I knew that Americans were wasteful, but check out this survey I found over at PBS:
If the rest of the world consumed at the rate Americans do, how many planets worth of resources would be needed to cover this consumption?
Five planets worth of resources would be needed to enable the rest of the world to consume at the rate Americans do. Source: ABC News:Diapers and Showers and Sodas, Oh My!
How many gallons of water does an American use over a lifetime?
1.8 millions gallons of water are used over a lifetime, enough to fill almost three Olympic size swimming pools. Source: National Geographic: Human Footprint
Less than 4 percent of the world's children are American. Whatpercent of the world's toys do American children consume?
American kids consume more than 40% of the world's toys. Source: The Morning News: Garbage Night
How many plastic bottles does the U.S. throw away every second?
America discards 694 plastic bottles every second or 60 million plastic bottles each day. Source: National Geographic: Human Footprint
How much garbage does the average American produce everyday?
The average American produces 4.6 pounds of waste per person per dayor 1,657pounds a year. Source: EPA: Municipal Solid Waste
In America, how many pounds of fooda year go to waste?
About 96 billion pounds of food go to waste each year in the United States. Source: EPA: Waste Not/Want Not WASTES
If just 5 percent of the food Americans waste was used, how many people could be fed daily?
Four million people could be fed each day if 5 percent of the food Americans wasted was used. Source: NY Times: One Country's Table Scraps, Another Country's Meal
With 5 percent of the world's population, America uses what percentage of the world's energy?
America uses 25% of the world's energy. Source: BostonGlobe: Alarm sounds on US population boom
America is responsible for what percentage of the world's automotivecarbon dioxide emissions?
The U.S. is responsible for 45% of the world's automotive carbon dioxideemissions. Source: EnvironmentNewsService
Kinda puts things into perspective huh? I've very proud to live in a countrywhere I'm free and have the luxuries that I do. I have so many things I take for granted. When reading that survey and looking at pictures of the waste impact of Americans I feel ashamed. I feel like I want to help. How can I start? How does this have anything to do with Traditional Wet Shaving?
Picture this... It's still dark outside when your alarm goes off in the morning. You drag yourself out of bed to hop in the shower. After your shower, you're feeling refreshed and clean. Now that you’re a little bit more awake it's time to shave. After finishing shaving you realize that you've been using that razor for about a week now. Now it's time get rid of it. Where does it go after it's dull and you no longer use it? That's right, the trash.
You've just thrown away something that could ultimately have been recycled andreused into something else! Instead it's going to go into the landfill to be piled up among the other things that American’s throw away. If you use a plastic disposable non cartridge razor, how long does it last? Maybe 4 or 5 shaves? Alright I’ll give you points that you saved a few bucks by using the plastic disposable razor. However, you can't just toss it you’re your recyclebin because of the metal blade inside of the plastic handle. Although, you can ultimately figure out a way to recycle it, but that requires the time to figure out how to crush or break the razor enough for you to dislodge the tiny piece of metal blade; and if that's the case then good luck not cutting up yourhands or anything else. If you do happen to separate the two, you can recycle it. That's a lot of work don’t yathink? I wonder how many people go through that? Too much hassle.
So it's added to the garbage like everything else.
You don't use a disposable razor? Then you must use a cartridge razor. Yes, that Mach 3 has been a good faithful razor the last few years. I agree, it's a good razor, and the new Gillette Proglide fusion is a better razor than the mach 3, but how is it made? Yep, more plastic. Now you can argue that cartridge razors are more environmentally friendly than disposable razors. Yeah, I'll buy that. Instead of throwing away the whole razor, you only throwing away that little cartridge head. Less waste. Good for you. Only... you can't recycle that either. You can't keep that from ending up in a land fill. A fusion or Mach three razor has LOTS of plastic, rubber strips, and metalblades. I dare you to try and take that apart after every shave to recycle it.
So it's added to the garbage like everything else.
What kind of shaving cream do you use? barbasol? Edge? Any type of "Goo in a can"? Yes, most people use that stuff. The problem is. When it's empty, what do you do? Do you take the time to pop off the plastic nozzle and spout? Do you take the time do make sure it's completely empty before throwing it away? do you throw it in your metal/aluminum recycle bin? no.
So it's added to the garbage like everything else.
Traditional wet shaving can be one of the more green and eco-friendly ways to shave. If you use a metal DE razor, they are constructed so well, that you can easily get a lifetime worth of shaves from it. They are constructed so well, that I even have a Gillette razor from the 1940's. You think that little flimsy Mach 3 handle will last 70 years? And I doubt those mach 3 cartridgeswill be around in 70 years.
Blades for the DE razor? Paper thin, all metal, no plastic, completely recyclable. I've got an aluminum blade "bank" that will hold several years worth of blades. When it's full, I place it in my aluminum recycle bin. Not waste!
Nothing added to the garbage.
Shave cream? Most creams today come in either plastic squeeze tubs (rinse after use and recycle), metal tubes (rinse and recycle) or plastic screw top tubes (keep and refill with same cream from a refill tub... which will happen to be plastic and can be recyclable) which can be rinsed and recycled as well.
Nothing added to the garbage.
Shave soap? Most shave soaps come in a cardboard or paper box both of which can be recycled. Some come in wooden bowls (it's wood. Naturally decaying matter. not artificial, so when you're done, you can either throw it in the trash and not worry because it will eventually be broken down over the years. Or, you could toss it on your next campfire or in your fireplace.) Also most buy a refill puck (paper box - recycled) to drop in the bowl. And I've seen some that come in either glass bowls or plastic bowls, both which can eventually be recycled when done.
Nothing added to the garbage...
Are you detecting a trend? You see, not only are DE blades a mere fraction the price of Cartridge replacement blades, but they take up way less space and are much easier to recycle.
My only disclaimer is to watch out for how much water you're using. If you're used to shaving in the shower (with the water running) then opt for shaving in the sink after your shower. If you shave at the sink, opt for filling up the sink with hot water and using the sink full of water to rinse your blade and face afterwards instead of leaving the faucet running while rinsing your razor and face.
As you can see, not only is traditional wet shaving a fun hobby, able to give you a better shave, and make you feel like a million bucks, but traditional wet shaving can help you in your efforts to be a better steward of the earth and want to be more green. Recycle, reduce, reuse.
For more information and tips on how to be more eco-friendly, I would suggest visiting this website (www.earth911.com). No, this isn't an endorsement or anything.
Happy Shaving!
I wouldn't go so far as to lable my wife and I as tree hugging hippies, but we do like to be more green and eco-friendly. I mean, we aren’t going to the extreme like not showering, using indoor plumbing, and not living without electricity. However, we do try and make a conscientious effort to help by reducing our waste. However, in the beginning, I honestly wasn’t really all that on board with this whole “recycle” thing. I thought it was just a joke. I mean, who cares ya know?
We really started to think about our environmental impact about 2 years ago. We had moved into a new rent house. Our city has curbside trash pickup twice a week. However, the city sent us curbside recycle bins as well. You place your designated recycled products in the bin and they are collected once a week when the recycle truck comes along and takes it to the recycle center in town. There are three bins that are color coded for Plastic, paper, and aluminum/metal. We thought that we’d might as well give this a try. I mean, we've got the given to us, so might at well utilize them. So before we thought about throwing something in the trash, we decided if it could be recycled. If so, we rinsed if needed (soap/Landry detergent/shampoo bottles) then we put it in the recycle bins outside.
Now just a little background about our household, I am “responsible” for taking out the trash. In an average week, I would say I took out about 4-5 tall kitchen trash bags full of garbage to the trash can outside. Well, after about a month of this, I started to notice a difference. I was ASTOUNDED how I was only taking 1-2 trash bags a week to the trash can outside! What the heck?!
So now instead of thinking recycling was dumb, it turned into, hey it’s helping me not take out the trash so much! Ha-ha (Anything to help me stay in my "Man Chair" watching ESPN or DBZ)! Then our garbage production really started to make sense when I saw that by the end of the week our recycle bins were literally overflowing with items in them to be recycled. It was not very hard. Just making sure that all the little things like coke cans, coke bottles, boxes, paper, plastic (seems like EVERYTHING is made of plastic), milk jugs, cereal boxes, etc… were put into the bins. Not really that hard. Jennifer and I both agreed that we could see how just doing this simple thingas recycling can really help. I mean think about it. We cut our household trash production in half! And most of the stuff we were putting in the trash now is biodegradable. Mostly food scraps and paper towels. Our trash out by the curb turned from 4-5 bags piled up to about 1-2 with the recycle bins OVERFLOWING beside them. And that really made me realize that by justa little effort and thinking/common sense, we can cut our waste production in half AND help recycle and reuse.
Some other things that we try to do is not use the Plastic bags; yep…those bags from Wal-Mart. Most of those won’t ever biodegrade. They’ll be here on earth for a LONG time after we are. Most aren't biodegradable and If they are, then it’ll take a LONG time for them to break down. So another effort we have started is to use the reusable recycle grocery bags. Take em into the store with ya and have your grocer use those instead of the plastic sacks. I’m starting to see more and more people with them. Think about it... Personally, replacing those plastic bags with the recycled reusable bags, we’ve probably saved 20-30 bags per grocery shopping trip every 2 weeks. That could possibly be up to 700+ bags a year! We do keep some of the bags on-hand, but most of them are taken to the recycle center or BACK to walmart where they have a recycle box to put them in.
Try growing a garden! Not only have we had fun watching our plants grow during the summer, but it gets us outside, working in the yard, burning calories, but helps us eat healthier too! Less processed foods and more natural and healthy foods like fruits and vegetables will make you feel better! And those food and vegetable scraps from the garden can be made into a compost pile! Even less that goes into your trash bag!
Shop your local farmers market! And take your recycled bags with you! Not only are you helping out your community by giving back and purchasing from local farmers and growers, but you’re not pumping money into that powerhouse monster called Wal-Mart! Besides, dairy, eggs, meats, vegetables, and fruits from the farmers market taste SO much better thanthe mega market. Trust me on this one...I know good food.
Eat less fast food and eat more home cooked meals. You’ll enjoy the time with your family; spend less money on overpriced and poisoned fast food (yes poison. It’s killing America!). And you don’t have those plastic cups, paper bags, ketchup packets, and napkins that you have to throw in the garbage!
Use less hot water when washing clothes, taking a shower, or washing dishes. Just turn down the knob on your water heater. Using less hot water means the hot water heater uses less energy to heat the water.
Turn off lights when you leave the room (I personally struggle with this one). Conserve what you have and be sparing with it.
Some people, like me, are visual people. So when i see or learn about something visual, i really can pick up and learn and understand it better. So here are some movie choices for your weekend.
MOVIE SUGGESTIONS:These movies have really changed the way we look at food and how we view and consume food. Be ready for it to change your life. It did for us!
Super Size me (documentary by Morgan Spurlock)
Food Inc. (documentary by Robert Kenner)
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Present day… we’re still recycling from 2 years ago when we started! It’s become second nature now. We both know what to recycle and it has become second nature. I’m now realizing that almost everything can be recycled. I know there is LOTS more than can be done, and we aren’t perfect and are probably missing a lot of key concepts, but at least our little bit is making a difference. I know it would be a hopeless situation if we went all out hippie living on the land, but that doesn’t fit into our lifestyle. It’s about making the biggest impact with single everyday things. Not changing the world.
Now…those of you who have stayed awake long enough to read this, you might be wondering how any of this fits into my new hobby of traditional wet shaving?
Stay tuned for part 2!
