What's in your closet?
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When my wife and I moved into our new apartment a few years ago, it was a major quality of life improvement with one unexpected adjustment: closet space. Our moderately sized one-bedroom apartment has only two narrow closets. (You couldn't fit a scandalous skeleton in either of them if you tried.) Keeping in mind that the building is more than 80 years old, how might we explain this, um, "oversight"?
Well, we could convince ourselves that the architects were either inexperienced or the type to callously cut corners (or both) but let's face it, Americans simply had less "stuff" in 1928. In fact, I'll bet the original tenants here considered themselves mighty lucky to even have two closets. They may have believed that whatever couldn't fit inside was superfluous.
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It might appear sacrilegious to promote a simpler lifestyle during the holiday shopping season but we each must shoulder some blame for the global costs of our commodity culture. Multi-national corporations may be the most obvious villains but shopping malls can only survive if they can attract customers. The more we buy, the more space we need for storage, and this adds up to a deeper carbon footprint.
So, while we keep our eyes on the prize of serious and sustainable social change, we can create some personal change...right now.
3 Easy Ways to Help Bring Global Warming Out of the Closet
1. Make Your Closet a Wire Hanger-Free Zone
"About 3.5 billion wire hangers get dumped into U.S. landfills every year," writes Jasmin Malik Chua. "That's 195 millions pounds of steel." (Roughly equivalent to 60,000 cars, for those of you scoring at home.) Greening your hanger options is easy.
2. Fill Your Closet With Used Clothes
Did you know that the average pair of jeans can yield 915 pounds of carbon dioxide throughout its lifetime? Yet another reason to green your wardrobe choices by: 1. Not buying new clothes. No need to when there's always the used, vintage, freecycle, swap parties, and dumpster diving options to choose from. 2. Being gentle on your clothes. Washing that pair of jeans less often will not only help make them last longer, it'll lighten your laundry footprint (between 75 and 80 percent of our clothing's lifecycle impact comes from washing and drying). 3. Repairing the clothes you have. Learn some valuable skills while extending your wardrobe's lifespan. It's win-win. 3. Introduce Your Closet to Your Bicycle So, you sweat you'd dump the car and switch to a bicycle if only you had room to store it? With a foldable bike and some DIY creativity, you can address transportation and consumption issues in one eco-shot. 1 + 2 + 3 = Smaller Footprint If you undertake these entirely doable, immediate changes, you'll not only make Joan Crawford smile, you'll also reduce your contribution to landfills, lighten your personal carbon footprint by 915 pounds per pair of jeans, and displace over 238 million gallons of gasoline per year, by replacing car trips with bicycle trips. Hey, who knows what bigger steps you'll take next?
