plast…ICK!

I had our home made toothpaste in a glass jar, but Kyle was concerned about germ mixing if we were both dunking our toothbrush in. I have always been lax on things like that because I think of the multitude of other ways our germs are mixing, but to make him feel better, I put it in a plastic squeeze bottle. It was good solution in theory, but we had previously used the bottle to store home made salad dressing  and had taken on the flavour. I remember the salad dressing being tasty but it’s not so delicious to brush your teeth with. So I had to ditch that batch and make a new one. It’s in another glass jar with a spoon beside it for us to use. The good news is the second batch is even better than the first and it no longer seperates.

I finally bought a keeper and I am mostly happy with my purchase except that it came in plastic! There is a little pamphlet explaining how much waste menstrual products usually cause and how the keeper is the most environmentally friendly choice because you can use it for 10 years and it is biodegradable. I doubt the plastic it came in is though and I bet there’s even more of that in landfill. I really don’t understand because it comes with a beautiful cotton carrying case- why not just sell it in that?

Bye Bye Tom’s

We usually buy Tom’s of Maine toothpaste because you can recycle the tube. It is difficult to wash out though and we are still left with a plastic cap, and of course, recycling is no the best either. I tried making my own tooth powder (on National TV no less) and it was disgusting, so we continued using Tom’s… Recently I came across Adria Vasil’s toothpaste recipe. I finally tried it and it is so good that even Kyle uses it! Yaaay. So now we just have the glycerin bottle and the mint bottle, which will do us for at least 10 years, I think.
Oh and we still have Aurora’s toothpaste tube, but she doesn’t use as much as when hers is finished I’ll look into making some for her too.

Being Trash-Free never tasted so yummy!

We are list makers. We make daily to -do lists (on scrap parer that has been used on both sides and then the white parts are cut off and saved for list)with tasks that rarely get finished on the day they were meant to. For weeks, “make samosas” was on the list everyday and we finally did it! We were sometimes buying samosa at Sobeys deli and putting them in our own container, so the only garbage created was the sticker, so we are not really cutting back on heaps of garbage, but we are also saving money and we have more control over what exactly gpes in them.

We used this recipe, but baked them instead of deep frying. They were delicious. Now we are going to experiment with different fillings so the samosas can be more of a complete meal- we will add chick peas or lentils and other veggies.

We also tried a new recipe for veggie burgers. It comes from the Lean, Lucious and Meatless Cookbook by Bobbie Hinman and Millie Snyder. We used black beans instead of kidney beans and baked them instead of frying them. Actually, “we” didn’t, Kyle did while I was out at a clothing swap (another great way to be trash free). I have to admit that we used canned beans. A few weeks ago I soaked beans and cooked them to make Cajun style burritos, but I forgot to rinse them at all so the beans are so gaseous that we can’t even eat them- they hurt our bellies so much. We are using canned beans for a bit until I get my brain back.
ON a side note, there is a public transit strike on in Toronto right now, so we got to the clothing swap the greenest way ever- walking. It was an all day adventure as it took a bit over an hour to walk there and two hours to walk back- 3 adults, 2 babies, one stroller, two carriers and a lot of clothes. I think we had less on the way back but I can’t be sure.

One More Thing

Aurora now likes Oak Manor organic bulk rice cereal! She ate the whole bowl and wanted more! She also likes avocado and sweet potato-no packages there either. I knew she was a “tree hugger” at heart!

Green Washing

A few weeks ago I met my brother (who lives in Midland) at IKEA for a fun family outing. He thought it was hilarious that he was meeting his anti- consumer sister at a big box store. Well, I’m not anti consumer. I have to admit, I love to shop! But, I do think it’s important to know what I am buying and try to make smart choices. Money is power, in more ways than one.

It is getting harder to make smart choices now that it is so hip to be green. So much is just green washing. My brother-in-law ( I usually say my favorite brother in law, but then I realized I actually do have another bro-in law and I don’t want him to be offended) just showed me this chart and it made me very sad. So many organic and fair trade food companies are actually owned by big bad corporations. I knew Converse was bought by Nike and Burt;s Bee’s is now owned by Clorax, but this chart shows that green washing has gotten way out of control.

The day after I saw it, I bought some EARTH’S BEST diaper rash cream for Aurora. The stuff I really like is made by woman in Guelph and she has had some sort of family catastrophe and is not in production right now. So I bought the Earth’s Best even though I knew they were owned by Hienz and I really shouldn’t have. First of all, there was a little styrofoam piece on the top between the cream and the container lid:secondly it doesn’t work very well, and thirdly the lid spontaneously popped up after 3 or 4 uses and won’t close now. That’s Karma for me!
Now to take Green washing more literally, I bought a very expensive mop ($70 after taxes and “shipping”) from Green for Life . I haven’t used it yet and was a bit disappointed that it came wrapped in plastic. I got a sweater stone from the same company and it also came wrapped in plastic. Anyhow it was too big to ship so Cassandra personally delivered it, which was awesome. She’s also really nice. I’ll have to let you know how I like the mop once I actually have time to use it. It seems to me that there are so many things to worry about when trying to shop conscientiously that most people drop one or two- and for some reason the issue of waste and over packaging almost always gets dropped. Even David Suzuki admitted to using disposable cups and food containers sometimes because “there are bigger issues to deal with.” It was kind of funny since he just finished giving a speech about how everything is connected and our society’s problem is that we forget that. Hmmmm Mister Suzuki, I think I found your one fault. That’s OK- you’re still my hero, but I do wish you and the rest of the world cared a bit more about trash!

New(s)

So it’s been over a month since I’ve blogged- Sorry! Same old excuses- I’m looking after the baby, chasing sleep etc. etc. Ahhhh sleep, some day I will catch you again. If I was smart I would be sleeping right now, since the girl is, but instead I’m here! I’ve been away so long that I only just noticed….

1. Word Press has changed it’s format. I wonder when that happened?

2. All sorts of cool people have been doing similar projects and linking to me. Check it out:

http://notbuying.blogspot.com/2008/04/du-skmta-med-mig-aprillo.html Kopstopp

***actually I don’t really know if this one is saying good or bag things about me, as it it in Swedish (I think), but I think it’s pretty awesome that someone from Sweden is talking about me!

http://www.therubbishdiet.blogspot.com/

http://tiffanyhilman.blogspot.com/2008/03/no-waste.html

http://theuselessconsumer.squarespace.com/blog/2008/3/14/oscar-the-grouch-is-going-to-fall-in-love-with-me.html

http://commonplacesketchbook.com/?p=69

http://michellesreality.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/two-posts-in-one-thanksupdates-and-enviro-blogs-ive-been-loving/

Last week, our young film maker friend Mr. Meriwether, came by again to film us for his documentary. I call him our young friend though he is only a few years younger than myself, because when he first contacted us I envisioned him as being middle aged. Any how I was feeling quite sheepish about being filmed because the other people he is filming seem to be so much greener than we are ( one of them is Joel Saltin)

Anyhow the first thing we did was go for a walk with Aurora to buy a diaper bag off of Craig’s list, and it turned out to be not what I wanted at all, but I felt all silly so I bought it anyway, and now I can’t resell it! Aurora sucks on ADVENT silicone soothers because she refused the natural rubber ones and her thumb and I was tired of being a pacifier. We buy a lot more packaged things now and put a lot out to recycle- sigh. He caught us, on camera, making spanokopita with phyllo pastry that came in cardboard and plastic.It just made me aware of all the things I want to be doing but am not doing as much of due to lack of time and sleep. He also filmed our bed time routine, which made me paranoid that people would see it and criticize my parenting skills. I’ve gotten lots of criticism on the garbage project and that is one thing, but parenting is a whole new bucket of worms, and I just don’t want to hear what other people think about how we’re doing (unless it’s praise Graham (Meriwether) seems to think we are still on the right track though and he was in awe of Aurora (our little charmer). Anyhow he’ll be back again in a few months and hopefully we’ll be a little more rested (fingers crossed) and a little more green….although ….I told Graham, on camera that we weren’t going to do any packaged baby foods, but already Aurora hated the bulk rice cereal but loved the packaged oat baby cereal…so we’ll see. My Dad says she is not a tree hugger, but I think she will be. She is just too young to make informed decisions right now

Another baby update

Many people have been asking me how our garbage-free lifestyle has changed since having a baby. Of course having a baby changes everything, but it doesn’t mean you have to just give up. Here’s a chart of what makes us green and what gives us the blues.

Green	Blue
We use cloth diapers and “natural infant hygiene”We also use wash cloths and natural wipe solution instead of disposable wipes.	-a lot more laundry due to diapers and accidents on towels, sheets, my pants etc.-dryer use
We have been able to get most items that we need from Craig’s List, second Hand stores or hand-me- downs from friends and family	-some times people save the original packaging and pass it on to us
Our garbage production hasn’t increased much, but our recycling has.	-We don’t spend as much time looking for package free goods. If we feel the baby needs something, we’re more likely to just get it in a package after looking at only a few stores.
We still save our bath water to flush the toilet and have also started a bucket in the kitchen that we fill when waiting for the water to heat up and we use it to water plants, rinse the sink etc.	-Due to sleep deprivation, I’ve had a lot more accidental garbage because I haven’t checked carefully enough and I always forget to ask for drinks without a straw at restaurants.
- When we order pizza, we order from a place that doesn’t use the little plastic holder uppers, so all we have is the box to recycle	- We order more pizza than ever before and we now often get pre-made rice milk or juice instead of making our own.
-now that we have a baby, we have a new life for our socks that can no longer be darned. I cut of the toes(which is usually the darned holey part and make little leg warmers for her.

Rob Grand has a really great post about being a careful consumer, now that green is hip. I find it harder to be careful in my shopping now that I have a wee one. I am more susceptible to marketing ploys, as I have less space in my brain-it’s all for the baby now!

No more junk mail

A few years ago, I tried really hard to make the post office stop sending me junk mail, but to no avail. Now there is a system in place so one can refuse junk mail. Yaaay! My favorite brother in law sent me this article from the Star . Thanks Andrew!

Red dot campaign’ raises awareness of Canada Post program to help environment

Feb 10, 2008 01:18 PM

Michael Oliveira
THE CANADIAN PRESS
With just a few seconds of effort, anyone can easily shrink their impact on the environment by telling Canada Post to stop delivering junk mail – but only two per cent of Canadian homes have done it.

Canada Post says it’s because people want to get flyers and ads delivered at their door. Vancouver’s Beth Ringdahl begs to differ.

Beth Ringdahl’s website, www.reddotcampaign.ca, spells out a simple two-step process to block junk mail: It’s as easy as filling out a downloaded form and leaving a note on your mailbox.

For more than a decade, Canada Post has been quietly acknowledging such requests, halting junk mail deliveries and marking a homeowner’s internal file with a red dot – hence the name of Ringdahl’s campaign.

The website’s only been up and running for a couple of weeks, but word is spreading fast.

Ringdahl says the letter has been downloaded more than 2,300 times, her Facebook group has swelled to more than 850 members and grateful visitors are e-mailing everyone they know about the site.

“People are really happy to learn about a way they can reduce the waste in their lives,” she said.

“(The campaign) is like a friendly reminder saying, ‘Hey guys, here’s something you can do that will take away some clutter and save some trees.”‘

Canada Post spokeswoman Lillian Au said Ringdahl’s campaign is unnecessary – Canadians, she says, have known for years about the opt-out option.

“It has been in place since 1997, so we feel that we’ve done a good job and people know that they have that right,” Au said.

Au acknowledged that unaddressed advertising mail is one of Canada Post’s fastest growing revenue streams – it brought in $339 million in 2006, up 14.4 per cent from 2005 – and helps keep costs down for consumers, while allowing small businesses to advertise in an affordable way.

Almost all of the promotional mail is recyclable and printed on recycled paper, she added.

But Au also confirmed Ringdahl’s theory that marketers would likely end up printing fewer flyers if there were fewer homes that received the junk mail.

“We make regular updates to our mailers, who can adjust the amount of material being printed so they don’t print excess flyers,” Au said.

Ringdahl said she never intended to do battle with Canada Post, and instead applauds its policy. She’s just trying to do a better job promoting it.

“I really think this is a world-class system that they have set up, and I don’t want it to be a cop out (for) the individual, saying, ‘Oh, Canada Post didn’t tell me how to do this.”‘

Her next goal is to target homeowners who don’t speak or understand English so the campaign’s reach grows even further.

Valerie Langer of the environmental group Forest Ethics applauded the campaign, which she said was a mystery to even those who are working to protect Canadian forests.

“It’s giving people the kind of information that starts them thinking and allows them to act in a way that conserves paper and therefore forests,” Langer said.

Langer herself just recently learned about opting out, she added.

If homeowners decide they do want to stop receiving junk mail, Au said printing out the letter on Ringdahl’s website isn’t necessary; a note on the mailbox – inside the door if the box is in an apartment building or condo – will suffice.

A warning, however: stopping junk mail also halts delivery of municipal-service notices such as town hall meeting announcements and snow removal and garbage pickup schedules, Au sai

Not a careful consumer

I’ve had two big buying boo boos this week. First of all, I needed suede protector for my new boots-which were also not what I wanted but the sales guy was really persuasive. We went to Pay Less and I bought the only bottle they had that said it would protect suede. I didn’t look at it closely, or I would have noticed:

-it was aerosol which I usually avoid.

- it was totally scary stuff that shouldn’t exist. The bottle had huge warning labels: flammable, poisonous, explosive. I don’t know how I missed it.

So we took it back- no problem. And I found some safe and friendly suede protector on the internet. But…..

The very same day, we took at trip to Diaper-Eez ( in Bloor West Village) to pick up some bigger Bamboozles and an organic teething toy. Kyle kept picking out the regular plastic ones, but I said “We could get those anywhere. We made the special trip to avoid them”. He showed me one with plastic and fabric, but I said No because it was made in China. Then I bought one called “Earth Brights”. The packaging was simply natural looking recycled cardboard with hemp fasteners. It had wood and material and was “inspired by nature”. Well it turns out, it is not organic, it is also made in China, in fact by the same company, Sassy. And it has lavender inside it so if she chews on it it’s like eating perfume and she makes a face. It was marketed to catch fools like me- D’oh!

We really want the Under the Nile teething veggies, but we need something fast and it would take a while to get them if we ordered them from the internet. We could get them at Grassroots, but they cost 3 times as much as they do on the net, and they are wrapped in plastic. Poor Aurora is chomping on our fingers mostly- I guess they are mostly organic though, so maybe it’s the best choice.

I have to be more careful in my shopping!

Everything I love goes away in the end

OK, not everything, but I like that song and it makes a clever title, if I do say so myself.

It seems that as soon as I find a great product with no packaging, it stops being made or suddenly comes with a big package! This time, it’s batteries. A few years ago I discovered that Grass Roots stocked nickel based rechargeables in bulk! A few months later, they only had double As left, and I needed another kind, so they sent me to a store on Queen street. As it turned out, that store had just shut down.

Last week I discovered Grassroots doesn’t sell any in bulk anymore!So I wrote Rob Grand and asked why. At first he said, they did still carry them and then he talked to his purchasing manager and said they are working on getting them again but it’s hard to get them in small quantities. There’s hope anyway! Speaking of Rob Grand, he is giving a talk at GET . Here’s the low down:
Rob Grand, founder of Grassroots Stores, will speak about the elephant in the living room: How can retailers make a buck in a world with too much stuff, where retail and manufacturing profit from hyper-consumption and planned obsolescence? Find out how a successful pioneer meets this challenge.

The monthly “GET Smart!” speaker series continues
Tuesday February 12, 7-9 pm
Green Enterprise Toronto
Centre for Social Innovation,
215 Spadina Ave., suite 120

$15 general admission, $10 for GET members - includes refreshments