No, I am not talking about being a rabid fan of the Philadelphia Eagles (although I am a fan!).  I am talking about my continued growth in reducing my dependence on fossil fuels.

A not-so-brief history…

In early 2007, I stumbled upon several websites like Life After the Oil Crash, The Energy Bulletin, and The Oil Drum, that showed me that the age of cheap, abundant fossil fuels was coming to an end.  Combined with imminent (at the time, now reality) financial collapse and climate change, it was going to be an interesting ride!  After freaking out a bit, Rus and I came to a couple of conclusions.  One, the rest of our lives are going to be very different than what we have previously known.   Basically, a car-dependent society, big box stores, large-scale globalization, disposables, cheap electricity, and mass food production (enabled by fertilisers, pesticides, farm equipment, and shipping and distribution - all using incredible amounts of fossil fuels) are unsustainable and cannot conceivably continue.  Two, it would be a lot less stressful (and even enjoyable!) to start adapting immediately, gradually, and voluntarily as opposed to experiencing potentially violent disruptions in “business as usual”.  This meant (among other things) rethinking how we transported ourselves, where we got our food (most food is trucked an average of 1500 miles from farm to refridgerator), researching the companies we patronised and products we purchased, getting to know our neighbors, and conserving water and electricity.

We started small: using reusable bags, bundling errands into one car trip every week or every other week, halting most unnecessary purchases and buying locally, and walking and biking as much as possible.  Fortunately, the town of Macungie is fairly walkable, so we were able to get most of what we needed within a short walking distance.  In addition, we shifted our toiletries to ones made with environmentally-sustainable materials and cut back on disposables.  We were already conscious about trash and recycling and had a low trash to recycling ratio as it was, but we made an effort to reduce this even further.  Leftover water was poured on the house plants (thanks for the tip, Mom!).  Some of these were harder than others; there are not many local shops left since Walmart and the other big box stores rolled into the area.  The selection is often limited at the ones that still exist, and “buying American” is nearly impossible.  Also, Macungie, PA is not exactly bike-friendly.  There are no bike lanes and often very little shoulder on which to ride.  These were challenges to overcome.

The following Spring, we graduated into planting and harvesting our own garden.  We grew spring greens, peas, carrots, green beans, plum tomatoes, and zucchini. The first three were lessons learned (mostly, better garden planning), which we figured was much easier when you are not actually betting your livelihood on the success of your garden. The last three turned out to be our star crops; I learned to blanch and freeze several quarts of tomatoes, as well as get creative with cooking zucchini!  We traded green beans and tomatoes for peppers and cucumbers with the neighbors.  I loved going out every day or every other day to see “what was for dinner” in the garden.  To supplement, we bought the rest of our produce, meat, eggs, honey, and cheese from the fabulous local farmers’ markets in Emmaus and Macungie.  We saved our used egg cartons and gave them to the “egg man”.  Seeing familiar faces and getting to know the people who grew our food was awesome.  Rus and I love great food, and we love to cook, so cooking and eating fresh, local food was as good for our peace of mind (in knowing where it came from, that it was not genetically modified, that it was organically produced) as it was for our bellies!  Rus started to work from home, and we reduced the “fleet” to two cars, since we hardly drove any of them any way.  We shifted to biodegradable laundry and cleaning products.

We also made adjustments in our electricity use.  As most of the electricity in the United States is generated by coal, oil, and natural gas, and as these continue to diminish, electricity is going to become increasingly expensive.  This doesn’t include the cost to the environment; everyone (except the Coal Industry, apparently) knows there is no such thing as “clean coal”.  The aging grid desperately needs to be overhauled to generate power with alternative energy sources like wind and solar - a monumental task which will cost big bucks and take many years (decades?) to complete - and won’t have nearly the same output as fossil fuels. Presently, the best thing would be a mass conservation effort (perhaps the U.S. can take a page from New Zealand’s book and run some Public Service Announcements?), since it will be absolutely necessary to bridge the gap between demand and reduced output from alternative sources.  But I digress…

Anyway, our house was completely electric - cooking, heating, cooling, etc. - so we made adjustments to our electricity use.  We kept the thermostat low in the winter, and high in the summer (only turned the air conditioning on twice in August!), turned down the hot water heater temperature to 106F, ran the dishwasher full and the washing machine with cold water. Our efforts paid off; we had fantastically low utility bills to show for them!  We thought most of these adaptations were simple to make and good common sense; however, our neighbor across the street, who left all of her lights on all day, every day, showed us there was room for improvement at the macro level.

We put off adding solar panels, a laundry line, and LED lights to the house because we were moving.  I think LED lights are the way to go (CFLs save some energy, but they are extremely hazardous to dispose because they contain toxic mercury).  They currently cost a lot more, but they use a fraction of the energy of a CFL, are non-toxic, and last for up to sixty years.  We plan on using these exclusively in a future dwelling.

On the whole, I think our transition to a fossil-fuel-free existence has been successful thus far, although we have a long way to go.  It has caused us to be a lot more conscious about what we eat, what and how we purchase, and our individual impact on the environment and community.  We, of course, hope to continue this journey in New Zealand, the specifics of which I will discuss in a future post.

Stay tuned for Part Two!