January 2nd in Other by Cyrus . Leave a comment.
"Going Green" is not a new concept
This is a stretch from actual greenwashing but is close enough that we thought it to be a good topic to bring up. This whole idea of “going green” is not a new concept. Many of us see this as a recent trend… a movement even. However our elders have “gone green” quite a bit. Perhaps not with the whole industrial revolution period, but in other ways. Here’s what we mean:
- Drying clothes on a line instead of in the clothes dryer. (This was an economic choice more than an environmental one, but it’s the result that matters)
- Paper towels are a new thing. Our parents and grandparents used cloth towels over and over.
- They bought second hand. Not everyone did, but it was a much more common way to save a few bucks. With the advent of Craigslist and Freecycle, this should be a bigger tool of the eco-conscious.
- Remember Victory Gardens? We don’t either, but learned about them in school. Growing your own food is one of the biggest steps a consumer can take to green their diet and our forefathers relied much more on their own food.
- Canning use to be a bigger thing than it is today. Along with growing your own food, storing it long term is a very eco-conscious step that was taken by our elders.
- Making your own clothes/mending clothes was a no-brainer yesterday. Today we tend to think “time for a new one”.
- Our grandparents cleaned with things like Vinegar, not Magic Erasers (who knows what they put in that thing to make it “magic”.
- Reuse and repurpose – again, a standard practice in the old days. Now our culture tends to look at new things as the only option. Heck, we even have things for which there is no practical need just because someone on TV said we needed it. (Read: plastic christmas tree garland holders)
- And finally: turning the thermostat down. Heat = money my grandfather might have said. We are a little spoiled now with our heaters, air conditioners, air filters and ionizers. Instead of turning the heat up, go put on a sweater you just mended and eat some canned peaches.
Source: The Huffington Post
January 27, 2010
There’s a 2010 diary called an ‘Ecodiary’. The only green thing about it is the paper it’s made from, which is recycled. That’s it. None of the information inside – there’s the usual international dialling codes and more – has an environmental slant.
There’s more about this on the blog attached to the website of SolarUK, the solar thermal company: http://solarukweblog.wordpress.com/.
February 24, 2010
This is all good advice, but if what you live in a NY luxury condo? Are you really going to be able to use a clothes line to dry clothes, plant a Victory garden, or can your own vegetables?
March 8, 2010
I wonder if we’ll see people return to these old ways of doing things. People didn’t use these methods because they were green, they used them because there was no alternative – they just happened to be more green.
The problem now is that people aren’t always wiling to return to less convenient ways of doing things.