This NYC man is just too cool for his fridge.
Manhattan resident Josh Spodek has stopped utilizing his fridge for over a yr — sacrificing the on a regular basis equipment and its advantages in hopes of dwelling a extra sustainable life.
Spodek, who lives in Greenwich Village, has spent the previous 12 months culling again on the waste in his family, figuring out his fridge as the most important supply {of electrical} use.
So, the 51-year-old determined to see if he might go with out it and unplugged it.
Spodek has now gone over 12 months with out chilling his meals or drinks, calling it “a mind-set shift adopted by continuous enchancment.”
“Folks in Manhattan lived with out refrigeration till the mid-Twentieth century, so it’s clearly doable,” he instructed the Related Press.
Spodek mentioned his meals can usually be saved for about two days on his windowsill from November to early spring. It additionally helps that he’s vegan and doesn’t eat meat or diary — merchandise which might have vital well being dangers if not refrigerated.
“Within the winter, it’s simply beets and carrots and potatoes and onions, plus dried beans and grains,” he mentioned. “You’re taking what you have got and also you make it style good and now I simply must eat what I purchase earlier than it goes unhealthy, or pickle it so it lasts a bit longer.”
Initially, the chief coach mentioned he started simply unplugging his fridge for 3 months over winter.
“I actually wasn’t positive I might survive per week with out it. I didn’t actually have a plan for the way I’d get by with out one,” he mentioned. “However I figured it wouldn’t kill me, and I might all the time plug it in once more.”
The following yr, Spodek, who can also be an adjunct professor at NYU, determined to close it down for six months earlier than plunging right into a full fledged-fridge-free life.
He discovered that he really didn’t want it in any respect.
In accordance with the US Department of Agriculture, fridges are probably the most necessary items of apparatus within the kitchen for holding meals secure.
“Refrigeration slows bacterial development. Micro organism exist in every single place in nature. They’re within the soil, air, water, and the meals we eat,” the company defined. “Once they have vitamins (meals), moisture, and favorable temperatures, they develop quickly, rising in numbers to the purpose the place some forms of micro organism may cause sickness.”
They defined that “micro organism develop most quickly within the vary of temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F some doubling in quantity in as little as 20 minutes,” so having a fridge “set at 40 °F or beneath will shield most meals.”
Spodek nonetheless cooks at dwelling, utilizing elements purchased at farmers’ markets in addition to a farm cooperative. He additionally makes use of an electrical strain cooker powered by a conveyable photo voltaic panel and battery pack, which he carries up 11 flights of stairs to his roof.
It’s “nearly religious,” he mentioned of his ritual.
“By means of doing this, I’m positively studying extra about their cultures than if I simply flew someplace for per week,” he added.
Spodek insisted he’s not towards utilizing fridges, however thinks folks ought to attempt unplugging it — particularly over the colder months.
“If everybody might stay with out a fridge for, say, two weeks over the course of the yr,” he mentioned, “it might save a unprecedented quantity of energy.”