Ive about had it with articles that tell me to drive twenty miles to some health-food store, or pay ten dollars in shipping, to buy a sixteen-dollar bottle of
dishwashing detergent to help save the environment. If I had that kind of time and money, Id sleep more and be better-dressed.
So, I've compiled this list of earth-friendly tips for those of us who are busy, and don't have the money to run out and buy Priuses and find an environmentally-friendly dry cleaner.
Cut down on waste. In my house, most waste is generated in the kitchen, with the bathroom running a close second. Stand in your kitchen and do a slow turn, and really look at the contents of your cabinets, counters, and refrigerator. Do you have a lot of boxes full of single-serve packets? Are your paper towels front and center, but your dishrags hidden away in drawers? Is your freezer full of frozen dinners and pre-packaged popsicles?
All of the packaging for the single-serve packets of cookies inside that box must be produced, and then thrown away. Production causes waste; obviously so does discarding. Try making your own single-serve packets with sandwich bags, which can be rinsed and reused several times before you have to throw them away. Or, better yet, just count out a serving size into a small Tupperware bowl as you're packing your lunch for the day. You don't have to sacrifice your waistline for the planet, don't worry.
Second, try mopping up small spills with dishrags rather than paper towels. A lot of critics warn this spreads bacteria, but if you get enough dishrags, (at the dollar store or flea market) you'll have enough to wash them at the same time as your regular laundry without running out.
Third, the freezer is not the environments friend. Or, rather, the commercial freezer isnt. Frozen foods take five times more energy to produce than other foods, because of the high energy cost of flash-freezing foods to lock in flavor. If you're busy, or trying to portion your meals, its very simple to throw something in the slow cooker on Sunday, divide it up, and have dinners all week long. As for popsicles and other sweet treats, they still sell those make-your-own-popsicle kits at the dollar store. You can even make pudding pops. Do a search on homemade popsicle recipes; the possibilities are endless.
Clean Smarter. No, you don't have to go buy that organic, holistic dishwashing liquid. However, many of todays cleaning products produce more waste than they clean up. Swiffer, for instance. First, you have the packaging for the pads, then the pads themselves. The same for their mops, only now you have packaging for the three-or-four layer wet absorption pads, in addition to the cleaning liquid bottle. Or, you could use a broom, a dustpan, a mop, and a bucket. A little more elbow grease, but a lot of savings, both financially and environmentally.
Now, to the safety of cleaning products themselves. Yes, if your child has been making mud pies on your kitchen counter, you're probably going to want some Lysol. But, for everyday cleanup, why not try diluted vinegar in a spray bottle and a dishrag? The vinegar is acidic enough to kill most bacteria, and you now have a reusable spray bottle, a reusable rag, and an environmentally-friendly cleaning solution the ocean fishies won't mind, once it trickles down to them. Think about itif you wipe your counter down once a day, and use a dishrag instead of paper, you've just saved, what, three paper towels? Day after day, this is the kind of stuff that adds up. Vinegar is great as a substitute for Jet-Dry in your dishwasher, too.
For a scrubby job, like your kitchen sink or shower, drop the abrasive chemical cleaners and use some baking soda on a damp sponge. It works just as well, and when you're done, pop the sponge in the microwave for thirty seconds to disinfect it. And if you have a stinky garbage disposal, take some ice cubes and baking soda, pour them in, then add vinegar and turn on. Freshens in no time. Careful, thoughvinegar and baking soda combined cause a (safe) chemical reaction which causes them to froth exuberantly, possibly up and over your countertop if you're not careful with your portions.
Lemon juice and boric acid are also environmentally harmless cleaners you can use. For recipes and ideas, go to http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html.
Recycle. Yeah, I know. Duh. But do you really recycle everything you could? Or do you pitch your empty water bottle in the trash if you're out shopping and theres no recycling bin convenient? Why not keep a bag in the car for empty water bottles and rinsed soda cans, etc, and empty it into your own recycling container when you get home?
Also, batteries, electronics, magazines, wood, metal, and types 3 and up plastic recyclables can be collected at specialized recycling centers, if your curbside collection doesn't accept them. Find one near you, and if its a far drive, maybe take turns with a neighbor taking your collective recyclables up to the center. That way, you save gas and materials. Earth911s website,
http://earth911.org/recycling/, has a great search engine where you can input the types of materials you want to recycle and your zip code to find the depository nearest you.
Donate old clothing and furniture to local thrift stores, instead of putting it out with the trash. And, if your pride can handle it,
shop there. Most of the time, the clothing is just there because someone gained or lost weight and it doesn't fit them anymore, and the furniture is there because someone updated or moved into a smaller apartment. Theres nothing wrong with it, plus you save money and the materials and chemicals used to produce new stuff. In the same thread, check Craigs List and your local newspaper before heading out to a furniture store.
Conserve energy and resources. Get a basket for your bicycle, carpool to work and to run errands with a friend, and just generally be aware that every time you start up your car, you're using fossil fuel, which, in addition to being darn expensive, is not a renewable resource, and is clogging up our atmosphere with noxious fumes. Conserve energy at home by turning off the lights in rooms you're not in. Brush your teeth and shave with the water off. Get a nice reading lamp and put an energy-saving bulb in it. In fact, replace all your bulbs as they go with the new bulbs. The cost puts some people off initially, but when you realize you're going to have this bulb for the next five years of your life, it balances out. Seal up leaky windows with plastic insulation kits, or replace your current windows with ones especially designed for insulation. (Remember, you can claim these on your taxes!) As your appliances break down, replace them with EnergyStar appliances. Wash your clothing in cold water, (and no, you don't need special detergent for that!) and set the water level on low or variable. Try to do as large a load as the machine can handle. Hang laundry whenever possible, instead of using the dryer.
Buy local. When you buy a tomato at the grocery store, you're not buying a tomato. You're buying the gasoline used to transport the tomato from California . Its virtually the same with any produce you buy; you're lucky if it was produced in your state, much less your county. Buying local produce is more expensive, and you're seasonally limited to what you can get, but think of this as a way to express your culinary creativity, rather than being bummed out about the lack of carrots.
Better yet, harass your favorite grocery store until they agree to start buying locally instead of bringing you produce from across the country. You make your shopping easier, make others shopping healthier (most local growers don't use commercial pesticides and fertilizers), and support local industry. What could be better?
I know you're not going to follow this list religiously; I dont. I get sick of carrying empty bottles around the mall and chuck them in the municipal trash; I see a pretty new shirt and I buy it; I use Swiffer stuff at work since theres no good place to keep a mop and bucket around there; and since my husband works night shift, I do eat frozen dinners more than I should. But every time I clean with baking soda instead of chemicals, I save a fish, and every time I wipe a spill with a dishrag, I save a bit of a tree. You're going to fall off the environmental wagon, but its not the fall thats importantits getting back on that makes the difference.
