Let's face it. With untold amount of oil pumping into the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate, and with all the bad news we've heard regarding attempts to put an end to it, this oil spill can make one feel completely helpless. It hit us the other day when we reached into the trash can at work to pull out a plastic bottle and recycle it: the very move felt like a futile action.
But then we decided it might be better to take a different approach. Here's what we think—check it out and let us know if you agree.
Instead of feeling helpless and thinking that our small acts of eco-friendly living aren't making a difference, we realized that every little bit can (and does) help.
If anything, this is a time for all of us to re-evaluate our oil consumption. A colleague pointed out that if we all could cut our oil use in half, we'd make huge strides away from oil dependence. Cutting it in half seems like a lot, but there are many ways to do so.
Biking, walking, carpooling, or riding the bus to work, making a concerted effort to eat local foods that don't have to travel so far to get to the plate, and generally stepping up "small" efforts: every little bit can inspire another person to make changes—so every small thing each of us does can amount to big things.
It may not stop the oil flow, but if ever there was a time to encourage people to go easy on the Earth, now is the time.
If you want to help in another way, check this out.
And of course, share your ideas on how we can help lessen the impact of this disaster.
(Image: Matter of Trust)
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This latest disaster just reiterates how we need to cut dependence on fossil fuels.
Our family is doing the following- hanging the laundry to air dry, walking more to the grocery store (15 min. walk away), using the pellet stove to heat the house in the winter, insulating the house more each year as we can afford it, supporting local farmers & growing some ourselves. We are also saving money by doing these things.
Education is also key. As is writing to all elected officials to vote for major changes in energy standards. And voting for those that make our environment a priority.
Every little bit helps!
In summer open the windows at night and early morning to cool the house, and turn off the AC or use it only if you're in the room and it's intolerably hot. Also use shades to keep the summer heat at bay. In winter, cook at home and enjoy the heat from the oven in the rest of the house, draw the curtains at night and open them at day to enjoy all the sun you can get. Put house plants and darker items (such as rugs) near the window so they get hot and release the heat somewhere else in the home.
Reduce your consumption of food and things from faraway lands as much as you can without feeling miserable or deprived. Use the internet to find food for thought, and think it twice with printed matter.
Write a diary, play boardgames, call a friend or relative to see how they're doing, scan your old pictures or organize the digital ones, spend time in the kitchen cooking (if making a smoothie can be called that), burn calories cleaning the house, purging the closet or the garage or do anything you've been putting off forever, but don't allow yourself to get bored and restless because you are trying not to use the wii or driving to the mall.
Have a yard with little grass and more flowers and trees, so you don't have to mow a lot and can do it "by hand" without dying of backache or sunstroke.
Just some ideas, hope you find them useful. For some reason trying to cut on one thing or habit usually triggers horrible feelings but if you're doing something else, you probably won't miss it that much.
I cut all my hair off for a fun summer cut, and donated it to Matter of Trust. Also, my attempt at a big summer garden which supplies most, if not all, of my vegetable needs, has a feel of necessity and urgency to it now. The less dependent I can become on oil through uses like food, the less I contribute to this frightening consequence of oil drilling.
I also made a commitment with my husband to not purchase any new items this year that we could otherwise get at a thrift, antique, junk, surplus, or otherwise pre-used store or that we could scavenge for free. It has been a serious learning experience, and we have been amazed to realize all of the perfectly acceptable used stuff that's out there. It is hard to calculate how much oil we've avoided consuming by doing this, but I'm sure it is significant. And, we're preventing perfectly good stuff from going to the landfill. On top of that, we've saved untold amounts of money, yay!
We started two years ago by going vegan and buying local, now we switched to drying clothes on a line, growing our own veggies in the summer, and planting wildflowers instead of grass in the yard. We live in a basement apartment, which is great for energy consumption, wash our dishes by hand, and take public transit. Every little bit adds up, sometimes you don't need to do something big to make a difference. We live in oilsands country, people here live off of beef and giant trucks and spending at big box stores. You really notice how much you contribute when your lifestyle choices are held in such start contrast to those around you.
The one thing that really feels helpless to me is getting those around me to change. That depresses me most of all.
Somewhat reiterative, but decrease use of plastics, which are made of oil.
Someone pointed out to me several years ago how so many of the plastics we use for convenience have perfectly acceptable substitutes (e.g. toys, storage containers, apparel, furniture), while some vital industries truly *depend* on plastic (e.g. sanitary medical supplies: IV bags, etc.). It's not an environmental argument so much as a scarcity argument - that we should preserve resources for necessary rather than discretionary uses - but it was new a way of thinking about our consumption that I found thought-provoking and therefore memorable.
With respect to virtualjess's last remark, sometimes taking a different angle with people who are uninterested in the environment can be more salient and effective than reminding them of things they've heard a million times.