The most memorable quote from the article "A Road Map for Natural Capitalism" by Lovins, Lovins and Hawken (http://www.natcap.org/images/other/HBR-RMINatCap.pdf)
"This isn't rocket science; often it's just a rediscovery of good Victorian engineering principles that have been lost because of specialization."
This states almost exactly what I've been thinking lately in terms of "technological solutions" to our environmental problems. You want to live in a world without plastic bags? Without heaps of disposables squandering space in landfills? Without the need for widespread car travel? Go to the 19th century.
True, it had its pitfalls, such as poor sanitation and blanketing smog from industrial pollution. But combine our environmental awareness now with their engineering ingenuity back in the day and you have quality, durable consumer goods, self-ventilating houses, clean sewage-burning gas lamps, train travel, and walkable cities. Even their "cars" ate grass and pooped manure. What else have we lost in the grip of our technological addiction? All this makes me think we are running on some sort of backwards treadmill toward sustainability (does that analogy even make sense? probably not - but I trust you understand my meaning).
I had a sort of revelation in the process of abstaining from deodorant usage. At first I felt decidedly naked walking out the door without my underarm aluminum coating. Then I began to enjoy my shortened morning routine. I was surprised to learn from my boyfriend that he doesn't use deodorant as long as he's had a shower. I began to question whether it's actually as necessary as people make it out to be.
Then I began to notice a distinctive odor following me around. It persisted even after I had showered and washed my clothes. My boyfriend still seemed to think I smelled fine, which convinced me I could no longer trust his honest judgement. At the same time I began to experiment with sponge baths to save more water. It is quite possible I took to much upon myself at once.
In the end, I got by without having to do undue laundry loads, and I think I became less of a stranger to my "au naturel" odor. I found that some things as simple as airing out after a jog keep me from sweating altogether. Although I am definitely considering buying a biodegradable deodorant for emergencies, at this point I would probably have trouble reverting to my old "de-scent-sitized" ways.
Most importantly, going back to Victorian engineering principles, I realized that we treat our bodies in the same way we treat our food crops, and most anything else, in the name of "cosmetic perfection": spray all the time, everywhere, regardless of the circumstance.
We've forgotten how to manage everything from B.O. to pests on a case-by-case basis, prefering instead to slap on an overarching chemical bandaid.
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