My eldest daughter (she's six) and I were out for a walk last week and - inspired by a book she'd been reading - we started talking about a character who was an "Un-inventor". Admittedly, that wasn't a great thing for the character - he was particularly bad at inventing new things (his chosen career), but we were asking ourselves - what would we actively want to uninvent?
What do we just not need?
Several things sprang to mind. We had (most) TV, guns, war. It got real deep there for a while. Then we got onto consumables - things we buy but just don't need. Things that don't serve any purpose. Here's a few of the ones we were keen on uninventing:
Gum. OK, so I used to chew gum. I don't really know why. But to my daughters' eye, the hard grey lumps on the pavement suggested strongly that these completely synthetic, non-biodegradable waste items that so many people just spit out in the street can't be a good thing. And when I failed to find a compelling reason as to what it was for, we knew we'd found a contender for uninventing. There's just nothing natural about gum, from its synthetic base to its artifiicial flavours and sweeteners. And it hangs around in the environment for a long time - even if you dispose of it to landfill (definitely not down the toilet or onto the street please). But if you really can't kick the habit, find one of the natural (chicle) based gums on the market (e.g. Glee Gum) with some good eco-credentials (plastic free wrapping, sustainably harvested, biodegradable).
Tumble driers. I was a little on the fence on this one - we inherited a drier at our current home, and I think I've liked the idea of it there as a safety net. Having said that, we've used it about 3 times in 3 years, so would we miss it if it wasn't here? No. But there's lots of folks who use their tumble driers routinely. An average load of drying will use 0.6-1.7kgCO2e of energy (if non-renewable source), and cost about 30-80p to run per load (lower numbers indicate top rated energy efficient driers). If you're running this 150 times a year, this adds up to £50 - £120 a year, or 100-250 kg carbon dioxide. OK, so i get it that some people will live in countries where it's too cold to hang dry clothes, or they have minimised space heating so much that hanging clothes to dry doesn't work for them. But for lots of people, having a tumble drier is a hang over of convenience, being told that it was a good thing to have etc. We don't actually need them. A drying rack works just fine for us (with two children and a LOT of washing). And it doesn't cost us or the Earth anything. But don't think for a moment this means I'll consider giving up my dishwasher....
Single use bottled water and soft drinks. Why? Just why? What's wrong with tap water (in most places in the UK at least), your own refillable bottle and some squash. Double whammy for us on single use plastics or cans, a choice between high sugar loading or artificial sweeteners. Most plastic bottles still have very low recycled content in them. Of the 13 billion plastic bottles used each year in the UK, 7.7 billion are plastic water bottles. Consumption of water in plastic bottles has doubled in the last 15 years according to the #OneLess Campaign. The average person in the UK will use 150 plastic water bottles every year. In London, usage is 175 plastic water bottles per person per year. And only about 60% of these will be recycled (and even then, palstic can only be recycled a few times). And while we wait for better packaging solutions, why not just cut the cord and stop buying them? What's the appeal? Bring back soda stream if you're into soft fizzy drinks. For all others, quit the convenience habit!
So what would you univent? What could you do without - that you'd give up or have given up, or would like to not be available as you know you don't need it but can't cut ties on your own?
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