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| "I don't know everything?" |
Sometimes, we can get the feeling that greener personal choices are a) hard work, and b) expensive. In reality, lots of green activities are both easy and (how can I put this delicately?) cheap.
1. Walk rather than drive.
Oak Park and many other towns have sidewalks everywhere. This makes walking a safe, healthy mode of transportation. By not driving a car, you’re keeping all those pollutants out of the air. You’re also making your car last longer by driving it less, and you’re obviously saving money on gas.
Walking a lot is a great idea, too, for personal health. Check out this site that promotes walking 10,000 steps a day: Shape Up America!
2. Ride a bike.
Almost any mode of non-fuel-based transportation is a great choice for the earth.
If you already have a bike, ride it instead of driving. Inflating the tires to the correct pressure will make the riding easier. If you have a backpack or baskets (or a trailer), you can do plenty of errands on a bike, like going to the grocery. Bikes are so speedy, they rival car travel in urban areas. I used to commute to my job by bike, and it only took five minutes longer than had I driven a car.
Even an expensive new bike ( $1000-$1500 if you add some equipment like a lock and baskets) is way cheaper than the average, decent used car. A good lock usually prevents theft, and my bike has lasted 15 years and is still running fine. Used bikes range in price from free to whatever. Buy a used bike if that's what you can afford.
A great book about bikes and riding is Urban Bikers’ Tricks and Tips: Low-Tech and No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, & Keep a Bicycle by Mr. Bike Dave Glowacz.
Oh, and listen to me: wear a helmet. The brain is a pretty important part of the body to protect, and a helmet costs way less than an emergency room visit. Good for both body and budget.
3. Eat leftovers.
Much garbage in our country is food. I don’t utter these words too often, but that’s a sin. I have yet to overcome this one completely: we still waste food in our family, and I don't like that.
We often have leftovers that are still perfectly good but that are not enough for another whole meal or are lost in the back of the fridge. One thing we do every once in awhile is to have whole meals that consist only of small amounts of everything left over. We also try to eat these portions for breakfasts or lunches. This is another area in which improvement is good for the environment as well as the wallet. Wasted food is wasted money.
4. Drink water from the faucet.
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| Drink up! |
Well, you don’t have to drink it directly from the faucet (or the hose). Municipal water is stunningly cheaper than any bottled water, and it’s often the same quality. Bottled water (and bottled beverages in general) require packaging such as plastic bottles as well as transportation. The packaging is usually disposable plastic, and the transportation is of the worst kind: shipping something heavy (water) by truck.
I love diet Coke. My partner loves diet Coke. Collectively, we love diet Coke. Sometimes we buy it and drink and drink and drink…until we realize how crazy we are. I get tired of lugging diet Coke around (it’s heavy since it’s mostly…water!). It’s expensive. It’s not good for you either.
Unfortunately, I don’t like drinking water, so instead of drinking water from the faucet (as I told you to do) or diet Coke from the store, I make iced tea and keep it in the fridge in a reusable container. That way, I’m not consuming the plastic bottles, and I’m not buying a water-based product that was shipped from who-knows-where to my grocery.
5. Buy new stuff only when the old stuff becomes unusable for its intended purpose.
We have towels in our house that are older than I am (48). My grandmother gave them to me when I went off to college. The towels were old when I got them, though they were in good shape.Now they are in less good shape, but they are still very usable as bath towels. Plus I’m attached to them because my grandmother gave them to me.
Some things have to be replaced more often—work clothes come to mind. Lots of people can’t wear cruddy clothes to work (depending on the job, of course).
So my point is that this is an individual decision, but there are probably things that you need not replace until they are really, truly worn out. Like my grandmother’s bath towels.
If you are not doing any of the things I’ve listed, please don’t go nuts and try to do them all immediately. But please do what you can. Maybe try to incorporate one thing into your life as you are able. It’s probably going to benefit the planet, your health, and your finances.
Do what you can, not what you can’t. I have never received a message from God that s/he was mad at me for driving to Walgreens when I could have walked. Sometimes it’s late, I’m tired, and I need to get to Walgreens in a hurry, so I ain’t walking. I have a rule that I won’t be compulsive about any of this: I will do these things freely, as I am able.
