discussion group day
[Part three of the crafty reusables series will resume once I get my current project completed... in case you were jonesin' for more.]
Mondays are not always a favorite day of the week, but the start of my second Northwest Earth Institute discussion course at work has given me a great excuse to save some money, enjoy fabulous leftovers (I’m not being sarcastic– we had a chili cook-off at my house last night that yielded myriad Tupperwares of future lunches. And leftovers are also fantastic because they are virtually a zero-waste lunch.) and of course participate in some insightful discussions with passionate coworkers.
Today our discussion migrated to some interesting points I would like to do some research on. For instance:
“Take back clause” — I’m not sure of what the official name of this is, making Googling a little complicated, but a couple of my coworkers described it as a clause requiring manufactures to be responsible for the collection and recycling/reusing of their appliances or electronics. Someone mentioned that one of the electronic companies (perhaps Sony?) had decided to turn this extra cost into an income generating specialty and devlope a service so solid that they could charge other electronic companies to collect their items as well. I also heard Volvo is fairly decent at reclaiming and recycling parts. I will have to research these further, but please let me know if you have any good articles.
Responsibility– Talking about the “take back clause” segued well into talking about responsibility and got me thinking: where should the responsibility lie in regard to the end of the product’s life cycle with the consumer? The manufacturer or the consumer? I have mixed thoughts/feelings.
Needing stuff in the first place– My main question here is “Should we learn to live with less… or make more but out of less?” We talked about how Americans like to own things, but how could we make renting or sharing more appealing? One idea was making them fun. For instance with Zipcar you can rent different types of cars. We thought it could be a good idea to market to men showing them in an ad that they can rent the sports cars they always dreamed of owning but couldn’t afford, or they could rent a nicer car to impress a date.
Shifting the carbon load– We talked about implementing a carbon tax, like one of the articles we read focused on the carbon tax in Costa Rica, however this could present a larger problem as companies here would want to avoid the tax of manufacturing in America and shift their carbon load to China. One person said they had read a lot of economists who recommended tariffs to help avoid this situation. Again, it goes back to accepting the responsibility for the damage your company is doing…
creative reuses, part 2
Did you know cutlery makes for an interesting wind chime? Neither did I, until one of my first visits to the Portland Saturday Market revealed that there is a slew of really neat ideas you can make with items found in your house that may be waiting to get tossed. Most of these projects are easy if you feel inspired to give them a shot. If not, they are here to illustrate some fun reuses of materials.
Check out some of these finds:
Door #1 – Wallets! After searching all over for an artist I once saw selling at a fair who makes super neat projects out of old maps, I got distracted and found a slew of other things you can make wallets out of. Playing cards, subway maps, cassette tapes– heck, you name it.
Door #2 – Pendants! I recently purchased a Scrabble pendant from a local artist. I thought it was the niftiest thing ever. You can also use tiles from other games, such as Dominos, to create pendants.
Door #3 – Record bowls! I guess I could have taken a picture of some of mine because I make these things a lot for people who may read this blog… sorry you thought I put more effort into your homemade Christmas present. Really I’m just lazy. All you do is put your oven around 225° or so, lay a record over a bowl (bowl sort of determines shape/depth of bowl), put the whole thing on a cookie sheet and slide it in the over. It will sort of make your kitchen smell funky for a bit, but after 7 minutes or so you pull the thing out, and with your bare hands you can mold the bowl to your desired shape. If you don’t like how it turns out when it hardens (you have to work sorta fast) you just stick the whole thing into the oven again and re-mold.
Door #4 – Did you know could make (enter random thing here) with spoons? Spoonman is a Portland legend (with a sorta goofy website) who shows regularly at the Saturday Market. His claim to fame is his awesome windchimes (really, you gotta see them in person), but he also does earrings and some other crazy things.
creative reuses, part 1
I can’t contain myself anymore: the crafty side of me was bound to leak into this blog sooner or later, and with the discovery of a slew of inspiring craft blogs I am bursting at the seams (seams, sewing…get it?). Part one of my feature on creative reuses is going to be dresser and dresser-y things.
Sure, the folks behind Cradle to Cradle might think this artsy-fartsy stuff won’t change the underlying problem at all– all this stuff, no mater how many times it cycles through Goodwill, eventually will have to die somewhere. I am not quite that cynical (yet) and believe that maybe people go shopping for new dressers because they don’t like the old ones they find. These older dressers are already circulating around, so we may as well squeeze the use out of them and defer consumers from needing to purchase new ones (you can see why I have mixed feelings on this whole bad economy/let’s shop more thing) This has been my mentality, as well, so I am challenging myself, and you, to question why that ugly dresser you find at the garage sale can’t blossom into a beautiful swan with a little TLC.
It all started with my most recent move. I have upgraded to having two rooms and two closets (one closet now houses 85% of my camping/outdoors equipment) but have downgraded to a teeny tiny closet in my bedroom. Up until now, I’ve been faring fine with a little plastic wheely dresser, but for reasons I won’t get into I have tons of clothes that I never wear that need to be housed somewhere. And the clear plastic drawers that let everyone see my underwear are kind of tacky.
So in the joint spirit of The Three R’s and my love of crafts I have decided to take an ugly dresser from Craigslist/Freecycle/a garage sale and make it pretty. Check out the links to some creative inspirations that virtually ANYONE can do:
Door #1 - Check out how ugly this was at first, and how rad it looks now.
Door #2 - Yes, this is pink overload, but it’s for a little girl. Great video! This guy has more skills/tools than I have and has taken it one step further to fix up a broken dresser. I am looking for a dresser that is in decent shape but has been exiled because it is ugly…but if you have tools and aren’t scared to use them you could try…
Door #3 - My friends’ famous hutch. They have done myriad projects that transform ugly pieces into awesomeness proving that if you have a piece you don’t love you don’t have to get rid of it– just fix it up!
Door #4 - A pair of nightstands– again, some crazy colors going on here, but the tutorial is very helpful, and there are zillions of neat fabrics out there for your choosing.
Along with the deep sense of satisfaction I plan to achieve by making this dresser my own, I would also like to point out that painting relieves stress and can be a fun family project. I *plan* to get my dresser tonight and complete the project over the holiday. Look for some fun photo posts soon! To highlight more fun reusing ideas I will be highlighting some of my favorite jewelry ideas and other items from around the house.
virtual farming
Of course it’s easier to play an interactive farm game on the computer than to actually go outside and interact with a farm, but I was shocked to learn from an NPR piece that there are 60-some million virtual farmers on Facebook.
And here I thought farming was a slowly dying out occupation (although the bumper sticker is true: “no farms no food”).
I am not too familar with “Farmville” but the gist of it mimics real farming (to the most basic degree): you plant seeds, farm items, and then can sell them. In the process, you can “buy” supplies you need to make farming faster and more efficient.
At first when I saw my friends’ Facebook pages popping up with Farmville things I was confused– most games seem to be either mind puzzles, those shooting/killing/racing games, or those games that are so far out there and funny. So where does farming fit in? Before this was even mentioned, I was thinking something along these lines:
Mr. TAKAHASHI: Yeah, it’s a fantasy. Its something [players] wish they could do but they can no longer do in a big crowded city. People just want to get back to something simpler. It almost reminds me of the organic movement – you know, they’re very interested in where their foods come from these days. And in the same way, here you get to grow your own foods.
It seems funny to me that if people really want to get back to something simpler they would turn on some fancy piece of technology, launch their favorite internet browser, and navigate to a social network website, but so it often goes in 2009. I don’t necessarily think it’s a fantasy thing– I would much rather grow some of my real food in a garden in my backyard than all of my fake food on my laptop. And Portlanders and other city dwellers have proved it can be done in small spaces, such as window gardens, or in front yard raised beds.
Perhaps Farmville could be a good way for Facebookers to become more interested in old-fashioned farming and motivate them to visit their local farmers markets…
give a little bit
I am continuously impressed with the caliber of innovated, talented people and groups in Portland. Not to diss more on my longstanding relationship with Ohio, but I can’t think of near as many neat non-profits there as there are here. And I can’t think of any papers that would create something like the Willamette Week’s Give!Guide.
For those not in Portland, the Willy (as we call it) is a free news and culture paper that comes out once a week. They often put together these really well thought out, 50 page guides (restaurant guide, Give!Guide, etc…) that are not only informative and have nice aesthetics, but help plug really great things (local, independent restaurants and non profits championed by young entrepreneuers). The Give!Guide not only gives some well-earned media attention to these non-profits (and credits some people my age who have started their own non-profits!), but is an easy-to-use source to donate to many non-profits of your choice in one smooth, easy motion. I don’t know how they do it– I am a cheapskate who will gladly donate my time and energy to a good cause, but rarely do I actually think about shelling out cold hard cash. But after picking up the Give!Guide and eating my burrito over a long lunch (this put me in a good mood) I was really getting pumped about which ones I should choose.
The Give!Guide divides up the featured non-profits into categories. Of course I love puppies and don’t condone unjust death all over the globe, but I gotta root for the cause I am most passionate about: the environment.
I was familiar with most of the non-profits under the environment category, but after reading some more about them here are a couple I’d like to highlight:
Zenger Farm- In the past year or so I have really started thinking about where my food comes from, and have become increasingly interesting in learning about sustainable farming. All year I talked everyone’s ear off with how I wanted a garden, and now that I finally have one I… sorta don’t know what to do with it (put seeds in the grow and they turn into food, yes?). Not only does Zenger farm show citizens how they operate and how to grow food, but they also hit another topic I have spent a lot of time thinking about: children and sustainability. Zenger Farm offers field trips for schools, education programs, tours of the farm and other activities that give kids the hands-on opportunity to see where the food that lands on their plate comes from. I love this idea, and giving kids a visual can help them appreciate farming and want to eat local foods– not just Kraft (BOO!) bright orange mac n’ cheese. Hands-on learning is super for kids– once they believe farming is neat it can help open the door to other sustainable-minded things, too.
Friends of Trees- I volunteered with Friends of Trees last year and am returning this year as a Crew Leader. Friends of Trees assembles groups of volunteers who plant trees in community spaces and personal yards. Basically, if you decide you want more trees in your yard (which increases your property value, beautifies your neighborhood, and cleans the air) FoT will send out a professional to help you decide what reasonably-priced type of tree will fit in your allotted space, then send a group of volunteers from your community to plant the tree with you, and come back and help make sure you understand how to nurture the tree. It’s a win-win-win situation for everyone.
Bicycle Transportation Alliance- I’ve had nothing but good interactions with the BTA since moving to Portland and deciding, like everyone else in here, I should ride my bike to work (during the sunny warm months, that is). The BTA holds free workshops, and will even travel to your place of employment to do these workshops. They taught me how to change a flat tire in one of our conference rooms here, which was great. They also provide free bike maps, and have also worked to make bike commuting safer and less confusing.
My honorable mention goes to the Portland Parks Foundation. I admittedly don’t understand a lot about the tax system and where my money goes (yes, I know, I know) but I feel pretty good knowing that some of my money goes to support the parks. It’s amazing how many parks Portland has. Almost every single neighborhood seems to have one, and they really are clean, well-maintained, and have some nice programs for kids. Kudos to whoever set up these spaces from becoming more houses and providing wonderful dog parks, jogging paths, and big green areas for me to do cartweels on in the summer.
So perhaps you can save some money this year making gifts for friends and family (or not buying them a tacky sweater they will never wear) and donate to some of these groups, or you can ask for your family to donate to these groups in lieu of your usual presents.
friday tidbits
Three things I noticed on Friday:
1) After being inspired by last weekend’s weatherization experience, I was delighted to find a random half-used roll of rope caulk in our kitchen “stuff drawer”. I rope caulked the largest set of windows in our house that appeared to be losing lots of heat.
Time to complete: 2 minutes
2) I’ve noticed lately (in a very painful manner) that our water heater temperature is hotter than it needs to be. So I turned down the water thermostat. Not only did I just cut down on our energy use (and bills!) but the shower is still super hot.
Time to complete: 1 second
3) The superb bus ride home reminded me another reason I love the bus. It’s so much better than being in a cold little car by myself getting road rage. Instead I can de-stress from the week by reading or knitting.
Time to complete: the ride home takes 13-17 mins on average
weatherize!
I woke up early on Saturday morning to go volunteer with the Community Energy Project, a cool little non-profit whose goal is to help low-income people weatherize their windows and doors as to cut down drastically on their energy bills. It was a good experience, and now I know exactly what weatherizing your windows entails (it’s mega easy).
All of the people on my team agreed that as soon as we weatherized each window we could instantly stop feeling a draft (which sometimes I wasn’t even aware I was feeling) and it got a lot warmer inside. Now instead of the owner’s having to crank their heat to combat the cold air blowing in, they can leave their heat down and stay warmer!
You don’t necessarily have to be low-income to get a weatherization kit from the CEP. Attend one of their great workshops and you can purchase a weatherization kit or materials (I am now convinced rope caulk is the best thing ever).
why bother?
From the Food, Inc. book, chapter nine: “Why Bother” by Michael Pollan. I reccomend reading the whole chapter, or even better, the whole book if you can.
“Which brings us back to the ‘why bother’ question and how we might better answer it. The reasons not to bother are many and compelling, at least to the cheap-energy mind. But let me offer a few admittedly tentative reasons that we might put on the other side of the scale. If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain of reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture…”
-page 174
What I liked about the movie/book was that it not only showcased the problems at hand, but offered feasable solutions. For instance, the book included a step-by-step guide to implementing a community garden, how to help your kids eat healthy, and shooper’s guides.
Speak of food, I’ve managed to score lots of free Whole Foods lunch leftovers at work, and lemme tell you…these no preservative/local food items are ALWAYS taste AMAZING.
big dude, little car
I don’t know anything about football, or football players, or teams or even how football scoring works…but this guy is my new favorite: Giants’ Danny Clark Chose to Go Green With a Smart Car.
After I got done giggling, I thought:
1) A green article in the sports section?!?
2) He is setting such a good example for a market of people that typically shun this sort of stuff
3) Many people’s excuses that this car is it’s “too small”– but if this big guy can fit in it (and his other large teammates) then, I guess most people could
So thank you, Danny Clark, for not just jumping on a trend but hopefully helping to start one amongst football pros!
Parkinson’s law of trash?
I’m not sure why I remember this so much, but when I was a kid I vividly recall my dad talking about what I think a crude Google search revealed as Parkinson’s Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
It could be considered a stretch to compare this to landfills, but I’ve been following the articles about Nantucket going zero waste and one of the main reasons they are striving for this is, well, frankly they are running out of landfill space.
So Nantucket proves that when in a landfill pinch, residents of a town can make the space available work and can produce and closer to zero waste. (The slideshow states they defer 92% of their trash from landfills!) We could, too, here on Mainland, U.S.A. if we as well were strapped for landfill space. But we have the space, so fill away!
What will happen when these landfills finally fill? Can we make it work then, or will there be too many people on the planet by then? Will we have to start taking out some parks and open spaces to turn them into emergency landfills?
In my current situation, a single gal living the post-graduate cheap lifestyle with no pets or children, the easiest way for me to produce zero waste has been to…stop purchasing new stuff! It may not work in every situation for everyone and every type of product, but if you think creatively it’s easier than you think. I don’t want to get all preachy, but here’s some of the stuff I’ve been doing that works for me:
-Goodwill. They actually, like one-stop shops, are always in stock of certain items. I got some flower pots last night for half-off the already low price (color of the week, baby). And contrary to popular belief, the board games aren’t always missing all the pieces.
-”Trendy” resale shops. I always figured if you have growing children, it seems to not make sense to purchase a brand new pair of jeans every time a growth spurt hits just to know they are only going to fit for less than a year. Also, I have no sense of style, so knowing that someone with (an alleged) sense of style deemed these clothes to be socially appropriate sort of helps. My current favorite pair of jeans I wear much too often: $15 at Buffalo Exchange.
-Parents and friends. I convinced my mom that her 70’s stuff is actually cool, and she is sending some of her old sewing supplies back with my friend for my Christmas gifts.
-Taking old things and making them new. I’ve been really excited to start buying some beat up reuse furniture to turn into craft projects, especially mosaics! Also check out my friends’ website: they have gotten furniture that didn’t do it for them, so instead of getting rid of it, they made it work! If you live in PDX, check out the Rebuilding Center for tons of inspiration.
-The library. Register your card’s online account and you can put stuff on hold, freeze the hold at anytime, and pickup wherever you choose. The only time I ever think I can justify buying a DVD is when I think I’ll watch the movie more than 10 times in it’s life. Rare, yes.
-Garage sales and Craigslist. Sure, it’s hit or miss. But I’ve found some good rugs, my alarm clock, and even women’s size 12 shoes here.
-I ask myself honestly: do I need this? Really? Nine times out of ten in the mall the answer is no. I just want it…for…uhhh…no reason other than I want it.
