Not sure this is a good match for a post on this site, but here goes. Over the past few months, I’ve experienced a different level of consciousness for my own sustainability. I am not sure why except that I am so much more aware and interested in our progress through reading a lot about sustainability and writing about it. Awhile ago, my family made some of the common lifestyle changes to begin living more sustainably:
- Installed CFC light bulbs; more diligent on turning off lights and appliance
- Don’t allow heat to go on at all (we can do that, since in Orlando a sweater and blanket does the trick for the one or two days we get cold); increased our temperature threshold for air conditioning to kick on
- Use dishwasher on normal wash cycle with heat dry turned off only; wash anything possible in the dishwasher, since hand washing uses more water
- Keep the freezer pretty full, since more energy efficient; turned off ice maker and make ice in trays, since ice makers add 20% to energy requirement
- Became more diligent on recycling
- Use only refillable containers for individual drinks (no bottled water here)
- Put water displacers in toilets to reduce the flush water volume (already have low flow showers and faucets)
- Radically minimize our driving, e.g., don’t go out as much, save up errands and plan them; check tire pressure to ensure best gas mileage
- Continued turning off water while brushing teeth
- Changed our cleaning products to eliminate harmful chemicals; only using no VOC paints
- Use papers and products with at least 30% post consumer recycled wherever possible
- Continue printing and writing on the back sides of paper
- Ordering a lot less online; cancelled all catalog mailings
- Buying less, a lot less
- Don’t buy things that require dry cleaning
- Choosing products that have less packaging with a bias for local, organic, renewable resource, and lasting longer
- Eating more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains and a lot less meat and fish
- Etc.
Consciousness Change—Sort of a Ramble
Several weeks ago, waiting for my shower to warm, I thought why am I wasting all that water? I now bucket it and use it to flush the toilet, real easy. That led me to think about our towels and that we would now have a policy that towels are only washed once a week. Somehow that got me thinking about the dryer. I can’t have a clothesline here, but I realized we could air dry by hanging all our shirts, light slacks and even underwear in our closets on the many hangars we have, saving at least 4 dryer loads/week.
After working out at the gym, I was washing my hands. I read somewhere that if you sing the ABCs while you lather your hands that it is the right amount of time to have truly cleansed your hands. But, I was leaving the tap on while I lathered. I now wet my hands, turn off the tap, lather, and then rinse. Anathema to some, I thought about how often I took a shower, how often we all took showers. Unless working out on that day or some other reason for being dirty and/or smelling, we now shower every other day. Again anathema to some, it occurred to me that we were laundering many clothes that we had worn only once, e.g., a pair of slacks, a top. Now, we try to launder after two wearings, saving several washer and dryer loads/week. Again some of you won’t like this, but we decided on a no flush on pee policy. We now don’t wash our cars. We let the rain do it. If the rain doesn’t take care of it, we know we are driving dirty cars as a symbol of saving water. We do clean the insides of our cars.
Last month, I was sitting waiting at Walgreen’s for a prescription in their drive-through. It was a long time with only one car in front of me. I realized I was being irresponsible in letting my car idle. I turned the car off. It was hot out, but it was bearable. Now, if real hot, I don’t use the drive-through anywhere and go in. If not too hot, I turn off my car. My gas savings have been great, but even better I save about 500lbs CO2 for every 5 minutes I don’t idle my car. And, come to find out it is better for my engine not to idle my car. Contrary to the past, cars do not need to warm up either.
Last week, I realized whenever I went into a room, I turned on the light. Sure, I turned it off when I left the room every time, but why did I need the light? I realized that for the majority of the day due to natural light, I didn’t need electric light. We are just used to brighter lighting, but we don’t need that brightness. I don’t need the lights on to brush my teeth, take a shower, wash the dishes or do almost anything around the house until night time. Then, many times the TV is on and we really don’t need light except that I read and write in front of the TV so have to have a small light on for me.
These are not big things and certainly won’t save the world. However, I like that I have been able to change or augment the lens I use to see the world to include sustainability. I’m making a better individual contribution based on increasing my awareness of sustainability. My business is now on alert because my sustainability lens turned to what I do and work related processes.
By Debbie Deland, Director of The 10% Initiative. She works with Green Cities Florida, the Chamber of Commerce, and NetImpact.
Tags: Carbon, Foot Print, Sustainability
Love this - I, too, have been being more conscious of all choices I make. Now, I’ve been pretty green for a while -doing most of the things you do above, using cloth napkins, not letting water run, CFLs, turning off lights. Here’s a tip for you. I put a dishpan in one side of the kitchen sink. Into this I put banana peels, coffee grounds, etc. I also use that side for when I’m running the kitchen water to get it cold or when I’m rinsing my hands or washing veggies. When the pan gets full, I take it outside and dump it into the compost area. You can’t believe how much water is used for rinsing hands, etc. I dump the pan at least twice a week - 2 gallons per pan, so that’s 4 gallons. So rather than letting this water go into the sewer and be carried away, it stays on my property. I also do the only flush every other time for urine. I am interested how you displaced the water in the toilet. I’ve been wanting to do this for quite a while, but I don’t know what to use.
I appreciate the acknowledgment “These are not big things and certainly won’t save the world”. I think it’s great when I hear about more individuals making better choices in how they use energy and other resources, but it’s essential that we recognize that we need efforts on a much larger scale to make a big difference. Society needs to come together to make this happen. See http://bit.ly/earthdecade for more thoughts on this.
Leslie,
I am so glad you are becoming more conscious too. I think it impacts other areas of my life. I am just more conscious or in the moment. I’ll try you kitchen idea. My husband may stop it because he reacts when I seem to be overdoing it. For the shower, I just put the bucket under the stream (actually have two buckets because my shower takes so long to get warm). When I need to flush, I pour the bucket in the toilet and it flushes. I use the second bucket later in the day. I also a large plastic bottle filled with water in the tank and that decreases the water.
Loved hearing your ideas. Keep them coming.
Debbie
James,
I am 100% with you. We absolutely need efforts on a much grander scale to make a difference. I’ll look at earthdecade. Thanks for the link. I write to government officials, I am a member of many social/environmental groups, I write in general about sustainability. I am more than concerned that there is no large scale effort going on.
In fact, I think environmentalists are focusing too much on the public and not on government action. However, public opinion has to be at a tipping point for politicians to do anything. I don’t think they know or have the political temerity to make the policy and rule changes required to influence complex systems like this. I saw recently in a report from Living Cities that most US cities have sustainability goals, but lack clear ways to implement them. That seems pretty sad to me, since there are so many low hanging fruits they could put in place at little or no cost that would involve the public and business. Beside the low hanging fruit (let me know if you want to discuss what those could be), using The Natural Step backcasting could get them to an action plan.
The media doesn’t seem to be on board. North Korea, Iran, Israeli/Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan counts as news, but shouldn’t get any limelight, a passing update perhaps. I am tired of them and their ability to gain world attention. We have to finish Iraq and Afghanistan, but why should the United States and the rest of the world let its attention be misdirected to these small rogue states. For me the only news is dealing with the world economic crisis (not just our own) and rapid progress on climate change. Healthcare reform is important, as are a lot of other things, but almost all seems pretty irrelevant if we don’t take action on climate change.
I keep working on moving the needle toward large scale actions, but I also work on my own consciousness and individual contribution to sustainability progress just for my own sanity. The large scale actions are so slow in coming, I feel more positive (less doomsday) when I am doing something for progress myself. My lifestyle has to change (as I think lifestyles have to change across the US). I need to get to a smaller house, need to make the money to do more energy and water efficient retrofits, and continue to buy and use less. Hopefully, some of my changes will rub off on others.
A friend from Darden and I are about to launch a Net Impact Professional Chapter here and hope to magnify our impact on sustainability progress in Orlando. We’ll see. I keep writing my representatives and hope you are too.
Thanks for your comment. Your point is important–we have to get to large scale action.
Debbie
Debbie - I thought about putting the plastic bottle in there, but then I rethought that. Here’s the thing - there’s all this info out now about how plastics breakdown and are not meant for repeated use. So I’m thinking, I’ll put this plastic bottle in the toilet, it will be breaking down and the chemicals will be going into the sewer water which eventually, although it gets cleaned, gets into our drinking water. It’s like the meds that end up in the drinking water. I just don’t like plastics anymore. I used to reuse ziplock bags and use tupperware, but I’m reading how scratches can make old tupperware leach, hotwater in the dishwasher can make the plastic breakdown. I’m starting to go over to all glass/metal, using foil for sandwiches instead of plastic baggies. I did see something on one of my linked in groups that turns a regular use toilet into a dual flush toilet. http://www.benergysmart.com This way, you only use a small amount of water for liquid and more for solids. No plastic bottle in toilet, no expensive toilet replacement. I may try it.
Hi,
All good. It’s like seeing a penny in the parking lot - how many people stop to pick it up. We all should, for one penny adds to another and so on. Bit by bit we make headway.
I offer another, very simple, long-term way to reduce our carbon footprint, conserve resources, improve the energy efficiency of our vehicles (most any equipment) and reduce dependence on crude oil — check out the option of using man-made synthetic hydrocarbon lubricants. The same type of lubricants that all jet aircraft MUST use because of performance requirements. Change the oil in your car to this US-made synthetic and get significantly longer oil drains, reduced emissions and more. Please see the web site http://www.4topoil.com. See the article “Drive Green” and note how much the government fleet has saved in product alone, then add in other savings. Many pennies are at work.
Thanks for the post, I thought my husband and I were the only ones doing these things. We have also incorporated a few other things:
1. Solid Shampoo and Conditioner - you use just the right amount, reduce packaging and get way more washes from one cake (check out Lush’s products). When you need liquid soap, use something biodegradable like Castille Soap.
2. Kill valve on the shower head - we have two valves, one to choke the flow the other to shut it off while you are lathering, shaving, conditioning. . . .
3. Strainer catched on kitchen sink - no more using that grinder which puts solid waste into the sewage system and uses extra water and electricity
4. Thermos style coffee maker - no heating element that stays on (check out the Technivorm also recommend by George Howell)
5. Electrric Hot Water Pot - boil just what you need quickly an efficiently
6. Save jars for left overs - glass is better than plastic anyway
7. Compost - we have about 1/2 a bag of trash every other week now that we diligent recycle and compost. Live in apartment try using the Naturemill.com (may use a tiny bit of electricity, but it makes your food scraps into nice rich compost for your plants)
I am sure I have more, but I will stop there. I really love that you are doing the same things we are. Now, if everyone would!
Harry,
Definitely will check out using man-made synthetic hydrocarbon lubricants for our cars. Thanks for tip and site.
Kimi,
I truly do hope a lot of people are making lifestyle changes. Great tips. Have to look for solid shampoo and conditioner. I use very basic, non anti-bacterial, soap bars and use a lot less soap, so tip one takes that idea further.
Thanks for the input. Keep it up and talk it up.
Debbie