Evil Tissues

Today's tidbit is thanks to the Greenpeace folks - one of their campaigners brought this to my attention last summer. No matter how frequently I come back to this and re-read the facts, the impact does not lose its ferocity.

The Boreal forest is a huge tract of ancient forest which covers most of Canada. Most of us have probably wiped our asses with parts of this forest.

Greenpeace offers a Shopper's Guide to Ancient Forest Friendly Tissue. Here you can learn which toilet tissue, paper towel, and facial tissue brands are Good (contain a high percentage of post-consumer recycled content), Bad (unclear or uncertain about ancient forest friendliness) or Evil (do not contain recycled content; are bleached with chlorine).

Personally, I'm going to go hunting for Cascades brand toilet tissue this weekend. I caught their commercial on tv the other night and was surprised to hear that some of their products are made from 100% recycled fibres. Hopefully, it's not of the sandpaper variety...once I track it down, I'll review it.

Recycling Bastards Update

In reference to my previous post, "The Recycling Bastards".

The local recycling centre has gotten back to me, and yes, my broken blue box will be recycled.

I'm still ticked that I have to take it to them, but at least now I know that it will be returned to the company that manufactures the boxes, and it will one day become a brand new blue box again.

Good to know.

Dump Decor

Thanks to J for letting me in on this secret!

My daughter's room has been transformed from antiseptic to girly with a simple coat of paint on one wall and the back of her door. The loveliest shade of pink...not too light, not too bright...just a soft shade, perfect for my little princess. It couldn't have turned out better if I'd ordered the paint myself.

And I didn't. I picked it up from the dump. Lucky, I admit, to find just the shade I didn't know I was looking for, but who knows? It could happen to you.

Check with your local dump...hazardous waste division. In my area, every Thursday and the second Saturday of each month are the days when they set up tables in the parking lot and lay out the cans of paint, stains, and even drywall compound! that others have brought in to be disposed of. And they're all free...people are welcome to take as much as they like. After all, if you use it all, they don't have to dispose of it...and if you don't, well...you'll just have to bring it back again, eventually, right?

I wanted to spruce up a few walls in our house and was hoping to get lucky. I did, with the pink, and a full bucket of drywall compound (even small children can poke holes in walls, with the right tools/toys). LOTS of white was also available, and I'm sure everyone's got at least one white wall in their house that could use a new coat to look...well, new.

Kudos to the dump. Pass the word! Dump Decor is IN.

Digression

Please excuse the following digression. Came across this on another blog and thought I'd give it a whirl. At first it looked like a scam (terribly long and terribly expensive upsell when first registering), but after Googling "Simpleology scam" I found that however distasteful their sales pitch was, it was legit.

So far so good, I've printed what they've asked me to print and am working through the first course. May mention it later...but since I haven't yet figured out how I can relate it to Earth-friendliness, I may not.

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

"I Like My Chemicals"

May I continue to rant?

"I like my chemicals." This is a quote, not from one source, but from at least three of the most environmentally-conscious people I know. (Oh dear, that sounds really terrible, doesn't it?) What this quote is regarding is household cleaners.

After doing a bit of research and finding out the dangers of the chemicals most of us use in our homes on a daily basis, I decided to switch to more eco- and health-friendly alternatives. I didn't buy any more chemicals. I finished off the multi-purpose cleaner that I had, washed out the bottle and refilled it with a solution of half vinegar, half water. I stocked my cleaning cabinet with baking soda, lemon juice, salt and cornstarch. Okay, okay, so I'm still a little evil...I do still keep a small spray bottle filled with water and a capful of bleach, which I use for disinfecting...I can't get past that one. (Any ideas for alternatives? Send them in!)

When discussing Earth-friendliness and this switch with friends, "Oh, I like my chemicals" was the response I got. I'm not going to go into the details of how these chemicals are a danger to us and our environment, because I'd just be regurgitating information gleaned from other sources...I'm not a scientist, just a mom worried the health of my children now and in the future, as well as the health of the planet that will be their inheritance. If you're not aware, simply search for "household cleaners +health"...you'll find all the information you'll ever want.

Oh, and have I ever mentioned that I'm cheap? Compare prices of a bottle of the most popular household cleaners and a giant econo-bottle of vinegar.

Death to All-Inclusive Abodes

I may get a nasty response or two to this one, but it makes sense to me.

If everyone were responsible for all of their own utilities, would the energy crisis be anywhere near as bad as it is?

I lived in an all-inclusive apartment just over a year ago. Although I thought I was being energy conscious (flipping off lights as I left rooms, only washing dishes when there were enough to necessitate a full sink of water, 5-minute showers, etc.) there were a few things that I just never gave a lot of thought to. And honestly, in winter, the thermostat slowly crawled up and up, rather than everyone donning sweaters.

Now that my living situation has drastically improved, I am painfully aware of what sucks what in terms of electricity and natural gas consumption.

All of my light bulbs are fluorescent. All of my family's laundry is done in cold water. A programmable thermostat has been installed; sweaters are available in every closet, upstairs and down, along with a basket of socks in the living room. My husband's first yard job this spring will be to install a clothes line in the back yard.

Sometimes, I can be a little extreme..walking past the DVD player in the middle of the day and seeing that little red light indicating it's on standby really shouldn't make me break into a cold sweat - but it does. (Good god, how many kW hours does that little light cost us in a day, a week, a month, a year?!?)

Our energy bill has certainly gone down from what it was when we first moved into our house. Not only do I wish to extend the life of our planet, but I'm cheap, to boot.

I know people who live in all-inclusive places, and if any of them read this, I should probably watch my back. Of those people, the majority of them don't give a second thought to how hot their home is, how much water washes away down the sink as they brush their teeth, or how long they stand under a hot, relaxing shower. They wash the dishes with no plug and the water running. They sleep with the heat on and the windows open. What?! Did I type that right? Yes...they sleep with the heat ON, and the windows OPEN.

If the people with these habits were made responsible for their own utility costs, I have no doubt we'd see a change in the amount of energy this city, this province, and even this country uses. Some people don't care about the environment or don't understand the grave danger our Earth is in, but EVERYONE cares how much money is flying out of their pocket in any given month.

And if this sounds too extreme, how about a second option? All-inclusive...to a point. Once an apartment dweller's bill hits a certain point, the rest is their responsibility. I could live with that.

The Freecycle Network

Ever hear of Freecycle? Most people I know haven't, and some even snicker at this level of frugality. They just don't know what they're snickering at.

Freecycle is a regional network of classified ads...most ads are "offer" or "wanted". The Golden Rule of Freecycle is that any items posted are given FREE, no money exchanges hands through Freecycle. The idea is that a lot of the stuff we toss in the trash may be someone else's treasure, and it is better to pass it on to a new life, rather than have it end up in a landfill.

Each morning when I wake up, and each evening, just before bed, I get an email from Freecycle, called the Daily Digest. Each of these emails contains up to 25 ads of people advertising stuff they would like to pass on (offer) or stuff they would like passed on to them (wanted).

I have been a member of my local Freecycle network for over a year, with tremendous success. Some of the things I've passed on have included:

• baby clothes
• baby gear (bouncy seat, traveling bassinet, etc)
• old electronics (lots of people like to collect this stuff to practice their tinkering)
• household appliances
• books, books, and more books
• toys
• jigsaw puzzles (I only ever do them once)
• decorative items (lots of candle holders)
• egg cartons (local egg farmer requests these from time to time)
• recycling box items (schools and daycares often take boxes of various food jars, styrofoam meat trays, aluminum pans, Popsicle sticks, etc)

And the things I've gained from Freecycle:

• baby clothes
• toys
• books, books, and more books
• a wooden filing cabinet (I'm almost organized!)
• a fantastic wooden rack which holds plastic bins for toys
• a broken DVD player (my husband fixed it)
• an easel
• a 6'x9' rug (in excellent condition, I might add)
• clothes (for me!)
• an Ultramatic bed (for my mom...beware, pickup for large items can be difficult!)
  

Clothes are one of my favourite things to get from Freecycle. They're certainly a huge expense for a family of four, and opening a bag full of name brands that I couldn't normally buy is very exciting. Of course, anything that we can't or don't use, we re-Freecycle (post in an offer).

A Freecycle account is completely free; all that is needed is a Yahoo! email account, and you're off. Please check them out, see what kinds of things people are offering. Then take a look around your own house and see what's collecting dust that someone else might really appreciate.

www.Freecycle.org

Plastic Bag Envelopes

RecycledSandals.com is happy to announce that the Canadian Postal service will accept our recycled envelopes. I was a little worried about this, but as it turns out, they didn't even bat an eye when I handed over the .7 kilo package with overlapped logos and ragged edges.

I have fabric grocery bags, but damned if I can always remember to take them to the store with me. Making plastic grocery bag envelopes give me an excuse to keep bags and bags of them hanging around. They are an office supply for us!

I didn't invent this. I found the idea online and decided to try it out myself. Now, all of our sandals are shipped out this way:

Ingredients:
6 plastic grocery bags
2 or 3 extra bags for patching

Tools:
scissors
3 sheets of parchment paper
1 large towel
1 clothes iron

1. Heat iron to medium setting; lay towel out flat on a table.
2. Flatten and smooth the plastic bags and cut off the handles and bottom seams.
3. Place on sheet of parchment paper on the towel, put three of the plastic bags (these will be double sided, so six sheets of plastic in total) on top of that, and top with another sheet of parchment paper.
4. Iron. Press firmly, but don't stay in one spot too long, as this will create shrinkage and holes in the plastic. Lift of the parchment from time to time to check your progress and see which areas may be bubbling and need some extra pressure.
5. Repeat 3.-4. with the next three bags.
6. Check over your work, looking for holes. If there are any, these can be patched with the extra plastic bags, just cut out some pieces slightly larger than the holes.
   
7. When both sides of the envelope are finished, stack them together and place the third piece of parchment paper on top. Trim the parchment leaving about one inch of plastic sticking out on all sides.
8. Place the trimmed parchment between the two sides. This will keep your envelope from being fused together. Cover with another sheet of parchment, and iron just the edges on three sides. (The fourth side, of course, needs to stay open so you can put something in your envelope!)
9. Finally, stuff your envelope with whatever you want to send and, using the parchment paper again, iron the fourth side shut. You may be surprised at what a sturdy envelope this creates!

A couple of extra points:

• larger envelopes can be created by overlapping more bags in a wider or taller arrangement
• print or write the mailing and return addresses on plain paper, then place clear plastic bags (vegetable bags are great for this, but lower your heat setting first) directly over the label and iron it on
• trim the edges of your envelope to make them a little neater in appearance
• play with your creativity...use bags with cool colours, logos or slogans, or cut out these elements and iron them to your finished envelope as an embellishment

I hope that one day, we see these in our mailboxes all the time. :)

The Recycling Bastards

Today, I'm ranting. I've wanted to get this off my chest for a while, and this blog is offering me that chance on a large scale.

Whenever I can, I peek out the window at the garbage and recycling men taking away my trash. In my city, there are two boxes for recycling, the gray box and the blue box, and they are picked up on alternating weeks. The gray box is used to collect cardboard and paper. The blue box is for cans, bottles, and Styrofoam. I'm pretty careful with my recycling, but I don't always get it right. There are certain types of plastics and papers that they don't accept, and the rules change from time to time.

On the odd week that I've inserted something in one of the boxes that doesn't belong, it gets flung. Not just dropped, and don't even dream of it being put back into the box, but FLUNG, onto my yard, onto the street, or down the sidewalk. After the recycling guys have been by, there is always a line of strewn (non)recycling up and down the street.

The thing that really killed me though, was a couple of weeks ago. I looked out the window just in time to see my blue box fly through the air, landing on the ground just behind my car, with shards of hard plastic shattering off of it. And this was a good week...all my recycling went into the truck, but they THREW my blue box!

I immediately called the city and reported this. Apparently it's a common occurance; the man on the other end of the phone didn't even pause, just told me to bring my blue box in to their office and they would replace it free of charge.

That might sound reasonable, but why should I have to do this? And what will they do with my old blue box? Is it recyclable? Old toys and other hard plastics are not, it clearly states on my "Recycling Guidelines" paper downloaded from the city website. I pay for garbage and recycling services through my taxes...but they don't pay for my gas to go and trade in my box in an area of the city that I never just pass through on my way somewhere else....

Argh. If this is the worst thing I have to rant about, I'm pretty damn lucky. But it still ticks me off.

I haven't returned my blue box yet, still using the broken one. But when I do, I'll be sure to ask what lays ahead for my old blue box, and report back.

Passionately Drawing a Blank

This is my third, maybe fourth time, sitting and staring at a blank page in front of me. I know that starting this blog is a great idea, it's going to raise awareness of environmental issues, it's going to help people learn what little things they can integrate into their daily life to make a big impact on the Earth, it's going to drive visitors to my website and have them buy Recycled Sandals!

But really, where do I start? I have a list of ideas for posts that I care about, feel strongly about, and therefore could whip off and have published before the kids are even out of bed. But I can't start with any of those, because I haven't STARTED yet! You, dear reader, don't yet know me. Tossing out a post completely out of context seems the wrong thing to do...like walking up to a stranger, slipping my hand into theirs without saying a word and just walking along with them. I don't think I'd get very far.

So let's get back to basics:
I'm Laurel, Canadian, 33, mother of two.
I love vivid colours; reds, oranges, hot pink.
I hate green.
I'm terrified of almost all insects, but bite back my screams when my son finds a spider in the garden because I don't want HIM to think that mommy thinks these things are scary, and be scared too.
I've seen "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Story of Stuff" and want to live better for the planet, so my children HAVE a planet, but don't always know what to do to that end.
I recycle, I reuse, I try to reduce. My set of plastic storage containers came filled with a bonus of margarine, cottage cheese, etc.
My 3 year old knows the difference between the blue and gray boxes, and what type of items belong in each.

Next time, I'll tell you about the Recycling Bastards.