I went back to Kansas City a couple of weeks ago to see The Boy and friends. The whole trip was fantastic and I came home with lots, but one thing that is of interest to my project, that I’ve been meaning to buy for a long, long time. It’s the book Plenty by Alisa Smith and JB Mackinnon, two Canadians who ate locally for one year. Much more local than I, they only ate with a 100-mile radius, as opposed to my 250 miles.

The book is great. It’s engrossing from the first page, and I can identify with a lot of their challenges. Where did the meat and salt go? I’m just about finished with my pasta stuffs, and the salt shaker is in reserve because I have so little left. Sugar is long gone, save for local honey and some Stevia I found hidden in the back of the cupboard from a diet or something long ago.

I found myself taken aback when I co-worker told me that she now feels guilty for throwing things away or taking plastic bags from grocery stores. She said she finds herself asking what I would do. Inspiration is an amazing thing.

Click through to the next page to read the rest of Kim’s post!

There are a number of other bloggers like me, who are challenging themselves. I’m very much part of a trend, and I’ll admit it. No one is ingenious here for doing this. Some people are striving to make one change a day, some are going no-impact, eating local or not buying anything. The trend is change. I’m by no means perfect. I’ve faltered more times on this challenge than I can count. The other day, I found myself buying a bagel. I found little solace in the fact that it was a local bagel shop — probably not local wheat though, or cream cheese. I feel differently than other green change bloggers because I’m not really making money off this, no book deal has come up yet. I also have a day job, and many, many side gigs that require consumerism, from home decor blogging to contributing to fashion sites. It makes this hard. A commenter on a previous post told me I’m too hard on myself. Probably right. In my head, I’m trying to uphold ideals for everyone I know. If I can do it, so can my brother or sister. So can my friends. In my head, if I fail, so will they.

But inspiration is all I can provide. I have one month left and during that time I’ll probably talk to dozens of people about what I’m doing. I’ll talk about how I’m failing and how I’m winning. What I see as a real change in my habits and what I don’t. Maybe, someone will walk away from it with something. I will walk away with something. So maybe JB and Alisa had it right in naming their book plenty. We’re in a land of plenty, and by doing this I have less than the plenty I’m used to, but I’ve got plenty of other things that are better. I’ve got something that will last, for me and everyone I know.

Click here to buy Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally.

Kim B., who lives on the Central Coast of California, runs All That and A and Decorazzi when she’s not trying to be an interior designer, chef, or prize-winning journalist. Click here to see her previous Earthday Pledge posts.