The Devil in the Details

I think the story of my coffee mug is a great example of the process we are all going through trying to live a more green lifestyle. A little background: Over the past couple of years, I have read 2 books about garbage (please hear me out...I know I have already lost credibility with any sane person reading this!). First I read Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage by Heather Rogers, and then, apparently compelled to read more on the subject, I read Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte. The one important message I derived from both books was: Recycling is OK, but the real deal, the thing you absolutely have to start doing, is REDUCE the amount of stuff you consume. One small way I decided to do this was to use a reuseable mug when buying a drink outside of my home. This should be simple, right?

Wrong! First, I actually had to remember to bring my mug with me (helps to carry a bigger purse), and then, a while back when I had my mug with me, I went to a Starbucks and asked them to put my coffee into my mug. I got rewarded with a 10-cent discount, and then watched as the barrista made my coffee in a disposable cup, poured it into my mug, and threw out the cup. Great.

So the next time I went to a Starbucks, I handed my mug to the clerk and said: 'Can you make me a coffee in this mug without using another cup?' 'Sure,' was the reply I received, and when I explained the situation from last time, they told me that the person was not trained correctly, and that their policy is not to use cups just to throw away.

I know this seems microscopic in the grand scheme of things, but it represents decisions and conversations I have every day in so many areas. A big part of the work is just KEEPING AT IT.

Bioneers 2007

We had a great time at the Bioneers Conference this weekend at Marygrove College. Our rain barrel presentation was well attended with 35 participants! At the end of the day, all the barrels were gone. Most important, we found so many others to connect with. We found over 25 people interested in hearing more about our group...maybe it was the cookies!

Another lasagna garden

Another lasagna garden in Troy... I'm preparing it now to let it cook during the winter.
You can see the whole sequence on the lasagna gardening page.

Benefits of Transportation Alternatives

I found this chart today on the No Impact Man blog. It shows the benefits of walking, cycling or using public transportation, as opposed to driving a car, in relation to the obesity rates of various countries. The author of the blog, Colin Beavin, is on month 10 of a year-long project to live more sustainably, and he and his family have not driven since the project began, and so have all lost weight. I can attest to the fact that during the time I lived in Japan and used public transport only (or just my feet), I never had to use a formal exercise program.

Lasagna Gardening, Part III

We thought it might be interesting for you all to see the end result of our lasagna gardening work this year. I'm calling this Part III because we have talked previously about building lasagna gardens, then the planting and growing process, but we have not as yet arrived at the best part -- making delicious food from the harvest. The picture above shows Maureen, Tom and Molly cutting up butternut squash to make soup. We had so much this year we had to make a double recipe. We now have soup for both their household and ours, and it should last until NEXT summer's harvest, looking at the huge amounts we have frozen. If you'd like the recipe, you'll find it on the recipes page.

Techno Trash

We have been working at cleaning stuff out of our house, a little bit at a time. I have taken used books and video tapes to the library, but ended up with some homemade tapes, or tapes missing the boxes, and didn't know what to do with them. In the past I have just thrown them in with the regular trash, but a few years with this group have made me think twice about that option. I googled 'videotapes recycling' and came up with a site called GreenDisk. This company wants all of your techno-trash (see list of acceptable trash), and they promise to "...safely and securely destroy your old data, recover reusable components, and recycle..." it. So I gathered together some old video tapes and threw in a couple of outdated portable disc players, weighed it, boxed it, and went to their site to order a mailing slip for $6.95 (their processing cost). Then I took the box to the post office this morning and paid another $15.46 to send it (note: The post office employees told me that it could have been much cheaper if I had not included the CD players - live and learn). So I'm out about 20 bucks but my conscience is a lot clearer.

Dual Flush Toilets

When we studied water last year, one of the things we discovered was that toilets consumed more water, on average, than anything else in the typical home. This fall we remodeled a bathroom in our home, and decided to take the opportunity to add 2 dual-flush toilets and see how they work. I'm happy to report they are great! In case you are not familiar with these toilets, the picture above shows how they work. You push the smaller button (.9 gallons per flush) if you are flushing down liquid waste, and the larger button (1.6 gallons per flush) for solid waste. This model is a Toto Aquia Dual Flush Toilet.