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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
Green Living: Hype or Common Sense?by Art Grindle Green living is a topic that has become increasingly more present in pop culture recently. Everybody's talking about it. To be labeled as "green" is just about the coolest thing a celebrity can achieve these days. Who would have thought a generation ago, that being a green freak would be cool? But here we are - and it's about time! Society is acknowledging that our resources are not infinite and we need to live smarter. Amid all of the hype on TV and other outlets about green living, there are (believe it or not) some nuggets of wisdom. I'm talking about suggestions and ideas that are actually useful and realistic for the average Mainer. There are some proponents of green living who will ridicule anything short of cutting off from the grid and going vegan. For the average person just trying to get by and live happily, that is a bit severe. We don't need to undergo any radical transformations to reduce our consumption. Small, inexpensive changes can go a long way. For example, water conservation is a good place to start. We behave as if we have unlimited water resources. While we are blessed in this part of the world with abundant water, a resident of an arid region where water is in fact fought over would be shocked and appalled watching perfectly clean drinking water being used to wash a car or water a lawn. Frankly, we don't need to water our gardens and lawns with treated drinking water. Collected rain water is ideal for this purpose, especially if you live in a municipal water district that is fee-based. A rain water collection system is cheap and easy to install on your property. For example, I've spent approximately $55 on mine (for the garage roof only) and it supplies enough water for the vegetable and flower gardens. A few gutters, mounting hardware and a used barrel make a rain water collection system. Remember, this is rain runoff that is "wasted" unless collected and used. It's absolutely free. Speaking of gardens, growing your own vegetable garden can have benefits beyond the obvious. Not only does it provide food, it reduces your dependence on the supermarket, which features produce that is transported using fossil fuels, and requires refrigeration. My family and I are enjoying the fruits of our garden having only invested approximately $25 in its creation (not including the gas I used to till the garden spot this spring using a borrowed tiller — let's assume $5.00). I keep pesticide use to an absolute minimum. I used a little Rotenone dust once in a while before the plants become mature. I've taken care of the Japanese beetle problem by hanging a beetle trap upwind of the garden. It is very effective. Almost anyone with a little ground can handle a vegetable garden. We live on a 0.22 acre intown lot. We've also built a compost bin using discarded (that's right — free) wooden pallets. It reduces our monthly waste expense and produces valuable fertilizer, reducing our need to buy or transport fertilizer to keep the garden soil productive. The benefits of these small scale green activities are difficult to quantify. I have not yet measured the amount of municipal drinking water we are saving by using a rain barrel — my system was recently installed — but the math will be pretty simple. By applying a bit of common sense and thinking about what makes sense for you on your own patch of earth, you can filter out the hype and live a little greener. For information about any of our conservation projects please contact Dale Finseth at | ||