There’s nothing like moving—having to box and carry every single thing that you own—to remind you of how much crap you’ve been hoarding in the closets.

But when all’s said and done, most people load their boxes and furniture into a truck or van or SUV and drive to a new location, where they place all that junk on new shelves and fill empty closets. Vanessa Farquharson, a Toronto-based journalist, took quite a different approach to her recent move across the city. Advertising for volunteers in her National Post column, she organized an army of green-minded neighbors and strangers to help her move every single item by bike or foot. And she even filmed it. The move was part of a year-long experiment to green her entire lifestyle, making one small change every day and her blog shows what wonders arise when one person devotes 365 days to paying attention to all of the little things that contribute to environmental destruction. Who knew that the extra, unused storage space boasted by gmail is actually a major energy sucker? And that just about anything—from wallpaper to basketball courts—can be made from recycled materials if you’re creative enough? Check out her site—thanks to our videoman Alex King’s sis, Lauren, we’ve become fans—so much so that we’ve supplicated Vanessa to write a column for us.