Smells Like Green Spirit

I’ve stumbled across this blog several times when doing various google searches for things related to my own blog, so I wanted to tell all you dear readers about the Fake Plastic Fish blog. 

The author Beth Terry is from Oakland, California, and her blog’s tagline is “Fake Plastic Fish… they’re cute, and if we don’t solve our plastic problem, they could be the only kind we have left.”

The blog catalogues her struggles to eliminate plastic from her life, with yesterday’s blog writing about her giving up shampoo!

Check it out, and hopefully Beth can inspire us all to cut down on our plastics! 

Here’s a cute picture of Beth with all her plastics when she first began her blog, from Fake Plastic Fish:

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 To learn a little more about the Dr. Hauschka cosmetic line’s origins and business ideals, etc, check out this New York Times Article about Dr Hauschka’s cosmetics. 

Here’s a little excerpt:

“Mr. Steiner’s thinking [Mr. Steiner is apparently an Austrian anthroposophist] was also influential in more down-to-earth matters. He championed biodynamic agriculture, a rigorous form of organic farming that shuns pesticides and uses no fertilizers that were not already present in the garden. An acolyte of Mr. Steiner, Rudolf Hauschka planted a biodynamic garden in this town, 28 miles west of Stuttgart, in 1955. There, a team of eight gardeners cultivates more than 150 plants, flowers and trees, ranging from Echinacea to monk’s hood. They are harvested by hand, then crushed and dried. Extracts are taken with water, never alcohol.For the company’s rose cream, one of its signature products, it buys large amounts of rose oil from suppliers in Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran and Afghanistan. The trade allows WALA to engage in more planetary good works. In Afghanistan, it is encouraging farmers to plant roses in place of opium poppies, said Antal Adam, the chief spokesman.”

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Who said literature and knowledge were eternal?

As I mentioned in a previous post about the environmental impacts of the publishing industry , the archaic return policies of the book industry lead to millions of books being pulped or landfilled every year.

According to Bloombergnews.com, “In 2005, roughly 1.5 billion books were shipped in the U.S. … Of those, 465 million, or 31 percent, were returned to publishers.” That’s a whole lotta not only paper waste, but carbon emissions!

So what happens to these books after they die? Joe Moran of the Guardian says, pulped books can be turned into “bitumen modifier, the pellets roadbuilders use to bind blacktop to aggregate. A mile of motorway consumes about 45,000 books” and also fake snow…weird, huh?

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I still wear leather shoes and leather purses, but since I indulge my shoe obsession through thrift stores, vintage stores and ebay, I don’t feel any guilt.

Besides, I’ve long lamented the fact that it seems like most places who market themselves as makers and sellers of vegan shoes had too hippie of a look. I love the idea of total sustainability in shoes, and yes, maybe that makes me a bad person that I just can’t hang with  many of the ugly shoes that are the best for the earth.

There is hope. Here are some websites where you don’t have to sacrifice style for ideals 

Vegetarian Shoes and Bags: www.vegetarianshoesandbags.com

Moo Shoes: www.mooshoes.com

Alternative Outiftters: www.alternativeoutfitters.com

And then, PETA’s list of Vegan Clothing Companies  

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I grew up in Houston, and then lived in Atlanta for 8 years before I lived in Chicago. One  of the biggest reasons I moved here was so I could live in a city that had viable public transportation, which is so minimal in southern cities, it may as well be considered almost non-existent. In the south, I had to drive EVERYWHERE, and didn’t flinch at driving upwards of 50 miles a day.

It’s funny to think about it now, but when gas starting approaching $2 a gallon in Atlanta, about 3.5 years ago, I decided I was going to move to a city where I didn’t need to drive. $2 A GALLON!  What I wouldn’t give to pay $2 a gallon now!!

The only cities that I really knew of in America where public transit was an option were San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, and so I chose Chicago.

NOW, 3.5 years later, gas has reached stunning  heights, coming up on nearly $5 a gallon.

I can’t believe it.

I still own a car, which I use for huge grocery runs, to take several loads of laundry to the laundromat, to take paintings to an art show, etc, but I’ve decided to sell my car once it permanently tops $5 a gallon.

That is just too much money.

I now own a lovely bike that looks something like this (sorry for the stolen pic)  

I live right by the blue line train, and right by several major bus lines, and I got two feet in damn good working order…so, yeah. If you know anyone who wants a cute, silver Toyota Rav4…it gets good gas mileage! But at 5+ dollars a gallon…

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So, I’m writing a research paper for one of my classes about the environmental impacts of the publishing industry, and here are some of the things I’ve learned. 

The Publishing Industry’s Return Policy 

Starting in the depression era, the industry established what is now an illogical practice: the return policy. While it made sense at the time, it now has bizarre repercussions.  Basically, publishers are forced by this practice to put their books into bookstores on consignment, which has good and bad results. The good thing about this is that bookstores potentially take risks on books because they know they can just send the books back to the publisher if they don’t sell. The bad thing about this is that if bookstores ask for 10,000 books, but only sell 500, they send back the remainder to the publishers, which are then pulped, recycled, or destroyed. Yes it’s bad because this overprinting followed by a return has put publishers out of business in the past, but also — think about the environmental waste of all of this!

Recycled Paper and the Publishing Industry’s Carbon Footprint

In trying to research the return policy conundrum of the publishing industry, I was surprised by how little has been written about the wasteful practice. Most information that I’ve been able to find has been about the use of recycled paper and the carbon footprint of the publishing industry.

Here’s a little quote from The Exchange Online, the Newsletter of the Association of University Presses
“The U.S. book industry emits 12.4 million metric tons of carbon per year, or a net 8.85 pounds per book. Steps the industry is beginning to take to reduce this load include increasing the use of recycled or environmentally sustainable papers, reducing overproduction, and reducing office and plant energy use.”

And here’s a link to an    interview with the Green Press Initiative’s Director

Several big publishing companies like Random House and Scholastic have made commitments to use more recycled paper, which is a step in the right direction, although reducing the wasteful attitude of “More, more, more” and “Profit is king,” would be more effective. (P.S. The latest Harry Potter book got a bit of press for being printed on recycled paper, did you hear?)

Print on Demand Kiosks

I don’t know how long it would take to make this dream a reality, but I’m excited about the idea of print-on-demand kiosks! Currently, printing on demand is used by those who want to self publish, or those who are publishing in small numbers, like for academic books. Think about the waste that this process would eliminate!

Here’s a link about a print on demand in action in Australia 

And here’s an article about the print on demand kiosk for the New York Public Library

The Kindle

At first I thought the Kindle (those little digital reader thingies) might be a solution for reducing waste in the publishing industry, but now I’m not so sure. It seems like the Kindle would reduce paper waste, but then I could forsee plastic waste being an issue. Will people really want to read their books on digital screens in the future? To date it’s not been the success the industry predicted it would be…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!!!

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I am one of those unfortunate souls whose skin is so pale, that with sun exposure, I burn to a vibrant red before fading to a bluish-white once more. How I wish I had darker skin!

As I do not, I am forced to slather sunscreen on myself daily, and have been recently using Burt’s Bees Chemical Free Sunscreen with Hemp Seed Oil.

I like the faint smell of the sunscreen, and appreciate that the product lives up to its promises of being non-greasy, as well as the fact that it’s chemical free and phthalate free.

My only complaint is that you really have to rub the sunscreen in really well, or it leaves white streaks on your skin that flake off and look like deodorant crust, and if you don’t rub it in all the way, it will get white streaks on your clothes too. Definitely not enjoyable.

I give it a 7/10.

I might buy this again, unless I could find a natural sunscreen that didn’t leave white streaks/chunks on my skin. Do you have any recommendations for something better???

Hope you’re all enjoying this lovely Chicago weather! (or whatever weather you have where you are!)

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As some of you may know, I’ve long been obsessed with the brussel sprouts from Feed. Unlike most soggy, boiled brussel sprouts, they are crispy, slightly tangy, and oh so delicious! 

After some experimentation (because asking would have just been too easy) this is how I figure you can make them yourself. Even those who aren’t usually into brussel sprouts won’t be able to resist this delectable side dish!

INGREDIENTS

brussel sprouts (duh!)
1-2 tbsp oil or butter
soy sauce
worcester sauce (optional, but yummy)
lemon juice

DO IT

1. Prepare brussel sprouts as you usually would (i.e. chop off the ends, peel off the outer leaves as needed)
2. Slice up the sprouts with horizontal cuts, making them end up ring shaped.
3. Heat up your oil/butter over high heat.
4. Stir fry the sprouts with soy sauce, a little worcester if desired until done (about 5 minutes?)
5. Sprinkle with lemon juice
6. Eat!
7. They’re yummy, right?!

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It sounds so sci-fi…but this article from slate.com suggests that the way to be a conscious eater is not to necessarily be a vegetarian, but to hope for a future where scientists generate meat products in labs, eliminating the pesky need for methane/carbon dioxide producing animals.

It’s an interesting concept, especially when many people would never choose vegetarianism as a lifestyle and when, as the article says, “creating a pound’s worth of beef releases the same amount of greenhouses gases—the equivalent of 36.4 pounds of carbon dioxide—as driving a car 155 miles at 50 miles per hour. And that’s an underestimate of the industry’s total impact, since the study didn’t account for emissions from farm equipment or the fuel expended on transporting product from killing floor to supermarket.”

Totally sounds unappetizing, but I’ll bet you people said the airplane sounded unappetizing back in when it was first invented, right?!
Link to Slate article on Making Meat in Labs

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This weekend at Kilbourne Park (3501 N. Kilbourne Ave, just west of Milwaukee Ave and Addison St) from 10 am to 2 pm there will be an amazing sale of organic seedlings…veggies, herbs, and flowers.

In the words of the Chicago Park District Website:

“Customers can expect more than 150 varieties of open-pollinated tomatoes, such as Aunt Ruby’s German Green Tomato, Copia, Green Zebra, and Black Cherry . There is a limited supply of tomatoes, so gardeners are encouraged to stop by early.The Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse accepts payment for plants by cash and check only.

On Wednesday, May 21 from 6 – 7:30 pm, the Kilbourn Organic Greenhouse will host Gardening Basics: Free Question Answer session by the Master Gardeners of CookCountyChicago – University of Illinois Extension. Bring your questions and come to this evening’s discussion such as; how to plant, when to plant, fertilizing, composting, watering, mulching. We will have several Master Gardeners available to answer your gardening questions. This program is sponsored by Master Gardeners of Cook County Chicago, a program of the University of Illinois Extension.”

Click here to visit the Chicago Park District Website

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