Going to Pool School

One of the most environmentally UNfriendly things we own is our swimming pool. It was here when we bought the house, and we've just used it and cleaned it without really thinking about it too much. To clarify, we've thought about it a lot, but mostly about the inconvenience of it and what the hell we were thinking when we bought a house with a pool.

When the sand filter broke sometime this winter, we thought about filling in the pool and sodding the yard instead. But, not knowing what kind of laws prevailed here regarding permits or what types of disclosures would be required from now on when selling the house, we started thinking that maybe we should keep the damned thing. Additionally, we are right around the middle of the Swimming Pool Belt (kind of like the Bible Belt, but where the swimming pool is King); one friend kindly pointed out that anyone looking in a neighborhood like ours would be looking specifically for a small yard and a pool (again, what the hell were we thinking?!?). Fine. Fix the freaking sand filter; I'll try not to pout.

Now that we are trying to be more mindful of our lifestyle, environmentally, I was trying to analyze what I know about our pool habits. If we're stuck with it, we might as well try to minimize its impact, right?

First, our pool is NOT chlorinated. We changed over to and have used a system called Baquacil both summers we've lived here. It's hydrogen peroxide-based, as opposed to chlorine. In that respect, it's safer for the environment. It also doesn't make my skin itchy, my hair brittle or dry, or smell like I've  been soaking in a big vat of Clorox.

Next up is maintenance and care. Here's the not-so-fantastic part. Thus far, we've always vacuumed "to waste," which is what the people who sold us the house suggested, meaning that all the water that gets sucked up with dirt & pebbles & stuff gets spat out into the street to go into the municipal water system. Perfectly legal, but not so nice for water conservation, since we have to run the hose into the pool to replace the water sucked out; I would estimate 50-100 gallons go at a time. So, from now on, we will be vacuuming through the filter system only. This will be an enormous improvement over our previous practices.

Last, but not least, I will address something you may not associate with a pool, but those who have a pool certainly will: our grill. We've always maintained that we like the taste of food on a good old-fashioned, standard charcoal grill best; no blasphemous gas for us. Turns out that charcoal grilling is anathema to all the green living we want to be doing; it's worse for common air pollution, not to mention that charcoal is made of... WOOD! (Gasp! You mean it doesn't grow in those bags?) Yep, sorry to disappoint, folks, but it's true... charcoal is made from the desiccated corpses of trees.

Now, here's a big dilemma. Do we put the grill on Freecycle and save the landfill space? Or, do we do our part for the trees & the atmosphere by putting it in the landfill, thereby insuring that no one else is simply replacing our pollution with their own? Does anybody have any suggestions? Discussion is encouraged here, you know...

Comments

[Susan]

I say throw it away to the landfill. If your point of getting rid of it is to reduce the pollution it causes, then what's the point of giving it to someone else so they can pollute? That would make you like a pollution enabler or something!..LOL I'm all for freecycling, but sometimes you have to weigh out the dicision.

[Bethany]

I don't think that by giving the grill away you would be adding to the pollution-it will most likely go to someone who would have bought one eventually and yours would sit in the landfill.

[Alina]

I agree with Bethany. If you give it to someone else you are prolonging its life span which is always good, preventing your own emissions, and saving the inputs and outputs of producing another grill, which whoever you give it too would have bought.

[Greenpa]

One of the things we really want to avoid though is arriving at a Puritanical life-style - nothing will taste good; little pleasures are sinful; and it turns the neighbors seriously off.

We LOVE our barbecued stuff. Just a fact. It's a major pleasure. Something you can do that will cut the charcoal emissions is - burn wood, not charcoal. It just takes a little longer. You can find a nice piece or two of oak firewood (or anything else appropriate) - split it into 1 inch x 1 inch sticks- stack them up in a rick, and set it on fire. It'll make a heck of a nice big fire- for 15 minutes- then it'll be the nicest homemade coals you ever saw. And wildy yummy food. Plus splitting the wood is a skill someone can brag about.

No lighter fluid needed, nor guilt. It does take a little learning to be able to manage and time it well.

A little charcoal trivia I just discovered- Kingsford Charcoal was founded by - who? Henry Ford, himself. He needed to do something with the leftover hardwood bits from building early Ford cars - he had tons of bits. Really! look it up.