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Things the con­ser­va­tion-mind­ed like myself have been ped­dling for what feels like mil­len­nia to luke­warm recep­tion and incorrigibility:

  • Zero or near zero sin­gle-use paper prod­ucts. Replace with reusable util­i­ty clothes, rags, nap­kins, and tow­els. Have these in suf­fi­cient quan­ti­ties that laun­dry need only be done once every two weeks. For rea­sons of both con­ser­va­tion, econ­o­my, and plumb­ing, we’ve used sin­gle-ply, ful­ly and near instan­ta­neous­ly dis­solv­able toi­let tis­sue for years. A roll lasts longer and is eas­i­er on the envi­ron­ment, your sew­er lines, and your munic­i­pal water-treat­ment facil­i­ties. This is, how­ev­er, an excel­lent time to con­sid­er an easy to install toi­let-mount­ed bidet, that we might join the rest of the civ­i­lized world who are present­ly laugh­ing hys­ter­i­cal­ly at us.
  • Rely on sim­ple but effec­tive clean­ing agents that both facil­i­tate mod­ern stan­dards of san­i­ta­tion and work with­out exces­sive labor. Instead of aerosols and pre­mixed spray bot­tles, buy liq­uid clean­ers in half-gal­lons and gal­lons, pre­fer­ring sol­u­ble pow­ders and con­cen­trates when­ev­er pos­si­ble. Have reusable spray bot­tles on hand. There are sim­ple for­mu­las for all sorts of task-spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tions. You needn’t aban­don all the most staid out­comes of sci­en­tif­ic inquiry for the often absur­dist claims of the “greens.” Bleach, ammo­nia, eth­yl alco­hol, per­ox­ide, vine­gar. As has become self-evi­dent in the past days from Lysol sales alone, there are no eco-quacks in plague-strick­en, quar­an­tined fox­holes. Rather than elim­i­nate the most effec­tive devices of mod­ern chem­istry, try sim­ply min­i­miz­ing their use. There’s suf­fi­cient and there’s exces­sive and neu­rot­ic. Most clean­ing does not require strong chem­i­cal agents, but it’s very good to the have the option when it is required.
  • Thick, well-sized reusable rub­ber gloves. These can be read­i­ly ster­il­ized for most appli­ca­tions by wip­ing with an anti­sep­tic like bleach. Don’t use alco­hol, as this dries out and embrit­tles rub­ber. Check fre­quent­ly for punc­tures or tears. Keep them away from sun­light and heat. Keep sev­er­al pair on hand. Reusable nitrile gloves, while less con­ser­va­tion-mind­ed, are latex-free and typ­i­cal­ly treat­ed with anti-bac­te­r­i­al and anti-mildew coat­ings. They’re also the most punc­ture resis­tant and can be boiled or ster­il­ized in a steam bath or high-heat set­ting on the dish­wash­er. The Spec­tra® Fiber gloves used by food proces­sors can improve safe­ty in the kitchen, min­i­miz­ing the risks of glove­less food han­dling. They are light-weight, low-lint­ing, cut and punc­ture resis­tant, and the fibers do not absorb liq­uids. They can be washed and bleached for years of use.
  • Soap, specif­i­cal­ly real soap in bar form is among the cheap­est, most reli­able, small­est foot­print, and most con­ve­nient­ly stock­piled of clean­ing agents. Mois­tur­iz­ing bars and body wash­es are just soap with lotion. Buy bar soap and sol­id or cream lotions and voilà, you have a gen­er­al pur­pose clean­er than can be acquired in bulk and stored eas­i­ly… and your skin won’t crack when you use it on yourself.
  • Both ster­ile and non-ster­ile med­ical sup­plies and man­u­als of first aid are impor­tant things to have on hand at all times. Now that we all know that just because a doctor’s office, urgent care facil­i­ty, or hos­pi­tal emer­gency room are usu­al­ly con­ve­nient­ly acces­si­ble, this is not always a giv­en. Most non-phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal med­ical sup­plies do not expire.