More hope and less mud-slinging

Sadly, our washing machine died after Christmas. No wonder, we thought, after the kids came home with all their laundry then went to Frenchies six times that the poor thing would keel over.

Apparently, the average life span of a washer is just a decade and we had ours for 17 hard-working years. So we went shopping and, aiming to support local business, headed for Jordan’s in New Minas. Jordan’s delivers, hooks up and hauls the old carcass away.

Hubby and I are pleasantly surprised by the new generation of front-loading washers that require much less water. We’re quite enjoying using the new model. It’s quieter than the clunker and, thus far, there’s no lint. But what amazes us is the spin cycle. It’s powerful. There isn’t much drying needed when the tumbling stops.

This is a good thing since we’ve never owned a dryer. Even during the era of cloth diapers at our house, we hung everything up to dry. Some families have a round metal clothes hanger in the back yard; we have one in the basement.

Give society’s green challenges, I guess you’d expect a new generation of washing machines to have some built-in environmental pluses. Now I’m waiting for improved toilets. Apparently half of private water use is toilet flushing, so no wonder they say, ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow.’

Chatting with environmental sculptor Nistal Prem de Boer recently, he reminded me that we should all switch off more. He says we ought to have a switch at our back doors to turn off all non-essential machines when we go out the door. I was stunned to hear on CBC recently that leaving a computer asleep is equally energy-wasting as driving a sport utility vehicle.

Chris Turner has a new book out called The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need. A former Greenpeace canvasser and father of a baby girl, Turner writes, “I can’t even tell her with any confidence that there is a future with sufficient durability to serve as a drawing board for her lifelong dreams.” So he went looking for hope.

The Turners visited Samso, a Danish island of 4,500 people that has become totally fossil-fuel independent in a decade; sustainable housing in Germany; and North America’s first solar-powered subdivision in Alberta.

He contends that with some wise application of existing technology, our houses can produce their own power. Thomas Edison, according to Turner, would recognize our antique one-way electricity meters.

Turner says bureaucratic complications are all that’s getting in the way of small wind or solar installations to allow ordinary Nova Scotia households to sell back the power they can’t use.

In Germany, net metering legislation and infrastructure are already in place. In fact, he credits alternative energy for partially boosting Germany’s economic recovery in recent years.

Last week, after meetings in Vancouver, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the Harper government suffers from a "poverty of ambition" when it comes to fighting the global issue of climate change. I’d say we need more hope and less mud-slinging when it comes to the environment.