Earth Hour and Two Heels per Loaf

I had just recently finished reading about the results of Earth Hour Chicago and the tons of carbon emissions which were not released into the atmosphere when I was suddenly put in mind of a sandwich I made recently – and my grandmother. The combination may sound strange, but programs such as Earth Hour nudge me to remain mindful of some efforts my family and I have undertaken recently to be less wasteful. You see, my grandparents grew up during the great depression. The lessons they learned during those hard times and the habits they adopted stayed with them throughout their lives, though both lived to near the century mark.

Nothing went to waste in my grandmother’s house, and very little was ever purchased at a store if it could be created at home. All “wet trash” went into a compost pile for the garden. Paper towels were unheard of, since rags could be used for years on end with regular washing. And wasting food was a sin punishable by a spanking that could make you long for a prison cell. Taking a long, hard look at our own lifestyle last year, I realized that we were not only tremendously wasteful, but we were acting that way foolishly and for no reason at all.

As to the sandwich, you may ask? Among a number of my wasteful ways, I noticed that we had gotten in the habit of taking the two crusts of bread at either end of a loaf (known in this part of the country as the “heel” of the loaf) and tossing them outside to feed the birds. What could be nicer than feeding the local sparrows? I can assure you, no bread would ever be tossed outside at my grandparents’ home. In fact, I don’t believe my grandmother ever bought a loaf of bread in her life, proclaiming that she could bake five loaves for what one would cost at the grocery store.

As such, I’ve gotten in the habit of keeping the heels and making a sandwich out of them as a reminder. Last year my wife began the process of buying compact fluorescent bulbs in bulk and replacing all of our old style lights as they burn out. (I’ve yet to have one of the new ones die.) I’ve also gone around my home and sought out all of the “vampire” appliances which run constantly and slowly drain energy from our house. You would be shocked how many there are.

A disturbing trend I’ve noted around the blogosphere of late, though, is a tendency for some authors to scoff at any such efforts, up to and including Earth Hour. Why? Because it seems to be immediately associated with global warming – a subject which has become such a partisan political football that any suggestion of it sends some of our more conservative friends into an apoplectic tizzy. Should you find yourself in a similar state of mind, however, allow me to put a few questions to you.

For starters, let’s assume for a moment that there is no such thing as anthropogenic global warming. Heck, for that matter, let’s say that the climate isn’t changing at all. Even given those assumptions, don’t you still like to save money? Are you so rich that you light cigars off burning Ben Franklins, ala Daddy Warbucks? Saving energy doesn’t have to be about tree hugging or creating a greener society. It can just be about reducing your electric bill.

It’s also a given that the less energy we burn, the less pollution we put into the air. Even if you assume that this pollution has absolutely nothing to do with any perceived climate change, when is it ever preferable to generate more waste and pollution? These same questions apply to other wasteful habits such as those I described above. Yes, you’ll have a little more work to do if you use a dishrag to wipe up that coffee spill instead of a paper towel, but you’ll save a lot of money over the course of a year and less trees will need to be chopped down just to make trash for our landfills. What’s the downside to that? And wasting perfectly good food? Looking around the world, the chidings many of us received from our mothers about “the children starving in Africa” when we balked at eating our greens makes more and more sense as I get older.

These need not be Republican or Democratic issues. They aren’t conservative or liberal. You can participate in something like Earth Hour and not be a traitor to your party or your political ideology. Or you can run from it and be a traitor to your wallet, your waste disposal bill and your world.