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.

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