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June 29, 2006
Eco Living and what matters most
After watching An Inconvenient Truth the other night, there’s been a lot of discussion in the office about What We Can Do. The air-conditioning was turned down, and I think we’re all looking at cars differently—thinking of those ice banks in Antarctica.
In the book I’m working on, the Cool Planet Guide, we’ll be breathing life into the flat list of tips that appeared on the screen after the movie with lots of specific, measurable actions that will have real impact.
I’ve been thinking, though, about the big question Joe asked me, “What’s the most important thing I can do?” Stop driving and flying, of course. But that’s not possible for most people—our lives are organized in ways that make most of us truly dependent on cars. Driving less, though, is possible for everyone.
To start, I’ve gone back to lists I’ve made over the years. The following text comes from the beginning of my 2000 book Eco Living, which is a favourite because it was published in China, too. You’ll see that this was an English edition. I’m working now on plans for a new, China-specific book and am dying to know my practical kitchen tips were translated into Chinese!
From Eco Living, by Karen Christensen, published in London by Piatkus Books 2000:
One aspect of eco living is becoming a green consumer. But some ‘green’ products are plain silly – do you really need a £25 gadget to test whether your microwave is leaking? Some don’t take account of basic eco principles – is it worth having recycled drinking glasses shipped all the way from South Africa?
- Take special care over major purchases like buying a car or refrigerator, or installing a new roof or a heating system. Don’t agonise over a plastic bag!
- Be a leader: if you have the money, you can make a big difference by being among the first to adopt a new technology, such as solar water heater or an electric car.
- Watch your weight: anything heavy takes a lot of energy to ship.
- Imitate nature: choose products and methods made from natural materials that can be reused or that will biodegrade.
- Buy things that have already had one owner.
- Share tools, exotic cookware, even a car, with friends or neighbours.
- If it doubt, choose the cheapest method. It’s likely to be eco friendly.
- Use things as long as possible and buy the best replacement you can find.
- Follow William Morris’s rule: ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’
And, no, my hair never looked like that!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:25 AM | Comments (1)
June 21, 2006
Buffalo's coming!
It's a rare thing to be able to recommend a book for its message, wit, and literary style. I was once a judge for the second U.K. Green Book Fortnight, a big book promotion sponsored by a major London paper (being selected for the first of these national promotions sent my very first book into orbit--two reprintings before the publication date), and most of the submissions were either not on subject or were terribly written--or both. But I've just read a fabulous book, Buffalo for the Broken Heart, that you should run (or cycle) out to buy immediately. It's an engaging memoir of ranching in South Dakota, beautiful and poignant, and a manifesto for sustainable agriculture and real food.
The author, Dan O'Brien, ends the story with the launch of Wild Idea Buffalo, a company selling grass-fed free-range buffalo meat by mail order. Our first package arrives today, and we'll be eating it with our first peas.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)
Yuppie environmentalism
I've been accused sometimes of being too cheerful an environmental writer, not nearly doom-and-gloom enough to get people to turn from their wasteful ways. I believe, yes, that's it's better to do something than to do nothing. But to claim that it's easy and cheap to solve the problems caused by driving, as does the TerraPass website, "Prevent global warming, reduce carbon dioxide pollution, promote alternative energy", strikes me as Pollyannaish, at best. Venture capital looking for a way to turn a profit, at worst.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2006
Rethinking sustainability in the garden
Tom's home from college and full of ideas for making our lifeways sustainable.
"Aren't they already?" people ask, thinking that because I've written several books about eco living I must do things perfectly myself. But I'm a working mother and an American to boot, and definitely not perfect. I don't do much driving, but I fly a good deal and that's about as energy-intensive as you can get. I'm an adept vegetarian cook, but I don't cook very much these days--especially in the last month, because I've had a severely sprained ankle.
Our first focus, with Tom here doing some of the preaching (what a nice change!), is the garden. We've put in an immense amount of stuff--tomatoes, beans, peas and potatoes, peppers and squash, and much more--and summer heat is here at last. The key challenge is going to be weeding, and then harvesting. Harvesting takes more time than people realize, and it's easy to lose control with plants that need regular attention in order to be most prolific. There are a few peas now, and we need to pick daily in order to keep the plants flowering and producing.
I have to admit that I am better about picking flowers than about keeping up with the squash. Last year I had huge quantities of sweet peas and I was out every morning picking bouquets. That's where mindset comes in: I cannot buy vasefuls of sweet peas, but it's relatively easy and cheap to buy vegetables. Not, however, the heirloom varieties we're growing. We are also increasingly conscious of the need to develop more self-sufficient ways, for what Tom likes to refer to as the post-oil world.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:40 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2006
Don’t wash out the recycling!
When you hold an item in your hand and think about its connection with the environmental problems you've heard about, use your imagination and think about the parts you can't see: where it came from, and where it's going. That's a mind-shift that politicians haven't made yet, but the most innovative thinkers about sustainability are focused on what they call "cradle to cradle" analysis.
Plastics, for example, are made from petroleum products, fossil fuels. "Fossil," because oil and coal are the remains of forest life in the early days of the planet. That laundry soap bottle used to be ferns and mosses in an ancient landscape. How odd to think that today our use of these ancient resources is threatening our future on earth!
Thinking of the future, here's a simple tip: do not scrub out containers that are going to be recycled. Using quarts of clean water to wash potato salad tubs and cottage cheese cartons is not a net benefit to the planet. Do the bare minimum to ensure that your recycling won't attract pets. A swish in the water you're using to soak a cooking pot is enough. I sometimes toss especially messy containers into the dishwasher on top of everything else, where they take no additional space.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:27 AM | Comments (0)