For this week's Qurator Monday Missions entry, I would like to try a different take on the obvious take on photographing six interesting green coloured objects. I've decided to purposely use a different meaning of green and photograph six different items around our place that have to do with making a greener and smaller footprint on the Earth. Now, I know that living in the first world in a city/town means that we are already going to have a larger than average pollution footprint... however, that is no excuse for not trying to do more. Of course, there is always more that we can do, but these are things that we are currently doing!
... besides, I'm not really sure that I could find 6 interesting green things in our house... well, I guess there is the harpsichord... and the purfling decoration around my Baroque Viola... and the grass... and the washing-up liquid... and if I make myself really really nauseous, I could do a selfie?
Electric Bike
Our most prized possession in the "green" space of items is our Electric assisted bike. In The Netherlands, you have great biking infrastructure... and it is often quite a pleasure (and potentially faster) to ride to where you want to go. However, it can be crazily windy or with terrible weather... or the distances are just too far.
Having an electric bike means that there is no real excuse to NOT use the bike for single person trips up to around 100 km in distance (round trip, 1/25624.876600091 the circumference of Mars for the American audience...)... in fact, riding in the wind or rain is no different (if you have good rain gear) to just riding in still air. Having an assisted boost up to 25 kph (109374732.838304583 slug-inches per second for our Imperial friends...) also means that you are keeping some decent speed whilst still getting a decent workout over the travel.
The biggest surprise to me was the sheer difference in carbon output, even assuming the worst case scenario for electricity (but we get electricity from a more expensive green based contract) and the bike versus the best case scenario for a tiny car! You can read the post here: @bengy/carbon-emission-comparison-electric-bike-vs-peugeot-107-is-an-electric-bike-worth-it?
Insulation
Well, the "green" thing in this picture is actually the transparent window! The houses in The Netherlands are pretty poor as far as insulation and energy awareness goes... you really notice the difference if you go to Germany, and you have the heat kept really well in the house in comparison to the houses here.
That said, you do what you can... and when we first moved into this house, the biggest renovation that we did was to remove all the old windows and replace them with the best double glazed windows possible to reduce our heating and energy usage. There are still problems with heat leakage via some gaps (which I've started hunting down and filling)... and the walls, we are considering wall insulation, but apparently there can be problems with moisture here in Netherlands, so we are holding off until we learn more about that.
I stayed in the empty house during the winter that it was getting the windows changed... and let me tell you, it really made a huge difference to the inside temperature!
Plant based food alternatives
Food production is a big contributor to individual pollution footprints. Although there is a little bit of quibbling over the exact numbers, the point remains that whatever the exact numbers, it is still a significant producer of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. One of the best ways to reduce the impact of your diet is to transition to a plant-based intake.
Now, that doesn't mean that you become completely vegetarian or vegan... it could just mean that you replace one or two (or more...) meals with non-meat options. There are vast variety of choices, from "fake" meat or old choices like tofu through to the good old fashioned grain/vegetable choices like Ratatouille!
Anyway, making the effort just to transition a single meal or two on an individual level doesn't add up to much by itself... but if you multiply that effect through a whole population it does significantly change the economics of the food industry as well as the larger impact of the pollution caused from meat farming.
Recyling
Now, recycling is one of these things that at an individual level doesn't make a giant difference... however, once there is a multiplier effect through the population it changes the required infrastructure and economics behind product reuse.
The Netherlands has a strong second-hand reuse culture with second hand shops being quite common and well patronised. In addition, most of the geementes (city councils) have infrastructure which makes it EASY to recycle. Paper, Plastics, Metals and Organic bins are within easy walking distance of most houses... and by easy, I mean within a minute or two of WALKING!
Well... this photo was supposed to be green... but the camera had other ideas! So, I have transitioned most of our house lights to LEDs and away from the heat producing almost burning filament technology which was cutting edge in the Victorian era. As a bonus, most of the lights have changeable colours and a degree of smartness to them... which make them a hit with the girls!
The only qualm that I have with the LED technology at the moment is the disposal of the lights, which is more problematic (at the moment) than the regular lights. However, as this technology is pretty widespread now, it will not be long before there is a viable solution.
... and the last of the "green" items is this portable solar panel. It is a bit of a representative photo as we have sponsored and bought solar panels for schools in South Africa... but my zoom lens on my phone just isn't quite up to shooting that much detail in distance! It is also a bit of a symbol of the future plans to install solar panels on the top of our house... something that our neighbours have done and even in sunny Netherlands have had decent power coming from it! However, we have to hold out until we renovate the attic room, otherwise we will need to remove the panels and get new ones...
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