Green Living

I signed up again for my community’s Eat Local Challenge—from June through October, hundreds of us pledge to eat 50 percent of our food from local sources. I have to confess, I skip the whole daily calculation process and, instead, direct my energies toward expanding awareness of local food sources—which is the whole idea behind the food challenge, anyway.

            When you eat local, you reduce the environmental impact of your daily bread. (Food on the shelves of your neighborhood grocery has traveled an average of 1,500 miles—that’s a lot of oil in your tomatoes and not the heart-healthy kind.) Summer is a great time to become a “locavore.” Finding fresh vegetables is easy: I can supplement my own garden gleanings with a weekly delivery through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, or visits to several farmer’s markets, which carry a lot more than produce.

The Eat Local Challenge Web site posts regular updates on resources: where to find locally made dairy products, flour, honey, maple syrup, baked goods, and—if I were a carnivore—meat. The icing on the cake? We even have a candy manufacturer in the community, producing great chocolate from Fair Trade, sustainably grown cocoa.

No matter where you live in the U.S., you can find farmer’s markets, CSAs, food coops, even grocery stores and restaurants that make available local food at www.localharvest.com.

Save trees-use the library

In my ongoing search to find ways not to “own” things, I fantasize a neighborhood co-op that shares garden tools, yard equipment, even food-canning kettles and vacuum cleaners. Stored in a communal building, all this stuff is checked out when and for the time period folks need it, and returned in an allotted time.

“Absurd!”A cynical friend observed: “It would never work.”

But this isn’t a new idea. It’s been in practice since Benjamin Franklin introduced the institution of the public library to a young United States.

What a concept! Books and information available to anyone who has a card. Resources that you can take away and return when you’re done with them. A community-supported institution that charges no use fee.

My public library system is online, so I go to the Web site (no driving), request a book, and select the branch where I want to pick it up. If it’s available, I walk on over (yes, it’s that close). If it’s out, they send an email when it’s ready for pick-up.

If more people borrowed instead of bought, we’d consume less paper and reduce resources and energy that goes into creating books. Sure, there will always be books that you want to keep on your shelf-whether favorite classics or reference books you turn to a lot. But does everyone who’s intrigued by Oprah’s latest pick have to own their own copy?

Making the best choices in the supermarket

Grocery shopping has become an agony for me — I can spend 15 minutes on yogurt alone. I go for the largest size, so as to cut down on packaging. But that one comes from Greece, so not very energy-wise with all the travel. Then I decide to use organic as my criterion, until I see that they’re in small, single-serve sizes, and still traveled far to get here.

Then I remember that a local award-winning dairy produces an organic yogurt, sold in large, recyclable glass bottles. Perfect! But it’s not carried here — so I’d have to make another, longer fossil-fuel-consuming trip.

By now I’m paralyzed in the dairy section.

Good news: With every trip to the supermarket, we have an opportunity to vote “sustainable” with our dollars. Bad news: So many factors weigh into “sustainable,” it’s hard to know the best choice.

I like the hierarchy that friends Neal and Morgan follow. First comes humane and ethical operating practices (fair-trade chocolate, for example). Local is the next priority (conventionally grown lettuce from nearby generates less petroleum consumption than the organic from four states away. Next, they seek out the product with the least packaging (buying in bulk, whenever possible) and — finally — organic.

They also use a few Web sites for more information. I’m going to get their list — and share it soon.

Choosing the most energy-efficient television

I’m glad the government has pushed back the date for the digital TV switchover. June 12 buys me a little more time to get straight on the most energy-efficient choices for upgrading my 20-year-old TV. But I’m pretty discouraged. First off, I assumed that the slender, sleek new TVs would be more environmentally friendly than those bulky old boxes of the past. After all, dishwashers, washing machines, and toilets have all improved dramatically in the past 15 years.

Not the case with TVs. Both LCD and plasma models can burn a lot more electricity than the fat, squat CRT models because of the way they operate. But there are a couple more reasons why: We’re going bigger, with screen areas of 40, 60, 70 inches and more. And they suck up energy even while turned off. Any TV-or other electronic device that includes a clock and is manufactured to power up quickly when turned on-continues to consume electricity to keep its inner workings at the ready.

So the greenest choice? Looks like its keeping the old set and getting a conversion box. If I do end up replacing my TV, though, I’m committed to getting one with a 32-inch screen or less. And unplugging it when not in use. And not sending the old one to landfill.

Energy Star identifies TV models that are at least 30-percent more efficient in standby and active mode. I’ll definitely check out the Web site for that list. (www.energystar.gov)

Bringing back the neighborly tradition of borrowing

Here’s my fantasy: I live in a community with a neighborhood car. A neighborhood wood chipper. A neighborhood drill. A storage shed full of stuff that everyone needs-sometimes. Instead of each household owning one of everything, we reduce our collective consumption to a level that matches reasonable usage. After all, who needs a lawn mower 24/7?

            So imagine my delight when I ran across a Web site called neighBORROW.com. In a nutshell, it’s the online version of the storage shed I’ve imagined. Except that each item is owned by one of the neighbors, who makes it available for use to others.

By joining a “neighBORROW-hood,” you join a community of like-minded folks who see the value in lightening their impact on the environment by lessening their load of redundant possessions. You list the items you have available to borrow, and you have access to the lists of others in the ‘hood. Through the Web site, you arrange to borrow an item as you need it.

            While optimal benefits are achieved when members live within walking distance of each other, a neighBORROW-hood might consist of people who work at the same place, belong to the same religious congregation, or are otherwise connected.

            My neighbors are wonderful people, but most would find such a sharing arrangement heretical. (They’re none too happy with me already for not using weed control on my lawn and hanging my laundry outside.) But maybe I can fulfill my fantasy through a virtual neighborhood.

Frugalista: The ‘buy’ word for sustainable consumption

A finalist for “word of the year” by New Oxford American Dictionary, frugalista defines a person who spends conservatively but “stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying second-hand, growing own produce, etc.” I’m an aspiring frugalista — just haven’t gotten the “stays fashionable” part down yet.

And what does being frugal have to do with sustainable living? All that stuff we buy requires fossil-fuel-powered energy to manufacture it, ship it, store it, sell it, use it, and throw it away. Behind every new possession — from designer dress to electric toothbrush — is a cadre of increasingly endangered resources.

Economic meltdown aside, this hyper-consumption doesn’t bode well for the environment. Continuing at current levels, we’d need 1.25 planet Earths to sustain ourselves. And if the whole world consumed as much as the United States? We’d need six planets.

Let’s face it: We’ll always want and even need stuff. But curtailing our irrationally exuberant acquisition helps reduce the impact on the environment.
What you can do:

• Follow a fix-first, replace-last philosophy. (For ingenious ideas on resurrecting out-of-date fashions, read Reconstructing Clothes For Dummies.)
• Shop used. Consignment shops, garage sales, thrift stores, and online services such as Craig’s List offer great deals.
• Patronize the public library. Reference books are important to own. But do you really need to own that bestselling mystery?
• Choose quality over price. One vacuum cleaner may cost half as much as another, but if you have to replace it twice as often, where’s the savings?
• Read Frugal Living For Dummies for more ideas.

Present-tense: the result of stressing about holiday consumerism

It’s not easy to be an anti-consumer during the holidays. The deluge of catalogs flooding my mailbox, TV shows bullet-holed with commercials, and my granddaughters drawing back in horror every time I vow not to buy presents this year are rapidly wearing me down. Squeezed between disappointing family and friends and incessant pressure to spend, I feel like one big guilt sandwich.

Fortunately, some savvy friends have offered creative ideas for giving without generating more waste. By bestowing experiential gifts, the receivers are left with happy memories rather than a pile of wrapping paper. Here are some of my favorites:

1. A membership to a fitness club
2. A day at the museum—or nature center—for a child
3. A certificate to a favorite restaurant
4. Concert or movie tickets
5. A massage or spa treatment
6. Lessons: There’s something for everyone, from yoga classes to cooking lessons to pottery making.
7. A share in a consumer supported agriculture (csa) program, providing a set number of weeks of produce from nearby growers. A great way to promote the “buy local” movement. (www.localharvest.org)
8. A llama. Or duck. Or water buffalo. Donate to Heifer International in your recipient’s name for a gift that transforms a mere animal into economic opportunity for a family in need. (www.heifer.org)