Transparency and environmentalism

When our little group started in the fall of 2005, we decided that our purpose would be to gradually change our lives in a more sustainable way and discuss the work we were doing each Tuesday morning. It's been 5 years now, and the reporting has been overwhelmingly positive. Most of us have lowered our energy bills, reduced the amount of garbage we are taking out, switched to organic fertilization for our lawns, become more local and organic in our eating habits, and on and on.


Two recent discussions, however, made us realize that all is not perfect in the world of a greener lifestyle. The first discussion happened a few weeks ago, when I pointed to the fact that our dual-flush toilets, while saving us a considerable amount of water each month, were not particularly easy to care for. Because they carry less water in the bowl, dual-flush toilets tend not to look as clean as a traditional low-flush toilet. So instead of cleaning my toilets once a week, I clean them more like 3 times a week. Each time I clean I flush, so this reduces water savings a bit. And it's a nuisance.


That's story #1. Today Martha introduced us to story #2, another disappointment. She bought a front-loading washer-dryer set - more expensive, but using less water than the traditional top-loading model. She has had the set for about 3 years, and reported to us today that she cannot seem to get rid of the mildewy smell that emanates from her washer. This problem has been reported in journals, but the when she broached the topic with the sales clerk at the time of purchase, they told her that this problem had been solved. Apparently not. She has run loads through with bleach (hasn't helped, and not good for the environment), and has now switched from liquid to powder detergent (something about the fat in the liquid contributing to the problem). But the kicker is that she always has to do a second rinse to try to get rid of the smell. So much for water savings!

I just wanted to write this up because many people who advocate for a greener lifestyle often develop an opaqueness about their views. They may find problems with some of the changes in their lifestyles, but don't want to address or report them for fear that the "cause" will be hurt. We simply don't agree. I believe that we are at the very beginning of product development when it comes to a green lifestyle, and some things may work while others need adjustment. This happened with the early CFL light bulbs, and manufacturers have made significant improvements to later models. So as a group, we support transparency in our reporting. If something is working, we want to hear about it. The same goes when it doesn't. I've never known a movement or government that has survived when all of the knowledge was held by a privileged few, and the rest were left in the dark. Same goes for environmentalism. Let's keep our findings out there, positive or negative. Now that's sustainable.

Is environmentalism turning us into cranky people?

I ask this question because I'm beginning to feel a little cranky lately, and think it could be tied to this quest for more environmentally-friendly living. Here's what happened last week. Tom and I took a bike ride over Labor Day weekend to the mall because we both needed new shoes for the fall. Unfortunately for our sales clerk, she had to run into the back room quite a number of times before we found exactly what we were looking for. So before we began checking out, I noticed that her lips were beginning to purse into that eternally-patient look reserved for customers like us. So I really wanted to make the transaction part easy for her. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. She started taking our info for the computer, but Tom asked that we not provide any contact information lest we arrive on their mailing list. Lips pursed a bit more. As she made attempts to get our shoes into a bag, we asked for no bag, that we would take them home in our own bag. This didn't make her any happier. Are we turning into obnoxious customers who want everything just the way they want it - aka cranky people?

Further evidence: Biking on the way home, already feeling guilty about tanking a sales person, we came across a driveway where a car was inching its way forward, ready to make a right turn. The driver, of course, was on his cell phone, and so Tom began calling out to let him know we were passing. Well, he had to call out to the point of an outright shout, and still no response from the driver. We found a way to pass behind him, at which point he finally noticed us, and we gave him the Brennan glare. Pay attention! Yes indeed, we're cranky.

This same week, I was at a Starbucks ordering my standard nonfat latte, and you would think this would be a happy moment for me. Not so. When I put in my order, I noticed that the water in the sink was running full blast rinsing out a blender cannister. No problem there, but the entire time I was waiting for my coffee, the water kept running. Full blast. For someone who has been working at water conservation so intensely over the past year, this was akin to Chinese water torture. I couldn't think about anything but all that water pouring into the sink. And I knew I couldn't just tell the teenager in charge to turn off the water. I just had to watch it. But my happy coffee moment was ruined.

So there you have it - environmentally-induced cranks. I just have to shake my head and wonder how I got here.

Lasagna Season Extension

Spring is finally arrived, and gardeners all around Michigan are waiting for the soil to warm and dry up, so they can start planting. But look: raised beds (aka Lasagna Gardens) warm quickly and while they keep moisture, they won't be soggy. So, with the help of a little plastic tunnel, I already started my cool season veggies...

This neat raised bed is waiting for some seedlings. It is nice enough to be in the front of the house, ... but it has been my compost pile during the winter. Lasagna Gardening wonders!

--[[User:Erica|erica]] 09:53, 14 Apr 2008 (EDT)

Kill-A-Watt

Our Tuesday group has been studying energy for a while now. We first looked at worldwide energy use, then carbon, then light bulbs, and now we are settled on energy in the home. Our goal: a 10% reduction in our energy bills (gas and electric) by next year at this time. First, we looked at how energy use is distributed in our homes, and we examined our gas and electric bills. We started with the chart above, from Energy Star.


Now we're trying to figure out how much energy we use in the various appliances in our homes, such as our refrigerators, computers, washing machines, etc. Our group has 2 Kill-A-Watts, above, which we are passing around and using all around our homes. You plug it into your wall socket, plug your device in, and it will tell you how many watts the device is using. The results can be surprising, as you can see in this video.

Another rain barrel class

On Saturday, March 1, we conducted another rain barrel presentation, this time at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library. We didn't build a barrel at this one, only talked about them and brought one along so everyone could see it. It was a small but very interested group, and the size made for great discussions.

On another topic, I ran across this cartoon today while reading the No Impact Man blog, and thought you would all appreciate it. Credit for the cartoon goes to Eric Lewis of Cartoon Bank.

Bike Bags

Since I live only about a mile from my local grocery store, I was looking for some easy-to-use, practical bags for my bike that would fit the standard grocery shopping bag. I found these Biria USA bags on Bikemania.biz. I like them because they were very easy to attach to the rear bike rack, they are waterproof and close at the top to keep out rain or splashing water. Looks like I'll be using my bike even more this year! -- Martha

A Little Greenhouse

Erica brought this little contraption to our last Tuesday meeting. It's a greenhouse made from a spinach container and an egg carton, and can be used for starting seedlings. What's nice about this device is that you need to water the seeds only once, when you first plant them. The lid will produce a greenhouse effect - sending the moisture back down into the fledgling plants. Good job Erica!

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.

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.

Michigan State Recognition for Green Leadership

Four colleges and universities have received the 2007 Campus Sustainability Leadership Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

The winners, who were honored at the Greening of the Campus conference at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., were Michigan State University, East Lansing; Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.; Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vt.; and Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Chandler, Ariz.

The awards recognize schools that have made substantial commitments to sustainability in governance and administration, operations, curriculum and research, campus culture and community outreach.

Michigan State received the award for four-year schools with more than 7,500 students. Among the university's efforts: Developing an expanded recycling center; incorporation of LEED design practices into campus construction standards; using design strategies for parking lots to reduce storm water run off and frequency of mowing; switching all farm equipment and university-owned diesel trucks on campus to bio-diesel fuel; adding 15 hybrid vehicles to the campus fleet; opening a full-time bike center; updating its campus plan to call for a coordinated bicycle system that includes convenient and appropriately sized storage facilities, bike lanes within roadways, and pathways where appropriate.

For the full story:

Green School and University

TerraCycle

Here's a great new company (about 2 years old) out of Trenton NJ founded by a couple of Princeton guys Terracycle. This is a plant fertilizer made entirely from composted garbage and, yes, worm poop. Even their packaging is recycled. They package the product in 20 oz pop bottles that are collected by groups (esp. schools) around the country. The spray tops are from other companies' leftovers as are the boxes they use for shipping and bottle collection. I'm going to go get some of their products and give them a try. Check out the site - it's great! --- Martha

I also found a great product at Ace Hardward for ridding me of those pesky Japanese beetles. This trap attracts the beetles with a scent and then they fall into the bag and can't get out. I've already caught around a hundred of them and this is not the height of the beetle season. I'll put another out next spring when they begin to hatch. NO PESTICIDES!!!

Eating locally

Our lasagna gardening project is producing food in abundance! This past Sunday, Tom and Peggy trooped out to the garden to harvest tomatoes. We had to whack our way in, mainly because the 2 squash plants have decided to take over. You can see from the picture that some of the broccoli has gone to flower, but we have been able to harvest quite a bit of it first. The broccoli made a delicious cream of broccoli soup, and with the tomatoes we were able to make a fantastic spaghetti sauce. Yum.

Summer Reading

This summer I read'' Animal, Vegetable, Miracle'' by Barbara Kingsolver and I was quite impressed with the book. The author and her family moved from Arizona to an inherited farm in western Virginia and decided to 'live off the land' for a year. This means that they grew their own fruits and vegetables, and even raised their own chickens and turkeys for consumption. They also agreed that to supplement their diet, they could buy organic foods grown within a 100-mile radius of their home. The book is arranged sequentially, from April to the following March, and tells about the process of growing, raising and finally eating foods seasonally. Many of us have joined CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture groups), and reading this book has been a great affirmation of that decision. I have the book to loan out if anyone would like to read it.

Wales

Tom and Peggy took a trip to London and Wales to visit a number of centers/organizations for sustainability: Bioregional in London, Centre for Alternative Technology in in Machynlleth, Wales, and Sustainable Wales in Porthcawl, Wales. Here are our notes: Wales Trip. Take a photo tour on our Great Lakes Green Initiative Flickr page.

The Rain Garden

I wanted to take this picture to show how big our rain garden plants are. We planted them last year as tiny plugs, and this year they are....well, you can see these milkweed plants are just about the same size as Tom. The monarch butterflies are loving it. We got our plants from the Native Plant Nursery in Ann Arbor.

Watering Can

I received a new watering can for Mother's Day, and it's great for the rain barrel. It's hard to see in this picture, but it has a nice wide opening at the top for the water to pour into, and a great spout for sprinkling flowers. It came from Bordines.