12 June 2007
A bungling zealot’s guide to sustainable living. Part 1: “Reduce”
Reduce, re-use, recycle.
You’ve heard this before, I’m sure. It’s a principle, childlike in its simplicity, that many of us can be heard mumbling as we make decisions about our grocery shopping, our laundry or what to do with the junk we have just cleared out of our spare rooms. So far, so green - and I’m right there with you.
Close friends and family can testify that I’m annoyingly fanatical about minimizing the impact of my life on the world around me. I’ve been recycling, even in small ways, since I was at school. I’m evangelistic about composting; invite me round for dinner and I’ll ask to bring home your vegetable peelings then proceed to spout forth throughout the meal about the joys of decomposition (I’m probably not most people’s first choice of dinner guest).
I lived without a car and relied solely on public transport until 3 years ago when the reality of living and working in a sprawling city resulted in us finally becoming the proud, but slightly bewildered owners of a new Mini. In that time we are proud to have been careful about how much we use the thing and our car’s mileage has only slowly crept up over 9,000 miles. We use energy saving light bulbs, close the doors when the heating’s on, use an insulating additive in our paint and grow a lot of our own vegetables. I’d like to think we’re card-carrying, tree-hugging (but not socks with sandals-wearing) environmentalists. We have a wormery, for goodness’ sakes. Did I say fanatical? Smug might be a more accurate, but less pleasant word for it.
Truth is, our good intentions notwithstanding, what happens day-to-day in our attempts to reduce our carbon footprints is really not something to be proud of. For example, in my eagerness to learn more about how to be a better eco-citizen, I have accumulated a dizzying collection of books. I’m sorry, what is this ‘library’ thing you speak of?
While it is true that some of these green tomes are even printed on recycled paper, most were ordered online and delivered by post in copious cardboard wrapping. So, increased consumption of books (instead of borrowing them from the library or looking things up on the Internet), unnecessary delivery miles (I travel into the city pretty frequently so could pick items up from bookshops there if need be) and additional packaging.
Still, a book addiction is not the end of the world. I’m being a bit hard on myself, aren’t I?
Perhaps not - there are plenty more skeletons in our closet. We have taken more holidays in the last 3 years than in the previous 10 put together, and almost all of them have involved taking a flight. As well as all the usual electric paraphernalia associated with modern living, we have not one, not two, but three computers in our house, and often use all of them at once. We try hard to be careful about what food we buy, but often end up throwing away as much as a quarter of what’s in the fridge because it’s gone so far past its use by date that only someone with a death wish would open the packet, let alone eat it. Let’s not even mention my attempts to build a shoe collection that would make Imelda Marcos balk.
So much for the ‘reduce’ part of the green living mantra.
Having been brought up Catholic (kind of…long story) it’s fair to say that I’m something of an expert at feeling guilty. So although I try to consume less, when I inevitably stray from the path I feel sheepish at best, ashamed at worst. On these occasions, ‘Reduce, re-use, recycle’ has replaced the Hail Mary and become my penance. I’d get myself a hairshirt to atone for my sins of acquisition, except that buying the damn thing would seem to miss the point.
But feeling bad is not helpful to me or the planet, is it? Far better to do something about it. In this case, I think I’m going to keep on trying to do my best at minimizing the resources that I use. If I’m being fair to myself I realise that I am getting better all the time at doing this. But most importantly, for me at any rate, the most significant reduction I can make is on the amount of pressure I put myself under to try to save the planet single-handedly.
Trouble is, ‘Reduce, (guilt-free and accepting of your need for beautiful shoes), re-use and recycle’ just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?
Filed under: Mulch, Sustainable living — Clare @ 9:20 pm
I identify in every detail with your ‘guilt-trip’. This obsesses me, too. My ideals are always overtaken by reality.
But you know, I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. At least you’re thinking about it. Most still aren’t. Also, by running an allotment and supplying, what, 50% of your own food (roughly?), you’re making a huge contribution. If the average UK Sunday lunch has travelled 10,000 miles, you just saved a vast amount of CO2 merely by growing it round the corner. And you’re putting your money were your mouth is. More than can be said for just about everybody else.
Well, that’s how I justify it to myself anyway…
(13.06.07 @ 6:53 am)
Thanks Soilman, that’s encouraging. For me it begs the question of how can more people be encouraged to make the small changes that cumulatively can make a big difference. If I can spread the burden I might lessen the guilt. Or something like that!
(13.06.07 @ 7:15 am)
This is a surprisingly common topic of conversation with my family, friends and peers right now. We have all, to a lesser or greater extent, embraced the need to try and ‘do our bit’ but we all have different acceptance levels of what that entails – some stop at the weekly recycle, some buy only green/eco goods; some won’t fly anywhere, some have several holidays a year; some try to spread the word, some keep it a purely personal or family thing. The problem with humans is we are messy – capricious and messy. And weak. Did I mention messy?
Don’t guilt yourself – you do more than most, not as much as some. That alone makes you part of the solution
p.s. I tell you what always comes out of these talks every single time with my family: lack of guidance/facilities by the gov/council for recycling and how we all know many families down our streets who simply do not care and will not participate.
p.p.s. I’m tired - not sure this comment made sense.
(13.06.07 @ 8:44 am)
Mr Making Sense McBurro - very clear to me! I completely agree with what you say about lack of facilities from govt and local council. Although our local council has made great strides to facilitate recycling in the time we have lived here, there’s still a long way to go - about which, more in another post!
(13.06.07 @ 8:52 am)
PS. I liked what you said about humans being messy. I must be VERY human!
(13.06.07 @ 8:53 am)
This struck such a strong chord with me .. but don’t feel guilty: do what you can, and then, when you’ve done it, try to do a little bit more. Baby steps. And - on a bad day - remember that whatever you do is better than not doing anything.
btw, if you’re worried about flights, you need to read the most inspiring website I’ve ever visited: http://www.seat61.com/
There you will discover how to get wherever in the world you want without visiting an airport. It’s the travel equivalent of the slow food movement, and the journey becomes part of the point. With his help, I took the night sleeper to Venice …until you’ve tried it, you have no idea how much better it is to step out of the train and into a vaporetto - and then there’s no going back!
(13.06.07 @ 9:15 am)
Joanna - Wow - this site looks really good. It might help us to get to the places in Italy we want to visit as aside from anything else there don’t tend to be flights there!! I do need to re-think how I travel. I have to admit that I’ve never been an ‘enjoy the journey’ kind of person. That said, we’re spending a week on a narrow boat this summer so I’ll see how I get on…
(13.06.07 @ 2:09 pm)
My Dear Clare,
As you know already I was brought up in a world where we did not consider the environment in any way (apart from liking flowers in the “summer of love”). Neither did we consider the effects of life style or diet.
Even now I am not convinced that people concerned about the environment have got thing rignt.
I feel that the world has got it wrong about CO2 emmissions. Did you see the channel four programme “the big global warning lie”? You may be able to access via the inernet. Basically what it said was that global warming was not the result of CO2 emmisions but more to do with phases of sun acitivity. But because of political pressures the eminent scientist who demonstrated this (with lots of data) were shunned and even banned from a global presence. One of their points was that it suits the industrial West to keep developing countries as the “bad boys” for purely economic and political reasons.
You do a great jobas far as your peronal commitment is concerned - much better than most people I know. Just having that feeling that you must do something helps. You have taught me a lot (as I am sure most children do for thier parents) and I tyry to do my bit. However I still believe that nature will take it’s course. God does not play dice with the universe (I think someone fanous said thatI). If the truth is that our own actions are putting the planet in peril it is too late for us to make a meaningful difference now. But the great joy is that this must have all happenend in the Earth’s history before and the cockroches don’t rule the world.
I didn’t mention evolution. Who will be the fittest to survive?
Much love.
(13.06.07 @ 3:38 pm)
“The cockroaches don’t rule the world”
You do know who the President of the USA is, don’t you?
(13.06.07 @ 9:00 pm)
Clive - surely the point is not “this has happened before and we have survived” but rather the two facts of “this has happened before and many of us died” & “for the first time in our history, we have the ability to either try and stop this from happening or save as many of us from dying as possible”.
If we just accept it is going to happen, then we are looking at a shift in how the world is currently set up. And such a shift will no doubt lead to suffering, war and death on a rather large scale.
To me the argument between fossil fuel use or sun activity is rather academic - the real questions are what should be we do to stop or slow or reverse the problem, and what can we do to ease our transition through this change with as few of us suffering/dying as possible.
(14.06.07 @ 8:33 am)
I aree with Mr Burro and Clive if you go to George Monbiot’s brilliant website - http://www.monbiot.com you’ll see that he completely picks apart the very flimsy reasoning and non-science that this programme was based on…
(14.06.07 @ 9:37 am)
Your comments are close to my heard. More power to your elbow (or your spade) . My Mother is my inspiration, she grew up during the war in London, and being thrifty has always been a way of life for all of us. For years people thought it was strange that she has only ever put one cup of water in the kettle if she wants a cup of tea. She has 2″ of bathwater. We have always had a compost heap. Nowadays it’s trendy. People were doing this in London in the 1940s. We can learn from them.
(15.06.07 @ 8:27 am)
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I really hadn’t expected so much interest and debate. More from the bungling zealot soon.
(15.06.07 @ 9:06 pm)