I love the site Low Tech Magazine, which I consider one of the best on the net.

Reading its piece Too Much Combustion, Too Little Fire, the section “Energy Use Compared: Ancient vs. Modern Households” made me think of my food power consumption.

It was December and I don’t heat my apartment so it’s cool. Yet my refrigerator was on. As I started to wonder if I could get by without it, at least during the winter. The apartment is cool anyway and my food is less perishable — more root vegetables, cabbage, etc — I figured the best way to find out was to try.

As I mention in my TEDx talks, the pleasant surprises that avoiding packaged food and flying improved my life more than almost any other changes led me to expect that acting on my environmental values will improve my life, however challenging they seem before acting.

Nothing would kill me and I’d find the problems to solve best by exposing and facing them.

So I unplugged the fridge, ate the perishable things, and will see how long I can go before plugging it back in. Putting things by the window, where it’s cooler, is working so far.

I think Low Tech Magazine and No Tech Magazine started me fermenting things instead of refrigerating . . . [searches site] . . . yes, these posts:

• Vietnam’s Low-tech Food System Takes Advantage of Decay
• Preserving Food by Fermentation
• Fermentation and Daily Life

So I already have a bunch of sauerkraut and vinegar. Let’s see what comes next. I also look forward to my electrical bill. I love seeing it drop from the year before.

EDIT: See my results: My electric bill after a month with the fridge off.

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