Just to dissolve any illusions of my domestic on-top-of-it-ness (or zeroed carbon footprint, for that matter), I thought I’d share a few barriers to managing mi casa the way I would like were my circumstances “ideal.” (You know, in utopia.)
Like so many of you, I want to live with as little waste, energy consumption, and contribution to unethical business practices as possible (all the while supporting local food movements, starving artists, fair wages and the lives of lesbian lizards, but also like many of you, I’m learning to balance my awareness with my wherewithal, my principles with practicality and my strivings with my sanity in order to function at all, much less to my fullest potential.
Having lived in many different types of homes, in quite a few different locations now and through several different seasons of my life, it is clear to me that there is no standard issue protocol for living well in a place. Homes and the ways we make them are as unique and varied as we are, our decisions reflect not only our values but the values of our culture, and try as we may to do well within our walls, life has a way of creeping in and keeping it real, no matter how high the R-value of our insulation.
That said, occasionally I like to take stock of my household hangups with a straightforward, laundry line list. In doing so — just as when I assess my personal limitations — it’s usually easy to pinpoint gaps in my consciousness, inconsistencies in my actions and subtle steps I can take to better align my habits with my heart.
The following challenges are unique to our home and community in Tulum. I’d love to hear about those you face in your neck of the woods!
8 Domestic Challenges Unique to My Life in Tulum
1. There is no recycling program in this town. I gotta admit, I hesitate to plaster my blog with photos that accentuate the beauty of this place, as the last thing I care to do is attract more tourists. (The growth rate is already unbelievable and we have Cancun to thank for the perfect example of how NOT to grow a beach town in a couple of decades.) BUT if someone had the cash, fortitude, spirit of adventure and hint of insanity it would take to start a real deal recycling program here, I’d gladly make you dinner, kiss your feet and buy your plane ticket. (Well, dinner, for sure.) In the meantime, I will continue to stockpile my would-be recyclables, find uses for them as I’m able and channel my inner earthship every time I’m tempted to clear out the clutter.
One advantage to hoarding trash? It gives a pretty clear picture of what we consume. My main glass-container vices: apple sauce for ease of school lunches, occasional vino and near daily Pellegrino. Hunter’s? Beer.
2. I’ve seen the dump. You want to see the dump? It’s not for the faint of heart.
While landfill is landfill, unregulated, uncontained landfill piled on a swath of old-growth jungle atop of one of the most pristine and expansive underground, freshwater cave systems in the world is a REALLY hard thing to be knowingly contributing to.
3. Without running the a/c, we have mold. I can handle heat. I can sweat my way through a sweltering, tropical midday tough as the locals (just kidding, I have nothing on the locals), but if we never run our a/c here to cut the humidity, everything grows mold, and mold is my archenemy. It makes me beyond sick. It tanks my immune system, disables my olfactories altogether, makes me suddenly allergic to wheat, dairy, sugar and alcohol, (etc…) until I eventually hate the world and everything in it. I can put on a shirt washed a week ago and hung in a humid closet, then sneeze and wheeze for two hours after I take it off even if the mold is not yet visible. So, we use the a/c a little everyday, and boy do we pay for it. The way I understand it, in Mexico, energy is subsidized, but only if you don’t use much. As soon as your kilowatt hours climb above a set number, your rates skyrocket and never go back down. You don’t even want to know what we paid in energy here before we figured all that out.
4. It’s really hard to find natural products. Though we are meeting more and more likeminded people who sell and trade things like soaps and fresh cheese and natural deodorant, access to alternative products we took for granted stateside is still pretty limited. Count your lucky stars and savor some for me next time you enjoy your almond milk, maple syrup, pre-washed spinach, or lavender-mint dish soap. Meanwhile, I’ll be skipping the maple (pronounced mop-lay) flavored corn syrup and washing my dishes with the aromatic equivalent (and biodegradability) of dollar-store perfume.
5. The laundry dries damp. We purposely don’t have a dryer, preferring the power of the sun, but are running into the mold issue as our clothes never really fully get dry in these muggy tropics. Thus, we’re currently pricing dryers.
6. Little access to used products. In the states, I’m a secondhand junkie, preferring a thrift store, garage sale or clothing swap over buying new any day. Here though, there is hardly anything secondhand available as everyone uses their stuff until it’s pretty much unrecognizable and then repurposes it to say, patch a roof.
7. Drinking water options are scary. I really don’t like that we’re drinking water that’s been sitting in the tropical sun in these plastic bottles (wrote a few National Geographic articles along those lines), but it may be some time before we can afford the type of filtration system fuerte enough to purify the water here for drinking, so Bonafont it is (better, I like to think, than Crystal, the competition, which is owned by Coca-Cola).
8. There’s no soil to speak of. It’s almost all limestone bedrock and even in the jungle the soil quality is poor. This means that not only is gardening go to be tough getting started, but that most all produce is imported. Despite Mexico’s reputation as an agricultural country, this particular region has its own thing going on (tourism). Hardly anything is local, with the acception of some tree fruits, so with most every purchase, we are supporting the mass transit of food I resist on so many levels.
So, there you have it…my current domestic dilemmas. I truly don’t sit around and fret about them (been there, done that) and most are still rather first world in nature, but listing them helps give me a clearer picture of things I could easily improve…
- I could give up my mineral water habit. That’s like 300 glass bottles a year. (Sigh…even my water vice? At least I’ll cut back.)
- I could price heavy duty dehumidifiers and compare their energy consumption with that of our a/c unit.
- I could help promote the struggling farmer’s market here and start making/growing things to sell, myself.
- Then there are the simple everyday things like remembering my reusable grocery bags and sticking with vegetables grown in Mexico and being a little less passive in my composting (the toss and hope method is my current default).
Mostly though, I think it’s important that we drop the guise of eco-friendlier than thou and get real with each other about what’s working, what we struggle with and how we’ve managed to make a difference in our unique pockets of the planet. I would love to live off-grid again one day and hope soon to be collecting rainwater. I’ll figure out how to grow food here and meet more and more folks with whom to swap goods. In the meantime, though, I’ll do my best, do my Home Work and keep on keepin’ on.
I once read that there are no small kindnesses. I believe the same to be true of improvements.
You? What holds you up from the harmonious domestic landscape you envision? Are there ways you’ve broken through these limitations?
02/14/2013 at 12:29 am
These are exactly the challenges (compromises) I was living with in Yucatan, and the reasons I eventually moved. Interestingly, our super-unsustainable town of Puerto Aventuras generated so much more waste than any of the neighboring towns (like Tulum) per capita that local authorities were almost forced to start a recycling program. Not sure if cost vs. benefit of driving your recycling there would make any sense, but maybe you could drop it off if you’re already driving up to Playa for anything. Also, I was able to find natural biodegradable household products (as well as small farmer semi-organic groceries and fresh juices) in La Ceiba de la 30. Again, it’s a long drive from you guys, but may be worth it occasionally.
Anyway, thanks for sharing, good to know that it is to some degree OK to compromise, where (necessary) idealism meets real life.
02/14/2013 at 1:43 am
Hey Beth, good to keep up with yálls Jungle Jive through your essays. I can totally relate to many of these eco-what? Mexico dilemmas. My boyfriend recently insisted on a dryer, an appliance which I´m vehemently avoided during the last 10 years. Of course during rainy season it was a complete godsend. I don’t always use it but when I do, I toss out simultaneous prayers of gratitude and repentance. It’s all been terribly humbling. All of this is to say, make sure you get the electic-gas dryer combo (heat is produced by gas, not electricity, avoiding bonechilling CFE bills)…but then again I think those are the only ones sold in this country anyway so I´m sure you are already more than on top of that.
Also do the water companies there on the coast offer glass garrafones? That’s all I ever use here…they don’t always carry them on the truck but if you ask for them most companies have them. About a 70 peso initial investment per garrafon but then the refills are standard price. Also check out Daulton water purifiers online in the us, about a $200 initial investment but I’ve used one here for years and although the water is full of EColi, I never got sick with the Daulton. They have sinktop models. Anywhos, sending a hug, hope to say hi over that way sometime.
02/14/2013 at 2:18 am
I just checked CFE’s website, and I see what you mean. They practically give energy away, but only up to 150 kWh/month. Your fridge probably gobbles up half of that. After that, they gouge you, and keep gouging for the next six months.
I remember my traveling partners stocking up on Burt’s Bees before venturing south of the border, and I remember learning the rule of BYOTP, since bus stations sell it by the single sheet.
I’m horrified to think what a pile of my bottles would look like, since I know my consumption is about equal to Hunter’s.
And I only have to see the southbound “road trains” on I-35 to appreciate the seller’s market for secondhand goods!
02/14/2013 at 2:19 am
Love this thought provoking post!
I can especially relate to your water dilemma and after recently watching the documentary “Tapped”, I vowed to do better.
We live in the Texas hill country and are on well water, so our water is extremely hard. We have been buying filtered water from a local place but it’s stored in those BPA laden water jugs — eek!
We LOVE our sparkling water in our house, and have given up coffee, beer & wine. We don’t buy sodas or juice, either, so I found myself thinking it was ridiculous to give up this simple pleasure when we’ve ditched all of our other vices. SO… I broke down and bought one of those soda stream thingees, and we truly love it. The canisters are refillable, so it produces little to no waste. Maybe try one of those?
One other idea for your glass bottles… maybe you could get a bottle cutter and turn them into glasses? When we stayed at El Cosmico in Marfa all the trailers were stocked with glasses made from Topo Chico bottles and I just loved them.
I’ve been wanting to try this myself but haven’t gotten around to it. I guess it’s one of those ideas that’s great… for someone else. :-)
02/14/2013 at 2:31 pm
Wow, it’s good to be reminded that things we take for granted–organic produce in the grocery store, funky little natural foods stores with everything from soap nuts to hemp lotion–are a function of our geography and (relative) wealth (even in a third-world state like Maine, where I live).
Two of my biggest stumbling blocks are:
Driving. We live in a rural area of a rural state that is winter a lot of the year with three kids. I don’t see any way around driving everywhere we go (once I tried biking the 13.5 miles to work–I nearly died of exhaustion and it took >2 hours).
Winter. We heat our house with wood. When we built it, we had a fancy radiant floor heat (propane heated) system installed. The guy who installed it was a shyster and it’s never worked right, so it’s wood, which, yes, is renewable and we cut all our own wood on our own land, but wood creates terrible air pollution, including inside our own house. Our house is well-insulated, so we don’t have to use that much wood, and we have new, efficient, EPA-certified stoves, but still you can’t get around the byproducts of combustion.
02/14/2013 at 2:48 pm
Oh…wait a minute, Ashley, when you said to “get a bottle cutter and turn them into glasses, I was picturing eye glasses. hmmm, possible, I guess.
Great post, Beth. I appreciate your humble and sensible and not-really-perfect-to be honest-approach to your noble lifestyle. Seems we have three choices:
1. Lower our standards (surely we can do better than that)
2. Blow off the standards
3. Lean into what is good…and practice grace. (we will need a dose of forgiveness as we go.)
02/14/2013 at 9:05 pm
Ashley (& Beth, should you go this route), there are lots of posts on pinterest–and I know that’s one vice you haven’t given up!!–about “cutting” glass bottles using an acetone-dipped thread that you light on fire. I have NO IDEA how well this works, & of course acetone has its own issues, but just throwing that out there.
I love this “admission of guilt,” by the way. Letting go of perfection bit by bit is so incredibly liberating!
02/15/2013 at 12:05 am
Visit http://www.earthship.com to see what you can do with bottles…
The coolest bottle cutter I have seen was box with a hole cut into the top with a toaster coil (wire) laid loosely around the opening, attached to two screws drilled into the top of the box. The screws had a lamp cord hard-wired to them, which you would plug in and watch the coil glow red hot. To cut, you simply insert the bottle into the hole, spin the bottle around a couple times and then the top section popped off.
02/15/2013 at 1:47 pm
Biggest impediment to “planet-friendly” living here in my house? My kids! Sad but true. They have embraced the consumer culture despite being raised in this house. I am waiting for them to come back to reality (my reality, at least).
I have lived in the tropics off and on, so much of what you say resonates deeply. Try tea tree oil in the rinse cycle of the wash- 10 drops seemed to really inhibit mold and mildew. Put it on a sock or a rag to avoid oil stains on clothes.
02/15/2013 at 6:56 pm
I live in Kampala, Uganda and can relate to several of these…
the water is a big one for me..I had a really nice under sink filter in the states and now we use the big plastic water bottles. I hate that I’m sure it’s full of BPA and I have young children.
the lack of natural products is also hard. I used to make my own cleaning products but even finding the ingredients is hard…i do bring a lot over from the states and my parents ship some things as well.
Also not many used products – most things are cheap products from china that break easily, not very eco-friendly but well made products are 2-4x more expensive that what it would cost in the US.
Driving – roads are FULL of potholes, huge ones. We drive on a lot of dirt roads, rainy season is awful. We have an SUV. I never thought I’d own one but it’s practical.
Plastic – I tried to avoid plastic as much as possible in the US but it’s hard to find alternatives to plastic here so we have more plastic in the house than we used to
02/15/2013 at 10:46 pm
“Greener-than-thou” is a tough one for me. Part of me wants to give people a physical shaking (relatives who use paper plates for family functions and people who have cleaning ladies who say they can’t “afford” the farmer’s market), while the other part realizes that this will only make people react against any kind of green movement. I am torn between recognizing my own “green” smugness and wanting to make it socially unacceptable to buy goods produced in conditions of near-slavery. Arr! It does help to recognize my own shortcomings, however–I (gasp!) seem to be addicted to plastic wrap. No excuse. Am cutting back. I promise.
02/18/2013 at 1:14 am
this is so interesting- thank you for sharing! having moved back to the states from england recently, it’s interesting to compare eco friendliness. england feels far beyond us in being main stream green. i felt there was a more common awareness, a desire to make less waste, increased vegetarian options, and supermarket green options. i appreciate our situation here for its access to bulk and some increased choice. we are contemplating a move to a more remote location and i am struggling with issues such as more driving and access to bulk and green products. there always does seem to be something and i really appreciate you reminding me of that. a new situation does allow us to reevaluate and not become comfortable or complacent with what we are doing.
02/22/2013 at 12:31 am
I know exactly what you mean about the humidity and clothing and whatever else you own that isn’t plastic or concrete!. I was in Playa del Carmen fifteen to twenty years ago and I ended just having very few clothes between us and just hanging them up on rails with plenty of space between them. Nothing folded and nothing left in bags or forgotten stuck down the side of the seats in the van. Yuck!
At that time I found it difficult to find anything dark green to eat that wasn’t a nopal or a crunchy apple and I also missed being able to dig the soil and flavour my food with fresh herbs.
I think the struggle for parents is that most of our life is the same wherever we are in the world, it’s just that the view out of our window is different. Holidaying somewhere and thinking it’s cool is very different to living there full time and managing the daily life and children’s needs in a challenging environment. I even got to the point of not getting to the sea or a cenote every day which I swore would never happen to me!
03/02/2013 at 1:29 pm
Hi Beth!
Have you done your energy comparison of de-humidifier vs. A/C yet? I’m curious to know what you’ve discovered. And would you have to use multiple de-humidifiers? One for every certain amount of square feet(or meters)?
Also, we miss all ya’ll :)