Urban Sustainability

[helwen]

bytechearse asked if I knew of any suggested reading on sustainability and/or conservation for apartment dwellers. I thought this was worth bringing up to the top, to a fresh post. (And thanks for asking the question!)

Unfortunately, not living in an apartment, I haven't looked into this a lot. Apartments definitely have limitations, depending on the setup. You may or may not have control of: heat, water, insulation, recycling, etc. Here are a few suggestions, mostly from back when I used to live in an apartment. I'll also include some links I found to some decent sites, which may also have book recommendations.

If you're into canning and preserving foods, then John Seymour's The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It might be worth getting. He writes about everything from gardening (small section on urban gardening) to raising farm animals to country crafts and skills. The farm stuff is mostly useful for people with land, but the crafts are usable by anyone. One can always go to the farmer's market to get local produce. I've heard there's a big market (or use to be) at the site of the World Trade Center in NYC. It may have had to move somewhere else since 2001. So even big cities may have country options/resources.

*** Apartment Living Ideas ***
Most apartment complexes in MA at least, do have some recycling options. Some have increased this, provided land for growing things, etc. gwynt_y_storm has spoken with the management at her complex on various things over the years and they have actually implemented some things.

Of course big city complexes don't usually have a lot of free land for growing things, but some places have accessible roofs, or really good attached balconies, so that's always an option. Or maybe all you have is a sunny window -- if the window can open, then a tomato plant is an option (needs wind to toughen the stem), and lettuce and chives are pretty easy. Instant salad :) Plus, plants help clean the air. Any plant will, some are better at it than others. Cat owners beware, most 'air cleaner' plants are toxic to cats. We have ivy but have it in out-of-the-way places (another way I cut the electric bill, btw - no more need for an air cleaner for my asthma/allergies).

But what about insulation? One of the best ways to beat heat and cold is to keep the temperature of your place constant, protected from influence by the weather. Again, it depends on the apartment. At the very least, you can get heavy insulated curtains for the windows -- especially important on the shady sides in winter and the sunny sides in summer. Ideally, if you could hang a few layers of fabric across the entire wall(s) in question, that would be the most effective, but many complexes have rules against putting holes in the wall for any reason. Just this past winter, because we don't have the downstairs finished yet, I took a free-standing wall we have (like those folding screen things), hung a couple of layers of fleece and stuff over it, and leaned it against the wall behind the piano. Also used a couple of folded tables against another wall and laid layers of fabric over them, stretched out between the tables so I could cover more of the wall. At one point I was curious if it was really working, so I stuck my hand into the middle of the layers and could feel the temperature difference! I happen to have a lot of fabric because I'm always making things. But of course extra blankets or comforters would work. If you need to get more, Goodwill or Salvation Army would probably have blankets for cheap as well, or you might be able to get some for free on Freecycle.org. A note on the layering -- I used whatever I had for the layers, but since we have to live with it daily, I tried to find pieces I liked best, and that were light-colored, to use as the visible layer. Light-colored because then you don't feel like you have to turn on every light in the room to see :D

In winter, if you're going away for several days, you can turn the heat way down (assuming you have control of that), as long as you open the doors under the sinks so that the pipes don't freeze while you're away.

Candles are good both for light and heat. When you mostly want them for light, use reflectors behind them. When you want them for heat, it's really amazing how just 3 or 4 candles spread out around a room can warm the place up - visually and actually. Of course, never leave flames unattended (we'll do this in the living room, then take a candle over to the kitchen for a minute to get a drink or snack, but you can still see most of the candles from the kitchen).

fitzw has a little maglight on a belt holder, and often uses that for going into darker parts of the house instead of turning on the overhead light -- useful when you're just going to the kitchen to get an aspirin or down into the workshop for a specific tool and then out again.

Anyway, there's a few ideas.

*** Online Stuff***

I did a quick search on "urban sustainability" and one of the first ones I came across was World Changing. They have tons of info on sustainability and energy of all kinds, including for urban folks.

They also have a book they've put together of ideas and resources here. But I haven't read it, so I can't really speak to it one way or the other. The organization has a good rep though, and you can probably judge for yourself after poking around their web site for a while.

The very first site that came up was specifically for Philadelphia. So, it might be worth doing a search on your own city to see what's available in your area. Also, check your state government web site. That's how I found all the farmers' markets in our area.

I just did a search on "sustainability" on LiveJournal (under Interests), and came up with an interesting list of communities. Some are a little _too_ interesting (e.g., so_very_doomed), but others looked like they might have some useful stuff. Eh, depends on how much time you want to spend online.

http://Frugalliving.about.com is another good site. Recipes for toothpaste and shampoo from baking soda, reusing stuff that would get thrown away, etc. I'm working on picking through some of it for the things I want and printing them out for my own book of useful things.

*** Finding Information ***
It isn't always easy to find what you're looking for, whether at the library or on the internet. People use different words for the same things. Or they're only talking about a specific thing so none of the usual search words will work. So both general search words are good and also specific to what you want to know about.

Of course, figuring out what you want to know about is another thing :P

Anyway, if anyone gets stuck on finding out info on something specific, always feel free to ask me about it. No way an expert, but I might have a book or site on it.

Comments

[oakmouse]

There really isn't much. Some of the material in books geared to houses could be adapted, especially to the townhouse style of apartment, but most books on this topic are geared to houses and adapting the material isn't necessarily easy.

Some municipalities and counties put out booklets like King County (WA)'s "What's Hazardous At Home?" that teach greener ways of cleaning.

The Apartment Farmer, by Duane Newcomb, is useful for those who want to grow food plants or medicinal herbs.

Another thing that might help is the energy conservation pamphlets available from utilities. For instance, the ones I used to get in Seattle offered suggestions on how to do things like install flow reducers in your shower-head and faucets, how to reduce the water use in your toilet (by putting a brick or jug of water in the tank, so it used less water with every flush), where to buy insulated blinds and curtains, and other small things that an apartment dweller could use.

WTC Market?

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

Might you be thinking of the Greenmarket at Union Square? (Even if you weren't, it's well worth a visit....)

Re: WTC Market?

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Possibly. I don't know a lot about NYC, but there was a market on Tuesdays down there and someone's mother usually went to the market -- fortunately she either decided not to go that day or was running late.