David Suzuki

I'm at the library, and have just picked up David Suzuki's Green Guide (by David Suzuki & David R. Boyd, published 2008).  How could I not know this book existed?


I think David Suzuki is the best.  Although I'm young enough to have grown up with cable, I didn't because I lived out of the service area.  Therefore, I was lucky to get three channels growing up, and The Nature of Things with David Suzuki was something that always came in clearly.


Recently, he's been showing up on green commercials, telling Canadians to get hip with things like clotheslines, fluorescent bulbs, and one very cute one of a guy who's been infested with penguins because he's kept his fridge door open too long.


Suzuki & Boyd's book dedication:

"This book is dedicated to every person worried about the Earth worried about the Earth who has ever wondered 'What can I do?'"

 Can't wait to get home and tear into this...will offer highlights when done.


P.S.  The Nature of Things will be looking at climate change at 7pm (Eastern) on Saturday, June 20.  Check with your local listings to see who's carrying it in your area.

Girls Only Club - Pros and Cons of a Diva Cup

Not JUST for the girls...technically this post could also be for the boys who think they might like to convince their girls to use a menstrual cup.  I don't recommend recommending ANYTHING to do with menstruation to ANY woman though.  That is, if you're a guy.  I'm not, and I'm speaking from experience, so I'll have my say.

Why are we talking about this?
First of all, let's just state why this is even on a green blog to begin with.  Hugely on the "Pros" side of the argument, menstrual cups are reusable, taking years to end up in a land fill.  Take a look at it this way:  The average cycle is seven days.  Assume that you're using a combination of at least two tampons and two pads per day, that's 4 x 7 = 28 things to end up in a landfill.  Now multiply that by all the women on your block.  Or all the women you know.  Or hey, all the women in Canada.  Yikes. 

Next, take a look at a menstrual cup.

The instructions say that they should be replaced every twelve months, but I have a feeling that's got something to do with Health Canada requirements, because in many places on the internet you can read that they're good up to TEN YEARS.  Yep, 10 years.  And even if you do change it every 12 months, you've saved the planet from at LEAST 336 items in the landfill, assuming our two tampons, two pads estimate.  Playtex, with their plastic applicators, can bite me. 

Speaking of plastic, the Diva Cup in particular, isn't.  It's silicone, which makes it hypoallergenic.  It also makes it comfortable to wear, as the silicone softens with body heat as you wear it, making it contour to your shape.

Let's do this in a simple way:


PROS 

• Reusable, for a long, long time.
• Since they are not up near the cervix like tampons, no risk of toxic shock syndrome.
• Comfort like a tampon.
• Easy to care for.
• NO LEAKS.  This one is huge with me, so I'll say it again:  NO LEAKS.
• Can be worn up to 12 hours.  After twelve hours, remove, dump, rinse, and repeat.
  
• Cheaper in the long run.
• Now easier to find locally, which saves on shipping.  (Store Finder)
• Husband is much happier taking that garbage out at that time of the month.
  

CONS

• A little tricky to get the hang of at first.
• Initial expense might be prohibitive for some.  (Approx. four months budget in one shot.)

That's it.  All the cons I can think of.  Give me time, and I might come up with some more pros.

In case you hadn't noticed, I didn't go into a lot of detail about how the Diva Cup works or anything.  For that, I suggest you head over to their website, where they have a fantastic FAQ that will answer all of your questions from "Ew..isn't that..." to "How do I...?"


I do hope this starts to catch on.  Take some time and think about it, and remember that the small steps we take have a big impact.  In this case, what we teach our daughters today can make for a better world for their own children.

Bug Spray - How I Miss Thee

Oh, how green I am - until I see a bug. The sight of a creepy crawly just about drives me to dig around in the back of my cabinets in search of the Raid that I know is still kicking around back there.

Raid, for Roaches, no less. I've seen cockroaches in Kingston only twice, and one of those places ISN'T my current residence. But hey, if it'll kill a cockroach, it'll kill anything. That's my theory.

Except that now I'm not supposed to use chemicals. I'm trying to be as green as I can and teach my children well...

So, today when I was sitting on the deck, watching the kids play, I happened to catch some movement out of the corner of my eye. Right there, right at eye level, was a swarm of baby red spiders, looking like they had just been newly hatched - on my barbeque.

UGH.

Breathe deeply.

(oh shit, oh shit, eeeeew)

Leap from the deck, and breathe again.

Think about the Raid, and then give self a mental slap on wrist.

Call the kids over to have a look while running inside to get the spray bottle with dish soap and water.

Squirt the hell out of the little bastards, while explaining to the kids that, "Yes, the spiders are outside, and that means they should be allowed to live...but they are on OUR DECK, which is an extension of our house. Therefore it's okay to kill them, unless one of you would like to pick them off. No takers?"

(squirt, squirt)

You heard it here. Dish soap kills bugs, apparently by suffocation. (Here's to hoping the karma has a loophole for bugs and phobias.) A spray bottle filled mostly with water and a couple good squirts of dish soap will do the trick. If it's an adjustable one, that's better - use the spray for little creepies and the stream for bigger ones.

No guarantee this will work on cockroaches. We don't have them around here, but just in case, I'm keeping my bottle of raid at the back of the cabinet. (Sh.)

No 'Poo? No Shit! - How Green is Your Hygiene? Pt. 1

Why: Cut down on chemicals poured down the drain; water usage; plastic bottle consumption; have happier hair.

My Hair: Curly, moderately thick, frizzy and a bit dry, bad attitude all its own and occasionally eats small items.

Regular Care: Shampoo every other day, brush out tangles with conditioner in shower, squish to dry. Between wash days, straighten or tie up in pony tail.

Products: Shampoo, Conditioner, multiple anti-frizz products, hair spray, curl squishers, root lifter.

Tools: Plastic brush with knobby bristles, blow dryer (occasionally) and tourmaline straightener.

OK, so I've been doing the no 'poo thing for about 3 weeks now. When I first read about it, a paste of baking soda seemed the way to go. I would wet my hair, mix up about four tablespoons of baking soda with some very hot water and rub that sludge into my hair. Then I would wrap it in a towel and let it sit for about half an hour before stepping into the shower, rinsing it out (which I didn't find difficult, but some do) and then rinsing it with apple cider vinegar.

Let it be said: Apple Cider Vinegar smells VILE. Especially when poured over one's head.

This is what I did twice a week for the first two weeks. My hair appeared to be pretty greasy - not common for my head. And let's not forget that although it's only twice a week, wetting one's head over the kitchen sink, splattering baking soda all over the place, and then walking around with a towel for half an hour is a pain in the ass. I have two kids, two online businesses, and a home daycare. Complications are NOT what I need.

Here's what my hair looked like two days ago:

Not too too bad, until you look at the backside, which pretty much looks like a rat's nest:

Remember, brushing my hair has been a conditioner only type of deal, and old habits die hard. I've been brushing it in the shower with the apple cider vinegar, and not straightening it at all...I'm totally going to end up with a big ol' frizz head if I touch it with a brush at all, right?

The other day I read about going without cleaning agents altogether. Instead, a detangling comb (or fingers, for that matter) and a dense boar bristle brush (vegans can go use synthetic) are apparently all you need.

A bit of the science of our heads. I'm just dabbling here, nothing huge...

Mammals (in this case, you and me) produce an oily substance called sebum from their skin. Sebum makes us waterproof. It keeps our skin and hair from drying out, as well as keeping us from getting TOO wet and shriveling up like a prune.

Regular shampooing and conditioning (even every other day, or once a week!) strips the hair and scalp of sebum, which freaks out the scalp and makes it produce MORE sebum. Vicious circle, the more the wash, the more you produce and get greasier hair between washings.

On the other hand, if the sebum that you produce is never removed, it builds up, gets blocked, and can eventually lead to hair loss.

Ai yi yi...so what's a mammal to do? Let's get back to the boar bristle brush. These brushes, with their dense, natural fibre bristles, do a number of things for us.

First, when brushed along the length of the hair, this brush will remove dust and dirt particles.

Next, when used to massage the scalp, and brushed from the scalp to the ends, it helps to spread the sebum along the hair length, sealing it.

Finally, boar bristle brushes smooth down the hair cuticles, giving it a glossy finish, naturally. These are the brushes used by ballerinas to give them a sleek bun before performances.

Oh...I musn't forget to mention that boar brushes are NOT meant for detangling...detanglers are. A boar brush is too dense to detangle, and will do far more damage than good if used that way.

One last thing about these brushes: They're not cheap. Expect to pay just under $20 for the very cheapest in your local drugstore. Going anywhere fancier is sure to double that, easy.

Give me a week or two with this, and I'll do an update. For now, know that shampoo is not the way to go, and there is sure to be a different "No 'Poo" routine for each hair type, not to mention lifestyle!

How Green is Your Hygiene? - Intro

Hands up if your bathroom looks more like a chemist's lab than a place to remove the grime and dirt of your days. My hand is up, but I'm working on it. It has finally dawned on me that I may well be walking out of the bathroom with more shit in my hair and skin than when I walked in. And if it's doing that to ME...what's it doing to our water?

Time to take a closer look...

But forget all the science. I don't have the time or the inclination to figure out what all those chemicals are in the stuff I use, and which of them are the worst. So here's how this is going to work:

No chemicals. Easy peasy...but what is a chemical? For the purposes of this experiment, we will define a chemical as:

1. anything I don't recognize; or
   
2. anything I can't pronounce on the first try.

Good! The ground rules are laid...we'll start with hair in Pt. 1 of How Green is Your Hygiene?

Vermicomposting Notes

I've got my worms. Woo hoo! They were hand-delivered on Easter Sunday...and they're so much fun!

Let's start with a definition, for those who are new to this concept.

Vermi refers to worms. Composting is the decomposition of organic materials into a fertilizer-rich material. Ordinarily, composting is a thermal process, in which the materials decompose through heat.

In vermicomposting, worms do the decomposing. They eat, they poop, and oh, how green your grass grows.

Types of Worms

The very best type of worm to use is the red wriggler worm. These little guys will eat half of their weight in food scraps per day. Holy crap!

The worst kind of worm to use would be the big fat ones in your backyard. The don't decompose things, they only eat things that are ALREADY decomposed. So you'd have to wait a while for them to start eating, and things would definitely smell.

Red wrigglers is the common name for the good ones, and doing a search for that will bring you tons of results.

Where to Find

Where do you find these guys? Online, mostly, from what I can tell. I've only found one place nearby to me that has them, and they're an hour away (fyi, that would be The Worm Factory in Westport, Ontario). They do accept orders online (Ontario folks only) and by phone (for all other folks). I'm guessing that sending worms across borders might be a bit of a problem though - just google it, in your area.

Most places seem to charge about the same amount for them: $25-ish for 1/2 pound, $45-ish for a full pound.

Housing

Worms need a home. Worm homes need to be well ventilated so the composting process doesn't turn to rot (aeration is the key word here) and begin to smell. Worm homes also need to be dark because the little guys don't like light. Clear b oxes are not ideal. For singles and couples, recycling a couple of buckets from Tim Hortons will do a good job of housing your worms and taking care of your scraps. For a larger family that produces more scraps, a large, shallow storage bin with a lid will work great.

Ventilation

Whichever you choose, you will need to ventilate. In the picture here, you can see that I went nuts with a drill and put a million holes in the top of a Rubbermaid bin. (I started out with a nail and a hammer, and got about 15 holes done before my fingers hurt and I was just annoyed. The drill was WAY more fun.)

The holes that my drill made (I think I was using my husband's second smallest drill bit) seemed good for airflow (not too small) but too big to keep the worms contained, should they decide to make a run for it. So I stopped off at Canadian Tire and bought a roll of screening for doors and windows. I cut a piece slightly larger than the area where the holes were drilled, and used sandpaper to roughen the plastic around the holes. I then smeared some carpenter's glue (because that's what we had in the junk drawer) around on the rough parts and pressed the screen into it. I left it to dry in the sun for a day, after which the smell from the glue was mostly gone.

So far, so good, although we've only had the worms for three days now. At this point, I do have a concern that I have some long, skinny bugs roaming around in there, and I haven't completely decided what they are or what to do about them. Seems that adding more dry bedding (shredded newspaper, dry leaves, etc) and sprinkling eggshells or calcium carbonate (to reduce the acidity of the environment) is often the answer to a lot of problems.

Anyway, I'll keep things updated here on Life with Worms. :) My kids are totally pleased about it though, and my neice even seems to be coming around. My husband doesn't care so long as he doesn't have to have anything to do with it.

Waiting for the Worms

The vermicomposting seminar was GREAT. Not as many people turned out for it as I'd thought would (omg...I'm a GEEK...) but that's okay because everyone had a better view of the little red wrigglers.

Nathan and Mark did a fantastic job of explaining how things work, things to experiment with, and what definitely to NOT do. Again, once I'm a little better prepped, I will also offer a link to their website. These guys deserve the very best in their business venture. :)

Yesterday I ordered worms. Raise your hand if you thought you could receive worms in the mail? (My hand is NOT up.) You can...and I will. Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow, and aren't chilly right now. It snowed last night, so I'm a little concerned for their well-being.

I'll be sure to include a couple of good photos of my new little friends, and their house, once they arrive.

Date for my Birthday

Oh boy, oh boy. Tomorrow is my birthday. I'm going to a vermicomposting seminar for my birthday. Oh boy.

Vermicomposting is composting with the help of worms.

Actually, I AM really excited about it, although some of my friends and family think I'm a little strange. When my niece heard that I *may* keep worms on the kitchen counter, she almost swallowed her tongue. But I'm sure she'll get used to it.

I have been wanting to do a post on vermicomposting for a while now, and last year sent out a couple of emails to local companies that offer vermicomposting "starter kits" as well as special buckets, bedding, information, and most importantly, WORMS.

Never heard back from either of them. I've wondered if it had anything to do with the last question I apologized for, yet went ahead and asked anyway..."Is it necessary to actually TOUCH the worms?"

C'mon. Green living for real people. I'm a real girl. I would prefer not to touch worms if possible. Thank god it's not spider composting...I would just hit Walmart for a case of aerosol hairspray and kiss the environment goodbye.

Anyway...will get back with more on vermicomposting after tomorrow. Gee...wonder if they'll be handing out free samples at the door?

Cascades Paper Products Review

A loooooong time ago, I said (Evil Tissues) that I would hunt down Cascades brand of bathroom tissue and paper towels and let you good people know how it stands up to the other, non-recycled-killing-our-ancient-forests types of paper (read: Kleenex, Bounty, Scot Towels, Charmin, etc, etc). Here's my review.

I can't tell the difference between Cascades 100% recycled papers and the evil stuff I used to use. The toilet paper is not rought, the paper towels are absorbent and come in select-a-size.

To not notice a difference is pretty much the point, isn't it? I did not pour some blue liquids on my counter and compare the absorbency of Cascades with the "other" brand...nothing nearly so anal. I simply bought them and tried them, and since no one noticed, I've continued to use them.

This is the brand I hunted, found, tried, and like. I'm sticking with Cascades. At the time that I was looking for them, there weren't many choices, or many places to find them, but choices abound now, and here's where to make your selection:

Greenpeace Shopper's Guide to Ancient Forest Friendly Tissue

Follow the link above, and you'll be taken to the Greenpeace Shopper's Guide. Choose your paper type (toilet paper, paper towels, tissue paper or napkins) and you'll be given a list of brands which are either green (go ahead, use these), yellow (try not to use these), or red (better off getting some leaves to do the job with).

Cascades are also available in a lot more places than when I first went looking for them, and you can find where to get them here:

Where to find Cascades

Pacing Myself

Where did I go? Here I am! I missed you too. :)

Recycled Sandals and More...started off with gusto, and has quickly (far too quickly) trickled off to a slow drip. And it happened with no explanation...sorry folks.

The need to set a pace for myself has surfaced. I'm not going to be able to put up a post a day as was my goal a couple of weeks ago. I do need to build up the amount of content on this blog, but at the same time, not trade quality for quantity.

So let's set a date, and meet back here on Sunday evenings. That'll give the good folks at the offices of the world something to look forward to on Monday mornings while they inject their caffeine and peel back their eyes, and it will give me a week at a time to think about, research, and put together some good posts.

I'd like to offer my thanks to D-M for creating a logo for RecycledSandals.com, which will appear not only on our commercial sandal site, but also here, by this time next week. Thanks D-M, I love it! (The rest of you will have to wait.)

Being Green Can Make You Blue

Little bit of a rant again today, please bear with me.

I like stuff. I have a lot of stuff. There's lots more stuff that I would love to get. There's stuff that I probably WILL get, at some point. But I do try to keep it in control, as best I can. I'm not perfect, by any means. I often see commercials for products which are single use and disposable, and I think "Oh, how HANDY!"...then quickly force myself to take a step back and consider the impact of purchases like that on our environment. To this end, I'm very proud that I've never owned a container of disposable kitchen or bathroom disinfectant wipes, no matter how much I think they would make my life easier. I have a reusable mini wetwipe container that I refill to stick in my purse when going out with baby...I buy my wetwipes in bulk to keep down on the litter they create. Yes, I DO use wetwipes...I'm not so "holy granola" that I'm willing to make my own reusable ones, because frankly, that just grosses me out.

So there's that. I'm not perfect. But I try.

Which brings me to my point:

Why, oh why, when people KNOW they're not even making an effort, am I made to feel like *I'M* the weirdo extremist who wants everyone to live in a treehouse (seasonally, of course)? And why do the people who drink bottled water announce "But I recycle the bottles!" and feel like purists? Why do people think I'm ONLY cheap when I ask them to close the damn door in the middle of winter and they want to stand there in the open doorway and chat? And the one that really gets me...oh grr...is when I talk about reusing things, re-purposing things, throwing out less stuff because I can find new life for it, do I feel like people think I do it because I can't afford to do "better"?

Dear readers, what are your experiences/thoughts on the diseducation (my own word, thank you) of the seeming masses? Anyone else find their actions being questioned by friends or family who just don't get it? I'd really love to hear from you...everyone on my street puts out their blue and gray boxes each week, but in taking further steps, I often feel alone.

Murky Waters

I've been doing some reading on the evils of bottled water...and the perceived evils of tap water. Seems each side of the argument has a huge following of devoted bottle drinkers vs. tap suckers.

I'm a tap sucker, myself. And after learning a bit more about the subject, I plan to stay that way.

The obvious argument against bottled water is the physical pollution all those plastic bottles cause. Here are a few extra facts, gleaned from different sources:

• Most bottled water contains no fluoride. Fluoride ingestion through drinking water can reduce tooth decay up to 15%.
• Canadian water supplies are inspected daily, while bottled water facilities are inspected every three years. THREE YEARS!!!
• Your body absorbs more chlorine during an average shower than is contained in 2 litres of tap water.
• High bottled water consumption could possibly, one day, lead to privatizing municipal water supplies. Yikes.
• Dasani (a Coca-Cola product) and Aquafina (a Pepsi product) are filtered municipal (tap) waters.

That's all some pretty scary stuff on its own...add to it that bottled water (probably not the municipal filtered kind though) has been leached of its vital minerals and nutrients (which it then leaches from US when we drink it), and you can see why I'm sticking with the faucet.

The other side does have its arguments, mostly about taste. There are a few other factors, some of the concerns are:

• The pipes tap water comes through. The minerals in the water may eat away at the pipes, and you end up drinking these metals. (Bottled water facilities don't use pipes?)
• Bacteria. (See above list for frequency of inspections.)
• Convenience of buying new bottles and not keeping track of a refillable. (The three R's, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and listed in order of importance. REDUCE.)
  

If you're completely undecided, get a tap filter. Oh, and skip the plastic reusable bottles...stainless steel is the way to go because it doesn't release bisphenol-A, which is linked to birth defects, miscarriage, and some forms of cancer.

Recycling Children

Okay, okay, as much as you might like to...DON'T recycle your children. But teaching them to recycle can be a whole lot of fun, and their ideas range from the mildly creative to the downright zany.

My son has become a recycling nazi. When he gets it into his head that it's "craft time!!!" it's very difficult to hold him back, even for a few minutes. When mommy is busy and can't get out the craft supplies immediately, where does he go? Straight to the garbage can.

Frozen juice containers, pizza boxes, cardboard coffee whitener cans, bubble packaging, fruit cups, all those little things that aren't accepted by our local recycling centre, he finds use for. (And never mind, mommy, about the yucky garbage that gets strewn about on the floor while he gathers his treasures!) Of course, many of these things get thrown into the kitchen sink with a demanding "Wash this please! I wanna do a craft!".

Have I created a monster? Well, yes and no. I'll admit I get a little annoyed when he throws the grimiest gunk right into my dishwater, but I'm also quite proud. And honestly, have you seen some of the amazing things people have made out of garbage? Everything from ripped up t-shirt rugs to juice bag slippers to egg carton art (and I don't mean the pre-school caterpillars...stuff you'd actually hang on your wall). So I bite my tongue as best I can, and ask:

"What do you think this wants to be?"

There are worse things...and I'm definitely the culprit in creating this mind set. We use old yogurt and dip containers to hold paint, glue, sparkles, beads...newspaper is given to my baby to shred (builds hand muscles in babies, they say), old shower curtains are used to cover surfaces where we're creating. Anything I can think of a use for, I keep. My son is just building on my knowledge base.

The next time your little ones are bored, send them straight to the trash can. Oh yeah, and for those who would like to add some education to the trash, let them sort your blue and gray boxes. Nobody makes a more complicated sorting game than the recycling bastards. :)

Mailbox Crap, Pt. 2 - Newspapers & Flyers

I used to love receiving my flyers each week. The local newspapers provided me with plenty to read and drool over, delivered right to my mail box. I'd pull them out and immediately start searching for the flyers I liked best...JYSK, Home Outfitters, yadda yadda yadda. My husband would pull out the Canadian Tire flyer, then complain the rest of the week about all the flyers lying around that he had to gather up and carry out in the gray box every two weeks. Two weeks worth of flyers is a LOT to carry.

Then, one week, I didn't receive a flyer for my favourite grocery store. So I went and looked their flyer up online, and found that it looked exactly like the one that was delivered to me...but after reading it, I could just close the window, rather than adding it to the stack. Then I thought about how much stuff I wouldn't want and how much money I wouldn't spend, if I didn't get ANY flyers...most especially my very favourites, as mentioned above.

I never read any of the newspapers that I receive. All my news comes from the internet, as all the newspapers that I'm interested in have websites. And after finding out that all the same flyers were available online...

...I decided to stop receiving flyers and free newspapers. Believe me, this is much easier said than done. Please keep in mind Friday's post, in which I mentioned the rather large, cute, polite sign covering the front of my mailbox, which asks that no newspapers, flyers, or unaddressed mail be delivered.

Three local newspapers deliver things to my home. Two are small, free papers that are delivered door to door, and the third is the "Flyer Pack" that is distributed by our city's one large newspaper. I have, on different occasions, called each of them.

One was friendly, returned my call, agreed with my protesting this waste of paper being thrust upon me, and I've happily never heard from them again.

The second small paper blamed the kids that deliver the papers. They're new to the route, they don't know which houses want them and which don't, excuses, excuses. (They should know I don't want them...sign and all.) I asked them to send someone to pick up the paper, which of course they laughed at.

The large city paper never called me back, but at least they stopped delivering the flyer pack.

My advice? Call and complain, complain, complain. Even if it is kids who deliver the papers, this is a job for them, and they should do their job properly, or lose it to someone who will.

Another little tip...I have an old newspaper from a couple of weeks back sitting in my mailbox, and it seems to be repelling more papers from landing there. Keeping one in the bottom and letting it turn yellow may well work for keeping away more.

My husband couldn't be happier about the reduction in our recycling. He's the one who trots it out to the curb anyway, and he's more than happy to read Canadian Tire's flyer online.

And, dear readers, if you're reading THIS, then you have the resources to:

1. Lighten your recycling load.
2. Clearly send the message that flyers and newspapers aren't wanted or needed.
3. Still shop for the sales of your favourite stores.

Oh yeah...my shopping list has been reduced phenomenally now that I don't know about every little gadget or "must-have" that's currently available. Check out "Story of Stuff" to find out where 99% of our shopping ends up.

Mailbox Crap, Pt. 1 - Admail

Raise your hand if you love admail! Woo hoo! And who enjoys the pound or so of flyers dumped in their mailbox weekly? Oh yeah!

After a lot of phone calls, a trip to the post office, and many instances of chasing newspaper and mail carriers down the street, I think I've finally put a plug in the stream of crap flooding my mailbox.

Admail pisses me off to no end. All the waste that goes into designing, printing, and delivering these glossy ads of things I'll either never want or simply look in the yellow pages for, could be so better spent elsewhere. I pull it out of the mailbox, it clutters up my counter for a couple of hours, and then it makes its way directly to the gray box, which my husband carries to the curb every two weeks. Two weeks of admail can really add up to quite a pile of dead tree.

A few months back, I got sick of it, and decided that it was MY mailbox attached to MY house, and I should bloody well have a say in what goes into it. So I made up a sign which reads:

"Please help us to be green! Please leave no newspapers, flyers, or any other UNADDRESSED mail here." I even included a cute little clipart Earth with a face, ice pack on its forehead and a thermometer stuck in its mouth.

However, this didn't work. Nothing changed at all. So I called Canada Post and left a message. Nobody got back to me. I called again, and again, and always received an answering machine. Finally, I gathered all the admail that I had received since putting up my sign, and took it to the main post office.

They weren't very happy. I told them I had a sign on my mailbox stating I didn't accept junkmail (only I referred to it as recycling, and they corrected me...it's admail, NOT recycling, ahem). The nice lady gave me a phone number to call to opt out of junkmail. She wrote it on the top piece of rec...ahem, ADMAIL that I had brought back to them. She was even less pleased when I ripped off the phone number and left my ADMAIL on her counter as I walked out.

The admail stopped for a while. The few times that I did receive it again, I either dropped it back into the red mail box up the street, or hand it back to the mail carrier. On one of these occasions, I chased her across the street, and instead of taking it back, she told me to just drop it in the mailbox below mine! What, so that guy will get two identical pieces to put in his recycle bin? I fairly growled at her as I thrust it into her hand.

I haven't received any admail for quite a while now, and am very happy.

Now here is something I wish I had known about long ago, it's called the "Red Dot Campaign". They give a solution to admail, which is to send a form letter (available on their site) to Canada Post requesting no admail be delivered to your address. Your mail carrier should then affix a red dot sticker to your mail box to remind them that your house does not want junk mail.

Hopefully, this will rid you of your admail. If it doesn't, feel free to open some of your ADDRESSED admail, look for a stamped return envelope from that advertiser, place your other admail in it, and send it to them. Eye for an eye, and all that.

On Monday, I'll tell you about my grief with local newspapers.

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.