Accidental Eco-Warriors: How My Family’s Quest for Self-Sufficiency is Slashing Our Carbon Footprint

As a life-long lover of the natural world, I’ve always been interested in treating the environment with respect. I’ve done beach clean ups, avoided Styrofoam and recycled what I could. That said, no one who knows me would describe me as an active ‘environmentalist.’ You won’t find me marching against climate change or virtue-signaling on social media against the use of fossil fuels. For the past 18 years, I’ve been laser-focused on providing for my children and finding freedom from some painful phases of my adult life. I have been, candidly, in survival mode. Anything I did that was eco-friendly during that period had to be ultra-convenient and not “add another thing” to my heavy load of “must-do’s.”. Now, a little older and living on a small acreage homestead, I’ve finally been able to focus on a true passion of mine – deliberately building my family’s self-sufficiency. It recently dawned on me that in doing four relatively simple things over the past two years, we have significantly (and quite unintentionally) reduced our carbon footprint.

1. The Simple Swap: From Paper to Cloth

During COVID, I realized along with millions of other Americans how fragile our supply chain is. Purchasing paper products like toilet paper and paper towels became a competitive sport, and I was not digging it. In addition to realizing how dependent we were on paper product manufacturers for these often-used items, I was starting to get a little pissed about what we were spending, particularly on paper towels. My family used them for EVERYTHING from wiping a small water spill on the counter top to blowing their nose on a small corner of a large paper towel and throwing the whole thing away. At upwards of $30 for a large pack of paper towels, we were spending at least $60 a month on paper towels (or $720/year.) The absurdity of it finally put my butt in gear. I purchased 24 “unpaper towels” made of cotton flannel sheets in a myriad of different patterns off of a seller on Etsy for about $40. They cling easily to each other and are fun to roll onto a regular paper towel tube and sit beautifully on our counter just like regular paper towels. They go into the wash with our kitchen towels and are insanely absorbent. I keep one roll of paper towels in the back of the pantry for things like patting meat dry but have not bought a single pack of paper towels in three months now, and counting. To my surprise, my husband and sons adapted instantly and have not complained once about the change. I’ve just ordered 24 more in new and fun colors to fortify our stock. That makes our “paper towel” budget for the year (and beyond) $80, saving us a whopping $640 in year one alone. The bonus? By using 2.5 fewer rolls of paper towels weekly, we reduced our carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions by 65 kg per year.

2. Giving Back to the Earth: Composting

After years of thinking about it, I finally ordered a small compost bin for our kitchen countertop, picked a spot on the edge of my garden, and began a compost pile. At first, I just propped a few wood pallets against each other and put some chicken wire across the front – it was a sad looking set up, but did the trick. Recently, my husband and sons helped me build two side by side compost bins with the pallets by screwing them together and I finally feel “legit.” By turning our kitchen scraps into black gold through composting, we’re saving money on buying soil for my expanding garden. As it turns out, this process was about more than just enriching the soil. Composting our food waste prevents the release of methane—a potent greenhouse gas—from landfills. This single action resulted in a reduction of approximately 3723 kg of CO2e annually. That’s the power of letting nature do the recycling.

3. Bagging the Plastic Habit

Swapping plastic bags for reusable ones at the grocery store was a no-brainer for me, but it took a concerted effort to turn it into a habit. I always felt icky about bringing home dozens of plastic bags from the grocery, even though we did reuse some of them for dog poop pick up. Still, it was not cool. I started keeping the reusable grocery bags we had purchased from Trader Joe’s and other stores throughout the years in the trunk of my car. For the first few months, I almost ALWAYS forgot them in the car and realized it when my cart was full. I simply made myself tuck my cart away and go out to my car to get the reusable bags. It was annoying, but I was hell bent on making the change. Now, I probably forget my reusable bags in the car once or twice a year. The carbon savings here were substantial —15 kg CO2e per year, to be exact. It's a simple habit that packs a powerful punch for the planet.

4. The Green, Green Grass of Home

Shortly after buying our small homestead, my husband and I decided to turn a barren, dry portion of the property filled with invasive weeds into a grass pasture. This would serve three important purposes: it would choke out the weeds, reduce dust problems, and prepare us to welcome more animals to our operation. In order to save on the high cost of having someone do it for us, we did our own research on how to grow a successful grazing pasture, including speaking with pasture management experts at the county’s agricultural headquarters. We put in the sweat equity and rented heavy equipment for tilling, bought a large amount of

organic compost to work into the soil, and shopped discerningly for the right grass seed mixture. We diligently watered the site and hoped for the best. Three months later, no one was more surprised than us to see a verdant, strong grass pasture thriving where we toiled. Though we have not yet decided whether to put goats, horses or sheep on this nutritious pasture, our flock of 19 chickens now have a biodiverse food source to free-range full of protein packed grasses and insects. This will drastically reduce our feed bill, and the chickens’ poop will fertilize the pasture with nitrogen.

This quarter-acre pasture of grass is not just a serene backdrop for our self-sufficient lifestyle; it's a carbon sink. Absorbing roughly 273.16 kg of CO2 each year, it's a testament to how even the grass under our feet plays a role in the earth's carbon cycle.

The Grand Total: A Carbon Footprint Reduction of 4,076.16 kg CO2e

Altogether, these actions have trimmed our carbon footprint by over 4 tons CO2e annually.

To put that into perspective:

·       It's like we planted about 185 mature trees, each mopping up 22 kg of CO2 yearly.

·       We essentially didn't drive a car for 10,088 miles, avoiding the equivalent of multiple cross-country trips.

·       Our electricity savings are akin to powering an average American home for a year, saving about 10,190 kWh.

·       Our grass pasture improved soil health and biodiversity, providing habitat for various species.

·       Cleaner air and water from reduced pollution have direct health benefits, including fewer respiratory diseases.

So, while our primary goal was (and still is) self-sufficiency, these individual actions had the unexpected and incredible bonus of significantly reducing our carbon footprint. It turns out that by looking after ourselves and reducing our dependence on external systems, we are making a difference.

What’s next? Well, I’ve been researching:

·      Re-usable toilet paper (this one will be a bigger adjustment, if I can get my family to cooperate.) There is a cloth option similar to paper towels. I’ve also been looking into growing plants that are popular among wilderness survival enthusiasts for growing leaves perfect for wiping butts. But, we may choose a bidet over this - it’s definitely TBD.

·      Planting a bigger garden: the more food I grow for our family, the more we reduce our carbon footprint.

·      By adding more pollinator friendly flowers around the garden, I can help support bees and other insects contributing the success of our flora.

·      Keeping bees: My husband wants to become a beekeeper, a very good thing for our planet and for our kitchen cupboard.

If our family's experience is anything to go by, imagine the global impact we could achieve if we all made similar changes. The path to a more sustainable world might just begin with the simple, self-sufficient lifestyle we choose to lead. Even better, you can sit back and feel smug the next time we experience a global supply chain issue. Every disposable item you can swap with a reusable one = more money in your pocket and less stress. Win-win, don’t you think? I'd love to hear your ideas for simple ways to become more self-sufficient that impact the planet positively. Drop me a line at contact@theprimitivepath.com!

Homesteading Hugs,

Rose