bare feet in the sand

the beauty of nature in a consumer economy

Category Archives: Personal Stories


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Paper Towels or Electric Hand Dryer?

I went to the gym yesterday and before working out I washed my hands.  Then I was faced with a dilemma.  It’s a dilemma that we all face whether we think about it or not.  How do I dry my hands?  The options at my gym are paper towel or air blade hand dryer.  At my house I use a towel that I throw in the wash every few weeks.  I feel good about the lack of energy and carbon footprint from that.  But a towel wasn’t an option this afternoon.  So I decided to do research.  Of course, it all depends.  It depends on the type of air dryer.  It depends on how long you take to dry your hands with an air dryer.  It depends on whether the paper towels were made from recycled paper, and whether the company replaces the trees they cut down.   But the prevailing wisdom seems to be that air dryers are in fact more green than paper towels.  And the better and newer the air dryer, the faster it dries your hands, the less energy it uses.  (Unfortunately, I also discovered that for those most concerned about the spread of bacteria, paper towels do a better job of preventing that.)

Here are some of my sources:

Slate has an answer here: How to Keep Your Paws Clean and Green

One of my favorite blogs has an answer too:  Treehugger

Here’s another answer:  The Straight Dope


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A Walk on the Beach

Today I went for a walk on the beach.  I hadn’t been to the beach yet this year and I love the beach.  I went to Carson Beach in South Boston, which I had never been there before.  I didn’t last very long; it was over 90 degrees and there was no shade.  In fact, I burned my feet on the sand as soon as I arrived there.  I had to wear shoes to take a walk.  The soft sand was too hot and near the water was covered in shells, rocks and glass.  It was a beautiful day and the beach is also beautiful.  The green trees around it make you forget that you’re in the middle of Boston.  It wasn’t that crowded because most people did have to work today – or left town for an extra long weekend.

I wish that I could have enjoyed the beach without having to think too hard.  Instead I think about ocean pollution and wonder what the glass shards used to be and where they entered the ocean.  I wonder who cleans up the beach because I’m sure more litter ends up on it.  I wonder how many more 90 degree days there are going to be this summer.


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Walden Pond

I went for a walk around Walden Pond with a friend today.  I’m always amazed by how isolated it is.  It is so close to Rte. 2 and all of the construction that is currently going on along it.  But the only noise not by nature that I heard was from the train that runs by the pond.  Seeing the site of Thoreau’s house always makes me think about the past.  Thoreau’s Walden is one of my favorite books (actually along with most of Thoreau’s writings).  Compared to when Thoreau lived there, it is not isolated at all.  In fact there’s a building by the biggest beach, signs and fences everywhere.  Along the walk, we’re constantly being told to stay on the path.  Thoreau was able to wander as he pleased and explore every inch of the much larger forest that surrounded the pond.  What he did was extraordinary even for his times, but I still feel like we can learn a lot from his ideas.  Simplify.  Live in harmony with nature.  Buy and take only what you will use.  I’m not saying that’s how I live or that we should all grow our own food.  But I do think we should be more aware of where our food comes from and consider all of things that live in our basement and never see the light of day.  walden pond


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the beginning

I fell in love with the natural world in the summers at the beach.  Every year my family spent at least a week on Cape Cod while I was growing up.  And I have gone back for at least a few days every single year of my life, mostly still with my family.  I’m not sure I’ll ever think anything is as beautiful as the beaches of Wellfleet.  The water may be cold but to me it’s not the ocean unless it numbs your feet after ten minutes.  I’ve seen those beaches in bright, hot sun and in wind and rain.  But they are always beautiful.

As I grew older and became more aware of humans’ devastating effects, I worry that all that amazing beauty is fading.  I recently read in a book, Crazy Horse and Custer, about how when the English settlers first arrived in Ohio it was covered in beautiful forests.  They spent years cutting down and burning all of those trees in the name of progress.  I’d like to think that we (as in the human race) have learned better, but I fear that’s not the case.

I believe that when it comes to confronting a societal problem (and I do think that our disregard for the Earth has become rooted in our society) the first step is awareness.  And maybe with awareness and knowledge that will go with it, enough of us will take the correct steps toward fixing this problem.  I have decided I need to do my part.  Image