Am I Doing My Part to Save the Planet?
The big snowstorm we just had is already a distant memory.
It was the biggest storm of the snow season – and it’s spring. You had to shovel quickly before the rain melted it in case it froze. This winter it was hard to know what season it really was with the warmth and lack of snow. You could blame it on the warm waters of El Niño but all of the earth’s oceans are warming.
There are any number of arguments about what is causing climate change. But with Earth Day coming up, we’re reminded that if we each do our part in conserving resources like energy and water, it will make a noticeable difference. This got me wondering if Catherine and I are really doing our parts.
Well, we’re recycling as much as allowed. And in retirement, we don’t need as much stuff. So, we have less recycling and garbage. I have replaced all the incandescent light bulbs in the house with LEDs. The heat goes down automatically at night. (Why is it that my energy use “rating” compared to my neighborhood is never anywhere near the top scorer? Which house is that? I wonder if there really is one.)
We combine multiple errands when heading downtown. We add the old soap bar on top of a new bar. Catherine purchased reusable grocery bags, including produce bags. They’re pretty handy and shoppers are intrigued by them but I’ve never seen anyone else using them.
Plug It In
I’m aggressively switching to “e” (electric) everything. The only thing left is an old, loud, smoke-belching two-stroke snowblower. It’s basically been replaced by the new electric snowblower I bought last fall and have used twice.
In this last snowstorm I used the electric snowblower against that thick layer of wet cement, but I may have worked it too hard. It broke one auger shear pin and the batteries overheated. I finished the job with the old snowblower. All things, even electric, have their limits. This was the first time I remember running a snowblower in the rain.
Our two cars use gas. But I’ve made it my life goal now to replace them with electric vehicles, maybe even downsizing to one car. I’m researching this carefully since everything with EVs is changing so fast. Pro tip: before you buy any new car, find the owner’s manual online and read it. You may be surprised and even scared off by all the things these cars do now that you need to understand.
Retirement is supposed to allow you to live more leisurely and perhaps more extravagantly. But today that sounds wasteful. I suppose that means I can’t follow through with my plan to just use disposable dinnerware to avoid doing dishes. We must instead remain forever diligent in discovering ways to avoid planet-killing overconsumption. So we reuse stick-on bows for gifts. That’s what double-sided tape is for.
The conservation efforts I remember when growing up were not really intended to save the planet. People were just trying to make ends meet. We’d drive to the other end of town (or Wisconsin) to save a few cents a gallon on gas. Grocery shopping meant going to several stores to get the coupon items. All that driving around probably defeated the purpose but back then anything of substance we bought had to be on sale. But that’s how everyone shopped. I guess that made it OK.
Garbage went into our two dented metal garbage cans which were replaced only when the bottoms rusted out. There was no recycling back then. The only things I remember recycling were car batteries. I think we even put our waste oil in the garbage. Back then it didn’t seem to matter. All refuse ended up in the dump, which for my entire youth was located right next to the river. We hauled leaves and brush to the woods behind the house. Mom canned and froze enough food to feed an army.
Reusing Everything
Catherine has told me about both of her grandmothers reusing gift wrap and ribbons, ironing out the wrinkles first. The week’s washing was hung on outside clotheslines as much as possible so they didn’t need to run the dryer (if they had one). Otherwise, it was hung up to dry in the basement.
They would reuse bread bags and aluminum foil (wash, dry and fold). One of them always removed new soap from its packaging so it could dry out and thus last longer. It probably lasted longer because little or no soap actually ever came off those bricks. One of my grandfathers planted rows of pine trees to serve as windbreaks and to hold soil.
People used to toss stuff out car windows, lining the ditches with trash. Today, it seems like there’s less trash along roadways, maybe because a lot of it is picked up by volunteer groups. There are still people that dump things like tires and large appliances to avoid disposal fees. Maybe someday that cost will be added to the sale price so there won’t be any dumping fees.
So, am I doing my part to save the planet? Probably not if it requires saving bread bags and Cool Whip containers. But just turning off lights in an empty room is a good start.
Happy Earth Day.