Earth Day - Why I'm not turning off the lights

Earth Day is a great idea. It's a reminder that the small things we can do as individuals can make a big impact when those small efforts are done collectively by a large group or portion of the population.

I consider this a sort of Hallmark Holiday. For example, I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day 💔. I do not need a day of the year to tell my wife that I love her and just how much. It's a lot of pressure from within and societal pressure. Not just for the giver, but also for the receiver: was your ring / flowers / chocolates / other display as big as the other person's?

Before I go wildly off into that tangent, the point is that I prefer to rely on what I do on a day-to-day basis. I tell my wife that she's hot regularly 😍 and I do things to reduce my impact on the environment on a daily basis.

Here are some pictures of things that we do to be more sustainable.

Instant Pot and 2-cup mason jars with chickpeas.
I don't know why I put the cooking liquid in the shot.

 This is my Instant Pot. While we aren't big "one-pot-meals" kind of people, I do love the results I get when I make beans from dried. Why make them from dried?
Price: Organic bulk beans at whole foods range $1.99 - 3.49 per pound. Each pound yields approximately 6 cups of beans. You get 2 cups of beans per can at the store, and organics can run $2-$4 per can.
Using Dry: I read the back of a can of powder laundry detergent recently. It talked about the effects of transporting water. First, it reduces the number of units that can be transported because of the volume of water that the container includes. Second, you're burning fossil fuels to transport water.
Cans: Now I don't throw away all of those cans! When it's not COVID-19 time, I reuse the paper bags from the bulk section to purchase the next bulk thing, like beans and oats.
Oh, and I NEVER EVER use plastic bags to hold my produce. I'm going to wash it and for a lot of it, cook it.

I buy as much as I can in bulk: beans, oats, spices, oils. Yes - it's nice to have the space to store the large bags and bottles. If you don't have the space for it all, then this isn't a solution for you.
Throwing things away that have the potential to be reused hurts me.
Every time.

My bulk drawer.
The jar with the bronze top was marinated artichoke hearts from Costco.
Now, it stores our quinoa. Bought in bulk from Costco.

Bottles of oil, hot sauces, vinegars.
Okay, so I don't make and bottle my own hot sauce.
Or make my own vinegar.

Spices - I make my own seasonings from raw spices, such as SPG.
Not pictured: mortar and pestle, mostly for crushing peppercorns because grinding any more than 1/2 tsp of pepper is a chore. And if you're not using freshly ground seeds, you're not really cooking.

Parsley, mint, and what I think is an orchid that I've managed to keep alive.
Soon I'll add basil and cilantro.
Perhaps I'll eventually make my own CBD oil?

 Growing my own herbs.
Buying parsley and cilantro week after week is a bit ridiculous. $2 or so each every week or so. It doesn't break that bank, but it's stupid. And, after getting this awesome south-facing picture window with a nice ledge, I can fit some plants.

Now, we're not transporting produce from all over the place - specifically produce that I can easily grow, unlike the rest of the things that I can't possibly grow, like lettuces, berries, etc. (Well, some of it I could grow, but a lot of that becomes impractical with a 25x150' lot in Chicago.)

Towels drawer.
I probably should have put my cleanest-looking ones on top.
And perhaps make the drawer look nice and neat. I guess I'm keeping it real.

Using towels instead of paper towels.
Washcloths, too. You know, keep a stash in the bathroom for when you've got that not-so-fresh feeling! A lot better than throwing those wet-wipes down the toilet that claim to be safe for the system.
If you have access to Costco, you can get a pack of cotton terry towels and a pack of the yellow microfiber towels. They'll last years. I think we go through a Costco case of paper towels every year or so.

Left: Hand soap with Dr. Bronner's Castile Peppermint
Right: All Purpose Spray with Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds

Making hand and dish soap from concentrates. I like Dr. Bronner products, but you can find what you like. We've been using them for quite a while with success.
Hand soap: 2/3 water : 1/3 Dr Bronner's Castile Soap (Costco only sells the peppermint, but Whole Foods has more varieties.) Works well in both regular and foaming dispensers.

My cleaning supplies

Dry Laundry Detergent: for the water transport reason I mentioned in the dry beans section.
Window wash? Use 1:1 vinegar and water.
Bleach for the bathroom? 16oz water : 1 Tbls bleach.
Sal Suds All Purpose spray: 32oz water : 1 Tbls Sal Suds

Laundry drying rack hung in the laundry room.
I think it was like $25 from Container Store.
Hanging a linen towel that didn't come completely dry in the dryer.

While we're in the laundry room, let's hang some of our laundry.
First, your athletic and most athleisure wear should almost exclusively be hung to dry. When you put it in the dryer, you're baking in leftover oils and other stuff that inevitably didn't get washed out in the laundry, which leads to premature stinking. You're also ruining the synthetic fibers that don't do well in heat and will inevitably lost their elasticity over time and much faster in the dryer.

Hanging your clothes will make them last longer and keep their shape. You'll find out which items prefer the dryer (end up like cardboard on the line) and the ones that prefer being hung to dry (come out soft.) Most of our t-shirts are so much nicer to wear after being hung.
One clue to what should just be hung - if it's soft and semi dry out of the washer, just hang it up.
Jeans, sweaters - duh.
I even hang stuff that's done washing if the dryer is still going. Yeah, I'm a little nuts.

Also, during the winter, we're fighting to keep our houses humidified. While this isn't the definitive answer, better to use the dry air to dry and the moisture to contribute even a minuscule amount to the humidity of the house.

Composting is something that I'm not entirely sure I've got the hang of, but we do have a garbage can with holes drilled that I throw things into. However, I've found that I can just chop up a lot of what's left over and just throw it in the grass.

Cuisinart Burr Grinder
Veken Stainless Steel French Press
Miroco Electic Kettle

Take coffee, for example. I do grind whole beans with a burr grinder (yes - electric. I have a manual, but it was just taking too long every morning.) We use an electric kettle (more energy efficient than using the stove.) After I'm done pouring the finished product, I put some water in the press, swish the grounds, and toss it into the grass. I also water my plants with it - grounds are great for soil. (I'm sure someone much smarter with gardening will be able to tell us what plants like the grounds and which don't.)

The best part - the coffee is so much better.
The other best part - nothing goes in the garbage.
(Side note on the kettle - I use it to boil water for pasta and the like, as it's much faster and more energy efficient than the stove.)

But, yes, I take leftover stems, peels, and ends, chop them up, and toss them into the grass out back. The birds get to it or it decomposes. I'll run it over with the mower once the grass grows and it'll be healthier for it. Healthier than throwing it in the garbage and sending it to the dump.

Yes, we use LED lights throughout the house. Yes, we turn them off when we leave the room.
I run the dishwasher at night when the electric company has an overage of electricity that it needs to output.

I also drive a 2009 Honda Pilot. At around 15-18 MPG combined, it's not the greenest vehicle out there. Sometimes I even drive to the grocery store that's 2 blocks away because I don't want to go to the store extra times in the week and can't carry everything home (especially now in the COVID-19 days.)

We can't all do everything without moving away from urban society and away from populated areas. Gone are any towns in America that function without energy, water, and waste infrastructure of some kind (outside a handful of religious-based areas.)

What we can do is the little things that, collectively, can minimize our impact.

Reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle.