Green For Good

We've all been there: pushing your heaped cart out of Target and wondering what the heck happened. There appears to be a certain vortex effect inside Target which causes one to neglect their carefully planned out shopping list and start throwing things, willy-nilly into the cart. In those gleaming, red accented aisles, we're reminded of everything we need, (nay, everything we can not go on without!) and heck, the price is right so into the cart it goes.

Source: someecards.com via Ada on Pinterest

After my latest trip to Target, as we heaped the shopping bags in the back of the car (thankfully I actually remembered to bring in my own bags this time, because what is it about Target clerks and putting two items in each bags to guarantee you come home with at least 10 Target bags? Is it some sort of brand loyalty building practice?) I decided it was time to reevaluate some of the household "essentials" that I pick up each time. (I don't even go past the clothes and shoe sections in Target any more - I know trouble lurks for me in the clearance racks.) It seemed like there must be a better alternative to dropping a couple hundred dollars at Target a few times a year on what are mainly disposable items: shampoo, paper towels, cleaning supplies, etc. etc.

The result of my analysis is that we're slowly shifting towards a more paper-free household. As someone who heats her home with wood, I feel no guilt whatsoever about lessening my dependency on the timber industry (don't worry lumberjacks, I'll always need you) and I don't think we'll ever be a completely paper-free/eco-friendly household - there will always be a roll of paper towels, some plastic wrap, and plenty of Ziploc bags in this home.

I finally broke down and bought a set of reuseable paper towels. I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival - she's so backlogged with orders there's an eight week wait!

After cleaning out my clothes dresser last month, I save all of my old socks and now use them for dusting.  Good-bye Swiffer duster refills. 

One bad habit we have is using Kleenex for napkins during meals. We eat every meal on the couch (the dining tables is covered with seedlings - don't judge) and since there's always been a box of Kleenex on the couch end table that's what gets grabbed when fingers turn sticky after a meal of tacos or burgers. The sad result is that we were going through a lot of Kleenex and sometimes didn't have them on hand when someone actually needed them to blow their nose.

I realized we could drastically reduce Kleenex use if I replaced the box of Kleenex on the end table with a basket of cloth napkins. I had enough flannel fabric hanging out in my sewing basket from a previous project to make 10 napkins. A simple hem and we have a soft, reuseable alternative to Kleenex napkins. Winning!

Speaking of Kleenex, I've always appreciated those who use handkerchiefs, but I've never much cared for blowing my nose in an almost transparent piece of cloth. However, these bamboo hankies look quite lovely and may be phasing out paper tissues in the cabin shortly. 

I've been using Pinterest to find simple recipes for homemade cleansers. FYI, steam cleaning your microwave by nuking a bowl filled with three parts water to one part vinegar for 5 minutes is way more effective and efficient than scrubbing it out with store-bought cleaner. You're welcome.

I hate the flimsy plastic produce bags you get in grocery stores and at long last, have my own reuseable produce bags! What does this mean? I will never waste another second of my life trying to open the !@#$% plastic bags at the grocery store. (All thumbs here.) Oh glory be! 

I've found a lot of "going green" inspiration on Etsy. I love the idea of reuseable recycling bin liners. Our recycling bin always looks like hell because I can't bring myself to replace the trash bag liner every time I take out the recycling. While I'll keep a disposable trash bag in the kitchen trash can for the time being, there's no reason why every other trash can in the house can't have a reuseable liner.


While the world greens up outside, it's nice to be making some green moves inside as well. (Sorry Target.)

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Around here, we do our best to be good stewards of the Earth. When you consider the fact that the earth's temperatures have be "above normal" my entire life, reducing the amount of waste we produce, recycling or composting what we can, and staying eco-conscious seems like the least we can do.

Granted, there are plenty of times when I curse our recycling (we have a nasty habit of going 4-5 months between trips to the recycling center), but every time we come home from the recycling center with empty bins bumping around in the truck bed, I'm happy that we took the time to wash, sort, and drop off our recycling so all of that paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and more can get another lease on life. I try to do my best to reduce our use of non-recyclable household supplies by washing and reusing plastic bags and always bring my own shopping bags to the grocery stores. I also opt for eco-friendly cleaners like Mrs. Meyers. All that being said, we're far from perfect recyclers and I always having a niggling feeling whenever we go to the dumpster that we produce more trash than we really should.

I'm not sure why I've been thinking about this lately, although if I had to guess why recycling's been on my mind, it's probably because the shed is currently oozing recycling and today's activities will include a much needed trip to the recycling center. I was also inspired by this post from Food in Jars which highlighted bee's wrap, a reuseable alternative to plastic wrap.

Realizing that's there's a viable alternative to plastic wrap got me thinking about some of my "green" trouble spots. We use a lot of paper products like paper towels and Kleenex when we could be using reuseable towels or cloth napkins. I always opt for the store stocked plastic bags when buying bulk, whether I'm buying produce or basmati rice, when I could be bringing my own glass jars or using reuseable mesh produce bags. And I use plastic wrap every now and then, when I could be using bee's wrap.

Reuseable paper towels by Mamamade

I may not be much for spring cleaning, but as we move into the new season, it seems like as good a time as any to reassess some of my household habits and trying to green things up a bit. 

How about you? What are your best tips for reducing, reusing, and recycling? What are your "going green" problem areas?
 

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Washing Baggies

We don’t do dishes as often as I might like here at the cabin, but when we do, there always seems to be load of little plastic baggies, accumulated from both our packed lunches, waiting to be washed. On any given day, you can come through the cabin front door and be greeted by at least three plastic baggies in the drying rack, draped over spatulas, the dish detergent bottle, or any other clean, vertical object in the general vicinity of the sink.

In my way of thinking there’s no reason to go through a box of 30 sandwich sized baggies in a month when I can wash a single baggy for weeks on end and drastically extend the life of the aforementioned box of baggies. But I have friends who think otherwise, and to be honest, I sometimes wonder if it’s really worth it. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy scrubbing encrusted peanut butter out from the inside of a baggy?

To be honest, I don’t think any one’s a great fan of washing out plastic baggies. (Kind of like water bottles, which both Andy and I pretend not to see on the counter top when we do dishes.) There’s just something not very pleasant about it. While washing the baggies works fine most of the time, sometimes I do end up eat nectarines or what have you  which taste mildly of dish detergent out of a washed baggy.

I also wonder if all this washing is really good for us. By washing the baggies over and over again, who knows what nasty plastic chemicals are breaking down in the dish water each time I wash them. Maybe the best thing is to fore go plastic baggies completely? But oh, that’s inconvenient. . . .

Where do you come down on the whole washing baggies issue? Waste of time? Or a waste, not to?

Will this little world of ours be saved by teeny acts like washing out and reusing plastic baggies?  I like to think so, because I have so very little to offer the world when it comes to patching up our environment. Without a great scientific brain, the only way I can change the world is by how I live my life. But as you might expect, the best way to go about that life is always a bit confused.

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Oil and Vinegar; Bikers and Scenic Byways

Last fall, the road we live off was designated as a National Scenic Byway. The road is confusingly nicknamed “The Gunflint Trail,” leading many a well-intentioned hiker to set off down the 57 miles of paved two-lane highway and wonder if they missed a turn. The road is heavily wooded, curvy and a bit hill, with basically no shoulders to speak of. It truly is a scenic road, but it’s just that: a road, not a trail. And that is why I cringe every time I have to swerve around a biker pedaling down the road in a lane of traffic, like I did on Tuesday.

I should state that I have a couple issues with bikers. For one thing: bike shorts. You can’t tell me that those look good on anyone. If you venture out in public wearing bike shorts you deserve nothing less than a firm tongue lashing from What Not to Wear’s Stacy and Clinton and Project Runway’s Tim Gunn. That’s right. And Tim Gunn.

Also, I can’t seem to shake the feeling that bikers are kind of overly self-satisfied. This is probably just a personal issue, but whenever I drive past a biker looking all environmentally and fitness conscious, I feel this need to yell, “I drive a Toyota Corolla! I’m a good person too!”

The chain fell off my bike when I was fifteen and as such, I have not exactly been out biking a lot in the last decade. In fact, I think I have been on a bike once in that time period: in Ireland’s Aran Islands where the wind blew so hard that we had to petal downhill. I guess seeing bikers always brings up some sort of inferiority complex inside me that stems from never getting that bike of mine back in working condition.

I am so torn by the whole biking thing. I know that it is a wonderful transportation option that keeps not only the rider, but also the environment healthy. But whenever I see a biker, no matter what the circumstances, I am always struck by a sense of impending doom. If I am driving and happen upon a biker, I become convinced that I will hit the biker and they will die. If I observe someone biking in heavy traffic, I become convinced that the biker will be hit and I will watch them die. If I am a pedestrian, I become convinced the biker will hit me and I will die. Needless to say, I was pretty much constantly on the verge of heart attack during our trip to the Pacific Northwest last month, where everyone bikes.

All jokes about death aside, it is a huge concern. When I was little, one of my mom’s coworkers was struck by a motorist while he was biking into work. Luckily he was wearing a helmet (which split into two pieces) and after a long time hooked up to all sorts of machines in the hospital, he was okay. But he was very, very lucky; there have been fatal biking accidents here too.

A couple summers ago, a guy came into my workplace at the time and asked about biking on the Gunflint Trail. “Oh please don’t do that,” I gasped. “There’s no shoulder. There are curves and people driving won’t see you in the middle of the road until they’re on top of you.” His partner snorted. “We’ll be fine,” she said. I tried to convince them that they didn’t understand the danger. I might even have done some clutching at my heart. I think the guy thought I was going to cry. I thought I might cry too.

I guess it comes down to this: I know you should be able to bike wherever you want. I know that it is the right, smart thing to do. I wish there was the infrastructure across the country where motorists and bikers could coexist in harmony.

But this is not one such harmonious place. Here it is dangerous to bike. So if you must bike on a scenic byway, please be careful and realize that not only are you putting yourself at risk, you’re also put the motorists who must swerve around you in a less than ideal situation as well.

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