Shine on You Crazy Bathtub

I can’t believe I’m even writing about this, but it’s an extremely easy way to reduce your impact on the environment. So today’s post is about…cleaning the bathroom. Excited? I’m not. I particularly hate cleaning my bathroom, and have this aversion to brining out the sprays, the mildew remover, the soap scum scrubber, and the toilet bowl cleaner and spending time cleaning the one room in my house where I spend the most time getting clean. But as much as I am not a fan of the chore, there is someone else out there who dislikes it even more—Mother Earth. Because long after our sinks, tubs, and tile emerge sparkling clean, all those cleaning agents swim down the drain, out to septic tanks, and slowly leak into the environment.

However, there’s an unbelievably simple way to avoid the bathroom guilt trip that won’t cost you an arm and a leg (as certain environmentally-friendly cleaning products will). It comes in a small orange box, has just one ingredient, and isn’t found in the cleaning aisle of your grocery store. This wonder agent? Baking Soda.

Baking Soda is the household name for sodium bicarbonate, a naturally occurring mineral that is safe to eat and non abrasive on the skin (arm and hammer actually touts baking soda’s beneficial effects), and ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE (whohoo!). Commonly found in the baking aisle, baking soda is commonly used to help dough rise. However its uses are seemingly endless (there is an entire book devoted to what you can do with baking soda), and include cleaning tile, tubs, and floors.

I decided to test this wonder powder for myself, putting it to work on a bathroom that hadn’t been cleaned in all of July, even after July 4 weekend when at least 10 people passed through our apartment, a good number of them showering or shaving once or twice. I set to work on my tub first, mixing about a ½ cup of baking soda with enough water to form a pasty consistency (which is not a lot of water). A few “wax on, wax off” cycles of the sponge, and I was shocked to see the gray soap scum seemingly disappear. Soon the chrome was sparkling, the mildew between the tiles gone, and the tub whiter than it’s been in a while.

Need a little more excitement? I recommend this handy and frothy alternative to drano:

Pour a cup of baking soda down the bathroom sink; chase with a cup of white vinegar. Watch with excitement as the concoction foams up around the drain (ok, maybe not that exciting, but does your drano do that?). Let it sit for ten minutes then flush it away with warm water.

So, in the interest of brevity (who wants to keep writing, or reading, about cleaning the bathroom?), I’ll leave it at this: Next time you are in the supermarket, pick up an orange box and keep it under the sink, so that next time you feel compelled to clean your bathroom you can leave those bottles and sprays alone. Or even better, check your fridge--baking soda's deodorizing power only lasts for about three months after a box is opened, but can still be used to scrub that tub long after this.

For the lazy who have skimmed to the bottom of this post, here’s why baking soda is worth a try in a nutshell:

1. It’s no less effort than using any other household cleaner, and has the added bonus of not leaving your hands smelling like chemicals when your done.
2. You save both time and money by not having to purchase 10 different kinds of products to clean your bathroom, or even spend time in the cleaning aisle of the grocery wondering which one to buy).
3. You will have the guilt free knowledge that you just saved gallons of chemicals from entering our soil, streams, and air.
4. You have the added bonus of knowing you are avoiding packaging waste—arm and hammer baking soda is boxed in recycled cardboard.

So there you go. And hopefully this is the most mundane topic I ever post on, because I can't imagine topping this!

8/2/06-update: You don't have to limit yourself to baking soda either--I just stumbled upon this handy resource with all sorts of household concoctions.

Bright Idea? You be the judge on this one.

Ok, I have to admit that when I set out to write this blog post, I was a bit more optimistic than I am now. I am still pretty excited, but I'm not yet 100% convinced that the change I am about to recommend is one of 100% convenience. It's pretty damn close though, so hear me out...


Compact Florescent Light Bulbs--what's the hype about and is it worth making the switch?

A few years ago, swayed by the “long life” sign that hung above a bin of these spiral bulbs at ikea, I tried buying a compact fluorescent bulb, just to see whether they were really any different. The one I bought definitely was—quite frankly, it sucked. It gave off very little light compared to other bulbs and I would compare it to one of those three-level lamps where you just constantly felt like it needed to be turned up a notch. I pretty much got ridiculed for buying it the moment I screwed it into a lame. And despite the fact that that light bulb is somehow still hanging above our coffee table (ok, it’s not the only light in the room and it's in this awkward hanging lamp precariously balanced on a not-so-stable hook in the ceiling, so there’s a bit of a risk involved that if the lamp comes down to replace the bulb, it’s not going back up again) I admit that my bulb purchase might not have been the brightest (sorry) decision. After this purchase I quickly abandoned and forgot about the idea of compact bulbs.

That is, until last weekend, when I decided to take another stab. After reading about Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (CFL’s for short) on environmental website after website, and then hearing that even Oprah (along with of all people Leonardo DiCaprio) was espousing the benefits of CFL’s (I learned this when some guy at the grocery store in front of me was buying a CFL and explaining to the cashier that he saw them on Oprah), I decided I wasn’t going to let my first experience deter me from trying again. So I shelled out 8 bucks at the local drug store, ignored the raised eyebrow that was staring at me when I carried the bulb home, and screwed it into the lamp next to the TV.

The result? The light was slightly dimmer at first, which I am chalking up to the fact that previously there was a 100 watt bulb and the CFL was the equivalent of a 60w. But other than that, I honestly couldn’t tell. And what’s better, no one else in my apartment could tell either. My condition in testing out the bulb (which still stands) is that if the bulbs fail to live up to their predecessors, I will gladly switch it out and return to conventional bulbs (at least until I find another CFL that works better). So far it’s been a week and the bulb is still standing.

This is where my initial optimism starts to wane slightly, as I recently went out and bought two additional CFL's, excited with the prospect of saving all this valuable energy. Screwing the bulbs into our outdoor patio light and then into the kitchen, I was in for a bit of disappointment. The outdoor light works great, as far as I'm concerned, but in the kitchen, it's a different story. I spent 30 minutes that evening sturring a pan full of turkey chili on the stove that looked yellower and yellower by the minute. I had to squint to see if it was done every ten seconds, and never really could tell. I'm going to have to say that I nix the CFL in the kitchen.

So I've come to the conclusion that perhaps the key to switching to CFL’s might be to strategically place them in certain lighting situations. Lamps that give off ambient light or lamps that are secondary light sources seem to work fine making the switch, however I'm not yet convinced that they're ideal for lights that serve as a primary light source--next to your bed for reading, in your office, or in the kitchen. I'm not ready to give up and will keep trying different brands and wattages before I come to an ultimate conclusion, but for now, I can't honestly say that these bulbs are ALWAYS ideal.

That said, I'm still going to devote the rest of this post to persuading you to try out CFL's for yourself. Perhaps you find a better brand than me, or perhaps you have 10 lamps in your house that don't really need that strong of a light in them, and in either case, I'll encourage you to at least try switching out one bulb and to judge for yourself whether you can tell the difference. I bought the one kind of bulb at my local hardware store, but there are plenty of options--check this handy resource for info on how to pick the right bulb for you.

The reason I’m so determined to find CFL’s that work and that seem like genuine options for lighting your home is because they make so much sense. Energy, at least in terms of global warming, seems to be an enemy these days. Every watt of electricity used by each of us translates into a certain amount of non-renewable resources usurped, a certain amount of carbon leaked into the atmosphere, and a minute fraction of a percent of the hard-to-reverse increase in our planet’s temperature. We are urged from every environmental group to conserve our electricity use, to use only what we NEED and not what we conveniently forget (or decide not) to turn off.

The facts about CFLs:
Switching to CFL’s uses one third to one fourth of the energy that regular, incandescent, bulbs require. According to environmentaldefense.org, this saves more than 1,000 pounds of carbon emissions over the life of the bulb. According to the carbon calculator at stopglobalwarming.org, this saves 100 pounds of carbon emissions (or $20) per bulb per year.

So that’s pretty much the argument for switching to CFL's. They use less energy—a lot less—which means that they help conserve resources, and contribute less to global warming.


Now for the convenience factor. I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that there is no reason you shouldn’t make the switch to CFL’s. Here’s my rationale for the lazy, the stubborn, or the otherwise unconvincible:


Effort-wise, buying a CFL bulb is EASIER than shelling out $4 at Starbucks on your way to work every day and EQUAL to picking up a six pack of beer or a bottle of wine on a Friday afternoon.

CFL’s are not cheap—I spent $8 on mine—so I certainly don’t recommend rushing out to the hardware store and buying a replacement bulb for every lamp in your house. However, what I do recommend is once you decide to make the switch, to buy one bulb a week and gradually convert the lights in your home. $8 a week will buy you a lot—the aforementioned starbucks or booze, but also dinner at your favorite carryout place down the street, a slurpee a day from 711, or your taxi fare on the way home when you are feeling too lazy to walk. Hopefully your weekly budget can stand slipping in a lightbulb every Wednesday, and if it can’t, maybe consider skipping the starbucks while you accumulate 3 or 4 bulbs.


Once you buy a CFL you will have to change your lightbulbs LESS than usual.
The CFL I bought came with a guarantee that the bulb would last 5 years or I could return it for a refund. Not that I’m planning on keeping my receipt for the life of the bulb or anything, but it’s a reassuring claim. So if you are really lazy, or just hate climbing up on a ladder to replace those hard to reach ceiling lamps, these are the thing for you.


In the not-so long term, CFL’s will save you money, or at least not lose you any.
Once you buy your CFL, it’s like an investment. Since the bulbs use ¼ of the energy of a regular bulb, your energy bill should slowly start to cost you less and less the more bulbs you buy. Of course, according to wikipedia, it takes about 500 hours of use for a CFL to pay for itself, which, if you leave your lights on 24-7 is about 3 weeks, or with a more normal use pattern of 4 hours a day, is 3 months. Not an instant money saving scheme, but not to shabby either. Start by swapping out the conventional bulbs in your most-used lamps to see the greatest difference.


Need more motivation?
EnvironmentalDefense.org has started a CFL campaign, which by signing up shows you not only your own personal efforts but those of everyone else as well.


Sound like a good idea but think the bulbs are too expensive?
Here’s a sale for you.


Like the idea and want to take it a step further?
banthebulb.org is a pretty intense site taking CFL’s to the extreme. Lots of statistics if you are interested.

So that's it--buy a bulb, try it out, and judge for yourself whether you can sacrifice a little wattage for the greater good of the world. And please let me know if you find bulbs that you are happy with!

Rockstars of the Week

Close friends and family know that I'm a huge fan of rock n roll (and not so close friends usually figure this out pretty quickly). Good music is as essential to me as good friends and good food. There's something about the rhythm, the passion, and the intensity of a rockin' song that captivates your entire body, brings a smile to your face and sends chills up your spine (occasionally, just occasionally, a song will even bring a tear or two to my eye). My favorite way of describing this is to quote David Bowie's bold line from Sweet Head" "Before there was Rock you only had God." I'm in love and I love it.

But as much as I love their music, I'm certainly not always a fan of rockstars themselves. There's a good number of amazingly talented musicians out there who just come up short in the persona department. Pete Doherty, singer for the Libertines and Babyshambles immediately comes to mind as a stellar musician who has just blown it in all other aspects of life.

Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while lesser known, definitely lands a #2 spot on that list. (For and up close and personal glimpse into his unstable (and ridiculous) personality, I recommend the documentary Dig! The “rockstar personality” is stereotypically destructive, and there are many who fit the bill. From the very beginnings of rock and roll, substance abuse (Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Scott Weiland, and countless others), violence (most recently/humorously, Axl Rose), and the occasional troubled soul (Kurt Cobain) have been as integral a part of rock and roll as the music itself.

But every now and then, you get a rock star who defies this stereotype, who realizes the world does not revolve around them, and who actually decides to do something good for that world. When this happens—and it seems to be happening more and more, especially, it seems, for rockers in the later stages of their careers—it deserves recognition. Because when you are famous for your music, you certainly have no responsibilities when it comes to how you wield your influence (certainly, a reckless persona almost seems as a necessity if you are to be a credible rock musician). Yet when a person or group has so much influence that their behavior and decisions are recognized and often revered by thousands of impressionable fans (think punk rock), it's always a plus (albeit sometimes a surprise) when their decisions will do some good in the world.

Some well-known conscious musicians have been able to do a lot with their influence. Live Aid and Live 8 sprang from this realization that musicians have an enormous amount of influence. Farm Aid was the same idea on a bit of a smaller scale. Many musicians have begun to use their music as a means of speaking their minds, and lately, everyone from Paul Simon to Bright Eyes has had a passionate, often political, statement to be made through song. My favorite, which when performed live was admittedly tear-inducing, is Bruce Springsteen’s adaptation of a Blind Alfred Reed song on his recent Seeger Sessions tour, where he both blatantly and subtly laments the administration’s poor response to the thousands affected by Katrina. You can listen to the song here, and if you missed the concerts, here's a great video glimpse.

This past week, a decision was made by a band that was nothing but conscientious, which is causing me to deem them the “Rockstars of the Week.” On Tuesday, Pearl Jam announced their Carbon Portfolio Strategy, which involves an investment of $100,000 divided among nine environmental organizations to support research and action. The investment, which the band hopes will help “advance preservation of existing ecosystems, restoration of degraded environments, and continued investment in clean, renewable energy technologies,” is part of the band’s goal to reduce their own impact, especially while touring (gas guzzling tour busses traveling thousands of miles are putting a dent not only on the environment, but also on band’s pockets—there’s a worthwhile article on this in the latest Rolling Stone which I seem to have misplaced…).

Not only are Pearl Jam trying to offset their own environmental impact, they are encouraging fans to become carbon-conscious as well. The announcement on their website encourages and invites fans to join the band in their efforts:

“We encourage you to identify and support leaders in your own community leading the charge for clean and renewable energy. In addition, we hope that you'll take a close look at how their daily activities contribute to the increasing amounts of carbon emissions in the air.”

The site also allows fans to be a part of Pearl Jam’s own Carbon Portfolio by making a donation through paypal (there’s a direct link on the site) to help support the nine organizations the rockers have identified. There are also links to several tools that help you calculate your own carbon impact. (Although, my favorite carbon calculator is still the one at stopglobalwarming.org).

Unfortunately, fans are probably not quite as excited about joining the band in thinking about carbon as they were to adapt grunge fashion 10 years ago (it somehow seems less rebellious, less cool, and well, less convenient than heading to the mall as a teenager). Yet there is a glimmer of hope that the trend toward environmental sensitivity can eventually become as ubiquitous as flannel shirts were in the 90’s. I'm not sure what it will take, but I'm certainly willing to join in the effort, and encourage others to as well. And hopefully there are a few of you out there who, regardless of whether you've outgrown your flannel shirts, will jump on this eco-rockin bandwagon too. Because if this earth gets any hotter, there won't be much need for flannel anymore.

if Larry David can care, you can too

One of the many efforts of avid environmentalist Laurie David is the website StopGlobalWarming.org, which touts itself as a "virtual march" against the causes responsible for global warming. It's a pretty useful website, with lots of suggestions and information on how you personally can join in on the efforts. My favorite part is the site's "Carbon Calculator" which unlike other calculators out there, starts at 0 and shows you your savings both in dollars and in pounds of CO2. This means that as you do more and more things that positively impact the environment, your score (and $avings) increase. The other calculators out there I've seen calculate how bad your CO2 consumption is, and then prompt you to donate the equivalent in renewable energy to offset your Co2 use, and I can't help but think that asking people to try to reduce their impact by putting it in terms of dollars saved rather than dollars you should have to spend somehow seems more encouraging.

The neat part is that by taking a quick moment to "join the global march" (aka register with the site) allows you to log into the calculator as many times as you like, updating it each time you do something positive for the planet. The site is chock full of small things you can do at home, when traveling, and even when shopping, and my favorite category "Everyday cheap and easy" (activities range in terms of effort and practicality, with everything from committing to use reusable bags to buying a hybrid car).

Of course, if you aren't encouraged to "join the virtual march" there are plenty of profiles of "featured marchers" (read: celebrities, politicians, and anyone else with a selling name), each with a personal statement of why they have joined the march. I found a few words of wisdom in a particular profile, which I'm hoping will resonate with the extraordinarily lazy (or at least with curb your enthusiasm fans).

So if Larry David can find ways to help the environment that he can deem "a perfect opportunity for the lazy man to do something good without having to expend any effort," there's got to be something that you can be doing too. For starters, I'll encourage you to join Larry (and Laurie) on this march. In fact, to make it incredibly easy, you can do it right from this blog--just look for the gray box on the sidebar.

A GREAT reason to care about global warming (if you haven’t bothered to care yet).

All I could say upon waking up this morning was WOW. Yesterday evening I was lucky enough to have taken part in a six-course wine tasting dinner at one of the top San Diego restaurants, and the tastes were still lingering on my tongue (or at least in my memory). For this I have a good friend to thank, as well as a good friend’s boyfriend, who happens to be the sous chef at the restaurant and who whips up a mean suite of hors d’oeuvres (specifically: smoked salmon canapés with American caviar, flash grilled oysters wrapped in prosciutto, malpec oysters chilled on the half shell, lobster bisque topped with lemon verbena foam, followed by a refreshing tomato water that effortlessly cleans the palate…I was happy before dinner even began). But before I start drooling recounting the delectable experience, I do want to convey what I found to be a tiny non-sensual highlight of the evening.

As the purpose of the dinner was to taste six wines featured from a small, family-owned Napa vineyard called Hill Family Estate, the owner and vintner, Doug Hill, took a few minutes before dinner began to present the wines and give us lucky guests a brief introduction as to how he got into the wine business and what life was like up in Napa. I was delighted to be introduced to the French word, terroir, which was used often in Mr. Hill’s description of the different grapes grown in his vineyards. Terroir, which is French for “soil”, takes on a specific meaning in wine-speak, and is used to describe the type of grapes that grow from a specific type of soil. It implies that the elements of a specific location—the type of soil, but also the altitude, amount of sun, nutrient density, drainage, and history of the land—have an enormous impact on the fruit that is grown there.

I couldn’t help but latch onto this word, and to begin to think about the significance of what it implies. “Terroir,” which is used to describe a group of vineyards that all grow under the same climate conditions, in one word immediately connects the wine to the land. It evokes images of workers toiling to pick the grapes, of the rain, sun, and wind passing over acres of vineyards, of the first buds forming on a vine that eventually will grow into the most perfect grape. Mr. Hill, perhaps subconsciously, seemed to be conveying his love and respect for the fact that it is the combination of elements—the land, the air, and the sun—that delicately interact and intertwine to create conditions that, when favorable, allow these tiny juicy fruits to be born from the soil. As he spoke his words barely concealed excitement as he explained that terroir does not necessarily need to refer to a region in general, but actually exists on a much smaller scale within vineyards themselves. The microclimiate of conditions can vary as much as every few feet in a vineyard, so that a line of grapes planted can have multiple soil conditions, and grapes at one end of a vineyard can have quite different growing conditions from their neighbors across the way.

It was refreshing to hear someone so connected to the land speak about how he had so much respect for it, as we often, I think, allow ourselves to become so far removed from where it is our food (and wine) actually come from. Grapes don’t grow in little plastic bags on grocery food shelves; they sprout from the soil of well tendered lawns, are carefully selected, and conveniently trucked across miles of highways to our local grocery. Finishing my third pour of wine, I contemplated how fascinating it was that the quality of an environment can have such a difference in the quality of the food that is grown there.

Cut to the next morning, when tired yet content, I slowly wake up. Checking my email, I find a daily update from Treehugger in my inbox (which I signed up for about two weeks ago) proclaiming that: GLOBAL WARMING WILL BE DETRIMENTAL TO THE WINE INDUSTRY (insert dramatic, scary music here). The culprit? The Greenhouse Effect. According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the increased projected number of days during the wine season that will reach over 95 degrees in Napa and Sonoma counties (and elsewhere), affecting the delicate balance of climate and atmosphere that produce high-quality grapes.

In a July 11 article in the San Jose Mercury News about the study, I stumbled upon this quote, which I think says a lot if you think about it in terms of a much broader scale:

“ ‘This is a call to arms,’ said Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, which represents 1,000 growers in the state. ‘We need to pay attention now. We ought to start thinking about what can be done now to impact the severity of what might happen.’

That’s right ladies and gentlemen. Global Warming can affect YOU. Forget the fact that the planet’s atmosphere has been gradually increasing in temperature for decades. If it doesn’t affect us it doesn’t matter, right? The blissful ignorance of our convenient lives, having instant access to anything moments after we think of it makes it hard to think about “potentially” troubling times far into the future. Until something happens that makes us realize this might affect us directly, at which point we are suddenly concerned.

I want to take a moment to point out here that I am not so much criticizing this fact (in fact I cast myself in the same boat as the rest of you) so much as I think we should take advantage of it. The closer you can bring an issue to home, the more likely someone is to act. And that’s a good thing.

So I guess what I’m hoping is that with this post, the issue of a climate crisis comes that much closer to home for the percentage of people who happen to be wine aficionados who also are reading this blog. Anyone??

Well if this inspires you at all, here are some incredibly easy (think: using a Rabbit) wine-related suggestions of what you can do to make a tiny contribution to slowing global warming (of course there's lots more you can do as well...keep checking back for more non-wine ideas in later posts):

1. Open a bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass and savor the delicate complexity. Then contemplate whether you really want to deprive your great grandchildren of enjoying the exact moment you find yourself in (okay, this might be stretching it, but you have to get inspired before you act)
2. Conserve resources next time you buy or bring a bottle of wine. Spend $3-$20 on a reusable wine tote, here or here.
   
3. Walk, run, or take your bike to the store next time you find yourself needing to pick up a bottle or two, sparing the planet of the carbon emissions you’d release from driving.
4. Try an organic wine, or wine from an environmentally conscious vineyard, and show your support for companies that are sensitive to environmental issues. [note: I have yet to try an organic wine but if I find a lable worth tasting I'll be sure to announce it]
   

Why, if your boyfriend comes home with Styrofoam plates, it’s worth your time to return them.

First, Just a quick note that it’s worth checking out this week’s Newsweek cover story—which is on the gradual trend toward environmental sensitivity—if for nothing else than to hear about a few creative solutions to the challenge of sustainability. The article dotes on resource-conscious architects, environmentally sensitive cities, and farmers beginning to grow as much corn for fuel as for food. Of course, it also brings up the fact that corporate consultants and marketing guru’s have already realized that the portion of well-to-do individuals who care about the environment form a lucrative market segment, and with a bit of research and creativity there are an endless slew of “environmentally friendly” profitable enterprises to capitalize on this trend (I’m not so much a fan of this). But aside from the fact that there are entire organizations devoted to the opportunities that this “$227 billion dollar market” holds, as this article emphasizes, the issue of our planet’s health is a real one, and that its health is on the decline. Which is an important thing to be reminded of from time to time. And while a lot of the changes that need to come to help prevent this damage are on a macro level, I firmly believe that a multitude of individual decisions add up to something.

And in that vein, I find myself today wanting to put out a simple message. Avoid Styrofoam. This, I guarantee you, is in many ways an incredibly simple and easy thing to do. In other ways, it’s a bit more tricky, but you can always choose the easy route and still be doing something.

My inspiration for this comes after a little trip to the grocery store last week to stock up on food and drinks for a barbecue/bonfire on the beach. Splitting up in the store, I headed off to grab some lettuce while asking Conor to grab some paper plates. Meeting back up at the checkout line (where I pulled out my handy Green Bags to pack our groceries in), I noticed the plates passing over the scanner for the first time, and instantaneously found myself asking out loud, “you got Styrofoam??”

Before the words came out of my mouth, I didn’t realize that a distinction between Styrofoam plates and it’s alternatives in the grocery aisle even registered in my mind. I guess that’s because I never even considered selecting Styrofoam before. What seemed like an obvious thing to avoid I guess wasn’t so obvious to everyone, because Conor turned to me with an innocent and surprised look on his face, also not realizing I cared about the distinction among the various kinds of disposable plates.

While I’ve always been subconsciously aware that paper plates are better than Styrofoam, I couldn’t have told you specifically why. So I did some research. I also walked the 150 steps back to the grocery store and returned the plates.

Three facts about Styrofoam:

1. Styrofoam is non-biodegradable. As with plastic, Styrofoam never fully decomposes when discarded. And not only does it take hundreds of years to decompose, the small pieces are often digested by animals.

2. Styrofoam is difficult to recycle. Compared with plastic and paper, the facilities to recycle Styrofoam are quite scarce. While many recycling centers accept plastic, and many cities pick up plastic recycled goods with their trash services, Styrofoam recycling is fairly uncommon, And, unfortunately, in the absence of convenience recycling options much of the Styrofoam we use winds up in the trash.

3. The process of manufacturing Styrofoam is dangerous. Styrofoam is essentially made by blowing air into the plastic-like substance polystyrene, making it big and fluffy. Simple enough, however the actual process of doing so is not exactly pristine. According to EarthResource, "The National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research identified 57 chemical byproducts released during the combustion of polystyrene foam. " Partially responsible for this is the “blowing agent” involved in the process, which commonly contain hydrofluorocarbons (HCFC’s), which omit fumes that deplete the ozone layer. This is recognized by the EPA has actually mandated a phase-out of HCFC’s, banning them by 2030.

Furthermore, another element of Styrofoam production has been found to be hazardous to the health of factory workers, who may be exposed to dangerous levels. Styrene, which is the building block of Styrofoam, is toxic in high levels, with harmful health effects which range from irritation of the skin and eyes to affecting normal kidney function. The EPA and International Agency for Research on Cancer both classify Styrene as a “possible human carcinogen.”

So, what can you do instead? Here are 7 ways to avoid Styrofoam, ranked from easiest to, hardest.

No excuse not to:

1. Select another option. If you are in the grocery store buying disposable plates, simply select the paper ones rather than the Styrofoam. Paper is biodegradeable, renewable, and recyclable, whereas Styrofoam is 0 for 3.
2. Split a meal with a friend. If you suspect you might have leftovers next time you go out to eat, try sharing a meal with a friend and sparing the Styrofoam container you would have received with your leftovers.

Minute amount of effort:

3. Use reusable containers. If you picnic often or bring your work to lunch every day, consider buying a set of reusable plates or bowls. These can even be found just a few aisles down from the disposable plate section of your grocery store.
4. Ask for your leftovers to be wrapped in foil or plastic. If you are taking half a sandwich home there’s no need to use up an entire container, just ask for some foil to wrap it up in.
   

Only if you’re feeling up to it:

5. Recycle your Styrofoam. Even if you are able to incorporate all the changes above, there will probably be times you come across Styrofoam, for example, packaging of many electronics. Yes, it might be a bit of effort, but consider finding a local facility that recycles Styrofoam.
6. Suggest Styrofoam alternatives. Suggest that your favorite dining establishments use Styrofoam alternatives for take out boxes and containers, and perhaps even point them in the direction of companies that anufacture biodegradeable disposable products, such as those made by simplybiodegradable.
   
7. Demand alternative packing materials. Next time you receive a package or shipment packed with Styrofoam, send a letter requesting they look for alternative packing materials. Ecocycle.org has even put together a sample letter you can use as a template if you are really feeling lazy. Download it in MS word format here.
   

So now's the part of the post where if I were talented I'd sketch a stay puft marshmallow man-esque creature made out of Styrofoam and paste it here to remind you that Styrofoam=not good. But my artisitc talent's aren't my strong point so you'll just have to picture that in your head.

come as you are

hurray! I've started a blog. Now all I need is readers! So in what possibly might be a cheap shot, I am about to email a slew of friends and family announcing my blog.

So if you're visiting this site after receiving my email, welcome! Hope you look around and enjoy what is essentially evolving as "the environmentally friendly guide for the extremely lazy." Thanks for checking it out! And since I know that all of you have many lovely ways to spend your Saturday, I'm offering a reward for your efforts. The first person to send me an email or leave a comment on the site will receive their very own care package courtesy of yours truly, containing two zippered Green Bags for your shopping pleasure (for more about green bags, read yesterday's post).
Ok, I'm off to enjoy the great Southern California outdoors. Happy reading!

Day 1, or How I Begin to Save the World

Before beginning to describe my first eco-friendly change, I feel like I have to give a little bit of description of where I live and my "neighbor" to the right. I live in an apartment that borders an alley, and just to the right of that alley is the loading dock to an enormous Ralph’s grocery store. This means that the entrance to said grocery store is no more than 150 steps from my front door (out of curiosity, I counted yesterday). With Ralph’s no more than a two minute walk, I have gotten into the habit of heading there frequently, which at times can be up to 3 times a day (the record number of trips from my apartment to the store and back in one day taken by anyone staying or hanging out at my house is probably about 15). Really this isn't as bad as it sounds--I rarely leave the store with more than a handful of items. But what I realized is that I always return with at least two plastic grocery bags which quickly pile up in my pantry.

Now I've always known plastic bags aren't the best thing for the environment. In fact, I even recycle a bag full of them every few weeks or so. But knowing how often I go to the store, combined with the fact that each time I use a bag it is only to carry something a mere 30 yards, I figured there was really no need for me to be toting new disposable bags each time I felt the need to make a Ralph’s run. So I decided to do something about it.

But was it easy? Convenient? Could I do something about it and not take more than a few seconds of thought and very little extra effort? The answer, of course, is YES. I spent about an hour the other day searching for cheap and convenient reusable grocery bags that I could take with me each time I headed to the store. After a bit of searching I settled on the green bag, which is not only designed as a reusable grocery bag, it is made out of material that is recyclable as well. The bags are also non-toxic (which is great if you just toss fruit and veggies right in), non-allergenic and water/odor resistant.

And these bags cost only $3. I found them through EcoBags's website, and opted for the zip-up model, thinking it would encourage me to toss a bag in my purse wherever I went. Here's my bag stuffed with groceries, with another one zipped up by its side. Oh, and Slidell the cat is a big fan of the green bags as well.



So is this worth doing?

First, the facts:

Disposable plastic shopping bags are a convenience barely 30 years old. They weren’t introduced into grocery stores until 1977 and weren’t manufactured before 1973, according to the Film and Bag Federation. Yet in just 30 years they have managed to become so prevalent that the US alone consumes over 100 billion plastic bags a year (according to Earth Resource Foundation executive director Stephanie Barger). Why is that such a big deal?

Three key points about plastic bags:

1. Plastic bags are made from petroleum. Petroleum probably deserves a post of its own at some point, but in a nutshell it’s an environmental enemy for two reasons: the process of digging for oil is harmful to the environment, especially the ocean, and the process of burning oil for energy releases carbon dioxide into the air, which contributes to the gradual heating of the atmosphere, aka global warming.
2. Plastic bags are non-biodegradeable. This means that as they decompose, they break into smaller and smaller pieces but never completely disappear. Furthermore, those small pieces release toxins that get into the earth’s soil and water and are bad for you, me, and the animals around us.
3. Plastic bags are disposable, which means that after one time use we toss them in the trash, or worse, anywhere we see fit. Despite the scene in American Beauty where a plastic bag is cast in a poetic light, floating dreamily in the wind, the fact that plastic bags are lightweight and can easily fill up with air actually causes many bags to drift away, ending up on the beach, in the ocean, where they inevitably wind up in the belly of a sea turtle (who mistake them for food). (sometimes, being so close to the grocery store, discarded bags end up in my front yard too).

Next, the convenience:

Initial Effort: comparable to buying a book on Amazon. All you need is internet access and a credit card, and ecobags will deliver these to your door. (Plus they sent me a friendly follow up email the next week asking if I was satisfied, which I thought was nice)

Everyday Convenience: comparable to bringing sunscreen to the beach. Ok, it takes a tiny bit of effort to remember to bring the bags each time you go to the store (I still forget the bags about one in every 7 trips but i'm getting better). And sometimes you have to deal with confused baggers when you ask them not to use a plastic bag. But they weigh practically nothing, fit in your back pocket, and have handles for the trip back home. Plus they carry as much or more as a plastic bag (and actually the non-zippable versions are the same size as paper).

Feel good factor: comparable to dropping a dime in the homeless man’s cup who’s always parked on the bench down the street. Notwithstanding some awkwardness having to explain yourself to an occasional grocery clerks (although depending on where you live and what type of grocery store I imagine this could vary--southern California seems pretty used to this by now), you get the pleasure of knowing you are doing something good EVERY TIME you buy something. Plus at least in the stores by me, you get a 10 cent "bag credit" for not using a disposable bag. And even better, once in a while someone will notice what you are doing and say "hey, good for you!"

Impact:
So you've decided this is something you can handle. Or maybe you're still deciding. Either way, what impact does this actually have?

According to Stephanie Barger (see above), the U.S. consumes 100 Billion plastic bags a year, which comes out to roughly 552 bags per household per year. So assume you purchase just two green bags and lug them to the store every trip. With an average “Bag Discount” of 10 cents per bag, your purchase pays for itself in 60 trips to the store (which for me is about 6 weeks). And in just one year you have personally saved 500 bags from being used, discarded, and winding up as litter, poison to marine life, or decomposing in landfills, releasing toxic chemicals into the soil and water. Other statistics from the EPA:

· “In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by five million pounds and save $250,000 in disposal costs.

· When one ton of paper bags is reused or recycled, three cubic meters of landfill space is saved and 13 - 17 trees are spared! In 1997, 955,000 tons of paper bags were used in the United States.

· When one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved.

Overall, for $3 a bag and the mental power to remember to bring them each time, you personally will be saving over 500 bags per year; 5,000 bags in 10 years; or (assuming you are in your 20's and live 60 more years) 30,000 bags in your lifetime. Do you think that's worth it?

READ THIS FIRST

Ok, so I’m ready to help out the planet. And I’m not going to lie; I’m going to try to convince a few people to join me while I’m at it. But before diving in, I’ve found I need to pause to consider what this will take. We all know trying to save the environment, to stop global warming, and to preserve our dwindling resources is a good thing. It’s worth doing, and there are lots of people out there who deserve an accolade or two for their efforts. But can you or I, who don’t donate our lives to these worthy causes, actually do anything to help in this effort? And, practically, is it worth it for us to do so?

The aim of this website is not just to toss out my thoughts on environmentally conscious actions that would be great if everyone in the world adopted. It’s not to idealize about a better place to play. It is to present small (minute, even) planet-friendly changes that it might actually be worth a small sliver of time out of my and your busy days to do. Thinking about changes that you could make or knowing about changes that you should make don't do a thing for the planet unless you actually put forth the effort and make those changes.

So, in the spirit of inspiring like-minded individuals who find their days pleasantly filled and like them that way, I've decided not only to rate my eco-changes in terms of the impact it will have, but also on factors of ease and convenience, because, well, I like ease and convenience. And I suspect some of you do too. And let's face it, if I'm going to convince anyone else to make these changes with me, I've got a lot better chance of doing it if I can promise that it won't hurt them a bit.

My plan is to try to rate each small change I explore on several factors: The Initial Effort required to start the change, the Daily Convenience of carrying out the change, and the Feel Good Factor, or how you personally feel while making this change (which is completely independent of the Impact it has on the planet, which I’ll also try to evaluate).

I’ll do my best to equate each of these categories to a commonly known action, in hopes of making it easy to evaluate whether the effort is worth it, not just environmentally, but personally and practically as well. Because I’m pretty sure that if something affects the way you prefer to live your daily life a little too uncomfortably, whether it seems too extreme, too inconvenient, or just too weird, even if ultimately benefits thousands of people, there are lots of us out there who won’t make the change. I mean how many of us would honestly trade sitting on our couch sipping a margarita on a Friday afternoon, casually letting the cares of the work week slip out of our minds, for completely foregoing the margarita because we’ve decided to donate our couch to charity, then replace it with a bamboo-and-organic-cotton chair made by living-wage-earning employees, so that we can come home, sit on the chair while sipping on fair trade green tea in a reusable mug as we donate 10% of your income to environmentally friendly nonprofits? Let’s not get out of hand here.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the ratings, hope you find that there is a thing or two that actually wouldn’t be that bad to try to incorporate into your lifestyle. I have a hunch I might find a thing or two that I actually don’t mind at all.

a convenient solution?

I started this blog about two years ago and have managed to post twice in that time frame (not the most stellar statistic). I pretty much had forgotten about it altogether until a thought crossed my mind at lunch today. So after letting this blog harmlessly linger in cyberspace for a good 25 months, I've decided to resuscitate it from oblivion.

The thought of reinstating this blog occurred to me this afternoon, but has been fermenting in my mind for some time. Since watching an Inconvenient Truth a few weeks ago, I've realized that while I am a pretty conscious person, I really haven't been giving a damn about what kind of consequences my everyday actions have been causing. I'm no environmentalist, but I'm not a malicious person either. I'm just your average Jane, falling somewhere in between. With this in mind, ever since I left the theater with Al Gore's vision of disaster lingering in my head, I've been wondering what I--as just one person--can do to help keep this world from coming to its climatic demise.

So you have this blog--my attempt to recount an average person's exploration into eco-friendliness. This isn't about going to extremes--I'm not about to sit in trees to save the forests, or plunge into a vegan lifestyle, or buy a hybrid car (because i can't afford one). Rather, I'm going to explore my options to see what little things I can do that remain simple and economical, and that also have a positive impact on the planet. By recounting my own experiences and evaluating not only the effort but the outcome of my actions, I hope to discover that one average person really can do a lot to help this planet stay alive and healthy. Wish me luck!