tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post1577324864303994629..comments2023-10-07T22:37:49.244+13:00Comments on The Hand Mirror: modern lifekatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-48179136487095223202009-11-11T17:55:59.372+13:002009-11-11T17:55:59.372+13:00Drive Less! And sign up for renewable electricity...Drive Less! And sign up for renewable electricity.<br /><br />Seriously, the appliances won't be negligible but you need to know what proportion of your footprint they represent before you can know how important it is to make changes in this area. Odds on your transportation and food footprints will be larger, although obviously I know nothing of what you might already have done in these areas.<br /><br />The footprint of your appliances will arise from the manufacturing and the ongoing electricity. Electricity can be purchased as guaranteed renewable or offset, which is something of a paper transaction at present but increases in meaning as more of us sign up to it. <br /><br />A microwave costs roughly 300kg/C02 to produce, which corresponds to burning about 110L of petrol. That's 22L/yr for the 5 years a microwave is expected to last, or 1/2L per week.the Scarlet Manukahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06807827043777364462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-67998641002651444712009-10-29T01:56:49.618+13:002009-10-29T01:56:49.618+13:00NZ society seems more judgemental than other count...NZ society seems more judgemental than other countries - or perhaps it's just where my headspace has been lately.<br /><br />Wouldn't the best solution be to generate your own power?<br />E.g. via solar panels or a wind turbine?<br />Obviously that's a bit expensive and possibly impractical, but if it were achievable on an individual household level then a lot of that guilt would be gone.Bevanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00599481414681950640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-15912880088038198862009-10-28T20:55:39.231+13:002009-10-28T20:55:39.231+13:00both really. i get tagged with being lazy, which i...both really. i get tagged with being lazy, which i tend to resent quite a bit.<br /><br />i get it from women who wash all there dishes and hang out all their washing and delight in being the perfect housewife, so see me as less than. which again pisses me off, cos i do my best not to judge them for their choices (even though in my heart, i sometimes think they could be spending their time more productively).<br /><br />and i get it from men who are proud of their perfect housewives and seem to think there's some nobility in housework even though they themselves will only rarely lift a finger in that direction. it's only noble when women do it. this pisses me off most of all!stargazerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00430290445762377335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-30927121039564484372009-10-28T16:48:57.448+13:002009-10-28T16:48:57.448+13:00"and i also hate the concept that using these..."and i also hate the concept that using these appliances makes you less of a woman. or a less valuable woman. and i get those undertones so often, as if, by saving time through the use of appliances, i'm somehow cheating someone somewhere."<br /><br />This is a bizarre reaction; who would begrudge someone appliances?? Does this come from older women? Men??katyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-34859696240640855652009-10-28T13:32:54.737+13:002009-10-28T13:32:54.737+13:00This comment has been removed by the author.katyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-47887344943313517242009-10-28T02:19:17.351+13:002009-10-28T02:19:17.351+13:00I believe handwashing dishes is actually a false e...I believe handwashing dishes is actually a false economy. Dishwashers use less water and the water doesn't need to be heated as much - and their internal heating is usually more efficient than a house's hot water cylinder.<br /><br />My flatties and I tried not using our dishwasher to save power, and our power bills actually went up slightly.<br /><br />So, if I were an environmentalist (which I'm not) I would be advocating dishwashers for everybody!DPF:TLDRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06372937855256319716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-77298699594361554292009-10-27T23:59:32.174+13:002009-10-27T23:59:32.174+13:00I love my dishwasher, my vacuum cleaner, my washin...I love my dishwasher, my vacuum cleaner, my washing machine, my food processor, my Kenwood mixer (I do a lot of baking) my microwave, my computer.<br /><br />Mobile phone, rice cooker, electric blanket - meh. But each to her own.<br /><br />I think the one appliance I would hate to lose is the washing machine. Everything else I can manage, but the thought of washing our clothes and linen by hand makes me feel overwhelmingly tired. Appliances have freed up women's time enormously.<br /><br />It is a little easier to do many of these things by hand if there are two more more adults in the house. We didn't get a dryer or a dishwasher until we had children, and managed just fine. I <i>could</i> manage now, but putting a load of washing in the dryer takes me 2 minutes, tops, and most of that is the time it takes to walk out to the shed where our dryer is, whereas it can take me up to 15 minutes to hang out a load of washing, depending on what's in it.Deborahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14182573274494086468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-31829079600312014702009-10-27T20:03:15.799+13:002009-10-27T20:03:15.799+13:00you're quite welcome! shared domestic labour ...you're quite welcome! shared domestic labour rather depends on having another adult in the house to share it with, and many people don't have that. so should those people be allowed a bigger carbon footprint to make up for the fact? i'd be happy to allow that.<br /><br />but yes, where it is possible, shared labour is definitely one of the solutions.<br /><br />and i also hate the concept that using these appliances makes you less of a woman. or a less valuable woman. and i get those undertones so often, as if, by saving time through the use of appliances, i'm somehow cheating someone somewhere.stargazerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00430290445762377335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-8720827040956927662009-10-27T19:29:32.917+13:002009-10-27T19:29:32.917+13:00Thank you! You are the first person that I have co...Thank you! You are the first person that I have come across in a long time to link domestic appliances with feminism. The question is how to balance feminism with environmentalism. Shared domestic labour. Now there's a thought!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-3596559514540737822009-10-27T16:47:31.820+13:002009-10-27T16:47:31.820+13:00It is a good question, and everyone draws the line...It is a good question, and everyone draws the line in different places. We had a discussion about reducing emissions at work recently: one person advocated giving up meat, another giving up cars, another apartment living etc and it was obvious that some things would work better for us as individuals than others. Personally my husband and I are pretty minimalist in some ways - we don't have a car or TV, we didn't have a fridge for the first year we lived together (until someone gave us one), we live in an apartment building with shared laundry facilities... However, I don't think it is appliances that are the problem, rather the fact that the cost of manufacturing/purchasing/running them maybe doesn't reflect their true cost to the community (same with flying). I don't think there is anything wrong with the activities as such, I just wish the costs associated were real ones so that we could make real decisions as to how important these things really were to us.katyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742280289613450293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-10085802918969071872009-10-27T10:52:13.811+13:002009-10-27T10:52:13.811+13:00I don't have a dryer so when it's raining ...I don't have a dryer so when it's raining I stick a clothes-horse under my heat pump.<br /><br />That's probably worse than using a dryer but fuck it I need clean clothes.<br /><br />I really wish I had a dishwasher. I'm pretty sure having a dishwasher would be more environmentally friendly than hand-washing since I tend to wash three things at a time because my kitchen is too small to have shitloads of dirty dishes in it.Boganettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07253374355820020132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-86070985494104542092009-10-27T10:39:33.312+13:002009-10-27T10:39:33.312+13:00yeah, anon, my dryer going down is what started th...yeah, anon, my dryer going down is what started this current bout of musings. i've been trying to do what you've said, but i'm just finding it really difficult because i have meeting and/or teleconferences many nights, and have been out of town for two weekends in a row. and the weather has just been annoying - it's only been fine on the days i've been away!! i ended up putting the washing in front of the dehumidifier, and finally managed to catch up yesterday because it didn't rain. but couldn't help thinking what an inefficient use of my time and energy it all was.<br /><br />trouble, i'm absolutely with you on the disposable nappy thing. i never used anything else. i would have preferred environmentally friendly disposable and would have been quite willing to pay more for such an option, but there wasn't one available at the time my kids were in nappies.<br /><br />thanx for the tips byron, really helpful. and homepaddock, i do the home compost thing, and i'm sure that recycling paper is a good idea too. you may be right on the plastics thing, and i do try to minimise there.stargazerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00430290445762377335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-60901038312856291292009-10-27T10:19:01.962+13:002009-10-27T10:19:01.962+13:00I wouldn't feel to guilty about the dishwasher...I wouldn't feel to guilty about the dishwasher, hand-washing dishes is <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/built-in-dishwasher-vs-hand-washing-which-greener.php" rel="nofollow">not always more environmentally friendly</a> than using a dishwasher. <br />There is a new standardised charger for mobile phones out soon, which should <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8323018.stm" rel="nofollow">reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6m tonnes</a> due to reducing the manufacturing of quickly obsolete chargers. So next time you buy a phone, get one that takes a standardised charger, and if you want to go one better, get a solar charger (there are a lot available). <br />I've been using the same computer since 2003, I've upgraded parts of it and given old parts to others who have older computers they want to upgrade, or when that's not an option given old parts to a local non profit that does electronics recycling. If you want to reduce the environmental impact of your computer use that's a good way to do it. Not everyone has the skills to do upgrades, but if there is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Banking" rel="nofollow">time bank</a> in your community it may be possible to get upgrades done in exchange for doing some other work (or you could hire a technician).<br />Oh, and cooking in a microwave is more energy efficient than cooking in an oven/on a stoveByronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18381512235385305474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-67611624197310867532009-10-27T09:55:10.833+13:002009-10-27T09:55:10.833+13:00A dryer isn't a necessity. We don't have a...A dryer isn't a necessity. We don't have a dryer and have never had one even with two small children who seem to go through at least 2 changes of clothes a day, young one because of water play etc at the creche and older one because of fashion requirements...<br />And we both work full time, so I can't bring the washing in at the first sign of rain. <br />The trick for getting clothes dry is having the washing line in the sunniest spot in the garden - even if it means that it is visible from the house and the road. And also taking note of the weather forecast...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-4696459512934579702009-10-27T07:47:12.617+13:002009-10-27T07:47:12.617+13:00I keep a compost heap and a woodburner for heating...I keep a compost heap and a woodburner for heating, and have CFLs throughout my house, but you'll prize the disposable nappies from my cold dead hands. The time and labour of washing out cloth ones is worth more to me than the 40c per disposable nappy. I realise there are costs to producing and landfilling them that I don't bear, but there are external costs to washing and sterilising cloth ones as well - hot water, napisan in the waste water, dryer if the weather's bad, etc.Troublenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8770341086445997547.post-13818662905808488942009-10-27T06:55:52.793+13:002009-10-27T06:55:52.793+13:00"i'm concientious with recycling. . .&quo..."i'm concientious with recycling. . ."<br /><br />But do you know the enivronmental impact of that? <br /><br />I ask ths seriously after reading in the ODT acouple of years ago (and can't find it online) about a factory recycling our plastic in China which causes awful air & water pollutuion & where workers get lung diseases.<br /><br />The mantra is reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduction and reuse we can be pretty confident are better for the environment but recycling may be worse than dumping.homepaddockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08596903968235369282noreply@blogger.com