Veggies on Wheels is the newsletter that comes with Pfenning's organic box and this time it reports on Pfenning's participation at the Guelph Organic Conference (which I did not go to because it's in Guelp and I don't have a car to get there). One of the biggest issues were GMO, courtesy of Monsanto. Apparently the majority of Canadians still don't know anything about GMO (which box do they live in?). The reader is then referred to the article Re-occupy your body and a pamphlet has been enclosed from Cban.ca (Canadian Biotechnology Action Network) with info on GMO but I talk about that in another post.
I have not read the whole article yet because it's long but I'm sure it's good. The three reasons that are most threatening to our health, and according to the newsletter make up the primary causes of disease and death nowadays, are:
- bad food
- most prescription drugs
- a poisoned environment
Which one disturbs you most and which one can you influence the best? Go figure.
I am not concerned with the second point (yet) as I don't take any drugs. The first one is half-concerning to me. I know we still do not eat completely organic. I am not feeling great about our daughter drinking non-organic milk but she drinks lots and the non-organic costs enough. Also, I am sure we'd eat a bit more meat if the organic stuff did not cost a fortune. But it's not actually that difficult to eat healthy and decent food. You do the shopping, you decide what's in your cart, it's in your hands. And by the way, buying non-organic produce and peeling it in the hope to get rid of the bad stuff does not seem the best idea. You are still supporting the farmers who contaminate our environment and the bad stuff will go through the skin of some fruits and vegetables.
The poisoned environment is a huge concern, especially with this government that's big on setting up environmental disasters. You can't really "un-poison" the environment and get rid of all the harm that has been done but we can slow down the add-on of chemicals and toxic substances to our air, water and soil. Looking around me it still doesn't happen enough. For example, when I cycle or walk I probably breathe in more greenhouse gases than the car drivers. That's nuts! I'm the victim of other people's polluting habits. I noticed that most people are happy to give me a ride (if I ask) but carpooling is still not very common. That's nuts too! Driving is just one issue, but you scan make up the list yourself of activities that harm our environment. And then start ticking off the bad habits you give up. This should become a mandatory, annual exercise for everyone. I wonder how slowly or quickly things would change and how big the procrastination rate is.
Showing posts with label waste. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waste. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
I'm still Alive without pills
I finally went into the organic store just around the corner because our produce box was not delivered this week since the family that runs the business is on vacation (lucky them). They had the Alive magazine lying around and I took a copy home just out of interest. My first guess was proven right though and I am not impressed with the magazine. My hubby kindly reminded me that it was for free which explains the huge amount of advertisement. Actually, the advertisement abounds so much that I had trouble finding the articles when skipping through the pages. What a waste of paper! Even worse most of the advertisement are for some sort of pill! Natural and organic pills of course but I am so put off. I know there's no money to make in advertising fresh fruits and vegetables but to tell people that obviously make an effort to eat and live healthily (why else would you be in an organic/ health food store?) to take pills to stay healthy simply annoys me. How stupid you think people are ... okay, we are not going to discuss this here but I do not think that I ought to be taken tons and tons of pills if I have a healthy diet and exercise regularly and do not suffer from any physically or mentally impairing conditions. Granted, we do currently take Vitamin D and C supplement pills, D because there's not much sunshine around and C because of this crappy weather (change from below to above zero and vice versa every other day). If one fine day I'll be diagnosed with something devastating it's probably too late to start taking pills but I am not going to take a handful of them now in the hope it will prevent all kinds of stuff and I don't need to worry about eating junk food. And even though the content (the pill) might be natural and from organic ingredients it comes with a lot of packaging, mostly plastic, which is not good for our planet. Produce at the store comes without the packaging - that's much better.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Movie time - Chemerical
Yesterday the Take-Action-film Chemerical was shown at the Waterloo Public Library. Not quite sure what chemerical stands for I went and watched it. It featured the Goode family that threw out all their conventional cleaning products and later on body care prducts to get rid of the toxic stuff (ingredients like phthalates, parabens, sulfates) and replace it with cheap, natural, toxic-free ingredients such as baking soda, vinegar, olive oil, castile soap etc. It was an experiment and they were sceptical and they learned to love it and they won't go back to the highly commercialised toxic crap. Way to go!
Chemerical in that movie is a fictitious company that promotes healthier cleaning products and behaviours. There is for example OTW for bad smells, gases, you know. Open The Window! The other one is Elbow Grease. Instead of using harsh chemicals that you only need to wipe off, you should use more gently substances and scrub, scrub, scrub. Saves you the trip to the gym too which in return saves you money. Just saying.
It was interesting to see how much trouble the family of 5 had to convert. We already have no more toxic cleaning products in our household, ever since the baby came. It's baking soda, vinegar and water for us. We use Eco-balls for laundry and dishwashing detergent from the organic/ healthy living store. I never took it as far as mixing my own laundry detergent etc. although there is obviously nothing wrong with it and it is a lot cheaper than anything you buy in the store. Store-bought solutions, especially from the organic store, tend to be quite expensive too. Sometimes it's only the first impression though. Our dishwashing detergent has gone a long way, I need very little. The same with the (liquid) castile soap I use for washing my hands. A single drop will do the trick. Made me realise how most dispensers of conventional soap/ detergents are designed to spill out large amounts so you use the bottle up quickly and run back to store for more. It's so wasteful!
Replacing cleaning products is one thing, body care products are another story. Especially the teenagers in the household had their problems with that but they eventually agreed to the edible body care products that they could create themselves. Yes, they are often edible, not necessarily tasty but swallowing them won't harm you. Haven't you heard that you should not put anything on your body that can't be eaten? Our skin is an enourmous organ that is capable of absorbing lots of good and bad substances with all its consequences. It's better to be careful! Anyhow, our bathroom is not entirely toxic-free but it's improving. I mix my own hair conditioner from water and apple cider vinegar. I also started to rub olive oil into my hair, cover it in plastic for 20-30 min and then wash as usual. This gets rid of the frizz in my hair, my hair feels better although I'm still getting used to the new look. My hair is darker, looks wet but is not, it's curlier too. My husband already loves it. I'm about to finish my liquid body wash and it will be soap bars from the organic store from then on. Our chapsticks are from a local lady who started her own cosmetic line with natural ingredients in her kitchen and sells them at local markets. My deodorant is a crystal rock.
I have had trouble with store-bought shampoo so far and toothpaste. Using a paste of baking soda was terrible, tasted disgusting, left my hair too soapy. Unfortunately I hate researching recipes for do-it-yourself because there is too many options and I was not going to turn my kitchen into a lab and mix away for a day. Going to the movie helped me out here. The organiser brought recipes and ingredients and we got to mix some toothpaste and shampoo to take home. Yeah! I love the toothpaste. Taste good, cleans well. I think the shampoo is good too but after I washed my hair this morning I went outside for a bike ride followed by a three-hour-hike with a hat on so my hair did not get a chance to look good. The recipes are fairly simple, the ingredients aren't hard to come by (if you have a good store nearby and I'm talking about the supermarket) and it's much better than baking soda alone. Watching the movie I once more was not unhappy for not using make-up although I have been recently considering to start using a little of it. Without the knowledge on how to apply it I am not going to buy anything though and if I ever get so far I better buy the "yummy" options.
Back to the movie. There were a couple of things that bothered me. The Goodes live in a 2.5 million-people city which remaind unnamed. The city has 6 locations where residents can drop off hazardous items and materials such as batteries, paints, cleaning substances and body care products. Only 3% of the population there make use of these centres. They interviewed someone who runs such as centre and he said he resells some of the stuff and his wife is happy to get her cleaning supplies for cheap. Obviously he does not care about exposing himself and the environment to toxic chemicals that often have been known to cause cancers and other deadly diseases for many decades. The family mother was put off by his attitude, who could blame her. In a different location an "explosion-proof" room was shown were the handed-in materials are kept. It was not said what happens with them once the room is full. Also, afte the cleaners and cosmetics are emptied into barrels you are left with the plastic bottle. These bottles are contaminated too and therefore do not go into recycling but instead into the garbage and then into the landfill. Hang on here! Many households use these cleaners etc. and then put the bottles into their recycling. A lot of effort has been made to teach people to do that and what for? I can't imagine somebody picks the bottles out to add them to the landfill, so they probably get recycled with the toxins attached to them? Or what kind of aggressive cleaning process is applied to clean the bottles and transfer the toxins to somewhere (where?) else?
So the Goodes (and they are just an example) felt guilty to pour half a bottle of cleaner down the drain since it's bad for the environment and will end up in the lake/ river. But almost nobody worries about using smaller amounts of the substance for cleaning and then pouring it down the drain. It still ends up in the lake, it simply needs longer to get there but it will accumulate. As it was said in the film too, any chemical substance ever produced does not just disappear. Reminded me of the story with the leaded gasoline. We stopped using leaded gasoline but the lead that was once pumped into our air through many exhaust pipes did not just go away. It's still around us. Cough!
The film shortly reported on Chemical Valley (photos) which turns out to be around Canada's most polluted city Sarnia, ON and on Love Canal, NY. Both locations are extremely contaminated with toxic waste "thanks" to the chemical industry and yes, people who lived there did get cancers etc. and kids died from playing outside. Now tell me, we ought to be grateful for the contributions that the chemical industry makes to the economy because the state of the economy is all that matters in our modern world?!?!?!?! Be smart, stop using conventional cleaners and body care products and let those stupid companies go bankrupt. No money in the world can buy a healthy environment but we can influence our environment by chosing the right products when we shop. Also remember to buy organic ingredients for cosmetics where possible. Not much point in buying natural ingredients when those ingredients have been sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.
Here the recipe for toothpaste:
Mix 1.5 tablespoons coconut oil, 0.5 teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt, few drops of an edible essential oil (such as lime or spearmint), and honey to taste. That's it. Remember that a pea-sized amount is enough to brush your teeth. And even though the initial investment for the ingredients may seem high it will last for a long time.
Chemerical in that movie is a fictitious company that promotes healthier cleaning products and behaviours. There is for example OTW for bad smells, gases, you know. Open The Window! The other one is Elbow Grease. Instead of using harsh chemicals that you only need to wipe off, you should use more gently substances and scrub, scrub, scrub. Saves you the trip to the gym too which in return saves you money. Just saying.
It was interesting to see how much trouble the family of 5 had to convert. We already have no more toxic cleaning products in our household, ever since the baby came. It's baking soda, vinegar and water for us. We use Eco-balls for laundry and dishwashing detergent from the organic/ healthy living store. I never took it as far as mixing my own laundry detergent etc. although there is obviously nothing wrong with it and it is a lot cheaper than anything you buy in the store. Store-bought solutions, especially from the organic store, tend to be quite expensive too. Sometimes it's only the first impression though. Our dishwashing detergent has gone a long way, I need very little. The same with the (liquid) castile soap I use for washing my hands. A single drop will do the trick. Made me realise how most dispensers of conventional soap/ detergents are designed to spill out large amounts so you use the bottle up quickly and run back to store for more. It's so wasteful!
Replacing cleaning products is one thing, body care products are another story. Especially the teenagers in the household had their problems with that but they eventually agreed to the edible body care products that they could create themselves. Yes, they are often edible, not necessarily tasty but swallowing them won't harm you. Haven't you heard that you should not put anything on your body that can't be eaten? Our skin is an enourmous organ that is capable of absorbing lots of good and bad substances with all its consequences. It's better to be careful! Anyhow, our bathroom is not entirely toxic-free but it's improving. I mix my own hair conditioner from water and apple cider vinegar. I also started to rub olive oil into my hair, cover it in plastic for 20-30 min and then wash as usual. This gets rid of the frizz in my hair, my hair feels better although I'm still getting used to the new look. My hair is darker, looks wet but is not, it's curlier too. My husband already loves it. I'm about to finish my liquid body wash and it will be soap bars from the organic store from then on. Our chapsticks are from a local lady who started her own cosmetic line with natural ingredients in her kitchen and sells them at local markets. My deodorant is a crystal rock.
I have had trouble with store-bought shampoo so far and toothpaste. Using a paste of baking soda was terrible, tasted disgusting, left my hair too soapy. Unfortunately I hate researching recipes for do-it-yourself because there is too many options and I was not going to turn my kitchen into a lab and mix away for a day. Going to the movie helped me out here. The organiser brought recipes and ingredients and we got to mix some toothpaste and shampoo to take home. Yeah! I love the toothpaste. Taste good, cleans well. I think the shampoo is good too but after I washed my hair this morning I went outside for a bike ride followed by a three-hour-hike with a hat on so my hair did not get a chance to look good. The recipes are fairly simple, the ingredients aren't hard to come by (if you have a good store nearby and I'm talking about the supermarket) and it's much better than baking soda alone. Watching the movie I once more was not unhappy for not using make-up although I have been recently considering to start using a little of it. Without the knowledge on how to apply it I am not going to buy anything though and if I ever get so far I better buy the "yummy" options.
Back to the movie. There were a couple of things that bothered me. The Goodes live in a 2.5 million-people city which remaind unnamed. The city has 6 locations where residents can drop off hazardous items and materials such as batteries, paints, cleaning substances and body care products. Only 3% of the population there make use of these centres. They interviewed someone who runs such as centre and he said he resells some of the stuff and his wife is happy to get her cleaning supplies for cheap. Obviously he does not care about exposing himself and the environment to toxic chemicals that often have been known to cause cancers and other deadly diseases for many decades. The family mother was put off by his attitude, who could blame her. In a different location an "explosion-proof" room was shown were the handed-in materials are kept. It was not said what happens with them once the room is full. Also, afte the cleaners and cosmetics are emptied into barrels you are left with the plastic bottle. These bottles are contaminated too and therefore do not go into recycling but instead into the garbage and then into the landfill. Hang on here! Many households use these cleaners etc. and then put the bottles into their recycling. A lot of effort has been made to teach people to do that and what for? I can't imagine somebody picks the bottles out to add them to the landfill, so they probably get recycled with the toxins attached to them? Or what kind of aggressive cleaning process is applied to clean the bottles and transfer the toxins to somewhere (where?) else?
So the Goodes (and they are just an example) felt guilty to pour half a bottle of cleaner down the drain since it's bad for the environment and will end up in the lake/ river. But almost nobody worries about using smaller amounts of the substance for cleaning and then pouring it down the drain. It still ends up in the lake, it simply needs longer to get there but it will accumulate. As it was said in the film too, any chemical substance ever produced does not just disappear. Reminded me of the story with the leaded gasoline. We stopped using leaded gasoline but the lead that was once pumped into our air through many exhaust pipes did not just go away. It's still around us. Cough!
The film shortly reported on Chemical Valley (photos) which turns out to be around Canada's most polluted city Sarnia, ON and on Love Canal, NY. Both locations are extremely contaminated with toxic waste "thanks" to the chemical industry and yes, people who lived there did get cancers etc. and kids died from playing outside. Now tell me, we ought to be grateful for the contributions that the chemical industry makes to the economy because the state of the economy is all that matters in our modern world?!?!?!?! Be smart, stop using conventional cleaners and body care products and let those stupid companies go bankrupt. No money in the world can buy a healthy environment but we can influence our environment by chosing the right products when we shop. Also remember to buy organic ingredients for cosmetics where possible. Not much point in buying natural ingredients when those ingredients have been sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.
Here the recipe for toothpaste:
Mix 1.5 tablespoons coconut oil, 0.5 teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt, few drops of an edible essential oil (such as lime or spearmint), and honey to taste. That's it. Remember that a pea-sized amount is enough to brush your teeth. And even though the initial investment for the ingredients may seem high it will last for a long time.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Redecorating and other bits and pieces
How is the New Year been so far for you? As crazy as here? My daughter lost my wallet yesterday, just to name one issue.
We had the Law Enforcement Agent from the city of Kitchener in yesterday to look at our windows. We heat very little (20 C is all we need) and the winter has been mild so far but with these windows we'd be heating the outdoors too. And they are wet and we get mould that I am sure was here before they painted the walls before our move in. The management sees nothing wrong in the windows because they are cheap and don't care but hopefully the agent can help us sort the issue.
Today we finally got our organic box back. I'm so glad because our fridge and obviously we have been starved of organic produce during most of the holidays. Eating has just gotten better again. For Christmas I got a small food processor and now we even make our own sugar and salt-free organic peanut butter. Yum!
My most recent project was to sand off and paint the sturdiest chair in out apartment. It's a zebra now! Beautiful!! It's a unique chair now more than ever, we never had a match to it any way since it was given to us by family together with a dinner table and three chairs (they had broken one). But we don't need four ordinary chairs at the table because we have a high chair too so this fourth one adorns our living room. And it goes well with the rest of our black, white and dark green furniture. I also repainted the top of our coffee table that my husband redid over a year ago. He never sealed the top though so the paint kept chipping off. I put glaze on top, all good. I am still working on our former TV stand that has been turned into a play counter for our daughter. It's got a white base so far and large farm animal stickers around the side but I want to paint geometrical shapes still on top. Why buy new furniture if redecorating is so much more fun.
Makes me think about a change in career considering the slow job market for office admin/ tourism jobs here in KW. I have also taken up tutoring German and showing Cutco knives to whoever is interested. If you have read the article of David Suzuki that probably appeared in almost every paper in Canada on Christmas you know that these aren't the worst jobs and products. Services, contrary to manufacturing and mining, often do not harm the environment. Services generally do not produce (as much) carbon emissions, destroy landscapes and forests, pollute air & water. The article was great and I am sure I read something similar from him the year before - it needs constant reminders that we should not be so materialistic and wasteful. Did I mention that Cutco has a forever guanrantee? Cutco knives need very little resharpening (every 10 years or so) and the company does this for free for you forever. Cutco also takes back and recycles your old knives and therefore reduces a lot of waste. I could not sell anything I don't personally like but Cutco I do like not only from the environmental perspective.
Did you read the article of the UN advising people all over the world to stop consuming so many dairy and meat products in order to stop climate change? Super interesting too. Producing food for cows and Co. produces as much carbon emissions as burning fossil fuels for cars, industry and households. And it takes good food, grains etc. away from our tables. You know we already don't each much meat but still have quite a number of dairy products in our household such as milk for the child, yoghurt for mum & daughter, cheese for all. Not sure if our dairy consumption is below, above or at average with the rest of the population in Canada, Germany and elsewhere. Something would be missing without these dairy products in our household. Especially since we can't grow tropical fruits here which would be a nice replacement but other than that I can't even think of one. Maybe that's how lots of people think about replacing meat. Although I find lentils, grains, greens, vegetables, beans are around in such a variety that I have certainly as many options there as there is different cuts of meat.
Does any of your new year's resolutions help the environment?
We had the Law Enforcement Agent from the city of Kitchener in yesterday to look at our windows. We heat very little (20 C is all we need) and the winter has been mild so far but with these windows we'd be heating the outdoors too. And they are wet and we get mould that I am sure was here before they painted the walls before our move in. The management sees nothing wrong in the windows because they are cheap and don't care but hopefully the agent can help us sort the issue.
Today we finally got our organic box back. I'm so glad because our fridge and obviously we have been starved of organic produce during most of the holidays. Eating has just gotten better again. For Christmas I got a small food processor and now we even make our own sugar and salt-free organic peanut butter. Yum!
My most recent project was to sand off and paint the sturdiest chair in out apartment. It's a zebra now! Beautiful!! It's a unique chair now more than ever, we never had a match to it any way since it was given to us by family together with a dinner table and three chairs (they had broken one). But we don't need four ordinary chairs at the table because we have a high chair too so this fourth one adorns our living room. And it goes well with the rest of our black, white and dark green furniture. I also repainted the top of our coffee table that my husband redid over a year ago. He never sealed the top though so the paint kept chipping off. I put glaze on top, all good. I am still working on our former TV stand that has been turned into a play counter for our daughter. It's got a white base so far and large farm animal stickers around the side but I want to paint geometrical shapes still on top. Why buy new furniture if redecorating is so much more fun. Makes me think about a change in career considering the slow job market for office admin/ tourism jobs here in KW. I have also taken up tutoring German and showing Cutco knives to whoever is interested. If you have read the article of David Suzuki that probably appeared in almost every paper in Canada on Christmas you know that these aren't the worst jobs and products. Services, contrary to manufacturing and mining, often do not harm the environment. Services generally do not produce (as much) carbon emissions, destroy landscapes and forests, pollute air & water. The article was great and I am sure I read something similar from him the year before - it needs constant reminders that we should not be so materialistic and wasteful. Did I mention that Cutco has a forever guanrantee? Cutco knives need very little resharpening (every 10 years or so) and the company does this for free for you forever. Cutco also takes back and recycles your old knives and therefore reduces a lot of waste. I could not sell anything I don't personally like but Cutco I do like not only from the environmental perspective.
Did you read the article of the UN advising people all over the world to stop consuming so many dairy and meat products in order to stop climate change? Super interesting too. Producing food for cows and Co. produces as much carbon emissions as burning fossil fuels for cars, industry and households. And it takes good food, grains etc. away from our tables. You know we already don't each much meat but still have quite a number of dairy products in our household such as milk for the child, yoghurt for mum & daughter, cheese for all. Not sure if our dairy consumption is below, above or at average with the rest of the population in Canada, Germany and elsewhere. Something would be missing without these dairy products in our household. Especially since we can't grow tropical fruits here which would be a nice replacement but other than that I can't even think of one. Maybe that's how lots of people think about replacing meat. Although I find lentils, grains, greens, vegetables, beans are around in such a variety that I have certainly as many options there as there is different cuts of meat.
Does any of your new year's resolutions help the environment?
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Are all magazines a waste of paper?
I have spent more than two weeks now at my mother-in-law's waiting for our stuff to arrive from Edmonton. We are currently moving from Alberta to Ontario, well not really, there is not much moving right now or I would not be so damn bored. The moving company has turned out to be very incompetent despite the fact that we could find lots of "10 out of 10"- type reviews for them. I give them 1 out of 10 if they manage to actually deliver our stuff before the end of the year. Receiving lots of quotes from moving companies was interesting too. One touted that they only used trucks, no trains. Weird, I thought immediately. Why do they think that customers may prefer that? Personally I think my stuff was better off in a container on rails instead of in a truck. Imagine how many truckloads of belongings you could move on a single train, cutting down emissions too. Next time I require a moving quote I should ask if my stuff can be transported by rail.
Back to me spending lots of days unsure of what to do. I miss my bike, the bike trailer, my household, ... I miss getting up in the morning having in my mind things that I want to get accomplished. So I took to skimming through the towers of glossy magazine pages in the house. They are called Chatelaine, Best Health, Reader's Digest, Canadian Geographic, Our Canada, Opera News ... The latter 3-4 are pretty okay but the first ones to me are definitely a waste of paper. Every second page is advertisement. Sometimes booklets are inserted and the magazine then comes in a plastic wrap to prevent loss of the inserts. The articles are basically promoting consumerism, talking about the must-have fashion items, the must-have cosmetics, the must-have nutrional supplements ... go get them, it is the only way to stay healthy and beautiful. Once in a while there is an article on how to save money advising you to avoid big brandnames but, besides the brandname advertisements, a few pages later the recipe sections suggest to use Robin Hood flour, Heinz Ketchup, Kraft mayonnaise etc. I prefer forests alive over all those beauty, fitness and gossip magazines, that tell us lots of lies any way.
The Canadian Geographic should use recycled paper, those grey pages without gloss so it's obvious. In the Our Canada magazine an article started off pointing out that a country as vast as Canada is perfect for road trips. Really? I don't see that connection. For me, because it is so big I hate going on road trips. You drive for days and don't get anywhere. A train at 300 km/h would be my choice if it existed.
Back to me spending lots of days unsure of what to do. I miss my bike, the bike trailer, my household, ... I miss getting up in the morning having in my mind things that I want to get accomplished. So I took to skimming through the towers of glossy magazine pages in the house. They are called Chatelaine, Best Health, Reader's Digest, Canadian Geographic, Our Canada, Opera News ... The latter 3-4 are pretty okay but the first ones to me are definitely a waste of paper. Every second page is advertisement. Sometimes booklets are inserted and the magazine then comes in a plastic wrap to prevent loss of the inserts. The articles are basically promoting consumerism, talking about the must-have fashion items, the must-have cosmetics, the must-have nutrional supplements ... go get them, it is the only way to stay healthy and beautiful. Once in a while there is an article on how to save money advising you to avoid big brandnames but, besides the brandname advertisements, a few pages later the recipe sections suggest to use Robin Hood flour, Heinz Ketchup, Kraft mayonnaise etc. I prefer forests alive over all those beauty, fitness and gossip magazines, that tell us lots of lies any way.
The Canadian Geographic should use recycled paper, those grey pages without gloss so it's obvious. In the Our Canada magazine an article started off pointing out that a country as vast as Canada is perfect for road trips. Really? I don't see that connection. For me, because it is so big I hate going on road trips. You drive for days and don't get anywhere. A train at 300 km/h would be my choice if it existed.
Friday, April 15, 2011
More bits and pieces
Winter made a return yesterday and dumped at least 10 cm of wet, sticky snow on the ground. Big sigh. I went to meet a friend and our good old stroller, the one we had right from the beginning, lost a wheel. It simply broke off after it got all covered in gooey, dirty snow, stopped rolling and I gave it a little kick. I thought about taking it home because there's a big items garbage bin outside at the moment. The apartment complex is having "spring" clean-up. I did not though because a closer look revealed that we would not be able to fix the wheel. So I left the stroller at a public garbage bin as I was now loaded with baby, diaper bag, blankets and too much clothing. My friend said, 'you do so much for the environment, you are allowed to do that for once.' Did I write a while ago about how convenient excuses are? Anyway, I hope the city disposes of the stroller properly when they empty the garbage bins.
Now that I got rid of the big plastic stroller I invested into a small plastic kitchen scale. That's coincidence, not intention. German recipes are in grams and it can be really difficult to convert different ingredients into cups so I finally gave in for the Easter baking. First I was told at the store that they are not selling scales any longer which left me in disbelief. Shortly after the clerk found three leftovers though, two with battery, LSD display and glass plates and one ordinary one with a scale that can be fine-tuned with wheel on the side, a bowl on top and increments of 25g. I took the latter one. Measuring flour on a glass plate seemed inconvenient so did the requirement of batteries. Batteries are a pain, to buy and especially to recycle. I have my dead laptop battery and other smaller batteries still in my kitchen. They have been there for many months. Now we live near an Eco-Station (Edmonton has 3) and since recently they are even open until late (6 PM) so I will send my husband around to drop the batteries off. Of course the Eco-Station is "conveniently" located in an industrial area but luckily it's the one my husband works in now and he cycles almost past there. Living local made easy (that's sarcasm).
My friend told me she had once found a blog where a woman was writing of her efforts to get rid of plastic in her life. I will search for it but if you have heard of that blog let me know please.
Did I mention that my husband has used handkerchiefs for quite a while now, that I don't use toilet paper any more at home, that I wash baby's diapers sometimes without detergent which makes them come out softer, that we signed up for wind energy, that I started using the Diva cup so no more of these wasteful tampons and pads and ... let me think about it.
My little contribution to the elections, just in case you have not made up your mind yet. You might have been at this site already since it has become very popular and oh yes it's good. S*** Harper did It's got comments on his environmental "achievements" in it, too.
Now that I got rid of the big plastic stroller I invested into a small plastic kitchen scale. That's coincidence, not intention. German recipes are in grams and it can be really difficult to convert different ingredients into cups so I finally gave in for the Easter baking. First I was told at the store that they are not selling scales any longer which left me in disbelief. Shortly after the clerk found three leftovers though, two with battery, LSD display and glass plates and one ordinary one with a scale that can be fine-tuned with wheel on the side, a bowl on top and increments of 25g. I took the latter one. Measuring flour on a glass plate seemed inconvenient so did the requirement of batteries. Batteries are a pain, to buy and especially to recycle. I have my dead laptop battery and other smaller batteries still in my kitchen. They have been there for many months. Now we live near an Eco-Station (Edmonton has 3) and since recently they are even open until late (6 PM) so I will send my husband around to drop the batteries off. Of course the Eco-Station is "conveniently" located in an industrial area but luckily it's the one my husband works in now and he cycles almost past there. Living local made easy (that's sarcasm).
My friend told me she had once found a blog where a woman was writing of her efforts to get rid of plastic in her life. I will search for it but if you have heard of that blog let me know please.
Did I mention that my husband has used handkerchiefs for quite a while now, that I don't use toilet paper any more at home, that I wash baby's diapers sometimes without detergent which makes them come out softer, that we signed up for wind energy, that I started using the Diva cup so no more of these wasteful tampons and pads and ... let me think about it.
My little contribution to the elections, just in case you have not made up your mind yet. You might have been at this site already since it has become very popular and oh yes it's good. S*** Harper did It's got comments on his environmental "achievements" in it, too.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Canadians waste water, flush garbage down toilet
This is a recent article in the Epoch Times and well, you may guess my reaction. Here are the facts from the 4th annual Canadian Water Attitudes Study:
- almost 3 out of 4 Canadians admit to flushing leftover food, hair, bugs, cigarettes and other items that could be disposed of elsewhere down the toilet, wasting 6 to 20 litres of clean water per flush; Albertans (83%) are most likely, Quebecois (65%) least likely do flush the wrong things down the toilet - do they not realise it's wrong?
- 55% Canadians believe water is Canada's most important natural resource
- 78% say they try reasonable hard to conserve water - how do you define reasonably hard????
- 80% know the water in the toilet has drink water quality - which does not stop them from wasting it.
- 76% are aware that almost half of the water used in a home is flushed down the toilet
- people between 18 and 35 (84%) waste more water than those over 55 (63%)
- Canadians use on average 327 litres per day - 67% underestimate this amount
- 46% leave the water running while doing the dishes
- the study assumes that Canadians waste water because they (61%) don't know what they pay for it, 70% thinks though it costs enough to be treated as a valuable resource - really? so why don't they behave accordingly?
- Canadians pay less for water than other developed nations, e.g. 4 times less than the French, 7 times less than Germans - water use there is much lower!- time to put water meters into every Canadian household and charge per unit!
Water expert Bob Sandford (remember him?) says: "They claim to care about conserving it, yet knowingly engage in water wasting activities, including using fresh, clean water to dispose of garbage." and "Canadians need to understand that water is a finite resource and there are significant social and economic implications related to wasting it." and "This data highlights, once again, that Canadians are not making the connection between their personal water use and the true value of water." and until this changes "our water wasting habits will continue."
I think lots of Sandford and I wonder if he's ashamed of being a Canadian sometimes for all he knows about water and how Canadians treat it. Some of those percentages are definitely too high. I also wonder why Canadians don't get the message. If at least the governments at federal, provincial and/ or municipal level would get it they could surely crank up the price of water. That will not get them reelected but it will save the future of this country somewhat, and protect the environment. Now pull yourselves together, Canadians!
- almost 3 out of 4 Canadians admit to flushing leftover food, hair, bugs, cigarettes and other items that could be disposed of elsewhere down the toilet, wasting 6 to 20 litres of clean water per flush; Albertans (83%) are most likely, Quebecois (65%) least likely do flush the wrong things down the toilet - do they not realise it's wrong?
- 55% Canadians believe water is Canada's most important natural resource
- 78% say they try reasonable hard to conserve water - how do you define reasonably hard????
- 80% know the water in the toilet has drink water quality - which does not stop them from wasting it.
- 76% are aware that almost half of the water used in a home is flushed down the toilet
- people between 18 and 35 (84%) waste more water than those over 55 (63%)
- Canadians use on average 327 litres per day - 67% underestimate this amount
- 46% leave the water running while doing the dishes
- the study assumes that Canadians waste water because they (61%) don't know what they pay for it, 70% thinks though it costs enough to be treated as a valuable resource - really? so why don't they behave accordingly?
- Canadians pay less for water than other developed nations, e.g. 4 times less than the French, 7 times less than Germans - water use there is much lower!- time to put water meters into every Canadian household and charge per unit!
Water expert Bob Sandford (remember him?) says: "They claim to care about conserving it, yet knowingly engage in water wasting activities, including using fresh, clean water to dispose of garbage." and "Canadians need to understand that water is a finite resource and there are significant social and economic implications related to wasting it." and "This data highlights, once again, that Canadians are not making the connection between their personal water use and the true value of water." and until this changes "our water wasting habits will continue."
I think lots of Sandford and I wonder if he's ashamed of being a Canadian sometimes for all he knows about water and how Canadians treat it. Some of those percentages are definitely too high. I also wonder why Canadians don't get the message. If at least the governments at federal, provincial and/ or municipal level would get it they could surely crank up the price of water. That will not get them reelected but it will save the future of this country somewhat, and protect the environment. Now pull yourselves together, Canadians!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tapped
is a US American documentary from 2009 about bottled water and you can find out more at: www.tappedthemovie.com
The film is split into the issue of where the water comes from and then the bottles. Communities in water-rich states of the US are rallying against Nestle (a Swiss corporation), Pepsi & CocaCola who steal their drinking water. In some states, according to the legislation, water is practically free for anyone and so these companies come and pump as much as they can to later sell it at a huge profit. These companies even kept operating the year (2007?) that over 30 states were facing dorught conditions and municipalities restriced water usage. I understood their rage but I also kept thinking: don't buy bottled water! It's such a logical consequence that will put the corporations out of that business! It still leaves them in the need for water to produce coke and other pop drinks/ sodas but it would help a lot.
Don't buy bottled water.
Why is bottled water so big? - In 1989 it became possible to put water into lightweight, cheap, clear PET bottles. Bottled water became a huge commodity and private corporations have not stopped making their profit of it.
Don't buy bottled water.
One of my favourite quotes in the film goes something like this: We have all become like big toddlers .. that need to know constantly that there's something there; we want it individualized, personalized, we don't want to have take care of it, just throw it away. We want it immediately available and convenient otherwise we'll have a fit. -- It explains why most of us do not reuse a (BPA-free!) bottle that can be simply refilled from the tap. I do of course.
Don't buy bottled water.
Advertisement makes us believe that bottled water is purer & healthier than tap water. 40% of all bottled water in the US is simply filtered tap water and due to "processing" and packaging not better than tap water. Different tests have found bacterial contaminants, arsenic, benzene, vinyl chloride, styrene, phthalate, and other carcinogenic substances. Why is this? Municipalities have to test their water several times per day to insure its safety - Pepsi & Co. don't have to do this. Even when these companies do their own tests on water sources and products they don't have to make them public. The government does not help either. In all of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) there's only one person looking after bottled water regulations, and she has other responsibilities too. The FDA only regulates products that move between states, so if water is bottled and sold in the same state the FDA does not care about it. Unfortunately consumers have too much faith in a self-regulated industry!
Don't buy bottled water.
Now the bottles are usually made of PET or PETE which requires a substances that derives from the refining process of crude oil which tends to come with cancer-causing "by-products". The production of plastic bottles contaminates water!!! & air. Big sturdy bottles often contain Bisphenol A (BPA). The review of 700 studies concluded though that BPA is related to diabetes, breast & prostate cancers, obesity, liver diseases, diseases of the uterus, brain disorders (hyperactivity), low sperm count and more.
Don't buy bottled water.
Once the bottle's been used it needs to go somewhere preferably into recycling. While worldwide 50% of all beverage containers get recycled it's only 20% in the US. And who pays for it? Often the municipality that provides safe tap water. In some states there's a deposit. It's proven that deposits ensure bottles are returned for recycling. The bottled water industry prefers curbside recycling though and ignores the fact that 50% of Americans don't have access to curb side recycling. Consequently millions of bottles each year are incinerated releasing dioxin, or end up in landfills and in the ocean! Another great quote: The beach of the future does not have shells, corals and sand - it has a plastic cover!
In the Pacific two garbage patches have been located, one in the East, one in the West. That's where due to currents plastics have accumulated from Asia and America. The same applies to other oceans! In 2008 researchers found 48 times as much plastics as planktons in these garbage patches. A researcher resumed: Bottled water might be good in disaster relief but is a disaster in every day use.
Don't buy bottled water.
The film is split into the issue of where the water comes from and then the bottles. Communities in water-rich states of the US are rallying against Nestle (a Swiss corporation), Pepsi & CocaCola who steal their drinking water. In some states, according to the legislation, water is practically free for anyone and so these companies come and pump as much as they can to later sell it at a huge profit. These companies even kept operating the year (2007?) that over 30 states were facing dorught conditions and municipalities restriced water usage. I understood their rage but I also kept thinking: don't buy bottled water! It's such a logical consequence that will put the corporations out of that business! It still leaves them in the need for water to produce coke and other pop drinks/ sodas but it would help a lot.
Don't buy bottled water.
Why is bottled water so big? - In 1989 it became possible to put water into lightweight, cheap, clear PET bottles. Bottled water became a huge commodity and private corporations have not stopped making their profit of it.
Don't buy bottled water.
One of my favourite quotes in the film goes something like this: We have all become like big toddlers .. that need to know constantly that there's something there; we want it individualized, personalized, we don't want to have take care of it, just throw it away. We want it immediately available and convenient otherwise we'll have a fit. -- It explains why most of us do not reuse a (BPA-free!) bottle that can be simply refilled from the tap. I do of course.
Don't buy bottled water.
Advertisement makes us believe that bottled water is purer & healthier than tap water. 40% of all bottled water in the US is simply filtered tap water and due to "processing" and packaging not better than tap water. Different tests have found bacterial contaminants, arsenic, benzene, vinyl chloride, styrene, phthalate, and other carcinogenic substances. Why is this? Municipalities have to test their water several times per day to insure its safety - Pepsi & Co. don't have to do this. Even when these companies do their own tests on water sources and products they don't have to make them public. The government does not help either. In all of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) there's only one person looking after bottled water regulations, and she has other responsibilities too. The FDA only regulates products that move between states, so if water is bottled and sold in the same state the FDA does not care about it. Unfortunately consumers have too much faith in a self-regulated industry!
Don't buy bottled water.
Now the bottles are usually made of PET or PETE which requires a substances that derives from the refining process of crude oil which tends to come with cancer-causing "by-products". The production of plastic bottles contaminates water!!! & air. Big sturdy bottles often contain Bisphenol A (BPA). The review of 700 studies concluded though that BPA is related to diabetes, breast & prostate cancers, obesity, liver diseases, diseases of the uterus, brain disorders (hyperactivity), low sperm count and more.
Don't buy bottled water.
Once the bottle's been used it needs to go somewhere preferably into recycling. While worldwide 50% of all beverage containers get recycled it's only 20% in the US. And who pays for it? Often the municipality that provides safe tap water. In some states there's a deposit. It's proven that deposits ensure bottles are returned for recycling. The bottled water industry prefers curbside recycling though and ignores the fact that 50% of Americans don't have access to curb side recycling. Consequently millions of bottles each year are incinerated releasing dioxin, or end up in landfills and in the ocean! Another great quote: The beach of the future does not have shells, corals and sand - it has a plastic cover!
In the Pacific two garbage patches have been located, one in the East, one in the West. That's where due to currents plastics have accumulated from Asia and America. The same applies to other oceans! In 2008 researchers found 48 times as much plastics as planktons in these garbage patches. A researcher resumed: Bottled water might be good in disaster relief but is a disaster in every day use.
Don't buy bottled water.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Waste harvest
I just watched a documentary from CBClearning called Harvesting the city. It's set in Toronto and portrays several companies that collect waste and sell it or use it as raw material for their products. Unsurprisingly, there were all these companies dealing with recycling: paper, cardboard, glass & metals, even contaminated water. It was not said what exactly happens to plastics from the recycling bins. One company collected food leftovers from Toronto's restaurants and distributed them to pig farmers. As well they were looking into extending to cattle farmers but cattle is a bit more fussy and the company does not know in advance what kind of scraps they'll receive.Another company collected scrap fabric and turned it into small clothing items such as hats. The most interesting company was the recycler of disposable diapers. In an "intensive process" the "materials" (the owner of the company does not like the word garbage because a lot of it is material that can be turned into something new) get cleaned and separated. The result is fibrous wood pulp whose quality is better than from trees and sells at higher prices. The shredded plastic is very absorbent and for example soaks up oil from water which makes it suitable for cleaning up oil spills. This diaper recycling company is the first of its kind and processes 40 tons of diapers each year. The question that did not get answered unfortunately was what "intensive process" means - according to the footage I would assume water & energy. Maybe even chemicals?
The documentary did not really show what happens with thrown-out materials that do not go into the recycling process. Recycling is surely better than no recycling but it's still not an invitation to throw things out thinking that somebody down the road will hopefully deal with it. And if it has to be disposable diapers then why not use biodegradable ones and compost them.
The documentary did not really show what happens with thrown-out materials that do not go into the recycling process. Recycling is surely better than no recycling but it's still not an invitation to throw things out thinking that somebody down the road will hopefully deal with it. And if it has to be disposable diapers then why not use biodegradable ones and compost them.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
ReSkilling Edmonton
The Prairie Chapter of the Sierra Club was host of the film White Water, Black Gold. One of their representatives, Chelsea, pointed out that they are aiming to start up an initiative called ReSkilling Edmonton. Apart from reconnecting generations its main purpose is to teach young(ish) people the skills of the elderly such as canning fruit, fixing things in the household, mending clothes etc. Might sound really boring but those are the skills that can prevent a lot of stuff from going to the landfill or food being wasted. I think I established often enough in my posts that there is no need to throw everything out because it's been used a couple of times, does not look new or is out of fashion (at least for the current season). I still fix my socks. My husband wears his T-shirts with holes in them - nothing I approve of but at least he does not simply dump them. Good thing he hates shopping. We wear all of our clothing for many years (which can make for funny deja-vues on old photos). Actually, I know quite a few people that sew and knit - way to go. But I also know people, my family, who had to knit, sew, preserve, fix for many years, until capitalism took over and brought with it plenty of cheap products. I did not learn any more how to cook because we had convenience food in the freezer. Unfortunately they jumped right onto the train and buy more than they can possibly use, throw out way too much still good stuff and don't seem to understand the consequences of these actions. They (over-)enjoy the abundance. There's a worry of mine. With poorer countries striving to reach the Western lifestyle many important skills will get lost. These people will also consume more, use more, dump more of everything. Will they get the message that this is the wrong way? Maybe if reskilling initiatives like in Edmonton grow big, they set a new trend and help to send out a warning to developing countries.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Our health sector and the environment
No doubt about there's too much waste, too many materials used, too many chemicals used, too much of everything bad for the environment in the health sector. Think about packaging for pharmaceuticals, every item that any health professional uses wrapped separately, everything needs to be kept sterile, ... I don't want to know how many gallons of sanitizers a hospital goes through in a day, how many dozens of garbage bags it fills, how many pages of papers are printed, ...
I read an article in the Epoch Times titled "Diabetes and the rise of the machines". I talks about kidney failure and the treatment that follows. There's two main options. One dialysis treatment takes place at home, during the night, where a machine takes on the job your kidney usually does. The patient in the article receives 17 boxes of liquids and tubing, each weighing 35 lbs, each week! The other treatment, called hemodialysis, happens at the hospital, three times per week for 5 hours each. The cost is $60,000 per year per patient. The number of patients has more than tripled in 20 years, from 11,000 in 1990 to 38,000 in 2010 in Canada. The increase is largest in persons above 75 years of age. Kidney transplants are much cheaper but there are not enough donors.
Since I'm not a very empathetic person one of my first thoughts was, "OMG, all that waste". I must admit though that the fact that the couple in the article used to live in the US but returned to Canada because the treatment is here covered by the public health sector was one of the reasons why I did not feel for them. Anyway, the rise in life expectancy is again backfiring. In Africa they'd probably look at this issue in disbelief. With all the health systems in the highly developed countries being overburdened immigration to less developed countries might become a trend one day, as long as the immigrant is healthy obviously. For the time being somebody has to deal with that overburden.
Back to my waste issue though. It's going to get worse as our population gets older and seeks medical treatment more frequently. I hear it from my family and it's ridiculous, they are off to the doctor for every little cough. For reasons of sanitation not much is going to change about all the packaging, the sanitizers, the single-use utensils. If hospitals are as bad as schools in Edmonton there will not even be much recycling in place which is a shame. Thinking about right now, I wonder though why there's so much fuss about treating human beings in sterile, clean environments. Animals get treated in the field, on the ground, in the barn, somewhere not so 'clean'. I remember watching young stallions in Iceland being castrated in the backyard of the farmer. Once their best parts were cut off they were, still under sedatives, put back into the field. Done. No fuss, no problem, they all survived without infections. With animals there's also a more sane approach of live and let die which will unfortunately disappear as pets are more and more treated like humans (I doubt they like it) but that's again a different story.
I read an article in the Epoch Times titled "Diabetes and the rise of the machines". I talks about kidney failure and the treatment that follows. There's two main options. One dialysis treatment takes place at home, during the night, where a machine takes on the job your kidney usually does. The patient in the article receives 17 boxes of liquids and tubing, each weighing 35 lbs, each week! The other treatment, called hemodialysis, happens at the hospital, three times per week for 5 hours each. The cost is $60,000 per year per patient. The number of patients has more than tripled in 20 years, from 11,000 in 1990 to 38,000 in 2010 in Canada. The increase is largest in persons above 75 years of age. Kidney transplants are much cheaper but there are not enough donors.
Since I'm not a very empathetic person one of my first thoughts was, "OMG, all that waste". I must admit though that the fact that the couple in the article used to live in the US but returned to Canada because the treatment is here covered by the public health sector was one of the reasons why I did not feel for them. Anyway, the rise in life expectancy is again backfiring. In Africa they'd probably look at this issue in disbelief. With all the health systems in the highly developed countries being overburdened immigration to less developed countries might become a trend one day, as long as the immigrant is healthy obviously. For the time being somebody has to deal with that overburden.
Back to my waste issue though. It's going to get worse as our population gets older and seeks medical treatment more frequently. I hear it from my family and it's ridiculous, they are off to the doctor for every little cough. For reasons of sanitation not much is going to change about all the packaging, the sanitizers, the single-use utensils. If hospitals are as bad as schools in Edmonton there will not even be much recycling in place which is a shame. Thinking about right now, I wonder though why there's so much fuss about treating human beings in sterile, clean environments. Animals get treated in the field, on the ground, in the barn, somewhere not so 'clean'. I remember watching young stallions in Iceland being castrated in the backyard of the farmer. Once their best parts were cut off they were, still under sedatives, put back into the field. Done. No fuss, no problem, they all survived without infections. With animals there's also a more sane approach of live and let die which will unfortunately disappear as pets are more and more treated like humans (I doubt they like it) but that's again a different story.
Our leisure and the environment
When it comes to the environment it's always the same things that are targeted by critics - it's the oil industry, greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels (cars, houses, industry), it's more and more what is in products and then the every day Joe has to reduce water, electricity use, waste ... It's all not wrong but a lot of things get left out: from Formula 1 to stock cars, monstrous trucks, motorcycles, any race of motorized vehicles should not be a sport but simply prohibited. Quads, snow mobiles and similar vehicles should only be used for working purposes not for fun rides. Then there are sightseeing flights, flights for sky divers and for stunts-shows in the air. Similarly this list can be done up for boats/ water traffic. So there are industries behind the use of motorized vehicles that make a lot of money and would not agree to any cut-downs for the environment's sake, namely the leisure, tourism and entertainment industries, as well as the manufacturers of the vehicles. It's all about fun and that's why it's probably not being attacked - don't we all earn that little bit of fun through the hard work we do and life's tough enough, bla bla bla? Maybe, maybe not. The terrible thing is that once you start you can go on and on about different leisure activities. Gyms for example is something I don't understand. All that equipment, the space, the air conditioning, TV screens .... a lot of material to help people work out because our modern jobs are not actually that physically challenging any more, unless you consider sitting on a desk for 8 hours or more per day a problem. I do. But sliding my butt back and forth across the chair and stomping my feet underneath the desk still does not give me the satisfaction of a physical work-out. Instead of a gym, I prefer to run outside, carry my shopping bags home and knead my bread dough ... it helps to stay fit. Oh, I just remember another one, pools! All that water in the pool, all that chlorine in the water, all that energy to heat the pool, all the substances & water needed to clean the facility. An aquatic centre is possibly an all-resources-consuming operation. But when the next ocean is 1000 of miles away and the river frozen and polluted anyway, no lake anywhere to see, where are we meant to swim? To lots of sport and leisure activities, I think, there is no good alternative. With regards to the pool, Edmonton has lots of them, they actually do a good deed to our society. As much as I don't understand why there is 99% seniors in the aquasize classes, as much I am glad to see them there. Water sports are good for the elderly and I wished they'd all be forced into it. I'm getting tired of all the studies that come up giving us the same advice over and over again: eat healthy food and exercise and you'll avoid cancers, obesity, diabetes, and so on. So here we go, let the old and young exercise, moderately of course, if it keeps them away from the doctor's office. The health sector is an environmental burden in itself that never gets attacked but more about that later. Still, 'sports' with motorized vehicles are not a work-out, not for the driver, not for the spectators. They should simply be abolished.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Remember the 3 R's? - Enter the Edmonton Reuse Centre
Last Friday I was at the Reuse Centre in Edmonton, http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/reuse-centre.aspx. Now there's something to show off, please other cities in the world take a look and follow. The Reuse Centre is filled with shelves and boxes containing books, candles & candle holders, office tools, wooden stuff, lots of craft supplies or things that can be used as such e.g. leftover wall paper & fabrics, wool, needles, used greeting cards, papers, buttons, wrapping paper, posters, ... So you go in, look through as much stuff as you want or can, take whatever you want and however much you like, pay 5 dollars and leave. Great idea. The stuff gets dropped off by people who don't need it any more so people like me who like cheap crafts can pick it up. I say cheap crafts because I am not at all interested in e.g Stampin' Up which is basically an expensive form of card making because you ought to by the supplies from that company that also tells you through its self-employed demonstrators how to arrange the bits and pieces of the supplies.
A little excursion of mine:
I am not into hoarding so I can go into the Reuse Centre without wanting to take just about everything home. I always think first what I could need something for, or do my research before I go buy something to start with. I mention this because when I walk past book stores I sometimes get annoyed about the book titles and wonder who would buy such books. What a waste of paper! There is books on how to de-clutter your home - well, don't clutter it up in the first place. Worse than that, the book titled "The life you want". What does that author know about what I want in life? I suppose the assumption is we all want lots of money so we can do whatever we want but we don't want to work hard for it, if at all. Sorry, but life without a job is pretty darn boring to me. Well, I got a super adorable baby but that only helps so much. As a matter of fact, if I was not to work again I'd need a lot of money so I can go travel, climb mountains, swim in the ocean, ... I don't think my husband would be pleased since he will not come along because he needs to earn that money. Oh, but maybe the book can tell him how to get the money without working, then he could join in the fun. I think I go buy the book now .... just kidding.
A little excursion of mine:
I am not into hoarding so I can go into the Reuse Centre without wanting to take just about everything home. I always think first what I could need something for, or do my research before I go buy something to start with. I mention this because when I walk past book stores I sometimes get annoyed about the book titles and wonder who would buy such books. What a waste of paper! There is books on how to de-clutter your home - well, don't clutter it up in the first place. Worse than that, the book titled "The life you want". What does that author know about what I want in life? I suppose the assumption is we all want lots of money so we can do whatever we want but we don't want to work hard for it, if at all. Sorry, but life without a job is pretty darn boring to me. Well, I got a super adorable baby but that only helps so much. As a matter of fact, if I was not to work again I'd need a lot of money so I can go travel, climb mountains, swim in the ocean, ... I don't think my husband would be pleased since he will not come along because he needs to earn that money. Oh, but maybe the book can tell him how to get the money without working, then he could join in the fun. I think I go buy the book now .... just kidding.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
More of garbage, cosmetics and toxins
A crazy German built a hotel in Madrid out of garbage. Unfortunately it's there for an exhibit only and will not actually host guests but I like the idea. One day when we run out of resources we might be happy to collect our trash back out of the oceans (if we can still recognize them as such) and build a roof over our heads with it, just in case it gets a bit wet, windy or cold. Take a look for yourself: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/madrids-beach-garbage-hot_n_811442.html#s226725
The Canadian government did a good deed but it's not enough. They banned phthalates only in soft plastic toys, but not in cosmetics. Well, maybe the approach is similar to our diets. They first allow industry to sell crab to the consumers that causes us harm and then they find another provider to treat you for it. Money makes the world go round, on the expense of the consumer. Weird though because the people that work for the industry are also consumers so they should care. The cosmetics industry insists their products are safe, of course. Anyway, it's up to the government to act on the issue but they have 3 months to do so, yawn. http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Clean+shampoos+critics+urge/4136614/story.html
The other day I read in the paper about a scienties experimenting with animals to cure hangover. He gave the rats (or maybe mice) pure ethanol to make them drunk. It was pointed out that this obviously excluded the usual "toxins and additives" found in store-shelved alcohol. I could not believe it was writen so bluntly as if that's an absolutely normal, not to worry about way of producing something that will be consumed by us, the readers. Makes me wonder if it was not better to legalize certain plants for drug consumption with "all natural ingredients" instead of creating toxic drinks that cause addiction.
A friend told a story from the TV. They had a bunch of people swallow the content of a whole package of homeopathic medicine. They stood right outside a hospital in case stomachs had to be pumped out because the porbands weren't suicidal after all. Nothing happened, they all survived without reaction. The conclusion in the show was not though what we thought of. They concluded that homeopathic medicine is like a placebo, it does not do anything. Dave & my conclusion was more like, the active ingredients are not as highly concentrated per pill and it does not contain harming chemicals that at a high dosage can actually kill you. Should be could for suicidal patients. We don't know the details but I think even a placebo is better than harmful medicine.
The Canadian government did a good deed but it's not enough. They banned phthalates only in soft plastic toys, but not in cosmetics. Well, maybe the approach is similar to our diets. They first allow industry to sell crab to the consumers that causes us harm and then they find another provider to treat you for it. Money makes the world go round, on the expense of the consumer. Weird though because the people that work for the industry are also consumers so they should care. The cosmetics industry insists their products are safe, of course. Anyway, it's up to the government to act on the issue but they have 3 months to do so, yawn. http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Clean+shampoos+critics+urge/4136614/story.html
The other day I read in the paper about a scienties experimenting with animals to cure hangover. He gave the rats (or maybe mice) pure ethanol to make them drunk. It was pointed out that this obviously excluded the usual "toxins and additives" found in store-shelved alcohol. I could not believe it was writen so bluntly as if that's an absolutely normal, not to worry about way of producing something that will be consumed by us, the readers. Makes me wonder if it was not better to legalize certain plants for drug consumption with "all natural ingredients" instead of creating toxic drinks that cause addiction.
A friend told a story from the TV. They had a bunch of people swallow the content of a whole package of homeopathic medicine. They stood right outside a hospital in case stomachs had to be pumped out because the porbands weren't suicidal after all. Nothing happened, they all survived without reaction. The conclusion in the show was not though what we thought of. They concluded that homeopathic medicine is like a placebo, it does not do anything. Dave & my conclusion was more like, the active ingredients are not as highly concentrated per pill and it does not contain harming chemicals that at a high dosage can actually kill you. Should be could for suicidal patients. We don't know the details but I think even a placebo is better than harmful medicine.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A visit of a different kind
In autumn we visited the Waste Management Centre in Edmonton which claims to be the most sophisticated in North America. At the facility they recover 6 out of 10 garbage bags through recycling and composting, the rest still goes to landfill. Additional facilities to recycle more materials are under construction with the goal to recover 9 out of 10 garbage bags. I never really thought about the ratio of garbage that gets recovered but I was honestly a bit shocked by the small ratio of recovery that apparently is a big one. I mean, other cities seem to stuff even more garbage right away into landfills and don't further think or care about it. Urgh.
Edmonton’s Centre has been a huge investment that lots of communities are not willing to take, but that’s desirable. Coastal cities that dump waste into the ocean, incinerators that produce the most toxic man-made substance on Earth (Dioxin), and exporting waste to places like India because countries like the USA create so much waste they can’t cope with it are not good for our future. Getting industry to design products that last would be a huge progress but we also need to remind ourselves that everything that gets dumped stays on the planet, no matter what. In order to keep this fact in people's minds it should be part of every school's curriculum to take the kids to a waste management facility ... and make the facility an operating exhibit. Just like in Edmonton, only that here they do it with proud which cities with incinerators will not do.
http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/edmonton-waste-management-centre.aspx
Edmonton’s Centre has been a huge investment that lots of communities are not willing to take, but that’s desirable. Coastal cities that dump waste into the ocean, incinerators that produce the most toxic man-made substance on Earth (Dioxin), and exporting waste to places like India because countries like the USA create so much waste they can’t cope with it are not good for our future. Getting industry to design products that last would be a huge progress but we also need to remind ourselves that everything that gets dumped stays on the planet, no matter what. In order to keep this fact in people's minds it should be part of every school's curriculum to take the kids to a waste management facility ... and make the facility an operating exhibit. Just like in Edmonton, only that here they do it with proud which cities with incinerators will not do.
http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/edmonton-waste-management-centre.aspx
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