Equation for Life:
Start 3 people: 2 adults, 1 child. Add dog & parakeets for color.
Add 1 small, fuel-efficient car (35 mpg, though sometimes when going up mountain you feel like you should get out and walk to spare the engine-gerbils. Tell self again- 35 mpg!!)
Add 1 job: 50 mile round trip commute each day- work from home 1 day per week. (see also above, 35 mpg car) Avoid rush hour to avoid idling.
Add an already-built townhouse with Southern Exposure that shares utilities. Subscribe to power company’s “green energy” program to use 50% wind energy. Add upgraded attic insulation, a few gallons of low-VOC paint and live with the old purple carpet until can afford recycled-material new carpets. Do NOT add A/C- enjoy basement during summers.
Add 1 elementary school just under 1 mile away- bike to & from unless bitterly cold (be warned: 8 year olds define “bitterly” somewhat differently). Add warm coat and umbrella. Teach to ride bicycle one-handed. Deny all claims that this is child abuse.
Mandate that most clothes be purchased secondhand- anything worn by an 8 year old is going to be destroyed immediately anyway. Add rule that “actually new” clothes must be of organic materials whenever possible.
Add food bought in minimally-packaged bulk amounts. Do this rarely to save gas. Take own bags. Don’t buy single-serve anything.
Add organic products. Subtract tested-on-animal products, products imported from the other side of the planet for no reason, products you saw on TV, and anything you could get secondhand.
Add the twirly lightbulbs that take a minute to get bright and stick way out of the fixtures downstairs but which haven’t had to be replaced in 3 years & counting.
Add an “it’s not THAT dirty!” laundry policy, add condensed ecofriendly detergent, combined with a new energy-star gas dryer and the cheap ancient washer that came with the house: permanently set to Cold Water Wash. Subtract bleach- despite what the commercials say, nobody’s judging you on your whites!
Add entirely inherited furniture to save money- spend to replace a couple of the criminally inefficient appliances like the fridge. Maintain that empty rooms are Zen-like. Add furniture as garage sales and freecycle allow.
Add rolls of recycled unbleached toilet paper and “This is NOT a paper towel!” organic-cotton kitchen towels. Add ecofriendly cleaning products.
Add Family Rule that all holiday gifts given to adults must be Fair-Trade, Organic, Sustainable, Ecofriendly, or all of the above. Learn that people are delighted to get a pound of fair-trade shade-grown coffee and fair-trade chocolate bars wrapped in a reusable shopping bag with a pretty design. Consider Adopt-A-Water Buffalo or similar from Heifer or WWF. People don’t need more STUFF!
Add common sense: an 8 year old would not be consistently delighted with with such a gift, so add Captain Underpants books or Pokemon manga from Paperbackswap.
Subtract disposable anything. Recycle/compost/donate/freecycle what you dispose of.
Speaking of which- realize in 1st week of 1st grade that school lunch is served on styrofoam trays which are immediately thrown away- subtract school lunch. Add reusable lunchbag & sandwich boxes. Add fifty cent mismatched spoons at Goodwill, to prevent loss of own precious inherited silverware.
Subtract the American conviction that you must have a new electronic device every 6 weeks to be a success.
Subtract the need to HAVE. Substitute the need to BE.
This post was submitted by Mia Wederski.
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