[EcoDharma] ECO-Life

[Meitou]

When we first moved here we had to wait a couple of weeks before we could get a washing machine. I hand washed everything, either in the double sink or over the bath for bigger items. I found it really hard and decided back then that the one item essential to living was a washing machine.
Then I thought about my mum; she never had a washing machine, she raised two of us in the time of towelling nappies, which she boiled everyday in a 'copper' on the stove top, she then put everything through a hand turned mangel/wringer, and I have not very fond memories of helping her put dripping sheets through the wringer (outside!) in weather so cold that they dried on the washing line as stiff as boards.
And I couldn't deal with a couple of weeks of hand washing! I'm more mindful these days of how often I use the washer (conserving power, water etc) and have never owned a drier - thank heavens for our fresh air and mild winters.
Now that I'm not buying new clothes for at least a year, I'm taking more care of the clothes I have, sometimes handwashing them, repairing when I can and repurposing stuff which is too far gone - salvaging what I can to crochet rugs , rags for cleaning etc.
I like the idea of a what we might call a capsule wardrobe, as I look closer at the whole issue of fashion and consumerism, I too feel some ideas germinating. Once I start to think about these things, it becomes very hard to unthink them!
Thank you everyone for continuing to contribute to thus thread.
Gassho
Meitou
Satwithyoualltoday lah

[Tai Do]

Thank you everyone for continuing to contribute to thus thread.

Thank you, Meitou and everybody, for this thread. I don’t contribute very much here with ideas or stories, but your comments and suggestions have been giving me so much and made me change a lot of things in my life.

Mateus
Sat today/LAH

[Heiso]

I managed to buy my winter coat last week on eBay for £11 including shipping!

We also had to say goodbye to our car in July and since then have had to borrow my wife's mother's a couple of times which has worked well. I know it won't work for many but I do wonder if car pooling/sharing could be a good option for people if done properly.

Gassho,

Neil

StLah

[Meitou]

Thank you, Meitou and everybody, for this thread. I don’t contribute very much here with ideas or stories, but your comments and suggestions have been giving me so much and made me change a lot of things in my life.

Mateus
Sat today/LAH

Mateus, I always regard you as one of our most sincere and dedicated practitioners and contributors - that you are often a presence here is a contribution in itself, Thank you.
Gassho
Meitou
sattodaylah

[Meitou]

I managed to buy my winter coat last week on eBay for £11 including shipping!

We also had to say goodbye to our car in July and since then have had to borrow my wife's mother's a couple of times which has worked well. I know it won't work for many but I do wonder if car pooling/sharing could be a good option for people if done properly.

Gassho,

Neil

StLah

Excellent! As I'm not buying new and we don't have charity or thrift shops here, I'm hoping I haven't 'outgrown' my old winter coat
I never learnt to drive, yes incredible I know, and although my husband has a car, I walk everywhere if I can. I'm lucky that I live in a small town and can walk to supermarkets etc.
I think car sharing is a great idea, I'd bet there are other people in your community who would be up for that - as well as investigating public transport, often so underused and inexpensive. I've always felt that the more people use public transport, the better it would become in response.
Gassho
Meitou
sattodaylah

[Onka]

Not so sure my partner and I make that much of a positive difference in terms of ecological impact but certain elements of what many have said in this thread resonate especially Kyonin and Ninrin.

We almost live completely off grid in an illegal dwelling that can't be secured and has few windows but do get electricity from a neighbour who has solar panels. Our drinking water supply is from a rainwater tank but we do have access to 'rural water' which is essentially water from the river. We don't have hot water and wash ourselves using a bucket, around 10 litres. We don't have an oven so all cooking and heating of water is done via a small camping style gas ring. I don't remember the last time we bought clothes, but we make and repair many of them. We have a grey water system than waters our plants and have a septic tank for black waste. We have a twin tub washing machine which means we can use one lot of water to do more than one load of washing. It also allows us to use the left over grey water to water our bamboo. We grow whatever we can and we have the approach of accepting whatever we can grow in a particular season as what we'll be eating a lot of. Sometimes for example we have more pumpkins than we can eat while other times we have more zucchinis than we know what to do with. We don't have too many gardens as such, more that we throw out seeds and scraps and whatever comes up comes up. We don't have a phone line and mobile reception is patchy. When we go into town we try to avoid plastics as there is no recycling program where we are. All sounds pretty idillic and eco friendly but our closest town is around 30km away, there's very little in terms of public transport, a twice daily bus service that is about 7km from where we live, and we drive a diesel ute which we need to carry round bales and stock feed plus I need to get us to many regular medical appointments so that possibly undermines everything else. Anyway...
Gassho
Anna
ST

[Tairin]

Death of a Swiffer mop

For those that don’t know what I am talking about https://swiffer.com/en-us/shop-produ...op-starter-kit

I grew up close to both sets of grandparents. My grandparents were survivors of the Great Depression and like many survivors it led them towards humble, frugal lives. Both my grandfather and my dad are quite handy. My grandfather in particular was quite adept at repairing items. He also kept random bits and pieces of stuff around just in case he needed them. That rubbed off on me. If something breaks down my first instinct is to try to repair or salvage it. What I am finding is that it is getting increasingly harder. The Swiffer mop is a good example. My wife bought it years ago. It is primarily made of plastic with a hollow metal rod. It has started to wear out where it no longer squirts cleaning fluid consistently. Yesterday i took it apart to see if there was anything that could be done to fix it. Sadly no. The plastic is just wearing out. It isn’t a serviceable item. No one would even think of repairing these things. Just buy a new one. Sadly we are in that position too. I’ll keep the metal rod. I may be able to find something I can use it for. The plastic will end up in landfill. It isn’t recyclable material.

It struck me that when we think of a ecologically friendly life we need to consider our purchases and the the life cycle of those possessions particularly in a economic climate that expects us to buy, use and discard/replace.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Eva]

Hello Tairin,

your name means Peaceful Woods, so I was thinking why not use the cuban mop

https://www.amazon.com/IMUSA-I522-28-Cuban-Wood-Stick/dp/B0018E6OKC?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

Just an idea, nothing more.
Gassho, eva

sattoday and also LAH

[Ishin]

I’m grateful for this thread and for everyone working around the world and here trying to make a difference. I have been interested and concerned about environmental issues ever since I was a child. Seeing the rest of the planet as ourselves is very much part of this practice. Given deforestation, pollution, decimation of species etc. it can seem very daunting indeed to even know where or how to make a difference. As other’s have stated any small thing is a step in the right direction. However, our passion for these kind of efforts can sometimes get us worked up to the point where we can act without wisdom, and given the capitalistic nature of the business world, there’s no shortage of charlatans trying to take advantage of those passions, marketing products that aren’t necessarily as environmentally sound as they claim. We must balance compassion with wisdom. For example, electric cars sound like a good idea on paper, but the exotic metals mined to create them might be having more of a negative impact than normal cars. You can have your milk delivered in bottles rather than plastic, but if everything you buy has to be delivered separately then how much of an impact is that having? My point is we must really try to be objective, thoughtful and wise about all this and not get caught up in some emotional movement that only makes us THINK we are doing something.

I have a yard and keep a good 20% of it completely wild. When I was working in my small garden this week, pulling “weeds” away from my tomatoes; I noticed a butterfly landing and continually coming back to certain types of the weeds. So I even kept a small part of my garden for the weeds,which are part of the butterfly flapping it’s wings everywhere.

Gassho
Ishin
Sat today/ lah

[Tairin]

Hello Tairin,

your name means Peaceful Woods, so I was thinking why not use the cuban mop

https://www.amazon.com/IMUSA-I522-28-Cuban-Wood-Stick/dp/B0018E6OKC?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

Just an idea, nothing more.
Gassho, eva

sattoday and also LAH

Neat idea. Thank you. I am sure I could make on of these.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Nanrin]

Not so sure my partner and I make that much of a positive difference in terms of ecological impact but certain elements of what many have said in this thread resonate especially Kyonin and Ninrin.

We almost live completely off grid in an illegal dwelling that can't be secured and has few windows but do get electricity from a neighbour who has solar panels. Our drinking water supply is from a rainwater tank but we do have access to 'rural water' which is essentially water from the river. We don't have hot water and wash ourselves using a bucket, around 10 litres. We don't have an oven so all cooking and heating of water is done via a small camping style gas ring. I don't remember the last time we bought clothes, but we make and repair many of them. We have a grey water system than waters our plants and have a septic tank for black waste. We have a twin tub washing machine which means we can use one lot of water to do more than one load of washing. It also allows us to use the left over grey water to water our bamboo. We grow whatever we can and we have the approach of accepting whatever we can grow in a particular season as what we'll be eating a lot of. Sometimes for example we have more pumpkins than we can eat while other times we have more zucchinis than we know what to do with. We don't have too many gardens as such, more that we throw out seeds and scraps and whatever comes up comes up. We don't have a phone line and mobile reception is patchy. When we go into town we try to avoid plastics as there is no recycling program where we are. All sounds pretty idillic and eco friendly but our closest town is around 30km away, there's very little in terms of public transport, a twice daily bus service that is about 7km from where we live, and we drive a diesel ute which we need to carry round bales and stock feed plus I need to get us to many regular medical appointments so that possibly undermines everything else. Anyway...
Gassho
Anna
ST

Sounds like we have a lot in common. Thanks for your practice comrade.

Nanrin

Sat today

[Meitou]

Not so sure my partner and I make that much of a positive difference in terms of ecological impact but certain elements of what many have said in this thread resonate especially Kyonin and Ninrin.

We almost live completely off grid in an illegal dwelling that can't be secured and has few windows but do get electricity from a neighbour who has solar panels. Our drinking water supply is from a rainwater tank but we do have access to 'rural water' which is essentially water from the river. We don't have hot water and wash ourselves using a bucket, around 10 litres. We don't have an oven so all cooking and heating of water is done via a small camping style gas ring. I don't remember the last time we bought clothes, but we make and repair many of them. We have a grey water system than waters our plants and have a septic tank for black waste. We have a twin tub washing machine which means we can use one lot of water to do more than one load of washing. It also allows us to use the left over grey water to water our bamboo. We grow whatever we can and we have the approach of accepting whatever we can grow in a particular season as what we'll be eating a lot of. Sometimes for example we have more pumpkins than we can eat while other times we have more zucchinis than we know what to do with. We don't have too many gardens as such, more that we throw out seeds and scraps and whatever comes up comes up. We don't have a phone line and mobile reception is patchy. When we go into town we try to avoid plastics as there is no recycling program where we are. All sounds pretty idillic and eco friendly but our closest town is around 30km away, there's very little in terms of public transport, a twice daily bus service that is about 7km from where we live, and we drive a diesel ute which we need to carry round bales and stock feed plus I need to get us to many regular medical appointments so that possibly undermines everything else. Anyway...
Gassho
Anna
ST

Wow Anna, I am impressed by your off grid life, it's my dream to live in a very small dwelling, preferably a caravan and be as self sufficient as possible. However I can imagine how difficult your life must get sometimes, and I wonder if the temptation sometimes arises to go an easier route, it would for me, so well done for sticking with it and having such a great attitude . I really liked your comments about eating food in season - we do mostly that here in Sardinia and in fact when we came here in 2002 it was rare to find anything imported, even from mainland Italy, although that has changed somewhat - at a price. My Sardinian husband was born in the very small town that we now live in, but when he was around 5 years old, his family were given land under a scheme created by Mussolini , in which people living in absolute poverty were able to move out of the towns into small holdings. I remember Stef talking about how sick he used to get of having to eat peppers, zucchini and melanzane all summer! It's still much the same really but he no longer complains, we are aware of how good the quality of our food is and I try only to buy local produce. My one extravagance is the occasional avocado - imported, so therefore expensive. Stef's sister still lives on the small holding which today is part of a thriving cantina co-operative - we get eggs from her free ranging chickens and grapes from her vines. Again all sounds idyllic, but I know it's a lot of very hard work, and lliterally full time - plants don't care about holidays!

I follow Dr Michael Mann on Twitter and he has some great stuff to say about climate change and is a real mover and shaker, but he also stresses that while it's great that as individuals we all take these steps to change our lives, the real change has to come from a huge shift in corporate thinking and behaviour.While keeping that in mind, perspective is needed. Yes it would be really easy to just say to hell with it then, I'll continue living as I always have and wait for big business to change, but I think it's really important that individuals start to take responsibility for how they live, rather than measure what they're doing against an impossible yardstick. In a way that fits in well with our vows to save all sentient beings though beings numberless etc - an impossible task but we commit to it anyway.

Tairin - built in obsolescence is seriously one of my pet peeves and has been for about 30 years, long before we knew anything about climate change, and thought that giving up hair spray ( a big sacrifice in the 80's!) was going to save the ozone layer TV's, fridges, washing machines were all built to last a lifetime. I bought a washing machine about 30 years ago and was told it would last 10 years max. Now if I have to buy white goods, I'm told the life expectancy is 5 years max - but my experience has been that things last about one month after the guarantee has run out, so 2 to 3 years. It's not always that we perpetuate consumerism, sometimes it's thrust upon us.
I like the cuban mop, I'd never heard of that before.

Gassho
Meitou
sattoday

[Heiso]

Not so sure my partner and I make that much of a positive difference in terms of ecological impact but certain elements of what many have said in this thread resonate especially Kyonin and Ninrin.

We almost live completely off grid in an illegal dwelling that can't be secured and has few windows but do get electricity from a neighbour who has solar panels. Our drinking water supply is from a rainwater tank but we do have access to 'rural water' which is essentially water from the river. We don't have hot water and wash ourselves using a bucket, around 10 litres. We don't have an oven so all cooking and heating of water is done via a small camping style gas ring. I don't remember the last time we bought clothes, but we make and repair many of them. We have a grey water system than waters our plants and have a septic tank for black waste. We have a twin tub washing machine which means we can use one lot of water to do more than one load of washing. It also allows us to use the left over grey water to water our bamboo. We grow whatever we can and we have the approach of accepting whatever we can grow in a particular season as what we'll be eating a lot of. Sometimes for example we have more pumpkins than we can eat while other times we have more zucchinis than we know what to do with. We don't have too many gardens as such, more that we throw out seeds and scraps and whatever comes up comes up. We don't have a phone line and mobile reception is patchy. When we go into town we try to avoid plastics as there is no recycling program where we are. All sounds pretty idillic and eco friendly but our closest town is around 30km away, there's very little in terms of public transport, a twice daily bus service that is about 7km from where we live, and we drive a diesel ute which we need to carry round bales and stock feed plus I need to get us to many regular medical appointments so that possibly undermines everything else. Anyway...
Gassho
Anna
ST

Oh wow, Anna, you really do live your anarchism!

Gassho,

Neil

StLah

[Kendrick]

I have been contemplating the issue of clothing (in America at least). I know many of us patch and repair clothing to make our clothes last longer. However, in every workplace I've ever worked in (even industrial ones) there are very strict dress codes in place against "worn" clothing. A couple places I've worked have been as strict to not even allow clothing to be worn that is slightly faded in appearance. Tear a small tip in a pair of work pants? You have to buy new pants in those places since patching and sewn marks arne't allowed. Any frayed clothing, any holes, stains, tears, scuffs, or other wear marks render that article unwearable at work in those places. The only repair that can really be made while keeping to the dress code is resewing loose seams. Many of those places with those dress codes are low-wage jobs like fast food places, retail, factories, etc. meaning when the employee now has to replace something it's very likely they then also go for the cheapest option (since replacement is required so frequently). This drives fast fashion, encourages waste and overconsumption, and also has a very unhealthy dose of attaching value to people based on what they are wearing. Does a small patch on a pair of pants or a stitched tip on a shirt REALLY mean an employee is somehow less capable or less professional? I would definitely say NO, however that is the general mindset of many employers who worry customers look at their employees that way - critiquing their attire as if that person is somehow "dirty", or "lazy", or "underpaid" (which would make the company look bad). The school system dress codes are also VERY similiar for our students. No rips, holes, tears, patches, etc are allowed to be worn at school which also presents a serious problem for low income families.

This is a difficult barrier, socially, we need to overcome.

While my current employer is a small business and doesn't have a written dress code I'm sure I couldn't get away with wearing visibly worn clothing in my position without it at least being mentioned or looked down on. The vast majority of my clothing would be totally unacceptable in most work places, and something as simple as a drop of ketchup landing on a pair of pants can render an article totally unwearable again at those jobs.

The same issue goes with shoes as well, and even extends to moral issues somewhat. No scuffs, no worn soles, no messed up strings, and my previous employer required their retail workers all wear REAL leather shoes - no synthetic leather, no canvas. This wasn't even based on safety, it was in place for comformity and standardizing appearance - they thought shoes that weren't real leather were "cheap" and "unprofessional". Keep in mind those employees made $8/hour hanging clothes and running cash registers. While I am not a vegan, I posed the question to them anyway about requiring vegans at our company to use animal products and was met with "these are the rules they will follow". Same applied to religious headwear (not allowed), and jewlry (only a wedding ring was allowed).

All in all, with such unyielding and strict dress codes, it might be a large part of our mindset when it comes to consumption of clothing.

Gassho
Kendrick
Sat/LAH

[Onka]

I have been contemplating the issue of clothing (in America at least). I know many of us patch and repair clothing to make our clothes last longer. However, in every workplace I've ever worked in (even industrial ones) there are very strict dress codes in place against "worn" clothing. A couple places I've worked have been as strict to not even allow clothing to be worn that is slightly faded in appearance. Tear a small tip in a pair of work pants? You have to buy new pants in those places since patching and sewn marks arne't allowed. Any frayed clothing, any holes, stains, tears, scuffs, or other wear marks render that article unwearable at work in those places. The only repair that can really be made while keeping to the dress code is resewing loose seams. Many of those places with those dress codes are low-wage jobs like fast food places, retail, factories, etc. meaning when the employee now has to replace something it's very likely they then also go for the cheapest option (since replacement is required so frequently). This drives fast fashion, encourages waste and overconsumption, and also has a very unhealthy dose of attaching value to people based on what they are wearing. Does a small patch on a pair of pants or a stitched tip on a shirt REALLY mean an employee is somehow less capable or less professional? I would definitely say NO, however that is the general mindset of many employers who worry customers look at their employees that way - critiquing their attire as if that person is somehow "dirty", or "lazy", or "underpaid" (which would make the company look bad). The school system dress codes are also VERY similiar for our students. No rips, holes, tears, patches, etc are allowed to be worn at school which also presents a serious problem for low income families.

This is a difficult barrier, socially, we need to overcome.

While my current employer is a small business and doesn't have a written dress code I'm sure I couldn't get away with wearing visibly worn clothing in my position without it at least being mentioned or looked down on. The vast majority of my clothing would be totally unacceptable in most work places, and something as simple as a drop of ketchup landing on a pair of pants can render an article totally unwearable again at those jobs.

The same issue goes with shoes as well, and even extends to moral issues somewhat. No scuffs, no worn soles, no messed up strings, and my previous employer required their retail workers all wear REAL leather shoes - no synthetic leather, no canvas. This wasn't even based on safety, it was in place for comformity and standardizing appearance - they thought shoes that weren't real leather were "cheap" and "unprofessional". Keep in mind those employees made $8/hour hanging clothes and running cash registers. While I am not a vegan, I posed the question to them anyway about requiring vegans at our company to use animal products and was met with "these are the rules they will follow". Same applied to religious headwear (not allowed), and jewlry (only a wedding ring was allowed).

All in all, with such unyielding and strict dress codes, it might be a large part of our mindset when it comes to consumption of clothing.

Gassho
Kendrick
Sat/LAH

Nice observations Kendrick and well said.
Gassho
Anna

ST