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April 22 is Earth Day, and as the day approaches I've been thinking about little changes I can make to lessen my environmental impact. One thing I like about life in Japan is that certain environmentally friendly behaviors are built into daily life. For example, when we purchase new detergent or soap we buy these thin plastic pouches and use them to refill a thick plastic bottle. At the store you can choose between the regular bottle (pictured on the pouch) and the slightly cheaper refill. Why isn't this simple switch made in the U.S.? By using a thin plastic pouch a significant amount of weight is saved in both plastic consumption and in the Co2 used to ship the detergent. As a bonus, it is easier to carry home a plastic pouch than a heavy bottle. Also, it is required of us to recycle just about everything (we can receive a fine if we don't recycle properly), and the thin plastic pouch goes into the recycling with all other mailable plastics (think potato chip bags, etc.), so the environmental impact is lesser still.
Also on the topic of laundry, it is generally rare to have a dryer here, so all of our laundry is hung out on our balcony to dry. When we first moved here I had a hard time adjusting to this, but after almost two years of clothespin drying, I intend to continue this habit when we move back to the U.S. First off, you use 4 pounds of carbon each time you use a clothes dryer!! Second, I think that using a dryer is hard on your clothing, and I dislike the way my clothes shrink and expand with drying and wearing cycles. Hanging laundry to dry is a really easy change that I would encourage everyone to make, especially as in a typical U.S.-sized home there is plenty of room to dry clothing indoors. I'm sure that not using a clothes dryer would make a dent in the average gas or electric bill as well.
For other ideas to help save the Earth, and to see what your carbon footprint is check out the US EPA Emissions Calculator. I hope everyone can make at least one change in their habits this year! :)
1 comment:
I've been using a clothesline for years. At our last house, it was my next door neighbour who let me use her line because she saw me trying to hang out a load of cloth diapers on my 'gull-wing' style rack which blew over at every breeze.
Our new house came with an ancient badly installed line that we haven't got around to replacing yet...but I still use it.
In some communities it is against by-law to have a clothesline because of the aesthetically unappealing nature of them to certain people. That's coming around though and I hope soon that no such by-laws will exist.
It seems we have so much space here in Canada for unlimited number of landfill sites, that the gov't doesn't seem pressed to require corporations to become more responsible with the product packaging. I could see how the philosophy would be much different in Japan, with there being such a need to use the land as efficiently as possible.
On to the rest of your blog... : )
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