Practical green living

Green living is a responsible way of life, what with the protection and reverence for the earth, its environment, and everything on it in mind. This kind of lifestyle is both necessary and elusive. Necessary because our habits and everyday decisions affect the environment; elusive because even though the vast majority of us want to do the right thing, we are stifled by the perception that green living means radical changes and therefore is difficult to commit to. Not necessarily. Green living can be simple and practical. The goal is three-fold: Reduce, re-use and recycle your waste. Here are some tips to follow to suit your kind of commitment:

• At the very least, segregate wet from dry waste. Separating wet (bio-degradable or nabubulok) waste from dry (recyclables) reduces garbage considerably because you can compost the wet waste and sell the dry waste to junk shops. Separating wet and dry waste reduces garbage. Mixing waste makes garbage (i.e. wet paper cannot be recycled and is rendered useless).

• Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, scrubbing your face, shaving, etc.

• Turn off electrical appliances when not in use.

• Flush with less. Fill a one-liter plastic bottle with water for each toilet in your home. Submerge one bottle in each toilet tank. You will save one liter of water per flush. If the toilet flushes well, try adding more bottles. If the toilet isn’t flushing well, try using a smaller bottle.

• For travelers. We do not expect or need clean sheets and towels every 24 hours at home, and we do not need them when traveling. This saves our seas from more detergent. Try to resist those little toiletries in plastic. They end up as clutter anyway.

• Reduce your garbage output. Buy or take only what is needed. For example, take only one napkin or ketchup packet if more are not needed. Use cloth napkins instead of paper. Use re-usable plastic containers instead of throw-away plastic bags.

• Send electronic greetings. Though more personal, greeting cards are a luxury we can do without.

• Teach our children that our resources are limited and that we should conserve.

• Compost your wet waste (kitchen and food leftovers) and sell your dry, recyclables (newspaper, used paper, bottles, cans and plastics) to your neighborhood junk shop or mambobote. Composting is a natural process that reduces solid waste, takes an unnecessary strain off the water purification system, and preserves the nutrients in the food. (Want to learn how to compost? Visit www.oldgrowth.org/compost/.)

• Avoid using plastic bags whenever possible. Plastic bags are not biodegradable. They make it to the landfill – or to a river, ocean or field – they don’t disappear. They’ll be here long after you and I are mere memories to our grandchildren. Only one percent of all post-consumer plastic is being recycled. Plastics currently account for 32 percent of landfill space by volume. Reducing plastic is a goal that will save trees, free up landfill space, and reduce the use of energy, water and chemicals used to produce both virgin bags and recycled bags.

• Bring your own shopping bag to the grocery to load your purchases in. I understand now why the bayong was invented. When going to the market, the bayong is the wisest thing to bring. I have this recycled foil pack bag (from Kilus Foundation) that I use as a shopping bag, too. (Kilus Foundation accepts used foil juice packs which they recycle into fashionable and sturdy bags for export. Call Kilus at 671-2834).

• No paper or plastics. Sturdy and washable utensils, tableware and cloth napkins can be used at home and for picnics, outdoor parties and potlucks. Avoid using paper plates, napkins and plastic silverware whenever possible.

• Buy in bulk. It will save on landfill space and will cost you less. Choose products in wholesale quantity to reduce packaging waste. Instead of those convenient individual foil pack juices, use the powdered mixes and put in a jug for the kids’ baon. Buy cookies in bulk and send in Tupperware containers.

• When possible, use rechargeable batteries to help reduce garbage and to keep toxic metals found in some batteries out of the waste stream. Rechargeables may cost more, but they do pay for themselves in the long run.

• Quilt scrap cloth into blankets or pillow covers. Use cloth, instead of paper towels, for rags.

• Regularly clean out your closets and donate or sell everything.

• Plant a tree every year. Start an organic vegetable garden. Do not use sprays or fertilizers.

• Stop the junk mail. Do you have to ask? We all hate it, we never read it, and at best, it gets recycled. The amount of junk mail that we receive each year consumes an estimated one to one-and-a-half trees per household. Much of it are never opened, most of it end up in landfills, and yet companies keep sending it out to the tune of over two million tons every year in the US alone! You could write every company who sends you junk mail, and ask them to please take you out of their mailing list. But by writing just one letter, you could reduce the amount of junk mail you receive by up to 75 percent.

• Choose positive sources of energy. There are many alternative and renewable energy fuels (that are environment-friendly) that we can use like wind and solar power, or biomass power from burning rice hulls or coconut husks. If only we had the will to actualize its development.

• Eat only organic food. Our body does not need synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, neither does the earth. Synthetic fertilizers actually ruin the natural balance of the soil and kills many of its good bacteria.

• Don’t use disposable baby bottles or disposable diapers. I try to use disposable diapers only at night and then toilet-train the kids early. (It’s really a matter of commitment.)

• Teach your neighbors how to segregate and compost their waste.

• Write to fast-food chains about how they should be responsible about their waste management and about re-usable (instead of disposable) paraphernalia.

• Catch rain water: Less than one percent of the water on earth is fresh water. As the population grows and water use per capita increases, the world faces an eventual water crisis unless steps are taken now to head it off.

For starters, install rain gutters and rain barrels to collect rain water for use in your garden and for other chores like washing the car. For ideas, you can find rain barrels that come with spickets and are made from recycled plastic at www.composters.com/docs/rainbarrels.html.

By simply putting a bucket behind an air-conditioning unit, I caught the drip and saved a whole pail of water (in just one hour) and used it to wash the floor in the terrace.