To get us started on the journey to eco-logical living, let us look at the 3 R's a little closer. Most of us just skirt around them pretending we know what they mean and don't digest fully how easy it really is to get started. One of the most important things to realise is that an eco-logical lifestyle is a more economical lifestyle and will save you money.
To me probably the easiest, the most ecological, and the most economical of the 3 R's is to Reduce. Already you are spending less. For most men out there i hear you say “Yes” to this revelation. This truly is a win, win situation you are finding yourself in. Now you get the excuse to say to yourself and your loved one 'I am going to buy and consume less. Why? Because i am a more caring person, that's why!' For the unemployed this is a great way to feel good about yourself. You can now justify why you are spending less by saying you are doing it for future generations, for a better environment. You now have the excuse, “Consumption is an illness Dear! ... Haven't you heard ?”.
Have you ever found yourself in the following situation ... You enter a supermarket with the intention of buying one or two items ... you exit the supermarket with ten or more items. Here, is a classic example of where you can Reduce. You can be hardcore and exit with the one or two items you intended to buy or be a Tryer and exit with four or five items and say “I feel good about myself because i am Trying”. Eventually you will get there. Well done. “Fair play to yourself.”
Supermarket psychology is a battlefield that we enter every time we pass though those sliding doors. There are social scientists beavering away in the background every day trying to figure out how to sucker you into buying MORE. I know, there are SO MANY special OFFERS it is hard to refuse. One way to tackle the supermarket assault course is to stay focused and enter like an elite trooper from Avatar, work out beforehand where the necessary target is and glide by each aisle immune to the advertising, bright displays, red and yellow special offer signs and eye level pseudo targets. Say it a few times before you go in “Organic Milk, butter, eggs, sugar, bread”, over and over, until it sinks in and you will come out unscathed and money in the pocket! Practice, practice and you will get there my friend. Now you are focused and entering a more frugal world. You see, you have been programmed from early childhood to be a consumer. It is not your fault really. But now that you are awake to false control you can start a new journey that costs less and makes a lot more sense.
You may start to look at your local farmers market and see that if you spend a little less on the junk that you were buying in the supermarket each week you may be able to afford a little more quality in your life too, or even better produce some of what you see in the farmers market. That is all for another day though.
Simplify your life as much as possible and don't waste so much money. Be conscious everytime you shop and see what your money is supporting in the background. Sustainable agriculture or subsidised agriculture. You may soon become a deep ecologist. Think before you buy any product and say to yourself, “do I really need it? And what further impacts are there disposing of this product.” I watch my young son sometimes and see the amount of disposable plastic toys children are given (even though he only gets recycled toys). To stop impulse buying try waiting a month before you buy something and see if you really need it. This eliminates impulse buying.
Buy Used or almost new products as much as possible. Try your local charity recycle shop, carboot sale, or search for it on donedeal.ie or buyandsell.ie.
Share Products with friends and revive community spirit, but remember the golden rule, always return as you found it. If you damage something, replace it.
Replace Disposable Products like razors and batteries with rechargable products.
Bulk Buy products whenever possible. It makes financial sense.
Think About Trees in your home.
Replace paper towels with washable cloth towels.
Use unbleached and recycled toilet paper (think about almost one billion people in India who find it odd that people in the west use paper to wipe and you may even adapt to non paper toilet hygiene).
Recycle gift card and make new cards from the ones you receive.
Buy a potted Christmas tree and after a few years using this tree you can plant it in your back garden. If you cannot find a potted tree buy some young saplings and plant them in pots yourself (Future Forests in Bantry will post trees to your door). In the future, if you wish, you can use these trees as fire wood during the winter.
Packaging: if products that you buy are over packaged, remove the packaging in the shop where you purchase them. It is the shops responsibility to dispose of packaging and if enough people do this the shop owner will inform the supplier who will reduce unnecessary packaging in the future.
Junk Mail: Put a sign on your letter box or window for your postman saying 'No Junk Mail Please' .
Ask For Organic wherever you go. If you are in a restaurant, a coffee shop, or a delicatessen, ask if they have organic coffee, tea, juices (whatever you are looking for) and they will take notice. An organic cup of tea/coffee does not cost anymore than regular tea/coffee and is better for you and the environment. You are helping to get a message out with your action too. If you revisit the shop, ask if they have any organic products today with a sense of humour and eventually they may support. If not you will find a place sooner or later that does. Organic and Eco products are no longer a fad. They are a growing trend.
We have all been programmed to think new is best. Patience, and lots of it, is required to convince the unconvinced why your new philosphy of Reduce is a key to a better life. Occassionally you may have to give in, 'to compromise' as they say, but stand firm and strengthen your will with your new conscious reality. There are more and more of us evolving and awakening each day :-) !
Re-use
As children growing up in the 70s and 80s we were embarassed to say we were wearing second hand clothes or 'hand me downs'. Television was becoming an eye into a modern world in every home and we were being bombarded with advertising showing that everything was 'new and improved' - the detergents, the washing up liquid, the furniture, the records, the tapes, then the videos, cds and dvds. Each year we were being offered more and more stuff we were told we needed. I remember my mother once saying to me 'you have it easy compared to when i was growing up, and at the time i said to her, maybe we don't Mam'. When i look back now that statement was correct. For kids nowadays it is a war out there. An advertising war. Each day if a person lives in a city or built up area they are subjected to over 26,000 adverts on TVs, iPods, newspapers, magazines, bus adverts, bus stops, on trains, in shop windows, everywhere impressions are being made on the human mind. As adults we can see through most of this, but for children they do not know that they are being conditioned and programmed by intelligent marketeers. That is why for most it is 'un-cool' to wear recycled clothes from charity shops or hand me downs. Try and educate children to re-use new and almost new clothes. I am involved with a recycled clothing campaign with a charity and am astounded to see the amount of new and almost new clothing, books, dvds and toys we collect. Most of these are shipped overseas and are very cool to the consumers who buy them in countries like Poland, Lituania and developing African nations. I personally have bought recycled clothing and goods from charity shops for over 15 years and honestly don't see the point in paying up to ten times the price for goods from a regular clothing shop. Most people cannot tell the difference. We are working on a number of innovative ideas to make recycled clothing cool with the charity so watch this space and tune into www.Arc-Eireann.org.
Teach Your Children: Start them as soon as you can. As parents we are the ultimate educators of our children. By teaching them that it is cool to Re-use we are setting a good example. Give them money to buy what they want in a charity recycle shop. A good idea, if kids are looking for new toys, is for them to bring old toys to the local charity shop and let them buy new ones. The charity shop may swap if the toys are in good condition. This way children are seeing that re-using is rewarding.
Shopping Bags: One of the best examples of how Ireland can lead the way in becoming an Eco innovator in Europe was the introduction of the plastic bag tax. A lot of people are still buying plastic bags. Buy some light cotton bags (about €1 each) and keep them in the boot of your car for all your shopping. Simple.
Coffee Cup: Buy a reusable thermos cup for your tea or coffee. Stainless steel inside is best. I don't think heating plastic is the best idea!
Car Boot Sales: A great way to re-use products are to sell and buy at a car boot sale. Alternatively, if you have something of value ask a stall holder at a carboot sale to sell it for you and take a commission.
Done Deal or Buy and Sell: You can advertise your stuff on done deal or buy and sell for a small fee.
Print on Both Sides: Printing on both sides of your A4 paper. It takes a little time to learn to do but you save half the money you use on A4 paper. It is easy once you learn the first time.
Re-Conditioned Electronics: The computer i am writing on at the moment is a re-conditioned computer. The shop where i bought it in Portlaoise replaced the hard drive and cleaned it before selling it to me. They said they are doing a lot of business in refurbished computers at the moment. It cost me €180 with a 3 month warranty. You can also buy re-conditioned phones and lots of other electronics if you ask your nearest computer/phone repair shop.
Recycle
In many ways Recycle and Re-use are the same thing. I like to think of recycling as a daily task to do around the home and Re-use as a medium to long term task. When i look at the word Recycle i think of a circle and trying to close that circle. Ultimately there is no waste in life as everything goes back to nature in one form or another. To recycle these products or waste in an efficient and clean manner and not pollute our environment is the ultimate goal. Even a rock will ultimately recycle to sand or dust given time and the elements wearing it down.
Probably the first thought that enters the mind when hearing the word Recycle is the black wheelie bins outside peoples homes, so lets start there. There are bins for plastics, paper, metals and compostable materials. These all cost money so if we can Reduce as much as we can and prevent the amount of recyclables from entering our homes we are saving money straight away. Once products have entered the home environment then try and Recycle as much as you can inhouse before considering the wheelie bins. To Recycle at home is to run an efficient ship that builds a more economical environment in which to live.
Composting Kitchen Waste is a good example. Vegetable peels, fruit peels, shredded newspapers and lawn trimmings can all be recycled. See interesting videos on simple composting here and here. And if you are into developing a simple wormery try this.
Glass bottles and Jars: Bring these to your local Recycle Bank. (By right we should be paid for these as they are valuable raw materials. In the near future ...)
Aluminium Cans and Metal Containers: Again bring to your local Recycle Bank.
Newspapers and Cardboard: I normally use these for starting a fire in the stove at home. Twist each sheet of paper into a loop and it will work better to ignite kindling. By doing this there is no need for buying firelighters, which are petroleum based. Some shredded newspapers can be used in compost. Newspapers and cardboard also make a good mulch to suppress weeds around young trees (your stock of Christmas trees!). Cover newspaper/cardboard mulch with lawn clippings to make it more appealing to the eye.
Hazardous Materials: These include paint, varnish, thinners, oil, rust remover, batteries, cleaning chemicals, pesticides, car parts and light bulbs. All should be brought to your local council Recycle Centre.
Finally here is an interesting video about where our products come from and where they go:
