'Green' update

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about many restaurants no longer providing plastic straws with beverages.  Since then I've been to a couple places that have switched over to more earth-friendly paper straws, and a couple places who only give plastic straws upon request.

Then this week I saw this Facebook meme which combined this topic with another close to my heart: gun control.

While this is initially funny, it does draw the striking contrast between how easy it was to change behaviors related to plastic straws versus the nearly impossible feat it will be to change behaviors related to gun control, thanks to the wealthy NRA and greedy politicians who accept its bribes.

Being 'green'

I'm all about reducing, reusing, and recycling.  I've posted about it several times before.  I believe we can all make a difference with small behavioral changes that aggregate to improve our environment.  But I'm quite skeptical of the recent decision by many restaurants to no longer provide plastic straws with beverages.  The claim is that plastic straws "clog the ocean and hurt fish".

Ideally it would be best if no plastic was allowed to be dumped into our oceans.  But are we really to believe that this 

is somehow worse than this?

Grocery stores and warehouse clubs sell water in plastic bottles by the dozens, by the case, and by the palette.  About 50 billion (not million) plastic water bottles were purchased last year just in the US. These bottles are far larger and make far more ocean pollution than straws, yet somehow restaurants have singled out straws.  Could there be another reason that has nothing to do with altruism?

How about the fact that restaurants can claim to be 'environmentally friendly' by not providing plastic straws when in reality they are simply saving the money they used to spend to buy them?

The way I see it, the problem isn't plastic straws, water bottles, or grocery store bags.  The problem is our behavior.  We must choose to be responsible with our treatment of plastics, recycling all of them after using them.

But ocean pollution from plastics isn't just a 'USA' problem, its a world problem.  While the USA and some other countries have recycling programs in place, there are plenty of countries that do not, yet they are still consumers of plastic products.  With no recycling opportunities these plastics go into landfills and oceans.  

Obviously its a complex issue that will take effort and cost from all humans to solve.  I hope its an issue that will get worldwide attention soon, but in the meantime, I am skeptical of restaurants who single out straws as somehow making them environmentally responsible.  

What about the styrofoam and plastic "to go" boxes restaurants use for left-overs?

What about the small plastic cups with lids that mayo, ketchup, tartar sauce, and cocktail sauce are often provided in?

If restaurants really want to be environmentally friendly wouldn't they stop using those containers too?  Outback Steakhouse provides those condiments in washable, reusable stainless steel cups so its definitely possible.

By not providing straws are restaurants being 'green' or saving green?

I guess we have to start somewhere.

This little light of mine

Since I am a big fan of recycling, alternative fuels, and zero-emission electric cars, you would think 
that I'd also be a fan of CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs, but I'm not.

I found the earlier version of the CFL bulbs to be annoying because they took 30-60 seconds to fully illuminate.  When you open a closet door and flip on the light switch to find something, you really don't want to have to stand around waiting for the light in order to find something.  The more recent version is better, with a 10-15 second warm-up period, but are still not ideal for places where you need light quickly, like a dark closet.

Another irritating thing about these bulbs is that they don't last as long as incandescent light bulbs.  We moved into our house 7 1/2 years ago and began gradually changing the incandescent bulbs over to CFLs.  I have already had to replace several of the CFLs because they only lasted a couple years.  Meanwhile, the incandescent bulbs that never got switched out are still burning strong after more than 7 years.

Oh, and did I mention CFLs are like 3 or 4 times more expensive than incandescent bulbs???

And when the CFLs burn out, you're not supposed to throw them in your regular household trash because they contain mercury!  You're supposed to drop them off at Home Depot or Lowes to recycle them.  What a pain...

But despite these irritants Spouse & I continue to replace bulbs with CFLs because they allegedly use less electricity.  How do you feel about CFLs?

Going green

I've written several times about easy ways of 'going green'.  "Reuse, reduce, recycle" is my mantra.

From reusing construction materials, to cleaner alternative energy sources, to recycling everything the City will allow, I believe it is all worthwhile, even if some of it takes a little extra time or effort.

My latest 'green' technique involves how I take my lunch to work.  Since I usually make a sandwich, I used to put it into a name-brand plastic bag that zipped closed.  I started to feel guilty throwing the bag away each day after eating the sandwich.  For a while I washed the bag out, left it to dry, and reused it again the next day, but this became more and more inconvenient as there was no 'good' way to dry the bag.  It was becoming quite labor-intensive.

So I switched to a smaller, thinner plastic bag that not only used less plastic, but also cost less.  This worked well and I felt less guilty throwing away the smaller, thinner plastic bag knowing it took less to create it.  Still I wanted to find an easy, convenient way to produce even less trash for the landfill.

Then I discovered this:

Its a square plastic, resealable, reusable sandwich storage box.  It is extremely easy to wipe the inside of the box with a damp sponge and dry it with a dish towel in just seconds.  Once a week I toss it in the dishwasher to sanitize it.  It keeps my sandwich (or left overs from dinner) fresh and creates NO trash going into the landfill.

I love that I have eliminated roughly 22 plastic bags from going into the landfill every month, and that the effort to do so was minimal.  

Reusing, reducing, and recycling are a way of thinking as much as a way of behaving.

Addition update - week 1

In order not to bore regular readers with constant addition updates all week long, I've decided to save them and post them once a week on Saturdays. As a reminder, the addition will be a 16' x 23' garage on the 1st level, and an expansion of our master bathroom and a new walk-in closet/dressing room on the 2nd level. So here we go!

In preparation for the addition project, the builder asked us to remove all of the landscaping from the affected area. Fortunately our yard guy Ray was able to do this for us, for a very reasonable price. No blisters on these hands! (Click to enlarge photos.)

From the side:
Front and side:

Front:

Work was scheduled to begin on June 8, but the builder was not able to get the permits. Several days later we learned that the regular permit guy was on vacation and that the fill-in permit guy was out sick with pneumonia! But on Fri, June 12 the permits were obtained and work was rescheduled to begin on Mon, June 15.

Day 1: On Mon, June 15 the builder Mike and two guys named Jay and Junior started the careful deconstruction of the porch. I use the term 'careful deconstruction' instead of 'demolition' because Mike had agreed to my request that we re-use as much of the existing materials as possible, and donate the materials we can't re-use.

From the side:

Front and side:

Re-using and recycling materials serves several purposes: its better for the environment not to fill up the landfill with building materials that still have some 'life' left in them, it reduces costs by re-using materials instead of buying all new materials, and the donated materials will 'live on' in someone else's building project. I really believe in this concept and Mike the builder agreed to it.

Day 2: Tues, June 16 the dumpster arrived.

Getting the dumpster into our driveway was a real trick! As I've mentioned before, we live on a narrow, one-way street with no sidewalk or curbs. The truck delivering the dumpster could barely get down the street, but then he had to back the dumpster into the driveway without hitting the neighbor's tree or fence. It took several attempts, but the driver finally succeeded.

Also on Tues the surveyors marked for the footings so we were sure to stay within our allowable building area, and the deconstruction of the porch continued with the removal of the HardiPlank siding on the 1st level.

From the side:

Front and side:

Day 3: Wed, June 17 the concrete slab/floor of the porch was jack-hammered and broken up. It was a very noisy process, but fortunately took less than 4 hours. The chunks were removed with a front-end loader and placed into the dumpster. The porch deconstruction is complete!

From the side:

Front and side:

Day 4: Thurs, June 18 it rained, sometimes hard, for most of the day. However, Mike and the guys had loaded up Mike's pick-up truck with the pieces of the porch roof that contained the decorative rafter tails.

According to Mike these decorative rafter tails are expensive to buy and time-consuming to cut/sand. In keeping with my desire for a 'green', cost-effective project, they removed the decorative rafter tails from the left-over pieces of porch roof inside Mike's garage while it rained. Later they deposited the waste material in the dumpster.

Day 4: Fri, June 19 the outline of the addition was spray-painted on the ground, indicating where excavation will be needed in order to set the cinder block footers.

Crush du Jour: Leo Giamani

Earth hour

World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

Today, Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 pm local time, please turn off your lights (except while driving!) for one hour to demonstrate your support for the need for sustainable climate change efforts. Visit the Earth Hour website for celebrity PSAs, climate change details, Earth Hour t-shirts, and all kinds of other cool stuff.

We've only got one planet. Let's work together to save it.

Crush du Jour: Tom Hislop

Friday fragments

I could swear that on last night's American Idol results show, the contestants were lip-syncing during the Motown medley. Did anyone else notice this? Then I saw this.

For the last few weeks I have been having extremely vivid and vibrant dreams. One had me & Spouse experiencing the detonation of a nuclear bomb in the US. Another had me (without Spouse) in a 3-way with a beefy, hairy-chested porn star with body image issues. (I know-WTF, right?) See how fun it is to be me? I seem to wake up after each dream, just long enough to tell myself I need to remember it for later, then fall back asleep. Not sure if there's any connection, but these vivid and vibrant dreams seem to have begun around the time Spouse & I began working out at the gym.

As I've posted before, I'm trying to live up to the motto "Reuse, Reduce, Recycle".
We recycle a lot, but I've been looking for ways to 'reduce'. Recently I've tried not automatically turning on a light when I walk into a room. For me its been more about habit than need. As I'd walk into a room I'd flip on the switch whether I needed to or not. But with my new awareness of this, I've found I can easily stop turning on the light switch unnecessarily. For instance, all of our bathrooms have windows in them, so during the day there is no 'need' to turn on the light. There is sufficient light from the window to take care of business. So I challenge you to look for ways to reduce your energy usage, too. Try NOT turning on the light.

A while back I went to a free 'introduction to yoga' class. It was nice, but included a whole lot more talking (history, different theories, etc.) about yoga and not enough doing. Then Spouse & I joined the local gym and I discovered the gym offered 2 different yoga classes. On Tues evening I tried 'Yoga Fit', the one better suited for beginners, and really enjoyed it! There were only about 6 others in the class and several were new to it like me. I had no advance knowledge of any of the poses, but it didn't take too long to pick them up by watching and listening to the instructor. I plan to do it every week. Anybody else besides Lewis doing yoga?

This week NH voted for marriage equality, as did VT. However, the Governor can nullify the legislation by vetoing the bill. The Governor of VT has already stated he will veto the bill in his state because it is his 'belief that marriage is and should remain between a man and a woman'. Apparently his personal beliefs are more important than the beliefs of the majority of the VT Senate. Hmmm, so much for "government of the people, for the people". More details can be found on Bob's blog.

A few weeks back Spouse & I discussed the purchase of a new rug for our foyer. The one that is currently there was purchased 2 houses (approximately 10 years) ago for under $200. and is looking a bit 'long in the tooth'. We've cleaned it several times but it just looks dingy. We agreed that we'd gotten our money's worth out of it. Well, my husband loves him some home shopping channels, so last Sat he told me that one of them was going to have an area rug clearance on Sun evening. So we watched it together and decided to order a very nice looking 100% wool area rug, clearance priced at $150. with free shipping. We were told it should arrive by April 5th. It arrived on Wed!

I couldn't believe how quickly it got here. We unrolled it last night and are very happy with it. Spouse really enjoyed the fact that we watched the presentation together, selected something, and that we are quite happy with the product. He feels this is a validation of his love for home shopping channels.

Earlier this week I got a call from the body shop, letting me know that Big Ella's paint job was complete! Naturally I was eager to see my big girl in her new dress right away, but since the body shop is an hour away and only open until 5pm M-F, we weren't able to pick up Big Ella without both of us taking off work. So, tomorrow (Sat) morning we are headed to the body shop! Photos to follow.

Again this week I showed no weight loss for all my efforts. Steven offered an interesting reason for this. He suggested that I am converting fat to muscle due to all the extra gym visits, and since muscle weighs more than fat, it appears I'm not loosing weight even though I'm loosing fat. Well, that was good enough for me! Seriously though, it makes sense, and it keeps me from loosing hope.

Have a fab weekend, everyone!

Crush du Jour: Javier Beltran

Chevy Volt update

There is some exciting news regarding the Chevy Volt:

Currently GM has about 30 prototypes running around the proving grounds and in various test facilities. These cars have been performing flawlessly. The next critical stage in Volt development process will be the building of true to form and function Chevrolet Volt prototypes.

Andrew Farah, the Volt’s lead engineer actually has a countdown clock in his office revealing that 63 days from today, assembly of the first true Volt will start. All the parts will be lined up at the low volume assembly facility and will begin to come together that day. Andrew notes the first one will take longer to produce, but for all intents and purposes will come to life on June 1st. They will then be built at a rate of roughly 10 per week until a total fleet of over 80 is completed.

Those cars “will look, taste, smell, and feel like the Volt. They are the Volt,” said Farah “my goal is by Forth of July to be out driving several of them.”

According to Greg Ceisel, GM’s Voltec manager, 2010 will bring several more build stages. “We’ve got several phases leading up to the production launch where we build larger and larger batches,” says Ciesel “in each phase as we perfect the production process, make sure we’ve got all the fit finish and other details exactly correct and that the quality of the vehicle meets our standards before we go into the first vehicles that will ultimately be saleable vehicles that will be shipped to the dealerships.”

He said there will be “a hundred or so” of these final pre-production Volts that will also act as a test fleet for mostly GM employees.

By November of 2010 the first saleable Volts will begin being built and shipped to dealerships.
Why all this fuss is about the Chevy Volt? Because the Volt is an extended-range electric car being developed by General Motors. The Volt is a plug-in electric vehicle with an on-board gasoline generator. It will have a large battery that stores power from your home electric outlet and which is connected to an electric motor. The electric motor directly propels the car.

How is the Volt different than today’s hybrids? Today’s hybrids are called parallel hybrids. They use a small electric motor for low speed driving, but switch to a regular gas engine for acceleration and faster speed driving, hence both engines work side by side or in parallel. There is no way to drive parallel hybrids without using some gasoline. The Volt is a series vehicle meaning only the electric motor powers the car at all times; the gas engine is just a generator, making electricity to keep the batteries in a steady state of charge.

The Volt will be able to drive at least 40 miles on pure electricity stored in the battery from overnight home charging. Many people whose daily commute is less than 40 miles will be able to drive to and from work and never use any gasoline! Think about running your errands (drycleaner, grocery store, Target) on a Saturday, picking up kids from school and sports practice, or going out to dinner and a movie without using an ounce of gasoline!

What happens if you need to drive more than 40 miles? The gas engine will kick in and allow the car to be driven up to 400 miles on a full tank (6-7 gallons) of gas. For the first 40 miles it will get infinite mpg, because no gas will be used. When the generator starts, the car will get an equivalent of 50 mpg thereafter.

To me, this is very exciting! We're that much closer to having a fully electric car as an option (not to replace all gasoline powered cars). Electric cars produce virtually no pollution and reduce our dependence on oil. I will be in line to buy one in November 2010.

Crush du Jour: Matt Aymar

Green

Its St Patrick's Day - are YOU wearing green???

And if you still want more yummy green goodness, check out last year's tribue to St Patrick's day.

Crush du Jour: Danny Care