About

This blog is the product of the attempt for a couple of environmental minded students trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle on a student budget. Furthermore, it is an attempt to make sense of an overload of conflicting information about what is better for the environment, since these days with everything you try you are, as we say in Portugal, “arrested for having a dog and arrested for not having one”.

So the only solution I see for this problem is to reach my own conclusions, which are admittedly not without a great deal of rationalization. But nonetheless, we will have our own go at sustainability, and hopefully come out of it with a new perspective. And part of that will be based on some real, home-made environmental measurements, instead of eternally relying on statistics out of someones @$$.

And just one last thing, in case of any doubts. The header picture is an original… we did not find it on google images.

9 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Annemarie  |  April 3, 2007 at 3:26 pm

    Nice blog! Good luck with the challenge! It will be interesting to see what problems you bump into. I wonder if reducing certain things will allow your budget to buy other things e.g. cutting back on electricity/ plastic bags will give you enough money to buy organic foods.

  • 2. Bartek aka. The Fresso-Man  |  April 4, 2007 at 12:48 am

    Wazzup!
    Is’s nice to read some of your crap again :P, seems i gonna be a regular visitor here. Good job and remember to SHARE YOUR SHOWER as often as possible! 🙂

  • 3. alex  |  April 4, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    Very cool idea. I will make an effort to learn from your challenges and keep checking in on the blog. I am sure my aunt Audrey in Portland, Oregon has some wise words of wisdom to help in your pursuit of a more sustainable lifestyle. I will send her this blog url.

  • 4. Dr. H  |  April 5, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    I wish you both the best with this endeavor. You have a lot to teach us all by your own actions! And I agree – what do we do about air travel in this era of becoming more and more “world citizens”? I really admire this undertaking and look forward to following your journey!

  • 5. Lori V.  |  April 6, 2007 at 12:19 am

    Hi, Alina! I finally made it over here! Thanks for visiting me at my blog; I’m looking forward to keeping up with your adventures at yours, too.

  • 6. lamarguerite  |  October 19, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    Alina,

    First, thanks for stopping by my blog.

    Second, your blog is such a nice surprise. Very fresh, makes you want to linger. Glad you are coming out of the closet once in a while . . .

    Also, Alina, I was wondering if you would be interested in being a guest on my blog and write a post about a BlogAct. I invented the word for Blog Action Day. Literally it means blogging + activism. An instance where your blogging extends further into your community, and you engage into some kind of activist gesture.

    It would be a real treat if you could BlogAct on La Marguerite!

    marguerite
    http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com

  • 7. Alina  |  October 19, 2007 at 5:25 pm

    Hi Marguerite, thanks for stopping by and complementing me 🙂

    About BlogAct, it seems like a good idea (if you notice my Blog Action Day post, I wasn’t too optimistic about it). I’d love to guest post for you but at this point I can’t promise when. So feel free to nag me in a couple of weeks time when I’m not so busy 😉

  • 8. Mikayla  |  May 13, 2008 at 1:09 am

    I read this blog to find out what i twould be like to be an environmentalist I love the planet and want to kep it clean Rock on Save the Planet !!!!!

  • 9. Uncle B  |  June 22, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    Rice and beans, more rice and beans, some meat with it when sales allow, Home brew from extract into 2 liter pop bottles to age (recyclable). Grow some alfalfa greens, not economical but fun, mostly get a meal card if possible, if not, visit the local food bank – it’s a time of survival, and forgive me, but the environment takes second place sometimes, Tube steaks (baloney) recycle animal parts we don’t like to think of while eating, and macaroni and cheese fries up good the next day! If it wasn’t for oatmeal, warm, cold, refried, or whatever, some would starve to death! Get a part-time at a supermarket and forage for stuff on its way to the dumpsters! You’re recycling, after all! America has Three classes of people, upper, middle and poor students! Even toilet paper is a luxury if you haven’t any. ‘Borrowing’ it from restrooms is one way to get to the end of the week. Can’t recycle here can we! (stained facecloths anyone?) Some church-meetings come with a free meal, tastes great and the company’s not bad either. The computer rooms are usually a good source of one-sided notepaper, and sometimes some very interesting pictures. Water fountains are good for re-filling that cool bottled water bottle, and they last and last! (see recycle bins for newer bottles, nicer ‘upstream’ labels) Second hand and used clothing is expensive, try church yard sales and ask for free bees, you’ll get them with an understanding smile! Coffee grounds can be boiled over and over and over, but once instant is gone, its gone. Brush off veggies, the skins have flavor and nutrients. To be a student again! Don’t forget to give to your student associations, they were good for a meal when things got bad and they depended on donations mostly.

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