If you’ve been following the save $50,000 by going green series then you know I’ve been comparing costs of items. Soon I’ll be comparing costs of paper towels vs. no paper towels. Before I go there though I figured I’d explain how we quit using paper towels at my house.
I remember being a paper towel user. We didn’t use many; not even one a day for years but we did keep them in the house and use them some of the time. Then about 3 or 4 years ago we quit cold turkey on basically a whim of mine. It is easy to grab for a paper towel, no doubt about it. However, for us it wasn’t all that traumatic to stop.
At my house I asked myself, “What if the store was out of paper towels?” Then I proceeded to brainstorm the issue.
I’d use something else, find some other solution. A long time ago no one used paper towels. People used cloths and washed them. Or they used a mop. Or a plate . Or a broom. And so on. Asking yourself the question of “What if the store was out of _______” is actually a great way focus on eco-friendly living. It can be applied to so many products.
For example? What if the store ran out of those annoying plastic baggies? How would people ever manage? Well, you could use small reusable containers, fabric snack bags or take a banana (pre-wrapped) vs. a snack that’s not.
What if the store ran out of foil? There are lids, containers, cookie sheets and more to take the place of foil – you’d survive. What if your store was out of paper muffin cups? You could wash the muffin pan after using it maybe.
What if your store was out of….
- Paper clips
- Coffee filters
- Juice boxes
- Video games
- Plastic silverware
- Disposable diapers
- Water filters
- Sticky notes
- Potato chips
- Tea pots
- Plastic wrap
- Jarred baby food
- Magazines
- Soda
- Sponges
- Plastic bags for groceries (and paper bags too!)
- Paper plates
- TV dinners
- Cotton balls
- Canned foods
- Plastic straws
- Red meat
- Window cleaner
- Video games
- Bread
If the store was out of all that stuff, you’d still manage. Some items you wouldn’t even notice were missing. Others might make you sad, but you could easily find another way to survive without them. There’s almost always another way to do the same tasks.
If the store was permanently out of the item you needed you would find a new mode of entertainment, figure out how to prepare meals differently, change your diet… you’d figure out a new solution and you’d be 100% fine in the process.
To be a good green citizen, you don’t have to give up all modern conveniences. For example, it’s not like I’m giving up toilet paper or coffee anytime soon, but it doesn’t hurt to try and give up some modern conveniences that are especially harsh on the environment – like paper towels. I mean seriously, Greenpeace has noted in the past that Americans could save more than 400,000 trees if each family in America purchased just one roll of recycled toilet paper (ONE in their lifetime). Imagine, how many trees we kill with virgin paper towels; paper towels, which are considerably easier to quit than toilet paper in my opinion.
If each of us considers the, “What if the store was out of _______” we might be able to quit a lot of little habits that add up to a lot of earth damage. Use the what if question a little more often, and try to find a better, greener solution, it could add up to a whole lot of change.
The next time you’re at the store, try asking yourself “What if” and see if you can put one or two items back. Let me know if it works for you.
Coming up, problems with paper towels, arguments for paper towels (yeah really) and other tips to help you quit.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Good post, Jen!
Bah. I only use 4 of the items on your list (plastic wrap, soda(diet), cotton balls, and red meat). The rest I never buy. (I find the inclusion of red meat to be interesting. How does a staple human food compare to a useless, highly processed, non-biodegradable, non-recyclable, totally unnessessary item like disposable diapers?!)
People are pathetic when it comes to convenience. It’s just soooooo easy to grab pre-packaged, pre-chopped, pre-cooked. pathetic.
I have 5 children under age 9, I am self-employed and work from home, and I farm livestock. Yet I manage to cook all three meals in our house, hang our clothes to dry, and grow many of our vegetables.
“Green” can be done. It’s more than fancy canvas bags for groceries or uber expensive fashion cloth diapers (plus covers and fasteners!), or buying a Prius. But it takes effort. You actually have to DO it. Not do one or two tiny things and then break your arm patting yourself on the back, but doing a little bit more EVERY time you shop, like Jen says.
I’m not a veggie Nazi – I was a vegetarian for 13 or so years but would cook meat for people. However, less meat is honestly better for the planet – it’s not a necessary staple, anymore than my beloved coffee is – I just choose to drink it, like some people choose to eat red meat. The most common argument I hear for red meat is that, “My family would never live without it” along with, “We can’t eat less, the family would never go for it.” But that’s not really true. They’d live without red meat and do ok and have a smaller footprint and likely better health to boot. Mainly I included it to get people thinking. My least favorite argument for items, no matter the item, is “We could NEVER live without it.” It’s almost never true. I say that about coffee, but really I’d survive without it – not happily at first though
I 100% agree with your last statement. Green is best when done consistently and with small efforts that add up rather than one big action.
Oh and in case anyone is wondering, my household does own some of the list items – video games, some canned foods, bread (when I have no time to make it), and my boyfriend (NOT ME) has a tea pot. Until he came along I was just using a soup pot. I don’t think we have anything else on the list though.
I’ll politely disagree.
We evolved eating meat and it IS a staple. The bread is what we have absolutely no physical need of. Grass finished meat has much MUCH less of a footprint than monocrop grains (rice, soy, wheat, corn) which destroys whole ECOSYSTEMS.
But the subject here is thrift and you are dead on with this post!
If everyone would just try a bit, we could really make a huge difference.
Wow, I already live without most of the things on that list or could without trying to hard. I just don’t know how to get around using coffee filters. I used recycled coffee filters that work great.
Hi Mary – I’ve used the same reusable coffee filter for four years. It works great and I think it cost about $5. Awesome that you could live without most of the other stuff.
It would depend on the meat you eat – all organic, grass fed meat has a much smaller footprint. Ditto for organic grain. Factory meat farms emit harmful methane and hydrogen sulfide and meat contributes over double the CO2 to the planet of any other food product on earth. (http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/is-the-obesity-epidemic-an-environmental-issue/) Meat production requires 8-10 times more water than cereal production. Grain is no picnic either as growing it causes erosion, emits pesticides and all sorts of other issues. That said, much of the grain we grow is for raising farm meat, not for human consumption. Grain needed to feed farm animals alone uses up 70% of all freshwater, which goes to irrigated agriculture for increasing demands for animal feed.
Basically if you’re going to eat either meat or grains it’s smart to look for sustainably grown. AND avoid GMO, non-organic soy for sure. But it sounds like you are eating grass fed so… That’s good.
Loved to see this because this is EXACTLY the sentence I’ve been asking myself over the last few years. I’ve always been a crafty, creative person and lazy to boot, so a trip to the store to buy something needed at the last moment forced me into my wildly creative mode. Kids hated it. Who wants to go to school with braided wire shoelaces???
Anyway, more and more I am reaching back into the days when people “made do.”
One thing though is that I think we have to try to make it fun rather than feel we are depriving ourselves of things. I think of it as a game with the prize being healthier family, community and planet. Once I get into the habit, it’s so much easier.
Anyway, thanks for the great post.
Cool post. Thanks for sharing. That’s an interesting exercise for adults and kids to debate about.
Regarding the whole green vegetarian issue, there’s an interesting article up about this at the Atlantic called Can Meat Eaters Also Be Environmentalists?:
http://su.pr/35SNrz
That’s one of the best articles I’ve ever read on this. I agree with so much of what the author says – I’m the same way, I’ve never been morally against meat, just encouraging folks to eat better meat and less meat. Great link! What did you think of this Peggy? You tend to write more on the veg issue than me.
Jennifer,
I don’t think it’s morally wrong to eat meat, but I love animals so much I feel guilty when I do. I’ve been thinking more and more these days about becoming a vegetarian, esp after watching movies like Food, Inc.
About the article though, I really liked the author’s point that pretty much ALL food contributes to global warming, not just meat. I still think everyone should limit their meat consumption to help with environmental issues, but I also think that people who eat meat can be environmentalists as well. Vegetarians who look down on others who eat meat aren’t doing anyone any good.