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July 29, 2005
Freecycle, recycle
I love word-of-mouth, and I start to believe in something when my kids forward it to me. Rachel (16) just sent me this notice about Freecycle, which I may have mentioned before. But it was then at the suggestion of my 40-something brother.
Forwarded:
Hi guys,
my friend showed me this, and I wanted to spread it around, because it's so much better than throwing stuff away, and it's freeeee!!
enjoy and tell your friends!
Forwarded:
My dad showed me this. Its such a good idea!!!!!
And it's even made the BBC--read the UK coverage. Unfortunately, there's no Freecycle group in our area--but writing this has inspired me to figure out whom to contact about getting one started (and techie Rachel can volunteer, or so I hope, to manage the site).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:21 PM | Comments (1)
July 28, 2005
Natural shopping
One of these days I would like to take a good look at the various online sources of green/organic/eco-friendly products to see what's going on these days--I have to say that most of it looks much of a muchness, nice enough but not really exciting. That sounds too critical, perhaps, especially coming from someone who is also ready to complain about catalogs full of useless stuff! Nothing wrong with organic cotton yoga pants or nappy (diaper) bags, and we all need washing up liquid (dishwashing soap) and the occasional garden bench.
So what am I looking for? I guess it's really an innovative lifestyle concept that combines a fresh future-oriented design with beauty and practicality. Not just organic versions of the same old thing.
Here's a new company worth taking a look at, By Nature, based in the UK: "By Nature is an informational and shopping portal that offers a wide selection of organic and ethical products and brings inspiration for a green lifestyle in the 21st Century."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:48 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2005
Waste not
I just read an article about how much food we waste. According to a BBC study, "the average British household throws out ₤420 of food a year," which apparently means that 33% of the food we buy is wasted.
I've often looked at all the fresh vegetables for sale, things that require peeling and cleaning and cutting up, and wondered how much of what people virtuously buy actually gets eaten--given that almost none of the people I know seem to cook at all. And my own family wastes far more than I like to admit. But it's not so hard to change this pattern, by making a night (or even two) a week the time to come up with a meal based on the oddments in the fridge. I'll continue with some suggestions about summer meals that make good use of bits of cheese, odd vegetables and fruits, and other things that seem to pile up in spite of our best intentions.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:45 AM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2005
What does sport have to do with the environment?
I love sports, and in fact have just published the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport, which is edited by David Levinson and yours truly, the wannabe jock. Here's an extract from The Armchair Environmentalist on becoming an eco-activist:
Throughout history we've been trying to find ways to reduce physical labour. We’re still doing it-—with TV remote controls that let us avoid having to walk 2 metres to switch channels and with lights that we can clap on from across the room. It’s all eminently convenient. But the tradeoff is that throughout the developed world people are out of shape. It’s no mere coincidence that the United States—-the land of the free and the home of the self-propelled mower—-is the fattest nation on Earth and is packing on more pounds all the time.
Biologically, people are meant to be active. We’re built that way. Although most of us cannot change the sedentary nature of our jobs, we can reorient our leisure time to be more active. We’ll be happier and healthier and far better able to cope with unavoidable exposure to water, air, and other pollution.
The eco-activist looks for ways to enjoy and explore the natural world by being active outside—in the natural world. Physical activity, at its best, reconnects us with our physical being and, by extension, helps us understand ourselves as part of the natural world. It’s exhilarating to climb to the top of a hill and survey the landscape below or to feel your calf muscles burn after walking or running an extra mile.
Tips for Selecting Sporting Activities
• Choose non-mechanical sports - a canoe or a bicycle instead of a motorboat or a jet ski – both because they’re easier on the planet and also more sociable and stress-relieving.
• Choose cross-country skiing instead of downhill skiing, which has considerable ecological impact - especially because of snow-making machines, and because people have to travel long distances by car and plane to do it.
• Think twice about installing a swimming pool at home, even if you can afford it. Home pools have significant negative environmental impact because of their water and energy consumption.
• Look for leisure activities that you can enjoy close to home—without driving or flying hundreds of miles.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 14, 2005
Recycling obsession
I'm quite compulsive about recycling, so I findn it hard when I travel. I simply hate throwing apple and banana skins into the waste bin--going to a landfill instead of fertilizing the soil--so there've been many occasions when I've sneaked out of the motel to tuck our scraps under a bush. Second best is flushing: that's what I do with coffee grounds.
But this compulsion got me into one of the most embarrassing experiences of my whole life. We were living, early one spring, in a B&B here in Great Barrington, in between a rental house and the house we bought. We had a kitchenette so we were cooking a little, and I routinely flushed our kitchen scraps. Until the toilet got blocked up. The B&B owner tried everything, without success, and after two days he said he would have to take it apart, looking very unhappy. I'm sure he thought I'd been very bad and flushed some female product.
What he eventually surfaced with, to his surprise and my total chagrin, was a fairly substantial piece of raw cauliflower!
Other embarrassing eco-obsession stories will be gratefull received.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 6, 2005
Business travel
"Flights that produce the lowest possible greenhouse gas emissions, use solar energy, have efficient waste management and show sensitive handling of local employment have all entered the equation when companies negotiate deals with preferred travel suppliers."
If I had read that sentence in isolation, I would have guessed that it came from some wildly over-optimistic Green magazine editor who thinks they can spur people to positive action by making things up. But I would have been wrong. The sentence comes from coverage of the G8 summit in Scotland in--take a guess--the Financial Times. The article by Roger Bray, "Companies step up the pressure for greener business travel," even includes a sidebar with tips.
Here's one: "Introduce a carbon neutral policy: offset the impact of business trips by contributing to an organisation investing in projects that reduce the impact of emissions." I'm writing a new business plan for Berkshire Publishing Group, my company, and definitely plan to incorporate these un-American notions as part of our plan for social and environmental responsibility.
Along with news that London's been picked for the 2012 Olympics, this has made by day: environmental coverage like this in the FT!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:35 PM | Comments (0)
July 4, 2005
Independence day: how about energy independence?
I've always thought a lot of the US magazine (and now online information service) Consumer Reports, but only just heard about their Greener Choice website--available free (Consumer Reports itself is a subscription service--it's the equivalent of the UK Which?).
Greener choices are vital, given the challenges we face if what James Howard Kunstler calls "the long emergency" comes to pass. Put down the papers and read this article: "The End of Oil" from April's Rolling Stone (thanks, Margaux, for giving this to me!).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:29 AM | Comments (0)