This is not the way to go about a “No Impact” Lifestyle.
Living causes an impact on the environment. The only way to live a “No Impact” Lifestyle is to either not be born or to die. Not existing is the one and only way to have no impact on the environment.
Now, “Low Impact” – that’s possible. But, it needs to be done with thought and care. There are some things that, as a living being, are essential. There are others where the “primitive” version causes a greater impact than the more modern. For example – toilet paper. At the moment, there really isn’t a better substitute for the task. We can use recycled, no perfume, no color toilet paper to reduce the environmental impact. That will make a substantial difference if enough people convert. Using primitive alternatives actually has a greater impact – count the cost of using cloth rags for this – and the subsequent laundry bill; or using lots of water to flush the area clean- again, not an environmentally sound practice. Inside a city limit, living in an apartment or condo or hi-rise equipped with reasonably modern plumbing, the lowest environmental impact is using recycled toilet paper, not no toilet paper at all.
Consider transportation – using bikes means accepting all the environmental impact producing that bike cost. Walking involves wearing shoes – another item of environmental impact. Eating alone has a great environmental impact whether one chooses to eat locally or to eat anything at all.
We can’t live a “No Impact” life and live.
However, we can make responsible choices. Installing a low-flow showerhead if you haven’t already; those Japanese have weird toilet set-ups, but some are very environmentally aware (like the one that allows you to choose your waterflow based upon your “deposit” so you use less water than our American “low flow” toilets which are an utter joke); using a dishwasher instead of handwashing (because new dishwashers use less water than handwashing does); changing lightbulbs to the more energy-efficient ones – and using a higher wattage so you use fewer bulbs to achieve the same degree of lighting; using a Bokashi odorless countertop composter would eliminate the smell of being a home composter; using cloth napkins and dish towels instead of paper is a reasonable choice; bringing your own lunches with your own cutlery is good as is using the refillable cups and mugs.
Consider your lifestyle. Look at it really well, and see where you can easily make changes. Do that as your first step.
Once you are comfortable with those changes (and really, it shouldn’t take any time at all to make some switches – the lightbulbs, for instance), look at your lifestyle again and see where you can make greater differences, and implement them.
Walk where you can when you can, but don’t fret too much if you need to use mechanical transportation. If you live in a sprawling city like I do, where everything seems to be 4 or more miles away, just pre-plan any trips. Mapquest is your friend. And take a page from UPS, they plan their delivery routes so the drivers make mostly right turn – speeding up both the delivery and reducing the amount of fuel the drivers expend in driving because making right turns means waiting less time at the corners. When you plan extensive shopping trips, use MapQuest and see how you can plan your route so you travel the shortest distance with the fewest left turns. If possible, car pool with a friend or run errands for a housebound neighbor on these trips. And lobby for alternative, non-bio-based fuels.
Why non-bio-based fuels? The search for bio-fuels, while it sounds good in theory, isn’t viable in fact. It takes more acreage to grow corn and soy for biofuels than it does to feed people and livestock, driving the cost and bounty of food up. Biofuels aren’t efficient enough to power our vehicles. However, there are fuel alternatives that are cheap, environmentally sound, and won’t impact our food sources: the Air Car is one such alternative, solar powered cars work for in-city use, fusion-powered cars would have the power and range we’ve come to expect , and hydrogen fuel cell conversion cars may also power our need to travel.
Instead of thinking “No Impact” we should be thinking “Lower Impact”. When faced with alternative ways of accomplishing something, we should consider which way will accomplish the required task with the lowest amount of impact. And “impact” varies.
Consider Food Miles and the Hundred Mile Diet and other such local foods movements. These are great, and I love them, but humans have spread to places where participation in such movements isn’t viable. There’s also the global aspects of such a movement. By buying Fair Trade food imported from other countries, we help those countries gain prosperity and end their own battles against poverty, hunger, and deprivation. Yes, definitely buy local any food that is grown locally. Do what you can to encourage your local farmers to grow a wider range of foods. Join a CSA, shop at farmer’s markets, and buy locally produced foods when you can. But fill in the gaps of your diet with imported foods that are responsibly chosen – salt, spices, coffee, tea, even some fruits and vegetables. Buy Fair Trade when you buy imported foods. That way, you are helping both your local economy and increasing your local food choices and you’re helping the global economy.
Clothing is another area that is ambiguous. We don’t need to blindly follow fashion, changing our entire wardrobe each month to keep up with the fads. We do need clothes and shoes. Buy responsibly here, too. Buy natural fiber clothes instead of ones made from oil (polyesters, some rayons, olefin, and fake silks are all oil-based fabrics). Find what looks good on you – your “signature” look – and stick with it instead of trying to look like everybody else. Get clothes that are made by people being paid a fair wage. Leather is not evil – we eat meat, we might as well use the leather that comes from eating meat instead of wasting it. I’d rather a nice, well-made pair of leather shoes than a pair made from oil – a component in so many man-made shoe materials. Consider wool blankets and feather beds and cotton comforters instead of poly-fill and and polyester blankets and bedding. You’ll look fabulous regardless of the current fashionable rage and your bedding and house linens will last longer and look great and be low-impact on the environment.
You’re bright, I’m sure you can think of many other ways to reduce your impact and still live a comfortable urban/suburban lifestyle. So, go for it!
