This year for instance. Although I’m
working full time and often more than that, I decided in November last year
that I was going to study extramurally and do one stage three paper over summer
school and another in the first semester just because I wanted to (about to finish the first one,
decided to pull out of the second). Then I thought that I should probably
continue learning Italian, so I enrolled for that too. Obviously I want to keep
fit, so I run or go to Yoga 3-4 times a week and since I don’t want to abandon
my friends or my partner I do social things too. I also read a great deal –
half for work half for pleasure these days – plan to start a playgoing group,
want to watch more films, go to more concerts and keep up to date with politics
and current affairs. (Oh, and I don’t have children. Did anyone guess?) And
then, just to keep myself extra busy I decided to start a blog about reducing my
environmental footprint. Which I’m discovering is probably going to be one of
my most time consuming activities of the year.
Why is that? I usually only write
about 800 words once a week. That's not even a stage one essay. Ah, but this is not just writing this is living.
And the style of life I want to achieve requires a lot of research. And a lot of work. Since starting this I’ve
begun a vegetable garden, started making my own bread, muesli, preserves, pizza dough . . . more on
DIY in a later post.
But the research is doing my head in. How
am I going to know, for instance, what my most environmentally detrimental
activities are? How am I going to know which products to avoid? How much can I
trust the barrage of information I’ve heard all my life through the media? And how
can I change when every single thing I do has some environmental impact?
Take today for instance. Today I
worked from home. (tick – saved on petrol because no commute). I read some work
material that was printed on paper. (cross – paper usage). But it was double
sided (small tick – reduced paper usage). I bought a coffee (cross – I think –
depends how and where it was grown. Do I know? No. Cross. Did I use my recyclable reusable cup - No, it was at work Huge black cross). I ate salad for
lunch (tick – it was made from all locally grown and mostly organic ingredients).
Then I felt hungry and walked to the dairy (walking – tick). I bought a packet
of horribly cheesy corny things, which is not usually a habit of mine (big
cross – they were made in Malaysia so energy expending on importing. AND they
contained palm oil – huge cross – since I’ve potentially already contributed to
deforestation twice today with my coffee slurping habits).
I didn’t go out much today, I didn’t
use much electricity or petrol but already I’ve flagged enough potential environmental
issues to give me a thumping headache.
I’ve worked on enough large projects to
know that the only way to make a long, large and potentially messy project manageable
is to break it down into chunks and to then focus on the overall general
picture and laying the foundations before you do too much work on the details.
So, to help me work out what I need to
change the most urgently, I took a few surveys.
Here is one from the
Earth Day website:(I recommend you do it too, I'd be interested in the number of earths you need!)
Once I had finished the quiz, this is
what it told me:
If everyone lived like me it would
apparently take up 2.3 Earths. OK, too many.
The majority of my footprint comes
from food so I tried being vegetarian.This is what happened:
This is what happened:
The next question of course, is why
the removal of meat consumption and clothing products would have such a big
impact.
A quick Google search shows me that I’ve
started to move into controversial waters.The National Geographic Website seems to have some good basic information:
http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/green-diet-2773.html
And reputable citations. This from the
Food and Agriculture Department of the UN is intereting:
http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm
On a more local level, the New Zealand
Vegetarian Society says this:
http://www.vegetarian.org.nz/content/being-vegetarian/environmental-reasons/
Which is useful because it has some
interesting comments on the local impact of livestock farming – including its
detrimental effect on water quality here.
Meanwhile a Daily Telegraph article (I know, I know, never trust the media)
raises points about the type of vegetarian diet you adopt:I think I’m convinced that I should halt my carnivorous ways, but that has taken me 30 minutes of researching and reading. I think I might ask an expert about the meat thing too – watch this space!
To me the reasons for avoiding too
much consumption of clothing seem logical:
-
More consumption of
anything means more waste
-
Materials for fabrics such
as cotton, wool and silk on the natural side and synthetic materials on the other
are obtained through intensive farming/processing and dying
-
Most clothing in NZ is
imported so that means more energy consumed in bringing goods into the country
When I read this article I think of
the contrast between today and life in Victorian London where small children,
dubbed ‘mud larks’, scrabbled on the edge of the Thames to collect rag and bone
scraps. Nothing was wasted then – but salvaging was done in such abject poverty
I’m not surprised the generations that followed have embraced a disposable
society so warmly.
On the basis of what I’ve looked at
tonight, I’m going to make two quite big changes right away:
1. From this Sunday I am going to be meat free. (since I still
plan on eating dairy and eggs I believe ‘vegetarian’ is not the correct term,
although I’m just a girl with an arts degree so what do I know?) From Sunday no more meat. That’s it. Let’s see how I go, but according to the
Earth Day website it’s a positive step!
2. I’m only going to
buy an article of clothing when I need to replace something that has worn out.
This means that it’s time to give up shopping as a recreational activity.
Except maybe vintage shopping. But when you think about it, shopping is a ridiculous recreational activity. It's just consuming as an organised sport.
Of course, I’m not planning to descend into
abject frumpery any time soon. My wardrobe is so full it’s bursting. When I do
need to replace an item of clothing I will go somewhere with quality goods,
preferably made from organic fibres that will last a long time and which are
classic pieces. If you go for the classics they don’t go out of fashion nearly
as quickly (look at Audrey Hepburn ).
Once I've completed steps one and two I’m going to write a
schedule outlining what I think I can possibly achieve in one year. A realistic
schedule. I know I need to look at these things to start with:
·
Transport – for me the
most dreaded
·
Food origins – what to buy
and what to avoid. And where to buy it,
·
Organic vs. non organic
·
Household energy
consumption
·
Make or grow your own vs.
buy your own
And there will be more and more . . . and
more. And they will all divide into smaller categories and smaller and smaller.
I don’t think this project is a job I will
ever completely finish.
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