Clay and Wattles

Today, my very lucky 14-year-old daughter won a new Lenovo computer in a back-to-school radio contest. What better time to take a look at Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, which evaluates major manufacturers on the environmental impact of their manufacturing processes and product lifecycles?

A good rule of thumb for determining the impact of a product is how much it weighs: we should worry much more about using an automobile than a disposable cup. As I have previously discussed, electronics are an exception. Because they are full of toxic heavy metals and other dangerous chemicals, they pose a much greater hazard than their size and weight would suggest. As just one example, this slideshow shows some of the frightening implications of electronics disposal in China.

Sadly, the computer which my daughter won is from the manufacturer at the very, very rock bottom of the rankings. You get what you pay for, I guess.

(via Treehugger)

The Slave River Journal, which serves Fort Smith and Fort Chipewyan, has just published an article about my Wood Buffalo trip.

The Yellowknifer also published an article last week (only a summary is available for free online). I was interviewed by Patti Kay Hamilton for CBC Radio but I didn’t get to hear the report.

I think I’m finally ready to write about my recent backpacking journey through Wood Buffalo Park. I had a fantastic time and loved every second of the trip.

Fort Smith, my starting point, is very pretty and an easy place to exist. I walked for three weeks and 350 kms through a huge variety of terrain from jackpine and poplar forests to riverbanks to karstlands to salt plains. I saw many bears, a couple of wolves, a couple of hundred bison, beavers, muskrats, squirrels, an otter, many peregrine falcons, northern harriers, white pelicans, flickers, juncos, warblers, woodpeckers, ravens, gray jays, gulls, frogs, butterflies, trees, flowers, berries, and so on. I followed game trails through lands that no one has visited in summer for a couple of decades, I walked on sandy, rarely-used roads, on narrow ski trails above the Slave River rapids, on gravel access roads, and finally on a busy (by NWT standards) paved highway. I went for 10 days without seeing another human being at one point. Except when I occasionally met a vehicle on the roads toward the end of the trip, I was alone all of the time. I was never, ever, bored or lonely.

I was sore and blistered sometimes. Other times, I had to last without water – or drink unpalatable stuff filtered from bison watering holes. I was tired in the evenings. I walked far and my pack was heavy. I lost weight. It rained a lot and I got soaked a few times. One morning I was woken up by a black bear poking its nose in the window of my tent. Another time, I was charged at short range by a very large bull bison. In other words, I was truly alive.

As a walker, I created virtually no impact at all. In three weeks, I spent nothing, never rode in a vehicle, was only indoors for a couple of hours. I generated about two cups of garbage (not counting packaging I threw away at home – perhaps the same amount again). I left behind footprints, a little bit of well-concealed, biodegradable human waste, a few tiny piles of ashes (perhaps a cup or two altogether) not unlike the ashes created by the periodic fires which occur naturally in the area. It felt amazing to live for three weeks with almost zero direct impact on the landscape.

It occurs to me that this trip was probably the first time in my life since I was old enough to get an allowance from my parents that I survived three weeks without spending any money.

I saw thousands of animal and bird footprints on my trip, but not one single human footprint besides my own on the roads or trails. I saw a few footprints at the official park day-use areas and the campground. Otherwise, not a single one. No one ever walks in the park, except from their car to their nearby goal and back. I suspect it is the same everywhere. The world used to be covered with human footprints, but the footprint has almost disappeared – even as our ecological footprints have grown, our actual footprints have shrunk to nothing.

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping
by Judith Levine
Free Press, 2006

Available at the Yellowknife Public Library (Call Number 640.73 LEV)

Judith Levine and her partner, Paul, decide one day to stop buying anything which is not essential to life. For one year, they buy food and basic toiletries, but eschew new wine, clothing, movie tickets, and so on. Not Buying It is Judith’s diary of the experience.

This book isn’t quite what I expected. Rather than a practical guide to consumer revolt, it is a personal reflection on Levine’s relationship to things and to buying. Levine is a middle-aged New Yorker who spends half the year in Vermont. Her lifestyle and expectations go far beyond the provincial tastes of most of us. She cares about designer clothing, gourmet comestibles, and stylish decor. She and Paul have three vehicles between them and two homes. In one respect, this makes their experiment all the more dramatic, but in another, it seems a bit artificial: I can’t always sympathize with Levine’s longing for “jacquard silk-polyester blend” pants and french feminist films – items which most of us have neither the taste nor the means to enjoy.

What makes Levine’s account interesting is her honest day-by-day assessment of her own motives and feelings about consumption. She and Paul argue and bend the rules and awkwardly make deals with generous friends and family. Levine asks herself hard questions about what she wants and when she wants it; in essence, she becomes a truly self-conscious consumer who finally sees the way that purchases influence our personalities and relationships.

If you are fighting the seductive appeal of consumer products, this book might be the inspirational case study you need to help change your behaviour.

Another little victory today. About eight years ago, I got tired of gas station sunglasses which got lost or broken within days or weeks of buying them. I decided to invest in a pair of expensive sunglasses and a neck strap in the belief that I might look after them better and keep them forever.

I’ve managed to keep the sunglasses all these years, using them almost every day in the summer and frequently in the winter, too (snow blindness!). The neckstrap probably helped prevent me from losing them, but I have to admit that I enjoyed wearing comfortable, good-looking, high-quality glasses – those qualities also induced me to value and look after them better.

The lenses have gotten a bit scratched over the years, and, on my recent trip, I finally scuffed them up to the point of opacity. I was afraid I’d have to buy a new pair, but decided to try getting the lenses replaced. Turns out that because the frames are some sort of special model, the manufacturer doesn’t offer replacements; luckily, the opticians were able to put in generic replacements (they were very apologetic that they couldn’t quite match the tint, but I don’t care) and today I picked up my essentially brand-new sunglasses.

It was very satisfying to get them repaired. Even though glasses are small and light with a relatively small impact, I felt really good that my initial investment has paid off. I believe it is usually worth buying a quality item which lasts rather than cheap, essentially disposable Walmart-style crap; this is one small example where I was right. Maybe I really will be able to keep these glasses forever.

While I was away I had a few anxious moments thinking about my garden. Is it getting enough water? Is my family remembering to weed? Is anything actually growing?

Well, I needn’t have worried. I came back to peas, green peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, zucchinis, beets, turnips, potatoes, swiss chard, herbs, an eggplant(!), and more. What a treat!

The biggest challenge now is getting accustomed to “shopping” in the garden rather than at the store. Our harvest isn’t huge so far, but there’s more coming, so we should be able to eat garden produce for another month at least.

Strangely enough, the less money you spend while travelling, the more likely you are to be changed and enriched by the experience.

-Bruce O’Hara, Enough Already! Breaking Free in the Second Half of Life

Another reward for saving energy: I just received a cheque for $391 from the Energuide for Houses program.

As previously discussed, I took part in the Energuide for Houses program to help reduce the fossil fuel energy we use to heat our home. I saved hundreds of dollars on fuel this year by investing in insulation and improvements to our furnace. I wasn’t actually expecting a grant, but I suppose good things come to those who wait!

I’m back. I walked 350 kms through Wood Buffalo Park and had a fantastic time. I loved walking. I feel like I proved to myself that you don’t need to have a car to have fun! I’ll be catching up over the next few days and will post again soon.