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.

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.

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. :)