“The ultimate test of Man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

Gaylord Nelson

Approximately 55, 600 trees are cut down every minute. Many of those trees are cut down to make paper products, such as paper towels, napkins, cups, and facial tissues.  The more trees that are lost, our planet’s ability to sustain life as we know it is impaired.  Not only does the act of cutting down the trees rack up carbon emissions, but the loss of trees means that there are less trees that can cleanse the air of these emissions.  The less trees there are, the more the carbon emissions accumulate, with no way of being eliminated. The easiest way to combat this is to reduce our consumption of goods, particularly paper goods.  

Many people are under the impression that reducing or eliminating paper towels would mean making their lives infinitely more difficult.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  Like any lifestyle change, it takes a lot of small changes.  Here’s what we do at our house:

1. We repurposed washcloths and small towels, or stained and discolored hand towels that we had lying around the house for wiping down counters and tables instead of using paper towels.  We wash them weekly when we do the rest of the laundry.
2. We purchased microfiber cloths (like these) for cleaning the house instead of using paper towels.  These get washed after every time the house is cleaned. There are certain items for which paper towels are used (like the toilets), but we ask our housekeeper to be mindful of how much she using at a time.
3. We bought cloth dinner napkins to use when we eat in lieu of paper napkins or paper towels.
4. We are mindful of what we are doing, so that we make less messes and therefore don’t need to clean them up.  For example, if I make a cup of tea, instead of placing the used tea bag on the counter, I use the wrapper of the tea bag to rest it on, or a plate, or I throw it away directly after using.  Avoiding making a mess means there is nothing to clean up.  That saves materials and time.

As a result of doing all of the above, we use about one roll of paper towels in six months! I love that we save money by not having to constantly repurchase stuff that is meant to be thrown away, and I love that we are being helping Mother Earth in the process. 

You may be thinking, “That’s great, Seema, but I don’t want to do more laundry.” Here’s the thing.  I don’t want to do more laundry either.  But doing another load here and there doesn’t actually take that much more time.  It’s easy folding—you can do it while you catch up on shows at night, or just take the time to mindfully do it and you’ll see that it doesn’t actually take up a huge amount of time.  You can enlist the help of the family.  Talk while folding, or sing songs, or make plans about which game to play as a reward for finishing.  

The other things we do to be greener (because doing laundry does take resources like water and energy), is wash laundry only when we have enough for full loads, with cold water (Modern machines don’t actually need hot water to clean properly.).  We also have a water softener, which means we use a fraction of the soap and detergent we used to, and our plumbing, clothes, skin and hair are in much better condition with softer water.

Making a change in routine can certainly be a challenge. It doesn’t happen overnight.  The process can be fast for some, slow for others.  But even small changes can have a big impact.  Even if you do only one of the four things listed above, you will reduce the amount of paper towels that your household uses.  Making a change means taking things step-by-step, and once your mindset changes, you won’t even have to make a conscious effort to avoid using paper towels.   It will just become second-nature.  The way I see it is: we only have two homes—our bodies, and the planet.  Let’s take care of them. Namaste!