Wild Green Sea Turtle in Hawaii 2013 by Gregory Pruden
Happy Earth Day!
Today you may be inundated with offers to buy things from a BPA free water bottle to a new hybrid car but it is important to remember especially today that in most cases buying new things won’t help. In fact your first inclination should be to not buy anything. Most new things have a similar chain consisting of raw material, transportation, manufacture, transportation, purchase, transportation, use, transportation, reuse, transportation, recycle, transportation, and landfill. Buying and reselling local can reduce much of the transportation in the chain while using and reusing for as long as possible can extend the time before you enter this chain again.
So while you dodge the offers elsewhere on the internet this blog will offer a few ways you or your firm can help the Earth without buying new things or by extending use of the things that you have.
1) Eat a vegetarian meal one or more times a week perhaps one day a week. Enteric fermentation in livestock creates methane (CH4), a dangerous greenhouse gas. If every US citizen skipped meat for a single day it would reduce the total US greenhouse gas output per year by 0.35% just by the methane reduction alone not to mention the feed farming, transportation, and other reductions.
2) Take public transportation or better yet bicycle to work one day per week. By choosing to bike instead of driving or even take public transportation, you’ll lower your commuting costs, get some exercise and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
3) Reduce your air travel this year especially short distance domestic trips. Air travel averages about 200 grams per passenger kilometre (g/pkm) and short distance trips cause 32% more greenhouse gas emissions. For comparison passenger cars generate about 150 g/pkm. When you do travel by air select a direct flight. You will be happier with the shorter flight and the planet will be spared the kilometres of connecting flights.
4) Keep your car. It might seem counter intuitive but in most cases keeping your car longer will help more with climate change. Buying, even a hybrid, new car has way more carbon in the “chain” discussed above then you will save with the reduced emissions of the lower emission design.
5) Don’t just recycle but freecycle! The key to extending our “chain” is the extension of our use and reuse. Once you have used something as long as you can you can sell it, especially at a local flea market or why not simply give it away. You can find a local freecycle group here for arranging to give and even get free stuff.
6) Speaking of reusing, consider using a coffee mug rather than using disposable cups. In fact try not to use anything disposable and avoid any excess packaging of any kind. But wait... this last one is not as simple as it may seem. After a careful life-cycle energy analysis it seems you will need to use the same coffee mug for three years and you probably need to individually wash it in the sink and not use a dishwasher. Maybe if you use a coffee shop that roasts its own beans, in-house, and you use the same ceramic mug for 5 years!