Greener Living One Step At A Time

By Kendra Bobowick

Pick it up and read the label.

Can you reuse it? Is it organic? Can you keep it long enough to give to your children? Is it even worth repairing?

The green answer is Yes.

Awareness starts bit by bit, at least as Booth Library Reference Librarian Joann Smith sees it.

“If everyone does just a little bit …” said Ms Smith, who began going green when she began trying to save on her heating bill. “Cutting back on heat, add insulation, anything to save — while it’s good for the pocket, it’s also good for the environment.”

A little less heat, and better insulation, added up to fewer gallons of fuel needed to warm her home this winter.

When she went looking through the bookshelves at the town’s library recently and gathered a few titles and authors, she soon had a temporary display. Although the display is now down, the books, magazines, and one handout are still available, covering energy-efficient homes, green living, alternative energy sources, organic products, and more. A list of websites includes EarthShip.net, EcoSherpa.com, SolarEnergy.org, EnergyStar.gov, and more.

In October the library boasted a Frugal Living/Giving display.

“There was a particular interest in the display because of the economic times,” noted fellow librarian Andrea Zimmermann. As the economy dragged in late 2008 and homeowners faced what has so far been a cold and snowy winter season, people looked closely at their expenses. The green display offered readers some help, from cooking on a budget to alternative power, Ms Zimmerman said. Since then they have added materials to that collection, and are willing to further bolster their information.

“If we don’t have it, we can get an interlibrary loan,” Ms Zimmerman said. Now, although back on the shelves, the display’s materials simply take a little digging to locate.

Already In Practice

Living a greener lifestyle could start with something practical, like heating bills, but looking past the thermostat, residents including Mary Fellows see green everywhere, from drinking glasses and furniture to pasta boxes, coffee cups and recycling.

“I’m cursed. I don’t throw anything away,” said the Sandy Hook resident who admits she could easily be “buried alive” with “stuff.” She hangs on to newspapers and things that are “easily recyclable.” She even piles up recycling materials as she makes dinner. “I generate a lot of [cardboard] from pasta and cereal boxes,” she explained. “It’s so easy to finish the pasta and pop the box in the recycling.”

Pondering the small parts of each day that can make a person greener, she said, “A coffee cup is a huge thing.” She suggests using your own cup rather than a throw-away paper or Styrofoam cup from a coffee shop. Stainless steel containers for water, rather than plastic bottles, are also something to keep in mind.

“You can carry [the cup] in your car, in work, anywhere that you think you’ll reach for water.” Are you packing a breakfast with your morning coffee to go? “They make containers that you can put a sandwich in and wash it and reuse.” Ms Fellows also speaks up for aluminum foil. “It’s great for recycling.”

She is also inclined to make repairs before she purchases something new. “Don’t toss out a denim jacket. Sew the cuffs or restitch,” she said. Toss out instead the “Oh, I could just get a new one” mentality. Make repairs. Televisions, radios, appliances, or small-engine machinery often need a new part or some mechanical care, for example.

Although clothes may eventually become too threadbare to repair, other purchases could last for generations.

“If you’re going to buy something, buy it for life,” Ms Fellows explained. While speculating that it may be necessary to change consumers’ thinking, she said, “No one has heirlooms anymore — grandma’s jewelry or home furnishings that were part of the family.

“We’re not a generation that buys things to leave for our kids,” she added with a hint of disappointment.

Some purchases are even designed to be temporary, like automobiles, she noted. “We’re a leasing society. What are we going to do with all these cars?” Is it gluttony, she wonders. Peering beyond the day’s immediate boundaries or the cup, water bottle, or sandwich container within arm’s reach, she said, “There is a bigger picture.”

Beyond contemplating just the day, consider the month or the year. Consider the future, Ms Fellows said.

“People don’t think about what is special, what do we want to leave for the future?”

What about all the household items that are in decent shape, but we just don’t use them anymore? If something has value, you can give it away, Ms Fellows said. “Then you have done something good for someone; it’s a great way to help someone out.”

Visit FreeCycle.org, home website of The Freecycle Network, whose mission is “to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources, and eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.”

Ms Fellows is a fan.

“It’s a great way to get things directly to someone who needs them,” she said.

Additional resources are available online at NRDC.org, as well as at Booth Library.

Little Ways We Can Change

Our Green House owner Pam Davis, who operates a business focused on environmentally friendly products in Sandy Hook Center, offers the following ideas that are easily within reach: use a reusable water bottle, bring reusable bags to the grocery store, use all-natural cleaning products, hang laundry to dry, start a compost heap, buy local and eat local, and recycle what you can.

Dan Holmes, the chairman of Newtown’s Clean Energy Task Force, continually urges homeowners, business owners and municipal leadership to make a clean energy commitment. Purchase renewable power through your utility company.

“That sends a strong message to the utility [provider]: ‘We want more of it,’” he said.

Through the task force’s efforts, the municipality has earned solar panels through a state incentive, and made the commitment to purchase 26 percent of its energy needs through renewable resources. With help from task force members or through its website (GoGreenNewtown.com), individuals can sign up with CL&P and request that their utility is purchased from a clean energy provider. For every 100 households that make the change, the town earns another solar panel through the state.