The Foreignist

Our life in Croatia has become more and more “green” over the years. Here are some of the ways we have lessened our environmental footprint just by living here:

• Passive solar heated water - our aparment is equipped with a solar hot water heating system on the roof which I supplement on cold and cloudy days with a…
• Tankless hot water heater - with tankless hot water heater, you only heat the water you use
• Propane-fueled car - while propane is not a renewable energy source, it does burn much cleaner than gasoline, and happens to be about 45% the cost of gasoline here in Croatia.  Plus, I can run my camp stove off of my fuel tank.
• Cycling and walking - I spend a lot more time using human-powered modes of transportation because we only have one car and there is no where to park it even if I did drive it to my destination.  Walking gives you a lot of quiet time to think about things.
• Limited A/C usage - we sweat a lot more, but our apartment only has a small window unit. I’m used to the heat now, and don’t really miss the A/C that much (OK sometimes)
• Front-loading washing machine - front-loading washing machines are more energy efficient and use less water than top-loading machines.  Caleb really enjoys watching the clothes spin around.
• Clothes-line - until we bought a condensation dryer last Christmas, we line-dried everything. We still hang some drying intensive items like towels out on the line.  Hanging your underwear out for everyone to see is just something you have to get used to.
• All fluorescent lighting - every bulb in our house has been changed over to flourescents (mainly because the incandescent bulbs here are such low quality)
• Recycling - stores in Croatia give you 15 cents per plastic or glass bottle. Garrett started our home recycling program so he can get the money and buy more marbles
• Buying local - we buy a lot of locally-grown produce. That cuts down on energy expended in transporting food to our community, supports local farmers, and the neighborhood market is a great place to practice speaking Croatian
  Most of these things are recommended by environmental activist, but I’m doing them just because it’s the natural thing to do where I live.  It doesn’t feel like I’m making any big changes to my lifestyle to do these things.  These are the types of changes that everyone could make it, and it not affect our standard of living that much in America.