By Mary Ellen Ternes
There are those who go to an “all you can eat” buffet and are excited by all the options, and those who are just overwhelmed and a little sickened by the sight of all that food. When I was young, I probably fell into the first category, but with kids and responsibilities for shopping, cooking and feeding, my thoughts tend to wander to, “Man, why did they cook all of this? I wonder if it will all be eaten. What a mess to clean up!” I really haven’t enjoyed a buffet since my 20s. It’s just too much for me… and it doesn’t stop there. I love the economy of frugality, and often wish we hadn’t adopted a lifestyle that is so over-abundant and “disposable.” Even before Mr. McGuire whispered “plastics” to Ben in “The Graduate,” we’ve been headed down that consumption spiral of individually wrapped single servings of perishable foods from distant lands – even solitary bananas in zip-locked bags!
Our efforts to live more efficiently and sustainably can greatly benefit from reading about how folks lived during the Great Depression, when the hallmark saying was “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!” Listening to interviews from folks who lived through the Great Depression, I find the degree to which goods were used and reused, and designed for this use and reused, is remarkable — for example, chicken feed was sometimes sold in bags that were manufactured from cloth that was intended to be reused by mothers for sewing into children’s clothes!
These thoughts are well captured by Jim Knowles, editor of the San Leandro Times in California, in his January 6, 2011 column, “It’s All About the Green Thing,” which has turned viral (thanks to my environmental law colleague Bob Kellogg for forwarding it to me!) and is making its way across the country. Jim reminds us that back before we learned to reflexively toss everything into the trash can or plug multiple personal communication devices in to recharge every night, people were happy to have a single electrical outlet: and if there was a TV, it was tiny and there was only one. People walked everywhere, including up stairs and behind a lawn mower, or they took a streetcar. Coke, milk and beer bottles were collected and sent back to be washed and reused. People used cloth diapers because there were no disposable ones, and kids wore hand-me-downs. Pens were refilled with ink, razor blades replaced in a razor, and we really did marvel at indoor plumbing and tap water – if we weren’t still using outhouses and drawing water from a well. While I do love my iPhone and all the other modern technological innovations that actually can simplify our lives and allow greater efficiency, it still seems like things were simpler then.
There is a lot more great reading material out there for folks similarly fond of efficiency. A fun read is the “Eco-Frugal Life Guide,” by Ashley Grimaldo and Luke Knowles, downloadable from the Coupon Sherpa website (responsibly offered with a “don’t you dare print it!”). Ashley and Luke have collected over a hundred pages of tips and advice for living more sustainably using lessons from the Great Depression. While most of us may not need to stuff our coats with newspapers for warmth or collect ketchup when eating out to mix with water for free tomato juice, we probably should try to incorporate other ideas into our lives now: walk when our destinations are within a five-mile radius, and grow our own produce, stop using credit to purchase items, buy sturdy products intended to last a lifetime, line dry our clothes, spend time at home. Ashley and Luke have updated these ideas on hidden energy-wasting appliances and practices, the least expensive purified water and exercising without electricity (we don’t need to burn energy to burn calories).
And there’s always more. While we know the relatively recent invention, the microwave oven, uses a lot of less energy than the stove, one Depression-era idea for cooking pasta is to boil water, and then turn off the heat to let the pasta cook. We also don’t need our food to be so processed! If you have time to eat oatmeal, why buy processed “fast cook” oatmeal when the less pronounced “slow cook” oatmeal requires only three minutes in the microwave? And do we really need to throw everything into the laundry automatically? If hotels save money by asking guests to hang towels after a single shower and forego changing the bed after a single night, then we can too. Of course, this effort requires asking my two boys to use some judgment regarding whether clothes previously thrown immediately into the hamper (a fairly recent personal victory) might be worn again, and if so, then hang them properly rather than simply allowing them to melt into scattered fabric puddles on the floor as a protective layer of carpet covering. This will require close supervision, but that’s probably a good thing – I’ve washed one too many iPod nanos!
Conserved Efforts
Mary Ellen Ternes, Esq. is a former chemical engineer from both the EPA and industry. She is currently a shareholder with McAfee & Taft and co-chair of its Renewable and Sustainable Energy Industry Group, and is serving a three-year term as City of Nichols Hills Environment, Health and Sustainability Commissioner.
This article was published in the July 2011 issue of Slice Magazine. It is reproduced with permission from the publisher. © 2011 Southwestern Publishing.