Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I'm Eco-Phobic

I read an enlightening article on Sunday about some local people that have embraced the eco-friendly lifestyle. In the article, you learn how a family of four has reduced their weekly garbage to two kitchen trashbags a week. They keep about 20 different containers in their garage where they sort their garbage for recycling and composting.

I am trying to imagine the process of being so dilligent with the family garbage. I am trying to imagine taking all my trash to the basement and "filing" it in the correct bins. I am trying to picture life without a garbage disposal, life without paper towels, and I don't even want to think about life without the three tons of disposable diapers that I desperately needed when the girls were little. I cannot imagine showering with a bucket on the floor, catching all the water so it can be disposed of in the rain barrels outside. I cannot imagine the giant tub of worms...period.

One thing this family did got me curious, though. They compost all of their hairballs. I happen to know a lot about hair, having been coming two afros for years and years. And as it happens, I have about three times the normal amount of hair required to cover a human head, so I have a lot to lose. But these people have got to be nuts. They collect all the stray hair into bags, scatter it like mulch over their compost heap, then turn that stuff and water that stuff once a week. The internet says it takes two years for hair to decompose. How could adding hair balls to your compost pile be worth all of that effort? I just don't get it. If I composted the hair from the afroes and my own head, we would have a hair garden that grows tangles.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, they are serious about it! We recycle glass, plastic, can and paper, but it is pretty basic. I have been using cloth diapers and wipes w/ Dawson and it has been trial and error, but not too bad. I'll be curious at the end of it all if I saved $ or not. I hope we have cut down on waste, but there is debate on that too. Paper towels are big for us.

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  2. We had to learn to recycle very quickly after moving to Vienna since EVERYONE hear is crazy about environment. It was confusing at first (there are about 5-7 different trash "categories") but we got used to it. Once a week one of us makes a run to the recycling drop off and empties the containers. It's a pretty smart system actually and not that bad at all. Composting hair, however, sounds ridiculous.

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