Like all woke citizens of the world I tried to be as environmentally friendly as possible. I get my clothes washed at organic cleaners. I compost and recycle, being sure to separate organic from soft plastics from hard plastics, metal, glass, cardboard, paper. [S/O Bryant Park composting!]
I have tons of reusable shopping bags, which I consistently forget to grab BEFORE going shopping, making them useless. But at least I reuse the bags for lining my garbage! Or drop them off at CVS for recycling.
I use a plastic fork nearly every day at work because I haven’t bought myself a set of utensils to keep at my desk to cut down on waste, because I’m a lazy pos and haven’t gone to a Marshall’s since I’ve thought of the idea. [I now own 1 spoon, cutting down on my use of spoons. Where does one get sets of cheap metal cutlery? Local Marshall’s was useless…] [I’ve also washed plastic cutlery for reuse.]
I still eat meat more often then not, even though I’m so aware of costs of farming retail meat. [Huge. Seriously, look it up. Red meat is fucking awful for the environment. Cows eat a lot and shit a lot.]
But I’ve had some solid stretches of vegetarianism to decrease my lifetime carbon/methane foot print, and practice supplementing seeds, nuts, and grains for alternative protein sources. [Read about my adventures!]
I do try to shop locally, at the farmers market nearby or the family owned local grocery.
I’ve always been conscious of my electricity use to avoid a higher bill, but also a small part in saving the environment. I have some benefits from living in a big city, where my living space is smaller [less heating/electricity costs] and I have readily available public transportation.
I’m never one to discount my failures, and I continue to be a part of the consumerist lifestyle that is engrained into the American lifestyle. I’d love to find ways to be more eco-conscious that could fit into my lifestyle. Though I admit that it’s in no small part that I’m just lazy and don’t want to be inconvenienced. I’m also pretty cheap, so I don’t want to spend more.
A great example is paper towels. I run through a roll every two weeks, because it’s so goddamn easy to use. It’s such a convenience especially on oil, and I don’t want to wash rags over and over.
I do think there is an overarching theme though that we could really be better at as a country and that is to simply use less.
One of the many interesting differences between the American public and nearly every other nationality is the sense of frugality. America simply hasn’t had war or extreme tightening to the degree that any other nation in the world could reasonably compare too. I mean, outside of the Civil War and American War for Independence, [also mention the absolute genocide and relocation of the Native American peoples which started in the 1600s and ‘officially’ ended in the 1900s, though are still one of the most marginalized populations in the US.] America’s wars were fought overseas. Battles after the 1900s just didn’t touch most American citizens. We’d ship them other places.
In the extreme, countries like Yemen, the Soviet Union Bloc, and less stable African and South American nations [Somalia, parts of Nigeria, Venezuela, Bolivar, Ecuador] these nations still see war. But the US is exceptional in its long standing stability and isolation, as well as being one of the most powerful country the world, economically and militarily. And since the invention of the nuclear bomb, holding the ultimate deterrent.
We’ve become attuned to wealth, so attuned that we’ve lost any meaningful connection to scarcity. It’s essentially lifestyle creep but on such a societal level that we’re completely unmoored. I mean, look, the immigrant roots still have some grasp on frugal habits. Any first generation will tell you their parents had some “weird” habits compared to their American counterparts. Things like reusing paper towels, cloth diapers, washing in cold water, air drying, rags, the rare luxury of air conditioning/heat.
But even that pales to the regular lives of most non-americans. For example, anyone from the states ever catch their run off water from a sink or shower and use it to flush the toilet? No joke. Literally so many bathrooms have those brightly color wash basins under every faucet exactly for that. I bet some of you think I’m shitting you, but I promise I’m not. Every Chinese household I’ve ever been in has at least two. Lots of Spanish speaking countries do similar. I’ve even seen photos of confusion over the same bins in British homes. Some of my fellow travelers will know what I’m talking about from their own experiences. At least a couple are currently having an “ah-ha” moment.
Bicycles are the most abundant form of transportation, close behind are the electric scooters that nearly every other culture has in excess, flooding the streets with people. They are cost effective, minimum wastage transportation. Contrast that to the unhealthy obsession with pickup trucks in America. What are you most of you towing anywhere?! Or that girls LOVE Range Rovers/Jeeps/SUVs. That height/safety on the road is commanding but relatively extremely wasteful.
Leftovers! What the fuck is this idea of being too good for leftovers? I’m about to pull a “kids-these-days” moment but…. Kids these days think leftovers are a punishment, when it’s like, growing up, 7/10 breakfasts were just leftover rice and vegetables, thrown in a wok for a minute. That was a great freaking breakfast. Got I WISH I had leftovers for breakfast now. It’s just microwave oatmeal, fruit, and yogurt for this office dweller.
Recycling habits vary extremely widely, from New Orleans not even having a recyclable collecting program for some neighborhoods, to New York’s residential compost bin initiative, to the Swedes becoming so efficient, they import garbage to sort and recycle.
I’m not sitting here pointing fingers. I use 1 and 1 half sugars, instead of two because more than one, less than two. All waste!
I get way more Chick-fi-lia sauce packets than I can eat cuz I like variety.
I still never remember to #skipthestraw and fuck straws they kill the environment.
No fucking compost bin in my apartment. [forced myself to fill an application though]
I don’t always recycle, I’m vaguely sure recycling is a bit of a scam in the United States,
I have remembered to bring reusable grocery bags all of three times in the last 3 years.
I take long, hot showers.
I know I’m as much a part of the problem, and I respect that it’s a cultural pick up more than anything else.
But the fact of the matter is, we’re on an unstainable and increasingly distressing path of consumption which leads to causing our own extinction. We need to course correct, as a collective, to a habit of frugality and conservation.
Of course, the institutions and government are positioned to make the best large-scale change. Initiatives could do wonders for combating climate change, from tax incentives to floods of money to changing policy.
Yet, I don’t know that I can affect any of those institutions [yet. Winston for Mayor! Look out!] so I’m advocating that we make the change in our personal lives.
It’s simple but it’s not easy.
Use less. Use less where ever you can. Practice the ideas of Gandhi’s passivity, where waste is an act of violence. Any loss of resources is simply the violent greed of a single human against the growth of the universe and all your fellow people.
Channel your inner Asian mom. Save containers from delivery orders. Don’t touch the thermostat. Be relentlessly frugal, as if you might yet face true hunger or tragedy or bankruptcy.
Look, I’m not sure I can influence culture any easier than policy. But I can write these words to remind myself that I ought to less wasteful. I can only hope they resonate with anyone else. And that we all take small actions, over and over, in a collective, slow march toward a better future. Individually meaningless but together a flood.