EnviroHumanImpact

Okay, I know, “I do not like green eggs and ham!  Sam I am!”  Ahh, Dr. Seuss.

But everyone’s gotta love some green toast every now and then.  I grew up with an upright toaster (the old style toaster) but when I moved out on my own, I ended up with both an old fashioned one (a hand-me down) as well as a toaster oven (okay, so both were hand-me downs), but both were headed for the landfill if I didn’t take them, and both actually do serve a purpose.

I loved the toaster oven at first, and many told me it was much more environmentally friendly than heating up an entire oven (and less costly) because it was essentially heating a smaller box.  If you had to make a sandwich toasty, it has been great!  I ended up putting the upright toaster away, not using it for a couple of years because, well, why should I have two toasters around?  Packrat as I am, I of course didn’t throw it out, give it away, or other such things.

Recently, however, I found the old upright toaster, got it out, and began using it again?  Why?  For greener toast.

Sure, the toaster oven uses less energy and heats up faster than my normal oven.  If I’m toasting a sandwich, it’s great.  But for toast, well, it’s actually a pretty long time to wait — a good four minutes or so.  And while parts of the bread is well done, other places are rather pale.

My old upright toaster?  Gives me evenly toasted bread, every time, in under two minutes!  Oh, and it’s greener because I’m not heating up that box, the elements are not cooking as long, and the wattage is less overall.  The elements are much closer to the bread and are more evenly distributed across the heating surface.

So now, though I still don’t like green eggs and ham, I like my green toast just fine.  If you’re using a toaster oven exclusively, I recommend you think about digging your old upright toaster back out!

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