For those of you sitting at home right now, looking outside at either a few inches, or a few feet of snow, you are most likely commiserating over how you are going to clear your walkways and driveways. De-icing driveways and sidewalks is a necessity in the wintertime, whether it’s to be able to get your car out, or avoid eating shit when checking the mail. The most commonly used method of de-icing a driveway or sidewalk is to use rock salt. Your dad did it. His dad did it. And his dad? Well he probably just sucked it up and dealt with it. Either way, the fact is, that just because it is the easy and popular way to clear your path of the hateful frozenness, doesn’t mean it’s the best way, and certainly not the greenest way.
At Sustain the Green, while based in sunny California, have all spent the majority of our lives in cold climates. Which come to think of it, is probably the reason we are all here, but I digress. During our years in the cold tundra of the Northeast and Midwest, we each found ways of de-icing driveways and sidewalks while staying environmentally friendly. I’ll admit, I have salted my share of walkways, but have since learned the negative environmental impact of doing so.
By salting your driveway you are allowing an unnatural amount of salt to build up in the soil and streets, which eventually can drain into the water systems. An overload of salt prevents plants from being able to absorb nutrients and therefore stunt growth, if not kill them entirely. Salt also attracts heavy metals and absorbs them. Once it makes its happy little way into the water systems, the metals come with. If you don’t care about plants or water systems, well, you shouldn’t be on this site. If you are somehow still here, then do it for your pets. Salt particles, when embedded in the paw of an animal, can cause intense burning and pain. If that is still not enough reasons, seriously, get lost.
Just when things look bleak and it seems there may not be a way to de-ice your driveway or sidewalks in an environmentally friendly manner, Sustain the Green comes to the rescue. The greenest way to accomplish ice-free paths: shovel. I know, I know. The thought of putting on ten layers and heading out into the arctic is more than a little unappealing. However, if you head out to shovel almost immediately after the snow has fallen, it will not have time to ice up underneath and freeze to the ground, making it easier to clear away. Best part? No toxic residue or emissions are produced.
If you really can’t shovel, and can’t pay the strange kid in the neighborhood to shovel for you, then get a snow blower. Wait a second? Don’t those put off carbon monoxide? Hooray for electric! It will still use some power, so it’s not as green as doing it manually, but at least you aren’t pumping fumes into the air. Electric snow blowers are available at almost any hardware and home improvement store. It may be an investment, but hey, you’re the one that didn’t want to shovel. If you don’t necessarily need to clear a grip of snow from your driveway, perhaps traction is your goal. In this case, just get some sand. It is fairly easy on the environment and a little bit goes a long way. It won’t clear anything off, but at least you will remain vertical.
Over here on the Southern Left Coast, we extend our hearts to those of you enduring the cold, snow and ice. Seriously, we were talking about it the other day at the beach. Regardless, when it comes time to de-ice your driveways and sidewalks think of the environment and do your best to sustain the green.
