I've been a recycler, vegetarian and concerned citizen for years, but I knew that the efforts I was making were only trivial compared to what I could really do to begin making a difference. After going through this site, and others on the Internet I'm really pumped about making a difference in my life.

After seeing An Inconvenient Truth I was really focused on doing something and trying to make a difference in my community and around the globe....Stuart introduced me to this site and I have finally got around to setting up my own profile and individual page. What a great and useful tool for getting people together to make a difference in the world!

Here's just a little of what I'm doing right now to make a change:

In the past couple of months I have completely eliminated plastic  bags from my household. I use compostable bags for our garbage and for the kitty waste we dispose of on a daily basis. I went to our local organic grocery store (Planet Organic) and got a pile of their reusable shopping bags.....and I carry my red bags around EVERYWHERE! It's amazing just how much more these bags can carry - and how compactable they are. I keep one folded up in my purse, one in the car, and one in my desk...in addition to the 3 or so that are hanging up in the pantry for those bigger grocery shops we do once a month!

I also went through the house and switched out all of our light bulbs with energy saving flourescents and have started to go through the sheer amount of "stuff" we have to give a bunch of it away to charities and thrift stores. Getting rid of material possessions was a good way to focus myself on what's necessity and what's just frivolous materialism in my life...

Finally, I also switched out all of our cleaning products to environmentally-friendly, biodegradable and 100% natural. The tub needs a little more work weekly than the old chemicals I used did, but the finished product looks the same, and I don't feel guilty everytime I rinse the bubbles down the drain! I also discovered that the products I bought smell exactly like our favorite spot in Mexico.....it's like a vacation everytime I clean the house!! haha.. 

I guess what's most exciting though is our pending move to Ottawa where we are so excited to be able to live outside of the urban sprawl of Calgary and into an inner city environment where we will be able to park the vehicle and use it only for 'utility' and 'necessity' (as opposed to convenience) and be able to walk to essentially do anything and everything we need! I'm pumped about being able to see a real difference to how I can live my life, help the environment and essentially also see a major difference to our bank account as well! :-)

Welcome to my version of 2People - thanks for checking out my profile, and good luck on your own efforts to help change the world for the better! Together we can make a HUGE difference! I'm excited to see this site grow and more people join in on the committment!

~ Mandy