Do you think you would make fun of me if I brought my own Tupperware out to dinner with me? I enjoy going out to eat, but I try to make that one meal make at least two by only eating half. The only problem is that every freaking restaurant uses Styrofoam to-go boxes. So what am I supposed to do, waste the food because I hate Styrofoam? So I think I'm going to try and bring my own Tupperware. I'm sure the waiter is going to think I'm a freak, as well as whoever is with me. I enjoy embarrassing my friends though. I will try to remember to bring a camera to catch their reactions. Only problem is that sometimes you go out on a whim and might not have that Tupperware with you. So I will just be a bag lady with my eco-friendly resources. In my bag I'll carry a reusable bag ( check) , eco-friendly cosmetics ( check), 3 different sizes of Tupperware, a tree .... wait, I've gone too far.
I can't believe that places like this exist. We really are living in heaven on Earth, I just don't think we are paying much attention. Most of us won't be lucky enough to personally experience places like the one above (Croatia, I know , who knew?). What types of things do you look for when planning a trip? Mine is usually surf, nature and underwater life. I always gravitate towards places that are on the ocean, but I guess lakes or waterfalls will do just fine too. Water has to be involved or it is a real hard sell for me to get on a plane. The most awe inspiring vistas to me are when the mountains hit the ocean. Two massive forces, it's a gorgeous juxtaposition. To be able to experience the beauty in the world makes me feel connected to it. I am a part of it, it is a part of me type of feeling. I guess that is one of the reasons I feel passionate about protecting it from ourselves.
I read that a automatic carwash is a greener alternative then washing the car yourself. Of course I like reading that since I am sorta lazy about washing my car. Auto car washes use less water. But wouldn't the energy output at the auto wash off put any water savings? Comparing apples to oranges here. Can't decide. Anyone? Bueller?
Ever since I was little I loved sitting in my papasan chair. They were just so cute and brought you back to the womb so to say. I would get all fetal positioned on it and melt into it. Well I still do that. I have two hand-me down papasan chairs, thanks Mom!!! The papasan chair gained it's popularity back in the groovy 60's. Part of that was thanks to the Vietnam war. US military men used to chill out on the papasan chair while stationed in the Philippines. Since they were so damn comfy, they brought those bad boys home to their families to enjoy. Pier 1 started carrying them when they opened in 1962 (I know, I can't believe they have been around that long) and are still carrying them today. Rattan, wicker and grasses are a really popular design astetic rightn now and thankfully they are also pretty eco-friendly as well. The papasan chair is made out of renewable rattan. Rattan is similar to bamboo but more solid, no hollow space. Rattan is a major export in asia, mostly coming from the Philippines and Indonesia. It's economic value has helped prevent deforestation of other tropical hard woods that aren't as quick to grow as rattan is. It is also easier to harvest and transport than other woods. It does not grow as quickly as bamboo however. Bamboo growth is just crazy!! With that said, go ahead and enjoy your papasan chair, it is semi-eco friendly!!!
Fun Facts about rattan.
Rattan has fruit that ooozes red liquid , called dragon blood, it can be used as a natural dye.
Rattan is the only acceptable weapons material used in the Society for Creative Anachronism martial arts.
Rattan is also the preferred material to make canes, used for caning bad Americans who find it necessary to spray paint cars.
I hope the useless info will help you answer a trivia question at a bar one day :)
There is sooo much talk about methane (aka cow farts) polluting the ozone. This sort of coincides with a debate over eating meat. In the previous post I talked about buying more products that were not tested on animals but since I eat meat am I still a total bastard? PETA would say "hell yeah you are you piece of crap" but oh well. I like chicken, I like fish, I sometimes like beef. Humans are a species that were designed and built to be omnivores. I can't deny what makes me human (which is chicken, definitely chicken makes me human). I tried to not eat meat for six months a long time ago and it was not pretty. I was a mess, I was not doing it correctly for sure, but still. Not a good scene for me. So in part of being green and what not, I have been trying to buy organic food. There are lots of options for meat nowadays. I can buy free-range organic chickens. Can you feel the warm fuzzies? I only murder happy chickens thank you very much.
Well I think beef is a different beast (obviously) but seriously. Our beef craving is pretty extreme. We eat to damn much. We could each make an impact if we made an effort to eat less of it. Yes, I'm asking you to step away from the BigMac ( sorry, you know I love you, but you make my but big and are a polluting the ozone more than our transportation emissions). The United Nations thinks cows are one of the greatest threats to the environment. BURN!!! Cows release mass amounts of methane, require lots of water for milk production and are a major source of deforestation. Check out the article from 2006. So I thought I might get off easy just lessening the amount of beef I eat, but damn it, now dairy!!! I will scream for ice cream!!! I live on dairy.
All is not lost however. There are several emerging technologies that are trying to combat cows from destroying the world, while still providing us with tasty steaks and treats. My favorite is a cow fart suction cup :) I can just see all the shenanigans that will arise from the cows getting all entangled with each other. Another, more sustainable practice is for cattle producers to operate more organically. This mean no fertilizers, pesticides and hormones. This will decrease the likely hood of these chemicals making it into our water supplies and lessen the occurrence of acid rain. This now leads us back to my "Garbage Island" post. There are other dead zones popping up all over the ocean. 146 of them. A big one is right next door to me in the Gulf of Mexico. The main cause of this one, fertilizers and pesticides from cattle farms making their way from the farm, down the Mississippi and into the Gulf.
The good news, we can cut these fertilizers from reaching the Gulf by doing a better job of either not using them or measuring them more precisely to the crop. That way they will get fully absorbed by the soil instead of running off as waste. Holy gloom and doom batman, I apologize, just ranting :)
I apologize for the graphic nature of the video above. After watching it, I took a look at the companies that do test on animals. Then I looked at what I had purchased. All around me were brands that still test on animals. I had Pantene, Loreal, Herbal Essence and the list goes on. I thought I was doing my part by recycling those bottles. But I was blissfully unaware. I then took a trip to ULTA with my sister and I was on a mission to only buy products that were not tested on animals. It wasn't very hard. I was able to get huge bottles of Treseme for only $3.50 a piece. Face wash was a little hard since I like that Clean and Clear tingle, but I found a natural and organic non-animal tested face wash by ALBA. It smells like pineapples, so be careful and try not to lick your face. So now, I am paying way more attention than ever on all my labels. I try to buy organic when I can, but I am focused on buying non-animal tested products. Check out this site to find out what companies are not testing on animals. I found it hard to get toothpaste that is not tested on animals. Tom's of Maine seems to be the only mainstream toothpaste readily available. You can always just whip up your own by mixing baking soda and peroxide. Colgate tests their fluoride on animals, but they are making significant steps to phase that out. So keep an eye out, you might see "not tested on animals" very soon.
I had some great conversations with my sister, co-workers and friends on this. We all eat meat. I probably will continue to eat meat. So, since we are technically animals murderers, should be even try to purchase products that are not tested on animals. OF COURSE WE SHOULD. Especially makeup, face wash, shampoo and the like. There is no reason that we should subject animals to torture for our own vanity. There are plenty of products that do not test on animals. Hopefully once enough people stop buying these animal tested products, their producers will get a clue and stop testing. Maybe one day I can buy those products again. I'm willing to forgive.
Now the next debate. Should we still test on animals when it involves products that are in the human life saving business? If we have access to human tissue, then why not use that? Interested in what the people have to say, leave some comments to find out.
Another thing that surprised me were all the animals tests being done on dogs for Iams dog food. Seems sort of counterproductive ( not the exact wording I want to use, but can't think of the correct word, irony doesn't fit either). I guess you can all agree that if anything, it is f*cked up. I am a big time dog lover. My two children are dogs, so this hits close to my heart to see dogs tortured. I think I have even been purchasing Iams for our dry food, Pedigree for the wet. It is not rare for dog food to be tested on dogs, ie them eating it. But Iams was doing some pretty inhumane things to these dogs. Here is a list of dog food brands that do not test on animals.
Way out in the wild blue ocean lives a place of mythic proportions. Texas size proportions that is. A floating mass of plastic waste is slowly killing our ocean. When I first envisioned this island of garbage out in the middle of nowhere, I saw a huge mass of crap just floating as one. Where dead fish carcasses cover our plastic toss outs. I waited in anticipation as the documentary about this previously un-filmed mass of crap reached their destination. When I first saw "Garbage Island" I felt almost relieved. A lot to do about nothing. But jump into the water and you are covered in clear confetti, basically glitter. Well no life can live in that kind of glitter soup. When the documentary team took some samples, the waste to life ratio was disturbing. A typical "bad" sample gets about a 6:1 waste to life ratio. Life like plankton (aka carbon recyclers). Just one cup of of ocean water contains over 1/4 billion plankton. The sample taken at garbage island had a waste to life ratio of 1000:1 ratio. Plastic gradually breaks down to it's base polymers. It just continues to get smaller and smaller, but never actually degrades. The problem with this, is how the hell do we even go about removing billions of tons of plastic glitter from the ocean? At least if it was just a floating island of random crap, we could more easily collect it and then... (not sure).. but at least the collection method wasn't complete insanity. The aquatic life is eating this glitter too. It is causing all sorts of problems for them, including reproductive problems. So even if you don't give a fart about the ocean, I'm sure you like to eat fish. Well the same effects this plastic is having on Nemo it is having on people. It has been linked to miscarriages throughout Japan and diabetes (since this plastic attaches itself to fat cells once ingested). The rise in diabetes is also directly mirroring the rise in plastic production. But for now, this mass of ocean glitter is out of site and out of mind. We obliviously add over 64 million tons of waste to the ocean every year.
Plankton are the building blocks of ocean life. It is the beginning of the food chain. Life on earth relies on microscopic plant cells. If we continue to allow plastic to make it's way into our oceans, we will cut the main artery off of aquatic life. Plankton feeds on CO2 and emits an enormous amount of the O2 we breath. It has the capacity to absorb large amounts of CO2 ( which we are also emitting into the atmosphere at a sickening rate.) Perhaps the environment will save itself if we can stop shitting all over it. Bio-engineers are trying to harness the power of plankton (with plastic tarps ironically) to combat global warming, but it can't grow it in a waste filled ocean. Lets all hope that where we fail, the earth can self correct a species out of control and living in ways that cannot co-exist with the natural state of the earth.
Plastic is so embeded in our daily lives. I came across a blogger who was on a mission to exclude plastic from their lives. That is damn near impossible right now. We rely on plastic. If you look anywhere, bam, there it is. I'm not saying that we must stop using plastic altogether, but we need to start using it more responsibily. The easiest way for any person to limit their plastic consumption is just to stop using plastic bags everywhere you shop. Bring a reusable bag or just carry things if you can. Stop buying bottled water, but if you must, recycle the damn bottle!!! I am still amazed by people who do not recycle their bottles, cans and glass. It is sooooo easy. If we consume less plastic and make sure we recycle every piece we can, maybe we can stop glittering the ocean up.
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