Don’t sweat the small stuff
I’ve lost count of how many “101 Things You Can Do To Save The Earth” lists I’ve seen. And although some items crop up again and again, it seems like there’s an unlimited supply of tiny tips we should be following.
But not every green change in our lives is equally worth our time and energy. We need to prioritise our sustainable options, so that we’re getting the most benefit from our efforts.
The major impacts on our environment come from the energy we use to power our homes and businesses, the water we use in our homes and in industry, the food choices we make, and the transport choices we make. So here’s the stuff we need to make a priority:
- insulating and weather-proofing our homes
- switching to water-efficient showerheads and toilets
- buying energy-efficient fridges, washers, TVs and computers when we replace old ones
- switching lights to CFL bulbs – they really do make a difference
- reducing our reliance on dirty energy by using GreenPower, solar PV or even just a solar hot water system
- buying local food, and encouraging local producers to switch to sustainable practices
- reduce the amount of meat you eat, by doing Meatless Mondays or Weekday Vegetarian at least
- using the most fuel-efficient form of transport we can – bikes give you the most distance for the least pollution, but even choosing a fuel-efficient car when you replace your old one makes an enormous difference
- buying a home close to your work, school and other amenities, so you can reduce your transport emissions without even trying.
Tackle the big stuff first. One afternoon spent making an appointment to get your roof insulated will save you more money and make a bigger reduction to your energy emissions than five years’ worth of switching off your TV at the wall every night.
For example, I use a smart power-board in my lounge room. When I switch the TV off with the remote, the power-board switches off our games consoles and DVD player at the wall. The TV is still using standby power, but near enough is good enough when we’re talking about less than 1% of my total carbon emissions. On the other hand, getting solar hot water would reduce our electricity bill and emissions by about 20% – I’ve nearly saved up enough money for this now, so hopefully you’ll see a post from me about it soon.
We all lead busy lives: work, family, friends, finding time to go to the dentist or celebrate a birthday, all of it important and necessary. That doesn’t absolve us of the need to make our lives greener. But we don’t have to let the little details drag us down into a neverending to-do list.
The bigger the item and the bigger the cost to your budget, the more important it is to make sustainable. Your home, your car, your food bill, your water bill – these are worth tackling in big chunks. The rest of it can be dealt with if a good opportunity pops up.
Am I on my own here? I know a lot of you lead very green lives and do pay attention to the little things as well as the big. But which did you start with, and which do you think have been most worthwhile?
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Buy less stuff.
Buy less stuff.
Buy less stuff.
Overconsumption is a huge reason why we are in this mess. Why is that not mentioned in this article?
I agree with you that overconsumption is a huge problem, but the fix for it involves changing a lifetime’s worth of bad habits. It’s a challenge that arrives in lots of little pieces everyday, one decision at a time. I was talking about focusing on getting the big, easy stuff sorted out before you deal with the harder, smaller tasks.
Do I dare mention the elephant in the room?
Have fewer kids!
I only have to look at the amount of stuff our two have to see that fewer people on the planet is the BIG issue we really need to tackle as a species. Everything else is secondary.
If everyone stopped at two (or less, maybe!) we could curb population growth altogether. That, in combination with reducing our impact individually, will make a massive difference altogether
Funny you should mention that – what with PM Gillard signaling yesterday that she doesn’t believe in a ‘big Australia’ as far as population goes, I was going to write something up about it.
I’ve been enjoying the posts on women and their childbearing choices, ‘Green Inclinations, No Kids’ by Lisa Hymas, over at Grist.org.
There’s some interesting reading on this topic here:
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/c19/page_116.shtml
The gist of that page is that heating, transport and electricity use count for more than half of our daily energy consumption. That’s for Britain, so perhaps here in Australia “heating” could become “heating and cooling”.
For the purpose of the discussion, he’s ignoring agriculture, manufacturing and the embodied energy of imported “stuff”. He deals with those later in the book.
Electricity generation is only about 40% efficient, so you can multiply your daily electricity use by 2.5 to get the true kWh of fossil fuel you’re consuming. It seems to me that one of the biggest, quickest, and probably cheapest things you can do is switch to 100% green power to take that sizeable chunk out of your daily non-renewable energy consumption.
For some, switching to public transport can make a massive difference in daily energy consumption. Even just giving someone else a lift to work halves the footprint of your commute (since the same energy use is now shared by two people instead of one).
Long story short, have a read of Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air. It’s a great book, available for free online, and it’ll really make you think about your energy use.
Thanks, Darren, that’s really interesting stuff. I think you’re right about it being cooling as well as heating, in Australia. And I’m always keen for a free book
It’s an important consideration. We write a blog for people who live in rental accomodation (who by and large are unable to insulate their homes or get solar hot water or make any structural changes). But yes, we can all buy less, consume less, reduce our reliance on disposable goods and make any number of lifestyle changes which connect people to a bigger community where green living is a lifestyle where possible, rather than simply lots of little things on a list
. All far more important than simply using a green bag and putting a bucket in the shower.
Yes, it’s pretty difficult for people who are renting to make the changes they might like to if they had their own place. On the other hand, it’s slightly easier for renters to move to somewhere closer to public transport, etc than for someone who’s got 20 years left on a mortgage. We’ve all got different circumstances that make some things easier or harder, I guess!