Now, I realize it would be advantageous to begin this project with a musing on the theological basis for my increasing interests in creation-preservation, but I'm not in the essay mood right now. So, I'll begin with a list of my goals. This will be ever-growing, but I plan to check back in on these around the beginning of February.
1. Pick up no more disposable plastic shopping bags. This is so simple - I have a couple of those study, reusable bags, plus a plethora of old plastic shopping bags. The place I always run into problems is when I forget my reusable bags in the car - but no more, "I'm already in the store" laziness. It's time that I just walk back outside and grab those bags...
Did you know? We use approximately one million plastic bags per minute! (www.reusablebags.com) China just made it illegal for supermakerts and shops from handing out free carriers (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSPEK25589820080108?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true). It's not often we can really say that China's on the cutting edge of social concern, but we're definitely a huge step behind on this one.
2. Worm composting. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost) Once I can figure out where to keep a worm composting bin (somewhere not in my house, but not frightfully cold), I hope to start this system. It's a great way to deal with food waste and some paper recycling that doesn't take up the space in a landfill or the energy to recycling.
Apparently, worm composting is easy. Essentially, it's a plastic or wood bin, with a layer of dampened newspaper or cardboard, a layer of red worms (there are formulas to determine numbers), food scraps, and more newspaper. The worms eat and poop, and voila! Compost - and I've become responsible for a small portion of my waste.
3. Send my fallen-out hair and Peter's combed-out fur to Matter of Trust (http://www.matteroftrust.org/programs/hairmatsinfo.html). This is an organization that creates mats from human hair and animal fur to clean up oil spills. They mostly seek donations from salons, but welcome individuals who want to contribute as well. Now, I think fallen-out hair is absolutely disgusting, but if I can keep it in a box and send it to someone else to deal with in a constructive manner, I think I can control the gag reflex.
4. Use Freecycle as my first option for getting rid of stuff I don't need/want and getting stuff I need/want (www.freecycle.org). It's an organization that connects people in the same city to one another and helps them redistribute stuff amongst each other. Similar to the free section on Craig's List, but more energy devoted to the free redistribution concept. I've already joined the group!
5. Sign up with Catalog Choice (www.catalogchoice.org), Greendimes (www.greendimes.com) or similar to reduce my junk mail. Less junk mail = less waste!
6. Read "Sustainable Dave's 365 Days of Trash" blog. Dave is a guy in LA, doing a trash experiment. He's keeping all his trash (recycling included, but seperate) in his basement for a year, to gain a better sense of what he contributes to our waste problem. He's full of helpful tips (like most of the above) and has been a good way to open my eyes to my trash consumption. (http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com)
7. I've been saving this one for last, because it's the one I'm least excited about - start biking to Multnomah. In my mind the perfect bike ride is as follows: downhill (not steep), on a summer morning (approximately 7:30am) at about 73 degrees, wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops, no helmet, with a bike basket to carry my book and purse, and no precipitation whatsoever. Clearly, I'm not looking forward to biking to Multnomah for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to:
(a) I don't much care for exercise/breaking a sweat (my dad would be glad to hear me admit that). I don't know that I'm lazy, exactly, but I'm not particularly interested in the racing-heartbeat, drippy forehead feeling. I'd rather, um, stay up really late working on a paper or making a spreadsheet to score my "working hard" credits.
(b) I hate the rain. Everyone who's anyone (in my life) knows this. I'll only buy a purse if it's large enough for an umbrella and I wear a hoodie most everyday, just in case I get stuck in the rain. Portland is... VERY rainy in the winter. And I'm going to travel with it pelting me. This sounds like hell on earth to me. Plus, my hair looks terrible when it gets rained on.
(c) I'm already loathing that leaving-the-house-while-cold-so-I-pile-a-bunch-of-clothes-on-but-then-get-hot/sweaty-riding-my-bike-because-I-have-so-many-clothes-on conundrum. I hate stopping to peel off layers because (1) they'll be wet and taking off/carrying wet clothes is not fun and (2) it'll take a miracle for me to muster the motivation to get back on my bike and finish my ride.
(d) I'll have to wake up approximatley 40 minutes earlier to ride my bike to school. Not because it takes that long, but because it takes half that time, plus all the time to deal with the clothing issue.
(e) I'll never feel like I look cute, because I'll always be sweaty/rained on.
(f) I'll have to carry all my books/clothes in a backpack.
(g) I'm convinced that Multnomah doesn't have bike racks. (I'm probably wrong about this.)
(h) My bike is old, clunky and SO heavy.
See - you should bike too! In the interest of reminding myself why I'm subjecting myself to such misery, my motivations are as follows:
(a) Bikes don't take gas. That's (1) free and (2) reducing my dependance on the ultra-problematic foreign oil issue.
(b) Bikes are much less expensive to repair than cars. I repaired a bike flat for $10 the other day. Last time I paid for a flat repair on my car, it was a free AAA tow (which would no longer be free, since I no longer have a membership) and $75 to Les Schwab. And with the $450 repair to my heater core last month, I'll be grateful that my bike has no windows to fog up.
(c) Bikes don't have any harmful emissions (other than my complaining). This is, obviously, MUCH better for the earth than my car.
(d) It's a good way to get in shape. I don't have to do much to maintain my very-average body, which makes exercising a tough sell, but at least I'll know I'm a bit healthier.
(e) I'll feel like a tried-and-true Portlander.
8. Exciting success! I've given up my favorite indulgence - Pina Colada yogurt, in favor of yogurt in a larger tub. Single serving yogurt is not very helpful to reducing plastic consumption.
9. Replace two more of my lamps with compact florescent lightbulbs. SO much less energy!
10. Another success - ditching the plastic produce bags. I just stick them in the basket, since I wash them anyway.
11. Switch my billing to online.
Things that I'm not ready to sacrifice yet, but hope that I'll get to that point with in the next few months:
1. Turning down the heat. Bottom line - I like to be warm.
2. Newspaper. I hate reading online, but let's be honest - the only reason I take the Oregonian is for the editorials, which hardly seems worth wasting an entire daily paper.
Things I need to do some more research on/figure out how to integrate into my life:
1. Taking the bus more often (since I doubt I'm going to be too keen on riding my bike anywhere other than the promised one-trip-a-day to Multnomah).
2. Buying my food locally. Super tough in the winter, but I'd like to figure out how to be a good steward of our Oregon resources.
Clearly, I'm no expert. And clearly, I'm not coming up with anything brilliant or innovative. But, I'm convinced that, if I can implement these fairly simple practices into my life, I will be better for it. I'll keep you posted...
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
new year, new start
I'm not much one for New Year's resolutions, and I'd hardly name this as such, but the timing coincides nicely (much like last year's black coffee "resolution"). I've decided to begin blogging on a regular (read: non-travel based) basis. No promises on frequency, but as I'm sure it'll be as I feel so compelled.
As of late, I've become more and more concerned with, for lack of a better cliche, "being green." Yes, I'm a native Oregonian, and yes - I'm just now hopping on this bandwagon in a practical way. The values have been formulating for quite some time and I think I've finally reached that critical point where my actions have to reflect my values in order for them to be real, well, values. But more on that in a moment.
In this blog, I'll be writing to an audience of personal friends. Others are more than welcome, though I'm not doing any intentional marketing. However, dear personal friends, I'm writing to you with the understanding that we are (in most cases) very similar. Most of you care about the Earth approximately 10% more than I do, but for the few of you who are a snail's step behind me, I'm hoping to open the door to some of the fabulous discoveries I'm making. Both ideological and practical, I invite you to engage these thoughts with me.
Of course, I'll occassionally discuss other things - prospective Europe 2008, the occassional editorial, etc. But onto my intentions...
1. In our 15-minutes-of-fame world, I'll admit: I buy in. Not in the sense that I write for fame, or "social network" for fame, but I'm a consumer of it. I'm on Facebook, MySpace and Plaxo. I have a blog. Someday, I'll probably even post to YouTube. But, like I said, I'm not part of it for the fame. I'm not writing this blog so as to increase my platform (though wearing my literary agent hat, let me remind you that it's a good start to doing so!), and - quite frankly - I don't really care if you read this. I care to the extent that I care about the issues I discuss, but I don't care for my own personal inflation.
2. In the interest of full disclosure, much of my motivation is accountability. Caring for creation takes some extra work, and admittedly, I'm a good American. I like to do my shopping online, I think it's overwhelmingly convenient to do all my grocery shopping at Fred Meyer, I don't want to pay the price of United States-made clothing, and - well, I'll continue this in a later post, wholly devoted to my American assimilation. But, I'm uncomfortable with cognitive dissonance, and I imagine that my posting about environmental issues may help me hold myself to a slightly higher level of responsibility to my proclaimed values.
3. I think these issues are important. I know my own contribution is important, but I'm convinced that it's the responsibility of our culture at large. And I'm convinced that it's worthwhile to provide a venue for my friends to engage this topic. And finally, I'm convinced that I'm relatively relatable to the average American consumer. In other words - if I can do it, YOU can do it.
That's it for now. As always, this is an ongoing conversation to which I'll add, and I invite you to add.
Love, - b.
As of late, I've become more and more concerned with, for lack of a better cliche, "being green." Yes, I'm a native Oregonian, and yes - I'm just now hopping on this bandwagon in a practical way. The values have been formulating for quite some time and I think I've finally reached that critical point where my actions have to reflect my values in order for them to be real, well, values. But more on that in a moment.
In this blog, I'll be writing to an audience of personal friends. Others are more than welcome, though I'm not doing any intentional marketing. However, dear personal friends, I'm writing to you with the understanding that we are (in most cases) very similar. Most of you care about the Earth approximately 10% more than I do, but for the few of you who are a snail's step behind me, I'm hoping to open the door to some of the fabulous discoveries I'm making. Both ideological and practical, I invite you to engage these thoughts with me.
Of course, I'll occassionally discuss other things - prospective Europe 2008, the occassional editorial, etc. But onto my intentions...
1. In our 15-minutes-of-fame world, I'll admit: I buy in. Not in the sense that I write for fame, or "social network" for fame, but I'm a consumer of it. I'm on Facebook, MySpace and Plaxo. I have a blog. Someday, I'll probably even post to YouTube. But, like I said, I'm not part of it for the fame. I'm not writing this blog so as to increase my platform (though wearing my literary agent hat, let me remind you that it's a good start to doing so!), and - quite frankly - I don't really care if you read this. I care to the extent that I care about the issues I discuss, but I don't care for my own personal inflation.
2. In the interest of full disclosure, much of my motivation is accountability. Caring for creation takes some extra work, and admittedly, I'm a good American. I like to do my shopping online, I think it's overwhelmingly convenient to do all my grocery shopping at Fred Meyer, I don't want to pay the price of United States-made clothing, and - well, I'll continue this in a later post, wholly devoted to my American assimilation. But, I'm uncomfortable with cognitive dissonance, and I imagine that my posting about environmental issues may help me hold myself to a slightly higher level of responsibility to my proclaimed values.
3. I think these issues are important. I know my own contribution is important, but I'm convinced that it's the responsibility of our culture at large. And I'm convinced that it's worthwhile to provide a venue for my friends to engage this topic. And finally, I'm convinced that I'm relatively relatable to the average American consumer. In other words - if I can do it, YOU can do it.
That's it for now. As always, this is an ongoing conversation to which I'll add, and I invite you to add.
Love, - b.
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