Much media attention has been given to climate change, how dirty fossil fuel is adversely affecting it and green energy sources like wind, solar and hydro renewables are slowing it. This is positive and good “real news.”
But conspicuously missing are discussions about our overly consumptive and wasteful society. It is time to talk about all the stuff we accumulate and the impact it has on climate change. Let’s consider the five Rs: resolve, reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim.
I have just finished reading two books: “Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash” by Edward Humes and “Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future Of Environmentalism” by Ozzie Zehner.
From “Garbology”: On average, each American in their lifetime will generate 102 tons of trash. There is a manmade floating island named the North Pacific Garbage Patch which is conservatively estimated to be 20 million square miles (twice the size of Texas) composed primarily of plastic. Little fish are mistaking the pulverized plastic pellets for tiny krill they feast on, big fish are eating the little fish, we are eating the big fish. Bon appetit!
From “Green Illusions”: Just switching to alternative energy does not solve the climate change problem if society continues to increase its consumption of material goods, which is the underpinning of capitalism. Manufacturing, packaging, advertising and transporting goods all require using fossil fuels to a great extent.
Resolve: Ask yourself, do I really need to keep replacing perfectly usable stuff because I’m tired of it? Do I really need the latest gadget, especially social media electronics just because it has updated apps? Does the possession of things equate to a happier life or is my life (sung to the Seven Dwarfs’ tune as they go off to work) “I owe, I owe, so off to work I must go”?
It doesn’t have to be a drastic lifestyle change, just start to cut back a little at a time. Consider one example: food miles. We just finished strawberry season when we all should pig out on them and freeze the rest, then resolve to not buy fresh but tasteless berries in February from Florida, which is 1,600 food miles of burning fossil fuel away.
Reduce: For example, there is no need to have one cleaning product for only one task. Vinegar, baking soda, Borax, lemon and bleach can replace scores of cleaning products and don’t harm the environment.
Try rubbing table salt with a used lemon half to shine copper. It is magical, what happens.
Consider buying in bulk to avoid excess plastic packaging (less fossil fuel to manufacture packaging).
Plan to bundle up on errands in the same trip instead of doing one at a time. Make an effort to car pool.
Put a bulky sweater on and lower the thermostat in the winter. Plant shade trees on the southwest side of the house and pull shades down in summer to reduce air conditioning.
How about a solar clothes dryer — also known as a clothes line? If you just hang the big pieces like bed sheets, bath towels and jeans, which take forever to dry in a dryer, you will use lots less energy.
Reuse: Over one trillion plastic bags are used annually around the world, so please use reusable tote bags. After emptying the groceries, hang the bags on the door knob so you can’t forget them when you next go to your car. And for heaven’s sake put them on the passenger seat, not the trunk where you’ll most likely forget about them until you’re already in the store.
Donate worn out towels and soft clothing to animal shelters for their animals to cuddle up in. Store a hand towel in your desk drawer at work and use it instead of paper towels in the bathroom. Same with a coffee mug to avoid using disposable cups.
Recycle: Good but really not that much help for the planet. Quoting from “Garbology”: “Recycling has long served as a balm and a penance — a way of making it okay to waste.” Much of recycled materials will be recrafted, but more of it will unfortunately wind up in landfills.
Compost food and plant waste, even if you only grow in containers.
Now a zinger to put things into perspective. The C-5 giants that fly out of Westover Air Reserve Base burn 7,000 gallons of jet fuel an hour. Unfortunately there is no possibility of getting rid of the world’s military forces (that’s another topic).
So, it’s easy to ask why bother doing the small things I have suggested. But multiply one action by over 245 million adults in the United States alone and it amounts to a big step toward slowing climate change.
Final “R”: We all need to start doing our part to reclaim our planet. Mother Nature will thank you.
Reenie Grybko Clancy, of South Deerfield, is a lifelong environmentalist who grew up on a farm in Sunderland.