Category Archives: Environment

waste not, want not

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livinglagom.com - waste not, want not

Happy Earth Day Earthlings!!!

To celebrate Earth Day, this past weekend I helped pick up litter at my local park. I enjoy hanging out there, so I thought I’d raise a hand to keep it clean. And tonight, I’m going to see the documentary Trashed at an independent cinema.

Honest to goodness, Earth Day is one of my favorite “holidays” of the year. Call me crazy, but I’m a big fan of our planet.

Do you know who else I’m a big fan of? Bea Johnson over at Zero Waste Home. She recently published a book on how she’s transitioned to a (mostly) Zero Waste life and how we can too. Though I don’t buy many books these days, I bought hers. The ebook version of course.

I knew it was going to be good before I even read it, as I’ve followed Bea’s blog for a few years now. As much as this book is about reducing our environmental footprint, it’s also great for those budding minimalists / lagomists that are looking to declutter their spaces.

the FIVE rs

Bea introduces us to two new Rs: Refuse and Rot. The key is to ALWAYS apply the five Rs in the below order:

REFUSE | anything that we don’t need

Say you attend a conference where they’re giving out those lame branded tchotchkes, like pens, notepads, t-shirts, etc. Instead of mindlessly accepting these items, you’d say, “No, thanks. I’m a lover of the Earth!” Okay, maybe not that last part. (Though I would totally say that.)

When we take these items with us, we’re encouraging marketers in their wasteful practices. So ask yourself: Am I really going to use this? Is it worth the time and space it’ll take up in my life? If the answer is no, don’t take it. And then apply that thinking to all other areas of your life.

I love this new R.

REDUCE | what we do need

This is where us minimalists / lagomists excel. The goal is to get rid of anything that we currently own that we aren’t using or don’t love. If we find we have multiples of items, perhaps owning just one is enough. Or if we only use something a couple of times a year, maybe borrow it from someone else when we do need it, instead of owning one of our own. This is what I do when I need to use an iron or printer.

It also means buying items with the least amount of packaging. Think bulk bins.

REUSE | what we consume

Normally, this R may encourage hoarding those “just in case” items we may find a use for sometime in the future. But not now! Since we’re following the Rs in order, we would’ve already refused and reduced those items we don’t need and aren’t already using. So hoarding is not allowed.

However, it does mean that we would have some additional items on hand such as reusable mugs, cloth napkins, enviro bags and glass containers, instead of using wasteful disposables. This is where our good friend mason jars play a starring role.

Now if you’re the type of minimalist that likes to keep count of your possessions, then owning these reusable items will increase your total. But remember, consumables take up space too, even if they aren’t counted. Make the switch.

RECYCLE | what we can’t refuse, reduce or reuse

As you can see, there is less emphasis on this R, which is what most people focus on. Sometimes we recycle to feel like we’re actually doing something to help the planet. And sometimes, it’s the only thing we do. But recycling should really be considered a last resort after we have refused, reduced and reused.

Though it’s important to think about recycling when we’re making new purchases. We should take into consideration whether the item will be recyclable once its useful life is over and choose items accordingly.

ROT | compost the rest

A significant part of our trash consists of compostable materials (e.g. food scraps, paper products, etc.). By composting and following the other Rs, we’ll begin to see our trash bin contents decrease greatly. If this option is available to us, we should definitely partake.

first crawl, then walk the talk

The five Rs are a simple way of thinking about the things that we bring and have in our lives. We aren’t going to be perfect from day one, but as I’ve said before, practice makes perfect-ish. As we practice being conscious of our decisions, we’ll get better and better at making them.

Bea didn’t start out being Zero Waste. It has taken her years to get to where she is today. And it’s not like she no longer cares about such things as fashion or make-up. She’s just changed the choices she makes in those areas.

I know Bea sometimes gets flack on her blog for being considered too extreme by some or not being extreme enough by others, but I’m glad she’s persevered. I’ve learned so much from her.

I may not be able (or willing) to implement everything she suggests at this very moment, but I’m open-minded to the fact that I could one day. Heck, I never imagined that I’d own as little clothing as I do now, but I love it and wouldn’t want it any other way.

As Bea says:

“Living with less does not deprive your life; it improves it.”

How could I not be a fan?

Update: Having just watched Trashed tonight, let’s hope we’re all fast crawlers.

This post contains an affiliate link from my living lagom bookstore. If you buy any books from my bookstore, I’ll earn a tiny commission. Or you could just get the books from your local library. I own the book mentioned in this post.

it’s time to play: pick a charity!

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I need your help! Yeah, YOU!

My disposable cup charity project is coming to an end and I need to pick a charity to donate my funds to.

After some careful consideration, I’ve narrowed it down to 3 charities. I will be donating to the Canadian chapter of the charity because most of the cups were used in Canada. Makes sense to me.

The charity with the most votes as of December 26, 2012 at 11:59pm ET, will be deemed the winner/gagnant!

Even though my challenge is coming to an end, it’s not as though I’m going to suddenly start using disposable cups all the time again. I’ve learned some valuable lessons.

lessons learned

Here’s what I’ve learned and observed throughout the year:

  • People place too much emphasis on recycling instead of reducing (buying less drinks) or reusing (travel mug or mug at coffee shop). Honestly, I’m not even sure that most cups are recyclable. I’ve heard conflicting information on this, so I’ll continue to reduce and reuse whenever possible.
  • Free drinks will get you. In my count, I included ALL beverages served in disposable cups – even samples in mini cups. After messing up at Costco a few times, I had to remind myself before entering the store not to take any drink samples.
  • Other people will mess up for you. I had a few occasions where I asked for a mug, but the person still gave me a disposable cup. Or when I moved into the dorm and there was a disposable cup waiting for my use. I still counted those in my tally though.
  • Traveling will increase your count. I used 22 cups in May! Most of those were from my trip to London. The plane rides alone were 4 cups each! I hadn’t considered the cups that would come with my in-flight meals. I also thought I would carry my travel mug with me while I was sightseeing, but I didn’t.
  • Tim Horton’s is to be avoided if you want to cheat. They use TWO cups with many of their hot beverages. Needless to say, I only “cheated” with them once.
  • It’s easier to find recycling bins in a big city. Since moving to Waterloo from Toronto, I’ve had a harder time finding recycling bins for the discarded cups I need to recycle to make up for every one that I use. I’ve had to rely on cups left behind on store shelves. But I’ve prevailed! All cups are accounted for to date!
  • Your reusable mug may get rejected. This only happened twice. Once at Tim Horton’s when a girl wouldn’t make an iced coffee in my reusable cup because she said she couldn’t figure out the measurements. I told her to guess. She said her brain didn’t work that way. I told her I’d go to Starbucks then. Another time, I wanted to get a soft drink in my mug at a food court, but they said they’d have to pour it into a disposable cup first and then pour it into my mug. Huh? I said no thanks.
  • Customized sleeves are all the rage! I made a customized sleeve out of a sock for my Starbucks order, so that they wouldn’t have to write it down on a piece of paper. Let’s just say it got a lot of attention! The most popular refrain was, “How cute!” and then they would show it to all the other baristas. It got me a free drink once!

show me the money!

My charity fund currently stands at $52. I’ve been averaging about one cup a week. Not too shabby considering multiple drinks come into my life on a weekly basis.

I’ve decided to make December double-whammy month to cap things off! For every disposable cup I use, I’ll have to donate $2 and recycle 2 discarded cups.

How will I fare during all those holiday festivities?!

I’ll announce the winning charity and the final tally in my end of year wrap-up on December 31st. I’ll also let you know how I decided to donate my 1 percent to giving for the year.

Would you consider giving up disposable cups in 2013?

does being a minimalist make you green?

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living lagom - does being a minimalist make you green?I spent Earth Day weekend attending a Community Environment Day at Ramsden Park near Rosedale subway station in Toronto. I was able to bring my old fried hard drive, toxic sprays and nail polish in order for them to be properly disposed. Sadly, I was told to put my used Brita water filters in the garbage – so much for holding onto them for months.

I also decided that since I had used 10 disposable cups this year, that I would find 10 discarded cups to recycle. Not a small feat given my mild germaphobia. The things I do for the planet.

It took me less than 30 minutes to find all 10 cups. 8 were Tim Horton’s, 1 was Starbucks and 1 was unknown.

For my efforts, I went to Starbucks where they were giving away free coffee or tea to anyone with a reusable mug. Being green has its perks.

Which got me to thinking . . .

does minimalism = environmentalism?

In terms of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), minimalists are definitely a head of the game when it comes to the first and most important R, reduce. But does that mean that we aren’t wasteful or hurtful to the environment in other ways?

Many of the minimalism blogs that I follow have writers that travel the world or lead location independent lifestyles. I’m not going to fault anyone for wanting to travel, since it’s also one of my passions, but it’s not the most eco-friendly thing to do. In fact, it’s one of the worst.

And it would be easy to be a minimalist in the kitchen if you ate all of your meals at fast food places. But again, that’s not helping the planet.

So maybe the two don’t automatically go hand in hand. But no one can argue against the fact that buying less stuff equals less waste.

my environmental sins

For some reason (that is beyond the scope of this blog), I like to point out my flaws. So even though I’m a minimalist and becoming more eco-friendly, there are still areas where I could do better. For example:

Travel. I normally take a vacation once a year that involves getting on a plane. My next trip is planned for May and I’m looking into purchasing carbon offsets. Not a perfect solution, but it’s unlikely that I will stop traveling.

Water. I love to take a nice hot bath from time to time. Okay, a couple of times a week. I grew up taking baths so I still prefer them to showers. A lot more water is used when taking a bath versus a quick shower. I’m trying to limit myself to one bath a week . . . but it’s so hard!

Food. I like to buy my lunch. Working in the downtown core with all its food options doesn’t help. It’s a little escape from my working day to be able to leave my desk and go buy my meal. It also means that I don’t have to worry about packing a lunch. Lately, I’ve been focusing on buying more of my meals from places that use biodegradable containers, such as Urban Herbivore at the Eaton Centre food court.

But there are a lot of things that I’m doing for the Earth as well: I don’t own a car, I eat a mostly plant-based diet, I live in a small studio, I hang dry my clothes, I use a reusable mug and most importantly . . . I’m buying less stuff.

Photo Credit: Vasuki Balasubramaniam (taken in 2011)