Apartment Environmentalism

My little brother (who's not so little anymore--he's got like eight hundred feet of height on me and is actually going gray and was married long before me) was the inspiration for this blog. It started off with Tom sending me this link to a $500 Eco-Friendly home. I sent it to Andy and his wife and some other friends, and when Andy received it, he asked a really good question: "what can the apartment dweller do to make their apartment more eco-friendly?" As we and most of our friends are still in the "we'll move into houses one day...but not this year" mindset, this is important to us. It's an important consideration, because these days, more likely than not, being green is saving energy...which is saving you money. If your budget is anything like mine, it's being re-vamped every two weeks (literally) by the rising gas prices. Less into savings, more into the gas tank! Yikes! But! We are not naysayers! We can have a savings account and an apartment that is comfortable (with it's security deposit intact)! We can also not leave behind a Superfund site when we go. How? A listy list of ideas:

• Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. I know, I know, you've heard it before. So do it! Yes, the bulbs are more expensive than traditional bulbs. However, they last longer, making them better value for your money. Also, you'll have a smaller electric bill for it. This is truly the first step that you should take--it's simple and you'll see rewards right away.
  
• Turn off stuff that you're not using. Is that guitar amp just sitting there in between sessions? Unplug it. Is that DVD player just sitting there, and you're not watching Steel Magnolias for the 1,000th time? Unplug it. If you've got a lot of stuff that you'd have to unplug, invest in a squid or a surge protector with an on/off switch. That'll make the "un-pluging" into an easier task. The appliances draw electricity even when they're not being commanded by you to do something, which draws on the earth's resources and your wallet. Nip that shit in the bud, man!
• Switch to a low-flow showerhead and install airators to your faucets. These changes take just a few minutes, will not cost you much, and you can put the original hardware back on before you move out. You'll save money on water, if you're charged for it, and you'll also be conserving water (remember, eco-friendly = eco-awesome!)
• Ditch your air conditioner. Yeah, I know, this is a hard one. But, it's not like I'm asking you to live on sprouts and tempeh (although I do ask that of Tom). Hear me out: we've had extremley high temperatures here over the past few days, and we're keeping the apartment livable by keeping the windows open and fans going all night, and then closing the windows and drawing the shades during the day. It does keep it cooler inside, and only costs us electricity for the fans. Awesome-sauce!
• Turn down your heat. If you're reading this when it's winter, turn down your heat. Even if you don't pay for heat, (you lucky bastards) the environment does. It's tempting to forget the true costs when you don't have to open your wallet for stuff. And, it doesn't have to be a big change--just going from 70 to 68 will have an impact. Better yet, go from 68 to 65 and put on a sweater.
  
• Air-dry your clothes (after washing them in cold water). I know, it seems hokey. But Tom and I have been doing it since we moved in, and it's really not a big deal. We even air dry in the winter! We have a clothes drying rack that my mom gave us, and if the weather is nice, we plop that bad boy outside and let the sun do what some quarters and an hour in the dryer would do (read: for FREE). In the wintertimes, we just stick the drying rack in our study and dry in there. It takes longer in the winter, but you learn to deal with that. Also, if you've got cats, it'll double as a play area for the cats. If you really want to be an eco-dork like me, use the Bio-Kleen laundry detergent (concentrated, you only use 2 tsp. per load) and recycle your container.
  
• Use eco-friendly cleaning products. The stuff that you pour down your drain goes into the real world, remember? So act like it. The chemicals in many cleaning products are harmful to the environment and the ecosystems within that environments. So! What to do? Well, you could buy a bunch of cleaners that are costly and have pretty labels, or you could buy these few things: castile soap, baking soda, vinegar, and non-petroleum based dish soap. Want to clean your toilet? Pour some baking soda in the bowl, then the vinegar. Watch it foam! See, you're having fun already! Close the lid and clean the outside of the toilet with castile soap (or a vinegar and water solution if you're a germy-phobe). Then use your toilet brush and swab the inside like you would with any other cleaner. Flush, and done! Sparkly. Nice. Clean. Also, in a spray bottle (buy a new one, or reuse one) mix castle soap and water. There's your all purpose cleaner. In another spray bottle, mix water and vinegar. Use that as a window washing solution and germy-go-away solution. Use the non-petrolum dish soap for dishes only--conserve it because it's usually more expensive. (You can use castile soap for dishes and even washing yourself, I just haven't yet, since we can still afford the Seventh Generation dish soap. However, I have done so before).
  
• Turn off lights when you're not using them. Any trip longer than, say, 30 seconds should warrant a light turn-off. Oh, and also: you're probably not performing surgery in your living room while you're watching The Office. Turn off the extra lighting. (The T.V. has a light in it, remember?)
• Buy in bulk, reuse your containers. If you're lucky enough to have a food co-op around your area, I bet they have a great bulk section. If not, most mega-marts have some bulk stuff--think produce and candy. Bring your own bags or other containers.
  
• Recycle. Enough said. I mean, come on already!
  
• Bring your own lunch in reuseable containers. You'll save a ton of money by doing this, and if you bring it in a reusable bag that holds reuseable containers, you won't throw anything away! Yeay, you!
  
• Stop buying bottled water. Seriously! Unless you live in an area where the water isn't drinkable, you don't need to buy bottled water. The bottle of water that you hold in your greedy little hand took four times the amount of water that it holds inside of it to produce that bottle! And think of the energy costs that it takes to get it to you! Do you think that it's cheap to travel from Fiji? And I don't give me that crap about how Fiji is planting trees to save it's image. So what? They're still in a wasteful industry. Buy a reusable water bottle (metal, please!) and fill it from-gasp!- the tap. We are lucky enough to live in a country that provides it's citizens with potable drinking water as a matter of course. We are being pompous and arrogant to "prefer" water from other areas of the flippin' globe. You like their water? Fine. Move there. Get out of my ecosystem. (Also: most bottled water is simply tap water).
  
• Need a...something for your apartment? Borrow! By not generating the demand for a new item, you will be helping to keep down waste. If you need a drill, or a fancy tablecloth, or a caulking gun, ask your dad or your uncle or your best friend's cousin's stepson. I bet you can find what you need for free rather than buying...and you'll be helping to solve our garbage problem, too.
  
• Furnish from Craigslist or yardsales! You don't need new stuff all the time. Keep down demand for new goods (which uses electricty and generates waste) and recycle your neighbor's couch and the bookshelves from the dude down the street. Heck, they may want your crockpot and your faux antique ladel!
  
• Read books from the library. You don't need a printed forest inside of your house. There are, of course, some books (like reference books) that are good to have around...because you may reference them. However, that's why you can't check them out of a library...to ensure that they're always on hand for someone who would want to read them. Why cut down a tree just so that a book will be seen by your eyes only? On a similar note, rent movies. How many times are you really going to watch that copy of Gladiator? Yeah, thought so.
  
• Bring canvas bags with you as a matter of course. Whatever you bring into your apartment is your responsibility to dispose of, and that counts on your apartment eco-score.
  

This, of course, is not a complete list. I'd love for you readers to post comments with your own ideas. (Please?!) I truely do feel that if we as a generation and a socieity work together, we can solve the world's energy crisis--and maybe much more. Crisis can either wreck a society or brig it closer together--and solving problems usually helps bring people closer together. Let's plan on telling our grandchildren that we were part of the solution.

In addition, there are additional considerations for going green that stretch beyond our apartments and into the world beyond. Issues like transportation and buying local are issues that I will explore in my future blogs.

As always, thanks for reading!