No Impact Experiment, part 1: Consumption November 25, 2009

Ok, I’ll admit it right away: I totally blew the No Impact Experiment. By Tuesday (I was supposed to start on Sunday) I hadn’t done anything and after finally reading the how-to manual, I was feeling overwhelmed and behind. I didn’t want to give up but needed to rethink how to do this. Thanks to a friend’s idea, I decided that what would work best for me would be to do one part each week, rather than each day. I wanted to give this thing proper attention and time and it’s a lot to do in a week. So, feeling much better I focused on the first topic last week: consumption.

The instructions for the consumption day were to: 1) create a list of the things I need to buy this week, then delete the items I can do without and figure out if I can get anything second-hand, borrow them or make them myself; and 2) try not to shop for new items (other than food). For this particular week this task turned out to be pretty easy; I didn’t feel like there was really anything I needed to buy beyond food. I avoided dangerous places like Target. I pulled out the needle and thread to mend some socks (my husband loves to call it darning for some reason; I guess it makes him feel old fashioned). I definitely enjoyed being a non-consumer for a week.

But that’s the thing–it was only for a week. No Impact Man did this for a year! That would be very, very hard. Just this week I bought several things to prepare for Thanksgiving. And then the TV broke, so we’ll be getting a new one soon. Although I’m not No Impact Man and won’t just “do without” no matter what, I did think about what I could do differently long-term. I could be shopping second-hand more (Craigslist is such a great resource–husband recently found a keyboard with all the bells and whistles for $20. It’s older but works great!), and although I don’t think I’m purchase-crazy, I could put some more thought into what I buy and think about whether I really need what I’m about to buy.

The No Impact Experiment shared this video that I saw awhile back that helps you get into the mode about thinking (probably way too much) about stuff:

Time for a carbon cleanse! November 15, 2009

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’ve been back in coasting along-mode with my eco-conscious behaviors. I have started some new habits in the past several months, but I’ve been feeling like it’s time to revisit and kick it up a notch again. Since I was feeling like things needed a little shaking up I was intrigued to find out about NRDC and No Impact Man’s “No Impact Week” that starts today. They’re cleverly calling it a “carbon cleanse”–an abbreviated version of what No Impact Man did for a year. (He spent a year trying to live with no net environmental impact. Here’s some background on that project. It was a cool idea, and ended up turning into a book, documentary and non-profit project.)

The words “no impact” are intimidating, and also impossible, but I guess the idea is that it’s something to strive for. So, I signed up and I’m ready to go. So far I’ve just filled out an online survey that consisted mostly of questions about my environmental behaviors. Interestingly, there was a section that focused on quality of life issues; it made me get more reflective than I expected to when I had to answer questions about how happy I am with my life. I was wondering why those kinds of questions were included and I imagine it has to do with material possessions not equaling happiness, the satisfaction of simplyfing and ideas along those lines–the kind of stuff that sounds great and makes so much sense but doesn’t always translate easily to daily life.

We’ll see if this week-long experiment will have much effect or spur me on to create some changes that I haven’t gotten around to or just haven’t taken the leap to do. I have a lot of questions running through my mind right now (Will I have time to do these things? Will I be able to afford it? Will I have to do things that will label me an eco-freak? Will I be told to do something I just can’t do that day, or give up something I just don’t want to give up?) but I’m ready to give it a shot. Want to join me? You can sign up here.

Here’s a video that gives a good idea of what the No Impact Week is:

Ok, now I have to go figure out what I’m supposed to today. And tomorrow. Yikes!

Sigg-nificant frustration October 30, 2009

I just went on my third trip to Whole Foods to attempt to exchange my old Sigg bottles with no success. It’s my own darn fault–I just can’t find bottle designs I’m happy with, so each time I’ve gone to return them, I’ve decided to hold out and hope for some better designs to come in. Why am I doing this? Well, in case you haven’t heard, a couple of months ago Sigg announced that their bottle liners have trace amounts of BPA in them. What’s worse is that they knew about this for a few years without telling the public. There was quite the hostile and disappointed response on the web from people who had put their faith in what they thought was an eco-minded company.

Some people have trashed their bottles, but the company has been offering a free exchange program so that people can return the old tainted bottles for bottles with the new “EcoCare” liner that is BPA-free. So, since I have four Sigg bottles I decided to go with the exchange rather than waste the investment I put into the bottles (they’re not cheap!). But now I guess I can’t quite do it; I think due to bitterness about the whole situation and ambivalence about continuing to use Sigg bottles. It’s disappointing (I trusted this product) and scary (what else am I being misled about?) when you think you’re doing the right thing for the environment and for your health, only to find out that that wasn’t as much the case as you thought. It’s hard enough trying to live green without feeling screwed over by the company that makes those stylish bottles!

This all goes back to my quest to get my husband (and myself to a lesser extent) off of plastic water bottles. About five years back, I would buy a case of water at Costco fairly regularly, and it was really bothering me. Not only was it wasteful, but there were pesky bacteria and leaching issues if we reused the bottles. I also didn’t want to be contributing to the crazy amounts of bottled water being consumed in the world. So, I bought several reusable bottles, filled them with water and kept them in the fridge so we’d always have water ready to go. It’s worked really well and has been totally worth the investment, even with this Sigg setback.

I’m sure I’ll pick out some bottles sometime soon and have my new and improved Siggs. But, I won’t feel quite as cool while using them, and I won’t be buying them anymore. There are a lot of other good options out there. They might not look as hip, but oh well.

Art meets green on PARK(ing) day September 25, 2009

How happy I was to stumble across the PARK(ing) Day website on the actual day of this annual event! I had heard about it probably about a year ago and thought it was such a cool idea–it’s a global event where people independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks. I’m not always a fan of “making a statement”-type stunts, but I couldn’t resist the creativity of this event, because what I do love is when fun meets art in public spaces.

The original PARK(ing) Day. Photo credit: Rebar/Andrea Scher

PARK(ing) Day (PD) started in 2005 by a San Francisco art collective; the point was to explore how public space is allocated. Hint: lots more space is allocated to vehicle-related needs than to green space. The idea caught on and now people in cities all over the world participate by creating their own little parks in parking spaces on the same day.

I had to see this in person, and fortunately I found out about a PD spot a short distance from my home, at the University of Illinois-Chicago.The parking spot was actually in a parking lot, so it lacked some of the drama that a space on a busy street might have, but it was still great to see. The group participating were students in UPPSA, the Urban Planning and Policy Student Association. They had quite the set up in their temporary park-lawn chairs, snacks, games and music-to make a great day of it.

Looks like a great PARK(ing) Day, complete with lawn chairs and a chess set!

The space was clearly visible from the street, and they drew plenty of curious attention.

All of the flowers, plants and sod were donated by a generous landscaper.

I don’t know how much impact this effort will make on city planning or increasing green space, but it’s still a great example of what a little imagination and playfulness can create. It kind of makes me wonder about what else you could do with a parking spot after paying the meter…

Beautiful Green Thing #6 August 25, 2009

After it sat in a pile of periodicals for quite some time, I finally got around to flipping through the summer 09 Nature Conservancy magazine. I’m really glad I did get around to reading it because I came across a very cool project that TNC did called “Design for a Living World“. TNC invited 10 designers to create products made from sustainable materials from around the world. The website states that “Design for a Living World asks us to think about the products we use–where they come from, how they are made and the impacts they have on our planet.”

The designers traveled to far-off destinations to learn about the materials and the people who harvest them. They came up with some pretty fascinating (if not always practical) results that provide both the opportunity to appreciate the aesthetic aspect, but also learn about the materials in a unique way. The website supports this project well with really nice design and descriptions. Check it out and enjoy!

Buying organic: a cheat sheet July 5, 2009

I am so loving all of the beautiful fresh produce available this time of year. I’ve been buying up fruits and veggies like they’re going out of style (actually, soon they will be–out of season anyway). But, this has also made my goal of buying everything organic a bit more challenging; some of the prices are hard to take.

So, I decided to learn more about what really are the most important things to buy organic, and what items I can get away with buying conventional and not feel like I’m poisoning myself. I had heard of the “Dirty Dozen” but could never remember what was on the list when I was at the store. Thanks to a handy pocket card I received from Green America, I now have the list with me when I shop, and hopefully soon I won’t need the cheat sheet anymore.

Here’s the list of what Green America claims are the most important produce items to buy organic:

apples

bell peppers

celery

cherries

imported grapes

nectaines

peaches

pears

potatoes

raspberries

spinach

strawberries

(A list put out by the Environmental Working Group I found includes lettuce, kale and carrots in place of raspberries, spinach and potatoes. Probably better just go with the list of 15.)

I also came across a list of the fruits and veggies with the lowest amounts of pesticide residue. I’ll call these the “Discount Dozen”.

onions

avocado

sweet corn (frozen)

pineapples

mango

asparagus

sweet peas (frozen)

kiwi fruit

bananas

cabbage

broccoli

papaya

(The Environmental Working Group list also included eggplant, watermelon and surprisingly, tomatoes.)

An obvious difference between the lists is that most of the items on the dirty list either have thin skin or no skin, while the items on the discount list have thicker skin that is removed. That’s an easy way to remember at least some of the foods. Environmental Working Group has a more in depth list of 47 fruits and vegetables and where they fall on the spectrum of pesticide residues.

So far my only big change has been buying non-organic (but fair trade when I can) bananas. It’s good to know that if it’s not realistic to buy everything organic (as is the case for many of us) that there are options to help make buying all of that beautiful produce a little less stressful.

Download your own cheat sheet from the Environmental Working Group. Happy shopping–and eating!

Is it Easy Being Green’s first giveaway! May 30, 2009

In honor of my 20th post and 1,500th view I thought I would do a fun giveaway. Now unlike other high-powered blogs, I’m still a little indie blog. So, that means I don’t have any hot “swag” or “merch” to give away. I’m going to do a DIY giveaway of my favorite thing to make–cookies!

I’m a big baker and cookies tend to be my speciality, so I thought why not make someone’s day with homemade cookies? I use all organic, quality ingredients, so you can be sure you’re getting a worthwhile prize.

Here’s how it will work: just write a comment to this post telling me

• your favorite kind of cookie (within reason for an amateur home baker to make)

• what you love about eating organic
• your e-mail address

The winner will receive two dozen of your favorite cookies! The deadline to enter is June 13, 2009. You can only enter once, except you get an extra entry if you subscribe to my blog. Just say you subscribed (or already subscribe) in your comment. The winner will be chosen randomly in a non-high tech fahion. I’ll contact the winner to make arrangements to send the freshly baked goodness to your home. Good luck!

Whole Foods, you had me at the first sample May 25, 2009

There’s a new Whole Foods in town, and it’s bigger, more enticing and more fun than any Whole Foods I’ve ever been in. It’s the new Lincoln Park Whole Foods, and I had the chance to go to their sneak preview party last week. I gawked at the store while munching on way too many (in quantity and variety) samples–it was like a foodie Disneyland!

Whole Foods definitely knows what they’re doing, and how to suck my dollars from my wallet as quickly as I can say “organic vegan gluten-free faux barbeque”. Fortunately at the sneak preview nothing was for sale, so I worked my way through the sushi, mushroom tamales, organic sangria, curry ice cream, chilli pepper truffles, Goose Island brews and deep dish pizza. I know, sounds like a bit much, but what can I say? Gladly, my stomach made it through just fine. Plus, I was glad to know my donation went to Common Threads.

If you dare, it’s definitely worth visiting this store. I’ve already been back twice! I need to take it easy on the Whole Foods shopping though; I’m so easily manipulated by the good-smelling, fun music-playing, great-looking natural foods mecca!

Salad bar and prepared foods extraordinaire

Bulk foods section includes a DIY trail mix station

Cheese anyone?

Really? A bar with Goose Island on tap.

View from the parking lot level