A wiser winter

Keeping it green when the world's gone white

This dog is capturing my whole winter look and vibe. It is, to put it lightly, a TERRIBLE season that is at least three months too long.

Old Man Winter isn’t exactly easy on the planet either, but I’ve rounded up a few tips to help us find eco bright spots amidst the gloom.

Put your sidewalks on a low-sodium diet

A few years ago, a blue crab was found in Mississauga’s Cooksville Creek. Why is that weird? That’s an ocean creature living in fresh water, which means the regular freshwater aquatic life is not happy. High salt levels can influence species growth, reproduction, and food sources. Non-aquatic animals can also ingest too much salt from drinking the water or by confusing salt crystals for grit.

How did our rivers and lakes get saltier than Samin Nosrat’s pasta water? Road salt run-off, of course. While de-icing is necessary to avoid accidents, we tend to overdo it, and we’re seeing salt levels over eight times the safe limit in some areas of Southern Ontario.

On your own property, make sure you shovel well first, then salt only the areas you’ll walk on and use only about a pill bottle’s amount per sidewalk square. (This is a fraction of what most people use.) Salt is also only effective within a certain temperature range, so check your product before you scatter it like confetti. Sand’s not a bad alternative to add grip to slick surfaces.

Salt application guide produced by Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP)

Also check in with your condo board, workplace, or your city: what are they doing to reduce salt usage? Have they tried alternatives? Often alternatives like calcium magnesium acetate or even beet juice (!) are more costly, but road salt is corroding our cars, bridges, pipes (salt corrosion was a factor in Flint’s water being contaminated with lead), and buildings. Even if we’re not good at putting a price on a clean environment, crumbling infrastructure has a clear price tag.

Stop those leaks

Heat is expensive (for your bank account and the planet) so let’s keep it inside, shall we? Hunt for leaks around doors, windows, and even outlets in your home, by feeling for cool air on your hand or by holding a lit candle nearby: if the flame flickers, you’ve got unwanted airflow (or maybe a ghost).

If you have a leak, install or replace weather stripping or caulking, which can get worn out in time. Another (admittedly less glamorous) option for renters is shrink wrapping windows. It means you can’t open your windows over the winter, but past late November that’s no sacrifice.

Stay warm but keep it cool

Throughout the coldest parts of the winter, our house is commonly around 16 degrees. That’s because despite diligent efforts and leak plugging, our insulation has been eaten by squirrels and our cursed electric baseboard heaters are expensive yet ineffective, and I am basically Scrooge, making Bob Cratchit warm his hands over his candle. Now, you don’t need to keep your house at 16 degrees, but challenge your own set point a little, especially at night and when you’re away. Program your thermostat or consider a smart thermostat like Ecobee or Nest, which can learn from your behaviours and automatically adjust your home temperature. Ecobee customers in the U.S. found they saved 23% on their bills. (Some states or provinces may have rebates for a smart thermostat and other energy-saving devices, so do a google! Ontario does not because Doug Ford.)

If you’re living like royalty in a home with central heating, make sure your cold-air returns are dust-free and not covered — you don’t want extra cold air hanging around! An extra wintertime hack: if you have ceiling fans, run them on reverse (clockwise), forcing that hot air downwards.

To stay more comfortable, dress in layers, which trap air between them and keep you toastier (and are easy to adjust). Cozying up in blankets, sweaters, and fuzzy socks is one of the (only) nice parts of winter, so hygge it up!

Keep eating local

Local eating is a little harder in cold climates, but not impossible. You don’t have to eat like a Borscht Belt farmer in the hungry months, but some simple swaps can have a painless (and positive) impact. Do you need lettuce, or can you use cabbage or kale? Can your side be brussels sprouts instead of broccoli? Local root vegetables and apples are available all winter. And while I wouldn’t deny anyone the crate of pure joy that is a box of clementines, choose your international produce with care. (If you missed my deep dive on eating local, read it here.)

Build an eco-friendly emergency kit

While getting together an emergency kit isn’t an eco action, it’s something this year has shown we should all do, and there are ways to make some greener choices. For example, if you’re buying bottled water, you can not only avoid the evil that is Nestlé, but choose sustainably sourced, closed-loop local production from Ice River. Their distinct green bottles are made from 100% recycled PET. You’ll find their 4L jugs in most supermarkets, and it’s the only bottled water I’ll ever buy.

Any good emergency kit needs food, and while I’m more skeptical of best-before dates than the average bear, I try to keep them somewhat in mind. Don’t assemble a bunch of cans and let them become vintage; if you’re not someone who routinely has extra food on hand, rotate those items out into your regular pantry once a year, or if they’re not past-prime, donate them to a local food bank. (I don’t mind eating past prime food, but I wouldn’t inflict it on others.) Use and replace any emergency medication and batteries you keep on hand.

Make sure you’ve got a first aid kit, and by the way, if you live within 50 km of a nuclear reactor in Ontario, you can order free potassium iodide pills that will protect your thyroid in the case of a nuclear emergency.

The U.S. government’s list of what to put in your kit also had some things I hadn’t thought of.

Make a kit, but remember that your best chance of survival doesn’t come from a go-bag: it comes from strong community ties. (Listen to the “Unnatural Disasters” episode of How to Save a Planet for more on this.) So after you’ve secured your stash, maybe make some muffins for your neighbours.

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TL;DR

• To keep our freshwater fresh, salt lightly, applying only a pill bottle’s amount of salt per sidewalk square.

• Investigate your house for leaks, and apply weather-stripping, new caulking, or shrink wrap those windows.

• Lower the set point of your thermostat, especially at night or when you’re away, and instead dress in layers to stay toasty and comfortable.

• Keep local produce in your diet all winter long by integrating root veg, hardy greens, and fruit with a longer storage life, like apples and pears.

• Everyone should have an emergency kit. Rotate out your food and medicine yearly, and buy bottled water from Ice River for more eco-friendly emergency prep.

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Wins of the Week

“The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. Holding open doors. Offering elbows at crosswalks. Letting someone else go first. Helping with heavy bags. Reaching what’s too high, or what’s been dropped. Pulling someone back to their feet. Stopping at the car wreck, at the stuck dog. The alternating merge, also known as the zipper. This caretaking is our default mode and it’s always a lie that convinces us to act otherwise. Always.” — Ross Gay, The Book of Delights

Here are some ways people are in planet-caretaking mode this week:

• Victoria has joined the laundry-strip squad! (You guys really like those Tru Earth strips!)

• Rachel got her Blundstones resoled after they got a little melty by my campfire. (A classic blunder.) She found a place to do it for $50 in Toronto, which is a great deal! I love getting good shoes repaired.

• I’ve been folding seed packets out of the pages of an old water-damaged atlas. I expect I’ll turn some pages into Christmas wrapping paper too and use this easy homemade wheat glue instead of tape.

Are you hoarding your wins like a Doomsday Prepper? Please share them with me!

By the way, as we enter gift-buying season, now’s a great time to review my holiday gift tips from almost a year ago. Though a couple things are less applicable in these plague-doctor days, the principles hold up!

Now, off to shrink wrap the windows! Until next week!

xo

JK

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Five Minutes for Planet is written by me, Jen Knoch, and edited by the incredible Crissy Calhoun. Opening photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash.