Earth Day Action: Big and Small Changes to Decrease Your Carbon Footprint at Home
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So, while the debate rages on regarding whether there is anything we can do individually to impact climate change, I’m going to write this blog with the assumption that what we do as individuals can help the planet by making changes in our home. Many or our customers are already super committed to reducing their carbon footprint, so I’m mostly singing to the choir. However, since we all eat and need clean clothes, I thought I’d focus on these two areas for this year’s Earth Day blog post.
Washing Clothes
Low Effort | Low Cost
Switch from liquid laundry detergent to powder
Switch from liquid laundry detergent to powdered detergent. Only about 30% of plastic laundry detergent containers are actually recycled. You may want to check about how these plastic jugs are handled where you live.
Switching to dry laundry detergent packed in cardboard reduces the amount of energy that it takes to dispose of the container and is probably more likely to be recycled.
Low Effort | Low Cost
Switch from laundry liquid or powder to laundry sheets
Instead of switching to laundry powder you might consider switching to laundry sheets, look similar to dryer sheets, but have the detergent needed for a load of laundry. A lot less to carry too!
Drying Clothes
Drying clothes in a conventional dryer takes about 6% of the average household budget.[i] Here are a few options for reducing the energy you use to drying clothes.
Low Effort | Low Cost
Use wool dryer balls in the dryer
Purchase and use wool dryer balls in the dryer instead of fabric softener sheets. Using dryer balls in your dryer separates the clothes as the dryer runs, decreasing the time they need to dry by around 25%. Dryer balls come in different materials, but I like wool dryer balls because they are all natural, easier on your clothes and can be used for long periods of times (like years). You can find dryer balls online.
High Effort | Low Cost
Skip Using Your Dryer to Dry Your Clothes
Dry inside or outside with a folding clothesline takes some time but eliminates using your dryer altogether. For those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest or Canada drying laundry indoors may seem like an impossible task, but a few months of experimentation in my cold,1938 laundry room has shown me that in about six hours or less my laundry will be dry. The rack easily folds after use and when folded takes up a few inches next to the washing machine.
Low Effort | High Cost
Use a condensing dryer for heating clothes.
Heat pump dryers use at least 28% less energy than standard dryers. [ii] A heat pump dryer uses refrigerant to catch the hot air from the dryer, sends it through an evaporator to remove moisture and the new hot air is then pushed back into the dryer and the cycle repeats itself. Although heat pump dryers don't require vents, they do need to drain. Making use of a refrigerant as part of this process means less electricity is used to generate heat. Because a condensing dryer dries laundry at lower temperatures, it is gentler on clothes.
Low effort | High Cost
Switch out your conventional water heater for a heat pump water heater
Water heating comprises about about 20% of a home’s total energy. Considering the typical homeowner spends between $1,500 and $2,500 per year on energy that adds up. Heat pump water heaters are generally 4x more efficient than conventional electric water heaters. That means the average household will save about $300-400 per year.
Shopping, Preparing and Storing Food
Between 30-40% of food in the food supply is wasted in the United States. In addition to the financial cost incurred, food waste also contributes to our planet’s CO2 emissions. According to the Washington Post, “The carbon footprint of U.S. food waste is greater than that of the airline industry. Globally, wasted food accounts for about 8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.” [iii] Wasting food contributes 11% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. On top ot the carbon cost, While not all food waste occurs at a consumer level, the biggest amount of food waste (37%) happens in the home and the average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that ends up being thrown away. Here are a few things that you can do to reduce your food waste:
Low Effort | Low Cost
Use reuseable bags for shopping
The average American family uses nearly 1,500 plastic shopping bags each year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. If each bag costs a nickel, that's $75 a year you could save on grocery bags, easily recouping the initial outlay for a fabric bag. In addition, to saving money, each single-use bag that you don’t use is saving the equivalent amount of carbon used to drive eight kilometers. [iv]
High Effort | Low Cost
Plan for Leftovers
Plan for leftovers – not sure what to do with leftover food? There are resources on the web just for such conundrums: Check out Savethefood.com for ideas on what to do with leftovers as well as optimal ways to store food.
High Effort | Low Cost
Reorganize Your Fridge
Does your refrigerator suffer from IFS, like mine does? IFS stands for Invisible Food Syndrome, or food you can’t see because it is hidden or stashed somewhere that made sense at the time you put it in the fridge but then disappears when you need it. If your fridge is exhibiting signs of IFS, maybe it’s time for an intervention.
Organizing your refrigerator and prioritizing food use based on pull dates helps cut down on food waste. Googling, “how to organize your refrigerator to prevent food waste”, will give you millions of ideas on how to develop a better system to managing your perishable items. The end result should be a better organized refrigerator, less food waste and money saved on your grocery bill.
High Effort | Low Cost
Decrease Meat Consumption
You can learn the Carbon footprint of the food you eat at Our World in DATA.
Cutting meat totally out of your diet might not be an option for you, but cutting down can be an alternative. According to a Scientific American article, if every person in the United States. cut their meat consumption by 25 percent, it would reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent.
High Effort | Low Cost
Eat lower down the food chain
By now almost everyone is familiar with the high carbon footprint of beef, but doing your own personal research into the carbon costs of different foods can serve as an inspiration to try change how you eat. While there are slightly different calculations on greenhouse emissions of different foods, it can be empowering to know how much carbon you’ll be saving if you switch to lower carbon foods.
Make Change Matter to Others and Yourself
These last couple suggestions aren’t specific to any activity but can be helpful in making changes to reduce your carbon footprint.
Low Effort | Low Cost
Find and make visible your personal “why”
It’s easier to make and keep commitments when they are tied to something personally important Are you making changes because you won’t to maintain the beauty of trees and plants? Consider a reminder photo near where you are making a change. Are you making changes because you want a better planet for your children or grandchildren? Consider a photo or a piece of their art near your proposed change. Cleaning and reorganizing a refrigerator isn’t much fun, but doing it for a purpose makes it easier.
Low Effort | Low Cost
Talk to your friends and neighbors
Talk to your friends about what you’re doing to reduce your carbon footprint. Recently I started talking to some of my friends about the changes I have made. Some were surprised that there were some simple things they could to do impact the climate. I was surprised when more than one pulled out the laundry detergent sheets from their own laundry room cabinets. Having a friend who hangs her laundry outside inspired me to give it a try. Now we spend a little bit of each time we get together talking about other energy saving things we are doing or are considering as a future options for change. Talking to friends and neighbors reinforce commitment to change and increases collective knowledge and action to reduce carbon emissions.
As stated earlier in this blog post, Small Planet Supply customers are already about the greenest people on the planet. If you have some easy changes that you’ve made and would like to share, send us an email
[i] https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/drying-clothes-with-less-energy
[ii] https://www.energystar.gov/products/heat_pump_dryer
[iii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2021/02/25/climate-curious-food-waste/
[iv] https://www.co2everything.com/category/packaging
