Living Green: Lessons From Medieval Times
Once upon a time, the average person didn’t create over 1,600 pounds of garbage in a single year, and there wasn’t a behemoth heap of trash the size of Africa floating in the Pacific Ocean. Those were the days. . . the Middle Ages?
Ok, ok, so maybe the Middle Ages doesn’t conjure the most delightful of images for everyone. They did have the Black Plague and the crusades and the perils of a feudal system under an absolute monarchy, but they also got a lot right behind-the-scenes.
Modernity doesn’t always have to equal superiority, and the wisest people are those who learn from history adapt what works and improve on what doesn’t.
However, somewhere between The Greatest Generation and the laziest one, our country became infected with over 1,305 Superfund sites- and our world is rapidly running out of resources. Colonizing Mars or finding a new planet to sustain us seems a bit more costly and difficult than simply looking to the past for green solutions that have been right in front of our faces all along.
The Medieval Times were far from perfect, but they did have some earth-friendly practices worth learning about.
Garbage Reduction
Researching trash collection in Medieval times is a difficult task, because they didn’t produce very much trash. Granted, towns and large cities struggled with terrible sanitation issues, they didn’t actually produce very much disposable rubbish. One of the most complete Medieval rubbish pits, discovered in Southampton, England revealed little more than seeds, fruits, pottery, glass and fabrics.
A rubbish pit that lasted years held only a small amount of organic, biodegradable material. This is a practice most of us could learn a thing or two from, considering the U.S. uses and disposes of approximately 1,500 plastic water bottles every second, according to TreeHugger.com. Although it’s nearly impossible to live a total biodegradable life in today’s world, there are some minor changes you can make and teach to others that can have a massive, positive impact in the long run.
- Try not to use disposable dishes. If you do, don’t throw away after one use. Wash and re-use them.
- Look for clothes made from natural fabrics like cotton or wool, not poly-something (they’re also better for your skin).
- Cleanwith washable, cloth rags. Papertowels aren’t as biodegradable as they might seem.
- Avoid products with excessive packaging, there’s no purpose for it whatsoever except to grab your attention. Don’t fall victim to marketing gimmicks!
Toxin Tamers
While Medieval ladies may have endured the unfortunate trend of slathering their faces with poisonous lead makeup, toxic substances at large weren’t much of a factor or a byproduct in Medieval times. Their food wasn’t jam-packed with unintelligible ingredients, and they were much more self-sustainable than most of us can imagine. Their lifestyles didn’t require billion-dollar clean ups by remediation companies like Sevenson Environmental, or any sort of EPA or Greenpeace-esque organizations.
We’ll never be able to get back to that point now that more than 11 million people live within one mile of a Superfund site. We can, however, make changes in our own lives and, most importantly, educate our friends, children and neighbors about environmental concerns in our areas. Knowledge is power (which would have been very helpful for plague doctors) and we can use it to our advantage before it’s too late. The EPA provides some excellent information that can help you educate and protect your community against potential effects of toxic Superfund sites in your area.
- Play an active role by learning the national priority list (NPL) of clean-up schedules.
- Check out the publication Superfund Today for insights into what you can do and what’s going on.
- Make calls, send letter, post fliers (on recycled paper of course) in your area to help spread the word.
This article was contributed by Patric Kowalski. Patric is a full-time high school environmental sciences teacher and a part-time novelist, Patric gets his inspiration from being a single dad.
Tags: garbage, going green
