a year without toilet paper and wafflehouse
Posted on March 24, 2007
Filed Under suburban joys, snark, homeownership, environmental crisis |
Just when I was getting ready to admit that I’m having a really hard time making the conversion to CFL light bulbs (global warming or no global warming, the CFL bulb creates an ambiance startlingly like the interior of a Wafflehouse), the NYT publishes an article about the Beavan family and their commitment to a year of no-impact living. A married couple with a 2 year old daughter, the Beavans have given A LOT that is tasty and almost everything that is easy in order to detail the sacrifice required for planet change. They are currently eating only foods produced or grown within a 250-mile radius of their NYC apartment, they are living without appliances, toilet paper, delivery pizza, television, olive oil, elevators or carbon fuel powered transportation. They are even composting food waste in their apartment. Despite this ascetic lifestyle, Mr. Beavan is still blogging in order to chronicle his family’s experiment. 
In addition to the Beavan’s extreme commitment to halting global crisis, there is also the story of the fifteen year old Avery Hairston, who has founded ReLightNY, an organization that, with the help of several non-profit organizations, “will serve as a platform for spreading awareness on environmental issues.” RelightNY, with the help pf the Natural Resources Defense Council, Open Space Institute and HelpUSA, will be distributing the expensive CFL bulbs to lower-income residents of NYC.
Corporate America is also taking up the cause. Both Walmart and Starbucks corporations have made the change over to CFL lighting a corporate priority. According to Fast Company Magazine,
“In the next 12 months, starting with a major push this month, Wal-Mart wants to sell every one of its regular customers–100 million in all–one swirl bulb. In the process, Wal-Mart wants to change energy consumption in the United States, and energy consciousness, too. It also aims to change its own reputation, to use swirls to make clear how seriously Wal-Mart takes its new positioning as an environmental activist.”
So I’m thinking about keeping that CFL bulb in the bathroom as a nod to the Beavans and the Hairstons of the world. I mean really, if I eschew Wafflehouse lighting I may be sorry, given the sump pump in the basement is doing all it can. And global crisis is still in its infancy. But what about the mercury?
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12 Responses to “a year without toilet paper and wafflehouse”
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There’s always just little hitch…
The problem with the media (or perhaps it’s the problem with problems) is that the answers presented are too simplistic, too pat. Unfortunately, to get to the bottom of most problems you have to weight costs and the benefits. That takes experts and experts are always using pesky things like math, regression analysis, parts per billion, etc. Then there’s that whole logic thing with issues like causation verus correlation that gets glossed over (Given that 100% of people born in Massachusetts die, shouldn’t you move to Rhode Island just to be safe?).
That’s why I always like to remember the wisdom of Axl Rose:
cce,
Is there any way to add a “preview” button so that I can see when I forget to format/close a tag?
I don’t know, I’ll ask tech support but I do know that your little hitch link isn’t sending me anywhere. Try again please.
I’ll work on preview option.
I’ve been thinking, as obsessives are want to do, about the morally superior lifestyle that the Beavans have chosen. They are fools. The tragedy of the commons has been ensconced in economic and philosophy since the Greeks. The actions of the Beavans does nothing for polar bears unless everyone joins them. And, between you and I, not many Westerners are going to join them in living without appliances, toilet paper, delivery pizza, television, olive oil, elevators or carbon fuel powered transportation.
Let me give a specific example. Imagine that 50% of Americans, the U.S.A. kind, decided to give up carbon fuel powered transportation, while the other 50% were totally indifferent to their carbon emissions. So what happens? First the price of gas plummets because demand halves. Then something else happens… the “others” start buying R.V.’s. Instead of the six cylinder, they go with the eight. With gas cheaper, flying is cheaper and the others take advantage of it. Slowly, surely, the consumption of gas rises as the “others” take advantage of the windfall brought by their neighbors’ ascetic lifestyle. Eventually, we find ourselves back at the beginning… except 50% of Americans are living a life subsidized on the backs of the greens.
Let me give a different example. If you don’t buy that last Hershey bar, someone else will. It may be personally satisfying and healthy to do without the Hershey bar, but that Hershey bar is still headed for extinction.
Since I’ve already started pissing into the wind, please excuse a brief rant about South Florida water restrictions. It’s now illegal for me to water my lawn during daylight hours. I can’t wash my car. BUT… if I want to drain and fill my 20,000 gallon pool on a daily basis…no problem! Wanna leave the sink running day and night? No problem! And what does it cost me to fill my 20,000 gallon pool? One hundred dollars. I can buy 1,000 gallons of water for $5.12, cart it to the ocean and dump it, but I can’t wash my car. Idiocy.
The danger we face isn’t indifferent ‘fiddling while Rome burns.’ The danger we face is the congratulatory narcissism of those who would bring Perrier to put out Rome’s fires.
© 2007 Plastigon, LLC., A diversified conglomerate.
Ahh, I knew this would kick start the rant, Anymouse. I’m only wondering about your failure to mention just how far some people will go for a book deal. I mean, really, are the Beavans true reformers or are they mere capitalists exploiting the platform of the Greens for their own financial gain? Time will tell but I’d guess that after that book is done they may have a few appliances restored to their apartment.
Sorry about your H2O restrictions. I’d agree, making water more expensive, not restricting certain activities with water, is the only way to inspire conservation.
Drive over to Cocoplum for me and see if they’re obeying water restrictions. Last time there were restrictions down there they seemed to ignore it all together.
What, pray tell, is a “mere capitlist?” And what, pray tell, is wrong with being one?
Capitalism is associated with greed. But capitalism is a system of property ownership, while greed is an inexorable part of human nature. Greed exists in tribal/communal economies. Greed exists in socialist economies. Greed exists in capitalist economies. Altruism exists there too.
One might ask if Warren Buffet, capitalist, is the second greediest person in the world or the most giving. He has agreed to donate 85% of his net worth to charity. That’s 37 billion USD. Ultimately, I think his gifts will advance society far more than the Beavans publicity stunt.
Nothing wrong with being a capitalist, I guess. My only objection is when someone, like Mr. No Impact Man, claims to be something other…a wolf in sheep’s clothing kind of thing.
Another problem I have with our “capitalism” is that I seem to be poorer than everyone else. Where the hells the joy in that? If I were Warren Buffet, I’d be remarkably benevolent AND I’d wash my car by daylight in view of all neighbors who are obeying water restrictions. I would choose my most expensive car, inciting envy and greed and feelings of bitterness.
Envy.
No matter how rich you are, there’s always someone richer. Or better looking, or whatever.
Sometimes I think the key to being happy is to move to a town where you can be
the richest folk around
Another NYT piece of happiness and weatlh, worth a read… “Happiness, possibly the most relevant variable for a study of inequality, is also the hardest to measure. Nonetheless, inequality of happiness is usually less marked than inequality of income, at least in wealthy societies. A man earning $500,000 a year is not usually 10 times as happy as a man earning $50,000 a year. The $50,000 earner still enjoys most of the conveniences of the modern world. Even if more money makes people happier, it appears to do so at a declining rate, which places a natural check on the inequality of happiness.”
This is a heavy read, but it’s still interesting if you just check out the graphs.
Graph one shows that “life satisfaction” has been flat in the United States since 1947.
Graph two shows that “happiness” rises sharply up to 15k USD, approximately, and then becomes sharply less responsive to income increases.
So, I guess the fact that I danced a little jig when Waffle House stared taking debit cards kinda rules me out for this lifestyle?
[…] We talk about global warming and how, we, as humans effect every species on earth. If we decide to be wasteful and greedy then the planet suffers. We have choices, personal choices about energy use and the lives we lead, that directly effect the health of our host and our fellow tenants on Earth. We talk, again, about politics and the importance of voting for candidates we think will adapt environmental policies to help save the planet. We replace our incandescent light bulbs with the CFL variety even though we feel like we are now living at Waffle House. This is a symbolic gesture of individual sacrifice for the greater good. […]