inconvenient truth

I’m not sure the pervasive poignancy of Al Gore’s infamous title ever rang in my ears so loud and clear as it has in the last couple of weeks. I mean, isn’t it just the shear inconvenience of change that keeps use from doing the blatantly obvious right things? You know, like bringing our own bags, trying to reuse as much as possible to reduce waste, walking or riding a bike instead of driving, being mindful of where we shop and what we buy, cooking more foods from scratch, growing food, using appliances less often, recycling, the list goes on. So the irony of all of this is that these things are actually really easy and will eliminate the long-term, long-lasting inconvenience of climate change, economic breakdown, famine, water-shortages, fuel shortages, land fills, disease; not to mention short-term inconveniences like having to take the trash out too frequently, paying for parking and gas, paying those big (and growing) utility bills. So let’s ask ourselves the next time we go for a quick convenient, but wasteful fix… “Is it worth it? Will we suffer the inevitable negative repercussions of our actions?” And trust me, you’ll feel good about rinsing out your ziplock bags or using washable fabric sacks, carpooling, turning the lights off. These things force us all to slow down. And that is always a good thing.

Okay, enough of the philosophizing and on to the rant part of todays’ program: The Bank. What a ridiculously inconvenient mess we found ourselves in with our local bank in the last couple of months. It’s about the value of our home after putting so much efficiency work in and using the most sustainable and durable materials available for our Deep Energy Retrofit. The short version of the story is this…

Last October we refinanced our first mortgage in order to fund Phase One of our project. At that time the appraisal company put the value of our home at $210K. Keep in mind we had a tarp on the roof, the basement was quite damp, the siding was clearly in need of updating, and we had little to no insulation. And even though that value was $15K less than the last time we had our home appraised four years ago, we let it slide because of the roof and the notorious housing market crash. We managed to finance Phase Two of the project, completing everything but the windows and figured we could now extend our home equity line of credit, since things like roofing and siding play heavily in the home appraisal system. We know that insulation isn’t really taken into account (how stupid is that?) and that things like our ventilation system are too new to be part of the appraisal as well. But we had invested a lot of money and see and feel the benefits of those improvements every day. So guess what? The bank’s appraiser came out in July and put the current value of our home at $183K. Is that a f***ing joke? $27K less than when it had a failing roof and moldy basement? $27K less than when the housing market was at rock bottom? So I told the bank that the appraisal was wrong, and in fact, the new siding was never mentioned, and of course the bank has no interest in trying to see value in some of the new and innovative efficiency work that’s being done these days. They didn’t care to correct anyhting or pursue our case any further.

According to the banks, the value of homes is based primarily on square footage. That used to make sense I guess, although there are some pretty hideous big houses out there that could just burn down as far I’m concerned. And even though in the Real Estate market there is value in the quality of workmanship, location, details, amenities, the banks see none of that. It’s as if they haven’t taken into account why their system has failed them. Why do you think the housing market crashed? Well, because big giant pieces of crap were over-valued for their size alone. And what about us little guys with modest efficient homes? To be honest, I don’t think the homes in the $200 range have been hit as hard as those above $500K. Downsizing is a big trend now, and if a one bedroom apartment in a big city can go for millions of dollars for the desirability factor alone, than it stands to reason that there should be value in super-insulation, fire-resistant siding, and a roof that will never have to be replaced again. With rising fuel costs and fuel shortages, these features are going to be more and more desirable every day. So if I was in charge of a bank (that sounds like a nightmare), I guess I would be looking for ways to be innovative and lead the way in a changing market and a changing world. Many of the old-school local banks seem resistant to change, but I have confidence that some of the larger ones, or newer ones can see the cutting edge.

Moving on now, what other conveniences have become extremely inconvenient? How about eggs at the grocery store? Is it really a big mystery why big shipments of foods from massive factory farming operations become tainted? Well, in my mind it’s karma. But scientifically speaking it’s because of the unnatural coexistence and over-crowding of too much livestock, foul, and crops in one place. These contaminations are going to happen, and there are no regulations that are going to change that, other than forcing the farms to be smaller. The fact is, as far as eggs go, small chicken farms can exist in practically any climate, in our own backyards in fact, in cities and suburbs, and we can all get our eggs from down the street. The concept of more and smaller farms could even offer jobs. JOBS. hmmm.

Plastic is an ironic convenience. I’ve talked about plastic before, but how funny that this modern innovation has turned out to be such an unhealthy truth. We’re back to basics again, using glass for food storage, saving and reusing jars, looking for compostable disposable containers, and removing the awful gas-giving vinyl materials from our environment. Did you know that many states don’t recycle number 5 plastics? Check out this company that recycles those yogurt containers and water filters to make toothbrushes and dinner ware. I applaud the motivation and the innovation.

It’s time to get creative and resourceful and change the way we think of the concept of convenience. Convenience should be a long-term idea. No more quick fixes. No more ignoring the results. No more laziness. More mindful thinking. More big picture.

Oh, one last thing… on the local news here in western Mass this morning they kept talking about the controversial wind farm in the works for Nantucket bay. They kept emphasizing “the pros and cons.” It’s laughable really. I mean, when you consider the pros of renewable and sustainable energy, the cons seem pretty insignificant. I mean, what could they be? I guess some rich people don’t want their views of the ocean impaired. Some people are worried about the bird population. So what if we don’t use wind power and stick with this fossil fuels plan? Then the ocean views and the bird population will be wiped out anyway, along with everything else because of the climate change. That would be seriously inconvenient.

keeping up with the eco-Jones’

A funny thing is happening here in our neighborhood. There seems to be a little competition in green living. We have several close friends who live nearby and we all see eye to eye on this environmental thing. So one weekend somebody plants a garden. Then the other person does. The compost systems get upgraded, the clotheslines go up. It’s not that we all need to be the best necessarily, but if one household is doing the right thing the others don’t sleep too soundly until they are too. We share ideas and goals and simultaneously experience the benefits of green living. It’s fun and challenging at the same time. But in the midst of trying to keep up with one another, we have all improved our lifestyle in the best possible sense.

So bye bye to outdoing the neighbors’ new garage or in-ground pool. Now we compete for the least amount of waste, best organic gardens, and smallest carbon footprint. This is where the change occurs, household by household, community by community.

And on that note of living greener day to day, let’s talk about what we’re doing here at the Deep Energy Retrofit Ground Zero. Still in a waiting period regarding the windows (we’ll get to that later), we have been very focused on our own behavior and habits. The dryer has been retired for about a month now and I can’t wait to see how much is saved on the next electric bill. It may not be significant, but every little bit counts and holds much more value than the price the utility company gives it.

The meditative solace I experience while hanging laundry in the fresh air with sunshime beaming down on me is something I can’t put a price on. For years I lived in Queens, NY, and used a clothesline that ran across the courtyard of the building. I appreciated the air-dried freshness and the rudimentary process, but I still remained inside the apartment, leaning out the 4th floor window for all of it. I never imagined how incredibly joyful I’d feel with my feet in the grass and the breeze at my back, letting nature deside when the laundry is done.

So what else? I’ll tell you… the thing that eats at me, wears away my environmental armor… PACKAGING! I mean really, the amount of plastic that comes home in every load of canvas tote bags from the grocery store is just plain disturbing. Not only are these plastic toxins in our food a big issue right now, but it’s just so much waste! We had a long discussion the other night with our eco-Jones’ neighbors and couldn’t really figure what could be done about the whole thing with current FDA standards and our own expectations of fresh uncontaminated food. I mean, we could just switch to glass and metal, but these still have to go through the whole recycling process and be re-manufactured. Getting produce from the farmers’ market or farm shares is part of the solution. But what about food that must be packaged?

I don’t have any all-encompassing answers, but I do have some tips and the example of what we’re trying to do here in our home. First, order yourself some re-useable fabric produce and bulk grocery bags from ecobags.com. Then just start buying in bulk whatever you can. I went to the market yesterday and bought several kinds of beans, rice, quinoa, nuts, spices, peanut butter… and brought my own bags and containers for all of them. Now I’ve transferred them all to mason jars where they can be stored indefinitely, and I didn’t have to discard a single container or plastic bag. Plus, as an added bonus, the store I went to gave me a nickel off for every single bag/container I brought.

The other thing we’ve been exploring around here is called Skin Deep. It’s a non-profit online database of all of the hair, skin, makeup, and general beauty products out there. It rates them according to their toxicity. I’m not really sure how the whole thing works as it’s a little vague, but we had a great time the other night plugging each item in our bathroom into the search field and reading the results. You’d be surprised how many so-called natural products have significant levels of toxicity. Let’s not all get super paranoid now, but I imagine that fewer potential toxins in our products is not only healthier for ourselves and families, but also healthier for our drainage systems and the air around us. A friend recently told me that after he switched from his regular hygiene regimen to a set of more safely rated products his allergy attacks instantly disappeared. Just a little food for thought in our chemically-driven society.

So I promised you all some numbers about our oil savings. I looked it all over today and decided that it’s still inconclusive with the horribly inefficient windows still in place and the fact that for a good part of the winter there were literally holes on the house being re-insulated on a day-to-day basis. Don’t get me wrong, there was still significant savings, but too hard to measure right now. I can tell you that with some very hot days this summer, and when we were actually diligent enough with keeping the windows closed, it was noticeably cooler in our home than before. Windows, windows, windows… that’s the barrier we must overcome now.

But while we work on figuring out how to finance that monstrous portion of our Deep Energy Retrofit, we are content working hard to shrink our carbon footprint a little more every day.