Green Options

Under recommendations from the UK Green Building Council, otters could return to urban rivers, bats could roost under bridges, swifts could flock to office blocks and peregrine falcons soar above cathedrals. Written by Felicity Carus and shared via the Guardian Environment Network.

What do the Westfield shopping centre, Canary Wharf and a Victorian museum have in common? They are all at the vanguard of a move to encourage biodiversity in buildings that could take on an unprecedented scale if guidelines published today are adopted.

… and easily trade cost and environmental impact, for time!

“Do laundry”… what does that mean to most of us?  It means carting a large pile of clothes in a bin or basket to one’s home washer and dryer, or if you’re one of the many unfortunate bunch like me, you cart it to a nearby laundromat’s washer and dryer.  I’ve only “done laundry” once since moving into my new apartment, and as I don’t own a car–you guessed it–I packed my clothes into a massive backpack and pedaled it across my neighborhood to the laundromat, swaying all the way.  Obviously not an impossible scenario, but surely an uncomfortable one!

But as with so many other things about living a modern American lifestyle, my conscience shouts louder and louder each time I subscribe to certain activities that I know to be environmentally harmful.  The toxic chemicals in many common soaps aside, purely the use of electricity (when knowingly powered by coal plants, as is true for my region) is a harmful act.  I don’t like living with the idea that I must contribute to environmental devastation each time I want to wear fresh-smelling, tidy clothing!  Not washing clothes at all, ever (as many of my “crust-punk” friends do) is not a reasonable option for most of us.

The clock was ticking. I had only an hour or two to make my decision, before I had to leave for work.

Today was the periodically dreaded day when my laundry bin reached critical mass, and I realized I needed to do laundry.

Do I take it to a laundromat, dump it into appliances, and read a book while my clothes become easy-breezy clean?  The consequences of that are: energy use, travel energy, and cost!  Washing and drying clothes at a laundromat can cost up to $5 a load!

But what if we could re-invent our notion of what “doing laundry” means?  Forget “high-efficiency” washer and dryer appliances that, while an improvement in terms of water and energy use, still perpetuate widespread and probably-ultimately unsustainable practices.  Where can the energy–and water–come from that would be sustainably sourced?

Your hands.  And your sink.  (And for clothes-drying?  The air.)

It’s such a simple solution that I might almost have missed it!

So, where are my manners? The good folks at Green Living Ideas posted the podcast interview I gave with Sean Daily just over a week ago, and I have yet to publicly thank Sean and partner Stephanie for a wonderful discussion.  We covered the gamut: from the green blogosphere to the next steps for the environmental movement. I had a great time, and am grateful [...]

“For any viewer who has been camping, a tent may not sound like the most… comfortable living option.  On the other hand, it has some real benefits to my mission to live sustainably!

…Inhabiting it uses no energy–neither heating nor cooling is an issue.  While it might seem like it at first, a tent is not just a summer option…  Look like cramped quarters?

Well, it’s big enough to sleep in and to store my clothes in.  And that’s all I need.  It means I will be spending more time outside, in nature…

Plus, unlike in an apartment, I have the ability to develop my home in unlimited ways!  Stay tuned for later episodes that show how I modify and enhance my living space to be more and more manageable, including temperature control, comfort and additional amenties.”

Dear Readers,

Sust Enable was my dearest fantasy.  Sust Enable meant that I would solve the entire world’s problem of environmental sustainability all by myself.  In an urban setting and with no money.  What’s more, I’d do so while producing a film about it!  Take that, thousands of years of environmental degradation!

For those of you who have followed my tumultuous three-month sustainable living experiment through my blog posts here at Sustainablog, you may think the quoted text above is a strange thing to say, or even bizarrely humorous.  Indeed it is.  Above is the exact wording of my original script to the Sust Enable episode on Shelter, last updated sometime in May.  As I sit in the video editing suite listening over my previously recorded voiceover, I cannot help but laugh out loud at the absurd, unsubstantiated statements I am making.  But these are sour laughs.

Because once, I believed these statements were true.

Change, it is what we are all promoting in this field.

We identified that we are on a crash course in life, the life of future generations, others, all of the species that are suffering due to our inconsiderate and consumptive ways, and the natural environment as we know it and as it has come to be after a slow, lengthy process of evolution. Now, we are trying to change course, we are trying to change.

What is this change we are seeking, and how do we achieve it?

We are seeking a fundamental change in the larger effect we (as a society and as a species) are having on the earth. We are seeking this in many ways, but one great opportunity in seeking this broader change is to change our own needs, our own desires, our own habits and lifestyles. When is this a greater possibility than when we are going through tremendous life changes anyway. With change comes the opportunity for greater change. We decide to go into the basement to get something out of a box, and we end up finding all kinds of things we can toss forever or use or give away.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
—Albert Einstein

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.
—Henry David Thoreau

We must live simply, so that others may simply live.
—Gandhi

Ah, the simple life. No worries, no responsibilities, it’s the stuff of dreams. But in today’s world, living is far from simple. Simplifying your life often seems like one more impossible task on your long to-do list. Even though common sense tells us that the most environmentally conscious life is a simple one, it’s much easier said than done.

“F*** sustainability. I just want a bed.”

—

Dear Readers,

The Mili-Tent is a bust.

On May 1, 2008, I moved into a tent in the woods within Pittsburgh, PA. It was in my mind an easy solution to a complicated problem: that of how to dwell sustainably.

Without the time nor interest in building a more permanent shelter, I figured a reused item (like a good old tent) would do the trick. A tent fulfills several principles of sustainable living:

• Reduce the size you take up. A 6′ x 7′ tent is the perfect example of how humans can downsize, leaving more space for other living creatures and ecosystems.
• Get outside more. Living in such a small space, that can truly only accommodate sleeping, requires that I step outside more, and consider the outside world and my community interactions more like “home” than my own four walls.
• Use sustainable materials. Naturally, a synthetic, petroleum based tent is NOT sustainably produced… but working with what you have on hand, and bringing no new materials into the world is a good option.

In retrospect, my ideal dwelling would be a small den, similar in size to a tent, constructed out of cob or another type of sustainable building material. This would have prevented the issues that proved fatal to the tent as a home alternative… but it would have meant a greater time and financial commitment.

In my early drafts of scripts for Sust Enable episodes, I was all set to trumpet the virtues and benefits of living in a tent. It’s not so hard!, my scripts said. I’m living an optimal, comfortable life! …The words ended up being far too ironic to even be funny. I suppose that’s what happens when you translate vision into reality sometimes. My lesson, however unflattering to me, is an important one to share.

Excerpted with permission from Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care by Jossey-Bass, A John Wiley & Sons Imprint.

For such a little person, a baby sure goes through a lot of laundry: diapers, bibs, sleepers, undershirts, blankets, sheets, socks, pants . . . and of course all the items the baby spits up on that also need to be cleaned—often. That’s why having a baby in the house turns the mundane washer and dryer into wonder machines of incredible convenience. This increase in laundry loads is also a good reason for you to focus your green efforts on the laundry room.

The Green Washing Machine

If you’re buying a new washer, remember to look for Energy Star models. Traditional top-loading washing machines use about forty gallons of water per load, whereas Energy Star washers use only about 25 gallons per load. That’s a 40 percent savings in water, which translates into an energy cost savings of almost 50 percent.10Make that new machine a front-loader. Front-loading machines work on a horizontal axis that saves both water and energy. A top-loading machine must be filled with water in order to keep the clothing wet and then an agitator swirls the water around, but a front-loading machine uses less water because the tub does not need to be filled completely; the tub itself rotates, making the clothes tumble in the water.

If the five easy steps in this video are not enough for you, then take a look at this list from Seoul’s 2008 Earth Day organizers of ten more ways to go green, Korean style.

It’s safe to say that all moms are concerned about their children’s health. They care about the air their kids breathe and the food they eat.

It’s no surprise, then, that moms are also some of the best everyday environmental heroes. Often, it’s the mom who reminds children to “eat your veggies and go outside to play.” Moms also do a lot of the shopping for environmentally conscious products.

In Korea as well as the United States, eco moms are making environmentally conscious decisions with their children’s health in mind.

A recent New York Times article about today’s “EcoMom” has caught the attention of the media in Korea, where the well-established term for green living is: chamsari, or well-being.

Q: Some of my friends don’t seem to care as much about the environment as I do. How can get them to care?

A: I say stuff their tailpipes with potatoes and look menacingly at them. No, I’m only kidding. Your friends are probably really great people, and there are lots of great ways to encourage them to do well by the environment. It can even be fun.

Let’s imagine your neighbor and friend, Joe, has

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