Making Up For Lost Time: BYOB Edition March 4, 2008

Most of you have probably already heard about this, but given my slew of plastic bag posts, I thought it was worth a mention.

As of… well… now, the Whole Foods in my ‘hood is no longer distributing plastic bags. This change should be national by the end of April. Good news for landfills and sea creatures everywhere!!

They are encouraging BYOB but still carrying paper. Here’s what they say about that: “We aren’t trying to settle the ‘paper vs. plastic’ debate. We say ‘reuse!’ instead. But when you don’t reuse, we provide 100% recycled (and recyclable) paper bags.”

I would love it if all grocery stores made this move. The other day I went to a Star Market, short on cloth bags (my own fault), and they tried to give me 10 plastic bags for $30 worth of groceries. Yuck! I hope they get on board.

Is the end of “paper or plastic?” happening in anyone else’s part of the world?

Bird by Bird October 2, 2007

David Sedaris often writes about his sister who is consumed with the needs of animals, sometimes to hilarious extremes. For instance, in one of his essays, Sedaris describes a time when his cheapskate father, sick with some kind of infection or other, decides to take his dog’s antibiotics rather than pay the extra expense of going to the doctor himself. His sister’s response: how is the dog going to get better if dad keeps taking his antibiotics?

I think my concern for the environment may be comparable to David Sedaris’ sister’s love of animals and animal rights. At heart, there is a simplicity to both of our pet issues. We just love trees, the earth, air, dogs. But I think there may be something else at play, at least for me. I feel a need to do something positive for the world, but I don’t know how! I need to start simple.

One of the mantras in the show “Heroes” is “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” The butterfly effect-ish, all things are inextricably connected implications of this line are part of its appeal. But more than that, saving the cheerleader seems like something that can be done. It’s broken down, it’s achievable, it’s just one girl. (by the way, I have not seen any of the second season yet)

Susan Orlean, in her fantastic book The Orchid Thief, comes to find in her analysis of John Laroche, that obsessions of any kind are linked to the need to distill the vastness of the universe into something manageable by the human mind. Orleans’ conclusion is that the obsessive is really someone so overwhelmed by the complexity of the world, the he decides to stick to just one thing.

When Jenni and I began this blog, one of my motivations was to simplify activism in a specific and personal way. I felt compelled to start slow because I’m constantly overwhelmed not only by the complexity of the world, but by all its imperfection, disharmony and hatred. But as we’ve continued, I’ve noticed that what was intended as a simplification process has in fact become a fanning out of related issues: capitalism’s inherent violence, consumerism out of control, generosity, peace.

When Jenni posted about the injustices going on in Burma, my first thought was, “I can’t deal with this! It’s too much!” But as Karen described (see post Sept. 4, Karen’s Earth Day) her eco-habit changes as a spiritual practice, I’m also trying to apply the same sense of deliberateness and peace to the Burma situation as I would to decreasing my carbon footprint—just taking it step by step. What can I do now? I can sign a petition, I can say a prayer, I can do one small thing at a time.

Karen’s Earth Day September 4, 2007

Hello everyone! I’m back from my mountain escape, and I apologize my long summer silence. For my first post back, I’m going to use someone else’s words. One year ago this August my dear sister Karen watched An Inconvenient Truth for the first time, and it truly changed her life. Over the last year I’ve seen how her internal, even spiritual, shift in her relationship to the planet has manifested as a real commitment to greener living – under circumstances much more stressful than my own. Karen recently posted on her blog a tribute to the changes and challenges brought by seeing the film. Below, a few excerpts for your enjoyment; or pop over to needsnewbatteries.blogspot.com.

“My daily grind, my environmental discipline these days, reminds me of a spiritual commitment, to tithe, to pray, to meditate, to fast, to forgo, to sacrifice. One does these things solely for a benefit that can’t be held in one’ s hand. Learning to clean with vinegar and baking soda proved to be both easy and incredibly money saving. Giving up paper towels, very much harder to do, and let us not discuss diapers here. I. just. can’t. But, I might in the future…I just might.

This is a not abnormal scene in my life: baby needs Motrin for teeth. Oh, we need a new bottle, nothing in this one. Okay, rinse it out in bathroom sink. Check the bottom of the bottle: it’s a 2, 2s go downstairs. Put bottle on bathroom counter. Okay, open new bottle. It’s in a small cardboard box. Thin filmy plastic surrounds it. Deep breath. I cannot recycle this plastic here, yet. Deep breath. It goes in the trashcan in the bathroom. Small cardboard box – small ray of light, I can recycle this. It has to go downstairs to recycling. Open Motrin. Dose fussy baby who then requires nap. Return to bathroom, retrieve recycling from sink and take downstairs…

…The chores have become for me an exercise in mindfulness, of doing the steps, each in its turn, aware the result is bigger than the steps. I bring to this process a history of silent prayer, a little yoga practice and the mindfulness training that one teaches oneself for natural childbirth. Becoming part of the process, knowing the result is bigger than me and my tiny actions: a Motrin bottle chucked on a pile of beer bottles, the tending of green things, the delicate balance of shopping bags, paper recycling, vinegar rinse in the sink, three boys squashed together in a tub, in a car, laughing, loving, bickering, squawking, looking hopefully ahead to a planet with glaciers, mountains, rain forests, desserts, birds, fish, and trees.”

The Skeptics August 28, 2007

Recently Newsweek’s cover article was about global warming nay-sayers and big business’ role in perpetuating skepticism about human caused environmental damage. The article likened the public relations behind the attack on the science of climate change to tobacco industry’s long time denial of the risks associated with smoking. It was very interesting, but I left the article thinking—Who cares if human being’s responsibility in global warming can be definitively, scientifically proven or not? The indisputable fact is that forests and other natural land and animals are being destroyed unnecessarily all the time, and pollution of all kinds plagues us. Those are sufficient reasons to reduse, reuse and recycle, even if global warming is in fact a ‘hoax.’
Then I read a fascinating and personal account of the climate changes happening in the Arctic by wayfarerscientista. She ends the post by offering the idea that ‘global warming’ is not a technically accurate description of what is happening in the environment, and that the term obfuscates a serious problem with its cuddly and cozy word choice. Both the Newsweek article in its description of big business smear campaign on global warming and wayfarerscientista’s blog entry’s revelation of the psychological impact of environmental terminology made me fear that the latest risk to the environment is the attack on what we know to be true. At the very least however, these things made me want to get as practical as possible in a time when I had begun to fly off into the land of negativity and rants about why its is that this country has the worst train system of all the first world.
So here goes—a couple of questions: How long is it reasonable to use a sponge? Are there any other longer lasting dish-washing tools? Garbage bags—what are some less wasteful ideas for waste? And speaking of waste, I live in an apartment—does anybody have any ideas for what I could do with organic waste? I’d love to hear some tips to get me back on a practical, positive track!

We’ve come a long way baby… August 16, 2007

I’ve got a couple of small victories to celebrate. First of all, I got it together and bought a canvas shopping bag. Now, I have finally had a week run of remembering to take it to the store! Yea! Progress! Painted Maypole—I’m really glad you brought up the issue of how to navigate the awkward social situation of handing your own bag to the cashier. I still feel shy about this for some reason even though I’ve had nothing but uneventful bag handing experiences. I just put the bag on the conveyer belt with the rest of the groceries and the cashier uses it; no questions no comments. As an aside, I happen to have bought a really pretty bag with a picture of a forest on it that says, ‘Reuse, Recycle—Save a Tree.’ I think having a bag I like has helped me remember take it to the store. Whatever works…
I’d also like to give a cheer to John and Joe who carpool to work everyday thus halving their gas and emissions. Good job, guys! I heard about a service on line that puts people together for trips to common places like Target, etc. I thought it sounded like a great idea but one that might take a while to catch on. Has anybody tried anything like that?
And on a more ideological scale; I was recently reminded of how far we’ve come as a consumerist culture in general. I happened to turn on HBO when the early nineties movie Singles had just started, so I decided to watch it even though when I saw it originally, I could barely sit through the whole thing because of how much it reminded me of my own lame dating life at the time. This time around, I was struck by the fact that the Kyra Sedgwick character worked at an environmental defense type not for profit and her love interest Campbell Scott played a traffic engineer who was working on the plans for a ‘super train’ for Seattle commuters. As it turns out (spoiler alert) Campbell Scott’s proposal is rejected by the mayor, but more shocking is that his train idea is also rejected by his environmentalist girlfriend whose rationale is “I love my car.” Could this be a believable, and not alarmingly hypocritical exchange now, 15 years later? I don’t think so. I think we are, as a whole, making some progress in how we think. I think that when we as individuals hand a canvas bag to the cashier, buy recycled toilet paper, use more efficient light bulbs, choose more viable means of transportation, and in other ways make sensible and more sustainable choices we are not only helping the environment by lessening the total carbon load on the planet, but we are sending a message to everyone around us—We’re all in this together. Power to the people! Power to the planet!

Can Good Vibes Save the Environment? August 7, 2007

Every time I see Viva paper towels advertised, I go slightly mad. Furthermore, I think I am becoming annoying. I’m worried that if I mention CALPIRG or cloth napkins one more time, someone may take a swing at me. This is all a result of my growing hopelessness which is quickly followed by the none too pleasant thought, “If everybody would just get on board here, we would be living in a smog free, tree loving, non-globally warm environment where everybody drives a Prius and uses solar panels to light their houses.” This is when I begin to hate ‘them,’ realize I am ‘them’, and a cycle of unproductive negativity begins. The thing is, I think unproductive negativity is our worst environmental offender. After all, if I can’t be kind to myself and ease up on the fact that yes, I forgot to bring bags to the grocery store for the 26th time (Jenni I feel your pain), and trusting of the rest of the world to make positive changes at their own pace, I’m not only part of the problem, I’m actually creating the problem.
That being said, I want to promote a great blog by a woman who is also trying to be part of the solution by doing what she can do. She has some great ideas for simple steps to try to make the world a greener place to be (Karen, she’s got some wonderful posts about her experiences composting and other nifty ideas).

What Kind of Day Has It Been? July 21, 2007

Part of our intention with this blog is to create some accountability for Shelly and myself by outing our goals and intentions – and then reporting back on them to all ya’ll. We’ve been up and running for about a month, and here’s where I’m at: I’ve reduced my plastic bag, paper bag, and paper towel usage by about 75%! Not bad.

My goal is to reduce this even further by Sept. 1 and to feel like I really have a handle on making my life work without those products. This will get interesting because I’ll be away from home for most of August in a rustic cabin in the woods, toting my own garbage to the dump. I have a feeling that sustainable choices will actually be easier out there.

So what’s next? In September I plan to focus on reorganizing my home appliances to reduce phantom energy drainage. If you’ve got goals or victories to share, please post comments about ‘em! We’d love to hear from and support you.

80s flashback July 21, 2007

Hi friends! Here’s a little story from my mom: Back in the late 70s and early 80s the “religious left” (that is, believing Christians who embrace a democratic and progressive agenda) had a much louder voice than it does today. Members of my parents congregation would go off to various conferences and seminars to discuss the pressing issues of the day. One of her good friends, Joan, went to a seminar on ecojustice (this would have been ’81 or ’82 probably), and she came home and immediately gave up paper towels. But she kept her paper towel holder up with an empty paper towel roll in it, and in magic marker she wrote across it in big letters: Ecojustice! Great, huh?

Most of her friends ended up giving up paper towels or paper napkins or both (including my mom). I still remember the cloth napkins that another friend, Gail, embroidered for my family and others in our circle, so that everyone would have attractive and personal alternatives to paper napkins.

I think it’s these kinds of daily reminders and mutual support projects on a local level (combined with, hopefully, some good political leadership) that will eventually turn this boat around. It just seems like it’s a long, long, long time comin’…..

Swiffa! July 8, 2007

Hey everyone. I just got a question from my friend W about Swiffers. She has a sweet little dog who came into her life about 6 months ago, and she recently discovered that Swiffers are PERFECT for cleaning up the dog hair. But she had sworn she would never be a Swiffer person because they use those disposable cloths that go to the garbage/environment. Whereas just sweeping doesn’t use any extra paper/plastic. So she’s having some guilt about that – even though she only uses like one Swiffer cloth per week. Any thoughts out there on Swiffer alternatives? Could you stick a cloth diaper on the end of a Swiffer and get the same effect?

In other news here: I am still only at about a 50% success rate on my cloth bag project. But I am working on it. Also, you’ve all inspired me to get off paper towels and napkins. I bought some cloth diapers and TJs towels and set up a little system with a rack, drying hooks and plastic bucket for the dirty ones. Actually quite exciting!

An Okay Day June 21, 2007

Yesterday I went to the local farmer’s market to replenish my produce, instead of to a larger store, and I remembered to bring a cloth shopping bag with me. Hurrah! I put most of the food right in the cloth bag without extra packaging. But when it came to the pint of strawberries, I let the gal put them in a small, clear plastic bag for me. Because strawberries stain and the juice can get everywhere. Right? When I got home and came in the house with this random piece of plastic over my berries, it seemed silly. So I’ll take my chances with the berry juice next time. (I’m noticing mess-phobia as a recurring theme in our posts! Hm.) I also had a dentist appointment in the same area, about a quarter mile from the market. I chose to walk the extra distance instead of starting my car again and driving there. Now, I used to live in NYC so walking a quarter mile anywhere is no big deal. But I live in more of a car town now, and it’s really funny how that influences my habits. Leave the car, take the canolis….