WALRUS & magpie

I’ve been working lately on getting a store going on Etsy.com, a unique community of crafters, DIYers and their appreciators where handmade and vintage items along with supplies can be bought and sold in a centralized, well-designed online venue. While almost all handmade and vintage items are thoughtful about their place in the world by design, I wanted to create a shop where I could post upcycled goods, dumpster-dive treasures, supplies and kits for more environmentally-conscious living, and other such items that challenge the typical consumer patterns of cradle to trash.

Well I’m happy to report that as of this afternoon I finally have my first items posted to WALRUS & magpie! They are a series of upcycled beer-cap buttons made from 100% recycled materials (used beer caps, pop tabs and safety-pins once used at the dry-cleaners). They’re a little rough, so I’m selling them for 50% off what I will charge for subsequent items, but I’m still thrilled to be a part of the growing Etsy community and what looks to be a great proponent to DIY and alternative consumer culture (with a healthy emphasis on creativity as opposed to an overbearing attention on consumption).

Check out my store at http://walrusandmagpie.etsy.com and be sure to let me know what you think!

Walden Book Club

Etsy.com today posted on their blog that they will be hosting a virtual book-club discussion of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden on May 20th at 7:00 p.m. (EDT).  I’ve been long meaning to read more of this book than just the short sections assigned by my High School English teachers, so this seems like the perfect time to pick up the book again and join in a discussion with a group of other Etsy members who share my passion for hand-made goods and self-reliant living.

In addition to the virtual discussion in May, twitter users can follow an ongoing discussion of the book by adding #EtsyReads to their posts.  Also, I’ll post thoughts here periodically as I read, to which people are more than welcome to add their own insights.

If you don’t already have a copy of the book, check out your local library or BookMooch.com, or you can get digital installments of the text emailed to you daily at http://www.dailylit.com/books/walden

Earth Hour this Saturday, March 28 8:30-9:30 p.m.

Computers and Relationship to Nature

From the March 2009 issue of The Sun magazine, I came across an interview with Nicholas Carr, author of the Atlantic article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” I found the entire interview to be enlightening as Carr discussed the internet’s “re-wiring” of our brains and of an internet-user’s relationship to information. One particular question I found to be very relevant with the overall theme of this blog:

“Cooper [interviewer]: Do you think computers have harmed our relationship with nature?
Carr: I certainly think they’ve gotten in the way of our relationship to nature. As we increasingly connect with the world through computer screens, we’re removing ourselves from direct sensory contact with nature. In other words, we’re learning to substitute symbols of reality for reality itself. I think that’s particularly true for children who’ve grown up surrounded by screens from a young age. You could argue that this isn’t necessarily something new, that it’s just a continuation of what we saw with other electronic media like radio or TV. But I do think it’s an amplification of those trends.”

Computers and the internet can be useful tools in the democratization of voices, in increasing productivity and the speed of gathering information, but what sacrifices might be made to a person’s relationship to place, to the natural world and to local community when any particular media’s “symbols of reality” are either confused with or championed over the tangible realities that surround each individual and locale?

Green America: Solutions from the Green Economy

This post comes from Green America’s latest newspaper editorial, a shortened version of an earlier article in which they outline 7 fixes for the economy.

Solutions from the Green Economy 
January 15, 2008

Everyone now understands that the economy is broken.

While many name the mortgage and credit-default-swap crises as culprits, they are only the most recent indicators of an economy with fatal design flaws. Our economy has long been based on what economist Herman Daly calls “uneconomic growth” where increases in the GDP come at an expense in resources and well-being that is worth more than the goods and services provided.  When GNP growth exacerbates social and environmental problems—from sweatshop labor to manufacturing toxic chemicals—every dollar of GNP growth reduces well-being for people and the planet, and we’re all worse off.

Our fatally flawed economy creates economic injustice, poverty, and environmental crises. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can create a green economy: one that serves people and the planet and offers antidotes to the current breakdown. 
Here are six green-economy solutions to today’s economic mess.

1. Green Energy—Green Jobs 
A crucial starting place to rejuvenate our economy is to focus on energy. It’s time to call in the superheroes of the green energy revolution—energy efficiency, solar and wind power, and plug-in hybrids—and put their synergies to work with rapid, large-scale deployment. This is a powerful way to jumpstart the economy, spur job creation (with jobs that can’t be outsourced), declare energy independence, and claim victory over the climate crisis. 

2. Clean Energy Victory Bonds 
How are we going to pay for this green energy revolution? We at Green America propose Clean Energy Victory Bonds. Modeled after victory bonds in World War II, Americans would buy these bonds from the federal government to invest in large-scale deployment of green energy projects, with particular emphasis in low-income communities hardest hit by the broken economy. These would be long-term bonds, paying an annual interest rate, based in part on the energy and energy savings that the bonds generate. During WWII, 85 million Americans bought over $185 billion in bonds—that would be almost $2 trillion in today’s dollars. 

3. Reduce, Reuse, Rethink 
Living lightly on the Earth, saving resources and money, and sharing (jobs, property, ideas, and opportunities) are crucial principles for restructuring our economy. This economic breakdown is, in part, due to living beyond our means—as a nation and as individuals. With the enormous national and consumer debt weighing us down, we won’t be able to spend our way out of this economic problem. Ultimately, we need an economy that’s not dependent on unsustainable growth and consumerism. So it’s time to rethink our over-consumptive lifestyles, and turn to the principles of elegant simplicity, such as planting gardens, conserving energy, and working cooperatively with our neighbors to share resources and build resilient communities.

4. Go Green and Local 
When we do buy, it is essential that those purchases benefit the green and local economy—so that every dollar helps solve social and environmental problems, not create them. Our spending choices matter. We can support our local communities by moving dollars away from conventional agribusiness and big-box stores and toward supporting local workers, businesses, and organic farmers.

5. Community Investing 
All over the country, community investing banks, credit unions, and loan funds that serve hard-hit communities are strong, while the biggest banks required bailouts. The basic principles of community investing keep such institutions strong: Lenders and borrowers know each other. Lenders invest in the success of their borrowers—with training and technical assistance along with loans. And the people who provide the capital to the lenders expect reasonable, not speculative, returns. If all banks followed these principles, the economy wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in today.
 
6. Shareowner Activism 
When you own stock, you have the right and responsibility to advise management to clean up its act. Had GM listened to shareholders warning that relying on SUVs would be its downfall, it would have invested in greener technologies, and would not have needed a bailout. Had CitiGroup listened to its shareowners, it would have avoided the faulty mortgage practices that brought it to its knees. Engaged shareholders are key to reforming conventional companies for the transition to this new economy – the green economy that we are building together. 

It’s time to move from greed to green.

 

 

–Alisa Gravitz

Serve your country food

This is a wonderful project, and one that I would love to join at some point:

http://www.serveyourcountryfood.net/  via  http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009025.html

Rail Infrastructure

This year, K and I are spending Thanksgiving with K’s family in Portland, OR.  Rather than join the masses in one of the largest aviatorial migrations of the year, however, we’ve chosen to take our time on the 2,000+ mile trip from Chicago to Portland via Amtrak.  Not only is this transportation option only half the cost of flying during the busy travel week, information from the Research and Innovative Technology Administration’s (RITA) Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) points out that travel by Amtrak uses at least 45% less energy per passenger as compared to domestic air-travel; motorcycle transportation being the only less energy-intensive means of transportation per passenger than Amtrak by just a narrow margin.

Juxtapose the aforementioned information with the current energy/climate crisis facing the U.S. and the information that the transportation sector accounts for over 25% of the total CO2 emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion (according to an EPA report earlier this year), and I wonder at why more support isn’t being given to both passenger and freight rail operations in the U.S.

My wonders at a the lack of support for such an elegant and already technologically-feasible step toward our sustainable future are not unique.  In Chicago, both the Midwest High Speed Rail Association as well as the Environmental Law and Policy Center (among others, I’m sure) are running strong initiatives with the goal of building a regional high-speed passenger train infrastructure that, with the support of consumers, would decrease the greenhouse gas emissions of regional travel by shifting travelers’ means of transportation to a more efficient option.  In California this November, the Midwest High Sped Rail Association reports that “proposition 1A will provide $9.95 billion in state-backed bonds for a $40 billion, 700-mile network of 220-mph trains and improvements to other rail services that would connect to the high-speed system.”  An article from the Next American City magazine entitled A New Era for Train Travel? provides a detailed account of the benefits and challenges of the future of the U.S. rail infrastructure.

On our two-day trip to and from Portland for Thanksgiving, K and I will travel through the unparalleled landscape of the northwestern U.S.  We will start and end our vacation on a relaxing note rather than the stress and bustle of an airport, and have time in-transit to comfortably read, reflect and reconnect with each other and the beauty of the scenery around us.  At the same time, we will be showing our support for a much more efficient and sustainable alternative to the status-quo, unsustainable travel-options.

PARK(ing) Day 2008

On my ride into work this morning, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a small park located in a parking spot on Milwaukee Ave.  After a bit of poking around on the internet, I learned that today is PARK(ing) Day, a day when all around the world, “artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces:  temporary public parks.”  The project is a wonderful visual reminder of the need for more green public spaces, and even beyond that goal the project offers a small view at what a more car-free lifestyle could look like.

Industrialized societies throughout the world offer a tremendous amount of space for the use of the automobile – so much so that many no longer view this still relatively new infrastructure as a privileged transportation option, but as a necessity that must be a driving force (no pun intended) in all areas of development and city planning.  Meanwhile, the increase of public transportation and the walkability of a community are forced to take a backseat to the free flow of automobile traffic despite the inefficiency of that means of transportation and the suffering sense of community that comes from such an individualized system.

What PARK(ing) Day points out to me is that there is huge potential in the vast spaces currently devoted to automobile culture to be transformed into something that would benefit communities not only through decreased air and noise pollution and city beautification, but through safer and more plentiful shared community areas in which more food could be grown and distributed locally, and which would increase the viability of local businesses as more people take the time to walk along their parkways to find local restaurant and retail alternatives for the chains to which they were previously driving.

Take a walk today and think about how areas currently devoted to individualization might be better used to foster community in your area.  Slow down and be a part of the place you inhabit.

Green Apple

Apple today announced the release of the new iPod Nano and iPod Touch.  Among other design and feature updates came a status report on how these products were designed to align with Apple’s commitment to reducing their environmental impact.  Both the iPod Nano and the iPod Touch have been redesigned with arsenic-free glass, a highly-recycleable aluminum or stainless steel enclosure, and are free of mercury, PVC and BFR (brominated flame retardant) – all severely toxic materials that were once industry standard in electronics’ design.

A summary of Apple’s environmental commitment can be found at http://www.apple.com/environment/ and stems in large part from a Greenpeace initiative from a few years ago called Green My Apple.  Greenpeace called for the complete phase-out of toxins such as BFR and PVC, as well as a global take-back recycling program for all of it’s products.  Apple answered with their revamped environmental policy and it seems that through the iPod Nano and iPod Touch updates that Apple is keeping up with part of the challenge that was put forth, though they do still have a ways to go, especially with their recycling program.

It is important, too, for consumers, not just manufacturers, to be aware of the environmental impact of products they use.  Consumers can cast a vote with their dollars by purchasing and investing in products and companies that have a clear and successful commitment to the environment.  However, just because one product is not as bad for the environment as another, it is important that consumers first evaluate whether a new product is something they need, and take a step to reduce their negative environmental impact by not purchasing those things that they do not need.

Less-harmful resources may be used in these new models of iPod, but I encourage you to first decide whether an iPod will be a useful item in your life, to decide if you already have something that fills the same role, and only then deciding to purchase an iPod and congratulating Apple for taking steps to reduce their negative environmental impact in these products.

Biking in the Rain

For the first time today I rode my bike home from work in a moderately heavy rainfall.  Up until now rain and wind have been the two weather forecasts that have kept me from biking to and from work; today, though, I didn’t pay much attention to the evening weather predictions and rode to work with dry pleasant weather, none the wiser to the inevitable rain of my evening commute.  As I saw the rain build throughout the day, I was unprepared for what biking in the rain might look like, but after the journey I can say that it was a rewarding experience that will make me think twice next time I head for the ‘el’ because of a chance of rain.

On my ride home, I was thinking about the shift in many people’s perspective of weather as they age.  As a child, rain is sometimes seen as an opportunity; rain means puddles, excitement, an adventure waiting to happen.  That same person, after twenty years, views rain in the opposite light:  rain means puddles, a nuisance, an obstacle through which one must drudge.  I was reminded then of the Romantic period of English literature, and the interest then in the loss on a connection with the natural world that comes with age.

In “Ode:  Intimation of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” William Wordsworth writes:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
            To me did seem
         Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;-
      Turn wheresoe’er I may,
         By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

This passage laments the loss of a wonder that the natural world once inspired, a lament that is echoed by the Romantics throughout their writings.  While their poetry in many ways is not appurtenant to a contemporary audience, I have often found the Romantics’ reflections to be a simple but inspired reminder that despite the familiarity we may have developed with it, nature once was a source of wonder, and that it’s important to reflect on the innocence with which so many view nature as a child, lest a rainy day keep us from an opportunity, an adventure waiting to happen.

I’ll leave you now with another poem from Wordsworth which optimistically outlines a sustained awareness of one’s connection with and sense of wonder inspired from nature:

My heart leaps up

My heart leaps up when I behold
   A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a Man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
   Or let me die!
The Child is Father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

 

Friday News Roundup

Here’s a look at the headlines of the week on the environmental front.  Have a great weekend, and let me know if there are any big news stories I seem to have missed.

 

Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced last Friday his decision to take Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running-mate.  As opposed to the Democratic National Convention last week, there has been very little mention of the environment at the Republican National Convention this week (in fact, not one utterance of “environment” in McCain’s acceptance speech), and Grist sheds a light on Palin’s relationship with the environment:  The eco-rundown on Alaska guv Sarah Palin, John McCain’s veep pick

The EPA on Thursday issued new rules on the allowable emissions from lawnmowers and speedboats.  By 2011, gas-powered lawnmowers must see a 35% reduction in smog-forming emissions, and there must be a 70% reduction in emissions from recreational watercraft:  EPA Tightens Engine Standards on Surf and Turf; Environmental Defense Fund Welcomes EPA Standards for Nonroad Gas Engines; EPA Issues New Engine Rules

The EPA has also criticized the fuel-economy standards set by the DOT for on-road vehicles.  Currently, the DOT is calling for a 31.6 mpg average for all vehicles by 2015; the EPA has announced concerns over the methodology that was used to read these figures, and essentially would like to see a further increase in vehicles’ fuel economy:  U.S. EPA criticizes DOT over fuel-economy standards; EPA: Transportation Dept off base on fuel estimate

In Ecuador, voters will have the chance to decide in a referendum to the constitution later this month whether or not to officially acknowledge the rights of nature among other reforms.  Should it pass, the reform would mark a revolutionary shift in how governments recognize the world around them:  Ecuador’s Correa has majority before key vote: poll; Putting nature in Ecuador’s constitution; Ecuador constitution would grant inalienable rights to nature

And last, lest we forget that global-warming is a real issue that greatly affects the world’s landscape and not simply a political ideology, two stories from the BBC report on ice-shelf loss in Canada and stronger tropical storms throughout the world:  Major ice-shelf loss for Canada; Warming boosts strongest storms

Green the Routine: Use a Handkerchief

I’ve had a runny nose today.  I don’t know why I’ve had a runny nose, but I do know that combatting the sniffles can be a much more environmentally-friendly chore when choosing a reusable handkerchief to disposable tissues.

Carrying around a handkerchief and using it on a regular basis can initially seem very strange to someone used to using disposable tissues.  I started using one about a year-and-a-half ago after getting fed up by a runny nose almost every morning after a cold walk to one of my classes, and it did at first seem strange to not toss whatever touched my nose into the trash – I even worried that the handkerchief would soil all of my clothes if I washed it with anything else.

But I was tired of the frequent trips to the restroom if I forgot to put a couple tissues in my pocket, and often those tissues wouldn’t last the whole time I was out and I was still stuck using rough toilet-paper on my nose.  I was also tired of the constant trash build-up of the use tissues and the impact that I was having on the environment from their use.  So I picked up a few old handkerchiefs that I found at home and started keeping one in my back pocket if I needed it.

After a while I got used to reaching for my back pocket instead of a box or roll of tissue, and eventually I even started to prefer the feel of cloth on my nose instead of paper.  It feels great to not have so much waste on days when I have a runny nose, and despite my original fears, the handkerchief comes clean in the wash just like everything else.

If you don’t already, I encourage you to go out and get a few handkerchiefs, or you might even just put a small hem around a square of spare fabric for something homemade that you’ll be proud to show-off.  In retrospect, this seems like one of the easier ways to green the routine, and it makes a huge difference in the amount of waste and energy that go into the creation and use of disposable tissues.  If you have a hard time making a complete switch, try using a recycled tissue brand such as Seventh Generation, and for compelling reasons to drop the tissue habit, especially Keenex brand, check out Greenpeace’s Kleercut Campaign.

August Challenge: Reflections

K and I rounded out our August Challenge this past Labor Day Weekend just spending time here and there reading in the park, heading to the beach with friends, and simply thoroughly enjoying the perfect weather the weekend afforded.

If you haven’t read about it already, the August Challenge was a challenge K and I put to ourselves to spend August Saturdays outside in an effort to get out of the climate controlled boxes of the workweek and to experience what is actually happening in the world around us.  While our expectations of the challenge were varied, it became clear through writing about the experience that the challenge to get outside led to an exploration of place.

In going to Humbolt Park, a few different stretches of beach along Lake Michigan, and a suburban farm last month, I noticed differences in how people choose to interact with the natural environment of a place.  In Humbolt Park, the designers attentively preserved patches of prairie and designed structures to interact with the natural scenery; on the stretch of beach in western Michigan where I was raised, the ecosystem underwent changes despite human interference to stabilize the landscape; in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, industry flanked 15 miles of ‘protected’ lakeshore despite the impact that industry might have on the surrounding environment; and surrounding a suburban farm we visited was a homogenized design and lifestyle that did nothing to take into account how the design/lifestyle would interact with the landscape.

In every action we take, we make a decision about how we will interact with the people and the place around us.  We can choose to take nothing into account about our surroundings like the developers swallowing up all types of land for the same purpose, or we can take a thoughtful look at our surroundings and then slowly move with constant reflection of the both the positive and negative impacts of our involvement with our surroundings.

Friday News Roundup

To wrap up the week, here’s this Friday’s News Roundup.  Have a great Labor Day Weekend, everyone!

 

Seattle is lining-up to become the first US city to charge for all types of disposable shopping bag.  The measure follows the lead of many European nations and the plastic-bag ban in US cities like San Francisco.  The move would be an important measure in encouraging consumers to think about paying for the use of a disposable bag, but Seattle voters may have a chance in the coming months to repeal the legislation, which is otherwise set to go into effect January 2009:  City OKs 20-cent fee on plastic, paper bags  |  Seattle’s Bag-User Fee Spurs Backlash  |  Seattle voters may end up with last word on bag fee

No more than a month after threats emerged from five US states to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over lack of emissions regulations from ships, aircrafts and off-road vehicles, the EPA is again under fire from twelve US states who plan to sue against further violations of the Clean Air Act in their failure to regulate emissions from oil refineries:  E.P.A. Sued by 12 States to Regulate Oil Refineries  |  States Sue EPA Over Refinery Emissions

Multiple speakers at the Democratic National Convention this week have highlighted the importance of securing a more sustainable energy economy for the US, and declare Barack Obama as the major-party presidential candidate for the job:  The best set of videos, interviews, articles and more highlighting the environmental-focus at the convention can be found within Grist’s stories about the Democratic National Convention

Green the Routine: Toothbrush

We all know the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle”, but it seems that there are some items that are painfully not a part of that equation, and are the reason that trash-collection is still a part of our weekly lives.  One example of a seemingly cradle-to-grave product is the toothbrush; it’s something that most of us use on a day-to-day basis, but which, every few months, gets tossed into the garbage and replaced.  Though small, these plastic sticks can add up, and it’s worth examining some cradle-to-cradle alternatives to this part of our daily routine.

The toothbrush I use is the Preserve Toothbrush from Recycline.  Everything is the same as with a standard toothbrush, but the Preserve toothbrush is made from 100% recycled plastic, packaged in a petroleum-free plastic container that doubles as a travel case, and the entire thing can be sent back to Recycline via their postage-paid mailers where the plastics are again recycled and made into other useful products.

Another more environmentally-friendly toothbrush option, this one taking advantage of the ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse’ parts of the equation, is the Source Toothbrush from Radius.  Radius designed a unique toothbrush that helps people to brush teeth more effectively, and with their Source toothbrush they combined this unique design with a natural and reusable base, reducing the waste of the toothbrush head to just 7% of the entire toothbrush.

Combine either of these toothbrushes with a small amount of naturally-derived toothpaste or a simple baking soda paste, keep the water turned off except to wet the toothbrush before use and to rinse after, and you’ve successfully started or ended your day with a lowered negative impact on the planet.  Another great way give toothbrushes a little more life before trashing them (or sending them for recycling) is to keep a few around for small-scale scrubbing of laundry stains, bathroom fixtures, etc.

Community Craft Fairs

Next month, one of my sisters is participating as a vendor at the first annual DIY Street Fair in Ferndale, MI.  If you’re in the Detroit area September 20th or 21st, I encourage you to visit the “Elbe Everyday” stand, where you’ll be able to purchase hand-made and wonderfully-designed aprons and more.

As big-box retailers continue to expand and in some cases cannibalize on other sources of household goods, it’s wonderful to see the continuation of the localized and community-focused craft fair.  Community craft fairs are in abundance this time of year, and are both a great place to purchase unique, handmade items, and a wonderful environment of creativity and inspiration for your own DIY projects.

As well as offering an alternative to mass-produced and location-insensitive merchandise, items at craft fairs are often locally-sourced, well-built and contain no packaging waste, purchases support talented community members so as to sustain one’s local economy, and the atmosphere is simply a great backdrop for spending time with friends and family on a warm, late-summer afternoon.

Much like getting fresh foods from a farmer’s market opens doors of communication and begins to blur the lines between creator and consumer, attending a craft-fair provides a rare opportunity to chat with the person or people who made a particular item.  Striking up a conversation and developing a relationship with these creative community members allows for the opportunity to perhaps learn how to go about a new DIY project and become a more self-reliant person, or to share thoughts on common passions and perhaps launch a new community organization committed to knitting blankets so people can turn down their thermostats in the winter, or sewing reusable shopping bags for the local co-op, for example.

So please share some of your favorite craft fairs in the comments, then head out to your local craft fair with re-useable shopping bag and refillable water bottle in hand (or get these essential items at the craft fair if you don’t already have them), and be ready for a great experience with numerous benefits to both the community and the earth.

Bike Crackdown

From the Chicago Tribune last week came the article “City to step up enforcement of bike laws“, reporting on a coalition of police and “bike ambassadors” who have been stopping bicyclists who break the law and offering a brief warning along with information and accessories to ensure the offense doesn’t happen again.  The article points out that the specific offenses the police seemed to be after were nighttime riding without a white headlight, and failing to observe stop signs/traffic lights.  Officers commented that these “lectures” were intended to change habits before heightened enforcement of traffic laws for bicyclists takes effect.

While I appreciate city officials launching an educational campaign about traffic laws prior to stepping up enforcement of those laws, and while I’m fully aware of the importance of using a headlight to make yourself seen at night, and of yielding the right-of-way to all types of traffic, I find myself slightly torn after reading this article.

In March, the Chicago Department of Transportation added the Bicycle Safety Ordinance to other traffic laws, an ordinance that outlines the responsibility of drivers to safely share the road with bicyclists, including specific points such as allowing no less than three feet of room when passing a bike, and increased fines for blocking a marked shared lane or bike lane.  The Bicycle Safety Ordinance was an important step in Chicago’s Bike 2015 Plan, but it seems from the aforementioned article that law-enforcement officials will be focusing on citing bikers for dangerous travel-conditions rather than the vehicles that have more power to either increase or prevent these dangerous situations.

I don’t mean to come across as too critical of how Chicago traffic laws address bicyclists (though I do reserve some qualms of the automobile-centric laws), but even while biking just this morning I was passed by more than one car without being offered three-feet of room, and almost every day there is at least one truck or taxi or other vehicle that chooses to use the bike lane as an extra parking lane, forcing bikers to weave unexpectedly into other traffic.  I have yet to see such dangerous offenses ticketed, so I wonder if stopping a bike who rolls through the stop-sign at a vacant intersection is the best use of an officer’s time while elsewhere another biker has likely been pushed into a dangerous situation by a careless driver.

As always, please share your thoughts in the comments.  For a wonderful resource on bike laws, check out lawyer and bike-advocate Jim Freeman’s blog at http://chicagobikelaw.blogspot.com/

August Challenge: Week Four

K and I this past Saturday took some liberties with our August Challenge, as we were only actually outside for an hour or two.  We remained in the spirit of bringing seasonal ecosystem occurrences into our lives, though, as we traveled to a farm just north of Chicago to pick and then can fresh, local tomatoes.

Getting our produce primarily though a CSA this growing season, we’ve learned more about the seasonality of vegetables, especially the narrow window during late summer to enjoy fresh tomatoes, and the versatility of dishes that rely on the ripe fruit.  Not wanting to rely so much on store-bought “fresh” and canned tomatoes in the coming year, we decided to try our hand and the craft of canning, and picked a half-bushel of tomatoes, which yielded ten quarts of canned tomatoes.

This being our first year canning, I’d rather not try to offer a guide to safe canning, but will point readers in the direction of Ball’s comprehensive Blue Book of Canning, and suggest researching the plethora of canning tips that can be found online, including this clear guide from Chow.com:  Make Your Own Preserves.  I will mention that our day of canning was a very rewarding experience, and that all went well as far as we can tell, save for two jars that didn’t seal properly, so are now in the refrigerator for use this week.

Our trip to the u-pick farm in the morning proved an interesting experience, as we observed the trend of small farms rapidly being engulfed by suburban development.  It seemed paradoxical that in an effort to live more sustainable ourselves, K and I had to travel to an area that was developing in a largely unsustainable manner, with automobile-culture an expectation and the measurement of prosperity based on conspicuous consumption.  There was a notable lack of walkability in the area teeming with new housing development, and central shopping and eating areas in the community came in the form of strip-malls surrounded by large parking lots and consisting mostly of chain-businesses that will do little to sustain the local economy.

While the farm we visited managed to survive through development, I wonder at how many acres of land in the area that once were home to rich food crops and seasonally-shifting landscape had now been morphed into monotonous topography widely disjointed from the natural terrain and clime.  At what point had moving out to the country no longer meant seeking a life more in-tune with nature and instead meant keeping up with facile trends?

Friday News Roundup

Here’s a brief rundown of some of the environmental news headlines from the past week:

 

The Bush administration has launched a stealth proposal that, if passed, would strike the participation of knowledgeable and involved biologists from the evaluation of projects that could harm endangered plants and animals:  Bush Aims to Relax Endangered Species Rules; Bush Officials Launch Stealth Attach on U.S. Wildlife.

Presidential candidate John McCain is continuing his call for increased offshore drilling; and while democrats in congress have criticized offshore drilling as too narrow an approach to solving the energy crisis, they have begun to falter on this stance and are in discussions about allowing more offshore drilling as one part of the solution:  McCain touts drilling agenda from oil platform; House to Rethink Drilling, Pelosi Says; Drill here, drill now, get nothing but an opinion poll point or two.

An invasive snail has recently been found in Lake Michigan, which scientists worry could harm the ecosystem as it rapidly produces and competes with native species for land and food:  Worrying invasive snail found in Lake Michigan.

After a media eruption of concerns over the use of BPA in some plastics, the EPA has drafted a controversial report claiming the chemical safe for use in food containers and other household products:  FDA Draft Report:  No Risk From BPA In Food Containers; FDA Says BPA Is Safe For Babies; FDA says chemical found in plastic bottles is safe.

Green the Routine: Navy Shower

Growing up, I was a ten-minute showerer.  The shower heads were pretty high-flow and would empty the water heater after about ten minutes, so I timed my showers by the end of the hot-water supply.  Living on Lake Michigan I saw a vast abundance of water everyday, so the idea of not having enough didn’t click for me right away as it might for someone living in a more arid climate.  Since then I’ve always lived within a few miles of a large body of water and have never had to pay a water bill, so as my awareness and action of conservation in other areas improved, I still found myself uncompelled to save water.

This is where, in similar stories, I would write about the revelation that made me realize water as a finite supply that I must take upon myself to conserve – but I still haven’t had a moment like that.  I passionately understand keeping water clean from harmful pollution and I appreciate the great power of water, but, for me, the idea of using less water is still more of a thought experiment; it’s something I abstractly know I should do, so I try to take steps to do so.

Shorter showers, then, seem the perfect place for me to begin my ‘Green the Routine’ series.  I started by trying to just take faster showers, but on dark winter mornings, standing in the hot water before having to venture out in the ice and snow was too much of a treat to get me to shower quickly.  As I realized this wasn’t going to get me anywhere, I then started setting the kitchen timer for five minutes and racing to beat the clock.  This worked well as I quickly learned how much time and water I had previously been wasting in the morning.  Eventually, though, I reached a plateau around three-and-a-half-minute showers and couldn’t manage to get much faster.  It was then that I remembered hearing about the ‘navy shower’, in which the water is running only for a few seconds at the beginning of a shower to wet one’s body, then turned off to lather, then on again just long enough to rinse off.

It’s taken a little getting used to turning off the water while lathering in the shower, but I’m amazed by the efficiency of the practice, and I don’t feel I’m missing much compared to the ten-minute showers of my youth.  I’m not sure how pleasant I’ll find the navy shower when the weather turns cold again, but for now I’m saving somewhere around three gallons of water for each minute that the water isn’t running, and even if I switch back to my five-minute timed showers for some days, that’s still fifteen gallons of water saved verses a ten-minute shower.

I’d like to now put the challenge out to you, reader, to see what steps you can take to reduce your water use when you shower.  Can you limit the time spent in the shower?  Switch to the navy shower method?  Install a low-flow shower head in conjunction with one of these things?  Let me know what works for you, and please comment or email if there’s a routine you’d like me to explore in the ‘Green the Routine’ series.