I am passionate about the environment and I show it in practical ways. I line dry my washing, I walk just about everywhere (I would cycle, but it is harder with small children), I recycle and re-use in an almost obsessive way (my kids do their drawings on the back of already used paper, and I use the same as for note paper and lists). I frequent charity shops as a way of reducing overall consumption. My kids lunch boxes never ever contain pre-packaged or individually wrapped foods. I opt for minimal packaging and consider food miles and seasonality when buying food. We've double glazed and insulated and considered the best heating options. I could go on, in fact I think I just did. But how did I get to be this way?
Less than ten years ago we were a two car no kid family guzzling power and petrol in a way you wouldn't believe. Despite living in a sunny (drought ridden) environment I dried all my washing in the dryer. And I didn't think twice about carbon footprint or any such thing. So what changed?
Well the seeds had been sown in childhood. Mum recycled, and by virtue of living on the benefit, poverty ensured no car and plenty of savings measures! We were cold and well used to walking everywhere! I guess I threw some of that out the window when I grew up and left home and had money to spend. My wake up call was, as it turns out, watching 'An Inconventient Truth'. An awesome film I highly recommend. That and a workshop run by our local (at the time Hornsby in NSW) council called Earthwise. They had me calculate our energy consumption and, oh boy, it was shocking. I think it was 2 - 3 times the average. So my husband and I started a mission to save power. Living in a drought environment the next target was water. Then we took up cycling and became aware that cycling for transport was a good option. Before long I was doing all the grocery shopping by bicycle (that makes you think twice about how much you buy!), we installed a water tank and re-did our home heating. We used a power consumption meter to greatly reduce our home power usage, and took up line drying the washing.
Then kids came along. A whole new set of opportunities to help or harm the environment. We chose cloth nappies (line dried, of course!), breast feeding, and a robust buggy we could use to walk just about everywhere. The choices continue as the children get older - ensuring they are educated and entertained within walking distance, and we chose our home location accordingly (now in NZ). They are learning about the environment and I am so proud of their awareness. At school they have a lunchbox challenge, where the lunchbox is meant to be zero waste, i.e. no non-reusable packaging. In my Son's class his was the only one that passed the challenge. He's five. He came home and told me about it and said "So keep up the good work Mum". He also came home and told me we should use the car less. I did point out that we only use it once or twice a week. He seemed satified with that!
If nothing else it makes good economic sense. Those individually packaged snacks are so expensive, and less healthy. And the cost of running a second car (and car dependence leads to 'needing' two cars) is in the order of $9 - $17 grand a year. On one income, who can afford that! And to those who say the weather is an obstacle, well check this out:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2011/01/cycling-in-winter-in-copenhagen.html. Truly inspiring. Boy would I love a cargo bike.
So if you haven't watched it, hire it today!
