Say yes to less

Earth Day was last week, and so my question to you is, What were your Earth Day Resolutions? Oh, you didn't make any? It's not too late -- let's resolve to change something now. I propose a resolution of less.

Popular Science recently published an article on how to go zero-waste at the grocery store. I have to edit this idea from simply "go zero-waste" to "go zero-waste personally" because by the time your food gets to the grocery store, some of it has already been wasted -- about one-fifth of the 40 million tons of discarded food in America never even touched a grocery store shelf; it was thrown out by the farmer, manufacturer, or distributor for a variety of reasons. The retail stores themselves then discard another fifth of that 40 million tons. Your mission, then, is to waste nothing on your end.

The Popular Science article suggests a circular-use mindset for achieving zero waste, rather than the typical linear product lifecycle of buy-use-trash-repeat. For example, you can reuse glass jars, and even if you don't, glass is more easily and infinitely recyclable as opposed to single-use plastic bags (which some cities--and now the state of New Jersey--have already banned stores from providing).

Just ask yourself, "Can I keep this out of the landfill?" If the only way to avoid answering "no" is to bury the thing in your backyard, choose an alternative product/packaging -- unless we're talking about a compostable item (like an apple core), in which case disposing of it in your backyard actually is a circular use. Metal, glass, and cardboard are all better packaging options than plastic.

But let's back up a second. The real first step in wasting less is buying less. Use what you have first--and use all of it. In tandem with the zero-waste grocery article, Popular Science also put out this handy tutorial on what the expiration dates on products actually mean. Instead of throwing things out of your pantry on autopilot, understand which foods can generally be consumed safely after longer storage. And, prevent things from expiring on your watch in the first place with proper storage and first-in-first-out usage. 

The advice of using what you already have also applies to the items that will help you reduce your grocery waste, like reusable shopping bags. Do not go out and buy new cloth grocery bags when I bet you already have some at home. Or you could even use an old pillowcase, like you're trick-or-treating in the produce department. I dare you.

Let's not let our resolutions of less stop at the grocery store. 

Drive less -- To do so, you'll combine multiple errands into one streamlined route or you'll use alternative transportation (public transit, your bike, your own two feet). When you do drive, use less fuel by driving more efficiently. Besides driving patiently on properly inflated tires and with a lighter load, you might like to try some more advanced techniques of hypermiling, a term that pops up whenever gas prices rise. Be forewarned: I've posted about it before, and you'll see in that post as well as the much newer article linked earlier in this paragraph, some hypermiling techniques may not be legal or safe. Drafting, for example, requires you follow the vehicle in front of you much more closely than the standard one car length for every 10 mph; however, you do not have to outright tailgate. Len stayed behind large trucks for as much time as possible during our last drive from St. Louis to Aurora. This method combines drafting and slightly lower highway speeds, and it resulted in our spending less than half a tank of gas -- a record low for this route.

That trip leads me to another resolution of less -- Buy fewer new clothes. It's not unusual for our family get-togethers to include a going-through of bags of clothes. An aunt or a cousin will have purged their closet, and so the other aunts and cousins sift through the outcast shirts and sweaters before the clothing continues on to some donation drop-off. I guess my style is whatever my younger cousins were wearing 5-10 years ago.

Speaking of clothes, I'll now advocate that you resolve to wash your clothes less often. Fewer washings will not only save water but also reduce wear and tear on the fibers of your garments. I tend to stick to the sniff-stain-ick test to know when it's time to throw an item of clothing into the laundry hamper. Sniff: Does it stink? Stain: Does it have food or dirt on it that I cannot simply brush off or spot clean? Ick: Did it touch something gross (e.g. raw chicken juice on an apron, a used handkerchief, sweaty gym clothes)? Many items, especially outerwear, will pass all 3 tests for at least two wearings if not more.

While we're conserving water, will you also resolve to shower less often? Or how about just shower for less total time? If your typical routine is a 10- to 15-minute shower every day, that could mean aiming for one 10-minute shower every other day or taking a shorter, 5-minute shower every day -- either way, you just cut your shower water usage in half. Maybe you could use the sniff-stain-ick test on yourself, as well as some common sense -- i.e., why would I shower in the morning before running a 10K when I know I will want to shower my sweaty self afterward?

OK, I'm ending it here. There are so many other ways we can consume less, use less, and waste less, and you get the gist. Less is more impactful.

.

Last Thursday, we had 45 mph wind gusts as the temperature slowly climbed from the 30s into the upper 40s. And, it was sunny. Time for the first line-drying of 2022. 

As the laundry basket became emptier, the wind started pushing it around the patio. I had to chase a few socks -- thank goodness for a fenced-in yard. Although, you can see the clothes were whipping around in every direction. I was pleasantly surprised to find most items still clipped to the line later in the afternoon -- and relieved that the few things blown loose were at least still in our own yard and not, say, in a tree down the block.

If it had been warmer, I'd have expected the first pieces of clothing to be already blown dry by the time I got to the end of the line, but even in these high winds, everything needed a few hours in the chilly air. There's nothing like some good flapping in the breeze to shake the wrinkles out of the laundry and infuse the fibers with fresh spring air. 

.

Parts of the whole – a more sustainable way of looking at things

Things. If there is one thing we humans all have in common, it's things. We tend to have a lot of them, whatever the things are, and we use them until they wear out. So let's talk about the importance of replacing parts and not wholes.

I've talked before about the pretty nice space heater someone trashed and then Len fixed by replacing an inexpensive part. Here's another true story. 

I was baking a cake -- in fact, it was this dinosaur cake I still have to tell you about -- and it was taking forever. Something was wrong with the oven. It turned out to be fudgiest chocolate cake I'd ever made, thanks to cooking low and slow and possibly being underdone, but anyway, I also needed to bake dinosaur cookies. We packed up the ingredients and borrowed the in-laws' kitchen for the rest of the evening. 

We explained our oven wasn't staying hot. Maybe I'd even stuck my head under the broiler to investigate and had Googled it already to determine the problem was the igniter. And, this question arose: "Oh no, so you have to buy a new oven now?"

No. We most certainly did not have to buy a whole new oven just because it wasn't working. We especially did not have to buy a whole new oven because we could pinpoint the specific part that wasn't working. And that's the thing about things. It's too easy to just buy a whole new thing, so we think that's the best solution. But, you're wasting your money and overfilling the trash heap. It's just as easy to buy a new part instead. In fact, I'd argue it's easier to buy a part instead of a whole, because parts can fit in your mailbox, and sometimes whole things (like an oven) can't even fit in your car, and sometimes even fitting through the front door looks iffy. 

Even if you're not inclined to DIY, an appliance repair person can replace just a part for you. The labor may not be cheap, but it's gotta cost less than a whole new appliance delivered and installed. And then you have something pocket-sized to throw away instead of something oven-sized. A great example -- your vehicle. When something breaks on your car, you don't just buy a whole new car, do you? Maybe you do, I don't know. I think most of us don't. You can apply that logic to so many other things -- repair instead of replace.

I mentioned new parts fitting in your mailbox, and that brings me to some sad news. We will probably have to order online any vacuum parts for our decades-old Kirby, because the vacuum-repair shop near us, All Vac, recently closed for good after 38 years. The owner retired, is all, but he noted in the newspaper article about the event that newer vacuums aren't as easily serviceable and instead have become part of the "throwaway society." 

So yeah, some things -- especially the more electronic parts they have -- are hard to fix, and it does make more sense to just replace the whole thing. But, I encourage you to take a look at your things when they stop working, and really see -- Could you just replace a part? Can it be repaired instead of replaced? If it must be thrown away -- again especially for the electronics -- Can you recycle it? We just got the City of Aurora's notice of the next free electronics recycling drop-off. I bet your city has one, too.

Don't be part of the "throwaway society."

.

Mobile bike repair shops

Here's a fun and useful thing: Mobile bike mechanics who run their business out of their own home or even set up shop like food trucks, maybe with a regular tent at your local farmers market, or an elusive nomad whose ever-changing location you follow on Instagram, or the knowledgeable technician who makes house calls.

I'm acquainted with a guy who left his corporate office job to work in a bike shop. It's not because the pay is better. These tend to be people living their passion, and some of them have found a sustainable business model in omitting a leased brick-and-mortar.

I'm not suggesting you shun your local bike shop. A permanent location has many benefits for the workers, the customers, and the community. First of all, you always know where they are. They can hold a larger inventory of new bikes, parts, accessories. They're often the host and meeting spot for riding groups. Sometimes they have a store cat, like a used bookstore. I'm in!

Today, I'm simply highlighting the cool idea of these mobile bike shops. They contribute to our sense of community in other ways. For starters, you typically have to call them for the day's location and hours. They bring more visibility to biking culture by being all over the place. Sometimes, they're just kinda neat. I was inspired to talk about mobile bike shops and to try to find a few out there by an article in Bicyling featuring a bike shop on a boat in London's canal system. How cool is that?

So, here are just a few I found that may or not be in your area. I can't give you an honest thumbs up or down on the quality of service for any of these, as I have not used any of them yet myself.

Floating Bike Repairs, River Lea, England - the bike shop on a boat.

Chad's Mobile Bike Repair, Naperville, IL - will even come work in your garage. I think maybe I've called him before about a spoke repair, and he was straightforward with me that he'd have to go to a bike shop anyhow to get the parts, so I might consider just taking it to the shop for such an easy repair. (I've replaced my own spokes before, too, but sometimes you just don't feel like doing the work yourself!)

Velofix, multiple areas, North America - a fleet of van-based bike shops locally operated by residents within those communities.

On the Fly Mobile Bicycle Repair, Chicagoland, IL - their truck brings the bike shop to you.

Mike's Bikes, mid-California - these are actual storefronts that offer mobile service. It doesn't exactly fit into the cool, nomadic bike mechanic lifestyle I'm glorifying today, but I included them because of the words on their homepage (when I visited it, anyway): 

Wind in your hair, money in your wallet! Skip the gas pump! Shop Gazelle E-bikes!

Yes! People. A good number of us could be getting around town powered by own free energy (and maybe assisted by a little battery power), instead of by car. So, I'll end with that. Bicycle commuting season is open!

.