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My parents were very careful with our resources. Food was never wasted and leftovers would be cleverly made into another dish or two. I was scolded if I took a second helping of food then didn’t eat it. I’m sure many of us heard, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach. Only take what you think you can finish. Just take a little then you can always have more.”
My grandmother would admonish me as she emptied my plate of scraps with comments like “there are starving children in China who would love this food.” Many parents said this to their children, which today is so much more meaningful to me. I never understood what our lives had to do with children in China. (My uncle served in China in WWII so perhaps he shared stories with my grandmother or maybe it was just something adults said. And China does not have a monopoly on starving children, then or now.)
I also remember being told to shut the refrigerator door, shut the front door, shut the back door, turn off the lights, turn off the water, don’t eat that now, you’ll spoil your dinner. That last comment was part of the “don’t waste food” soliloquy. I think I have a vague memory of not filling the tub too full but that was probably because water would spill out all over the floor and make a mess and not because it was a water conservation measure.
Looking back on that exposure to careful living I realize they were saving their resources but probably did not realize it was also good for the environment. Today, unless we live in a cave, we all know it’s important to save our resources as a community and as individuals. The best we can do for our community is to keep a lookout for waste where we see it (park sprinklers on during a rain storm, broken water mains gushing down our city streets, smoke coming out of a tailpipe on a municipal vehicle, and a variety of other careful observations). Once we see something is wrong we simply report it to the authorities.
On a larger scale, we can tackle environmental issues when we vote making sure we are prudent readers of all materials provided in our voter pamphlets and that we study our politicians and vote for those we believe are genuinely concerned about our communities when it comes to preserving our land and resources. If we care. Amazingly, many of us do not care about the conservation of anything. Some of us do not believe we have environmental issues and blame the concerns on leftist political agendas. I guess my grandma with a fourth grade education was a commie.
For many years now I have placed a careful footprint on the earth with my lifestyle. Careful, not fanatical. There are countless things we can do in our every day lives to lessen the impact of our lifestyle choices on the rest of our community without diminishing the enjoyment of how we live. Sometimes careful living requires a little more effort but in the end it’s better for us individually and collectively. Waste not, want not.
Food and trash. My children are grown and on their own and I am unencumbered by a husband. Therefore, I use the smallest container provided by my trash company. Along with that service I get the large blue can for recycling and the large yard waste can, as do most homeowners. My collection day is Tuesday and each Monday I have a big decision to make. Do I have enough trash to roll out the can? The answer is almost always “no.” Why? Because I recycle everything. I consume all of my food with almost zero waste and the trash can simply has nothing to give to the truck when it arrives. Over time it will eventually but there are times when I only roll it out once a month. The trash contained therein is not smelly food-rotted slop. It’s unusual or weird items that can’t be placed in the recycling can. Of the food related items I place in the trash can I clean them up so that they aren’t smelly. Most food scraps are consumed by my dog, nature’s recycler. He does not get garbage because I eat a pristine diet of fresh foods. I rarely buy anything packaged. I do that for Type II Diabetes, not because I’m a saint. But it serves the environment well to eat the way I do.
Recycling. Recycling in my house is now pure perfection. I clean all containers and some are cleaned and saved to be used for leftover foods. Glass jars in particular are great for leftovers, safety pins, pencils, pens, paperclips, and the list goes on. In the first place I try to purchase only items that I think I can use again somehow or if I don’t need the item I make sure it is labeled as recyclable. That takes only a few seconds at the store and after you’ve done it a few times you know whether it is or is not going to make it to recycling.
I have a collection of reusable tote bags from many stores. I take them all with me when I shop and load them up. Grocery store plastic bags are great for picking up after our dogs on walks, but they are also an environmental issue. For quite some time I’ve used standard plastic grocery store bags for that purpose. However, I recently found biodegradable bags at the following link: http://www.biobagusa.com/biobag_dog.htm
I have not purchased them yet as this is a recent find. Think of the millions of dogs out there fertilizing their neighbor’s yards. If you’re in a forest perhaps that might be okay but it isn’t okay on your neighbor’s lawn. Pick it up, preferably in a bio bag. Dog dropping removal is another way to be kind to your community. Though it may be natural, it’s a mess when it’s stepped on, it draws flies, and it is frustrating to your neighbors.
Peanut butter jars and mayonnaise jars seem to be a problem for many people and so they simply toss them. Instead, I place a little dish liquid in the empty jars and put water in them then zap them in the microwave for a minute. The gooey leftover mayo or peanut butter is much easier to remove at that point and with that small amount of effort they can be placed in recycling. Imagine if everyone took a few minutes to do that instead of tossing them in the trash. Think of the impact on landfills by that simple task.
Yard waste. I have a small property but it still requires maintenance. I diligently collect all my clippings and place them in my yard waste container. I do not maintain a compost pile because my yard is more of an extended patio than an actual yard. My house is a detached townhouse and my “yard” consists of a patio and a few border plants and trees. Still, they require pruning and clipping and there are always weeds. I have a number of potted plants that I hand-water (watering to a count of 60 per pot then transferring to the next pot with the hose nozzle in the off position as I make the transfer). This was a new home when I purchased it so I’ve planted everything. I selected trees that would be smaller in stature since it’s a small yard and after 14 years they have matured and provide me with shade and lots of birds. They no longer require hand-watering.
I took an environmental science class a few years ago and the instructor was a believer in planting as much as you can, drought free and/or resistant, inside and out. We all know that we need green growth in the world to provide us with fresh oxygen, especially trees, but he advised us to consider our indoor health as well as our outdoor health. I’ve always had a lot of houseplants but didn’t realize I was providing a cleaner environment for my family by keeping houseplants. Houseplants require clipping and maintenance as well which all goes in my yard waste can.
Water. Unless we have one of the new tankless hot water units most of us are stuck with running our hot water tap until it finally runs hot. In my house it takes close to a gallon of running water to get to the hot water. Therefore, I keep a gallon container next to my sink and I fill it up as the water turns from cold to hot. I keep that water aside and use it to replace evaporated water in my fish tank, water my indoor plants or heat it and use it to wash dishes or make tea, etc. In the morning there’s usually enough left that I can take the container to the bathroom and brush my teeth and wash my face with the heated water that remains from the runoff from the kitchen in the mornings. I’ve been doing that for so long that when I see or hear running water in someone else’s home it makes my teeth grind!
Because my county is in water conservation mode I have turned off my automatic sprinkler system. The system only waters my front yard and I do not have an automatic system for the back yard. As I mentioned above, I water my plants in the back yard by hand and by counting to 60 per plant. I also do not water all of the plants at the same time since they do not always require water all at the same time. This year I planted poppies all over the yard which require almost no water. However, I have a lawn in the front and we all know how thirsty they are. Instead of the system being set to automatic, I now go out and look at it and decide if it needs water. I do have to water the shrubs and plants but on a per-plant-basis. This process takes more time and time is a major factor in why many of us do not conserve as we should. It’s easier for me now because I work from home. For those of us hauling down the freeway for a couple of hours every day, standing in the front yard in the dark with a hose is not something to look forward to in the evening.
As I walk around the neighborhood with my dog I have noticed many homes are letting their lawns turn brown and they are hand-watering their shrubs. My lawn is very tiny so I’m not sure if I’ll do that yet. It will depend on the information provided in my water bill. Many neighbors are tearing out their water thirsty lawns and planting drought resistant plantings. I might do that if the current shortage continues. It probably will and even if it doesn’t I don’t feel right about all that water just so I can have a patch of lawn.
Not long ago I had part of my sprinkler system spring a leak. When it turned on it sprayed the STREET. I didn’t see it and a neighbor pointed it out. I fixed it immediately. I was very grateful she pointed it out though she was a little embarrassed. The leak faced a direction I would never see so I appreciated the information and fixed it. We mustn’t be embarrassed to tell our neighbors if they have a leak. I bet they would be happy we told them. (Or they might tell us to mind our own business, but we did our duty.)
I lived in Contra Costa County years ago when we experienced a severe drought. During that drought the kids had a cheerful refrain we heard over and over: If it’s yellow, then it’s mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down. I sure hope we don’t have to go back to that but having a low flow toilet will go a long way to prevent hearing that nasty thing again. But we all have to have the efficient toilets and I know there are thousands of homes that do not. Mine is considered an “efficient” toilet but that was 14 years ago. I suspect there are better toilets on the market so I might start investigating a change. I think there are rebates via your water and sewer provider from time to time if you make the switch.
Electricity. I have been accused of living in the dark (metaphorically mostly), but I rarely turn on lights. I have light bulbs in my house that have never been changed and I’ve lived here 14 years. All of my bulbs are changed to energy efficient bulbs once the old styles burn out, but I just rarely turn my lights on. I do most of my computer work, reading, writing, and crafting during the daylight hours. I also have a small house with huge windows which means it’s bathed in sunlight or at least daylight all day. Even on a foggy day it’s quite bright in my house. I’m an early riser and I go to bed early so I just don’t need lights on. If I watch TV in bed I don’t turn on the lights because the TV is bright enough for me. In winter I do turn the lights on a bit more but even then I usually don’t have them on for long and only in the immediate area where I need light.
All of my appliances, and especially items here in my office, are on surge protectors and I switch them off whenever I going to be out for a while or for the day and always when I go to bed. I have them in my living room for my TV and stereo and they are off most of the time because I’m usually in my office working. Oh, I vacuum infrequently to save electricity. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)
I’ve turned my hot water heater down to slightly above warm, my refrigerator is set just enough to keep food from spoiling, and I only use my dishwasher when I have company. I hand-wash my daily dishes with the runoff from the morning water and keep part of it for rinsing and part for washing. I zap it in the microwave so that it’s nice and hot.
It’s taken me a long time to get used to showering in a water friendly way. You know, rinse, turn off the shower, lather, rinse, get out. However, I’ve finally managed to do that and it’s very efficient. I have noticed a great difference in my water bill because of these conservation methods.
Drinking water. The water in my city tastes terrible. For many years I purchased plastic water bottles and killed my back lugging them into my house. I also lugged water in for my mom. Not only is it bad for our backs but also it is terrible for the landfill. So my mom, son, daughter, and I purchased water filters for our respective homes. It is my understanding that they may not provide perfect water but there was no guarantee with the plastic bottles of water either. However, they always tasted great.
The water filters we purchased make tasty water and save our backs and the landfill. That’s four people not buying thousands of plastic bottles per year. Let’s say we consumed 4 bottles per person per day, give or take. That’s 5,840 plastic bottles per year. And, again, yes, they are recycled, but think of the ones that are not and are just tossed. And think of the resources required to produce 5,840 plastic bottles.
Along with bottled drinking water I stopped purchasing soda. Soda has always been a favorite of mine, diet of course, and I usually had one or two a day. That’s not horrible and I have friends who consume much more than that a day. Still it adds up. My two sodas a day added up to 730 cans per year. True, we recycle aluminum. Yet, soda isn’t good for us so why bother? It’s expensive too. Now that I have tasty water I can live without the soda and the cans. I do order soda when I’m out and about so I still get my occasional treat.
Shopping. I’m fairly careful with what I purchase in general but I try very hard to buy American made products. Not because I’m a great patriot but because I know that foreign manufacturers do not have the same standards as we do. Still, some of the “made in America” products I look for purchase their bulk materials from foreign providers. It’s almost impossible to buy something that isn’t made at least partly in another country. It bothers me because of the cost of transport (fuel=environment), how the materials are gathered (deforestation=environment), how the materials are fashioned into a line of products (factory waste=environment), not to mention how the people are treated who manufacture goods in other countries. There are countless “green websites” that give advice on where to buy items that are the least harmful to our environment. For quite some time I viewed these sites but it is depressing to learn that it’s impossible to buy anything that isn’t partially made in a harmful way to the environment. Yet, I continue to try.
And trying and being aware is what it’s all about. Just do the best we can. We know if we are being wasteful. Just little things like trip reduction (running all our errands in an orderly fashion in one trip and not running dozens of single trips or going to the store for a bag of potato chips), monitoring water usage inside and out (washing clothes with only full loads instead of running a full tub of water to wash our favorite jeans), buying things we know can be recycled (and then actually recycling it), and keeping informed about what is happening in our world. New information comes out almost daily on environmental disasters and sometimes environmental changes that are positive, ex-Governor Palin notwithstanding.
So buy a pretty plant that doesn’t need a lot of water and sit by it and breathe. It’s good for you, good for me, and good for our mother (earth).
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