Thursday, May 29, 2008

Our Green Relocation - A Movement in a Few Parts

Yes, we are moving. And like many in our demographic (youngish, no kids, a few moves already under our belts), and despite our vows to do otherwise, we have managed to accumulate too much stuff....again!

Our last move from Los Angeles to New York was certainly not - we drove 2 cars cross country, used a moving company that should have been featured on a Dateline NBC scam expose, and we brought WAY TOO MUCH STUFF.

So this will be our second move across the country, and since we are definitely older, and therefore would also like to consider ourselves wiser, we have vowed to embark on the most environmentally-friendly relocation possible. The bottom line is that our goal is to lighten our load considerably, but also to throw away as little as possible.

In this series of blog installments, I will candidly detail our experience, offering tips along the way for those of you also facing a move (or just looking to get rid of some stuff without the help of the local landfill). Feel free to follow along and find creative ways to reduce and reuse your belongings as well!

Phase One - Net Reduction

I borrow this phrase from a dear friend, and over the next few weeks, we plan to become rock star net reducers, ridding ourselves of anything we don't consider crucial and/or sentimental. I am planning on a few arguments with my husband over the definition of sentimental - he still has a collection of stuffed animals from when he was a wee tyke as well as every cassette mix he's made or received since middle school.

Flock of Seagulls and Men Without Hats?
Together on one mix? Sweet!

We have started the net reduction process by going through our belongings in storage. You know, the ones you forgot you even had and mostly wonder why you kept in the first place?!

Our quest for less began where else - the basement! In our case, not in our basement, since we live in an apartment, but in my husband's grandfather's basement. We got started by making some piles:

1. Keep
- see criteria above

2. Sell - still in good shape, but not worth the expense or carbon footprint created by a 3,000 mile transport.

3. Give Away - There are plenty of charities like Goodwill ready and willing to take anything you can't easily sell. There are also several internet groups like Freecycle that allow you to post your belongings for the taking.

4. Recycle - And I'm not just talking about the usual stuff either - paper, plastic, glass etc. I'm talking about cd covers, computer parts, a stereo, and even some of my exercise DVD's.

"Not the comic books!!"

5. Toss - Yes, sadly some products like household hazardous waste and old medications (which somehow always end up stored together) will have to be thrown out. I will cover how to safely do that, too.

Next week, we start the process officially by having a moving sale and swanky stuff swap of all of our "precious belongings" marked to sell or give away. I will detail both of these "events" in subsequent blogs, so stay tuned for more of our green moving adventures!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

What's Your Waterprint?

While there has been a lot of attention paid these days to the containers that we choose for holding our water - see my previous few blogs about plastics for starters - awareness is also starting to grow about the planet's water shortage.

There are currently an estimated 1.1 billion people in the world who lack clean water. Why is this? Is there a shortage of water or just a shortage of wells and a lack of infrastructure for transporting safe, clean water?

The answer is both. Only .03% of the water on Earth is potable, and according to Peter H. Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, "As many as 76 million people -- mainly children -- will die from preventable, water-related diseases by 2020 even if current United Nations goals are reached."

So what can we do?

  • Help to set up wells and other infrastructures by donating to organizations like Charity: Water and Unicef, which are working to bring clean drinking water to all.
  • Help to conserve the precious drinking water we have left by reducing the water you use every day. Here are a few suggestions about how to do so:
Get Educated about your water footprint - go to H2O Conserve or Waterfootprint.org (Personally, I'm a sucker for the cartoon characters over at H2O Conserve) to calculate your water footprint.

You will be asked questions about where you live, how much of your power comes from solar or wind energy, whether or not you have low-flow devices on your showers, toilets, and faucets, how much laundry you do per week, etc.

While it may turn out that you are indeed a water glutton, take heart because each question serves as a new idea for a way to save more water. For example, not yet letting "it mellow?" Might be time to consider new flushing policies in the household! Post-asparagus voids get an exemption - phieew!

In addition to these standard questions, there are many more that concern your virtual water footprint, one that must be taken into account if you truly want to curb your daily water consumption. According to the recent Discover magazine article "Everything You Know About Water Conservation Is Wrong" by Thomas Kostigen, "Virtual water is a calculation of the water needed for the production of any product from start to finish."

So while it is important to turn off the water while brushing your teeth and to take shorter showers, it is crucial to be mindful of your virtual water consumption. For example, consider all of the virtual water lost in the food we throw out or used in the goods we buy - almost everything takes water to produce.

According to Kostigen's article and Waterfootprint.org, "The virtual water footprint of a cup of coffee is 37 gallons; an apple, 19 gallons; a banana, 27; a slice of bread, 10; a sheet of paper, 3; and a pair of leather shoes, 4,400."

And in the United States, we are really thirsty for our virtual water. Our annual average usage per person is 656,012 gallons, more than double the world average of 328,410 gallons.
Link
So go ahead, install those low-flow shower and faucet heads, buy only what you need, and throw away even less. It will leave a lot more water for all of us to drink.

For more water conservation tips, see "H2O: One Glass at a Time" in this month's Green Guide.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Nalgene, Baby Bottles, and Bisphenol-A: The Tough Case of Hard Plastics

Much has been made in recent months about the potential for reusable polycarbonate plastic bottles to leach bisphenol-A(BPA) into your water, baby formula, or any other libation you tote around in there. For those weekend warriors and everyday environmentalists who have been using the same hard plastic water bottles for the past 6 years, this polysyllabic news is alarming and disheartening. After all, we thought we were doing a good thing by foregoing the chic "one-timer" plastic water bottles in favor of reusable ones.And we were.

Unfortunately, the verdict is still out on the actual health effects of bisphenol-A, and depending on who you believe, the effects range from harmless (not surprisingly the plastics industry is in this camp), to serious health risk. Discover Magazine's recent article on BPA suggests that it may affect not only the children of mothers exposed to the compound during pregnancy, but their children as well. The article also explains why BPA does not act as a typical toxin, and has therefore been difficult to classify as dangerous. Nalgene has posted a page on their website detailing their stance that BPA is safe, but given Wal-Mart's decision to stop selling products containing BPA, arguments to the contrary have clearly gained traction. For more information on the debate, check out The Green Guide's article, "The Bisphenol-A Debate: A Suspect Chemical in Plastic Bottles and Cans."

My husband looking into the issue of BPA, personally. Perhaps it is already too late for him.

So now what? Well, most scientists agree that the biggest risk is to newborns and pregnant moms. Make sure your baby bottles are #4 or #5 plastic (check out the ones made by Adiri or Sassy), or try the glass ones made by Born Free.

Not a baby, but also not a fan of having his hormones tampered with - cried like a baby after drinking from his Nalgene while watching Moulin Rouge.

Consider replacing your plastic water bottles with those made by SIGG or Kleen Kanteen. I recently made the switch, and although my husband has been a little bit slow catching on to how it all works, we are both much happier with the way the water tastes from these aluminum and stainless steel containers.

His enthusiasm for hormone-free water matched only by his poor aim.

Of course, there is also the matter of what to do with your #7 bottles. The landfill is a bad option because these bottles will not biodegrade and may continue to leach chemicals there. They are also difficult to recycle, however I was able to find a recycling center that accepted #7 by using Earth 911's recycling locator, and you can probably do the same.

I was hoping some of the plastic bottle producers would take on the recycling conundrum themselves. A call to media relations at Nalgene was not returned; however, I spoke with a very nice woman in customer service who indicated that Nalgene was not issuing any sort of credit or exchange for their #7 water bottles. Unfortunate, since this is probably a bit of a public relations nightmare, and Nalgene does make water bottles out of the much less controversial #2 plastics. However, if you have your receipt, you can try to return your bottle to the store where you purchased it.

The bottom line in all of this is that it is important to know your plastic numbers. The code imprinted at the bottom of each plastic product will tell you whether or not it has the potential to leach harmful chemicals as well as where and how it can be recycled. Check out the previous Weekly Way blog, "Plastics By the Numbers," for a simple breakdown of the codes. When it comes to the issue of harmful plastics, an ounce of prevention while the debate resolves itself might well be worth the pounds of product you'll need to replace down the line.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Plastics By the Numbers

So our heart is definitely in the right place. We want to produce the least amount of waste possible, and we want to recycle anything we can. Agreed? Good.

However, being a responsible consumer goes hand in hand with being an educated one. As I began to investigate the whole #7 plastics debate, I realized two facts:

1. It was going to be very difficult to find a place to recycle my polycarbonate Nalgene water bottles because most curbside recycling programs don't take #7. This information led me to a second, more significant conclusion....

2. I didn't know enough about plastic products, their potential health hazards, or how to recycle them all properly.

So (and forgive me if I suggest that you are like me) I decided that my well-intentioned but semi-misguided self had a bit of reading to do. Here is what I discovered:

Each plastic product is assigned a recycling code, and this number is imprinted on the bottom of the product. These numbers represent the type of plastic used and where and how the product can be recycled - rules vary depending on where you live.

Check with your local recycling center or use Earth 911's recycling locator to see which codes are accepted for recycling in your area. If you find that you are purchasing products that can not be easily recycled or may be potentially hazardous, make the effort to purchase alternative products.

Here is a quick, easy guide to what each of those numbers actually means. Those in bold are potentially hazardous and should be avoided:

#1 & #2 - Most water, soda, juice, milk, and shampoo and soap bottles are made with PET or HDPE plastics. They are widely recyclable and safe as long as they are not reused.

#3 - Vinyl or PVC - Potentially hazardous - they can leach plasticizers and lead. They are also not recyclable.

#4 & #5 - Safe and recyclable - many food storage containers and plastic wraps are made from these two types of plastic.

#6 - Polystyrene - more commonly known by the brand name, Styrofoam. While polystyrene is technically recyclable, it is difficult to recycle and due to its light weight many curbside recycling programs do not accept it. Polystyrene is also potentially hazardous, as it can leach styrene, a known carcinogen.

#7 - PC/PA #7 is the catch-all for the types of plastic that do not fall into the previous 6 categories. Products in this category range from polycarbonate (PC), which is non-biodegradable and potentially hazardous, to the safe and compostable polylactide(PA), which is made from plant materials like corn, and used to produce products like plates, bags, and bottles.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Eco Art for the Eco-Chic

I'm not crafty, and it when it comes to turning my old stuff into something I might actually want to keep or even give to someone else, I am completely at a loss. What I do know though, is that the landfills are full, and we are running out of resources. Therefore, every item that we consider trash should first be looked at as the raw material needed to create something else.

Stepped Vinyl Record Bowl from Eco-Artware - think how much cooler your popcorn will be when served in this bowl.

Lucky for us non-crafties, there are plenty of creative people out there that see a juice carton and think, "Recycled Clutch!" or see egg cartons, and think, "Foot Stool!" Well, maybe not that many...but fortunately there are enough crafty geniuses, who can turn a billboard into a fashionable travel bag, or a glass bottle into earrings, that there are now many websites selling their eco-fabulous wares.

Eco-Artware is a "one-stop gift shop for all things beautiful, well-made, and environmentally friendly. Over at Ecoist, where all products are made from "recycled, organic, or earth-friendly materials," many more eco-friendly bags, jewelry, and assorted trinkets can be found. Lastly, I am a huge fan of jewelry designer Katherine Plate, who makes handcrafted jewelry at her company Smart Glass Jewelry, out of, you guessed it, recycled glass.





(top left) Recyled Glass Earrings from Smart Glass Jewelry
(bottom left) Ecoist's one of a kind repurposed laptop bag from a Harry Potter
billboard

What's more, even if you are all thumbs and wouldn't even dream of attempting to sew a button, or the craft scene doesn't really appeal to you, there are plenty of recycling resources on Eco-Artware's site as well. So if you ever wondered what to do with your old bicycle, CD's, and even yogurt cups (Send to ibike.org, greendisk/ecodisk, and terracycle respectively), you can find the answers on this site.

These websites are great places to visit for a Mother's Day gift, a birthday present, or a treat for yourself. Plus, instead of contributing to the consumption of products made from virgin resources, you will be supporting the new movement towards sustainable, renewable goods. And for the record, you'll look pretty cool too.

Monday, May 5, 2008

The Pod People

The second stop on my bike tour of UC Davis took us to a secluded corner of campus where the patchouli is flowing freely, but so is the good will. It is another of the housing cooperatives on campus made up of undergrads and graduate students, and it made me think of one of my favorite quotes from The Know it All, by AJ Jacobs. "My favorite reform movement leader is a Frenchman named Fourier, whom this Britannica entry matter-of-factly describes as "more than a little mad." In Fourier's utopian vision, humans would live in cooperative groups called "phalanges," where they would "cultivate cabbages in the morning and sing opera in the evening...Love and passion would bind men together in a noncoercive order."

Sort of a cross between Tatooine and the Shire

Well, these students are not cultivating cabbages or singing opera, but they are living cooperatively in cement domes, which are meant to maximize space and energy efficiency. Each 2 level "pod" houses 2-3 people. The benefits of living in this type of community abound; while the students are still living in campus housing, they take turns sharing meal duties (there are communal outdoor dinners most nights), they all have space to garden, a few of them run an on-site (or should I say on-commune?) bike salvage and repair shop, and everyone gets around by riding a bike. Of course, this favorite local mode of transportation uses no fossil fuels. In short, compared to most co-eds, their footprint is miniscule.

Pod people are kind and handy, but unused to our surface dwelling ways

Because the pod folks' gatherings can get a little cold in the winter, they are in the process of building a community yurt that will be heated completely by solar panels made from salvaged materials. It is a community project as are most here, and on the day we visited, we ran into a graduate student who was doing a few repairs to his home using tools from the communal tool shed. I'm not sure how it all works - I am type A after all and was scanning the area for schedules - but everything seemed to be running peacefully, and there were a lot fewer empty beer bottles than one saw in my college dorm.
New take on an old Mongol idea - The Solar Yurt

Just like at home, the ball pein hammer's missing

While this type of living may not appeal to everyone, as a twenty-something it is idyllic, educational, low impact, and even cheaper than the regular dorms. More importantly, it provides a model for innovation, creativity, and communal good cheer that arises from committing to a shared a goal.