look at nutrition and how to make habits that are effective to create a healthier person, whether by reducing alcohol, changing what you eat, exercise, sleep, or mindfulness but I will be applying this idea to reducing my consumption of take out drinks. In the past, I have tried to implement changes in many areas all at the same time: cook only at home, no more take out, no more drinks-to-go, this has not been successful in the past.
Since habits are the things that carry us throughout our day, approximately 40% of the actions we take each day are habits, many of them done unconsciously (Brees, Campbell & Koski, 2019, p. 8). I need to look at the habit look and see where I am able to change it to implement change.
Image from Brees, Campbell & Koski, 2019, p. 8
In order to plan for success, my reminder will be to place my reusable to-go cup will be placed on the stovetop with my cup cozie the night before beside the kettle that I will take out before bed in order to avoid the morning chaos. It will be placed with the water bottles that I take out every evening so I am set to make everyone their water for the day.
My routine will be to turn on the kettle for myself when I am filling everyone's water bottle in the mornings. By the time the water bottles are filled the kettle will be ready and I can brew my tea. By the time I place the bottles in everyone's backpacks, my tea will be ready to go and it will be place by my keys.
And my reward.... ahhh... a hot cup of tea that will not be adding to the ever-growing landfills.
Day 11:
Morning tea - it was successful!! I get that it was just one cup of tea but it did work seamlessly so I am hoping that I can keep the momentum going as by making small changes in many areas we can make a big difference together.
A barrier that I noticed is that I am really wishing for a hot cup of tea halfway through the day, often the time I run out at lunch, this is a break to get something to drink but also to get out of the building for a bit as it is nice to take a break from the strict regulations that are needed right now to keep everyone safe. We do have a fridge in our "zone" at school, so I will bring my milk and some extra tea bags tomorrow to school. I am making a conscience effort not to go to one after school as I know it is not even necessary something that I want, as I often only drink half of it, so I am able to pass on my afternoon tea for today.
Day 12:
It does seem a little silly to be focusing my goal on such a small area when I know that my classmates are making some bigger life changes. For me, this is an area that I want to improve on as the trash from to-go cups are a huge part of our landfills.
My previous university did a waste audit in 2018 and found that there are 1,190,000 cups that are sent to the landfill from the two different university campuses annually. Pre-Covid, I found that I got into a routine with bringing my reusable cup to different places but that is no longer an option so I need to find another way of making a difference.
By making a small difference with just to-go cups, I am hoping that it will make me stop and think of other ways to reduce waste. It already has, I just added a collapsible container that I had at home and placed it in my van for me to bring in when we go out to eat. We almost always have some leftovers that we want to bring home at the end of our meals.
Today did go well with both my morning tea and my afternoon tea. I did find that one of the barriers was still getting that "break" feeling. I was able to address it slightly by heading up to our staff room and actually taking my lunch outside of my classroom.
I am wondering if the image of picking up my drink daily also feeds into the idea of productivity and how our productivity is tied into our worth and value. The image that I am portraying when I am so rushed that I need to get a take out, is that I am too busy to do this at home. This busyness is valued in Western cultures and I am wondering if this idea is tied to it for me...
Day 13:
The day has been going well the last couple of days but I did encounter a barrier today. Once a week my daughter has gymnastics for 3 hours so I use that time to go and sit in a restaurant, usually Starbucks, and work on my readings and papers. This does then add to the garbage and since I am trying to reduce it, and for this week, eliminate it, this is a small barrier. It is tricky to find a place to sit and work at this point that has washable cups due to the pandemic. I asked today at Starbucks for a washable cup after I had ordered but they no longer provide them.
I realize that I have an option for next week, I can either go to a restaurant and order a drink from there or I can still just go to Starbucks and realize that I will be contributing 1 cup to the landfill for the time being until they can reuse cups again. I will be making that choice week by week depending on restrictions and what is available. I realize that it may not be perfect if I still go to Starbucks but it is a huge improvement from 26 cup a week to 1 cup a week. I am going to go with the "all or something" idea here (Brees et. all, 2019, p. 7)
Day 14:
As I noticed early on in the process, going out for something to drink is also a bit of a treat for me, although I was not using it as such. Shah (2003) discusses how consumption often for more than fulfilling a needed commodity. One need that I do feel the pull of is the idea of a break and to have something extra as a treat. Today I looked in my cupboards and pulled out a pie pumpkin and roasted it up and make some pumpkin spice syrup. As I had lots of pumpkin from it, I made lots for myself and then also processed some for others in my life that I will be giving to them. This will allow me to still share my love of giving gifts to others and to also have something on hand to make a tasty treat for myself. I made sure to process it so that it will last us all winter.
My girls and I loved the extra treat. I made sure to build it into my habits and brought a small jar to school so I can enjoy a simple "get away" when I need it there!
Day 15:
The setting up of the routine the night before is contributing to the success as last night I had forgotten so it seemed very rushed and I headed off to work without my drink in hand. Thankfully I had my supplies in place at school so I had a back up plan.
Today is also grocery shopping day. I do feel as if my mind is shifting slightly as we used to do lots of meal planning in advance and that has gone out the window in the last couple of months as we have been living in survival mode and not thriving mode. After a good conversation with my partner last night about how we need to ensure that we are reducing our food waste, we are both on the same page. We sat down and meal planned for 6/7 days, we often go to my parent's for one of the days so that is our flex day. We made a list of the meals we want to make and looked in the pantry for what we had and adjusted some of our meals to ensure we were eating what we already had. I then popped on my mask and headed out to the store with a much smaller grocery list. A couple extra items did make it home with me as they were on sale and items that we would use in our baking and our meals over the next couple of weeks. It was a much less expensive week and looking in the full fridge, I realize that we will have less waste this week as we only have what we will need for the upcoming week.
Day 16:
Even though it is only 6 days in, this feels very doable for long term. I feel the momentum and as if I am making a difference as this week so far it has only been one disposable cup. I want to add multiple items to this list but I know that that will not be helpful to me long-term. Going back to the research on habits, adding one habit at a time has a 80% success rate but add a second habit drops the success to 35% (Babauta, 2019, as cited in Brees et. all, 2019). I think that is where I often "fall off the wagon" is that I am doing well for a couple of days and then I will add a bunch of other ways to do-it-all and then I get discouraged when I do not do well. So far, I am doing well with the limiting to-go cups and when I have achieved 80% success for a minimum of two weeks, the research says I am ready for another habit (Brees et. all, 2019, p. 17).
Day 17:
To further conversation the with my partner a few days ago, we decided to make an inventory checklist on our pantry and freezer foods today. We did a divide and conquer on the food items and put up a list on the pantry and on the freezer. We also put the freezer list in the pantry so that when we are planning our meals it will be easy for us to plan.
With the new restrictions, our family is no longer able to bring food to microwave at school and after only a couple of weeks back they are already tired of the sandwiches. Normally we would send along the leftovers but nobody wants to eat the cold soup. So we went out to purchase some good thermos containers that are leakproof so that we can vary our lunches and rely less on the prepackaged items. Although it was a more impulsive buy, I think that it will pay off for our family as they all prefer homemade food but it was tricky to send it along.
After heading out to get the thermoses I did feel the urge to pick up a drink on my way home. I needed to remind myself that I would be home shortly and that I had my tasty pumpkin spice syrup waiting for me. That was all the switch in mindset that was needed. It now did not feel like something that I had to do, rather something that I wanted to do.
When I got home we made a stock pot of my favourite soup, cabbage borscht, and lots of banana muffins for the week.
Day 18 Final Reflection:
When I thought of starting this assignment I thought that I would be making lots of big changes in my life in terms of sustainability. Remembering what I have learned about building habits, I knew that it this was going to last longer than it took for me to hit submit on Moodle, it needed to be small enough to build success but significant enough to make a difference. With 30% of the 14 billion cups of coffee being to-go and then ending up in the landfill this was the "just-right" spot for me (umanitoba, 2018). Over the last week our family went from using 26 disposable cups to only one cup. I felt like, even in this small way I have made a difference.
By starting to stack habits, once they have become consistent, will be key to making bigger changes in the future. Knowing that adding too much to quickly would end up with me dropping all of the habits that I practiced over a few weeks I worked small and smart, tracking and planning for success using the Balance 365 method of setting a reminder, creating a routine and having a reward (Brees et all, 2019). My partner and I are already looking at ways to increase sustainability when it comes to our meals. This means more planning, using what we have, preparing foods that are accessible and local when they are in season and preparing them for future eating, and teaching our children to do the same. This will ensure that we are using less at the extraction, production and distribution level, where much of the waste and pollution occurs. By making choices to shop more locally, avoid products that only serve the person for minutes will help reduce the loss of land resources and help create more sustainable and livable communities (Leonard et. all, 2007).
So today it is focusing on the to-go cups, next week it will be adding the habit of meal planning and shopping local, and then I can take a page out of our parent's and grandparent's book and focus on stewardship, resourcefulness, and being thrifty in many other areas of my life (Leonard, 2009).
Making these small changes, one cup at a time, one meal at a time, will impact myself, my family, my community and our world.
Image: Making over 80 L of salsa with the family for the year.
Resources:
Babauta, L. (2019). The power of less: The fine art of limiting yourself to the essential ... in business and in life. London: Hay House.
Brees, A., Campbell, J., & Koski, L. (2019). Balance 365. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.hhhmprograms.com/products/balance365-self-guided/categories/1311025/posts/4459341
Garcia, A. (2016, March 25). Why poor families are paying more for everyday items like toilet paper. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/24/news/poor-families-savings/index.html
Lally, P., Jaarsveld, C., Potts, H., & Wardle, J. (2009, July 16). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.674
Lange, K. (2019, September 22). Home-Made Pumpkin Spice Syrup & Pumpkin Spice Latte. Retrieved October 16, 2020, from https://www.thebakingchocolatess.com/home-made-pumpkin-spice-syrup-pumpkin-spice-latte/
Leonard, A., Fox, L., & Sachs, J. (2007, December). The Story of Stuff. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-stuff/
Norris, T. (2011). Consuming schools: Commercialism and the end of politics. Toronto,, ON: University of Toronto Press.
McFall-Johnsen, M. (2019, October 21). The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined. Here are the biggest ways it impacts the planet. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10
Mulligan, Martin (2018), 2nd edn, An Introduction to Sustainability Environmental, Social and Personal Perspectives, London and New York: Routledge.
Muth, J. (2018, January). Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth: Children's Books Read Aloud on ... Retrieved October 16, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Avo5FJ250
Shah, A. (2003, May 14). Creating the Consumer. Retrieved October 16, 2020, from https://www.globalissues.org/article/236/creating-the-consumer
//www.umanitoba.ca, U. (2018, October 12). Let's Talk Waste: Disposable Cups. Retrieved October 16, 2020, from https://news.umanitoba.ca/lets-talk-waste-disposable-cups/