Holistic Living
The Clean Dozen:
Hard things to do for the environment
Are you bored with those endless easy lists of things to do for the environment? How about working a really hard one? Here’s some changes for the hard core people who want to do the most. Let’s call it the X list for the environment.
The Eco-X List (in no particular order)
Stop driving. Leave your car behind.
The love affair of Southern Californians with their cars is legendary. The damages are huge. Consider our dependence on foreign oil and its consequences: global warming, air pollution, and traffic. Walk and bike instead. While our transit system isn’t one of the best, if your work and home are within close proximities of each other, you actually can function acceptably in San Diego without a car.
Do zero waste.
Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Really! Limit your purchases to things that are recyclable or can be reused when you’re done with them. Going zero waste decouples you from the pollution and wasteful impacts of landfills and all the pollution related to collecting, storing, and monitoring tons of waste. Compost food waste in your garden or with a worm bin.
Become a vegan.
Stop eating, consuming and purchasing meat and other byproducts of animals. Jerry Garcia’s summary was: Don’t consume anything that has a face! You can not only disconnect yourself from the moral hazards of factory farming, but know that you’re taking a stand against the water pollution and global warming that’s being contributed to by meat production.
Cool it!
Calculate your carbon footprint on www.carbonfootprint.com or carboncounter.org. Purchase offsets for those things you can’t stop. Get off the grid. First, install all the most energy efficient items you can from light bulbs to appliances in your home. Heat all your water with passive solar heating. Go solar electric! There are now solar chargers for batteries, computers and all manner of electric stuff. If you have a house, get solar panels.
Get active.
Give ‘til it hurts. Making a difference requires giving time and money. There are hundreds of environmental groups spanning the spectrum of causes and activism. They all need more donations and most of them need more volunteers. The difference you can make is only limited by your creativity and commitment to your chosen cause.
Do politics (whether you like it or not).
Politics is power. Enough with the whiners who say they don’t like politics or that all politicians are corrupt. These are the excuses that support the status quo. The system is designed to discourage people so the people don’t take their power back. Politics is a group game, so don’t go it alone. A good place to start is to join the Political Committee of your local chapter of the Sierra Club. Check out your local chapter at www.sierraclub.com.
Recruit others.
Often the hardest thing for most people is to bring others to the cause effectively. This requires assertiveness, sensitivity, and good listening skills. Pay attention. Be humble. Don’t offend more people than you recruit. Results matter more than righteousness.
Go Native (with your plants, that is)!
If you have any land to call your own, use only native plants that require no extra irrigation other than what the rain provides.
Use Cisterns and gray water.
Collect the rain that lands on your roof for use in the garden to grow your own produce and to run your shower. Just make sure to get the right filters.
Buy only locally grown, organic produce.
We’re lucky to live in a sunny climate with the highest number of organic farms in the state of California. If you can’t grow your own, buy at your local farmers’ market.
Wear organic.
Lots of organic renewable fibers are coming on the market: cotton, hemp and bamboo. And with designers rolling out really fashionable products using these materials, it’s easy to look chic! You can even get a great pair of organic shoes!
Keep it clean (stop using products with toxic ingredients).
A lot of products we use to keep our homes and bodies clean are actually dirtying up our environment! So do a little leg work and find products that are environmentally friendly and organic. These products smell better than the chemical filled ones, anyway!
So there you have it - some hard things to do, each of which makes a difference. Get busy - we all have the same 24-hours in the day. Don’t you need a new challenge to stir things up for a change?
CONNECT with all the groups that can help you do this at the EarthFair in Balboa Park on Sunday, April 20th from 10am-5pm. For more info, check out www.earthdayweb.org.