Simple Things

I haven't been writing much on this blog lately -- I find that it's practically all I can do to keep up my work blog *and* try to live eco-aware. But today I thought I'd just drop a few lines about some of the simple things you can do to help improve the environment and your lifestyle.

1: Pick it up.
As I walk around my neighbourhood (and other places), I see so much trash on the ground--a bag, a bottle cap, a soda can, a flip-flop. Litter, we usually call it, and some places actually have hefty fines for litterers. Litter fills the gutters, sloshes against the banks of rivers, contaminates the soil, and definitely helps wreck the ecosystem. So, even if you didn't toss it, pick it up. Take a bag with you when you walk and do a little something extra for your locality. I remember when I was a kid, and my family would spend family time together cleaning up trash out of a nearby field. It was good.

2: Lots of magazines? Visit the library.
I don't know about you, but I get way too much junk mail, including catalogs and magazines. Granted, often I enjoy the magazines and some of them I have even subscribed to. But do I really need all that paper in my mailbox, even if I'm going to recycle it? Nope. My solution? The library. My local library subscribes to over 200 magazines, and wow, that's a lot. Not all libraries have so many, but chances are, if you're a big magazine subscriber, they probably have at least one you're interested in. Read it at the library. If there's an article you *have* to have, make a copy and file it at home. One or two fewer magazines a month is a nice step to diminishing your footprint.

3: Reuse that water.
We use lots of water when we prepare food -- boiling pasta, steaming veggies, rinsing lettuce. Don't just dump that leftover water down the drain -- put it to good use. Instead of using fresh tapwater to water your indoor plants or your garden, collect that already used water and put it to a second use. Your plants might even thank you for it!

And there you have it--3 small and simple things you can do to make this world a healthier and happier place.

earth day 2008: show your love.

happy birthday mother earth.

we love you.

each year, earth day represents a reminder to the modern environmental movement that began april 22, 1970. the decided national day was to focus one whole day out of the year on the environmental problems facing our mother earth.

even 38 years ago, the environmental crisis was sweeping across the nation's campuses. they could see it then. we see it now. but how much progress has been made?

what will you do (or don't do) today, on earth day 2008, to observe this national day?

take action.

al gore believes in a happy ending still even though little has changed since his thought-provoking an inconvenient truth won a pulitzer. he also believes the environmental crisis has become even more urgent. do you believe he's doing his part in the environmental state of emergency? or do you believe the claims made against him for being an energy hog? (the writings contained herein this blog have been both pro and con toward al gore. lately, we're more pro. amazing what education can do to enlighten the mind. be sure to educate yourself.)

michelle kaufmann gives you some ideas how to take all that consumer waste and make it pretty in her do-it-yourself earth day activity kit.

the above graphic was orchestrated for a designboom and da--design association japan international design competition to demonstrate the theme "love your earth."

share more. how do you love your earth?

going green? or going snob?

like nigel farndale, the author of the article, turn your nose up at eco-snobs, someone slap my wrist for my attitude toward those that aren't as or even striving to be as eco-friendly as me. i'm guilty of my ears perking up to someone in the market line refusing a paper bag while the woman in front of me gladly takes the offered bag. (at my local safeway here in san francisco plastic bags are no longer offered as a means to transport your groceries. it's paper or your own bag.) it's happened so many times. and what about those that walk by the recycling bin in the office and dump their empty water bottles in the trash can? shame on them? or shame on me?

farndale's article hit home with me and now i feel bad. take a read yourself. if you're going green, good for you, but be careful to avoid rubbing it in the face of those surrounding you. like some folks said in the comments of a treehugger.com article, going green should be treated like a religion. if you try to convert someone into changing their ways and thinking differently about the environment, you won't be successful by shoving it down their throat. my mother always taught me to lead by example and actions speak louder than words. in this day and age, those words of wisdom still ring true.

emily bazalon, a writer for slate.com, wrote another view of appearing or teaching a version of eco-snobbery: she fears what her family's purchase of their prius might mean to her children. her article is both witty and realistic.

don't puff yourself up thinking you're all that just because you reuse and recycle or drive a prius. join me in relieving the world of a few eco-snobs, myself included.

post-consumer: legit or quit?

have you ever been drinking from a starbucks cup and noticed how it says 10% post-consumer fibers on the bottom? and have you ever wondered what it means? it happened to me this morning. i was walking back to my office and trying to sip every last drop of my steamed nonfat milk out of my cup and noticed the writing. then i started to wonder: how legitimate is that? and what does it mean exactly? some of my findings are below.

in february 2007 solo cup company, manufacturer of disposable foodservice products for the consumer/retail, foodservice, packaging and international markets co-developed a post-consumer fiber paper cup with starbucks. the post-consumer fiber paper cup is manufactured with recycled paper and helps support starbucks corporate social responsibility mission to serve products in an environmentally sustainable choice of packaging. read more. and more about how starbucks is changing the way coffee is served.

read starbucks' social responsibility newsletter announcing the new post-consumer hot cup.

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clips from recycling point dot com: debunking the myths of recycled paper.

definition of post-consumer waste: paper that has been recovered after having been used as a consumer item including papers from offices and homes, old newspapers and packaging.

in california, recycled paper must contain at least 10% post-consumer waste.

"in buying recycled paper, you must understand what composition you are buying," said lawrence chan, manager of office paper and stationary at shiro paper (singapore) pte ltd. "for example, if you buy recycled paper made from mill broke, it does not really help the environment because the paper mills have always been doing it. even before this trend towards recycling paper, mills have been recycling mill broke as it is only good housekeeping. "

"personally, i feel that the important components are the pre- and post- consumer wastes," added lawrence. "instead of dumping them into landfills or incinerating them, you put them to good use."

definition of mill broke: waste material recovered from inside a paper mill during the paper making process. this includes paper trimmings. paper makers have always reused their broke. many people do not consider paper made from mill broke as genuine recycled paper.

there's hope: according to lawrence, the outlook for distributors is bright. "as people become more affluent, more educated and sophisticated, they would buy a product not only because it is functional but also because it helps the environment. i believe that in the long run, people would switch to using recycled paper."

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curious what paper brands are more recycled than others? the nrdc has a nifty little diagram listing several popular home tissue brands and their percent recycled, post-consumer, and bleach. quite fascinating. click here to visit the page. and send a message to paper giant (mean folks) kimberly-clark while you're on the page. (more on the destruction kimberly-clark has wrought.)

there are several reasons to buy recycled and post-consumer paper products. the main reason is that it lessens so many of the causes pushing our global warming issues. it lessens both air and water pollutions; decreases spent electric energy; preserves our forests.

shocker: it has been estimated that recycling half the world’s paper would avoid the harvesting of 20 million acres (80,000 km²) of forestland. (source: EarthWorks Group. 1990. “The Recycler’s Handbook”. Berkeley, CA: The EarthWorks Press]) hello! you don't have to be a treehugger to recognize the impact that has: 20 million acres. can you even comprehend that amount? i can't. i have a hard enough time capturing all the land included in the 95.5 acres of my parents' property in ohio.

visit wikipedia for other facts and the history of recycling in the united states.

another site worthy of your mouse click is the environmental paper network.

kleercut: wiping away ancient forests. did you know it takes 90 years to grow a box of kleenex?

this is just another way to consider your impact on the environment. buy recycled paper!

blog action day.

today is blog action day.

bloggers everywhere are making their voices heard (or the sound of clicking keyboard strokes) on the hot topic of our day--the environment.

we're blogging as a critical mass to raise the awareness and urgency of the situation. if we all participate, we can make a difference.

so what are you doing to lessen your carbon footprint? what are you doing to save your planet? what are you doing to do your part in the fight of our lives--saving our mother earth? what's your action plan?

take a stand. be an activist.

start refusing plastic bags at the grocery store.

limit your use of paper and plastic products.

turn the lights off when nobody's home.

recycle.

compost.

leave your car parked--take public transportation.

all it takes is one person. that person is you.



note: this blog is dedicated 100% to the overwhelming issue of global warming. browse through the other entries for tips on how you can lessen your carbon footprint with simple and easy measures.

thoughts on the plastic bag

The push lately has been on recycling plastic bags (from groceries, retailers, etcetera) and to use totes whenever shopping to reduce the waste of plastic bags. But truth be told, some people can't escape the plastic plague -- so they take their old bags to be recycled and get new bags at every store. Therefore the question has been lurking -- is it better to recycle the old bags or to actually reuse them? Comment on this, if you would, but it makes sense to me to reuse old bags until they're no longer usable (ripped, torn, shredded), thus conserving the energy and resources needed to recycle the old and turn them into new. The fewer bags we're sending through factories, recycled or new, the better off we'll be in the long run.

Check out this link from the Grassroots Recycling Network in 2005. They seem to support my opinion on reuse.

Can't figure out how to stop getting bags you don't want or need? Simply make the request. Though store employees have been trained to bag every little item, they're happy enough to fulfill a request for no bag, even if they don't understand it (I have gotten a few funny looks when I've asked for no bag). I was taken by happy surprise this weekend when a checkout person actually asked if I needed a bag for what I was purchasing -- and I didn't.

Yes, yes, bags are only a part of the problem, but everything small thing we can do helps -- figure it this way: if you get 8 bags from the grocery each week on average, and replace those bags with 2-3 totes instead, you're saving 416 bags a year -- that's almost 20 pounds of bags. Multiply that by friends, family, coworkers... you get the idea.