SHIFT LIST

A friend of mine made a list gleaned off the Internet of things that could be done to be kinder to our Earthly home, and it inspired me to make my own list. I started writing down things that I have shifted in my life as I become more and more aware of how damaging they are. Most of them are things that everyone can do. I apologize in advance for how long this is! But as I started writing the list I was amazed at how many changes I've made, and in many cases they have made my life more beautiful AND saved me money AND helped the Earth! How can you beat that? So here is my Shift List (that title makes me laugh), which is always being added to as I discover more things I can do to stop contributing to the avalanche.

This first bunch all pertain to food, which we all need to survive!

1. Buy bulk. When you buy from bulk bins you not only stop all that unnecessary packaging, but you save money as well! The health food store I shop at has produce bags for bulk items that are biodegradable, made from corn, so there is no plastic. YAY! At some stores you can bring a container to fill and they will weigh it before you fill it to determine how much you have bought. Then you take it home in the container it's going into anyway!

2. Go organic. Since I started growing my own food I have become so aware of how we are poisoning the soil and water by the chemicals dumped on commercial produce. Everything you buy organic not only stops poisons from going into the soil and water but also going into your own body. Science is now discovering how toxic these chemicals are to our health, but they have not yet been banned. The more we choose organic the better off everyone will be.

3. Buy local. This was a new discovery for me when I moved to Kauai and had an "all Kauai meal". Every single thing grown on this island! Wow. The emissions spewed to transport produce thousands of miles across oceans and continents are enormous, and seldom thought about. If there is not much food produced in your area, see how close you can get to an "all local" meal, and how often you can do that. Maybe something local with every meal! Every mile makes a difference, and every item makes a difference.

4. Less meat. World leaders are FINALLY talking about the huge destruction the meat and dairy industry have on soil, water and air, and the U.N. suggested one day a week to be all vegetarian. I would suggest more! The animal industry has surpassed the auto industry in pollution. The less meat you eat the less pollution you produce. It's even better than not driving a car. I have found life without eating any animals to be fantastic.

5. Grow food. This is pure joy. There is nothing fresher than picking food at home, it costs almost nothing, and you can grow organic produce and not pay extra the way you do at stores! Even if you don't have a yard you can grow food in window boxes on a balcony or lanai, or even indoors. I have a friend who grows food in pots!

6. Food waste. There is a ghastly amount of food thrown out from kitchens every day because people have bought or cooked more than they need so they throw it out, and then more is bought and thrown out the next week. Help stop the waste. It just requires paying more attention to what you already have that needs to get used. Sometimes fridges are a bit scary, but get in there and look around.

7. Compost. A large amount of landfills is kitchen waste that doesn't need to be there. Because of the way landfills are compacted and no air or microbes can get in there, even food doesn't break down and biodegrade. There have been studies done where they dug up portions of a landfill and found apple cores completely intact several years later. Here in Hawaii there are free compost bins offered by the State. It breaks down quickly and actually helps the soil. Even if you don't use it for your garden just keeping all that out of the landfill is a gift.

8. Yummy drinks. Many people are addicted to soda or iced tea or coffee and buy them DAILY in containers that then get thrown out. YIKES. If you crave flavours and sweetener these can be added to water at home and carried in a re-usable container. I make a pot of deliciously flavoured tea every morning, cool it, and the yummy lasts all day.

9. Bottled water. This has become such an out-of-control craze. The biggest bottled water companies like Dasani use TAP WATER! It's not some pure spring water full of minerals from deep in the Earth. The craze has moved people away from taking a re-usable bottle with them and filling it wherever they are. They just buy a new one every day, or even take a new one from their very own fridge next to the tap with the same water! Madness. The amount of plastic being produced for this one industry is unfathomable, and it is completely unnecessary where there is access to a tap that has the same water in it. Researchers have discovered that chemicals from the plastic leach into the water and then are deposited in our bodies. Yikes. So re-fill a stainless steel water bottle right from the tap (filtered is better), and save your own body as well as reducing plastic production.

The next bunch relate to energy use in your home.

10.Phantom Energy. This is a relatively new term referring to a new phenomenon, electronics that never fully disconnect from energy use. This includes your t.v., computer, stereo, v.c.r., DVD player, and a host of other new inventions. Used to be they would stop using power when you turn them off. Now they are constantly using power even when "turned off", and can be 30% of your monthly electric bill. I recently was in a room where I counted 9 things drawing power and not one was in use. That was just one room! Most people don't even know they are burning electricity when things are "turned off". Here in Hawaii our electricity is 95% oil, so we are creating emissions like we are driving cars 24 hours a day with our gadgets. On the mainland lots of electricity is produced by coal which does enormous destruction. The easiest way to stop this energy bleed is power strips that can be turned off with all these things still plugged into them, rather than unplugging everything if it is not in use.

11. Turn out the lights. Same thing as the last one with creating unnecessary emissions from burning electricity when a light is not being used. Lots of people have lights on in every room, sometimes even in the daylight, when they are only in one room at a time. Unless of course you are more talented than I am and can be in lots of rooms at once!

12. Dry clothes in the air. The hot water heater and clothes dryer are the 2 things that use the most energy in a home other than the fridge. We need our food to keep cool, but we don't need to dry clothes quickly unless we are REALLY in a hurry. Even if you don't have the luxury of Hawaii's wind and sun as your dryer, most things will dry overnight indoors just hung up out in the open somewhere. Even when it is raining here things will dry indoors. Every time you don't use the dryer you have stopped pollution from entering the air we all breathe.

13. Cold water. Since the hot water heater is also in the top 2 energy hogs in a home, every time you wash anything in cold water you have helped. This goes for clothes that aren't really dirty, dishes that aren't greasy, and even your shower, unless you live in the Cascade Mountains and the water comes from some underground glacier! (my sister's water will give you frost bite).

14. Fans. Summers bring a HUGE swell in electricity use for air conditioners. So much of the time the same thing can be achieved with a breeze. Fans use a tiny fraction of the electricity an air conditioner uses, and it is done without chemicals. Even better.

This next batch can all help reduce the amount of plastic and other trash floating in our world.

15. Re-usable bags. Some people still get plastic bags with every single purchase they make and then throw them away. The amount of plastic created and thrown EVERY DAY is mind blowing. There are so many sources of re-usable bags now, and the County of Kauai just gave away free bags made from recycled plastic! YAY! Don't leave home without one. If you normally drive to stores leave a stash in your car so they are always available.

16. Alternative containers. The more things you can buy that are NOT made of plastic the better. I discovered how great glass jars are for storing things, so rather than recycle them, I re-use them! Ceramic also makes a great container and if it is for food it won't leach chemicals.

17. Leftovers. This one I don't do often because I usually eat every crumb on my plate, but if there are leftovers at a restaurant, bring your own container and avoid all that Styrofoam that is a really insidious form of plastic as most places won't recycle it even if you want to. My parents have containers that just live in their car as they ALWAYS have leftovers and plan on it!

18. Buy less. It is so hard to buy anything now without some kind of plastic attached to it. So just an act of frugality and not buying it unless you really need it is helping to slow that plastic onslaught. Even if it is not packaged the cost to the Earth just to get it to the store is huge. And since we all live with limited space if we keep buying more and more we have to throw more and more.

19. Buy used. There are so many great places now to get things used besides garage sales. Craigslist is a perpetual garage sale and everything there can not only be kept out of the landfill, but if you buy something previously loved there is no "new" packaging created to house it before it gets to you.

20. Recycle. Here in Hawaii recycling is still in the dark ages. NO TIN CANS for instance. Are you kidding me? In 2010, on an ISLAND. It all goes to the landfill. And there are only a handful of recycling depots on the entire island with NO pick-up, so if you don't make the effort to store it and take it yourself, which most people don't, it ALL becomes trash. But then even in places with curbside pick-up I know some people don't bother. Sigh. Having said all that, there is a lot that CAN be recycled even here including paper, box board, cardboard, number 1 and 2 plastic, newspaper, and glass. The more we do keep using again rather than tossing in the garbage the less is piling up on the Earth.

Finally here are some random things that all help.

21. Drive less. There was a time when I went for long drives in the country just to "unwind". Yikes! Now I know what is happening to the air on our planet, so those days are over. If you can walk or bike, fantastic. If not, being organized to combine trips and buy food for a period of time is better than driving to the store every day for one or two things. Lists have become my friends!

22. Bio-degradable. I've written about this a few times, but here it is again for anyone who may have missed it. The chemicals in our products going down the drain now are not only damaging our own water supplies but killing creatures we love, and coming back to us through the food we eat. There are so many chemicals that cannot be flushed from Nature and they just build up until they kill. There is bio-degradable stuff everywhere now. Soap, shampoo, dish detergent, laundry soap, household cleansers, toothpaste, hand lotions, even sunscreen. Did you know the chemicals and oils in most sunscreen coat the reef and smother it? Now you know.

23. Excess mail. Even places you want to hear from, like the enviro organizations I donate to, send WAY too much mail out. I do most of my reading and donating online now, and found that if you call and ask to go paperless they will happily take you off mailing lists. Whew! Of course the paper can be recycled, but it doesn't have to be created in the first place. Consider getting magazines you like to read at the library or do a sharing with other people who like to read the same ones. Keep more trees from being cut down!

24. Rent. So many people own things they maybe have only used once and then it is stored. Consider renting things. This goes for entertainment too like movies that are watched once and then sit on a shelf. There are lots of great places to rent all kinds of things rather than buying a new one. I get my movies at the library now and it costs one dollar. Sweet!

25. Paper. All paper we use and toss, like paper towels, plates, napkins, toilet tissue, can be made from paper already in circulation in the world. There is no need any more to buy "virgin" paper for these things. Look for a 100% recycled label for the ones with no new trees cut down. Some I have seen are only 20% recycled, so it's o.k. to cut down 80 trees, just not 100? I vote for ZERO trees cut down.

26. Sustainable materials. This is something I am just discovering, but there is now clothing in lots of stores that is made from things like bamboo and hemp that grows fast and doesn't require the huge amounts of pesticide that cotton does. These two plants also are made into other things like paper and wood, and since they can grow in fields that already exist no forests need to be cut down. I have a bamboo shirt that is one of the softest most luxurious things I have ever felt.

27. Soaking. I thought of another one related to power use, but I'm too lazy to change all the numbers to put it up with that batch! When you soak things you can cut down the cooking time required by a lot. I now soak my lentils and beans at least overnight, sometimes longer. This actually starts the sprouting process which apparently releases enzymes that are even more beneficial than just cooking it before it began sprouting. Lentils get so soft just overnight they don't even need to be cooked and can be thrown on salads, or tossed in a pot at the very end with other greens that only need to be barely heated to be tender. And I just learned the coolest thing: when making pasta you don't need to keep the stove on! Just bring the water to a boil and throw in the pasta, turn off the stove, cover it, and let it sit the normal amount of time. It works! Same thing with oatmeal in the morning. I just tried it with my rice too (pre-soaked use 1/2 the normal amount of water), and it even worked with rice. Wow. That is 20 minutes of electricity I don't have to use any more. Fantastic. I love discovering new ways to go lighter.

28. Make lunch. Take out is one of the daily things that creates MOUNTAINS of trash in our society, and it really doesn't have to. Make lunch at home and take it with you in a re-usable container and all that waste disappears. The food you make at home is almost guaranteed to be better for you than anything you get as "fast food", so you get to help the planet AND yourself. YES.

29. Pick it up. Every single day we all encounter a bit of trash laying somewhere. Or lots. Don't pass by it any more. Pick it up. I know it's overwhelming and maybe disgusting, but think about this: if it is washed into a river or the ocean, then broken down into small bits and eaten by some creature that eventually winds up on your dinner plate, that is even MORE overwhelming and disgusting! So don't eat it a few months from now. Pick it up and make sure it gets into a trash bin it won't blow out of.

30. Volunteer. Find an organization you like that is helping the Earth in some wonderful way, and help out. There are so many fantastic groups now doing so many things all over the world, and they all can use more help. It is a beautiful way to learn about your area and specific things that are a concern right where you are. Or do a service trip to some exotic place you have always wanted to visit! There are organizations that do eco service "vacations". You get to see the country and help it at the same time.

Well congratulations if you made it through this entire thing and can still see! There are so many ways to tread more lightly on the Earth and these are only some of those ways. I hope this list inspires you to do as much as you can, and continue to find new ways to help change our legacy of destroying Nature. Looking at the list written out like this I see my choices in life to go lighter on the planet have really shifted a lot. More keep showing up as I keep learning. I'd love to hear what things you have found that help our planet in your daily living. I invite you to leave comments (you can do that under this post. P.S., I love reading comments on all my blogs!) May you find hundreds of ways to help stop the avalanche!

Thanks for listening.