The Life Style Survey rated me a
“tree-hugger” both in early October, when I first took it, and on December 4,
when I took it again. I had 35 points
both times because I got so many zeros.
I drive only 4 miles a day (round trip), and I almost never watch TV or
listen to my stereo—things I keep for Mymeque and friends who visit and for
Netflix on occasions. (I watched the
documentary “Our Daily Bread” at the beginning of the semester.) I turn off the lights when I leave a room,
but I don’t think that saves a lot of electricity. I do only one load of laundry a week, and I
always use cold water. The survey
doesn’t ask about this, but since I started the Life Style Project, I’ve been
using the 30-minute cycle instead of the normal one, which is longer. (See my Tonga blog to find out how long the
cycle is in the washing machines used in Tonga now that they have electricity,
and the Australian woman who blogged that fact says it gets her clothes just as
clean.) I sin when it comes to the
dryer, though. I got 6 points for always
using it. But I’ve used fluorescent
light bulbs every since I had an environmentally-conscious tenant named Zen who
taught me all about it. I almost never
turn on my heat, and in my blog you’ll see references to friends who request “a
little heat?” or go to get their jackets
after they’ve trustingly taken them off.
I also blog on references to eco-things like this, as with the father in
The End of Your Life Book Club, who
the son says always goes for a sweater instead of turning on heat so that their
home is “between freezing and frozen.”
That’s mine! I have to be careful
because I’ve built up a tolerance for chill, and I really don’t want to lose my
friends. (Of course, part of the project
was to change the habits of Mymeque, mi mejor que un esposo.) I always recycle and know about compost and
the changes in practices within SF. I
said “No” to the question about running water while brushing my teeth, etc.,
but the month+ that I was doing this project, I noticed that I really didn’t
have to keep the water on even as long as I was. I’ll comment about that as I sum up the whole
project. I tricked the test when it came
to the shower. I got zero points for
spending 5 minutes or less in the shower, but I don’t take showers at all. I take baths—but not the kind that use a lot
of water, so my giving myself a zero on that probably was accurate. I guessed correctly on the 2000 gallons it
takes to make one pound of beef, but I was clear on the concept both
times. (One advantage of taking the
survey twice goes beyond seeing changes.
It reinforces the information!) I
knew about farming and all the water that takes. I’ve drunk tap water since 2005—and served it
in a pitcher labeled “Tapped from the Hetch Hetchy” for my friends. I’m a vegetarian and always use a reusable
mug for my tea.
On the carbon footprint I didn’t do
so well, and one of the main problems is that I take too many flights. This past year I went to the east coast and
back and then from SF to Kauai’i. I
hadn’t planned on my aunt’s death, which took me another 3000 miles from SF to
Atlanta this past summer. In the summer
alone I traveled almost 17,000 miles. The
first time I took the carbon test, things landed with a thud. This time there seemed to be a different test
even though I went to the same link.
My ecological footprint has been
grim both times. It says 4 planet earths
would be needed if everyone lived like me.
(Of course the average American requires 5, so I guess my being a
vegetarian saved one planet.) It takes
17.6 global acres of the Earth’s productive area to support my lifestyle--(17.7
tons of carbon dioxide) mostly for energy on the land, next for forest land,
then crop land. My life style doesn’t
require much grazing land because I’m a vegetarian but do eat some meat
products, and I’d love to think those cows are grazing instead of being packed
in cage-like structures. My life style requires
very little built-up land and it really should require much in fishing grounds
since I no longer eat fish. It was
interesting to see that about half of my Ecological Footprint went for
services. Next for goods, then food
and shelter about equally and there was a sliver for mobility. But I’ll have
more to say in my summary report!
Thanks for this very thorough analysis. I sin too! I am so busy these days I use my dryer! Always lowest setting though.
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