Move it!

I woke up early this morning so I have had a bit of a chance to work on a few things. One of them being this blog. I have moved some of the links to a new heading called "Blog Honor Roll" . These are, in my opinion, some of the better blogs out there regarding sustainability. If you only have a chance to look at one right now I highly recommend you peruse "Fake Plastic Fish". Plastic is something I have begun to hate. Not just because we live in such a plastic society, I have seen the damage it does to wildlife and the eyesore it leaves on our roads.

About a month ago I went to the Oregon coast to do some hiking on the Oregon Coastal Trail. The trailhead was not properly marked on the highway and I never found it. I ended up walking 22 miles on the highway. It wasn't the nature experience I had anticipated. By the way I should mention that I did take the bus to the trail. Anyhow, having walked 22 miles of public highway it was quite alarming the amount of crap that lay all over the shoulder of the road. And it wasn't just on the shoulder. It was even blown into the trees and shrubs. Quite ugly. For a visual example of what plastic bags are doing to our environment AND OUR WILDLIFE visit the Photo Gallery at Reusable Bags. com Here is a direct link to the gallery (CLICK HERE)

Another thing that hit me recently, since I am packing, is that I have a lot of crap. Well, I am weeding it out and getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Another thing I am finding too is that I have a huge volume of waste paper that I am hauling to the recycle bins. I think this is going to be one of my projects for self. To reduce my paper consumption drastically. I really haven't paid attention to where this stuff comes from.

Well, that is about all the time I have today to write. Have a great day all.

Harping on Junk Mail

Ok, well I really hate to keep going on about the junk mail but I just got through sorting through the mail from the last few days and out of a stack about four inches high, I saved one piece of paper, a reimbursement check stub. That was it! The rest went in the recycle bin. Let's see, a major political party, to which I do not belong, was asking for money. Ummm... you said once you got a majority things would be different, they weren't. Send you money. I don't think so! A big cat rescue facility wrote to tell me about their new enclosure...and ask for money. There was a newspaper stuffed with coupons for places I'll never visit trying to get a bit of my money. A dragon wanted to take over my computer and talk with me while it typed. As long as I sent in just $99.00. Tried that once. The dragon was a lousy typist. I think I might have the disc in a drawer somewhere still. Someday maybe it will help scare some birds in the garden or something. Smithsonian wanted me to renew my subscription early. It's up in October. It stated it was an "urgent request" . My how time flies. Performance Bike, which really is a great store, sent me no less than three thick fliers this last week about their perpetual sale. They do have great prices but have not responded in any way to my request to turn off the paper and just send me e-mails. I don't shop there much anymore. There were a few phony magazines touting some get-rich-quick stocks, vending machines and real estate. Do these things really work? Do some people think these are real magazines and pore over them with breakfast then rush out to buy the recommended stock or flip a house? They smack of phony. Or am I just cynical? They certainly are glossy and expensive no less so they must work.

Well...I probably won't post much more on the junk mail thing. I have probably outdone it already.

This week my car is in the shop. I'm trying to pretend I miss it. I really don't. I think the last time I was thoroughly excited about driving was in high school. After that it just became part of life and lately I just hate driving. Is that part of getting old? No, probably not. I see enough old farts on the road that seem to love driving to the store and back while pretending they still see and hear fine. Anyway, my only transportation right now is an old mini-bus I bought off e-bay from a school district. It gets horrendous MPG but runs fine. I used it when I was remodeling a house because I got tired of hauling cement in my trunk and wondering if the shocks would burst. I've driven it 72 miles in the last four months so you can see it gets lots of use now. I think it gets lonely at the curb and seems to be growing a wonderful green patina around the edges. It is for sale. The first twelve hundred bucks drives it way. It's worth every penny if you need something big and spacious. It still has half the seats remaining.

Well, that is enough of a post for today. I see it is 10:00. That's when the mail comes. I wonder what is in it today. Goody.

Stuff!

Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops. Kurt Vonnegut

Wow, isn' t that true. Wander any garage sale and you will see this is true. Along with the requisite books, exercise equipment and old clothes are the plates emblazoned with cable cars or shot glasses that say "Wyatt Earp" or "Johnny Red" or some such. Each of them was bought so as to bring back memories of those fine moments when we finally escaped the prison of our world and had a little fun. Now its worth twenty-five cents but you'll take a dime if someone offered. Right? Why do we do this?

I have a drawer full of this kind of stuff. Prizes from battery packages, souvenirs, things I am sure will be "collectors items" someday. Yeah right. Am I nuts? Dust collectors is all they are. I even have a drawer with no less than 200 pens in it. You never know when a crowd might show, each needing a pen, so they stay in the drawer waiting for that day. I guess that answers the question about "Am I Nuts?"

I am now following the advice in 30 Days to a Simpler Life by Connie Cox and Chris Evatt and drawer by drawer I have been unburdening my life of these things. Three piles, "Keep", "Toss" and "Give Away". I e-bayed a few things and then bought a few books on how to live simpler. I honestly don't know. I am indoctrinated in consumption. It is going well though and each time I get rid of things I feel just a little lighter and the Goodwill gets a little richer. I don't yet miss any of it and I am trying hard not to replace it with more junk.

THE RESTAURANT

I have also been thinking a great deal about paper recently and since we went out to eat last night at our favorite place "The Laughing Planet Cafe" I was more aware of the amount of paper I was mindlessly consuming. It was dreadful. I ordered a burrito bowl which had no paper wrapper but I found myself, without even thinking, filling up a little paper cup with salsa at the salsa bar then picking up paper napkins and bringing them back to the table. I didn't give it a second thought until I got to the table. It was just a habit of consumption. Worse yet, when I wanted more salsa I didn't return with the same cup. I got a new one! More mindless consumption. OK, so you're saying "Don't beat yourself up, it was one napkin and two little cups." True, but if everyone uses the equivalent how many trees must die for a few minutes of my convenience so it can end up in a landfill somewhere. Millions?

There is a very good book by Wanda Urbanska and Frank Levering called "Nothing is Too Small to Make a Difference". It is this book that began to wake me up to my own consumption habits years ago. I am not as far along as I would like to be but I am taking more diligent efforts now. I highly recommend this book as a starting place for anyone that wants to simplify. Anyway one of the points in the book is that every step we each take individually makes a difference. Regardless of how small. Use one less napkin per day, that is three-hudred and sixty-five this year. Use one less paper salsa cup each week, that is fifty-two this year. It all adds up and makes a difference. Imagine if the whole world adopted this viewpoint.

By the way, if you live or visit Portland Oregon make sure you try "The Laughing Planet Cafe" on Belmont. You won't regret it and five bucks will get you a decent meal.

Well, that is enough of my early Saturday morning ramble. Signing out.

Scott

Mail Woes and Cloth Bags

MAIL WOES

Yesterday and today I received one pound three ounces of junk mail that went directly from my mailbox to the recycle bin. Yikes! One of the pieces actually came in a box with a pen for me to sign a petition. It may have been a good cause but I didn't really look at it. I just disassembled it, took out the pen and threw the rest in the recycle bin. I have begun a daily log of the weight of my junk mail and I will post it here weekly at least. I have called a few of the places that send me mail and have found that if you plan to do this on a regular basis be prepared to be put on hold a lot or be transferred to voice mail. Some will even act miffed that you are taking up their time. But stopping the flood of junk mail is worth the hassle.

OK, before I sound too holier than thou I do have to confess my guilt. I used to own a company that produced co-op ad pieces that went out through bulk mail to thousands of homes and consumed tons of paper and gallons of ink and probably irritated a few people in the process as well. But I was asleep then, I am awake now and I have flogged myself sufficiently to be free of that sin. Now I even print things on my computer to .pdf' files as much as I can and use paper only when absolutely necessary. Saves me a bunch on toner too. And we all know how much they charge for toner.

One thing I did recently is to pay a buck to the Direct Marketing Association for their Preferred Mail Service. Basically what this does is tell them I am sick of junk mail and would gladly pay a buck to get rid of it. Sort of like a spam filter for your snail mail. It takes a few months for the system to kick in and if it works I should see 75% less poundage coming my way. I also went to OptOut Prescreen.com and opted out of all of the "You are pre-approved for a Uranium credit card with a One-Million Dollar Limit" junk mail I get. This one is free to sign up for and lasts for five years unless you mail in a signature on a separate form and then it is permanent. If my efforts are successful I should see a big drop in my junk mail in the next six months. OK, now onto another topic.

CLOTH BAGS

Grocery shopping for me lately has brought on a large bit of guilt too. Since I eat a plant based diet that means I shop mostly in the produce and bulk sections. And what does that mean? It means that I come home from the market with dozens of plastic bags each time I go. I'm not talking about the "paper or plastic" bags at the checkout counter. I mean the flimsy ones you spend five minutes trying to open so you can dump a head of lettuce in. However I have finally discovered an answer. They are called Eco Bags, are made of cloth, have a string tie and are reusable. I found them at ReusableBags.com. I ordered ten of them at $2.25 a piece with about five bucks shipping today and they should be here sometime next week. Once I have a chance to use them I'll post my experiences here. Since I already use reusable bags to bring my groceries home having these should eliminate the plastic all together. Oh, and I should mention when you are at the site don't leave without reading the "Fast Facts" section and looking at the "Photo Gallery". Plastic bags are not just unsightly and a waste of resources, they also kill an enormous amount of wildlife.

How the toilet paper caused me to flush an entire forest

I'm not sure if you have heard of the "No Impact Guy". He and his family, two year old included, are living one entire year without making an impact on the planet. No plastic, no garbage, no tv... Sounds like quite a challenge but he is spurring lots of people like myself to be more sincere about living cleaner. He's been all over the news recently, even made it onto the Colbert Report, and I think the thing that caught most peoples attention is the fact that he has sworn off toilet paper entirely. Toilet paper! I'm still trying to figure out the details on that one and I am not sure I am ready for that step yet but maybe someday. It did get me to thinking about the toilet paper I use though. Cottonelle. Now perhaps I have been confused or a little dense but I have been buying this stuff thinking they used cotton fiber rather than wood fiber to manufacture it. Wrong! This is the worst stuff you can buy. It is made entirely from virgin wood fiber pulled out of clear cuts of old growth forests in Canada. Hoo boy. I think maybe it is the spotted owls and not Wal-Mart that's been following me

OK. So I have a little supply of Cottonelle left which I plan to use up and then never buy again. I did a quick search on the Internet and that led me to some stuff called Purely Cotton that IS made entirely from cotton. Here's the rub though. It can only be ordered online, link above, but you can order a roll, a case or whatever you want. They make both toilet paper and tissue.

I contacted Natures Way Tissue, the manufaturer and they are an American Indian owned company. I asked about the organic value etc. and they were very nice to send me a FAQ sheet with all of the information. In short, no, it is not an organic product but it is considered a recycled product. The explanation is lengthy and not worth going into here but the product looks good in my book and it is "tree free". Plus I like the fact that it is American Indian owned.

If you still want paper then there are a few toilet paper brands that cut the mustard per Greenpeace. They are CVS Bathroom Tissue 1000, Cascades, Marcal, Natural Value, Earth First, Seventh Generation, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value. If you pop over to the Greenpeace site they also have a very good action pack with tons of information about Kimberly-Clark's rape of the boreal forests of Canada. It is 28 pages of some pretty good information. I had no idea.

I must leave with just one warning about some of the recycled brands though. Some feel as though they were made in a sandpaper plant so you may want to test different ones before switching for good. I'm going to try out the cotton.