Chandra Clarke

Offering Light and Laughter Wherever I Can

Better Laundry

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As much as I’ve tried to escape it, laundry remains an inescapable part of life. In this section, we’re going to look at ways to make laundry lower impact.

Eco-Friendly Detergents

The detergent you use in your laundry can have a huge impact on the environment. Choose detergents with biodegradable ingredients that won’t pollute local water sources or cause harm to wildlife. Avoid phthalates and chlorine bleach, which can be toxic to aquatic ecosystems. Look for products labeled “green” or maybe “natural,” and always check labels carefully before deciding what to buy, to avoid greenwashed claims. (Also remember that “natural” isn’t automatically better. Lava is natural. So are very large tigers. You wouldn’t want either of these in your laundry room.)

Consider avoiding synthetic fragrances. Not only are there are increasing number of people allergic to these things (I’m one of them!), there is some evidence to suggest that they may not be good for us.

Wash Clothes Less Frequently

We all want our clothes to be clean and fresh, but you might be washing your clothes too often. Unless you work in a manual labour job where you’re sweating a lot or exposed to a lot of odours that cling to you, chances are you don’t need to throw them in the wash after one trip out of the closet. This is also true of your bath towels. You’re theoretically clean when you come out of the shower, so you can simply make sure your towel can air dry easily and only throw it in the wash after several uses. You’ll save energy, water, and money on soap. Not to mention time doing laundry…

Use Free Drying Solutions

If you have the time and space, you can hang your clothes up on a line to air dry them, or use one of those indoor drying racks. If you’re like me and are super pressed for time, consider investing in a solar panel and battery setup to provide power for this energy intensive appliance. Speaking of which…

Energy Ratings For the Win

If you’re in the market for a washer or dryer (or both) make sure you’re selecting for high efficiency ratings. Avoid natural gas powered appliances, because methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and the fewer opportunities for methane leaks there are, the better.

Consider Cold Water Washing

Most machines now come with settings for both hot and cold water temperatures when washing clothes but cold water can do just as good of a job. Make sure your detergent works in cold water. If you’re not convinced by cold water, try warm instead of hot. Compromise!

Ditch the Fabric Softener

This is one of things a lot of us buy reflexively because it’s how our parents did it, but unless you’re drying your clothes on the line… you don’t need it! Clothes come out of the dryer softened already as the tumble action ensures they don’t get stiff. Liquid fabric softener is rarely biodegradable and often laden with fragrances; dryer sheets are the same plus the sheets have to go in the garbage when you’re done.

But the static! I hear you cry. Dryer balls eliminate most of this problem. Get one or two wool dryer balls and chuck them into every load. They’re reusable and they may also reduce drying time, saving you money.

Washing Machine Lint

We’re used to thinking about the dryer lint trap, but washing machines generate lint too… and all of those clothing fibres go into the water system. Even if they’re natural fibres (more on that in a second), that’s a lot of lint going back out through your sewer. Check to see if your washing machine has a lint catcher, and if it doesn’t, consider purchasing one to add to laundry loads to reduce what gets washed out of your machine.

Ironing

I don’t know how many people actually iron their clothes anymore, but if you’re one of them, you can cut down on the amount of ironing you need to do by setting a timer on your phone (or elsewhere) and taking clothes out of the dryer when they’re still slightly damp. Hang them up immediately and you’ll avoid one major source of wrinkles: clothes sitting around in dryers.

Synthetic Fabrics?

Finally, let’s consider the clothes themselves. Synthetic fabrics — think polyester, nylon etc. — have many positives, but they’re not particularly earth friendly. They’re hard to recycle, so often end up in the dump, where they take decades to break down, if at all. Washing plastic-infused clothes releases micro plastics into our waterways, where they accumulate in ocean wildlife. As you replace your clothes, make sure your old clothes are properly disposed of and consider using natural fibres.

But What About Cotton? Isn’t it Bad?

It’s true that cotton processing, especially when it comes to making jeans, is a particularly water-intensive affair. Dying cotton makes use of a lot of chemicals that aren’t always handled properly or treated before going back into our rivers, streams and lakes.

On the plus side of the equation, cotton clothes do last pretty much forever with care (think of how many ancient t-shirts there are in your closet right now), so the water costs are at least amortized over a number of years. And it is possible, with a little work, to source from clothiers that are making an effort to clean up their chemical processes and reduce water use.

You can also look into clothing made from hemp fibres and bamboo as alternatives. These can be more expensive to purchase up front, but we’ll talk about wearing them long term and discuss fashion choices in a minute. Just as with your detergents, watch out for green washing. Just because something is made from one of these fibre sources doesn’t mean it’s made in a sustainable way. Take a bit of time to look into the company and their practices. Which brings me to…

Clothes Should Be an Investment

For too long now, we’ve considered clothes to be ‘disposable.’ We’re encouraged by clothing retailers and fashion magazines to change our look almost weekly, and the pace of trends (short hem, long hem, skinny jeans, low riders?) seems to have increased.

Worse, some retailers engage in horrifically wasteful practices. This season’s summer tops? If they don’t sell, they often are deliberately destroyed by floor staff (who are following corporate policy) and head to the dumpster rather than a charity shop. It wouldn’t do to have ‘the look’ of the moment just given to the poors, you see.

So… I would encourage you to ditch fast fashion too. Consider clothing a long term investment. Buy pieces that you can mix and match in a large number of combinations, but resist the urge to follow the latest trend.

In the Kitchen

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The kitchen is arguably the centre of your home. It’s the modern day hearth; it’s where we ‘break bread.’ Let’s see where we can reduce our impact and save a lot of money to boot.

Reduce Your Use of Disposables

We’ve all been guilty of turning to disposables for convenience, but these items are major contributors to the global plastic pollution problem and the global waste problem. Worse, we’re literally throwing away money every time we use a disposable. Here’s a quick inventory of what you might be using and what you can replace them with:

  • Paper towels. These are fine for big spills, but should be used sparingly otherwise. Instead, use washable bar towels, wash down cloths, or even cheap face cloths for regular surface cleaning. We have a big pile of these and a little hamper for them in our laundry room to hold the dirty ones until a load of wash goes through. If you do buy paper towel, try to buy paper towel made of recycled paper, and consider disposing of it in the composter.
  • Paper plates and cups. Because these are plastic or wax coated and/or have plastic cores, or worse, made of styrofoam, these are terrible. They use up a lot of resources, and generally aren’t recyclable, even if the packaging says they are, because recycling plants can’t deal with whatever might be stuck on them. Stick with the real stuff.
  • Plastic wrap. I shudder to think how much single use plastic wrap is just lying about in dumps around the world. And there’s no need for it! Use sealable containers instead; either stuff you’ve saved from the grocery store and put into use, or specialized containers with lids. Not only are these easier to handle (how many times have you cursed the plastic wrap for sticking to itself?!) they come in a variety of sizes and can be properly washed to stay clean. You can also use beeswax wraps if you want something prettier to cover your dishes with.

Shop Local and Buy In Season

When it comes to shopping for food, look no further than your local farmers market or grocery store. By shopping locally you’re cutting down on carbon emissions produced by transportation along with supporting small business owners in your community. Additionally, try to buy produce that is in season so you can avoid foods imported from other countries and reduce packaging waste.

Conserve Water

Water conservation is key if you want an eco-friendly kitchen. Turn off the faucet while washing dishes and use a bowl while washing fruits and vegetables instead of running them under water from the tap. You can also install low-flow aerators on sink faucets which will help conserve water without compromising efficiency or power. This will save on your water bill, and the water taste better too. Washing dishes? Dishwashers are actually more efficient, because they use high pressure jets and insulated heat to make water use more efficient.

Making Your Appliances Greener

The appliances in your kitchen are responsible for a large portion of your energy consumption. This means they have a significant effect on your carbon footprint. To reduce your environmental impact, opt for energy efficient models when replacing or buying new appliances. Look for those with an Energy Star rating which indicates that it is more efficient than other models on the market. Make sure you follow local guidelines for getting rid of old appliances so they are properly recycled.

… and No More Gas Stoves

While some cooks swear by gas-powered stoves, there’s an increasing body of evidence to suggest that they’re big contributors to indoor air pollution. Bad installs, or vents that haven’t been maintained properly, or forgetting to turn on the hood extraction fan when you cook: all of these can mean you may have small methane leaks, increased nitrogen dioxide, and trace quantities of benzene and other volatile organic compounds in your house. These can cause respiratory and other issues. And of course, methane (natural gas) is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas. The less we use it, the less we’re likely to release it into the atmosphere. Go electric.

Instant Hot Water Heater

Also known as tankless hot water heaters, these are much more efficient because they heat water as you need it, rather than keeping a large tank of water warm all the time. The upfront costs of these are still on the high side; you might want to see if there’s a government subsidy available to make the switch. The operational cost savings are great, though, and you don’t ever “run out” of hot water either.

Reducing Food Waste

Food waste is another major contributor to our carbon footprints, so reducing food waste should be a priority for anyone looking to make their kitchen more eco-friendly. Start by being mindful about how much food you buy and use — only buy what you need and try to use up all leftovers before they go bad! Composting food scraps is another great way to reduce waste — this helps break down organic material into nutrient-rich soil without releasing harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere like landfills do.

Composting doesn’t have to be complicated or hard work. We have a stainless steel bucket on our kitchen counter which holds our food waste. The lid fits tightly enough that it doesn’t smell; we empty it very two to three days. In our yard we have a simple tumble composter; we fill one side at a time and spin it every time we tip stuff into it. We also use a solar digester for overflow compost. The EPA maintains a list of what can and can’t be composted at home.

Opt For Sustainable Materials

Another way to make your kitchen more eco-friendly is by using sustainable materials when possible. For example, bamboo cutting boards are much better for the environment than plastic ones since they are biodegradable and compostable. Bamboo is also much stronger than wood so it will last longer and won’t require replacement as often. Renovating? You can also consider other sustainable materials such as cork or recycled glass for countertops or backsplashes instead of traditional tile or stone options.

Consider coconut “coir” or loofah scrubbies for dish cleaning, and bamboo handled utensils instead of plastic.

Lighting

Replace old light bulbs with LEDs: Replacing the traditional incandescent bulbs with energy efficient LED ones can help reduce your eco footprint. LEDs last longer than regular bulbs and use up to 85% less energy while providing the same amount of light. Make sure you dispose of these properly — they don’t go in the garbage.

Not in the room? Turn out the lights! If your family is objectively terrible about this, motion sensor switches might be a good investment. Pro-tip: don’t attempt to install these, or indeed anything electrical, yourself.

Cookware

Nonstick pans are convenient but there’s evidence to suggest that they do release toxic chemicals into the air and your food when heated. Look for eco-friendly cookware that is free of toxic chemicals like PFOA and non-toxic materials like cast iron, stainless steel, and ceramic.

Cleaning Products

Use eco-friendly cleaning products: Standard cleaning products often contain chemicals that can be damaging to the environment. Choose eco-friendly alternatives such as baking soda, vinegar, or natural soap instead. If you don’t have the time or patience to make and bottle your own eco friendly cleaners, there are an increasing number of these available at the grocery store. Even better, many of these come in large refill sizes.

Packaging, Packaging, Packaging

I saved this for last, not because it’s the least problematic issue in the kitchen. In fact, it’s the worst! But, it will take a bit of sustained effort on your part to whittle this down.

So much of what we bring home from the grocery store involves plastic these days. It’s disheartening. I’ve seen oranges that have been peeled and then put into plastic containers. I’ve seen cucumbers that are shrink-wrapped. All in the name of convenience, supposedly, although I don’t recall any customer petition asking for pre-peeled oranges. It’s one of those things marketed to us to sell more oranges… at the expense of the environment.

What can you do? Pick a product you regularly buy, and look at it more critically. Pasta, for example, typically comes in either a single use plastic bag, or a cardboard box. The cardboard box is at least recyclable. The plastic, not so much. Find a comparable brand that uses better packaging.

Tea bags… a lot of them now come in plasticized individual pouches, which is completely unnecessary. Once you open the box of tea bags, all you need to do is put them in an air tight tin to keep them fresh! So, pick another brand of tea that does better. (Also avoid those brands that have plastic tea bags!)

And so on, and so on. You get the idea. If you want to take it one step further, send a polite, but firm note to the company’s customer service centre and complain about their wasteful packaging. Tell them you’re not buying their product anymore and why.

Another way to reduce grocery store packaging is to buy in bulk, and buy refillable products. At the moment a lot of this stuff is only available at higher end or boutique style grocery shops. But some of the bigger chains are getting into this, so use it when you can.

Getting From Point A to B

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When we talk about cars — and transportation in general — we have to recognize that the benefits they offer are real, and that the solutions proffered by some environmentalists aren’t universally applicable or practical.

For example, the admonition to “just use a bike instead” only works if you:

  • Are fit and healthy enough to use a bike
  • It’s safe and reasonable to use a bike 
  • You can afford the extra time it takes to get to destinations
  • The weather conditions are reasonable

A single mother suffering from asthma, living in a smoggy city with long winters, is probably not going to be able to cycle to work very often, if at all. (To say nothing of bicycle theft being a very real problem!)

At the other end of the spectrum, driving electric is an option open to more people than ever before. It’s still fairly expensive to buy in, though, and again, it’s not universally available. And depending on how your local power supply is generated, it might not be the greenest option available… yet. 

So, let’s go over what you can do to be greener on the transportation front.

Easy and Cheap

The first recourse is simply: do it less! You can use your existing vehicles less often by:

  • Grouping errands and trips and not giving into the temptation to just “run out for something”
  • Changing up your standard routes. Are there ways to get where you’re going that are even slightly shorter? Involve less idling? Remember the law of numbers. Even if you only cut a couple of minutes off a trip, if it’s one you’re always making, those few minutes add up to significant savings over time.
  • Skipping the drive thru. Unless your vehicle is newer and shuts off to avoid idling, you spew a lot of pollution (and waste a lot of money in gas over time) grabbing that morning coffee. Park and go in, or make something to go at home.
  • Take public transit when you can – and advocate for more public transit where you live
  • And yes, walk or bike when you can
  • Carpool when you can — including with your life partner. Two-vehicle families have become the norm, and you might not actually need two. 
  • Push back on calls for meetings and pickups. The pandemic forced us to reconsider how often we really need to get together in person. Lots of meetings work just as well on Zoom or Skype, plus you don’t have to spend the time or be stressed by travelling. Likewise, lots of things, like paperwork, can be sent by email or if signatures are required, using things like HelloSign. Whenever possible, push to do things remotely and virtually
  • Definitely cut back on the number of flights you take. A lot of business travel by plane is also unnecessary, and especially in Europe, short hops by plane are better replaced by train trips.

When it’s Time to Replace the Car

  • Buy only what you need. Take a hard look at how you actually use your existing vehicle. How many people do you have in it at any given time? How much cargo do you routinely transport? Where do you drive it? We get sold based on things like off-road capability and towing capacity, but what do we really do with our cars? Probably go back and forth — alone — to work and the grocery store. Worse, we pay through the nose for all that unused capacity: in gas bills, insurance bills, maintenance bills, and yes, the environmental cost. Remember: you can always rent a vehicle for special needs or trips!
  • Buy used. With stricter quality control processes and inspections for emissions standards, there are fewer “beaters” or “lemons” on the road these days, and you should be able to find a reliable used vehicle. There’s no need to continue to fuel the demand for “new, new, new!” while perfectly viable cars sit around in lots. You’ll save on the overall purchase price, on interest costs if you’re financing, and insurance as well.
  • Buy based on best mileage for the class. 
  • Buy hybrid. If electric is not yet an option for you, then do go hybrid, as there’s really no reason not to these days. Yes, they’ll feel a bit different to drive at first, but you’ll get used to it soon enough — especially when you can make a tank of gas last for much, much longer. Incidentally, you’ll be able to get better prices for gas because your window to refill is so much longer. 

Please Do Take a Look at Electric

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I personally drive electric, and have done so since 2017. 

If you haven’t considered electric before now, you should. And when I say consider, I mean: talk to actual electric vehicle (EV) owners (or lurk in their online forums), read about the vehicle specs, take a few different models for a test drive. 

I say this because there is a lot of old information and/or deliberate misinformation about EVs online. I get it: new technology can make you feel uncertain, we have a culture that celebrates gas-powered vehicles, and oil and gas companies aren’t going to go down without a fight. Here’s a list of common objections/myths about EVs.

We don’t have the charging infrastructure yet

Depending on where you live, you might be surprised. Take a look at the Plugshare app, and look at the Tesla supercharger network. Charging stations are popping up all over the place. Charging stations are appearing at malls, and tourist destinations.

And, in case it’s not clear, most EV owners actually do the vast majority of their charging at home, overnight. Being able to charge on the road only comes into play if you’re taking a road trip or have an extra long commute (and if you do, maybe it’s time to reconsider that if you can). Obviously, this currently favours homeowners who have a garage or car port or some such, but apartment and condo buildings are increasingly offering charging spots as well. 

The range is no good

As of this writing, a Tesla Model 3 has a range of 353 miles or 560 kilometres. The American Driving Survey says that the average person drives about 29 miles a day. 

They’re no good in the cold

It’s true that battery performance is affected by the cold. You can temporarily lose a fair amount of potential range when temperatures plummet. However, given what I noted above about total available range vs average range actually driven, there’s still a lot of margin. You can also do things like warm up the car before your trip, recharge at one end, and use the seat heater to stay nice and toasty (rather than more inefficient cabin heat). I live in Canada, and have been through several winters with mine. (Side note: the weight distribution in my EV is awesome for snow driving, as it’s evenly balanced over the chassis, rather than being all under the trunk).

Consider this: Norway has the highest market penetration of electric vehicles per capita in the world, and also has the world’s largest plug-in segment market share of new car sales, 74.7% in 2020⁠1. Other top markets for EVs include Sweden and Iceland.

They take too long to charge

For the most part, you will be plugging your vehicle in overnight, or while you’re doing something else (like shopping at the mall). On longish road trips, you’re going to want to stop for coffee, bathroom breaks, meals and leg stretches anyways. A little bit of planning takes care of both things at once. 

The actual charge time will depend on the charger and the car.  Older models of both will take longer; my car takes about 45 minutes to get to near total capacity on the supercharger network. Newer generation fast chargers and batteries can get to 80% capacity in about 15 minutes.  Cooling cable technology aims to get that down to five minutes.

They’re not actually greener

This is a common myth. Although it’s true that a new electric vehicle and a new fossil fuel car both incur carbon footprints to manufacture them, a fossil fuel car will emit pollutants for it’s whole life. Where the electrical grid is “clean,” the electric vehicle doesn’t go on to emit more pollutants. And recent studies suggest that even cars plugged into ‘dirty’ grids have better carbon footprints. A battery recycling infrastructure is developing as more and more EVs are on the road too. 

Child labour and mining pollution

In social media comments, you quite often see claims about child labour with respect to EV battery components like lithium and cobalt, which come from mines. Strangely, these arguments are typically used to argue against EVs by people who are posting comments with devices that use lithium-ion batteries. Or who are unaware that cobalt is used in the desulfurization of oil. 

Child labour and pollution are things to be concerned about, however, and we should definitely push international governments to enforce existing laws on such things in every industry. EV manufacturers have also made efforts to source their elements from responsible regions, and to eliminate cobalt from their supply chains altogether.

They’re expensive

The price to performance ratio has definitely been on the high side… until recently. As more and more people have gone EV, the price has come down, while performance has gone up. Prices will continue to drop as the big car manufacturers (finally) get serious about producing EVs. 

There may also be government rebates available in your region, so check that out. When calculating cost of ownership, remember that in addition to not needing gas, you also don’t need a lot of the maintenance gas cars require – oil changes, muffler fixes, catalytic converter replacement, etc. 

The grid won’t handle it if we all switch/we need to wait for the grid to be upgraded

It’s true that we’ll eventually need to upgrade our electrical infrastructure; however, upgrades don’t happen without demand pushing them, so if everyone is ‘waiting,’ upgrades will never happen.

It’s also the case that we’re going to need to upgrade the grid one way or the other. Bitcoin mining, for example, is already using a lot of juice in places like Texas, while cryptocurrency itself currently only benefits a small number of wealthy traders.

Meanwhile, climate change is making everything hotter, and we’re going to need to keep our indoor spaces cooler as a result. Climate change fuelled natural disasters are going to disrupt a lot of infrastructure, so building a grid that is far more resilient and has a lot more redundancy is going to be critical over the next couple of decades. 

What happens when emergency X happens?

People who like to argue against EVs online have a fondness for invoking extreme situations as the reason why EVs can’t possibly work.

One popular scenario is a natural disaster that results in power loss. These are a cause for concern … for every motorist. Gas pumps run on electricity, so if there’s no juice, gas car drivers looking to fill up are out of luck too. And someone who has charging capability at home is actually far more likely to “have a full tank” in a sudden emergency because plugging in overnight is a habit EV drivers get into. Meanwhile, Ford has been marketing it’s electric truck as capable of powering a house for several days in the event of a large grid failure, so it effectively becomes backup power. 

Another popular concern is being stranded in a snowstorm. In a big enough snow storm, all drivers are equally pooched, and everyone will need digging out and towing. Ironically, because EV drivers don’t need to run their engines to run their heaters, they’re likely to stay warm for longer, because they’re using less energy overall.

A more common scenario of concern is being stranded by the side of the road. Again, this is also a concern for fossil car drivers. Millions of people run out of gas on the road every year, and also suffer breakdowns if their car is older or not well maintained. 

As an EV has fewer points of failure, you’re less likely to be stranded due to a breakdown, and you avoid running out of juice by planning ahead, just like you try to avoid the same situation in a fossil car by checking the gauge periodically. In the short term, EVs will need towing if they do run out of juice, but in the medium term, we’ll build out mobile charging infrastructure in the same way as we have emergency fuel services through towing companies. 

The batteries die fast and are super expensive to replace

This is another common claim, and sometimes the contention is that the batteries cost more than the car to replace. 

It’s simply not true of current EVs. EV batteries are now warrantied for 8-10 years, and most owners who were early adopters are finding that even previous generations of batteries are lasting much longer than that. 

Once your battery does need replacing (and these typically head for recycling plants), your cost to replace will be equivalent or less than the cost of a small used car. And that’s at battery prices at time of writing. Again, costs will go down as big manufacturers get into the game.

The government wants us all in EVs so they can control where we go!

This is a weird one, but surprisingly common (thanks, Internet). The thinking here seems to be either that you can only go on certain routes in EVs (not true), or that EVs are somehow able to be taken over by mysterious government force because… electricity? I don’t know, it’s never made clear. But given that fossil cars are also loaded with onboard computers and GPS tracking systems, if the government truly wanted to stop you from driving via hacking, they could do that now. Or, you know, just make it illegal to drive.

A corollary to this one is that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack would prevent you from driving. Again, in this situation, fossil cars would also be disabled by an EMP attack, as would every other computerized system in the vicinity. 

But hydrogen!

Hydrogen powered vehicles will probably be part of our future too. As I write this, it looks like hydrogen will be more practical for bigger vehicles and transportation systems, and right now, there isn’t enough infrastructure for the average driver to consider switching. That may change rapidly or it may take years. 

However, given the very, very short runway we have to decarbonize our economy, I would suggest you switch to EV now, and if hydrogen becomes viable at some point and it works for you, consider it then. The goal here is to stop dumping CO2 into the atmosphere as quickly as possible. We don’t have time to wait.

You can’t build EVs without gas and oil, therefore it’s a sham!

Oy. This one is just annoying. 

In a transition period, like the one we’re in, you still have to use the old system to produce the components of the new system. Much like the first car factories and rail lines were built with the help of horses. Enough said.

One other thing to consider

As of 2020, it was possible to do a cannonball run across the entire span of Canada (the world’s second largest country), in the winter, in a Tesla Model 3. In less than 78 hours. There have been similar runs in the US.

The takeaway here is that in 2020 the technology and infrastructure already existed for that to happen. 

The second takeaway here is that, on the EV front at least, things have only gotten better since then, and will continue to get better in the years to come.

People tend to think that the way things are now are the way they always will be, even when history has shown us, time and time again, that is simply not true. As I mentioned above, there’s already research being done to reduce charge time. There’s now a lot of money being thrown into research and development to make batteries lighter and more energy dense, and also to make use of elements like sodium and sulphur to mitigate extraction issues. This is good news for EVs, but also for energy production, where storage solutions will be needed for renewable electricity systems.  

It also pays to look at history. The first gas cars were extremely expensive toys for the very rich. They had tiny gas tanks, terrible range and we certainly didn’t have gas stations on every corner. Indeed, even now, there are parts of North America where there isn’t a gas station for hundreds of miles. 

People in the horse industry – which had powered our economies for centuries – confidently predicted that cars would not last. They happily pointed out all the problems gas cars had. 

Yet we pivoted from horses to cars in a span of less than 40 years. Change happens slowly and then it happens all at once.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country

In Your Garden

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Drive through any city, and you’ll see suburban houses with neat and tidy gardens out front, probably a decent number of tree-lined streets, and maybe some veggie plots. All looks pretty “green” in the environmentalist sense, right?

Possibly not.

There are a number of problems with modern urban landscaping, and these issues are contributing to — not improving — habitat degradation, and biodiversity loss.

Let’s start with habitat.

Garden centres, nurseries, and landscaping contractors sell ornamental plants based on two factors: how easy they are to look after, and how pretty they are.

But unless those plants are ‘native’ to your region, they’re almost useless to your local wildlife.

(As is your veggie garden, because you work to keep those “pest” free so you can eat the produce. Which is reasonable, so let’s keep this about ornamental plants.)

Butterflies, for example, require certain host plants on which to lay their eggs and to eat as caterpillars. As adults, they need other plants to feed on.

Now, you might be thinking that no bugs is not such a bad thing, because who wants a lot of creepy crawlies around? And bug-chewed plants aren’t super attractive.

Well, all of the other plants that need pollinators (including food crops!) want those bugs around. As do all the birds, frogs, toads, and other insects that eat those bugs. A single nest of songbirds, for example, needs hundreds of caterpillars to feed their young. And certainly all the creatures that eat birds, frogs, toads, and bigger insects need something to dine on too.

To put it another way, imagine if you were surrounded by buffets that either had completely empty trays, or were only filled with things that you were allergic to (or just can’t stand to eat). That’s what your garden looks like if doesn’t have any native plants in it.

Worse, some of the plants that are sold in stores can be ‘invasive.’ That is, they escape the garden and get established in the wild. There, they can sometimes flourish, outcompeting native plants and destroying habitat. They do this by seeds (which can be relocated miles way by birds or wind); cuttings or through a weed pull where the debris isn’t baked by the sun or composted into mush; through ‘runners;’ or rhizomes. So, even if that invasive plant looks like it’s behaving itself and staying put, it probably isn’t.

Which brings us to biodiversity loss.

If we’re losing bugs and the things that feed on them, we’re reducing the biodiversity of the ecosystem. What that means in plain English is that the whole system becomes a lot more fragile. When you have lots of different bugs, and plants, and animals, and birds, one single disease, or one food source reduction isn’t going to turn the whole area into a desert for you too. The fewer creatures you have in your system, the more vulnerable the whole thing is.

You Can Do Something About This!

That’s the bad news. The good news? This is something you can definitely fix.

Let’s go back to your garden. Figure out what you have already, either by asking gardener friends, snapping pix with the iNaturalist app or using Google Lens, and getting identifications. (You might also have receipts you can look at, or you could ask for a local landscaping company to come and do an audit.)

If you have anything that identified as invasive in your area, target that stuff immediately. Pull it up, cut it down, stick everything in black garbage bags, do the bags up, and leave them in the sun to cook for several days. (Be sure to clean up seeds as much as possible). You want to make sure there isn’t any live material or seeds or cuttings that could spread once you dispose of it. Once it’s thoroughly cooked, you could compost it, or if you must, put it in the trash.

Next, target anything else that isn’t native and consider replacing it. Here’s where you can make use of free resources like your local library, your local state or provincial environmental departments, gardening groups, and horticultural societies. Or you can even do a search online for the term “plants (or trees, or shrubs) native to my area.” In some districts, enthusiasts have started “plant this, not that” lists, which give you similar looking plants to the ones you want to replace.

You don’t have to do everything all at once, of course, as time and money will be considerations. But here again, check out the free resources. Many libraries have started “seed libraries,” where you can “borrow” seeds in the spring to start plants and then you harvest seeds from your plant to take back to the library. There are almost certainly plant or seed exchanges where you live too.

A few words of caution. Be careful of plants labelled “native” or “pollinator friendly” in nurseries or garden centres, because they might not be. For example, “butterfly bush” does attract and feed butterflies, but it’s originally from Asia, and has been declared invasive in several regions of North America. I always take a list of what I want to buy with me, using those hard-to-remember Latin names, so I know I’m getting the real deal. There are also now nurseries specializing in native plants, so check their reputation and then you can shop for everything there with confidence.

And, if you have pets, make sure you’re not planting anything that would be toxic to them in places they access. Your veterinarian can likely point you to a list of things that are bad for cats and dogs.

Join a Group Doing This Work

You don’t have to do this all by yourself either. In Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation has a Butterflyway Project with resource materials and volunteer coordinators set up to encourage more native gardens. The Rotary organization, which is a worldwide service club, also has a pollinator garden initiative. Why not meet new people and make new friends while doing a good deed? See what’s available where you live.

Tell Your Neighbours

Talk up native plant gardening to your neighbours. If you’ve joined a group like I suggested above, there are often signs you can put on your lawn to explain the initiative and start conversations. They also provide flyers you can surreptitiously (or openly!) put in your neighbour’s mail boxes. Spread the word!

What About My City Plantings?

This is something you can influence too. Get together with existing gardening and horticultural groups, and start pressuring city hall to adopt more “native flora” planting policies. As always, see if you can find a way to make it about tax savings, property values, and quality of life. You don’t have to like the system, you can learn to work it!

Corporate & Institutional Plantings

Don’t forget to target corporate or institutional plantings as well. Think of all of those parking lot boulevards, apartment building planter boxes, large acreages around utility company buildings… the list goes on and on. A letter writing campaign can work wonders!

You could also involve your local Scouts and Guides troops, and encourage local schools to start pollinator gardens as teaching projects. Consider reaching out to local indigenous groups while you’re at it. Working together to bring back habitat can be a wonderful reconciliation activity, particularly if you spend a lot of time listening and learning.