BY NOW, most people know we’re in danger.
We’ve heard about the thinning ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, acid rain, the destruction of the world’s forests, arable lands, and drinkable water. The danger we’re in is enormous: if we don’t do something about it, its results could be as devastating as those of a worldwide nuclear catastrophe. We have finally realized that we cannot continue to dump toxic chemicals and garbage into the water, air, and earth of this planet without eventually killing both it and ourselves — because everything we eat, drink, and grow has its ultimate source in the natural world.
However, most people don’t know what to do. In the face of such an enormous global problem, they feel helpless. But although the problem is global, the solutions must be local. Unless we begin somewhere, we will never begin at all. An absence of small beginnings will spell the end.
During the Depression and the war, conservation was a way of life. It wasn’t called that. It was called saving, or salvaging, or rationing. People saved things and reused them because materials were expensive or scarce. They saved string, rubber bands, bacon fat, newspapers, tin cans and glass bottles, old clothes. They made new things out of old things; they darned socks, turned shirt collars. They grew Victory Gardens. “Waste not, want not” was their motto.
Then came the end of the war, a new affluence, and the Disposable Society. We were encouraged to spend and waste; it was supposed to be good for the economy. Throwing things out became a luxury. We indulged.
We can no longer afford our wasteful habits. It’s Back to the Basics, time for a return to the Three Rs: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Refuse, too, to buy polluting products, and rethink your behaviour. For instance, use less energy: cut your overhead and increase profits, and stave off a tax hike. Dry your clothes on a rack: humidify your home and lower your hydro bill. Leave excess packaging at the store: let them dispose of it. Manufacturers will get the message pretty quick, not just from you but from disgruntled retailers. Start a compost heap. Vote for politicians with the best environmental platforms. Choose non-disposables: razors with real blades instead of the plastic chuck-it-out kind, fountain pens rather than toss-outs. Shop for organic veggies; do it using a shopping basket so you won’t have to cart home all those annoying plastic bags that pile up under the sink. Lobby for country-of-origin labels on all food, so you know you aren’t eating destroyed Amazonian rainforest with every hamburger bite.
Pollution control, like charity, must begin at home. It’s true that industries are major polluters, but industries, in the final analysis, are market- and therefore consumer-driven. If enough of us refuse to buy polluting products, the manufacturers will go out of business. Even a small percentage swing in buying patterns can mean the difference between profit and loss.
This is wartime. Right now we’re losing, but it’s a war we can still win, with some good luck, a lot of good will, and a great many intelligent choices. This book is a guide to some of those choices. Although they are about familiar, harmless-looking, everyday objects, they are, in the final analysis, life-or-death choices.
And the choice is yours.