Little Resolutions Make A Big Difference
(this article was first published in January 2008 in vol.1, no, 1 of the ecoDomestica reDesign newsletter)
Let’s take a look at some commonly recommended I’m-going-green New Years’ Resolutions, and see what really makes a difference. Statistics courtesy of thegreenguide.com, sierraclub.org, and the City of Edmonton.
1. Switching to eco-friendly cleaners: Home cleaning products and air fresheners are one of the main sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other airborne chemicals (such as ammonia and benzene) that can trigger asthma attacks and migraines, and have been implicated as carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and developmental toxins. Add to that the phosphates, sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite, and ethanolamines which are themselves or form dangerous environmental pollutants after you flush them down the drain… Yikes! When you switch, remember that natural isn’t the same as nontoxic, and look for products from reputable brands like Method, Ecover, and Seventh Generation who list the ingredients they use.
2. Bringing your own mug / bottle to refill
3. Bringing your own bag(s) when you shop
4. Buying recycled paper products
Let’s consider these three together, as they all involve lowered consumption. If you use less stuff (be it disposable coffee cups and grocery bags, or anything), it means fewer resources and less energy used to extract raw materials and manufacture and ship the products, and less attendant environmental degradation. Another easy way you can lower consumption is by shopping antique, vintage, consignment, and thrift stores. Especially in our hot economy, the clothing available in all these places is high quality and often only a couple of seasons out of date; my kids are great fans of the costume box we’ve filled with Value Village finds and the barely-used set of fashion dolls, lovingly handmade doll clothes, and doll’s horse we scored. As for bringing your own bag, consider this: the Sierra Club estimates that if every one of New York City’s 8 million people used one less grocery bag per year, it would reduce waste by about 5 million pounds.
5. Switching to organic food, flowers, beauty products, and cotton: once you look into the environmental and human health effects of common pesticides, this becomes a no-brainer. (If you’ve been hunting to no avail, take heart: SCS Veriflora-certified organic bouquets are now available in parts of eastern Canada serviced by Montreal distributors, but not here yet; meanwhile, I hear there are organic flower vendors at the farmers markets in-season) (Dec 2008 update: the Growers Direct on 99th St now apparently carry organically grown flowers). However, you might want to be selective in choosing your organic produce; is it really better for the stuff in your crisper to have travelled the equivalent of to the moon and back, or to have been grown in a fuel-intensive greenhouse operation, than for it to have been grown conventionally? Which brings me to…
6. Buying local. Whether it’s in-season food, clothing, furniture, or new low-E windows and other building products, there are lots of locally produced options out there that can help you avoid the twin traps of high carbon emissions and high embodied energy, while helping to improve the local economy and supporting local farmers and home-grown artisans. ‘Locavores’ look for food grown (appropriately) within 100 miles of their home; sustainable designers look for products and materials are generally sourced from within 500 miles. A good rule of thumb is, was it produced in Western Canada? If it wasn’t, and there isn’t a local alternative, does it have other green attributes that make it worth the tradeoff?
7. Recycle: people tend to forget that there are three Rs, and that reducing and reusing come first. There’s a reason for that: most materials can only be recycled into products of lesser quality because of the degradation of the material as it goes through the process. This ‘downcycling’ is why cardboard becomes copier paper becomes toilet paper, plastic bags become plastic lumber, and car steel becomes building steel. Materials that can be truly recycled without changing their form are better: this is called closed loop recycling, a key component of “Cradle To Cradle” manufacturing processes. Still, if you can’t not buy it, and you can’t use it again, recycling is your best option – and we can be proud that the City of Edmonton has one of the best recycling programmes in the country.
8. Composting: well, actually, the City of Edmonton composts everything going to the landfill more efficiently than I can do it at home without a vermicomposter. (The Edmonton Composting Facility is the largest city composter in North America, and it can divert 200,000 tonnes of residential solid waste and 22,500 dry tonnes of sewage biosolids from landfill each year, producing 80,000 tonnes of compost.) Those of you living outside city limits can substantially decrease your household garbage and improve your garden soil by trying composting; the main trick is keeping the balance of wet and dry material right, which is where my efforts always seem to founder. (I’m thinking of trying vermicomposting next to get around that.) The John Jansen Nature Centre runs great how-to-compost classes.
Next come all the ways you can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions (and pad your wallet) by conserving fuel:
9. Turning your thermostat down (or up, in summer) by 2 degrees: saves 53 lbs CO2 per month. Using a programmable thermostat will save even more.
10. Washing clothes only in cold water: saves 42 lbs CO2 per month. Using a front-loading washer also saves by using less water, and by spinning the clothes harder so they need less dry time.
11. Using a clothes line or indoor rack to dry clothes: even drying half your clothes this way will save 60 lbs CO2 per month.
12. Using mass transit. Taking the bus to work one day a week saves an average of 13 lbs CO2 per month.
13. Keeping your car tires properly inflated: saves 21 lbs CO2 per month.
14. Cleaning your fridge’s coils and defrosting it: saves 58 lbs CO2 per month.
15. Adding caulking and weatherstripping around the house: saves 72 lbs CO2 per month. One caveat here: if your HVAC system doesn’t pull in enough fresh air (15 cubic feet per minute is the current recommendation), you might be setting yourself up for sicknesses from contaminants in your indoor air.
16. Running the dishwasher only when full and in energy-saving mode: saves 70 lbs CO2 per month.
17. Switching from incandescent bulbs to CFLs and LEDs: this one adds up fast! A 70 watt incandescent switched to a 9 watt LED saves 5 lbs CO2 per month.
18. Turning energy vampires into strippers, and turning off that power strip when you’re not using it, saves 20 lbs CO2 per month – or substantially more if your family, like mine, has lots and lots of gadgets with chargers and standby modes.
19. Switching household electricity to our local wind-power option: this is now an incredibly easy process. Bullfrog Power are the first to offer this service in Alberta; for a ridiculously small fee, they find out how much you’re taking off the grid, and put the same amount back in from pollution-free, totally renewable wind power generators. Full disclosure: ecoDomestica reDesign has been “Bullfrog Powered” since January, so perhaps I’m not totally objective. This is an easy way to drop a couple of tonnes of C02 from your carbon footprint!
20. Finally, with RRSP and RESP season upon us, it’s worthwhile taking a look at your portfolio and seeing if the companies you’re invested in are environmentally and socially responsible global citizens. You can go whole hog, and ask your investment advisor to ensure you’re part of an ethical investment fund, or direct them to avoid any industries that you are concerned about. The return on investment in ethical funds is reportedly bigger than in conventional funds, too.
Tags: going green, how-to, New Year's, Resolutions, tips