A 10-step Guide to Caring for Oregon.
Check out this guide of curated actions to help create change in Oregon and beyond. Here each individual can take a small, actionable, yet powerful step to better their home.
Over time, you may find yourself completing these steps out of habit. If you can’t complete something, no problem, we created the list with the hope that at least one action would be workable for each person. Try this:
Commit to just one of the simple steps for a year;
Share your journey with us using #knowingoregon, or email us a photo! We’ll post it in hope to inspire others.
Step 1: Measure Your Trash
Oh, don’t be nasty. Measure your garbage for a year. How many times did you take out your trash, recycling, and compost? Make it into a competition with yourself. Can you take it out once a month? Pro Tip: Call your garbage handler and let them know you want to reduce service - often times, you can get a discount!
Step 2: Wait Two Weeks
Treat yourself! Or don’t. Do you actually need that thing to make you happy? Do you need it at all? Wait two weeks and feel it out. My grandpa used to say, “if you can’t eat it or it doesn’t keep you warm, don’t buy it!” Though I’m not sure what he was talking about because he owned a lot of s*&#.
Step 3: Garbage Hike
Do you like to walk outside? Why not take a beach walk once this year dedicated to picking up trash? Bring a trash bag and get to work! Post your famous insta-photo like this one, but with a bunch of nasty garbage. The more followers you have, the more fancy your garbage.
Step 4: Precycle and Reduce
Feel badass, like this freaky alpaca. Recycle already? Fine, but when was the last time you took your own to-go container to a restaurant? People will be impressed and inspired by your forethought. Precycling is when you shop with the intent to reduce your waste by not purchasing items packaged in plastic, opting instead for things packaged in glass, cardboard/paper, or in the case of a banana, its own peel! Don’t just recycle, decline plastics wherever you go! “Get that plastic out of my face!” – Jack Black
Step 5: Compost
Damn, dirt daddy! Throw that apple in a bin and savor its nutrients. This is a great way to move into the gardening step. One day we’ll have a complex guide to composting, but for now, check out Eugene’s guide to composting.
Step 6: Grow a Garden or Native Landscape
Say NO to dru…lawns. Did you know you can replace your boring ass grass with some not so boring things like onions? Don’t want to grow a garden? Fine. But what about replacing your yard with native vegetation, things that bees like? Maybe even buy some bee boxes… mmm spicy flies.
Step 7: B.I.F.L.
Note: This is not my grandpa. What the f*&! is BIFL? BIFL stands for “Buy It For Life”. When purchasing BIFLs, you may find they’re costly, so this a privilege to be able to do. Recognize that. When you BIFL, focus on the company and their ethics. The goal here is to buy something once that’s quality, that you can have for the rest of your life. BIFL = coat. Not BIFL = green beans.
Step 8: Write Your Senator
Or local politician. Tell them about what’s important to you. Tell them to act on environmental issues. Example:
Dear Rep. Carol,
I really like spicy flies (bees). Protect their babies.
Step 9: Volunteer Locally
WTH is this person doing digging in the mud!? There is an immense amount of meaning in volunteering. Check out local groups. Find something that interests you. Don’t like people? Maybe volunteer to help Rep. Carol down the street mow their lawn?
Step 10: Donate Something
Sometimes the more we have, the more we need to maintain all that we have. We can have two homes but feel like we live poor because we also just bought a new Lambo. Assess your lifestyle to see what you can stand to cut back on. What do you actually need to live a life you love? Once you realize what you don’t need to be happy, make a drop off at your local thrift store. “One person’s trash is another one’s treasure”… my grandpa told me that too.
