Things I Can Live Without

The husband was looking for the hair dryer the other day and I had to inform that we hadn’t actually had a hair dryer for over two years. And it took him two years to notice it was missing. After the last one blew out, I never bothered getting another one. It was one of those unnecessary things that not only waste electricity but something I could live without.

Also getting rid of the hairdryer certainly helped reduce my carbon footprint.

So it got me wondering…what else can we live without? What other items in our homes that once seemed so important have, since our new awareness, become energy wasting, carbon footprint enlarging, planet endangering, wastes of money?

A quick stroll around the apartment was enough for me to see what needs to go or, to be less wasteful, will not be replaced when it goes to electronic heaven.

Hairdryers (hair dries all by itself)

Curling irons, straighteners and other useless energy wasting bathroom appliances

Personal CD players (a little outdated and certainly redundant)

VCRs (and DVD players if you have TIVO and Netflix)

Stereo systems (just dinosaurs really)

Radios

Broken printers

Outdated desktop computers

Irons (line drying makes this a waste of time and energy)

Extra televisions (really you don’t need more than one)

Craze kitchen appliances (i.e. celebrity endorsed grills that get used once and aren’t worth the carbon footprint it took to make them)

All these things can go along with many more if I thought about it a little more. The more we buy disposable consumer goods, the more manufacturers will produce them, adding dangerous pollutants into the air and adding to the intensity of climate change. I watch these documentaries that explain how manufacturers make good to be disposable, fads, crazes, plastic what nots that soon become landfill fodder. Electric appliances are made to break quickly so they are thrown away and consumers consume more and more. We have to stop this and learn what’s important and what we have that’s sustainable and what’s just excess that harms the planet.

It’s important to dispose of appliances and electronic equipment responsibly. Many items contain contaminants and precious metals. We can live without a lot of things. If we think about it for a minute there is many reasons to reject the consumer cycle of buy, discard buy again.

I’m learning to live without and feeling better for it as well.

The Joy of Soy

There are a lot of discussions to be had when it cones to that most versatile and useful of plants soy but today I’m thinking about soy inks. It's because I’m thinking about packaging and how combined with sustainable or recyclable packaging, soy inks can have a major effect on the carbon footprint of large manufacturers and set the tone for a future filled with responsible corporate choices.

Soy ink is a healthy alternative to traditional synthetic chemical based inks that made for unsatisfactory working conditions and adding to a company’s carbon footprint. During the growing process soy plant help eliminate carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and in most cases require no irrigation. This means more oxygen, less water and less energy. Soy is a sustainable product low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that grows easily and abundantly.

Soy ink is a plant based ink that reduces damage to paper during de inking processes, creates a brighter look to packaging finishes and acts as the perfect compliment to recycled paper packaging. I used to think soy inks would come off in my hand, stain my skin and disintegrate before my eyes. I’m not sure where this idea came from but I definitely thought they were unstable and unsustainable. It’s good to be wrong sometimes.

In fact, soy ink doesn’t rub off as easily as traditional inks making it perfect for printing newspapers. The waste from soy ink is not hazardous and doesn’t harm the environment. The soy ink is highly heat resistant and causes less damage to printing and copying machines than traditional inks, lengthening the life of printing equipment. Perhaps most important is the brilliance of the soy ink pigment and the ability to create amazing color palettes that compliment the written word.


Soy is proving to be a core component of a greener world. It is easy to grow and cheap to produce, saving money and reducing carbon emissions in the manufacturing process.

Now I’m starting to understand this whole happy happy soy thing.

Everything Comes Out in the Wash?

I was at the store this afternoon picking up the wooden clothes pins for me new washing line that hangs off my balcony. My friend is also the store manager and we discussed the decision to dry laundry outside instead of using the dryer and offsetting our carbon footprints. She mentioned that it was a lucky thing as that meant I would no longer be using toxic dryer sheets to clean my family’s clothes.

What? What have I missed? Toxic dryer sheets?

Apparently, there are numerous articles in print and online explaining the hidden dangers of using static cling sheets or dryer sheets in your laundry. Rather than just a nice smelling piece of fabric that “somehow” (aaah the naivety of the unexamined!) improve the feel and smell of your clothes and reduce that prickly painful shocking that occurs when two wool sweaters have a meeting of the minds in high temperatures.

So of course, I hurried home (walking not driving- I’m working on that whole footprint thing) to find out the truth behind the hidden life of dryer sheets.

So here’s the scoop. According to proponents of change and advocates of living a greener more chemical free lifestyle, dryer sheets are a cause of allergies, disorders and illness. They are full of toxic chemicals that are approved by the government for such uses as no-one actually eats or drinks a dryer sheet so where’s the harm?

The harm of course being the fact these little sheets of fluffy goodness are actually a detriment to the planet, encourage unnecessary energy use (electric dryer use) and may leave harmful chemicals on my child’s clothing. Those chemicals and toxins allegedly include, according to care2.com:

“Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer.
Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant.
Ethanol: On the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders.
Limonene: Suspected Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant, Immunotoxicant,
Kidney Toxicant, Neurotoxicant,
Respiratory Toxicant, and Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant.
A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage.
Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list.
Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders.
Chloroform: Neurotoxic, anesthetic and carcinogenic.
Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders.
Pentane: A chemical known to be harmful if inhaled.”

A few non toxic options exist, the green alternative to traditional static cling sheets, but really, isn’t the only green option to stop using a dryer altogether?

But here’s my problem. I couldn’t find any reliable government based sources regarding the issue and therefore cannot say whether or not the claims are true or at least, as bad as they sound. But the fact that all the dryer sheet sites I went to looking for an ingredients list were less than forthcoming with the chemical composition of their products makes be think “more matter less art” (well, the cover up is practically Shakespearian). I guess I found enough sources to convince me not to use dryer sheets. What you do to help the planet breathe more easily is up to you. A carbon credit for every anti static maneuver?

I also heard that if you put a little white vinegar into the washing machine with the clothes, it will soften the fabric and prevent static buildup.

There you go. A real organic solution. I can’t tell you if it works. I’ve opted for wind energy and solar power for drying my unmentionables.

Carbon Neutral Kids

It’s not just us dissatisfied Gen-Xers and frustrated Boomers that have become a part of the green revolution. Many of today’s younger generations are living in a world where being green isn’t a phase or trend but a way of life, an integral part of normal society. What was a novel idea in the past has become an essential part of daily living and so learning about reducing carbon footprints and helping the planet should also involve the kids.

We should probably acknowledge that they know more than we do at this point.

I like to refer to my 6 month old as the “carbon neutral kid” as I strive to put what I learn into action to improve his quality of life. The little guy uses only organic products from sustainable containers, eats only organic locally grown foods and wears previously owned items and plays with well loved toys, all in my effort to keep his carbon footprint as low as possible.

And of course to encourage a lifetime of green practices.

Where before I would be accused of being cheap, I’m now applauded for being green.

Because when it comes down to it, we must not only reduce and offset our own carbon footprints, we must make green living a sustainable movement by encouraging the next generation to live better than ourselves.

But what am I saying? The kids are going green already.

Internet sites abound with advice for new moms on responsible and sustainable lifestyles and children taking ideas out of the classroom and putting them into practice in their communities. I recently saw a young man on one of the children’s channels being mentioned for starting a recycling program in his classroom that spread to the whole school and later the entire school district.

Kids put cans in the recycling bin without thinking and use the back side of paper without a glance. They ride their bikes in the park and walk to school when they can. They wear the hand me downs of their siblings and guilt their parents into choosing paper over plastic. Children plants vegetable gardens learn about the ozone layer and a truly worried and actively working towards solving the problems associated with climate change.

As we struggle to reduce our waste and offset our carbon, the future is working slowly and smartly towards a carbon neutral future.

Maybe they’ve been listening to us after all.

If we keep encouraging them, just imagine how far they can go.

A carbon neutral world? We can only hope.

Putting it all on the Line

Choosing to use a clothes line to dry clothes rather than an electric dryer is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Besides saving money on electricity and dryer sheets, not using the dryer reduces the amount of heat in your home. Less heat means less use of the air conditioner in the summer months and did I mention the savings on the electric bill? According to the California Energy Commission, a single dryer will cost over $1,500 in operation fees over its life time. That doesn’t include the initial cost to buy the dryer which runs into the hundreds of dollars.

According to electric use calculators, if you wash a single load of clothes on hot water, put that load into the dryer and then iron that load with an electric iron, it costs you about $1.10. If instead you simply washed the clothes in cold water, hung them on the line to dry and become naturally wrinkle free, a single load of laundry would only cost 12 cents.

That’s a big difference. And reducing your energy consumption is simply a wonderfully side effect of your budget laundry choices.

So once you realize the logic of drying clothes on a line, you have a number of choices. You can buy a clothes line from an online store which can cost anywhere from 20 bucks to a couple hundred dollars depending on style and size, or you could buy a line of rope and a bag of clothes pins. This would cost less than ten dollars. Tie the rope between two trees or other points in the yard and pin your wet clothes on the line. Wait for the power of wind energy to do its work and enjoy line dried, fresh smelling, footprint reducing, alternative energy promoting, clean clothes.

Sometimes it isn’t being green and helping the planet recover from the effects of carbon emission and global warming. But sometimes it is. Sometimes being green is just good old fashioned common sense that benefits both the bottom line and the world.

I mean, its not like clothes lines are a new invention. Sometimes being green isn’t about innovation and looking to the future. It can also be about reviving past ways of doing things to change the present.

A rope, a few pins and a clear day. Easy.

Selling Green

Yesterday I was at a friend’s house reaping the benefits of his vegetable garden. As he explained the use of all natural fertilizing techniques (poop and volcano ash) and his desire for fresh organic food, I took the opportunity to share my new found knowledge about compost heaps. I had trouble understanding why he wasn’t already composting and realized it was because he really hadn’t been exposed to the concept. Here in rural conservative Wyoming, anything that smacks of going green can meet with more than a little resistance.

And it made me realize how much I’ve been selling green lately.

When you live in a place like Wyoming, you really understand how diverse opinions, upbringings, beliefs and cultural understandings are in this country. That’s great but it does make promoting green a little difficult. A lot of people consider the green evolution as some liberal tree hugging lentil eating movement to put up taxes, restrict business and impede the American dream.

And sometimes it’s hard to make people see otherwise. And is it my place? Is it anyone’s place?

I mean we think we are promoting the “proper thing to do”, the “right course of action,” the “only real way forward” and what we must to do to “save the planet,” but aren’t we pushing a belief system on others? Is green the new religion? As I looked at the situation of going green from the perspective of my conservative friends, I could see where they got that impression.

Between the mainstream media and the die hard eco terrorists, going green has taken on a number of motivations and perspectives and the harder we push, the stronger the resistance to change. Offsetting our carbon footprints, reducing the impact of waste on our planet and choosing organic and local are just logical.

Do I think green is the new religion? No.

Do I think it will harm the entrepreneurial spirit of the country? Absolutely not.

I’m selling green because it’s smart, economical and makes good old fashioned sense. Saving money, conserving energy, making do and growing your own are not new concepts. This nation was built by people that used innovative ideas to promote progress and change. The green evolution is simply the next step in the development of America.

I realized as I explained to my friend how a compost heap would ultimately help him sustain his self sufficient lifestyle (a core component of Wyoming living) that going green should not be a political concept or a fanatical movement. It should be what it is: a choice to improve one’s own quality of life.

Waste Not Need Not

I was at the grocery store today trying my best to stretch a budget. I wrote a list and tried to stick to it, I made a note of how much I was spending to help me stay on track, bought in bulk where feasible and compared prices between stores to ensure I was spending the absolute minimum on every single necessary item. And that’s just it: necessary. As I walked down aisle after aisle of brightly colored packages I said to myself over and over….

“Do I want it? Yes. Do I need it? No.”

And it worked. I saved a lot of money, bought only what I actually needed and opted for healthy food to get the most nutritious bang for my hard earned buck. And on the way home I started thinking about how my little mantra could be applied to other things besides my grocery list.

For one thing, I could use it to offset my carbon footprint.

We have gotten into the habit of buying for the sake of buying, wanting for the sake of knowing about and getting simply because we can. And if it hadn’t been for the near catastrophic economic down turn, I doubt that would have changed.

But it did change. We have to start realizing that money doesn’t grow on trees and we can actually get by on a lot less than the advertisers, manufacturers and producers would have us believe. We can reduce our carbon footprint by reducing our consumption which ultimately reduces our waste.

I mean a zero waste world is the ultimate goal but realistically speaking that’s a few years off. What most of us can achieve is a step in the right direction. Any anyway, I for one am sick of wasting money on over priced items I don’t really need. Aren’t you?

So now when I look at products I not only have to think about whether or not I need them or can afford to spend my money on them but also how much effect my purchase will have on my current environment and on the future of this planet. Awareness is responsibility and responsibility is conscientious shopping and product use. Everything I bring into my home will become a waste product that affects the planet. And I, like everyone has to decide…

“Do I want it? Yes. Do I need it? Maybe. Is it worth the waste? Probably not.”

It’s my step in the right direction.

Partying Green

I went to an outdoor wedding yesterday and it reminded me that every occasion is an opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint. Making a happy occasion better by partying green is becoming an essential for all responsible planetary citizens.

And it actually saves money.

Getting over the idea of using plastic at events is a big must for this nation. We have become obsessed with easy clean up and hygiene at the expense of the planet. Plastics, plates, plastic silverware, plastic serving dishes, plastic utensils, plastic cake bags, plastic decorations, plastics drink cups, plastic straws, plastic favors, plastic wrappers, plastic, plastic, plastic. Urgh! What are we doing? Just because something seems convenient in the moment, doesn’t mean it actually is.

A plastic straw can take 200 years to degrade.

A plastic container can take 30 years to degrade.

The little plastic rings on the top of a six pack? 450 years.

A plastic beverage bottle? Thousands of years.

Of course, every plastic is different and some are made using recycled products. Nevertheless, they remain a ubiquitous blight on the planet and the less we buy and use, the less manufacturers will produce. It’s that simple. We are consumer culture. If we don’t consume it. They won’t make it.

Buying sustainable products wherever possible will save money in the long run (as you can use them over and over) and reduce the impact you personally have on the local landfill. Pick up extra silverware, serving dishes and plates at a yard sale or thrift store. And just don’t buy straws: they aren’t really necessary. Cotton table cloths, paper cake bags, paper or natural decorations, organic favors (bird seed, flower seeds, grass seeds) and cards and wrapping paper made of recycled materials.

For beverages use glass glasses and buy alcohol in glass containers. A glass recycling box at the corner of a party next to the garbage for the compost heap isn’t difficult. Actually having guests separate their trash will certainly make for a conversation starter.

Whenever you have a large event, you have to realize just how much carbon you are producing. It’s not just about using ceramic plates and real silverware. The distance people travel to attend your event, the energy it takes to cook for a lot of people, the fossil fuels used in the forms of gasoline and electricity, the new clothes that are bought for the occasion (and all those associated costs in human labor and carbon emissions); even the gifts have a carbon footprint. So for every large event that you have, it is a good idea to buy a little carbon credit and offset the celebration.

The world is changing. It’s becoming more aware of itself. It’s not about being a tree hugger (although everyone can use a little love), it’s about responsibility and stewardship. It’s about taking the time to think about cost effective, practical and earth friendly choices.

Alright, lecture over. Party on dudes.

Just party green.

Gaga Over Garbage

We all know we are supposed to reduce, reuse and recycle and many of us have the little separator bins in the house or take our plastic bottles and bundled newspapers to the local recycling plant. We certainly try to process waste that comes into our homes. But how to reduce the amount of waste in the first place? Offsetting carbon is a great thing but reducing waste is one of the major goals of this green evolution.

First, I have to concentrate on the three R’s and really think about what they mean to me.

Recycle. Well I know what that means. It means put glass jars in one bin, plastic bottles in another and food waste somewhere else (preferably on a home compost heap). But perhaps instead of heading off to the local made anywhere but here super mart to buy cute color coordinated recycling bins, I should find a way to recycle something I already have. Because recycling doesn’t always mean sending stuff off to a factory to be transformed into a new product. I can in fact do it myself, reducing my carbon footprint at the same time as I get ready to reduce my carbon footprint. Genius.

Cardboard boxes, milk crates, old file folder boxes (the ones with the handles), large product packaging or any reasonably sturdy already existing container can act as a recycling bin. Stick a label on it and whalaa! Recycling center.

Okay next I have to reduce the amount of things that I put in my recycling center. So if I can’t avoid buying certain things, I have to try and reduce the packaging they come in. I can buy in bulk loose foods. That will reduce the amount of cans, bottles and plastic containers I bring into the home. I can use cloth grocery bags and reduce the number of plastic bags in my house I have to find another use for (in my case, small garbage can bags, diaper bags, package filler). If I buy larger amounts of the same thing instead of a number of smaller items over a longer period of time, I reduce the amount of consumer packaging in my home.

Reusing is my absolute favorite way to recycle. I try and find at least one more use for any item, container, packaging or product I bring into my home. This is the way poor Irish writers like myself can actually help the planet. I can’t afford solar panels on the roof or build a windmill in the backyard (I don’t actually have a backyard) and there is no room in this apartment for bamboo flooring but getting more than one use out of something? My specialty. From clothes (second hand that later become cleaning cloths or fabric scraps for crafting) and packaging (glass candle jars with lids are great for herbs and spices) to re-purposing old furniture and saving things from the trash, reusing is a great way to offset carbon, restore balance to our crazy modern consumer lives and most of all save money.

Yep. Saving green by being green: makes me go gaga over garbage.

A Little Dirt on Dirt

Waste weighs heavily on my mind these days. As I research how to live green on a budget, I keep coming across the recycling of food waste, namely the compost heap. Composting is a great way to produce nitrogen and nutrient rich soil for harvesting veggies in your own back yard, decreasing dependence on supermarket produce and lowering carbon emissions.

Well, the compost heap of my youth has transformed into a major new green industry that promotes sustainability, recycling and of course, offsets your carbon footprint. And you can even compost in your apartment these days. How far we have come.

So here’s a little dirt on dirt.

The range of composting bins offers something for everyone from large yard compost mechanisms that rotate and drain rain water to small indoor bins that fit under the kitchen sink. And the very latest carbon reducing, footprint offsetting trend? Vermic farming: a.k.a. harvesting worm poop.

Red worms or tiger worms are the wriggly planet saver of choice. These blind and deaf surface worms consume their body weight in waste scraps everyday making them efficient compost machines. A little TLC and the right sort of debris and these little guys can live in a plastic worm bin under your sink recycling while you do the dishes.

The internet abounds with eco-friendly recycled plastic worm bins so there’s something for every budget, but I’m always a fan of a local connection. I visited the worms at the local rural water office here in little old Glenrock and found out first hand how clean the whole set up was. I mean it was a bit of a shock…because, well…worms and worm poop, in the kitchen. But, it was pretty cool.

The bin was one of those designed by none other than worm guru, Mary Appelhof who became quite the expert in the worm business, producing her own line of bins. You take off the lid and it just looks like a bin full of the darkest richest FREE compost you ever saw. Throw in your leftovers from lunch and way hey! You’re saving the planet.

So basically it’s a plastic tub with a lid, air holes and a tray on the bottom that slides out. You could buy or make yourself depending on how creative and energetic you feel. Put in some worm bedding such as shredded newspaper or dry leaves, add a little water, a little soil and some food scraps, put the lid on (the wriggly guys aren’t fans of the light) and wait for the magic to happen.

Depending on the waste and the number of worms, you can expect your first pile of compost to show up in a few weeks. The compost usually gets a little warm what with all that warmish activity going on but it shouldn’t smell bad. A unit costs less than a hundred bucks and if that seems like too much of a cash splash, try offsetting the office footprint first before investing in a home unit. Be sure to throw in coffee grinds, veggies and waterlogged cardboard but avoid citrus fruits and onions. You are now the proud owner of your own carbon footprint reducing worm farm. Bravo you.

It’s amazing the things you come across online and who ever would have thought 20 years ago we’d be putting worms in our kitchen to save money and help our planet.

It’s a funny old world.

Full of eco friendly worms.

Old School Recycling: the Aluminum Can

We get so obsessed with recycling plastic and paper, sometimes we can forget about recycling metal.

It used to be a big thing, recycling cans. Then it became a ubiquitous part of our culture so much so it seemed to drop from the new green radar: gotten lost in the plethora of green projects, sustainable materials and the eco-friendly solutions that bombard us.

So let’s revisit the world of recycling aluminum cans.

The main benefit of recycling aluminum is the fact that it is a sustainable product. Aluminum is a versatile and durable metal that can be used over and over again. The more we use aluminum versus tin cans or composite metal cans, the more we save in precious metal resources. Because, let’s face it, at this stage of the game, all of our metals are precious.

According to Earth911.com, an aluminum can that goes into recycling is reused every 60 days. Every aluminum can that gets recycled reduces the amount of crude oil necessary for processing new cans and reduce the amount of energy released during the manufacturing process thereby reducing carbon emissions and lowering the carbon footprint of the producer. Its another one of those win-win situations.

And the really good thing about recycling cans is that they are worth money. Yes, moola, cash, green.

Every aluminum can you turn in for recycling is worth a cent or two (depending on your state) and the money is used for a number of different causes. From charities and school fundraisers to recycling incentives and feeding the homeless, the aluminum can is a true community investment.

The can is 100 percent sustainable, 100 percent recyclable and 100 percent a great idea. So when you chose not to take your reusable steel water bottle out with you, grab a canned beverage instead of a plastic one off the store shelf. And when you are done, remember to toss in the recycling bin to offset your carbon footprint and promote sustainability.

Aluminum Cans. What a simple idea. What a great foundation for the green evolution.

Glassing Over Green Guilt

Sometimes I look around the apartment and think: “am I really trying hard enough here?” Are there other ways I can green up my living space? I think maybe I am looking at things the wrong way. I mean trying to be green is a great way to increase your individual inventiveness and creativity. And of course lower and offset your carbon footprint. But sometimes, rather than thinking green, I try to think economically and practically and somehow that translates to green.

A twofer if you will.

So today it was the kitchen. Specifically the plastic storage containers. We buy them for the same reason everyone else buys them. It appears a simple, economically way of saving, storing and transporting foods. But when it comes down to it, isn’t it just another way to increase our carbon impact on the planet?

Plastic containers are like any other plastic product: landfill layabouts that have no intention of moving on. Sure, we use them for a while but then the lid disappears, the tub gets stained with spaghetti sauce and the corner gets melted in the dishwasher and then they find a new home in the back of the cupboard. Because we hate to put plastic in the garbage, we create our own miniature landfills in the back of the kitchen cupboard.

What to do what to do.

Well, until Wyoming becomes a Mecca of whole foods, local produce and community gardens, I still have to shop at the grocery store. Its hard to find carbon neutral products.So smart choices can save me money. If I buy glass containers over plastic containers and wax paper bags instead of plastic sandwich bags. I can on one hand make my own durable containers than can be recycled in the future and bags that can biodegrade in just over a week on the other. This way I avoid both the green guilt and the landfill.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a difference between buying food in plastic containers and buying it in glass containers. So I just collect discarded glass and their metal lids in a small cardboard box under the sink and then about once a month, give them a good scrub in hot water, take of the label and put on my own. They are great for dry food storage and, if you can get over the concept of swapping a box shape for a jar, perfect for holding lunch foods.

And in my case, the growing stack of empty baby food jars are great for storing dressings, pickles and salsa, even salt and pepper.You can do a lot with an empty glass jar.

And getting more than one use out of any time of packaging means one less product that has to be produced, saving energy and reducing carbon. Well, there’s one problem solved. When the storage jar has outlived its usefulness, I can pop in the recycling so it can begin its new life as a beer bottle.

Of course, plastic storage containers are just one of the many bad habits the modern kitchen contains. And as I make my way through the pile of ungreen aspects of my domestic arrangements, I’ll be sure to share them with you.

I Like To Ride My Bicycle

I was walking through my wonderfully small Wyoming community the other day and was both surprised and happy to see a grown woman riding a bicycle. You see, bikes are not some freakish event here in rural Wyoming. We are lucky enough to have a town where it is actually safe for the local kids to ride around all day long, pretty much unsupervised, burning off energy and hopefully staying out of trouble without fear of interference. But a woman on a bike in business attire in the middle of the day. Well, it’s not the norm for “conservative” Wyoming.

Not yet anyway.

But obviously the idea of leaving the car at home and taking a healthier form of transport to work may be catching on. Not because it’s a part of a green craze, the latest must do herd mentality inspired activity; rather, because it’s logical, practical and saves money: all good old fashioned cowboy values.

And I think the woman on the bike was a great lesson. We can make changes that not only help the planet but help us as individuals. We get so caught up in trying to lower our carbon footprints (which we should do right?), we forget that this stuff is good for us as individuals.

Riding a bike reduces the use of fossil fuels, reduces carbon emissions, saves energy, burns calories, increases muscles strength and tone and well, makes you feel good about yourself. I repeat: riding a bike is good for your health.

It’s a green guilt free pat on the back.

Now I don’t want to give the impression that other transport changes haven’t been taking place around here. Actually before the bicycle made its entrance, the golf carts showed up. Yes, a number of townsfolk have decided that getting on the golf cart saves gas money, especially when one is just running errands around town. And the fact that no-one blinks as the streets fill with carbon lowering cowboys driving golf carts is a good sign for the oncoming Wyoming bicycle revolution.

I’m not saying that bikes and walking will completely take over transportation methods in my state. We actually do need the trucks and sturdy cars to navigate between towns (30 to 40 miles between population centers is the norm) that you see advertised on TV. You know the ones where you wonder who the heck needs a truck that goes through blizzards, carries loads of bricks, gravel or wood, has snow chains, headache racks and two fuel tanks in case you get stranded (we do). This is the middle of nowhere after all. But that doesn’t mean we can’t ride a bike at lunchtime or walk to pick up the kids.

And if we can do it here in truck country, reducing our planetary impact, lowering our carbon footprint and reducing our carbon emissions well…

What’s your excuse?

While you are waiting for the new bike to arrive, why not offset some carbon? Every conscious change is a change in the right direction. And if you get to where you are going riding a bike, alls the better.

Bottling up the Carbon

You still see them. They are still one of the most ubiquitous sights on the planet. They pop out of gym bag corners and live under the arms of busy executives. They sit on office desks and stand in the side lines at sporting events. They are a small big part of our consumer culture: that global scam, the bottled water.

I admit I use to buy it all the time. It seemed healthier, cleaner, purer, better for me, who cares about the planet, I need my 8 of 8. Right? Aaaah yes the days of buying bottles of stuff I already had at home for free. Makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

Then I realized all that plastic. What a waste. So then I joined the group of people who buy one plastic bottle a week or a month and reuse it by filling it with tap water and putting in the freezer. Well I’m reusing. Really? I’ve had this one for two months. Oh Yeah? I’ve used this one for like all summer.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Bang. Bang. Bang.

If you are sipping from one of these landfill-clogging, carcinogen-making, planet-destroying, carbon-emitting, waste of hard earned money bottles right now, then its time to offset some carbon. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt.

Here’s the skinny, the DL, the scoop. The food and water watch folks explain that bottled water is a high profit, high carbon footprint, 60 billion dollar industry that promotes low wages, does not promote community development and actually adds to the amount unsafe working conditions in the area. The fact that most bottle water is just tap water with a fancy label is the big problem.

It’s a problem because its such a huge ever growing waste of resources. The industry increases at a rate of 29 billion bottles and year. It takes 17 million barrels of oil to make these planet killers. The plastic doesn’t decompose in the landfill. And now the latest problem is that heated plastic water bottles release carcinogens. Pollution. Harm. Global Warming.

When will we learn? Two basic alternatives exist. Get a steel water bottle. They don’t give off gases, don’t take millions of petrochemicals to make and will last for as long as you need them and can be recycled down the line. Or, another choice, a really hard to grasp concept, that requires a moment’s pause to comprehend in this day and age.

Turn the bleeping tap on and fill a glass.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Bubble Trouble

Whoever would have thought that something as gentle and soft sounding as baby wash could not only harm the environment but increase your carbon footprint, contribute to global warming, dirty the water and maybe, just maybe, cause cancer.

We know that all processed and over manufactured products have large carbon footprints because they use synthetic materials that take time and precious resources to make. Manufacturers produce their products either at a low wage in unhealthy conditions or abroad, hiding their pollution and chemical use on foreign soils. Elaborate processing takes place to make multi syllabic chemicals into pink fluffy bubbles that smell nice. Processing release carbon, carbon overheats the planet. Overheating causes global warming. Global warming melts the glaciers. Melting glaciers change the natural environment and threaten all our lives.

All for a bit of bubble in the bath tub.

Personally I think if you want to buy this type of bubble bath, shampoo or soap (anything that bubbles and is not certified organic) you should consider buying a carbon credit for every bottle. This stuff is harmless looking poison. Let me get off my green soap box and explain.

Traditional shampoos and their chemical make-ups come under very vague USDA guidelines which pretty much state that the beauty industry (hair treatments, makeup, facial scrubs that sort of thing) is capable of self regulation. Sorta kinda make sense because who would buy something full of dangerous untested chemicals? Well if it’s by a brand we’ve trusted since we were kids, or a family tradition, or worst of all, on sale at the local made anywhere but here mart, we would. We as a nation are only just starting to buy smart, to read labels and realize what we bring into our homes.

It’s called sodium lauryl sulfate or SLS and it’s the stuff that makes the bubbles in our shampoos and baby wash and bubble bath and…well you get the point.

I’m not making this up. Just go in the bathroom and look at the ingredients listed on the back of your shampoo. Even better, grab a traditional shampoo and a certified organic shampoo off the store shelf and compare the ingredients. You’ll soon see that shampoo that cleans and softens your hair (and even has bubbles) can be produced using organic products in sustainable packaging printed with soy inks that doesn’t have the potential to kill you with long term use do exist. Look for some scary ingredients such as formaldehyde (the stuff they use on dead things), parabens (toxins), dioxane, diethanolamine (DEA) and the ever dubious sounding “fragrance.”

Yes it’s a bit more expensive than the old stuff. That’s because in our currently skewed world, chemicals are cheaper than plants. But is not outrageous and the more who buy the cheaper it will get. We the consumers control what gets produced and what falls out of favor.

Plant based products release oxygen into the air and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment. They make your hair feel wonderful (I can testify to this fact) and if you have a small child, you don’t have to worry at bath time that you might be poisoning your child (I can also testify to that).

Piece of mind? Priceless.

Now go buy some carbon credits and change shampoos. The planet thanks you.

Seeing the Light

If you aren’t already using the new compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) why not? Well this great way to reduce energy and carbon emissions has a few setbacks which dissuades the average Joe from making the commitment. But it seems, in the long run the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

I wasn’t much of a believer. The husband started buying these uber expensive light bulbs where bargain shopper me wanted to buy the six for a dollar box at the local made anywhere but here super store. It was easier. It was cheaper. And it didn’t cost a fortune and bring potential hazards into the home.

But like the TV show says, sometimes “it's not easy being green.”

But the husband was insistent. Not because he wanted to reduce his carbon footprint or help the planet but because he said it was cheaper because they would last longer. So they were cheaper.

Huh?

I’ve never been one for math, even simple math. But it turns out each CFL bulb saves $30 in energy use during its lifetime and compared to bargain bulbs that blow when you sneeze too hard and need replaced almost weekly, the CFL bulb lasts well…a long time. We still have some we bought in 2007. Some claim eight years, thousands of hours or ten times the old school type bulb but it seems to vary. Overall, they just last and so save money.

But what about when they blow?

A friend of mine said no way on the CFL bulbs “because they don’t tell you about the mercury.” Huh? What? Mercury? In my house? It can’t be. Green is better, more natural. Right?

Well, it’s like this: the CFL bulb works differently from the more traditional incandescent bulb. Instead of heating a filament like in the incandescent bulb till it glows making light, the CFL bulb emits light because electricity goes through a mixture of argon and mercury. Each bulb contains about 1 milligram of mercury. It’s not that much, really. I mean breaking a bulb could release a tiny amount into the house for a short time (open a window) but how often do you smash a bulb really? Is that enough of a reason to waste all that energy?

Each CFL bulb uses 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. 75 percent less of a drain on the overloaded power grid. Less energy, less carbon. Each bulb saves about 150 pounds of carbon. Count the light sockets in your house and think how much carbon you could save.

Offsetting carbon starts with realizing that all the small things add up. Carbon credits and tree planting are bright ideas.

But I'm starting to see the light when it comes to CFL bulbs.

Fish Have Feelings Too

I was reading the news the other day online and saw this picture of a sea lion caught in garbage being rescued by a diver. He was cutting the plastic found around the animal’s neck with his knife. But the worst part was that it wasn’t some isolated incident. In fact the photo was attached to a story regarding one of the world’s largest landfills: the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, I should have realized. But we are all so focused on the damage done by melting glaciers and arctic temperatures rising, we forget that global warming and pollution are not isolated incidents. This “synthetic sea” as Discover Magazine explains is a floating dump of manufactured waste which floats along ocean currents until it either evaporates into oceanic particles or washes up on distant shores.

All that post consumer waste consuming our oceans.

It’s not bad enough that we release carbon emissions for the latest “must have,” the current “have to own” or this week’s “simply can’t live without.” We are spreading our virus to the seas.

Sea lions are inheriting carbon footprints.

Something is definitely wrong with this picture. I don’t know what’s sadder, the fact that the majority of this waste is plastic and therefore not biodegradable or the fact that none noticed this moving island of rubbish until 1997. This floating dump is the same size as this country. Hard to imagine. But given the amount of garbage, packaging and one time use items we discard everyday, its surprising it’s not bigger.

They say they don’t know the full impact on the delicately balanced ecosystems contained within the ocean but it can’t be good. Nature is nature: only confused when interrupted by humanity.

You could toss a plastic coffee cup in the ocean in San Francisco and it could travel along the synthetic sea all the way to Asia then back around to Hawaii. Garbage travels further than any frequent flyer program could possibly allow. This seafill is no anomaly. Apparently, they are everywhere but we are all so focused on the myriad of other planet in crisis problems, the fish often come last on the list.

But fish have feelings too.

In fact, a lot of the human population depends on ocean fish for their health and nutrition. The fish die, the ocean gets sick, we get sick. The double edged sword of the world’s interconnectedness.

And it all comes down to reducing waste, recycling what we can and for goodness sake, offsetting offsetting offsetting. Cause it all comes back to what we do, what we leave behind and the choices we make.

Forewarned is forearmed? I wonder…

Heat Waves, Smog Warnings & No Man's Lands

In the evolutionary, historical sense, human beings really aren't that different from other animals. The human species emerged as a result of optimal environmental conditions. There are lots of places on Earth that human hands had never touched up until the last few hundred years, and although they've nearly all been explored save a few, at most of these hostile locales it just doesn't make any sense for people to stay.

The interior of Alaska comes to mind. The Rub' Al-Khali might be another. Maybe that god-forsaken Black Rock City. You won't find any permanent encampments or signs of civilization there, because the climate is just too forbidding, too harsh for humanity to exist in any substantial way.

With some exceptions, you can mostly trace the spread of human civilization as it developed, and along the way you can pick out the places people broke ground with some accuracy. Follow the water. Look where the climate is most palatable. Catal Huyuk didn't spring up from the empty quarter of the Arabian Desert, it emerged from a place where an agricultural life could be easy for people. As humanity transitioned from a pastoral lifestyle to a sedentary, urban one, it assembled into organized enclaves in places that were most conducive to life.

The oral traditions of humanity are rife with stories of cataclysmic change leaving cities unlivable. Plato describes an unrecorded, prehistoric civilization that is undone by all-too-human hubris and swallowed by the ocean. Western mythology, especially the mythology of the fertile crescent, all share the common thread of a great flood that covers the whole world. And in more recent times, fanciful Romantic authors and 19th century Spiritualists described the lost continents of Mu and Lemuria sinking and leaving a diaspora of people in their wakes.

But there's no need to look to sandaled philosophers of great antiquity or tarot-reading occult-book-store crystal-wavers for the truth about what it looks like when a place becomes unlivable. The truth is, it might happen so slowly and so imperceptibly that you wouldn't notice it, and you one day wake up and realize you can't leave your house.

This summer has been the hottest on record for the Pacific Northwest. It had a late start, and I recall often opining that if it stayed as mild as it had been, it might not get very hot at all this year. Then, in late July, the thermometers broke, and Seattle's previous record temperature was shattered by a 103°F afternoon. Lucky for us, Seattle's topography contribute to a weather pattern that keeps the air quality here pretty decent. It's almost always clear enough to see Mt. Rainier from the I5 bridge in the University District. We've got it pretty good here.

Not so for Vancouver BC. Wildfires in Lillooet, record breaking heat and an urban population that owns 2.3 cars per household despite a vast mass transit system, along with geographic features surrounding the city that trap smog in to boot, all coalesced as factors in a perfect storm to send the air quality index in the Metro Vancouver area hurtling to level 6, the highest in memory for the bourgeois business-class yuppies who make their living there. Asthmatics and people suffering from respiratory diseases were recommended to stay indoors, and though it would dissipate in a matter of days, the effect of the air quality warning was troubling. How could a place with such strict emissions controls and an incomparably responsible society, bent on being green, be so thick with pollution?

But Vancouver's air pollution problem pales in comparison to Beijing's. Following the failure of Mao's Great Leap Forward, Deng Xiaoping led the Communist Party of China to adopt what it termed "Socialism with Chinese characteristics", a pastiche of both ideological Marxism and, with a certain grudging acknowledgement to pragmatism, contrarian Capitalist concepts as well. With barely a sliver of an opening to the absurd vastness of the Chinese consumer markets, virtually overnight the country became solvent, and within a decade the poverty rate had been slashed from more than half of the country's 1 billion during the Mao era to a shrinking 12% in 1981 and single-digits more recently.

The Beijing of 2009 is just under 3 times as large as it was prior to the economic reforms, and duplicate success stories raise metropolises across the country at a rapid clip. With the new-found prosperity came all the trappings of modern first-world nations: cars, skyscrapers, airports, luxury apartments, corporate identities, advertisements and, at the heart of it all, manufacturing plants making the export goods that fuels China's economic breakthrough.

Beijing has arrived, and by 2009 China has become the reigning economic power in the world, but rapid modernization brought the unintended consequence of unchecked, unchallenged release of greenhouse gases the likes of which the world has never seen. Forbes Magazine estimates that the 10 most polluted cities in the world are all in China, and the Chinese government claims nearly one and a half million premature deaths occur as a result of poor air quality every year. Where Vancouver's air quality might be dangerous for people already at risk, Beijing is consistently shrouded in a dark grey porridge that chokes healthy people to death and reduces visibility to less than the length of a city block.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that humanity is turning the places it makes it's bed unlivable. The non-stop, uninterrupted release of not just the greenhouse gases that feed into self-perpetuating feedback loops and precipitate global climate change, but also the real nasty stuff that comes out of your exhaust pipe and your chimney and every coal power plant you use when you charge up your iPhone, is slowly but surely making those archetypal myths of cataclysmic change seem prophetic at best and at worst like observations that self-similarity in man's inhumanity to man scales up and will eventually kill us. There's no sense in this. We're committing suicide on a global scale, and we're doing it in a really weak, wimpy, cowardly way that betrays our imprinted consumerist apathy.

That's why offsetting your personal carbon footprint is so important. If everyone in Seattle, Vancouver and Beijing paid for their yearly carbon output, we would solve the global ecology crisis in less time than it took for China to awaken from it's ideologically-lullabied slumber. All it takes is pointing your browser at http://www.offsetcarbonfootprint.org/. All the links are there, they'll help you calculate your carbon footprint and give you all the tools you need to decide how you'd like to offset your carbon. They make it easy! They'll accept all major payment methods and will even offer you a certified guarantee. All you've got to do is make the choice to take responsibility for your share of climate change.

Are you ready to do the right thing? Time is of the essence, so don't delay. Do it today.

What Are Greenhouse Gases?

Carbon is the fourth most prevalent element in the solar system. It's the bedrock of all known organic life. Carbon dioxide is recycled into oxygen by all plants and animals. It's in a sort of dynamo between animals and plants exchanging CO2 for oxygen, filtering out the natural clear background noise of the environment and providing a relatively nice planet to live on. It evolved this way. This is why life is possible on Earth.

The planet has come to this fragile state by a delicate balancing act perfected over 4.6 billion years. It arose out of nature, like a flower from concrete. One could spend a lifetime covering what the philosophers say about that! But science shows that Earth is fundamentally unguarded and vulnerable to changes that may be imperceptible to us.

By the late 18th century, the Enlightenment had brought not only revolutions of the mind and state, but also technological revolutions, and the mechanical amusements of the ultrarich landed aristocrats became affordable to a new class of merchant, who presided over factories and smokestacks to become captains of industry and railroad barons. Tall, brick exhaust towers emerged on the horizon, and a malaise of thick haze spread over the land.

Fast forward 150 years. In the 1950's, America returns from World War II flush with triumph and economic prosperity, and so began another technological revolution, where a new class of postwar successes slid smoothly into the prefab suburbs, all in gleaming chrome Cadillacs, streaming down the 16 lane highways full of cars, smiling in averaged-off numbers like 3.6, Mom & Dad & Buddy & Sis and even the family dog. Now, that same dream of owning some kind of great guzzling machine became not only feasible for the factory owner -- now it was affordable to the workers, too. The ubiquity of cars duplicated the effect of the paper mills and smokestacks of the industrial age, and the murky soup hanging over cities started getting thicker.

What people don't realize when they witness air pollution firsthand, is that it accumulates. The carbon that humanity is releasing right now is adding to a mass that contains the same carbon that was released when the first factory switched on. Greenhouse gases don't just go away. They accumulate.

Environmentalism and the broader tradition of conservationism have always existed in some form or another, but the modern Green movement is an unprecedented break with that most august and austere tradition. The effects of unchallenged emission of greenhouse gases are self-evident, and so even the factory owner has to stroke his chin and wonder aloud if the businesses of ruining the Earth and poisoning the seas are going to effect his bottom line. The U.S. military increasingly relies on solar power as it's primary source of electricity, since operational security demands an uninterrupted source of power. They're betting on the long-term viability of oil, or rather a lack thereof.

This is why buying offsets is so important. Whether you're a commuter paying off the 4 tons of carbon you produce per year, or a CEO of a Fortune 500 infrastructure company with an international fleet of cargo jets and supertankers, you can cancel out your carbon production by purchasing offsets and contributing to the global effort to change the world. It doesn't cost much, and it's for everybody! It's easy, and OffsetCarbonFootprint.org does everything for you and makes it easier than anyone else. Do the right thing for the environment. Now's a great time.

There are Vampires in my House

It’s officially called Wasted Standby Power. But most people refer to it as the electricity vampire that sucks energy out of appliances, even when they aren’t in use. Vampires in the home are one of the many things that add to a household’s carbon footprint.

Home phones, microwaves, alarm clocks, computers, remote control units, rechargers and any other appliance that is left plugged into the mains can steal energy from the grid and money from your pocket. In fact, over 4 billion dollars a year goes to feed these electrical vampires. It’s bad for the planet, really bad for the planet. Carbon emissions are released in the process of making electricity. So every kilowatt of energy wasted leads to the pointless release of carbon into our atmosphere, adding to the problem of global warming.

Those poor, poor polar bears, floating on ice cubes because we were too lazy to unplug the cell phone charger from the wall.

It can be up to 10 percent of the utility bill, accounts for billions in wasted money, tons of life destroying carbon emissions and aids in the pollution of the planet and the heat in the sky. We offset our carbon footprint by practicing balance. If we reduce our use of power by plugging things into power strips that have an off switch, unplugging all appliances at the end of the day, turning out lights and removing anything from the electrical socket that serves no purpose, we can begin to win the war against these power sucking fiends.

And for everyone that’s begins complaining about the effort it takes to switch off and unplug? Fine, don’t do it. You are free not to. But consider doing something to offset your growing carbon footprint. Calculate your carbon tones using the carbon footprint calculator and if, after you realize just how much money and energy you are wasting, you still don’t want to join the crusade against the vampires? It’s your choice but offsetting your energy usage by helping a few trees has got to make you feel better.

For me, I’ll keep waging the battle using my vampire deterrent: unplugging appliances.

Cheaper than a bulb of garlic.