There certainly seems to be an endless supply of irony in life and sometimes it feels good just to sit back and laugh about it. As a lifelong environmentalist and more recently as a permaculturist, I have been tirelessly working on adding new and improved ways of conserving resources. The more adjustments we have made to our lifestyle in this regard, the less electricity, water, plastic, etc. we have consumed and to be honest, it has felt really great! Sure, many of these changes add sizeable time commitments to our day but the rewards have been worthwhile, not only in our ability to live more slowly, but also with the reduction of our utility bills!
So to give you a few examples: Living in the mid-Atlantic region along the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, we can get away with not needing the air conditioner for most of the summer. We have this little hand-me-down window fan that works wonders when it is used just right. To accomplish this, we keep the windows closed all day, and in the evening we open them back up and move the fan from room to room to suck in that fresh, cool summer night air. The house is then ready for sleeping and for resisting the heat once again come morning. In fact, the kids' room had never had an A.C. unit in their window (we live in an old house), and our method has worked fine! Sure, maybe there are two weeks of summer where it got pretty hot in there but the rest of the time there was no problem. And overall in our home, we could get away with just two window units that were only on for maybe 5 or 6 weeks total out of the year with this method and everyone was comfortable! I felt proud of this system whenever friends and neighbors would complain about their summer electric bills.
Another great adjustment was the constant use of a clothesline. When we first bought our house almost 8 years ago, we immediately installed one in the backyard which I have used religiously on nice days since then. Last year when our dryer broke in the winter, I was forced to use indoor clotheslines strung up around the old furnace and ultimately never wanted to go back to the dryer. There is surely a decent amount of time that goes into hanging up clothes, but it felt so nice to not be reliant on electricity for something that is so simple.
The last relevant item on this list is the Christmas tree we just cut down last week at a local tree farm. I have always loved the experience of selecting and cutting a live tree and as we have been designing our permaculture property, the idea of growing our own Christmas trees has been very appealing. What a neat way to provide something so special and full of sentiment for your family right out of your own backyard! It just felt right to me.
So why am I rambling on about all this? Because my 5 year old daughter who has been suffering from constant respiratory illnesses and ear infections just finally had a full allergy test done on her and the results were surprising to say the least! She is very allergic to dust mites, cats, dogs, grass, trees, and outdoor molds. The doctor informed us that we need to keep the windows closed all summer, hot wash her bedding and clothes weekly and DEFINITELY don't be using a clothesline! Oh, and that live Christmas tree... well this will be the last year for that!
Well now, here I am sitting here writing this because honestly I'm not sure how to proceed. We certainly won't be ignoring the doctor's recommendations since the health of our child will always be our highest priority. Does that prove that the end doesn't always justify the means? That the sacrifice we make as individuals for the betterment of the planet and future generations should be limited by our short term needs for comfort? I'm not sure exactly what the point of this story is other than that sometimes it really is funny how life can throw things at you that force you to act as a hypocrite. They force you to remember not to take yourself too seriously or to hold your own actions on too high of a pedestel in case you suddenly find yourself forced to live just the same as the people you have criticized. And since where there is a will there is a way, I am sure that we will find many other lifestyle improvements we can make to offset these adjustments. Maybe a solar powered dryer? Could we add a HEPA filter to the window fan? Buy a fake tree made of recycled plastic? Maybe this actually means growing a living tree with its roots left in the soil out in the yard and each year we can ceremoniously decorate it with popcorn and berries for the birds. No matter what, we will somehow prevail over this new enemy we call allergies.
Hopefully you've gotten a good laugh from this. Or at least a snicker or some measurable amount of enjoyment from it and you can go out into your day now ready to laugh at your own obstacles. Because we all run into problems that flip us upsidown and leave us dumbfounded about what comes next. But, if we really want to make a positive change in the world we just have to move forward doing our best and know that sometimes our best will look ridiculous.
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