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“I have a large seashell collection which I keep scattered on beaches all over the world.”  — Steven Wright (as quoted in the newsletter of Joan Pancoe, one of my favorite writers on metaphysical/spiritual matters).

Micro eco actions / Bring disproportionately high satisfaction! / And though they are small, / they affect us all! / And the #GrassrootsGreenMobilization gains traction!

What are some of your favorite micro eco actions?

Here are a couple of mine:

• When you find yourself stuck with non-recyclable plastic that’s flexible, such as those thick plastic bags that are used as packaging for cereal and crackers, or for potting soil, cut the plastic into suitably sized pieces and use as liner material for plant pots. The plastic helps to hold the water in so the plant doesn’t dry out so quickly. When I’m potting a plant these days, I like to start with a thin bottom layer of plastic that would otherwise become trash, then add cardboard or fabric, then rocks or wood chips, then the soil and the plant. (Once the plant is planted, I usually add mulch on top too.)
• If you like to reuse postal envelopes, the photo above shows an alternative technique: Take apart the envelope, turn it inside out, and secure it with a bit of Elmer’s glue or glue-stick. Presto, brand new writing surface! This method is great for reusing envelopes that have a lot of stamps and writing on them but are still in good shape; for business reply envelopes you’re not using because you interact with the business online rather than by postal mail, etc.
• I sometimes enjoy mixed drinks with Coke or ginger ale as the mixer. But I don’t enjoy the single-use plastic bottle! So I take one of those giant “Double Gulp” plastic cups (I have about a dozen that have been left behind by departing guests and housemates) and fill it up at the fountain at the convenience store. And keep it in my fridge where it lasts indefinitely, good for many drinks’ worth. (True, the carbonation doesn’t last, but I’m not that picky; I’m mainly after the flavor.) This is a VERY micro eco action (a more major action would be giving up soft drinks entirely, for example), but it makes me happy because it lets me enjoy a Coke now and then without the guilt of the plastic bottle.

May you take delight in all of your eco actions large and small! As I mention in my book, enjoyment is contagious and may be the best ally of green-minded social movements. Or of any beneficial social movement!

By way of a supplemental reading treat for this post, I offer you this gem of an essay about the power of small local initiatives. This piece is actually the preface to a book by John Thackara, called How To Thrive in the Next Economy — Designing Tomorrow’s World Today. But it stands on its own as a fine essay. Enjoy! (And I think I might need to read the book too.)

Check out my friend Thays’s ingenious setup for storing her jewelry! Not only is this highly functional; it’s also really pretty.

This creative storage method offers multiple benefits: 1) keeps the jewelry more orderly than a jewelry box – less prone to getting tangled; makes each individual piece easier to find; 2) guards against waste by allowing the user to keep track of what she owns; pass an item on if she is no longer wants it; avoid buying duplicates; 3) frees up space; and 4) creates a beautiful piece of home decor that reflects the personality of an inhabitant.

When one element provides multiple functions in this manner, the term we use in permaculture design is “stacking functions.” This means getting maximum bang for your buck. In a good permaculture design, every element should serve multiple functions. When a home or workplace is burdened by too many items that serve only one function, clutter and waste arise.

One of my permaculture design mentors told us that if an element serves three or more functions, it probably also serves a fourth function: beauty. That’s certainly the case with Thays’s jewelry hanger!

Here’s another example of stacking functions. Let’s say you have a room in your home or workplace that gets very hot in the summer as the sun streams through the window.

To cool the room down, you could simply crank up the A/C. But then you’d be increasing your fossil-fuel consumption (and running up your utility bill).

Alternatively, you could plant a tree outside your window, or put a trellis there and grow a vine plant.

In both cases, your room will be cooler. But in the second scenario, you’ll get multiple benefits beyond just cooling off your room. The tree or vine can serve as a privacy screen. And (if you grow something edible) it can provide you with fresh food. Furthermore, it can serve as habitat for birds or other wildlife. And if it’s a flowering plant, it can provide food for pollinators. That’s five benefits from one element! And six, you will be adding beauty to your place.

What other examples of stacking functions come to your mind? Write me and share some of your favorites!

In closing, I’d like to put in a plug for my aforementioned friend Thays Pagani-França, who is a professional artist. A highly successful and public-spirited one, who often lends her talent to environmental causes such as sea-turtle conservation. Visit her website ArtByThays.com to see her beautiful, brilliantly colored paintings. P.S. She teaches classes too!

Conversation #1

Friend on phone: I’m calling because I figured you’d be the person to ask. My air conditioner is quitting on me, and it would cost thousands to get a new one. I’m seriously thinking of not replacing it. Did you tell me you’ve gone without air conditioning before?

Me: Not only have I gone without air conditioning; I have never voluntarily used air conditioning in my adult life. And, you would be surprised how easily the body adjusts. In two or three weeks without a/c, your temperature envelope will have shifted, and after a while, you might start to need long sleeves when the temperature gets below 80! And with the a/c gone, you won’t have to worry about that family member you’ve been having trouble with, who comes and stays for weeks on end and doesn’t contribute any money for bills.

Her: Hmm, good point! That’d be a bonus. Well, I’m going to give it a try. I’m worried about mold and mildew though.

Me: Open the windows. Get rid of the carpet; just use scatter rugs in winter to insulate your feet from the cold bare floor. And don’t try to own too many leather shoes or bags.

Conversation #2

Me on phone: Hi, I need an air conditioner removed. How much would you charge?

A/C company: Removed? Are you getting a new one?

Me: No. I don’t use a/c. I want it gone and the freon properly disposed of.

A/C company: This is literally the most bizarre request I’ve ever heard. You are talking about trying to live without air conditioning in Florida???

Me: Not trying; I already do. It’s actually not a big deal. I didn’t move to Florida to be cold!

A/C company: But – Aren’t you worried about mold and mildew?

Me: Never had it, except for one pair of leather boots that broke out in mildew some years back. [Note: And they were not ruined. I seem to recall I just cleaned them off with a dilute vinegar solution and then oiled them, and they lasted me several more years.]

A/C company: But what about when you sell your house?

Me: The new owners can get themselves an air conditioner if they want. Anyway, I’m not selling my house. I live here.

A/C company: But if the unit isn’t broken, why not just let it stay there?

Me: Ummm, it’s ugly and it’s taking up space. I want to put a bird bath or a rainbarrel there.

A/C company: Unmmmm OK I’ll ask our guys if they can do this.

(She got back to me the next day, but I had already found another licensed a/c professional, who came right over, captured the freon for proper disposal, and had the unit removed. The photo above shows my new birdbath occupying the freed-up space. Now that I have a birdbath in my yard (will be adding more water sources over time, but this is a start), I can apply to the National Wildlife Federation to get my yard certified as wildlife habitat. To find out how you can do the same, see the link at the end of this post.)

Conversation #3

Me: I have a question. Mold, this mold that people say is such a problem if you don’t run the a/c … I’ve never had any! At least I’ve never seen any. Other than one pair of leather boots that got covered with mildew overnight one time. If there were mold, where would it be?

My neighbor who has done some handyman jobs for me: Well, if you had any damp areas of your house. And if you didn’t open the windows. Or maybe if you had carpet. Or closets jammed with shoes and clothes.

Me: Mmkay, I’m probably safe.

[Note: A good friend of mine, who also lives without a/c in Florida by the ocean, says she has on occasion had a bit of mildew on an item of clothing or shoes that were jammed into the back corner of a closet. But it was only on occasion, and the stuff was fine. So even if you have a lot of clothes and shoes, it’s do-able.]

*******

On the subject of wildlife habitat, and getting your yard or balcony certified, the National Wildlife Federation website says, “Rapid and large-scale changes to our lands and waters mean wildlife are losing the habitats they once knew. Every habitat garden is a step toward replenishing resources for wildlife such as bees, butterflies, birds, and amphibians—both locally and along migratory corridors.“ Visit this NWF page to learn more and find out how to get your yard certified.

And, for tips on living without air conditioning if you want to try it, check out this post I wrote awhile back.

Just about every piece of bad news has a good-news flipside. For example, the news that food waste is worse for the climate than plastic. According to BBC News, “Zero Waste Scotland calculated that the carbon footprint of food waste collected from Scottish households that year was nearly three times that of plastic waste collected from people’s homes” — and food waste rotting in landfills generates methane gas, a major cause of climate change.

The flipside of this news is that we, on the individual and household level, can do a lot of good by composting our food scraps, and using the resulting soil to grow more food (or other plants). Underneath every large problem lurks a large opportunity.

Now, I just read another piece of bad news that was so sad and horrifying, it took a bit more thought to find a silver lining. That was the news that, every year during the Mediterranean olive harvest, millions of songbirds are vacuumed to death by the mechanized equipment used to harvest the olives.

The silver lining of such horrifying news is that it forces people to wake up and make changes (similar to what has happened as people have learned that plastic straws are harming sea turtles and other marine life).

The mechanization of agriculture brings us cheap goods but has many hidden casualties. Some of them are not only sad but deadly.

There’s no silver bullet, but “right-sizing” and localization of agricultural enterprises are surely part of the solution. Might be time to go “back” to using human labor for certain tasks. Thus potentially creating sustainable jobs … which would be another silver lining.

One of the public libraries in my area is home to a seed library. I just noticed it today! As you can see from my photos, very little is needed to create a rich asset for the community. It all fits on a 2×3 table.

And actually, despite its compactness, this seed library has quite a few bells and whistles (copies of local planting schedules, etc), which, while great to have, would not be necessary in order to get a seed library started.

You could print just ONE copy of the planting info, and invite people to take a pic with their phone. Or if you don’t have access to a printer, you could simply have a piece of paper on which you’ve written the URL(s) to useful document(s). Of course, this has the disadvantage of leaving out folks who don’t have internet access. Consider the demographics of your community and proceed accordingly.

Although I’m constantly online, I have to admit I found the printouts very attractive and inviting. The sheets listing “What to plant in April” and “What to plant in May” will presumably be replaced by upcoming months’ sheets as June rolls around.

The printout listing the sponsors/supporters is a really nice touch.

You could start a little seed library not only at the public library, but also at your workplace, church, school, or even adjacent to a Little Free Library!

For inspiration, check out this wonderful Pinterest gallery of seed library photos. I love the little tiny one that fits in a bead box!

Have you started a seed library or are you involved in one? If so, I would love to hear how it’s going for you!

Some more thoughts to add to yesterday’s post …

Washing clothes by hand in a bucket works great for me because I’ve got an outdoor clothesline and lots of sun. So much sun that laundry dries quickly even when it’s only wrung by hand, or (in the case of bedsheets) not wrung at all, but just hung on the line dripping wet. (I call that “free ironing” along with the drying!)

If I had to depend on an indoor clothesline/drying rack, my laundry setup would include a commercial-grade salad spinner to get as much water as possible out of the clothes. Commercial-grade salad spinners are readily available online. I’d go for the 5-gallon size.

And, if I had to do a lot of laundry (for example, if I had kids), I would add a “Rapid Washer” to my setup. Even with the low volume of laundry I do, I might still go ahead and get a Rapid Washer because they are very handy.

A Rapid Washer looks like a plunger, and the flared part can be made of metal or plastic. The handle is usually wooden. You use it to push soapy water through your clothes in a bucket or tub. Rapid Washers are available from antique dealers, from Lehmann’s, and from online marketplaces such as ebay and Amazon. People swear by them in terms of ability to get clothes clean.

Here’s a YouTube video by someone who uses a Rapid Washer and salad spinner to do his laundry.

That said, if you’re just not able/willing to wash by hand, and can’t afford a laundry service, washing machines these days are getting very water-efficient.

According to HomeWaterWorks, old-school washing machines use 40 to 45 gallons per load, whereas the new water-saving models use only 14 to 25 gallons per load, and get the clothes cleaner. The website offers tips on choosing a washer and using it efficiently. One new fact I picked up was that it’s always more water-efficient to do a full load, even if your washer has an adjustable load setting.

Other facts I learned from the HomeWaterWorks website: For the average household of four people in the USA, laundry accounts for 15% to 40% of total water usage. Also, the average USAmerican household does a staggering 400 loads of laundry a year! This fact seems to support a theory of mine, that people who have washers and dryers in their homes end up doing more laundry.

The typical four-person household with an old-school washing machine will use 12,000 gallons of water a year to do laundry, says HomeWaterWorks. That’s an awful lot of fresh potable water just to wash clothes.

Meanwhile, in Riot for Austerity land, a four-person household that has achieved 90% reduction in the water category will use about 14,400 gallons of water a year — TOTAL, for all uses.

Pretty remarkable huh.

Another laundry-related website, The Spruce, offers all sorts of useful information, including how to calculate laundry capacity and load size of a washer. I learned that a load of laundry weighs about 12 pounds. There’s a chart showing the weights of various laundry items. If you want to economize on laundry, one thing you can do is not have many pairs of denim jeans to wash, or bath towels. Each of those items weighs 1.6 pounds.

I quit using bath towels 25 years ago, while I was living in Tokyo. I noticed that the people at the public baths all seemed to get by with these tiny towels barely larger than a washcloth. I soon learned that they did the job fine, while offering the obvious attraction of being far easier to dry than a large bath towel. In Japan’s humid climate, it was a no-brainer. And I liked the small towels so much that I have stuck with them and never gone back to those giant thick bath towels.

Saves a lot of space in my wash-bucket. And on my clothesline!

Do you like the idea of not having to deal with the hassles of giant thick bath towels (which can be just as troublesome to dry in a dryer as they are on a clothesline), but don’t want to give up the convenience of being able to wrap yourself in a simple rectangular piece of fabric when you step out of the shower, instead of having to put on clothes right away? Get yourself a sarong! These giant body wraps can be as big as, or even bigger than, a large bath towel (both of the ones I own are over 3 feet wide and almost 6 feet long), but are made of nice thin quick-dry fabric so you get the best of both worlds.

And as a bonus (at least for those of us living in tropical and semi-tropical climates), you can wear the sarong as a skirt or dress and let it air-dry while you wear it. Ah, convenient bliss!

Got any tales of laundry success, failure, interesting experiments to share? Drop me a line!