Building a Hoop House

On Sunday, I participated in a 10/10/10 Global Work Party at Jubilee Farm in Springfield. My task for the day: helping to build a hoop house, which will extend the growing season on the farm.

You can get a peek at the hoop house here.

It was a bit of work but beautiful weather. Unfortunately, things progressed slowly because there were only a few of us working at one time, so I never got to see the finished product. But that just gives me an excuse to go back.

On a side note, Jubilee Farm is an awesome place to visit. It's a small working farm run by a group of Domenican sisters. They have a CSA and grow lovely produce sans pesticides (basically, what they do is organic farming without officially being able to call it organic). They're always looking for help, so if you get the urge to pull some weeds or pick some produce, go visit! While you're there, be sure to check out all the cool stuff they have on their land, including a pottery studio and a labyrinth. For real.

A Water Story

Almost two years ago (ack! have I been blogging that long?), I suggested you check out The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. It's a quick, 20-minute video about—yep, you guessed it—stuff.

Now, just in time for World Water Day (which was yesterday), Ms. Leonard is back with another video. This one: The Story of Bottled Water. It's only 7 minutes—the perfect length for an afternoon procrastination session.

I find these videos delightfully entertaining and informative, which is a good thing considering I'm in charge of discussing The Story of Stuff in my night class tonight. (By the way, Leonard just released a book on the same subject. I'm hoping to get my hands on a copy soon.)

In other news, L-Town had a boil order yesterday. Few things generate appreciation of World Water Day quite like having to boil any water you use for drinking, hand-washing, and tooth-brushing.

Fortunately, the order was lifted this morning so we can go back to using water from our faucets with regular abandon. Perhaps it served as a reminder to some of us that water is an incredibly precious resource we should work to protect.

Or perhaps not.

A Close Look at My Cosmetics

I don't wear much makeup or use many beauty products on a daily basis. I never have, except on rare and special occasions like my wedding, when I called in a pro to do my hair and makeup for me.



But when I look in my drawers and cupboards and medicine cabinet, I don't feel like the beauty product minimalist I think I am.



And when I start to think about the ingredients in those beauty products, I realize it's quite a contradiction that I'm a proponent of natural cleaning products and growing your own food and buying local and battling to make our air and water cleaner when I slather my body and cover my face in some really nasty chemicals every single day.



And a whole lot of those products have been linked to health threats from cancer and infertility to birth defects, according to the World Health Organization and the CDC.



I'm not saying all of this to make you panic or convince you to throw everything in your medicine cabinet and beauty bag away. Cosmetics and beauty products are generally safe, but they could be better, particularly because they usually aren't regulated much, if at all.

Rather, I'm saying all of this because I am trying to sort out what is in my beauty products to identify any dangerous offenders I should get rid of.

Perhaps you'll be motivated to do the same. Perhaps you won't. Either way, I think it's worth thinking about, no matter your age or sex.



So the other day I bopped on over to the Cosmetic Safety Database created by the Environmental Working Group to get an idea of what's in my beauty products. Skin Deep, the name of the EWG's online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products, integrates personal care product listings with toxicity and regulatory databases to give you an idea of just how safe or unsafe thousands of products are. 

I wouldn't say it should be the only source of information on which you base your beauty supply purchases, because I'm not so sure their methods are 100 percent on target, but it is a good starting place if you're interested in learning more about what’s in products before you make purchases.



It's super easy to navigate—all you do is type in a product name to search for it. Instantly, you'll know the product hazard score and can click a link for more detailed info about what hazards the ingredients have been linked to.

If you were to take a peek at my beauty supplies, you’d see quite a few things that are fragrance-free (like the good ol’ Aveeno Moisturizing Lotion I’ve been using for years), a lot of things that are touted as natural or better-for-you alternatives (like Burt’s Bees and Jason), and then some standard brands that are pretty common in any drug store.

(And yes, I know, and you should too, that terms like "natural" aren't regulated and so can be a whole lot of hooey. But still, I'm a sucker for the occasional green marketing ploy just like the next person.)

Here’s the rundown on where the things I use daily or almost daily stand:



Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream - 5 (moderate hazard)

Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer - 3 (moderate hazard)

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm - 2 (low hazard)

Burt's Bees Body Wash - 3 (moderate hazard)

Burt's Bees Herbal Blemish Stick - 1 (low hazard)

Jason Natural Cosmetics Tea Tree Normalizing Shampoo - 7 (high hazard)

Jason Natural Cosmetics Aloe Vera Conditioner - 5 (moderate hazard)

Aveeno Positively Smooth Shower & Shave Cream - 4 (moderate hazard)

Almay Intense i-Color Eye Shadow for Brown - 8 (high hazard)

Maybelline Full 'N Soft Mascara - 7 (high hazard)

Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Loose Talc-Free Powder - 5 (moderate hazard)

Crystal Body Deodorant Stick - 0!

Mentadent Advanced Whitening Flouride Toothpaste with Baking Soda & Peroxide – 6 (moderate hazard)

Petroleum Jelly – 3 (moderate hazard)

So there you have it. My Burt's Bees Radiance face wash wasn't included on the site, but given the other Radiance ratings it's probably a 5 or 6—not as low as I’d like. I thought Burt's ratings would be lower. Still, it's better than my old Cetaphil facial cleanser I got rid of recently, which was an 8.

I thought the Jason hair products would have lower ratings as well, but then when I randomly searched for other hair products I used in the past I realized the Jason products are quite a bit lower than the alternatives.

Now what? Switching to products that aren’t high-hazard is a top priority for me. I’m not tossing anything right now, but as I run out of products with ratings that are too high for my taste, I’ll shop around for alternatives that are low-risk—or, perhaps at the very least, 5 or below.

In general, with most things in life, simple is better—fewer products, fewer ingredients listed on those products I do buy. For that reason, I’ll read labels more closely. In particular, I plan to keep an eye out for parabens, petrochemicals and their byproducts, mercury, lead, dioxane, and phthalates. Those are some of the nastiest culprits I’d rather do without.

OK, now let the hippie comments begin.

Celebrating Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!


(Sorry. That was the obligatory Earth Day flower image. Notice my lovely $1 juice pitcher/vase. No, you cannot buy it.)

OK, now that I’ve written that, I have a confession to make. I’m not really that big of a fan of Earth Day.

Go ahead, gasp. I’ll let that sink in for a minute.

It’s not that I don’t like the idea of Earth Day. I do. A day to celebrate the Earth, to make an effort to improve it, is novel. It’s terrific. But here’s the thing: Shouldn’t every day be Earth Day? What good does it do if a slew of people around the country or world take one day out of their lives to recycle or contemplate their water use or rally for environmental causes? Sure, it’s terrific. But what about the other 364 days? Earth is still there, getting pummeled by us humans.

I feel the same about Earth Hour, which occurred March 28. The fact that people in more than 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries turned off all their lights for an hour to raise awareness for global warming is terrific. I’m glad they did it. But what happens when the hour is up? Pow! The lights go back on and we consume as usual?

Rather than going for flash, for bang, for having companies that normally pollute like mad pretend to be interested in the earth for a day or week, rather than handing out little earth bouncy balls or cheap plastic water bottles that aren’t really very earth-friendly, how about we make meaningful changes?

What if, instead of allotting one day for celebrating Earth, we did just a little bit every day? I’m not trying to tell you to sell all your cars and bicycle everywhere (although that would be swell) or move out of your house and into a tepee with no electricity or running water. But how about making a conscious effort to recycle, not to purchase bottled water, to turn off lights when you’re not in the room, to use greener cleaning products, to consume fewer resources, to buy only what you really need? It’s really not that hard, and I can promise you that it won’t hinder your lifestyle that much.

I’ll step down from my soapbox now. I’ve gathered some links to a few of my favorite sites that can help you do just what I was talking about above. Don’t bother looking at them now—you’ll hear enough about the Earth today.

But tomorrow, next week, next month, when the Earth isn’t getting near as much attention? That’s when you should go check these sites out. Glean a few helpful tips here and there, make a few changes. The Earth will thank you for it. Your grandchildren will thank you for it, and their grandchildren, and ... well, you get the picture:

“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” — Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

Grist.org
NRDC Green Living
The Daily Green
Greenyour.com
The Green Guide
Treehugger
Earth 911
Dot Earth
Mother Earth News
Daily Danny
Apartment Therapy Re-Nest
EnviroMom

OK. I have more. But that’s enough for today. Now go celebrate the Earth.

A New Place to Recycle

If you live in L-Town, get thee to the new recycling center with all your recyclable items.

I went on Wednesday (with one heck of a load of recycling, much to C.B.'s glee) and was impressed with the recycling center, which is sponsored by Good Sam Ministries and located at 1200 N. Postville Drive.

You might already place your cardboard, milk jugs, and cans in the brown bins the city picks up curbside every other week. And maybe you take your recyclables to the big green containers near downtown, where you can dump cardboard and paper, plastic, and aluminum and tin cans. But there's still reason to head to the new recycling center: they take all sorts of treasures, including colored and clear glass, tin, aluminum, chip board, paper, books, corrugated cardboard, ink and toner cartridges, batteries, call phones, and all kinds of plastics except 6PS. Now that's quite a list.

Best of all, even though I understand the recycling center is still a work in progress, it was pretty darn clean and organized as far as these things go. While Christmas music played on the radio, I bopped around dropping my recyclables into the clearly labeled containers that line the walls. Piece of cake. And very worth the trouble.

See, now there's no reason not to recycle if you live in L-Town. My goal is to get to the recycling center often enough that C.B. won't get quite so exasperated with my stockpile of recyclables in the garage. We'll see how that works out.

Oh, and, all you business owners in town, if you have large quantities of recycled goods the folks at Good Sam Ministries will even pick them up. Hurrah!

Mourning Another Green Mag

This makes me sad. Very sad. Another green magazine—one of the few helpful, hardworking, real-world green pubs out there—has bitten the dust.

And, sadder still, it's from one of my favorite publishing companies, National Geographic.

Yep, that's right, The Green Guide bit the dust.


National Geographic says they're going to focus on the website content instead. It's a tune those of us in the publishing industry have heard a lot lately.

Not only am I mourning the fact that the magazine is gone (before I could even read the most current issue!), I'm also bummed because I had a whole list of stories I was planning to pitch to them once I finished my grad classes. Sigh.

Galactic Pizza

Full disclosure: I have not actually tried Galactic Pizza. Yet. It’s in Minneapolis and I’m in central Illinois, and that’s an awfully long way to drive for a pizza. But I’m dying to try it someday soon.

That’s because I haven’t been face-to-face with a superhero in a long time. Or, come to think of it, ever, unless you count the 6-year-old trick-or-treaters on my doorstep a few weeks ago.

What does that have to do with pizza, you ask? Plenty, when it’s Galactic Pizza.

That’s because my pizza will arrive in style: in a tiny electric car driven by a superhero delivery person clad in colorful spandex. Really. No joke.

Who wouldn't want Captain Awesome showing up, delicious pie made with organic toppings—many of which are sourced locally—in tow?

See for yourself in this video from Planet Green. And be sure to check out their website too to learn all about how Galactic Pizza is a socially responsible company. They purchase renewable wind energy credits for 100 percent of their power, use as much organic and locally sourced produce as possible (without selling the pies at sky-high prices), incorporate hemp products into everything from the menu to the dough, opt for recyclable and biodegradable packaging, recycle nearly everything that comes into the store (they produce only about a bag of garbage every 2 days—pretty amazing for a restaurant), and donate 5 percent of their profits to charity. Cool, huh?

You can bet when I make it to Minneapolis, I’ll be hunting down Galactic Pizza—or, at least, placing a delivery order with them.

How much do you think I’d have to tip the delivery person to get him or her to let me take the electric car for a spin?

Green Entertaining

Last week I wrote a post on The Home Know-It-All about green entertaining. Now that it's November and the holidays will be here in no time, why not check it out? It provides some pretty easy tips for throwing a great holiday party without contributing too much to the 25 million tons (yes, you read that right) of holiday waste Americans produce each year.

Understanding Fall Plantings in Chicago

There is something I meant to rant about a few weeks ago after a quick weekend trip to Chicago. And I forgot all about it until today when, while writing all sorts of tips for an eco-friendly 2009 calendar I'm working on, it popped in my head.

Can someone explain to me why city employees (I'm guessing) descend on downtown Chicago in the fall and rip out all of the plantings along Michigan Avenue and the surrounding streets and dump them into giant trucks to be hauled away? They're perfectly good plantings and most still look just fine, thank you. The plantings are replaced with big beautiful mums and other fall flowers, which I have nothing against. But they just tear out thousands of perennials and, I can only assume, throw them away! That is in no way fiscally (yes, I said it) or environmentally responsible.

Dear Chicago, why not plant a beautiful assortment of native perennials that you keep for more than a season? Perhaps you might plant a few annuals here and there to liven things up and add a splash of color, but you could keep the majority of the plantings year-round and still have pretty nice landscaping. Or, if you must tear everything out every season, at least make sure you're doing something reasonable with all that waste. Those plants better be destined for one heck of a compost pile or I am going to be very disappointed in one of my favorite cities.

Green Roofs

I'm not really trying a green roof. Pretty sure Conservative Boy would kill me if I started growing plants on the roof. He can't stand the plants in the front yard. But I am intrigued by the notion of green (or living) roofs. I won't bore you with the details here, but they're pretty cool, so if you're interested in learning more be sure to check out what I posted about green roofs over at The Home Know-It-All.

And happy Friday!

A Bottle of Wine (Minus the Bottle)

No, I'm not saying I drank an entire bottle of wine in one sitting or anything of the sort. (Although it will be gone soon.) Rather, I started drinking a bottle of wine that didn't come in a bottle. Instead, it came in this:

The wine is called Bandit, and it's made by Three Thieves. But what makes it so interesting is that is comes in a Tetra Pak—essentially, a tall, skinny juice box that holds a liter of wine. Intrigued yet? I was, which was why I had to try it out.

You see, this isn't like your typical boxed wine. The Tetra Pak is taller and skinnier, and it's made to go anywhere, so you can take it to parties or the beach or what have you and not have to worry about breaking glass. (Although whether I'd drink it out of something other than a real wine glass is a different story ...)

According to the packaging, there are 10 reasons why you should drink Bandit (I added the parenthetical notes, in case you're wondering):

1. Because it tastes good! (I may not be a wine expert, but I agree it tastes pretty darn good. And others have said so too.)

2. 33% more wine (1 liter vs. 750 ml). (And it's under $10—yippee!)

3. Lower shipping weight = less fuel emissions.

4. 96% wine, 4% packaging. (Why waste money on packaging? they ask. I concur.)

5. No corked wine. (A boon for those camping trips, outdoor concerts, and the like when you forget the corkscrew, eh?)

6. Wine to go-go! (Yeah-yeah.)

7. 1 truckload of empty bandit cartons = 26 truckloads of empty glass. (Whew.)

8. Made largely of renewable resources. (Actually, this one is a bit sketchy of a claim in my book.)

9. You can toss it in your cooler. (Or across the yard to your friend while playing washers, assuming the lid is on.)

10. You can crush it on your forehead when you're done! (Mine isn't finished yet so I can't confirm or deny this statement. Ask me again tomorrow.)

The biggest problem is that the United States is (big shocker here) behind on its ability to recycle Tetra Paks. So in most places, you probably can't recycle that Bandit container like you would your glass wine bottle. And shipping the paks a long way to a recycling center that will take them isn't exactly environmentally friendly, is it?

But, at least, it's a step in the right direction. And kind of fun, too.

Hopefully it will catch on even more here, like it has elsewhere. In fact, on Little Views, I actually read that wines purchased in Tetra Paks now equal those purchased in bottles—in Italy! If the Italians do it, am I going to jeer? No way.

You can learn more about the pros and cons from The Wine Conversation. Then, if you're so inclined, stop scoffing at the notion of boxed wine (it's not a box, remember people?) and go try it for yourself.

If you feel like stopping by tonight, I might even share a class of my Bandit 2005 Merlot with you. Maybe.

Photo: Slice

Green Move of the Week: Laundry Detergent

It's exciting to hear from readers who are starting to make small "green" changes in their lives—some as a result of what I've posted here, others as a result of their growing awareness of why it makes sense to adopt a greener lifestyle for our health, pocketbooks, and the environment. (I'm particularly excited to hear that Conservative Grandmom is on the green bandwagon in Florida!)

As such, I've decided to begin posting a Green Move of the Week. The first reason is, of course, that this reminds me to keep making changes in my own life. The other reason is that this (hopefully) gives you a small dose of motivation to make a change—I'll keep them easy, promise!—each week along with me.

The first change this week is greening your laundry detergent.

How easy is it? Just buy a different kind of detergent when your current bottle runs out.

Why should you do it? Many detergents are loaded with fragrances, which can cause skin irritation and irritate allergies in some people. Plus chemicals called phthalates that are common in fragrance formulas have been shown to harm hormonal systems and reproductive organs (no thanks). Although most manufacturers now offer fragrance-free options (and have eliminated the phosphates, which damaged waterways by causing algae blooms), there are still reasons to opt for green detergents. For one, you can be confident that you're wearing clothing washed in fewer chemicals. And you're purchasing a product that isn't petroleum-based (we're supposed to be reducing on reliance on petroleum, people). Plus, typically green detergents come in recycled packaging that can also be recycled once you're finished with it.

My story. When I did laundry in the dingy basement of my first post-college apartment building, I switched to Seventh Generation Free & Clear laundry detergent. But once I started doing Conservative Boy's laundry too in exchange for the use of the machines in the house he lived in, the "green" laundry detergent fell by the wayside because C.B. (of course) requested that I use the same laundry detergent his mom did so his clothes smelled the same. (You all better be rolling your eyes here—I know I am at the thought that I actually gave in to that request!)

When we moved here, I wanted to switch back to Seventh Generation, but as luck would have it I couldn't find it in L-Town. So I settled for this:

It's Tide Coldwater, which is marketed as a way to save energy and money because it's formulated for use with cold-water washing (which you're doing now, right?). Mostly I bought it because it's concentrated and comes in a smaller bottle than most Tide products, and I figured I might as well buy detergent formulated for my cold-water washing, even though I'm pretty sure you can use any detergent you want when you wash clothes in cold water and it will work just fine. (Yep, I'm still a sucker for a bit of greenwashing every now and then.)

Anyhow. Miracle of all miracles, one of the grocery stores in town is remodeling—and in the process it has added a shelf of Seventh Generation products. So I decided it was time to go back. Previously, I was using the detergent free of all dyes and fragrances. But because C.B. likes his laundry-fresh scent, I decided to give this a try:

It's Seventh Generation's "blue eucalyptus and lavender" detergent. (I'm a sucker for anything lavender.)

This product is ultra concentrated (the cap you pour the detergent into is at least half the size of those used on traditional bottles). According to Seventh Generation, if every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of petroleum-based liquid laundry detergent with the bottle I have here, we could save 233,000 barrels of oil. (That's enough to heat and cool 13,400 U.S. homes for a year.) Beyond the fact this detergent is plant-based rather than petroleum-based, it's also nontoxic, biodegradable, free of dyes and phosphates, and not tested on animals. And you can even use your clothes washer water on your plants if you use this detergent and have a graywater system (more about these someday soon). Oh, and those fragrances come from plant essences, rather than artificial fragrances concocted in a lab.

Go a step further. Buying powder laundry detergent is better still—liquid detergents are made mostly of water and require more energy to produce and package than powder detergents. I, however, haven't switched to powder yet. I tried it once and had a few bad experiences with powder-covered clothes after the fact, so I haven't been brave enough to go back yet. If you use it now or are making the switch to it, let me know (and remind me why I should switch too).

Not sure which green detergents to try? Check out Grist's reviews of some of the most popular options. And stay tuned next week for another green move of the week!

Clorox Green Works Cleaner (Part II)

So, funny thing happened the day after I posted about trying Clorox Green Works bathroom cleaner. I got an email from the Sierra Club (as did all other members, I'm sure) about the Sierra Club endorsement. Why didn't it come yesterday so I could include it in my post?!

Anyhow, here's the lowdown. Looks like my guesses about the benefits—accessible, affordable, as good as conventional products—were right. Still no word about any ... ahem ... donations to Sierra Club on Clorox's part though.

The letter points out that "Providing people with resources, tools and solutions that will help them live clean, green lives is core to the Sierra Club's mission, and when we have a chance to promote a solution that will reach and help millions, we must seize it."

Hopefully they're right.

Clorox Green Works Cleaner

When I first read about the new line of natural cleaning supplies produced by Clorox, I scoffed. I couldn’t help it. Clorox going green? It was enough of a stretch for me to accept that the company bought Burt's Bees (yes, sorry to break it to you if you didn't know already, but Clorox owns Burt!).

Why was it such a shock? Let's just say the terms "bleach," "giant corporation," and "green" aren't exactly synonymous (or even distantly related).

The fact that Sierra Club stands behind the line of Clorox Green Works cleaning products—and on the label—made me reconsider my initial guffaws. But still I hesitate.

Sierra Club says it approved the use of its logo on the Green Works packaging after volunteer committees reviewed the cleaners and their environmental claims. But what does Sierra Club stand to gain from it? If Sierra Club is genuinely endorsing a natural cleaning product, it could have picked one that wasn't owned by a giant corporation like The Clorox Company. Makes you wonder how big a chunk of change Clorox is donating to fund other Sierra Club causes ...

And I'm not alone in my thoughts. The Sierra Club decision has raised more than a few eyebrows and certainly isn't without controversy.

Although the Clorox name is being downplayed in recent advertising, the company's logo is still prominent on the bottles along with the Sierra Club logo. Depending on who you ask, one thing Clorox does or doesn’t have going for it is name recognition.

Me? I’m cynical of the Green Works line and how environmentally friendly it really is precisely because it has the Clorox logo on it. Conservative Boy, on the other hand, and likely countless other Americans who otherwise wouldn’t even consider green cleaners because they think they are ineffective or for the hippies, may be willing to give this line of “green” cleaners a try precisely because of the Clorox logo—it’s a cleaning brand that they’ve trusted for years, so it must work.

Another bonus is that Green Works products are easy to find in about any store—right in the cleaning aisle with the rest of the products, unlike other natural cleaners that are often tucked out of sight in organic sections (where not every shopper is willing to tread yet). And it's affordable for the masses—expect to pay about what you would for other conventional cleaning supplies, rather than forking over a couple of extra bucks per bottle as is the case with some natural cleaners.

For these reasons, I decided to test a bottle of the Green Works bathroom cleaner for myself.

Conservative Boy doesn't believe that natural cleaners are effective. But he also recently experienced first-hand the hazards of using toxic cleaning chemicals. So Green Works is the perfect solution for him—he buys its effectiveness much more so than that of my Seventh Generation cleaning products because of the Clorox name, but is excited about the fact that he doesn't go through an intense, chemical-filled experience when he cleans the shower.

My initial reaction? The bathroom cleaner worked well. I liked the "foam" spray option, it got everything clean, and it didn't have a chemical-y scent or make my eyes burn. (Although it did have a bit more of a scent than some of my other natural cleaning supplies.)

I'm still a bit cynical though. Is it really as environmentally friendly as my other cleaning options? According to Clorox, Green Works lists all of its ingredients on the label—something companies aren't required to do (and don't do) with conventional cleaners. And the company says that each of the five cleaners is 99 percent "natural." Of course, the term natural isn't regulated in any way, but according to Treehugger all but two ingredients listed on the Green Works labels can be naturally derived.

Overall, I'd say Green Works cleaners do the trick. Will I continue to buy Green Works cleaners rather than my other natural cleaning supplies? Probably not. But anything that helps the average, budget-conscious consumer clean her home with something healthier than bleach earns points from me.

More Green Moves Around the House

So in my haste to post some of the environmentally friendly moves I’ve made around the house, I forgot a few keys. Silly me. So here are some more:

Adjusting the thermostat. Did you know that you can save 3 to 5 percent more energy for each degree below 68 degrees Fahrenheit you set your thermostat in cold weather or for each degree above 78 degrees you set your thermostat in warm weather? We definitely didn’t go higher than 68 degrees with our thermostat during the winter, although admittedly we didn’t turn it down as low as I would’ve liked because I discovered that my office (where I sit all day) is the coldest room in the house. And I have dreadful circulation. Let me tell you, trying to type when your fingers are white and numb is no fun. And I’m not exaggerating there.

Turning off lights. Sometimes I forget. But whenever I think of it, I wander through the house turning off lights that don’t need to be on. Want to take it a step further? Install motion sensor lights. (Photo: massdistraction)

Shutting off the water. I turn off the water when I’m brushing my teeth, washing my face, or anything of that nature. I cringe whenever Conservative Boy leaves the water running at full force while he shaves every other morning, but it’s baby steps here. At least he shuts the water off when brushing his teeth now.

Installing faucet aerators. To reduce how much water gets used for things like Conservative Boy's shaving, I bought an aerator for the bathroom faucet this weekend. Talk about a cheap and easy project. It cost a couple of bucks and screws onto the faucet in a minute.

Saying no to bottled water. My friend Rachel reminded me of this one. That’s what my trusty SIGG water bottle is for. And I’m a big fan of those crazy inventions called water fountains and drinking glasses. The only time I buy bottled drinks of any kind is when I’m at a sporting event where I can’t sneak my own bottle in or on the road when I desperately need a soda to stay awake.

Taking shorter showers. I just started consciously working on this one this weekend. I've been timing my showers and so far have made it out in under five minutes. (Of course, there hasn't been any major leg-shaving involved yet, so I have a bit work to do on this front.) Sometimes it just feels so nice to stand under that hot water for a while … but I’m trying to wean myself off of that habit.

Speaking of showers, we have a leaky tub faucet that hasn’t been fixed yet and I feel really guilty about that because it’s been going on for a couple of weeks and it’s pretty bad. So that’s near the top of my list of home repairs. I’ve been catching all the dripping water in a bowl and using it to fill Walker’s water bowl (when he was here last week) and water plants. I can’t keep up though, so there’s a full pitcher on the counter and the bowl in the tub is full again. Since I can’t bring myself to dump it out, I either need to get a repair going pronto or get a big bucket for storing all that wasted water in so I can use it for other things—maybe washing the car or watering the plants outside (once they’re actually planted).

Shutting off my computer. This goes along with the whole concept of phantom loads. But shutting off your computer each night saves a lot more energy than putting it in sleep mode; and contrary to popular belief, turning your computer on and off each day isn’t harmful to it in any way.

Replacing the HVAC filter. For a more energy-efficient HVAC system (and better air quality), you should replace the filter at least every three months. And when your system is working the hardest (like through the winter), monthly replacement may be necessary. I missed the boat on that one but did finally replace ours this weekend. Better late than never, right?

More soon!

Weekend Projects

It was a pretty busy weekend in the Julie-Conservative Boy household. Here's a look at what was accomplished:

• A trip to the library for the following must-reads: Month-by-Month Gardening in Illinois; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver; and Adoptable Dog: Teaching Your Adopted Pet to Obey, Trust, and Love You. Who's excited about this week's reading selection? I sure am.
  
  
• Bathroom cleaning, which was done by Conservative Boy for the first time since we moved. He did a swell job except for the fact that I yelled at him for using paper towels rather than the nice pile of cleaning rags in the closet. I felt bad after I yelled when he told me he didn't know that was an option because he'd only ever used paper towels. But now he knows. And I promised to work on not being such a green-nazi. Oh, and he, of course, used the random bottle of Fantastik in the closet rather than my Seventh Generation supplies. I don't think the bathroom has ever smelled that chemical-y (well, at least not until Sunday ... more about that later in this post). When Conservative Boy got done cleaning, he was complaining about being dizzy. And even later, when we were shopping and passed some cleaning supplies, he said he still felt weird. "Hmm," I said, very kindly now that I'd turned over a new leaf and put my green ranting behind me, "I wonder why." He still insists, though, that the green cleaning supplies won't work well. But I'm thinking this might be an easier sell than I originally expected—now that C.B. discovered how terrible the chemicals in normal cleaning supplies are, it's only a matter of time before I convert him. Muahaha. I don't know about you, but I prefer not passing out, coughing uncontrollably, and losing a copious amount of brain cells unnecessarily every time I scrub the shower.
  
  
• The purchase of some swell gardening and dog-owning supplies (nope, not spilling the beans yet ... evil, aren't I?)
  
  
• Some yard clean-up (man, we have a lot of sticks in our yard!)
  
  
• A trip to Ace Hardware, which involved, among other things, the purchase of an aerator for the bathroom faucet so I can reduce the amount of water we use for toothbrushing and other faucet-related duties.
  
  
• Some grill fixing (it works on propane now, which means we also were able to have a crowd of basketball fanatics over for some grilling, NCAA tournament watching, and washer throwing Saturday night)
  
  
• Bathroom painting. Yep, I painted the bathroom walls white to cover up the dingy, smudged, rather sad-looking paint from before. This new white paint really accentuates our fabulous aqua-color wall tiles and fixtures. Let me tell you. I will say, however, that I made a boo boo that I'm incredibly mad about. I bought my usual Sherwin-Williams Harmony no-VOC paint, and I thought I was getting the low-VOC primer too (had to use primer in this room because I was painting over glossy paint, otherwise I wouldn't have messed with it). But after I started applying the darn primer, I realized it wasn't low-VOC after all. The realization was instant the moment the fumes overtook me. Terrible. But at that point it was too late to return the paint, so I forged on. (Side note: Using regular primer with no-VOC paint is like installing your incredibly eco-friendly flooring with the same chemical-loaded adhesives used for normal flooring. Just stupid.) I suppose the scent would've been even worse had I not followed the primer with no-VOC paint, but I'm still mad because I can just imagine all the chemicals that will be offgassing from the walls for the next five years now. Not happy. Not healthy. And it still stinks—literally.

Despite the chemical-related setbacks, not a bad busy weekend, eh?

Going Green Around the House

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve been bitten by the “green” bug and am always looking for ways that I can conserve energy and water, reduce my environmental footprint, and save money too. Moving from an apartment to a house has opened up a ton of new possibilities for ways that I can “go green” at home. But I’m finding that although I have a monstrous wish list of things I want to do, finding the time, money (yes, some of these changes can be expensive), and energy doesn’t happen overnight.

Still, I think I’ve made progress. In the few months I’ve lived in L-town, here’s a sampling of what I’ve done:

Painting with low-VOC products. I will say this: standard paints offgas volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are bad for the environment and bad for your health (paint is one of the leading causes of indoor air pollution, people!). But low- or no-VOC paints release few (if any) of those nasty pollutants and are almost odorless. I won’t go into the details of my personal experience here though, because you can learn all about how I (along with Conservative Mom) painted with low-VOC paint by checking out my post about it on The Home Know-It-All.

Replacing burned out bulbs with CFLs. Let’s see. I have compact fluorescent lightbulbs in all my new lamps, in the garage, and the overhead light in my office. It’s a start. I refuse to replace bulbs that are still working (wasteful!), but as soon as more burn out, you can bet that CFLs are going in their place. Why? Because they use approximately 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than standard incandescent bulbs. Even Conservative Boy sees their value (as I mentioned here).

Unplugging, unplugging, unplugging. Why? To ward off phantom loads, people. All those chargers and appliances you have plugged in are sucking energy—even when they’re not in use. Don’t believe me? According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed when they’re off. Really. But all you have to do to stop those nasty energy suckers is unplug them! Learn more (again, from me!), in this post.

Running only full loads. This applies to both the dishwasher and the clothes washer. I don’t run either machine until I have a full load. And when it comes to the dishwasher, I always air dry (it can cut dishwasher energy consumption by as much as 50 percent). With the clothes washer, I wash everything on cold. And air dry whatever I can get to fit on my drying rack and the ironing board.

Full disclosure: Although I will admit that I’ve read about and even recommended just scraping, not rinsing, dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, I don't follow this recommendation. Rinse first and you can waste upwards of 20 gallons of water unnecessarily. But I’ve discovered that with our old dishwasher it doesn’t work. If I don’t thoroughly rinse first, I either have to re-wash a bunch of dishes by hand or send them through another load. Hah. That saves a lot of water. Looks like a new Energy Star dishwasher is moving up on the appliance wish list.

Recycling. Of course. Even though I’ve discovered that not many people here know this, you can get recycling bins in L-town, and they do curbside pickup every other week. Needless to say, our bin is always loaded full with newspaper, magazines, cardboard, plastic, and cans. And I have quite a collection of glass bottles and jars that I need to haul to the recycling center in town since we can't put those out with the rest of the recyclables.

Reusing. I reuse the back of printed paper like it’s my job. And I rinse off plastic baggies, aluminum foil, you name it to use again—until Conservative Boy catches me, gets annoyed, and throws my reused packaging away. I also used old dish towels and washcloths past their prime for cleaning rags. I’m still working on more ways to reuse more items around the house before discarding them, so if you have other ideas let me know. Oh, and you already knew this, but I’m a big proponent of reusable shopping bags.

Buying organic. There’s actually a decent organic selection at the Kroger in town (surprised? I was), so I’ve been buying a lot more organic products (milk, eggs, produce, coffee, whatever I can get) now. Conservative Boy’s friends made fun of my organic ketchup, but whatever.

Cleaning green. I use green cleaning supplies for almost all of my cleaning (except the floors; our laminate and tile floors are still babies so I’m carefully using the cleaner that came with them until it’s gone). Once this batch of green cleaners runs out, I’m going to try making my own. (Wanna learn more about why you should clean green? Just check out another one of my The Home Know-It-All posts!) Oh, and my personal cleaning is green too—I use natural hand soap, body wash, shampoo, and conditioner now.

That seems like a pretty hefty list, but honestly, it barely scratches the surface of what I could do. I have a long way to go. Conservative Boy set me back a bit by turning up the water heater, much to my chagrin. But for now I’ll just have to make up for that extra energy use in other ways (you can only do so much with a man who refuses to take anything but scalding hot showers).

You think I’m done rambling? Ha. Think again. I could go on about this stuff for hours. (Which is probably why, whenever I spout off another random fact related to energy or water savings, Conservative Boy makes a comment like: “What’s that for? Chapter 22?”) So expect more soon.

Oh wait, I almost forgot to ask. What are YOU doing?

Shopping with Reusable Grocery Bags (Part 2)

Funny thing happened at the grocery store tonight. I placed my shoppings bag on the conveyor belt next to my groceries as usual and the guy sacking groceries ...

... was really excited about my reusable bags! Can you believe that? And not just intrigued by them, but really excited. He couldn't get over how cool my lululemon bag was (thanks, sis!), for one thing.

And then he said something that I took as a great sign—he said my bags were the coolest he'd seen all day. Which means other people are using them in L-town. Who knew!

We talked about shopping with reusable bags for a few minutes and he said he's been pushing for them in their store for years. He talked about how they just make sense because plastic bags have such a negative impact on the environment. As we talked, I just kept thinking: yes! This is good!

Even better, I asked that he fill the bags as full as possible, and he very strategically packed them so that everything fit into the two bags I brought. And when the cashier tried to wrap something in a plastic sack, he told her not to—and even reminded her it would defeat the purpose of the reusable bags.

It sounds silly, but it was great. Small steps, people. Even small steps have a big impact.


(Oh, and a side note: I'm back from the Missouri Valley Basketball tournament—during which I got to see some great basketball. The best part? Drake is going to the NCAA tourney for the first time since 1971. Go Bulldogs!)

Not Becoming an Eco Snob

Let’s face it. I’ve been bitten by the green bug. It’s why I’m (hopefully) going back to grad school—more on that soon. It’s why I do all the annoying things I do around the house to Conservative Boy (thanks for the moniker, Chops). It’s why I think “green” most of the day at work—fortunately, a lot of the time, it’s allowed.

But there’s a fine line between being an eco fan and an eco snob, as I was reminded of in a post on the topic in Treehugger today (titled, fittingly, “Enough Pious Eco-Snobbery”).

I want to make steps to consume less, conserve more, and all that good stuff in my own life. And I want to tell people why it’s important to go green. (Hint: It’s about more than the environment—it’s also about your health, the health of future generations, your pocketbook, and slew of other things.)

At the same time, I don’t want to be preachy or judgmental or come off as someone who looks down her nose at people who aren't "going green." Because it’s not like that at all.

(Side note: Check out these fake Prius ads, which poke fun at the holier-than-thou image of Prius drivers by showing them doing morally reprehensible things. Funny stuff.)

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand. It’s certainly not a competition to see who can be greenest. I admire the steps other people have taken that I haven’t taken yet. It compels me to want to do more. And I admit that I’m far from living a totally eco-friendly life at this point. I make mistakes—as Conservative Boy quickly reminded me when I accidentally left a light on in the closet the other day. (So wasteful, he said disdainfully, then reminded me how often I get after him for leaving lights on. I deserved that, by the way. If you’re going to dish it you have to learn how to take it. But we’re all human and even the greenest among us sometimes forgets to unplug the toaster. No eco-pariahs here, please.)

I don’t want to be one of those people who walks into someone’s house and judges them because they’re not using organic produce or they haven’t taken steps to improve the energy efficiency of their home. Rather, I want to show people how easy it really is to reduce their negative impact on the environment—and that it doesn’t have to involve prancing around in organic cotton jeans or installing composting toilets. I want to make going green a real, honest-to-god good move that anyone can do, not something for an elite few who have the time, the money, and the knowledge to do it right.

Shopping with Reusable Grocery Bags

This isn’t a new one. In Des Moines, I regularly shopped with reusable bags. I have a handy little one that folds up in its own pouch and fits in my purse, so I’m never without one when I get in the checkout line. And I have a couple of other trusty bags I’ve acquired—one from a grocery in California during our girls’ trip through Wine Country, another a shopping bag from my sister’s store, lululemon, that is, of course, covered in inspiration sayings about living life to the fullest and flossing—that can be loaded with tons of stuff.

It took a while, but by the time I left Des Moines I rarely got funny looks when I loaded up reusable bags at the store. The biggest challenge was getting sackers (is that the correct term?) to fill the bags as full as possible. For some reason, there's this mentality among people bagging groceries that placing more than four items in one bag is bad for business. So it took a while to break them of the notion that they could fill my reusable bags up—really fill them up—and not use any plastic bags at all. And, now that I've left Des Moines, the grocery stores themselves are realizing the power of reusable bags and are selling their own.

But now, sadly, I’m starting from scratch. When I moved to small-town Illinois, I knew from my first foray at the grocery store that reusable bags would be a foreign concept.

The people at the checkout look at me like I'm crazy when I place the bags down with my groceries. They'll throw a couple of items in each, then whip out their trusty plastic sacks to take care of the rest. At first I was hesitant to say anything—when you're new in a small town, you don't want to piss off the people at the grocery store! So now I try, very politely of course, to say, "Go ahead and fill them up as much as you can." I think I might have to get a bit more firm with them on this point though, because every time I go armed with all three of my reusable bags I still end up coming home with at least two plastic sacks. And it's not necessary.

The worst was the other day, when a woman at IGA placed each piece of produce in an individual plastic sack, then placed it in my reusable bag. I don't put my fruits and veggies in those clear plastic baggies in the produce section—they're hearty little creatures who don't need that level of protection to get home, and I'm going to wash them anyway. But she wasn't having it. So she made sure every last apple and zucchini was covered fully before it went into the reusable bag. And she even—accidentally—stuck about six extra plastic sacks in the bag too. Great. Just what I needed.

And so the ever-expanding sack of plastic sacks in the cupboard is growing, much to my chagrin.

One of the very customer-friendly things IGA does is have high school kids who will sack your groceries and carry them to your car for you. One day, as one such kid was carrying my reusable shopping bags to the Aztek, he asked me why I used them. I made some general remark along the lines of, "Oh, they're easier to carry and then I don't have all those plastic grocery sacks piling up at my house."

"Oh," he said, as he placed the bags on the seat of the car. "I thought maybe it was because you were one of those environmentalists."

To which I laughed. "Oh, yeah, that too."

He headed back in the store without another word.

It's true that my reusable shopping bags with their nice long shoulder straps are easier to carry. And they hold a lot more food than the average plastic sack. Plus they do prevent that massive buildup of plastic sacks in the cupboard from growing any more than it already has.

But it's also because plastic and paper sacks both have a considerable—and unnecessary—impact on the environment.

Both paper and plastic require major resources for production—and most end up in landfills or litter the side of the road after they’re used. In fact, each year Americans toss an estimated 100 billion plastic bags—and less than one percent are recycled.

And that's just the effect of the bags after they're produced—it doesn't even take into account the impact producing those bags (which require plenty of oil for plastic and wood for paper) have on the environment. This Washington Post graphic provides a nice breakdown of the impact each has in regard to consumption, production, pollution, and more.

Don't have your reusable bag yet? What are you waiting for! If your grocery store doesn't sell them (although many are starting to—even Target!), you can always buy one from reusablebags.com. Or better yet, just use a canvas tote or whatever other bag you might already have at home.

Oh, and if my arguments are falling on deaf ears, think about this: Wouldn't you look so much cooler carrying a bag like the one shown above (photo by inju) rather than a crappy plastic bag? (Sadly, sometimes you have to do what you can when the environment argument falls on deaf ears.)