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Mindful Girl welcomes to the blog Jennifer Chaky, owner of Montclair’s eco-store, Go Lightly. Through her store and workshops, she is dedicated to bringing about the Green Revolution and spreading the love of life and planet!
By Jennifer Chaky
As I walk and bike all over town, I hear central A/C units cranking all day in huge 3,000-square-foot homes whose owners aren’t even home during the day. I asked one such homeowner why they keep the a/c on even when they are not home and they told me it’s so the house is cool when they get home. I can’t help but wonder what becoming a society that cannot tolerate being uncomfortable for even 10 minutes is doing to us—both personally and physically.
Now that I am committed to not using A/C and keeping my heat low in the winter, I’m finding that I am developing a tolerance to heat and cold that I never had before. And this year in particular I discovered how my metabolism and my wellbeing adjusted to this deeper experience of the seasons.
Last winter I kept the heat at 58 degrees. I wore sweaters and hats in the house and frankly I wasn’t miserable (and I am NOT a winter person). But my body adjusted, and instead of craving warmth, I craved fats. We are a vegan household so our fats come in the form of nuts and oils, and boy, did I crave them last winter. Talk about being in tune with nature! The weather was actually directing what my body needed. And while everyone around us was falling ill to the dreaded flu, we managed to stay completely healthy all season.
And now this summer, since I am experiencing the heat without the aid of air conditioning, my appetite has dramatically decreased and I only crave fresh fruits and vegetables. That diet, plus the fact that I’m biking and walking more, have resulted in getting more toned than I have been in years. I feel great! I have learned to cope with extreme temperatures by controlling my body temperature instead of controlling the air temperature around me.
Here are the ways I keep cool naturally:
# 1: Drinking tons of ice water. My insulated stainless steel water bottle has become my best friend and I sip from it all day long.
# 2: Keep the air moving. Human beings have a natural cooling mechanism called sweat. We sweat, air moves over our skin, the moisture evaporates, and we are cooled. You can enhance this process by spraying yourself with a mist of water and using fans and open windows. Put a bowl of ice, or a bowl with frozen water bottles that you can refreeze, in front of a fan directed at you if you are doing something stationery like working on the computer or watching TV. You may actually get cold.
# 3: Do a mini-cooling with ice water on the back of your neck, wrists, and feet. The body radiates heat from the hands, feet, face, and ears, so cooling any of these will efficiently cool the body.
# 4: Keep the sun out. Close blinds or drapes so the heat of the sun does not reach inside.
#5: If you still need to use the A/C, setting it to a high temperature like 80 degrees will cut the humidity and a ceiling fan will create a nice cool breeze. There is no sense in cranking an A/C so much that it is actually frigid. It is very inefficient and the planet just can’t withstand that kind of waste. And by all means, cool just the rooms you are using, not the whole house of empty rooms! And of course, turn the A/C off when you leave the house!
#6: Don’t forget to leave ice water and open windows for pets. They know what to do when it gets hot—they drink and lay still, usually finding a nice tile floor.
Unless you are living on another planet, one with more sustainable practices in place than our own, you know today marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
For a long time, I felt less than inspired to do my part to “help the planet.” I couldn’t quite grasp the impact that healing our planet would have on me directly. I also wasn’t sure how I could make a difference. I certainly don’t have a green thumb. Working with and living in nature does not come naturally to me. Hey, I’m a Jersey Girl, born and bred. Any comfort with or love of nature comes purely from my experience at overnight camp. And, I’m less inspired to roll around in leaves now that I’m not making out with 13-year-old boys.
It wasn’t until I became an educator and an advocate for holistic health and wellness that I understood how intimately connected “earth-friendly” and “healthy” truly are.
Relating to such a huge endeavor such as “saving our planet” can be difficult to say the least. Questions I hear all the time from friends are some version of : “How can one person make a difference?” and “What can I do? I don’t really have any good ideas”
Here’s a really accessible option. Make a difference at your neighborhood school. Tracey Clarke did in West Orange.
Passion, vision, sweat, and hard labor over a series of weekends in the last 18 months led to the completion of a project that will not only affect the lives of students in the Hazel Avenue Elementary School this year, but hopefully for many years to come.
A project that was entirely parent-inspired and parent-led, this outdoor classroom features wooden benches, greenery, and ready-made activites for teachers.
How is it possible that I didn’t know that South Orange, the town next to my own home town, whose parks my kids play soccer on, whose playgrounds we frequent, is a trailblazing NJ community when it comes to banning pesticide use?
NJ.com reported yesterday “the city stopped using chemical pesticides in much of its public spaces nearly four decades ago” and “village officials expect to pass a resolution prohibiting their use on public property, including parks, fields and playgrounds. The hope is that the local law, once publicized, will have a trickle-down effect on private property owners.”
While this is really exciting news, I wonder exactly how the town intends to educate residents on making healthier choices in regards to pesticide use on private property. Something tells me it’s going to take a lot more than lip service to convince even eco- and health-conscious residents to forgo their gorgeous green lawns and weekly landscaping service. While I’ve seen advertisments for more earth-friendly lawn care companies in NJ, they are few and far between.
Personally, we choose to let our lawn look sad, in exchange for the knowledge that it’s a safe playspace for our kids. What do you do? And what would it take for you to stop using pesticides on your private property?
I’m so delighted to see one of my favorite integrative physicians featured on Fox News this month sharing tips on how to find a “green” pediatrician. Dr. Lawrence Rosen is a board-certified general pediatrician committed to family-centered, holistic child health care. He practices primary care at the Whole Child Center in Oradell, NJ and consults at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, serving as Chief of Pediatric Integrative Medicine and as medical advisor to the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology.
Hopefully as the demand increases for “green” or “holistic” pediatricians, we’ll see a greater supply. In the meantime, I’m thankful there are peds like Dr. Rosen for me to take my kids to.
Are you interested in learning more about integrative pediatrics and The Whole Child Center? Dr. Rosen and his staff will be leading a meet & greet/Q & A in Montclair later this spring. E-mail Me to be a part of this special event.
