December 2007 "Napkin
Etiquette"
I nearly always use cloth napkins, not to be formal--I use casual cloth napkins for every meal to reduce the waste from disposable paper napkins. My husband and I (it's just the two of us) use a different color napkin so we know whose is whose, and we reuse our napkins several times--that's right--several times before they are soiled and need to be washed.
I have a couple sets of cloth napkins I use for guests, too. The napkins match, but they are each rolled into a unique napkin ring so guests can keep track of their napkin from meal to meal. In using these with guests I've encountered some resistance, but since these guests are also my family, I don't easily give in. The resistance is not surprising (my family likes to tease me about my thrifty and green habits). But during a recent visit to my home, some family members displayed unfamiliarity with how to treat and use cloth napkins -- and that was surprising. At dinner their first night in town, my niece Lacey (not her real name), age 9 at the time, used her cloth napkin the way she'd used hundreds of napkins -- paper napkins -- before, and why wouldn't she. Paper napkins are practically all she's ever known. She's accustomed to using napkins as nothing more than a creased paper towel, and she knows exactly where it will end up -- in the garbage. When Lacey went for seconds, for some reason she abandoned her plate and loaded a second helping of greasy potato skins onto her napkin and carried them back to the table.
"Lacey," I said, "please don't use your cloth napkin to carry greasy food." Almost before I finished with my "lesson" my sister, Lacey's Aunt, snapped, "It's a napkin, Crissy."
Oh my. Even my 39-year-old sister didn't see the difference between a cloth and paper napkin for all intents and purposes -- reinforced just moments later when she spilled red wine and used, you guessed it, one of my cloth napkins to mop it up.
I do own paper towels (the recycled kind) and rags for wiping up spills, but that might have been too fine a point for the paper napkin crowd that expects napkins to do double duty around the house. I blame myself really -- I should have known that when lifestyles collide, there's going to be misunderstandings and disappointment. I learned that I can't expect young minds to know how to use something they've never been taught to use, and even older minds need to be reminded that there's more than one way to clean up a spill.
August 2007 "There Goes the Neighborhood"
All over the U.S. the character and scale of rustic or vintage neighborhoods that are now highly desirable real estate niches are being challenged by newly-built, gratuitously large structures that crowd onto lots, squeezing their neighbors and often obstructing another's view for the sake of elevating their own. For long-time residents that value the history and charm of these neighborhoods, it's hard to know what will prove worse for the neighborhood, the out-of-place architecture, the home's size, or the insensitivity of those that dwell within.
Sure, this is America and we have every right to build anything within our budget and permitted by local building codes, but does that mean we should? What about considerations that go beyond what we desire, can afford and can legally do? What about being a good neighbor? What about reducing the resources consumed to build homes bigger than we require and that will take more energy to heat and cool?
According to the U.S. Census, up until 1987, homes greater than 3,000 SF weren't even built--or so few that they weren't counted. Today homes built that are 3,000 square feet or more outnumber homes built within any other square footage category. The trend in big homes, associated more with suburban developments, is also impacting urban areas, and changing some quaint urban neighborhoods from picturesque to disjointed, and from comfortable to crowded.
While it's encouraging that people still want to live in densely populated neighborhoods close to city centers and services, large homes and additions that exceed what the owners need or the land can balance neither honor nor preserve the qualities these neighborhoods embody.
January 2007 "Seeds
of Change"
Reading an artcile by Auden Schendler on what we need to do to combat climate change in my local newsweekly, I was reminded why so many people think their individual actions cannot make a difference--because people like Schendler incorrectly tell them so. Schendler wrote, "the actions [good people] are capable of are insignificant." He was referring to things like driving Priuses, replacing old refridgerators and switching to energy efficient fluorescent-type bulbs. While I agree wholeheartedly whith Schendler's assertion that the populace needs to be more active in influencing policy that will bring about improvements in our energy policy, to say that individual actions are meaningless not only discourages participation within the domain we have the most control over, but it's also false.
Of course the act of changing a light bulb in and of itself will not solve global climate change, but does make a difference. According to the US EPA, if each US household were to replace just five conventional light bulbs in high-use fixtures with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, we could keep one trillion pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.
The two biggest contributors to the global warming problem are power plants and cars. Yes, we need to pressure our government (state and national) to aggressively and swiftly fund research and development of clean, renewable energy projects. We also need to demand cleaner vehicles. But we cannot sit around and wait for our energy grid to become 80% clean and renewable, or automakers to supply the U.S. market with affordable zero-emissions vehicles. Whatever we can do right now, today is worth doing--not because it is the whole solution but because it is part of the solution. Multibillion dollar projects that will require government action or corporate reform take time to bring to fruition. So, in addition to recognizing our role in influencing policy through voting and advocacy, we can and should take steps at the individual level to use electricity and our cars more wisely for the immediate impact it absolutely does have.