It seems some folks out there are going gangbusters. They're chucking the fridge. Even for those of us who live in the city, within seconds or minutes of dozens of groceries or eating establishments, I don't see this catching on. I work evenings/nights. I make four nights dinners on Monday morning and in the fridge they go till the day they are to be eaten. But why take my example as a reason to keep the ol' Frigidaire. The Times article that covers this story did a decent job of telling it like it is.
But of course we previously lived without the fridge. We had root cellars and other storage for food, no? Imagine dairy cellars and meat cellars. I worked in Maine where there was an old farmhouse that had a white-washed dairy cellar underneath that was "see your breath" cool in the depths of summer. Meats were dried, smoked, and salted. But rodents, insects, and mold were always a problem before the electric fridge. It was a big job keeping the family fed and thats largely what certain members of the family did. Life without the fridge? The fridge is liberation, baby. Or will some new technology liberate us from the fridge?
"FOR the last two years, Rachel Muston, a 32-year-old information-technology worker for the Canadian government in Ottawa, has been taking steps to reduce her carbon footprint — composting, line-drying clothes, installing an efficient furnace in her three-story house downtown." She tossed the fridge.
The writer really didn't have to mention the three story house, did he? Not unless he wanted to point to a larger "footprint" concern without making it too obvious. Her-three-story-house. Of course multiple story houses are more efficient than say, one level ranch types. So she's got that going for her.
Some kind of footprint arms race going on these days. Homes with angel wings.
