No Impact Lingers On

Participating in Carol’s No Impact Week didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. I felt certain that I was doing most of the right things to help protect our environment. No Impact week turned that attitude around. I have been doing plenty of things that damage the environment. No Impact Week taught me to look at my behavior and at social customs in a new light.

The first eye-opener, which I’ve already written about, was attending one social gathering after another where huge bags of used plastic were carted away after we ate. What could I do to change that, I wondered. Finally I’ve decided that in the future I will carry my own plate, cup or glass, and utensils and carry them back home with me to wash and use again. I believe that preaching won’t change anyone’s behavior, but maybe a demonstration could.

Mostly, though, I watch my habits at home and have been shocked to see how much water we have thoughtlessly wasted. Our house has powerful water pressure, possibly because we live not far from the Rural Water District Number Two tower. Rinsing dirty dishes used to involve letting a powerful stream of water wash away the debris! That, I must say, was foolish. I was using potable water – a scarce resource in many parts of the word – to do what a little elbow grease would have accomplished in a few seconds. Now we use a wet scrubber to clean off egg yolk and other food debris that would not come off in the dishwasher.

Hand-washing pots and pans and other things not suitable for the dishwasher used to involve half-filling one side of our double sink with hot water and a squirt of liquid dish detergent. Of course I rinsed each washed item with a full stream of hot water. That has changed now. Instead, I select the largest bowl or cooking pot to be washed and run a little hot water and a smaller squirt of dishwashing detergent into it. This vessel become the dishpan in which I wash everything else. Objects don’t need to be completely submerged in dishwater to be cleaned. Even a large pan can be held over the sudsy water to be washed. I also use only a trickle of water to rinse the washed things, and collect several small items to rinse simultaneously.

Next I’m going to purchase a small enamel dishpan, if such things are still made. The ones I remember were big around but rather shallow. When I was a girl ours hung on a nail on the inside of the cabinet below the kitchen sink.

Isn’t it odd how many of the old ways have been lost when they were so smart and frugal?

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer