Many habits and technologies prevalent decades ago aligned far greater with environmental preservation than those used today. As society aims to chart a more sustainable course moving forward, reviving some old traditions that inherently minimized waste offers hope. Simple practices around food procurement, storage techniques, and reusable packaging poise as easy starting points towards reversing ecological harm.
Revive Victory Gardens
During wartime shortages in 20th century America, patriotic home gardeners answered the call to ease burdens on commercial food supplies. These so-called “Victory Gardens” peaked in 1943 with fruit and vegetable plots dug in yards, parks, and unused lots on scales never seen before. Nearly 40% of produce consumed by Americans came from amateur green thumbs rather than vast industrial farms back then.
Bringing back a Victory Garden mentality allows households greater food independence while decreasing reliance on pollution-heavy industrial agriculture. Harvest garden crops typically get used quicker before spoiling unlike store-bought produce transported long distances. Community gardens built on unused public land further allows citizens without their own yards to tap into hyper local food sources.
Preserving the Bounty
Before refrigeration became widespread, home cooks preserved summer garden bounties to last through winter. Mastering old methods like canning, pickling, drying, and cellar storage means less queueing up at the grocery store during cold months. Preserved foods also retain more nutrients, unlike fresh items that are slowly degrading en route to stores.
Seeking guidance from older generations still versed in these techniques helps reclaim vanishing preservation arts. Hosting community skill shares and kitchen workshops builds knowledge networks for storing nature’s bounty minus energy-guzzling freezing. Learning to put food aside in root cellars and pantries with only natural temperature flux taps into nature’s seasonal rhythms.
Revisit Bringing Own Containers
Plastic waste clogs landfills and waterways largely because of rampant use-and-toss packaging for food, liquids, and household staples. But the early 20th century model of customers bringing personal reused containers to shops for filling provides an elegant solution. Reviving this practice through initiatives like water delivery services with glass bottles from a company like Alive Water and grocery stores encouraging BYO containers lets everyone cut consumption of single-use plastics.
This tradition once thrived out of necessity before cheap disposable packaging flooded the post-war market. Certain old-fashioned merchants cling to refillable ways, but a new generation is expanding options. Entrepreneurial eco startups now enable convenient reuse systems for household basics, from soaps to spices and pet foods. Tech solutions even help locate participating grocery stores welcoming reusable packaging. What was old is new again.
Favor Biodegradability
Synthetic plastics only emerged in the early 1900s but quickly dominated manufacturers materials preferences for their cheap durability. An ecological reset demands shifting back towards utilizing organic and biodegradable substances for packaging and containers as the default. Reintroducing repurposed glass, metals, paper, cardboard and natural fibers echoes history.
Seeking goods shipped in compostable plant-based algae, mushroom or cornstarch containers helps revive this wisdom. Prioritizing renewable ingredients green companies transform into bottle caps, straws and flexible packaging pushes industries adapting to fit circular economic models aimed at sustainability. Moreover, patronizing the eco innovators leading the charge away from hazardous chemical-laden plastics aids momentum.
Conclusion
Times of turbulence like wars, depressions and pandemics spurred game-changing influences on American consumer behaviors in the past. Today’s climate crisis demands similar large-scale shifts in habits and attitudes towards more sustainability. Collectively relearning lost arts around small-scale food production, preservation practices and reusable packaging lets individuals take action. Reviving even pieces of old generational wisdom around waste-minimizing traditions puts society on track towards a vibrant greener future.
