Think being eco-friendly means losing your style, your pleasures, your life? Think again
By Maud Kelly
Illustrations by Clay Sisk
1. Ride a scooter. Would you not look so good tooling around town on a Vespa GT60? If you can’t shell out for the top of the line today, don’t despair. Though we do recommend getting rid of the second car to finance your new bellissimo, we will happily steer you toward the quite affordable LX 50 model, which does almost 60 and gets a sexy 95 miles to the gallon. Remember when Audrey Hepburn climbed on one and wrapped herself around Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday? Ambitious, maybe, but oh so Italian Cool. Difficulty: 8/10.
2. Take the ’Link. OK, so St. Louisans are already cool for having the second-biggest increase, nationwide, in light-rail riding last year. Now you can take your place among the cool kids who avoid rush-hour traffic, travel both below and above the city and eavesdrop effortlessly. Make friends. Make a difference. Make sure to look up from your book, or you’ll miss your stop. Getting There Fast Like Superman Cool. Difficulty: 4/10.
3. Diaper your baby in soft, easy-to-wash cloth diapers. Plastic baby butts are so ’90s. But don’t worry, we’re not talking your mama’s pins-and-rubber-pants affair here. Motherease makes an amazing all-in-one diaper with snaps, which means the inner keep-junior-dry part and the outer keep-junior’s-pants-dry part are connected. Changing them is as easy as changing a disposable, and the best part is, it can save parents literally hundreds of dollars. That and it tackles the little issue of 20 billion disposables going into landfills every year. A lot easier than you think. Earth Mama Cool. Difficulty: 4/10.
4. Charge your cellphone or iPod with the new solar-powered “hybrid” battery charger from Better Energy Systems. The Solio stores power from the sun (or, if it must, the wall) and then generously gives it away to, for instance, your digital camera. (It has a range of adapter tips for different devices.) Store your Solio in a rugged TREAD case, made from recycled tires, and you’re ready to play your iPod in the Andes. Super easy, once you invest the initial $100. Maxwell Smart Cool. Difficulty: 2/10.
5. Bring your own water bottle or travelin’ coffee mug when you leave the house. Grabbing a bottle of water at the checkout may be convenient, but there’s an eco-price to pay. And why bother, when companies like Sigg sell traveling bottles both sensible and beautiful? If crisp, clean water isn’t your thing, Northwest Coffee Co. and Starbucks will knock off a dime for bringing your own mug. If you make your coffee drink fair trade, you’re golden. Globe Trekker Cool. Difficulty: 1/10.
6. Practice green gifting. Giving experiences, not things, is a great way to show that you get it—that money can’t buy you love; things don’t matter, people do; etc., etc. Plus, let’s lay it on the line: Take the love of your life for a hot-air-balloon ride, and she or he will probably kiss you the whole time. For times when your choice is to give jewelry or suffer the consequences, insist on gold and gems that have been sustainably mined. Indiana Jones Cool. Difficulty: 6/10.
7. Buy antiques. From art nouveau sideboards to flapper pearls, objects made yesteryear are sometimes better crafted than things made in factories today. And—the obvious—they don’t require new resources. There’s also the chance that their value will rise over time, so you can watch Antiques Roadshow with the smug satisfaction of an insider and impress guests with your expertise on such things as findings and dovetail joints. Mark L. Walberg (Not of the Funky Bunch) Cool. Difficulty: 6/10.
8. Invest in Green. It used to be that investing in sustainable companies meant your biggest gain might be in your karma bank. Not so anymore. Now your piggy bank might benefit, too. So why not put your money where your mouth is and invest in companies committed to profits and the planet? Ambitious. But—hello!—might not be a bad idea, as more and more people demand that corporations go green. Green Street Cool. Difficulty: 7/10.
9. Eat local, in-season produce. Poor little jet-lagged papaya. It came all that way, wasted so much energy getting here, and it doesn’t even taste that good. But the Missouri Jonathan, now there’s a happy apple for you. Probably because it retained its nutrients and taste in the quick journey from tree to table, helped maintain genetic diversity, kept valuable farmland from being turned into strip malls and contributed to the local economy. Find Jon and more like him at St. Louis’ many farmers’ markets. Pretty easy, if you can get over your winter pineapple jones. Barbara Kingsolver Cool. Difficulty: 6/10.
10. Drink locally. Did you know Missouri has more than 70 wineries nestled into the prettiest countryside our fair state has to offer? You can find many of their delicious vintages in your local grocery store. Prefer brews? Nearly every Bud you’ll find in town has been brewed in Soulard. And at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, you can watch them make the beer right there. You may find yourself swept up in the green movement, as they pride themselves on educating you about all things eco. Dionysian Cool. Difficulty: 2/10.
11. Turn your yard into a wildlife preserve. Get your neighborhood park, back yard or even your balcony registered as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. How? Certification can be granted if you have these five elements: food sources, water sources, places for cover, places to raise young and sustainable gardening. You can attract birds, butterflies and other wildlife to your space with simple things, like planting nectar-producing flowering bushes or making clay toad-houses (picture a bowl turned upside down with a little door cut out). If you build it, they will come. Fun to do, and greatly reduces the effects of urban development on wildlife. Swiss Family Robinson Cool. Difficulty: 7/10.
12. Build an eco-house. Sage Homebuilders is prepared to build you a near-zero-energy home, which means almost all its power comes from the sun, not the grid. It will be chock full of other green necessities, too, like energy-efficient windows and earth-friendly carpet. That’s not all—they promise it’ll be gorgeous, as aesthetics, it turns out, are a sustainability issue. To do this, you have to be way ambitious, and so ahead of your time. You want that, don’t you? Buckminster Fuller Cool. Difficulty: 10/10.
13. Build eco into your existing house. Buy natural, latex-free paint when you change your wall color; choose fast-growing, eco-friendly bamboo flooring over hardwood; use compact fluorescent light bulbs; keep the thermostat 2 degrees higher in the summer and 2 degrees lower in the winter; store leftovers in Pyrex refrigerator boxes instead of yucky plastic; use these crazy absorbent things called Twist European Sponge Cloths instead of rolls and rolls of paper towels. Home is Where the Eco-Heart is Cool. Difficulty: 3/10.
14. Wear organic or fair-trade clothes. Did you know it takes a third of a pound of pesticides to produce just one nonorganic cotton T-shirt? Ick. To keep that weight off your shoulders, buy your hip T’s from local Just Be Threads. As far as fair trade goes, we’re lagging behind Europe, people. Help change that by checking out Fair Indigo, an online retailer started by four folks from Lands’ End dedicated to ending sweatshop labor, or Indigenous Designs, which sells soft, pretty shirts at Whole Foods. Not as easy as going to the mall, but not as ambitious as spinning flax into gold, either. Stella McCartney Cool. Difficulty: 7/10.
15. Toss out those nasty cleaning and beauty products you’ve got stockpiled. Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, enzymes—that’s for your tub and countertops. Organic almond oil, Neroli, azuki bean—that’s for your face. Not a problem now that other people are making these for you in droves and packaging them handsomely. Try handcrafted, cruelty-free Pangea Organics from Wild Oats for your face and bod and Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day laundry detergents from Whole Foods for your unmentionables. Pure as the Driven Snow Cool. Difficulty: 3/10.
16. Donate everything you can. We’re talking your kids’ clothes and cellphones, computers, cars, heck, even your kitchen sink, which you can donate to ReStore, a Habitat for Humanity resell shop for home wares on Forest Park Avenue. The money they get from selling your old cabinets helps them build more houses. While you’re there, pick up something small for yourself, like, oh, say, a fireplace mantel. Giving things away is not only nice, but also reduces the need to make more. Give It Away Now Cool. Difficulty: 8/10.
17. Get a tankless water heater. It’s this little box that sits in your shower and heats up your water super fast, so it’s not just sitting around in your basement using up energy. If the kids want to shower while you do dishes and your spouse does the laundry, you can get a bigger version that still kicks your old water heater’s butt for efficiency. Lower water bills mean you can buy more organic shampoo. Jetsons Cool. Difficulty: 6/10.
18. Start an office co-op. There are so many people in St. Louis doing so many cool things, it just makes sense to pool resources and space in an office co-op. Take advantage of Craigslist to find other entrepreneurs like you, and then rent a space communally, sharing copiers, fax machines and phone lines. This also works for artists, who aren’t called starving for nothing. Why not time-share studio space? A great way to network while saving on bills. Ambitious, yes, but useful and creative. Pam and Jim from The Office Cool. Difficulty: 9/10.
19. Host a green dinner party. You won’t feel guilty serving your organic munchies on biodegradable EarthShell disposable dinnerware. Light beeswax candles; listen to Pandora Radio, the Music Genome Project–based website where you can create your own radio station instead of buying CDs; and send guests home with eco party favors, like potted flowers or organic chocolate. Don’t go to bed at a decent hour; we’re not trying to take away all your bad habits. Cool Like Bret Easton Ellis Except Without All the Drugs and Shame. Difficulty: 4/10.
20. Have a conversation. Of all the things you can do about global warming, spreading consciousness is the most important. Sample talk starters: 1) I’m bummed about the polar bears, aren’t you? 2) Want to start a kids’ coat swap? 3) You’re cute, and I might date you if you trade in your Hummer for a hybrid. Easy for Chatty Cathys; bedeviling, at first, for Shy Susans. But the more you make it part of your life, the easier it gets. Hello Cool. Difficulty: 1/10.
