How does an apartment dweller make the world a better place?

what about some guerilla composting? In Sweden (unlike Germany), there is no way to compost "officially" your scraps and peels, so I have found some semi-wild dark corners in a central city park where I put my compost, where no-one goes, and the rabbits/hares in the park love it.

Learn about all of the permaculture things that you cannot do ... yet.

Learn survival skills for living in the wilderness.   Just putting this bit of knowledge in your head can convert a dreary job from "have to do" to "part of a strategy".

If you have a usable balcony or  patio, a Tower Garden would be cool.  

Have 'New to You' parties. Everyone brings things they no longer want/need - clothes, toys, tools, etc. - and exchange. The left overs get taken to the thrift store/recycling. Add some food and you've got a party!

Encourage a block-wide annual super-yard-sale to get reuse of stuff.

Set up a local free-store, where reusable stuff can be set out for others.

@Paul W: "I thought about phrasing this as carbon footprint or Eco footprint... but I think this can be far richer than that."

Network with those in your complex or block of complexes to get together face-to-face for the exchange of information on what works and what doesn't work in terms of leaving the apartment life for a landed one.  Engage in opportunities, when able and willing, to help pro bono on Permie-type growie/construction installations in your region which will be more of an education than you thought possible and in ways you never imagined.

Attitude is half the battle. You don't have to be mad, but it helps - things as usual, got us in trouble - so you may as wel be an optimist and change yourself.



Apart from the above.... this may help with the rest of it.

Appartment living in a city is potentially a very ecological way of living. Permaculture is another but is of course focussed on land to use. Not everybody is suited for that life. Besides there is not enough land to permit everybody doing that. Trying to 'go back' to farming your own stuf may be our undoing. We need a high yield agriculture that will not damage the environment. Permaculture is one way to find that.


Buy local, buy in season, buy low tech, diversify your supply. Organise locally. Preserve local food when in season.


Do not complain about rubbish littering the streets - take it away when you walk the dogs. Be seen when you do it. Others will see you, might talk to you and follow your example. Organise and get media attention.
Try to live without waste.

To parafrase Lincoln - if you turn waste in to something usefull, have you not destroyed waste.


Experiment. Find out what works - better find out what does not. Share your experiences, get feed back.

Frugality is close kin to permies. Almost all permies-stuff is informed and creative frugality. Frugality pays. In my opinion it is the common sense, economic backbone of permaculture.

Reuse, read, refurbish, rethink, recreate - think out of the box - read, informed minds create better things, see more opportunities, see connections.....

Talk about your thoughts. Write about your toughts. It's a great help in organising your thinking. If you get better, publish.

We cannot do everything what needs doing. That's no reason to do nothing.
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. If anything gets us, it will be lethargy.

paul wheaton wrote:Wash and rinse your clothes with cold water. Most of the time your clothes will be just as clean and the energy cost is usually less than 1/10.

Better yet, use rain water to do laundry.  Tap water is highly processed / chlorinated .  . . rain water is all natural.

A word of caution on the use of rain water.

I am very sure that the use of rain water is very dependant on the season, on your location and on the nature of your water harvesting system. Anybody downwind from a city or polluting industry or even a neighbour who burns plastics in his stove should be carefull.

I know for a fact - own research - that in some cases dioxine-like substances form by burning plastics and those substances do get in the soil and rainwater tanks of neighbours.

If you live isolated, no sweat but in the suburbs, near industry, downwind from major industries, beware.

learn to cook - from scratch - and invite people to share your meals

paul wheaton wrote:Go poo-less.  No more soap or shampoo in the shower. It turns out that our body Funk is entirely water soluble.

I've seen a lot of references to this as I read through the site, and I'm just curious why it "make[s] the world a better place" as opposed to using natural or organic soaps, or oatmeal scrubs, etc.

I understand doing it to save money but unless its highly processed soap with a lot of artificial additives, I haven't connected the dots between the simple act of "using soap" and negative things.  Is it just due to the processing infrastructure associated with creating and distributing soap products, even if they are low impact?

Jason Bohrer wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:Go poo-less.  No more soap or shampoo in the shower. It turns out that our body Funk is entirely water soluble.

I've seen a lot of references to this as I read through the site, and I'm just curious why it "make[s] the world a better place" as opposed to using natural or organic soaps, or oatmeal scrubs, etc.

I understand doing it to save money but unless its highly processed soap with a lot of artificial additives, I haven't connected the dots between the simple act of "using soap" and negative things.  Is it just due to the processing infrastructure associated with creating and distributing soap products, even if they are low impact?

- overall better health
- stop smearing toxic gick on your body every day
- use much less water, especially hot water
- smell better
- improved sense of smell
- save money
- save time

Your "organic" soap is probably made with some serious chemicals.  Probably lye.

And shampoos, conditioners, etc - organic or otherwise - all come in plastic containers. I'd love to get away from buying things in plastic containers.

Thanks!  Now at least I see where you guys are coming from.

You don't need land or much in the way of resources to Guerrilla Grow food bearing trees and shrubs. I made this video that shows you how I do it: https://permies.com/t/66077/Guerrilla-Growing-Food-Bearing-Trees#561373

Ask your landlord/apt. manager if there is any land he/she would let you use for a small garden.   Remember when my grandmother was kind of forced into an apartment situation and took over the small strip of space between the parking lot and the back of the buildings to grow her garlic and carrots etc.

Reduce food waste:

try to use up all the food you buy before it goes bad

take leftovers for lunch at work (in re-usuable containers, of course!)

freeze, dry, or can any food that you can't use up in time

freeze leftovers to make free and frugal soup

save veggie scraps to make veggie scrap broth

buy less food by either growing more (and harvesting only as needed) or through meal planning

Re-invent leftovers for the bored or picky palate - turn tomato soup into a curry, or add leftover marinara sauce to chili, make a casserole or pot pie with leftover meat or veg, add leftover cooked veg to a scramble or frittata, etc.

Give up on make up.

Use simple cleaning products like baking soda and white vinegar.

Make your own soap.

Buy bulk organic supplies and share with neighbours

paul wheaton wrote:Eliminate toxic cleaners. Nearly every toxic cleaner can be replaced with something non-toxic. You might be surprised at the health benefits.

I love raven's book about cleaning with cleaners you can eat.  At some point she says something about the #1 cleaner everybody should reach for, 90% of the time, is:

     warm water, a rag and elbow grease

Too often we see people with some sort of spray bottle of toxic gick being the first thing they reach for.

I too like cleaners you can eat.  I clean ny house with just hor water or vinegar or baking soda.

Those are handy because they are always in my kitchen and don't cost a lot of money.

Some folks might use lemon juice instead of vinegar because it smells good.

Here is a link to the book about cleaners you can eat:

https://permies.com/wiki/edible-clean

A big one - cut out the petroleum based foams and instead make your own mattresses, cushions and pillows with 100% biodegradable and certified organic hemp hulls, buckwheat hulls, millet hulls, shredded natural latex or granulated cork.