Christmas is coming, so my mind is turning to stocking stuffers: growing up, that always meant new toothbrushes. Now that my kids are adults, the only one who still gets toothbrushes is my daughter, as she goes through them at an alarming rate.
The problem is that toothbrushes are generally made of non-recyclable plastic. I have tried bamboo and wooden brushes but they don’t have as many options to achieve the perfect plaque-removing brush.
I did find a good dental floss in a refillable container, but by the time I needed a refill, they were no longer sold except via Amazon and I’m not ready to do that yet.
It’s a very first world problem, but it’s hard to be a good environmentalist when I can’t even get the little things right..
An Asia woman in a green shirt brushes her teeth in front of a mirror. Image: Wikimedia commons
Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage is a group I would like to join. Sadly, the group works in Cape Cod, so I can’t actually join, but how awesome is their mission statement from their website?
In 2017, Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, OLAUG, was formed. We have been cleaning up ponds on Cape Cod from Falmouth to Chatham ever since. Gathering small teams of swimmers, ages 65 to 85, we sweep along the shallows, diving down to pick up beer cans, golf balls, fishing lures, waterlogged dog toys, hats, jackets, shoes, and occasionally a tire, cell phone or box of spent fireworks.
Whatever we heave up from the bottom, we hand to the Garbage Collector who paddles a canoe or kayak. Our affection and respect for the fish, turtles, and plants that live in the ponds are what motivates us. Well, that and cookies.
Five women stand in thigh deep water holding a toilet they have pulled out of the water. They all have huge smiles and are obviously very pleased with their “catch”. Photo is from the OLAUG Facebook page.
I heard a couple of the members interviewed a few weeks ago and was impressed with the level of fitness required.
Swimmers, without fins, need to be:
able to swim ½ mile freestyle in 30 minutes or less
able to swim a mile
comfortable spending 1.5 hours in the water, with a lot of treading water
comfortable and proficient swimming with mask and snorkel
comfortable diving down 6-9 feet to retrieve trash.
Kayakers need to be able to:
maneuver easily without knocking into swimmers
keep your kayak steady while receiving sometimes heavy trash on one side from a swimmer
keep your kayak steady in windy conditions
keep track of swimmers and tell them if they are getting too far away
paddle while a tired or injured swimmer hangs onto the bow
right themself or get safely to shore should they capsize.
There are tryouts to ensure everyone can meet the standard.
I sometimes pick up underwater trash when I’m swimming, and I follow various organizations who clean up ocean plastics, or rescue animals snared in fishing gear or other materials, so I have an extra appreciation for the work these women are doing.
The organization is small but starting to grow in new locations. If someone were to open a chapter in the Ottawa area, I would love to join.
A line of women, most wearing red shirts, stands on a sandy beach in front of a collection of trash that probably came from the water in the background.
Belated happy Earth Day. I wish I were actually happier about it. Instead, I have come to realize that I am a bundle of climate anxiety.
I used to love to travel and all my bucket list items included exotic locations. Now, I struggle to convince myself it’s okay to drive to the cottage property I own.
I am looking at e-bike options that have the battery power to get me there, and solar panel set-ups so I can recharge batteries to get home again. Right now I’m torn between the Tern GSD (cute and very useful in the city but shorter range) and the Tern Orox (designed for camping adventures, but still requiring a battery boost to get home, and maybe too big to fit into my storage area with all the other bikes).
On top, a Blue Tern GD e-cargo bike with a passenger seat on the back. Below two adults ride Tern Orox e-bikes through the woods. One is loaded with gear, while the other has a child on the back.
I have even debated whether I could use my acoustic bike to get there. 95 km and steep hills strongly suggests “no”.
Once I arrive at the property, will I be able to cook, or will we be under a burn ban or at wildfire smoke advisory again? I have a small camp stove for emergencies, but normally I cook over an open fire, so I’m weighing the merits of various solar cookers.
If I spend a lot of time at the cottage, who will take care of my gardens? I have two small community garden plots, plus my front yard which is mostly given over to herbs, plants that attract pollinators and whatever I can grow in large planters on the walkway, and some fruit bushes and a small bed with asparagus and onions in the back yard.
Gardening and eating local is partly how I manage my anxiety. I’m forced to eat seasonal foods and almost nothing comes wrapped in plastic. I’m not quite full-on vegetarian yet, but I’m getting there because I hate buying plastic-wrapped meat in plastic trays, and because of the greenhouse gas impacts of meat vs beans.
Fortunately, almost everything survives heat and drought fairly well. Unfortunately, I’m not a very good gardener, so aside from green beans and garlic, there is no way I could feed myself for more than a few meals each year.
Other ways to cope? Buying less, buying used, plogging, using the 2Good2Go app and volunteering with Hidden Harvest Ottawa to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste. And volunteering with Bike Ottawa to advocate for safe active transit infrastructure. Somehow that has morphed into supporting denser, walkable mixed-use communities and improved public transit, as well. All those things will help reduce carbon emissions x eventually.
Will it be enough? Not on its own, but at least it keeps me busy and keeps the climate anxiety from morphing into full-on existential dread. I hope.
Diane and other volunteers at the Bike Ottawa display for an Earth Day event in Ottawa.
I started biking year-round in Ottawa last year and fell in love with cycling in a whole new way. I have previously written about it here.
Since then, I did acquire those pogies, coloured lights for my wheels, and a new ski jacket and snow pants which have really helped on the coldest days. I have even been experimenting with ski goggles and a ski helmet for greater warmth.
A bicycle parked in a snowy yard. You can’t see much except orange and green lights on the wheels, white fairy lights along the frame, a red rear light and a white front light that highlights the front basket.
What is less joyful is my actual route to work. Like much of Ottawa’s cycling network, it disappears under mounds of snow and ice pushed off the roads and stored in bike lanes. The same is true of our city’s sidewalks, despite promises to prioritize the people most vulnerable to injury in winter: the elderly, those with disabilities, the people pushing strollers, and the folks who rely on transit, whether by choice or because they can’t afford a car (often single parents, indigenous, people of colour and new immigrants).
In that sense, I’m relatively privileged. I have the flexibility to avoid traveling during peak rush hours, and I am able-bodied and fearless enough to ride a bicycle in traffic, so get to take advantage of the streets that are bare and dry, rather than struggling on icy sidewalks and clambering over windrows left when street ploughs fill in what the sidewalk ploughs just cleared.
If we are serious about addressing climate change, reducing pollution, access to jobs, improving our physical and mental health, and reducing injuries and deaths caused by collisions, we need more access to separated bike lanes. A large study of European cities showed huge increases in bike use when cycling lanes were added.
Sure, we’re not Europe, but take a look at what Montreal has done. The city has been making major investments in bike lanes, and prioritizing them for snow clearance in winter. The result has been massive growth in winter cycling by all sorts of people.
I talk mostly about bike lanes, but pedestrians benefit from many of the things cyclists want – narrower streets, raised crosswalks, safer intersections, improved and accessible public transit, cleared routes, more green spaces and places to rest, have a drink, and enjoy being outdoors.
I can’t fix all those things on my own, but I have discovered a host of allies from Halifax to Victoria, San Diego to Utrecht, who are all working to make cycling and walking safer in their communities. And I have been encouraging colleagues to give cycling a try, at least some of the time – every ride that replaces a car trip helps the environment. There is strength in numbers too, as we are more visible so drivers tend to be more aware.
A mid-January start to #FrostBike season is very late for Ottawa, but maybe – just maybe – my choice of transportation mode will help turn the tide towards cooler temperatures and longer seasons in future, and help make my city a more equitable place to live.
Diane kitted out in a colourful snow jacket, wearing a bike helmet and blue ski goggles. Only her serious mouth and a bit of her nose are visible.
Now I’m feeling less grumpy than when I first drafted this post. It was -23C with the wind chill, and the ski helmet adds considerably to my warmth. It was a great ride especially compared to the snowy conditions going home last night. But honestly? Even a tough ride is better than no ride at all.
Person in a colourful jacket, grey ski helmet, goggles and a black cloth over her face so only her nose is exposed. You can’t see it, but she is smiling.
One was a relatively small study examining “Variations in greenhouse gas emissions of individual diets: Associations between the greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient intake in the United Kingdom” and it found that that in the 212 participants who tracked their food intake for 1-3 days, the diets of men were associated with 41% higher greenhouse gas emissions, as they reported eating eat more meat and drinking more alcohol. It also noted that non-vegetarian diets produced 59% more greenhouse gases than vegetarian diets, and that vegetarians also had lower emissions associated with eating confectionary and baked goods, reflecting healthier diets more generally. There were no differences in emissions based on age or on body size. The study didn’t consider the impacts of various diets on water consumption, another important factor in environmental health.
The second study, “The global and regional costs of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns: a modelling study” was even more interesting to me. It used regionally comparable food prices for 150 countries and paired them with a variety of diets from a standard meat-eating diet through to vegan, included estimates of food waste, economic growth, health costs, and climate change costs, to calculate which diet might be best for the planet.
The conclusions were complicated. Generally, vegetarian diets are significantly less expensive in upper-middle-income and wealthy countries, but more expensive in lower-income countries, without other changes. This is partly explained by the need for those in poorer countries to increase their nutritional intake to meet minimum health standards.
However, by reducing food waste, getting more people out of poverty, and counting the diet-related costs of climate change and health care, vegetarians and diets became much more affordable even in the poorest countries. So much for the argument we sometimes hear about how a healthy plant-based diet is too expensive.
Turning back to the original gender-based headline, neither study considered the gendered role of food preparation, usually unpaid labour in most parts of the world. Eating out, packaged, and pre-prepared foods have been major contributors to food waste and environmental degradation, as well as to the ability of women to work outside the home.
My takeaway? I still eat meat, but I try to live by Michael Pollan’s famous adage for healthy eating: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Since Pollan defines “food” as things that are minimally processed, that means I spend a lot of time growing foods and cooking them. I am fanatic about not wasting anything. Your mileage may vary.
Image: a plate half filled with colourful fruits and vegetables, with small portions of whole grain foods and various animal and vegetables proteins, plus a glass of water. Source: Canada’s Food Guide
Travelling this summer in Europe (Spain actually) I was shocked at the preponderance of bottled water. Plastic bottled water everywhere. I carried a water flask. But that didn’t help at restaurants and it was hard to find places to refill it. By the time I was home I’d had enough.
A memo water bottle, flat shaped, fits nicely in my briefcase
When I got home friends were sharing the campaign for a plastic free July. See here. “Joining the challenge is quite simple…chooseto refuse single-use plastic during July. Plastic Free July aims to raise awareness of the problems with single-use disposable plastic and challenges people to do something about it. You’ll be joining a million+ people world-wide from 130 countries in making a difference.”
“A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change. New figures obtained by the Guardian reveal the surge in usage of plastic bottles, more than half a trillion of which will be sold annually by the end of the decade.”
It’s not that I think individuals taking action is the answer but paying attention to my own actions connects me to the larger cause and keeps the environment in my focus. I also feel less helpless.
I decided to make single use plastic take a way items my focus. No more water bottles, plastic cutlery, and plastic cold beverage containers. I’d already bought washable cutlery and cold beverage washable tumblers and considered myself ready to go. My summer purse (or “hippie side bag” as the kids call it) is starting to feel like a giant picnic hamper around my neck but I am managing.
Straws are an issue and people keep handing them to me. Some people have made the elimination of plastic straws their focus. Sarah bought us each a reusable one and we’ve been carrying them with us. At least they don’t add much weight to the hippie side bag.
So far I’ve faced two challenges, one fitness related and one not.
The non-fitness challenge is ice cream. It’s vaguely calorie and food related. I don’t like ice cream cones and years ago I decided they were empty needless calories. Also, when ice cream is in cones I tend to eat it too quickly because I hate drips. But now I have the plastic cups and spoons to deal with so, for July at least, it’s back to cones. (I’ve been feeding them to my dog.)
The fitness challenge is food and drink during bike rides. I’m not about to start filling my jersey pockets with reusable cutlery and cups. Twice now I’ve landed at a bakery after a long ride and had to use plastic cups. I wasn’t about to not drink iced coffee. After I thought about it having it put in my cycling water bottle but that’s not a good solution either. I wish places used non-plastic cups. It’s not like we were taking the coffee to go.
Here’s our bikes at rest at the Black Walnut Bakery, a favourite place to stop after rides. Here’s hoping they start offering cold beverages in glasses.
