We in the West don't like to change. Oh we like the idea of it, sure enough. We like leaping on our high horses about climate change and 'Doing Our Bit'. But it would seem we're only happy to Do Our Bit if we can do it within our own comfort zone. Look around you. Look at Smart cars, bio-diesel, carbon off-setting and kerbside recycling. How to save the planet without actually having to lift a finger. How about, and here's a radical thought; how about not owning a car at all. How about not flying. How about using less in the first place; buying goods that are already recycled, so that all the paper and glass and plastic you so dutifully sort actually makes a difference, instead of being stored in a container in Liverpool docks because there's no market for recycled paper, or green glass.
I was staying with family in Gloucester recently. In hindsight maybe not the best place to choose for a holiday when the floods hit. But I learned a great deal. I learned the enormous value of collecting rainwater. I learned just how much water a family uses in the average day (and it's quite shocking). I learned that it really isn't that difficult to be without mains water, and it's perfectly possible to wash your hair, and body, in 3/4 of a bucket of rainwater. I learned that people panic when they don't need to, because of the shock of losing something they take for granted. I learned that some people get so frightened by the unusual that they hoard resources at the expense of others, while some are so selfless they share all they have with complete strangers.
I learned an awful lot in Gloucester. I thought I was an eco-freak, but I learned that I was just as comfortable as anyone else.
[With many thanks to Derek and Judith, who took in, fed and housed, four sodden, random strangers stranded in flooding in the Forest of Dean.]
On showers...
Had to add this brilliant idea from a friend. With no running water in the house, but rain absolutely pelting down outside, what did this resourceful woman do? Why, she had a shower, of course!
"Went upstairs and got in my swimming costume, grabbed my towelling robe and a towel from my room, the shampoo from the bathroom and leaving the towel and robe on the sofa went out into the rain.
I ducked my head into the Victorian wash bowl that was collecting rainwater and then lathered it up. I rinsed what I could off in the bowl and then just let the still pouring rain do the rest. While I waited for that I decided to bail the water off the flooded bit of patio and ended up with 2 full watering cans, 3 buckets and a couple more bowls full of slightly muddy brown water.
I then just stood and enjoyed the showering I was getting although I was getting pretty cold by then. Still I soon warmed up after putting the towelling robe on and wrapping my hair up in the towel. I was laughing all the way upstairs and while I got dressed...."
Showers and saving water
Another eco-hint: if you put a 5-gallon paint bucket [empty, of course] in the shower with you [assuming you're in a bath-based shower, alone, and have enough space for a 5-gallon bucket] it'll catch some of the water which may have zipped past you and would otherwise go down the drain. Before long, you'll have enough to water your garden. And where did I get this idea? Why, from the City of ABQ who, some time ago, supplied free 5-gallon buckets with this helpful tip printed on the side! [See, living in the desert you get to be a bit careful with water. When I had a frozen sediment filter last year I resorted to using snow-melt for washing. Just don't use the yellow stuff]
"Look at Smart cars,
"Look at Smart cars, bio-diesel, carbon off-setting and kerbside recycling..."
George Monbiot had a fairly savage piece in the Guardian the other day about the inadequacy of "ethical shopping" as a response to climate change:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2133120,00.html
I gave up flying last year - at least for personal use, as I can't promise I'll never "have to" fly on business. (Though I recognise that that kind of "have to" thinking is part of the problem - almost nothing is necessary, almost everything seems necessary...)
I know other people who have given up flying, or are considering it, and I've had a few conversations about how to make more of a collective stand over this. A pledge on Pledgebank would be one option. I wondered about something like a green wristband - not a mass-produced, Make Poverty History-style one, but just a piece of green cord you wear on your wrist and when people ask about it, it gives you a way in to a conversation. (I like Tim's blog posts about starting conversations about climate change - http://tinyurl.com/ypoase. Getting more sociable seems an important part of preparing for what's coming.)
What do you think? Any other ideas?
Exactly!
Brilliant article, this is exactly what I meant, but more succinctly put :¬)
"A section on ethical shopping in Goldsmith's book advises us to buy organic, buy seasonal, buy local, buy sustainable, buy recycled. But it says nothing about buying less."
You see lots of glossy articles about how you can buy organic cotton clothing, fairly traded hemp clothing, shoes from recycled tyres, designer dresses from recycled fabrics.... I have yet to see a glossy article about buying your clothes from charity shops.
My new leaf
We have one more little holiday at Christmas (organised by hubby's family) and then that is it, we are holidaying in England! Yey!
I am not sure I am down with washing in rain water yet, but we installed a shower last year and make sure we time them. We are making massive steps in our our house to recycle and use recyled products too. We have a long way to go, but we are making a big effort, I promise :)
Only thing I have a problem with at the moment is the buying locally thing. I saw lots of very poor people on my hols who rely very heavily on export of their wares. Where do we stand on enabling fair trade and reducing carbon emmisions?
You go girl!
Yay for you and your new leaf! I've never had the cash to go on thousands of foreign hols, so it requires no effort at all on my part to self-righteously declare "I will fly no more", whereas for people used to the ease and availability of flying around, it is a much harder step. Thus I am more impressed by your new leaf Michelle, than by my old one :¬)
Cannot answer your question, that's a sticky one. I think most things like that are sea-freighted anyway, it's just perishable goods like bananas and flowers which go by air. But it's a good point. I won't fly myself, but I'm not sure I have the willpower to quit my banana habit. So in reality, I guess, I'm not lifting a finger to change either... Curse you for making me think!
oh dear
hehe, I didn't mean to make a bigger dilema here, but it certainly is a quandry, isn't it? You should buy bananas, many people depend upon it!! :)
reducing consumption ...
... sometimes Mother Nature doesn't help :-} the two of us have been happily subsisting on salads in the gaspingly hot weather, and found many interesting recipes. 'Three stalks of celery', though, or 'a handful of cauliflower florets': then what?
The late Joan Aiken invented a cookery book called 'Half an egg onwards' to help out with things like the aftermaths of mayonnaise or meringues. Abi, to your cookbooks and your keyboard ... but only after you've bred a six-stalk celery plant and a cauliflower smaller than a toy poodle.
Nx