In the past few months I have often discussed the importance for people to cut back on this consumer lifestyle we all lead. If we don't, we are going to run out of stuff, and generally kill the planet.. I do really strongly believe this.
This week I came home to find that we have no dryer. My mum has decided that to make our eco-footprint smaller, we don't really need one. Instead there are socks drying on long dowling rods in our dining room. She also last night discussed whether we should be using toilet paper.
"Why not newspaper?" she said. "Or wet cloths?"
I am beginning to feel that I am to blame, and that I should definitely watch what I say. But it got me thinking.. all my life I have assumed that toilet paper and dryers are essential to life. When I imagine being eco-friendly I think of: having a couple of chickens for pets, wearing organic hemp clothing, only using natural light, etc. Without realizing it, I have cottoned on to the mainstream going green stuff that is considered somewhat acceptable and sort of cool. But perhaps looking after creation involves the embarrassing stuff as well, like having wet underpants hanging from your bedposts.
I absentmindedly started singing part of a song as I thought about this:
and I'll become even more undignified than this
leave my pride by my side
Maybe there is more to being undignified than doing the chicken dance in church. I don't know if I'm ready to totally give up my pride, but I am willing to accept that I don't really need it.
Wow. I talked about chickens twice in this post without meaning to talk about them at all.
Incidentally, I am happy to use leaves, or even maybe newspaper, but there is no way I am going to use a reusable wet cloth to wipe my butt.
Gerast áskrifandi að:
Birta ummæli (Atom)
6 ummæli:
I heard about this guy who just buys double ply toilet paper, then parts them to only use one ply at a time. just thought of this while reading.
oh and I really don't use dryers too much in res. just use a good old closet door for my energy wasting jeans.
i would think newspaper to be a little to coarse. or at least a lot less moldable/foldable than any sort of toilet paper. not to mention the ink...
in the summer we only use clotheslines. heck, my grandma was over last friday and used our clothesline in the middle of february! nothing like icicles on my pants...
I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately. Personally, I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of eco-awareness. Like a lot of people, I've always been at the cushy middle-ground, between cute reusable totes and trendy fair trade shops, and feeling that little tinge of self-congratulation by carrying around a travel mug, but the second it starts getting inconvenient, I start hesitating.
I've been trying to dive a bit deeper, but I've never even considered things like going off of toilet paper or eliminating the dryer. I never thought it might be a pride thing, I kind of figured it was just wildly inconvenient for my cushy life.
So I applaud your mom's pro-activeness! Do let me know how everything goes, so I can see that it's actually possible to live without things like three-ply toilet paper.
you know how when you read a newspaper your hands go all black from the ink....
yeah, i'm gonna keep consuming
yeah man
if it comes to that, i will buy my own toilet paper.
Tonight I had to write this little paragraph in french on what _I_ could do to help protect the environment, so I used your drier example. I didn't mention the toilet paper thing though... I don't know if I could do the toilet paper thing. Might be stretching a bit.
Skrifa ummæli