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

sitting in the kitchen banging on the pots and pans

Kyle and I have been wanting to get new cookware for a long time. We had all second hand Teflon cookware and most of it is scratched-danger danger!!! We got some Christmas money (thanks to Grandpa and father-in law and a renewed sense of self preservation (thanks to the baby) so we are going tomorrow to buy new cookware. Ceramic, glass, stainless steel or cast iron are all safe. In fact, ceramic and cast iron are said to be good for your health.

The problem is now-what to do with the old stuff. Rhode Island recycles it, but Toronto doesn’t. I know sometimes with other non recyclable metals, you can take them to metal shops and they can use them, but I’m not sure when they’re coated with Teflon. Does anyone know? With other containers, we plant plants in them, but I don’t think the Teflon would be good for plants either. I really don’t want to just dump them in the landfill, but I would like to be rid of them. This site suggests taking the Teflon coating off with wire wool and using them still, but that makes me feel uneasy. It’s a cool site though

The weirdest thing about Teflon is everyone knows it’s bad but continues to use it. I have a few friends who have had cancer and their doctors tell them not to use it anymore, so they don’t. But why don’t doctors tell everyone not to use it and prevent some of the cancer cases?

Garbage Problems!

We live in house that’s divided into 4 units. No one else takes the garbage or recycling out. In the summer, I rushed out one morning, very pregnant and in my pajamas to put recycling on the curb as the trucks were coming. One of the workers gave me hell, and I exclaimed “none of it’s even mine!” whihc was true, but I don’t think he believed me.

The city hasn’t been collecting all the garbage and it just keeps building up and then they won’t take it because it’s more than the limit. It’s really frustrating because in the mounds and mounds of garbage we only have one grocery bag full, but no one else will deal with it! I’ve called the city twice and they said they would look into it but nothing happened.

I feel kind of embarrassed, like people will see all the trash in front of my house and think I’m a sham, but really no one cares.

Wonder Wash

Since having a baby, our energy and water consumption has increased because of laundry! I never thought my pants could be peed on by someone else so often! Not to mention spit up, cloth diapers etc. We share the washer and dryer with 4 other units, and it’s in the basement. It’s hard to go down the stairs and outside with the laundry and the baby, so Kyle pretty much does all of it. If we had our own machine, I could help.

Kyle was internet surfing and he found a great portable washing machine that we want to get. It won a bunch of awards at environmental trade shows, and it’s less than $50. It uses a very small amount of water and takes only a few minutes to wash a five pound load. It’s small, but our apartment is already packed, so the only problem now is finding space for it.

Modern Babies and Children

The article about this project came out in Baltimore Modern Babies and Children. I’m really happy with it. You should check it out. It’s on page 168-169. The whole issue is great really-it’s the Green Issue.

Happy Belated Birthday!

It’s been over a year since I started this blog on January 3rd 2007. It’s been exactly a year since we started the “hard-core no garbage, no matter what” stint.

I thought it would be a good time to write a year in review.

December 2006/January 2007

Starting Over

Kyle and I were discussing our garbage production once again. We had taken almost a year break from trying to make zero garbage for 31 days consecutively, and it was time to try again. We decided we would each have our own rules, in order to keep harmony in our relationship. We were armed with our previous mistakes, new knowledge and a whole lot of time off work(that’s the key really).

Press Parade

I responded to a call for environmental artists and ended up going on a tree tour put on by LEAF. It was there that I met journalist Dale Duncan, of Spacing magazine (among other things). I had gone on the walk with just my small purse, no back pack with garbage free supplies. It was so cold out that the whole tour ended up stopping at a bakery . Dale was surprised that I didn’t get anything so I explained that I hadn’t brought my cup and I couldn’t/wouldn’t use styrofoam. She was intrigued so I told her about this project. She called back in early January asking of she could do an interview with us for the Globe and Mail, and that’s how the press parade began.

February 2007

Montreal

We took a trip to Montreal to visit good friends, who helped us have a garbage free trip! Oh except for one straw that I got in my juice at the bar. I was so busy practicing my French that I forgot to say “no Straw please”. A friend of a friend made the straw into beautiful earrings.

Stomach flu

We were the furthest along we had ever been in the project, having made it more than 15 days in a row without having to start over, when I started to hurl. Kyle and I are in a band together and we had to cancel 2 gigs because I simply couldn’t stop puking. Everyone was calling to say they had the stomach flu previously and they hoped they didn’t give it to me. A blood test showed that it was definitely Kyle who “gave it to me” and it was a fetus growing in my tummy! That upped the anti a bit. I refused to give up but I loosed the rules a bit- garbage obtained for medical reasons didn’t count. Soda crackers and Power aid however are not medical ingredients, but will stay down in a tumultuous tummy. I refused them until I had completed day 31.

The press parade continued and I spoke at a number of schools as well as doing talk shows, and radio and magazine interviews.

Success

At the end of February, I completed my 31 days!!!! We were actually quite surprised as we were ready to keep trying for 31 consecutive days all year and we made it in just a few months. All the old attempts and research paid off. I was also quite relieved and went immediately to buy Power Aid.

March, April, May 2007

Kyle finished his 31 days shortly after me and bought chips again. We began making about 1 grocery bag of garbage every 3 - 7 weeks. I began working on a No Garbage book (I’m still working on it-its slow going). We continued to do some magazine interviews, and started the parenting magazine circuit:).

June

Graham, a young documentary film-maker from New York followed us around. He is very similar to us and we all got along great, so it worked out well- like having a friend along with a camera( a talented, or crazy, friend who can cycle while filming!)He’s doing a film about the positive changes people are making in regards to environmental issues. I can’t wait for it to be finished!

October , November, December 2007

Aurora

Aurora was born and time stopped (so did sleep). We managed to keep out garbage consumption down to a minimum, but our energy and water consumption went up- so much laundry!

Hang in There

Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been so long again. Happy New Year.

I have been obseesed with sleep, so the rest of life has sort of stopped. I am working on a HUGE year in review post though so keep checking-it’s coming soon.

I forgot to tell anyone that I was going to be on the National with Aurora. They came on January 4th to discuss reducing waste over the holidays, and it aired that night. Did anyone see us? The funniest question I answered was ” How difficult do you think it is for people to reduce?” It’s kind of like looking at a new born baby and asking “what are the chances that she/he will grow any bigger?” Especially over Christmas, our society is pretty much as wasteful as you could get, so it is super easy to get less wasteful than that.

Holiday Post Part Three: Food!!!

1. Egg Nog

Avoid the packaged Nog and make your own. For a vegan treat, use bananas instead of eggs. I rarely measure, so I’ll just give a loose recipe.

Put a few eggs, milk or milk replacement, cinnamon and nutmeg in the blender. If you want add whipped cream. Be sure to get harmony organic cream and milk so you can bring the bottle back. You could also add rum or whiskey, but make sure to take the bottles back for deposit.

2. Goodies

Most baking ingredients can be found at bulk food stores. The only problem I’ve encountered is with butter. You can buy a butter alternative in a recyclable container, or make your tin wrapping into a lovely Christmas ornament, or find a farmer to buy butter from.

If you want vegan recipes, check this site out. For general holiday recipes, I love razzle dazzle.

3. The big feast
If you are a meat eater, getting your goods from a butcher often eliminates the garbage factor.
As a vegetarian, these are some of my fancy favorites:
Peanut butter Tofu, savory bread pudding,nut roast, stuffed squash with chestnuts.

Green Xmas Part Two: Decorations

Sorry this is quite late. We were really busy and then I got sick. Here’s a picture of what we do instead of a Christmas tree. When Kyle worked as a pastry chef, he brought a lot of stuff home so it wouldn’t go in the garbage and one thing we ended up with was a surplus of strawberry containers-they didn’t even recycle them where he worked so he brought them home. We decided to make a Christmas tree out of them. We figured it was a better option than a fake tree because we are not producing more plastic, just using what already exists. Here it is.

We’ve decorated it with holly from his new job, home made decorations, second hand finds and stuff people gave us. Unfortunately I think there is also some stuff from the dollar store from a few years ago.
Another options is edible decorations- fruit loops (from Bulk Barn) or popcorn on a string, cookies etc. That’s what they did in the olden days.
If you don’t like plastic, you could get  a live tree, but you have to be careful to keep it alive. You can’t just plant it outside in the cold after it’s been in the warm, cozy house because it will die. You can talk to an arborist if you are interested. The folks at LEAF are friendly and knowledgeable.
We celebrate solstice each year and usually we make lanterns. This year due to lack of time we made really simple paper lanterns, using magazines. Here they are:

Happy Holidays! I’ll try to get the food segment done by tomorrow