After the wreckage, the thousands of families left destitute, the billions of dollars of damage, the power outages, gas shortages and countless other nameless issues left behind in Hurricane Sandy’s wake; Sandy’s waves breached more than just out shores. Across the nation most people did what little could be done to help support the impacted people, of this disaster with prayers and donations. While watching the news coverage pre and post Sandy I was struck by the hours and hours of lines that formed to gather supplies, the empty shelves and the many that had to go without because there just wasn’t anything left to go around.
I hope this natural phenomenon or other natural disasters will be few and far between, but the thought crossed my mind about what I had in my own pantry that would be sustainable without the modern day luxuries we’ve all become so accustomed to. I can’t really hunt and forage, both for the lack of know how or a sustainable area to do it in, if my water shuts off I don’t really have a backup or the space to store large amounts of water, and most of my canned goods or preserved food are useless without heat. I know I mentioned my Great Grandma a few articles back, but she really was an ideal role model for conserving and reusing valuable commodities. My Great Grandma Skipton survived the Great Depression, and as most from that time, people learned to not waste and use everything up till it was useless, it was like being eco friendly was just necessity. As a principle she kept about five months of food in the house at any given time. I’m not suggesting anything so extensive but here are a few useful and energy conserving tips that will come in handy during the times of plenty and the moments of scarce:
Solar powered flashlights– this can soak up the rays to provide some light, I can barley find batteries in my house as it is.
Canning– it’s inexpensive, not from a grocery store, you can share the goods as gifts over the holidays, and reuse the mason jars for years to come.
Gardening– you may not have time to grow your own salad bar, but there are tons of easy options to grow certain foods in small quantities, try a small herb garden or a tomato plant on your back patio.
Filtered water bottles– I’m not talking about your Brita, I’m referring to a water bottle that you can dunk in the lake, filter the gunk and drop some water purification tablets to kill off harmful bacteria. I personally like Berkey water filters, their cost effective and transportable.
Nothing fancy, but this use to be less than basic for most people, you can get use out of any these and they all offer eco friendly solutions to an ever growing concrete maze, how green can you go?