Bottled Water While Travelling
By Jenn | September 2, 2010
We certainly don’t have to repeat this: Team Tiny Choices is very anti-bottled water. But during my recent travels in Central America, I drank more of the stuff than I care to admit– and this was also the case when I visited India last year.
It nearly killed me, buying so much of the stuff, but the option might very well have actually killed me. It’s easy for my NYC-dwelling-self to forget that most of the worlds’ population does not have access to clean drinking water. And while this is a sad but true statistic while I’m at home, once I put myself on the map in one of these places I become one of those numbers– a human being who needs water to survive, yet can’t drink what comes out of the tap.
While I was at surf camp in Nicaragua, there was a big 5-gallon purified water bottle which we all refilled our smaller bottles from, so although this used transportation & purification energy, at least we weren’t creating more plastic waste in a location which isn’t really equipped to recycle it properly. I then moved on to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica with a friend, and from the local market we carried home another 5-gallon jug of purified water which we decanted from for the next week.
And then I was on my own, in another Costa Rican surf spot paradise, where everyone was telling me the tap water was safe to drink. Really? Once you’ve been sick with a stomach bug in a foreign country, it’s a little difficult to make yourself take a leap of faith such as this. I’d have glasses of sparkling tap water set in front of me at restaurants, and I’d eye it suspiciously. I kept buying the largest bottles I could find– 6 liters– and decanting them into my smaller bottles for everyday use. But even this disturbed me, and I just wasn’t drinking enough water because it hurt me to buy this much bottled water.
So, I ended up getting slightly dehydrated. Partly this was due to crazy amounts of sun exposure, but it was exacerbated by the fact that I just couldn’t buy enough water to keep my fluid levels up. So, I started drinking the tap water. I’d met at least a dozen travelers who agreed that the tap water was fine in this town, so I chose to believe them and chose to believe in my digestive system, and started drinking the stuff in huge quantities.
And it turned out to be fine! What a relief. The remainder of my trip, I didn’t have to buy another bottle of water, and after a few listless days I got my energy back up and moved on to the mountains and out of the sun.
The next time I travel, I’m bringing my camping water filter with me– it would make most any tap water safe to drink, it’s an appliance I already own, and would completely remove the issue of bottled water from the equation. I felt foolish that I had left it at home during this trip but look forward to this solution for my next journey.
Have you had to rely on bottled water recently? How do you deal with this issue while you travel?
[Image by Moffitt via Creative Commons]
Topics: Food, Waste | 1 Comment »
100+mpg car
By Karina | September 1, 2010
Have you all heard about this? The Avion is a car which was prototyped in the 80s, and which is super efficient and designed to get over 100 miles per gallon. And there’s a guy who is driving one from Mexico to California! As they say:
“In our testing the car we were able to achieve 80 mpg At 70 mph and an astonishing 114 mpg at 55 mph driving from Eugene OR. To Portland OR.”
Wow! that’s great! There’s a news story here, they started driving down this weekend.
Now, I look at this car and think a few things: 1. what a geat commuter! 2. with a lightweight vehicle like this, I wonder how difficult it would be to make this an electric car?and of course there’s 3.: Jiminy Christmas, those are some awesome doors.
Because I’m so dorky, and also so committed to my own high-efficiency automobile (which gets around 60 mpg if I’m driving at 55 miles per hour), I wanted to make a comparison - the problem being, of course, that the Avion is a diesel engine and my Insight is gasoline. Everyone talks about how great the gas mileage is with diesel, but it’s actually an unfair comparison because (due to the nature of the different hydrocarbon chains that make up diesel and gasoline) there is more embodied energy in diesel than there is in gas, so part of the reason that diesel cars get better mileage than gas is just that the fuel is inherently more powerful. Using the excellent explanation and embodied energy here, I figure that gasoline is about 85% the efficiency of diesel. So really, to compare apples to apples, need to calculate the gasoline-equivalent mileage of the Avion by multiplying 114 mpg by 85%… which still gives us 96 mpg! that’s darn amazing, and tops my 60s-70s mpg in the Insight.
Would you buy this car if it were in production?
Topics: Transportation | 2 Comments »
Surfboard & Snowboard Wax: Oops…
By Jenn | August 31, 2010
I recently picked up a new obsession/hobby (it’s a fine line): surfing. Add this to my love of snowboarding and nordic skiing, and I’ve now got three board sports to participate in during two seasons of the year. Lucky me!
All three of these pursuits have one main thing in common: it’s necessary to apply specialized & highly engineered wax to boards/skis. For skis & snowboards, the wax allows the planks to glide smoothly over snow, and wax on a surfboard gives the rider enough traction to stand and maneuver. In both circumstances, the wax gets rubbed off and must be regularly reapplied. I then had the kind of thought which led Karina and I to create Tiny Choices in the first place: where does that wax go when it disappears from the boards?
While I’m surfing or boarding or skiing, the wax is abraded off by snow. Eventually that snow melts, and presumably the microscopic wax particles settle down onto the mountain itself. While this may seem like a ridiculous thing to even think about, consider that skiing trails are static and generally unchanging over many, many years– so there may be decades worth of hundreds of thousands of skiers depositing petroleum-based wax onto mountains and hills all over the world. There are animals which feed on these mountains, and streams in these places which empty into rivers which empty into oceans. This is a very slippery slope, so to speak.
In the case of surfing, it’s easy to see exactly where that wax is going: right into the ocean, where it’s then absorbed by plants, coral, fish, shellfish, sharks, whales, dolphins, octopuses (octopi?), clams, lobsters, jellyfish, seahorses, and starfish.
So thus is the conundrum: being active means we’re healthier, yet activities such as Bikram yoga, surfing, skiing/snowboarding, can be taxing on the environment. Of course, my personal goal is to mitigate and minimize my impact as much as possible: when possible and safe, I buy second-hand gear, I’ll use natural-based waxes when they’re available (and a quick preliminary search shows they are), and participate in sports with as little travel-impact as possible. So it’s a funny situation: I live a car-free city-based low-impact life, but then expend greater amounts of energy in order to reach the big wide open spaces I love. Tricky situation!
How do your pastimes and pursuits and hobbies impact the environment, and what do you do to lessen the weight?
[Photo by Mike Baird via Creative Commons]
Topics: Yoga & Fitness | 2 Comments »
Recycling Aerosol Cans
By Karina | August 30, 2010
I just got back from a beach vacation, and as a redhead with fair skinwhile I have a lot of things to say about sunblock in general, I will say this: it is much easier to keep the little kids protected from sunburn by using aerosol cans of sunblock spray instead of subjecting them to lotion lotion lotion.
So of course, after making that decision I found myself where Jenn and I often do - wondering if it was the right choice, and even if it wasn’t, how I could make it better.
First I refreshed myself on why we all generally steer away from aerosol cans. I mean - they’re made of metal, right? which I normally always buy when given a choice between metal or plastic (see: infrequent purchases of coke in a can, but never in a bottle).
Of course the big concern with aerosol cans was the CFCs - which are ozone depleting chemicals, and conveniently, a very effective propellant (used to get the product to spray out of the aerosol can). In the 80s teased bang hairstyles were threatened by the hole in the ozone, and responsible teenyboppers switched to pump hair spray. Please, PLEASE, don’t ask me how I know this. These days, though, if something is related closely to food or body care the propellants are more inert - usually propane or butane (though flammable) or CO2 or nitrous oxide. Interestingly, the aerosol products industry group reports that in recent studies 7 out of 10 American’s think that CFCs are still present in aerosol cans! Even though this has been outlawed for several decades in the US.
So if the problem isn’t the ozone then it stands to reason that the aerosol can may be the more appropriate choice over a plastic bottle, right? But how to take care of end-of-life issues?
Earth911 points out that I should be able to recycle at the local level, as long as the can is actually empty:
- Be sure that the can is empty. This means that all of the product has to be used up.
- Dispose of the empty cans using your curbside pick up service or by visiting your local drop off centers. It is best to touch base with your local centers to be sure they accept this type of product for recycling.
- NEVER throw aerosol cans in roadside dumps or trash fires. These cans are still pressurized and can explode.
So next I checked my local recycling requirements:
Glass, Plastic, Tin & Aluminum Recycling
- Glass Bottles: Clear, green and brown glass. The bottles and jars must be empty, rinsed and without caps and rings. Labels may be left on.
- Metal Cans: Tin and aluminum food and drink cans must be empty and rinsed. Labels must be removed.
- Plastic Containers: Plastic soda, milk, juice, shampoo and detergent bottles must be empty, rinsed and without caps. ONLY those bottles marked on the bottom with numerals 1 thru 7 inside a triangle will be taken. The numbers refer to the seven kinds of plastic.
- Milk/Orange Juice Cartons: Straws from juice boxes are to be thrown in with the regular trash.
- Aluminum Foil/Aluminum Pie Plates: Foil/Plates encrusted with food are to be thrown in with the regular trash.
- White Refrigerated/Frozen Food Containers: Includes frozen vegetables, ice cream and butter containers
So my local recycling doesn’t say anything about aerosol cans at all. Which means I guess I’ll have to give them a call and see what they say.
My research turned up another resource, though, which is interesting and hugely useful for people with limited municipal recycling options: 1800recycling.com has a very useful search feature on their website that looks up where you can recycle hard to recycle materials. I put in my location and came up with this:
And… it turns out that there isn’t anything immediately nearby, so I’m pretty much stuck hoping that my municipality actually DOES recycle aerosol cans, and if they don’t, that my workplace will take them. On the other hand, I did download an iphone app from 1800recycling.com that will tell me where all the local recycling is for all those weird things I find myself having to recycle while on vacation, which is super, and much much needed.
Have you found yourself questioning the disposal of a product lately?
[[Photo from flickr user Scott Witt via creative commons license. And by the way, I really enjoyed finding this set of graffiti art on flickr as well.]]
Topics: Waste | 5 Comments »
Easy Peasy Tip: Use a Dish rag!
By tinychoices | August 28, 2010
Here’s an old fashioned tip - use a dish rag in the kitchen! Sponges are convenient and effective, but they’re also disposable and sometimes have lots of plastic involved. Even the eco-friendly sponges are still something that must be bought frequently.
So how about moving back to a tried and true technology that our grandparents used? Get some dish rags to use! you can make your own easily (especially if you crochet or knit) or buy them, and the key seems to be to have one that is not too big, because it will be overly swishy and in the way when you wash dishes. Have several on hand so you can use them for dirty jobs and chuck them in the wash pile when you’re done (and they’re dry).
And if you need an extra scrubby, try getting a stiff bristled scrub brush or how about repurposing those plastic mesh canvas bags?
Are you a dishcloth fan or foe?
[[Photo from flickr user doubledutchess via creative commons license.]]
Topics: Easy Peasy Tips, Home | 8 Comments »
“Happy Eco-News” Fridays!
By tinychoices | August 27, 2010
- A green fitness building in a senior center!
- Karina just LOVES articles about living in small spaces…
- and we think this water bottle is right up Jenn’s alley!
- There’s a new water calculator out, you can check their footprint!
- Now this is just gross: photos of London sewer pipes that are clogged with fat!
Topics: General | 2 Comments »
Reusable Toilet Paper: Not So Crazy
By Jenn | August 26, 2010
So, I know there are a few of our readers who have made the switch at home to reusable toilet paper– which, for the uninitiated (and probably squicked out), means keeping a supply of clean cloths next to the toilet, using them to wipe, then tossing them into a collection bin until laundry day. Before you fall off your floor in horror, please consider that this is actually no more gross than parents who use reusable diapers for their babies.
This is a switch neither Karina nor I have made, and to be honest, while I totally saw the environmental benefits, I just didn’t think I was on a regular enough laundry schedule to implement a system such as this. It’s different if one has a large family– wash is always being done– but for a solo hobo, it’s very hit or miss.
I recently travelled in Central America, where the toilet lines are so delicate that folks don’t toss their used TP into the bowl, but instead into a small trash bin. That bin is emptied every day, and there’s no smell or mess. I just realized how close this system is to a reusable TP system, except for the fact that the Central Americans are still using regular disposable paper, instead of reusable rags. What strikes me is how easy and economically-sensible it would be for them to make the next small switch– when the average living wage is a equal to a few dollars per day, why should any of that necessary money be going towards an unnecessary disposable product?
Of course, our cultures at this point in time are biased towards disposables, and many folks the world over have developed the “gross!” reflex in the last generation or two about things like this– hankies instead of paper tissues, reusable cloth pads instead of disposables, etc. But when I stop to think about it, there’s really nothing gross about this at all. In fact, it could easily be argued that the truly gross thing is to cut down trees in order to make paper to wipe our butts with.
Where do you stand on the resuables issue– TP, hankies, or pads? Do you think this is grody, or a no-brainer?
[Image by Public Domain Photos via Creative Commons]
Topics: Home, Waste | 11 Comments »
Tell Ellen: Plastic Bottles are P-yucky!
By Karina | August 25, 2010
Juli at plasticlessnyc let us know recently about her campaign to against Ellen and the rampant use of plastic bottles - of course we had to share the news with you!
Apparently, Ellen has started to shill for vitamin water zero during her show - and while I might have cynically written it off as a non-transparent advertisement, Juli has gone the extra mile and taken the proactive stance that we can stop this irresponsible and lazy showcase of and perhaps unintentional endorsement of plastic bottle usage!
She’s set up both a petition and a facebook group, please do go take a look at them. It is frustrating when a celebrity as loved as Ellen is chooses to remain purposefully ignorant about the effects of their actions and endorsements, so hopefully Ellen will listen up!
Do you think celebrities ought to behave better than the rest of us in order to be good influences?
[[Picture from flickr user bernielevine via creative commons license.]]
Topics: Activism, Waste | 2 Comments »
‘Do Good’ For Your Kid’s School And The Planet
By Jenn | August 24, 2010
Tiny Choices is happy to present a guest post by Terra Wellington:
Teachers and administrators LOVE parent volunteers. Every year when my kids go back to school there seems to be an even longer list of volunteer opportunities. Most schools are time and cash crunched, so if I can help out then that’s great. Everyone benefits.
But what if you could help out AND do something good for the earth at the same time? Fact is, you can. And by helping out your environment, you also improve your child’s health, safety, and happiness. It’s a win-win. Plus, if everyone learns more about habitats and how to better take care of them (including within your own community), then you’ve also paid the planet and your family forward.
When I wrote my book, The Mom’s Guide to Growing Your Family Green: Saving the Earth Begins at Home (St. Martin’s Press, $16.95), I added a blueprint on how to work with your child’s school to make a difference, along with pages of specific how-to’s and resources.
To give you a head start, here are some additional ideas:
- In charge of finding more money? For fundraising, steer clear of junk food, candy, and wrapping paper. Instead, go for the green with positive-planet and health-loving impact. www.Terracycle.net helps you create a recycling brigade to get money for your school, plus they have up-to-date companion curriculum series for teachers. Or try a community event; if you have musical-artist parents who would donate time and talent, then put together an at-school concert and sell tickets. If you want to sell products, www.go-green-fundraising.com has several ideas – flower bulbs, savings cards, live tree kits, and healthy food products.
- Got a farmer in you? School gardens are on the rise, teaching your children about the cycle of life and, in turn, helping them improve their own. RealSchoolGardens.org is a beautiful site to help you get going. Small space? Try woollypocket.com’s Woolly School Garden program. Also, talk to your local nurseries about donating plants in exchange for parent newsletter exposure.
- Want to tell a tale? All kids, and adults, like good stories. If you’ve got a bit of theater in you, donate time to read a book to a classroom. With older children, you can also have a bit of discussion afterwards about the story or have an activity related to the book. LOTS of book choices out there. Try Catfish Cookies by Barbara Higgins-Dover about river protection for 5-8 year olds, Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals about how to start a compost for 4-8 year olds, and my favorite The Lorax by Dr. Seuss about conservation and choices for 4-12 year olds. At seussville.com there are classroom resources for The Lorax. (Insider’s tip: They are also making a new The Lorax movie! Directed by the writer of Horton Hears a Who!)
- Soft heart for animals? Great! Bring that depth of compassion to schoolchildren with a humane treatment for farm animals spin. FarmSanctuary.org has kid-friendly educational resources for teachers and volunteer presenters. This also segues into an opportunity to talk about eating a more herbivore diet for both health reasons and to take pressure off of our protein production; vegsoc.org has resources available.
- Talented in the art of persuasion? Another way to get your school some enrichment or improvement money is to dedicate time to finding and applying for grants. There are grants specific to environmentally oriented programs. CaptainPlanetFoundation.org gives grants for school programs that promote understanding of environmental issues. mgaef.org provides funds for school programs that emphasize solving problems with ecological knowledge. If you want to inspire kids to take care of the environment or their community, Nickelodeon has “The Big Help” campaign with a “Million Dollars for a Million Moves” grant program at http://pro-social.nick.com. More links to grant possibilities are on my home page at terrawellington.com, many of which have early deadlines. Good luck!
Terra Wellington is a mom, author, and actress who loves getting money for trash. Last year she rallied behind her child’s school collecting used juice pouches for cash, while the recyclers turned the pouches into backpacks. She is based in the Los Angeles area.
[Image by Caitlinator via Creative Commons]
Topics: General | 1 Comment »
Totally Cute: Eco Agents!
By Karina | August 23, 2010
This is, apparently, last years news - but I stumbled upon these ADORABLE and HILARIOUS commercials about the ECO AGENTS. Take a look!
Think this would work with most SUV purchasers?
And it seems so exotic to take a shopping trip to Paris!
But this one is my hands down favorite.
We have talked a lot about adults influencing kids, and kids influencing adults - and this is a really clever idea. Check out their website for more information!
Are you an ecoagent?
Topics: Activism | 1 Comment »
Easy Peasy Tip: Ditch the Electronics
By tinychoices | August 21, 2010
With so many things going on in our every day lives, sometimes it’s hard to follow the adage: “Be Here, Be Now.” We have a lot of distractors in our lives! our to-do lists, the act of rushing to our next appointment - all of these things can make us more distracted and enjoy our lives less.
So every once in a while, ditch the electronics. Leave the music or the mp3 player off and just listen to the local noises around you - be them children playing, crickets, or the whooshing of the wind. Even more difficult to do: put the camera down. We are all documenters of our lives, and sometimes we can hide behind the camera and avoid full participation in what we are taking photos of.
So take a break - make a date with yourself to ditch the electronics and enjoy the simplest of activities without any external stimuli.
Is it hard for you to “be here, be now?”
[[Photo by flickr user tartanpodcast via creative commons license.]]
Topics: Easy Peasy Tips | 2 Comments »
“Happy Eco-News” Fridays! Transportation Edition!
By tinychoices | August 20, 2010
- Here’s a neat story about a woman who has given up her personal auto for a month in an experiment to use the local bus system. (and her personal blog.)
- Look at this cool 1972 VW Beetle that has been converted to be an electric vehicle! (Gives all eco-gearheads hope for the future! and it’s a FAMILY project! so cool!)
- And what about this proposal to make auto manufacturers mark on the outside of the car (like a make/model emblem) the official measured MPG? will it change purchasing habits?
- Maglev or Bullet, can America be on the verge of high-speed rail?
Topics: Transportation | No Comments »
Bikey Bike Links
By Jenn | August 19, 2010
- Private Parking Lots Forced To Offer Space For Bikes In Buenos Aires: “The obligation for all private parking lots to offer 8 bike spots for every 50 vehicle spots they have, at a rate that can never be higher than 10% of the car fare.”
- Bendable Bike Wraps Around Post
- Take the Clif 2 Mile Challenge, and Get There by Bike!
- Chicago Realizes Bike-Sharing is Awesome, Gets Pilot Program
- The Crusade Against Female Cyclists (Mildly NSFW)
- Bike branding moves from urban chic to mainstream — I love these logos! I want one on a t-shirt!
- L.A. mayor climbs on bike, gets hit by taxi, gets hit by bike-bloggers
- Sleek Recycled Bikes That Look Like New
- How a Free Car Made Me Love My Bike: “It can be wet, it can be cold, it can even be a little scary to cycle in a city. But mostly it feels more real.”
Topics: Transportation | 2 Comments »
Choosing Tiny Impact Shoes
By Karina | August 18, 2010
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what kinds of expensive clothes I’m spending my money on. For example - I’m totally fine spending lots of money on wool, because it’s good to wear and effective, and also life-cycle trackable and responsibly produced. But while I’ve told people that most of my disposable income I made in my 20s was spent on books, margaritas and shoes (and not in that order), these days I am window shopping for shoes more than I’m actually purchasing.
Partly is the price - there are much more important things I should be spending money on (like insulation for my attic) than fancy shoes. Partly, my feet are large and apparently hard to fit. But partly my tastes run to the moderately expensive - I’m not talking hundreds of dollars for shoes, but I’m not talking $20 shoes either - and it’s just hard to spend that much money on something that isn’t voting with my wallet, or supporting something I believe in.
So I’ve sat back and thought about what I really NEED, rather than what I REALLY WANT and RIGHT NOW.
Like, for example - TOMS Shoes. TOMS Shoes use a buy one-give one model to provide shoes to people in need in Africa.
TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we’re all about. The TOMS One for One mission transforms our customers into benefactors, which allows us to grow a truly sustainable business rather than depending on fundraising for support.
Now here is my conundrum… TOMS shoes are simple and benefit a good cause, but they are also, well, pretty expensive, all things considered. Like, $50+ expensive. And here’s where I have had pause to stop and think: how much do *I* need these shoes? Because while the shoes are ecofriendly, and the cause is good, it’s a lot to pay for a pair of simple shoes.
Then there’s the athletic shoes decision… I read recently Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
I guess what I’m realizing here is that with clothing as with food, I need to reset my expectations and value systems. I don’t hesitate to buy organic milk at the grocery store, even though it costs nearly 2x as much as conventional milk sometimes. So why do I hesitate to spend just as much on thoughtful shoes than I would on conventional shoes? Is it because I have so many in perfectly good condition in my closet right now? or my inherent cheapness?
What is your position on shoes? (and what do you think about barefoot running?)
[[Sneaker shot by flickr user Lachlan Hardy via creative commons license.]]
Topics: Home | 14 Comments »
Reusing Your Glass
By Jenn | August 17, 2010
I was out with friends last night at an under-the-radar club in my neighborhood, and we were all enjoying the prohibition-era drinks the venue was serving. As we were finishing our beverages, one of my friends walked over to the bar to order a second round. She then walked back over to our group and took the glasses we had, and brought them over to the bartender to be refilled.
I thought this was absolutely brilliant! Of course we do this at home– who takes a clean glass each time you need a new drink?– but while out having drinks, this was a new “reuse” function to me. Especially if the second round of drinks is just refills of the same beverage from the first round, just take the glass and ask for a refill!
Of course, there may be legal and/or health code reasons to use a clean glass for each beverage, and I’d imagine these laws vary from place to place. And depending on the drink being imbibed, the glass may get sticky or filmy, and a new, clean one would be kind of a necessity. But overall I was shocked at how much sense this makes, and how I hadn’t thought of it before, and how glad I am to have such smartiepants friends.
Have you had any eco ah-hah moments lately?
[Image by Pink Sherbert Photography via Creative Commons]
Topics: Food, Waste | 1 Comment »
Wool for the Win!
By Karina | August 16, 2010
It is no surprise to many of you to hear that I love wool. it’s true! after Jenn and I expounded on our love for the icebreaker clothing, I’ve been watching the season-end sales and scooping up tank tops and underpants and leggings whenever I could. By now I’ve got a good set of indispensables, and I’m so glad to have these wonderful items of performance clothing.
This weekend, though, I got to try out a wide range of the wonder of wool. I went away with friends on the motorcycles up to Lake George. It was lovely! And because it’s upstate New York State in the summer we ranged between temperatures in the upper 80s to the mid 50s. And through it all, my wool clothing was a stalwart and comfortable aid. Motorcycling can get really hot - especially under your protective gear! and for the trip up and around Lake George I wore a wool tank, which kept me cool in the sun but kept insulating when the sweat chilled on my skin in a stiff breeze. And added bonus, wool doesn’t get stinky like other clothes do, so the tank was a great versatile option and my wool socks were the obvious smart choice inside my motorcycle boots. Once we reached our destination I just changed into a skirt and we were ready to go out on the town.
The real test was the trip home, though - about halfway through the ride it started to rain, and we made the decision to push through rather than stopping to fiddle with rain gear. I was wearing a t-shirt and when we started off it was chilly, so I had a light weight long sleeve wool shirt on over the shirt and under my not-at-all waterproof motorcycle jacket. I was pretty comfortable as we were riding, but as we got nearer to home hands started to get cold and gas tanks started to empty so we stopped at a gas station for fuel and warm drinks. So as we drank our hot chocolates, I remembered Jenn’s sage advice that “cotton kills!” and took off my cotton t-shirt, put back on the sopping wet light weight long sleeve wool shirt, and topped the outfit off with a zip-up wool sweater. While I was in the bathroom changing I uncuffed and pulled my very long wool socks up over my knees, and thanked my lucky stars I had on wool underpants. When we got back on the bike I put on my wool glove liners under my motorcycling gloves and we made the rest of the trip home in relative comfort - even though I was absolutely SODDEN, and when I got home I could squeeze water out of my clothes because they were so soggy. Now, the temperature was in the low 70s and there’s a kind of general rule of thumb that when you’re motorcycling you should consider the temperature to be about 20 degrees colder than it is, so I have to say - if I didn’t have on the amazing insulating wool clothes on, to be out in the rain in 50 degree weather for 3 or 4 hours? would have been a Very Bad Idea. As it was, I made it home safely and happily, and changed into yet ANOTHER wool sweater to recover on the couch with some delicious dinner.
So! Wool for the Win!
What has your favorite item or type of clothing been this summer?
[[Photo of adorableness by flickr user chrissthegirl via creative commons license.]]
Topics: Transportation, Yoga & Fitness | 8 Comments »
Easy Peasy Tip: Scrutinize One Thing
By tinychoices | August 14, 2010
It’s easy to reach that point where you feel like there’s not much else you can do in the realm of individual environmental tiny choices. Just ask Jenn and Karina, who, surprisingly, often find it hard to come up with an Easy Peasy Tip after generating them weekly for three years!
Really, though, focusing on the individual outcome that you want to change is a type of goal oriented thinking. By changing your reasoning to a more processed oriented way of thinking, you can often work on one activity or other aspect of your life and work through the process - generally developing a bunch of smaller actions that might be ripe for Tiny Choosing!
For example - if you look around your house and say to yourself: oh, I am a pro-tip recycler! everything that can go in my recycling bin does! I have met my goal of recycling everything! But then you break down an activity - sorting the mail, for example, you may work through the process of opening envelopes, setting aside waste to be recycled, pulling out things of interest, shredding personal bits - see all the places where you might be generating additional recyclables and not capturing them in your bin?
Give it a shot! see what you can learn during your process.
Do you try to be goal oriented, or process oriented?
Topics: Easy Peasy Tips | 1 Comment »
“Happy Eco-News” Fridays!
By tinychoices | August 13, 2010
- Bizarre Deep-Sea Reef Creatures Discovered
- US Navy to test renewable algae jet fuel
- London Opens Bike “Superhighways”
- Understanding Google’s Big Wind Energy Deal
- The International Tree-Climbing Championships
- Coming soon to UK: Heating gas from brewery waste
- ‘Chia Wall’ To Muffle Highway Sound
Topics: General | No Comments »
Eco-Restaurant Review: Otarian
By Jenn | August 12, 2010
There are some wonderful perks to being a green blogger, and I recently reaped some fabulous rewards when I was asked to participate in an informal taste-testing of the menu at Otarian, a new “low-carbon” restaurant chain with two locations in NYC and one opening soon in London.
The food was fantastic– truly delicious! What I love about their menu is that it’s not only clearly (if confusingly) marked for multiple variations of food choices– vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc– but the selection they’ve developed is not just another variation of the same old “healthy” menu I’ve become used to from many restaurants. Otarian is a meat-free restaurant, and their menu has an obviously global focus Sure, they have wraps– but one is a Tandoori Mushroom wrap. Their burgers include a Tex Mex variation with guac, and a Portobello with pesto. And then things get really interesting: tacos; roasted veggie lasagna, veggie biryani, and spiced coconut curry with lime rice; and if you want to die and go straight to foodie heaven, have an order of their sweet potato fries and finish things up with the chocolate mousse.
In fact, the food was so good that most of the testing group had no real suggestions in this area, besides desiring more vegan options, especially in the things such as sauces and toppings which can easily transform a vegetarian dish into a vegan one.
The main suggestions we all kept coming back to is in their branding. Otarian has taken so much care to develop a menu and restaurant with a low carbon footprint, but most consumers don’t really yet understand what that is. They source seasonal and local ingredients, but don’t really communicate this important and valuable fact to their customers. All cutlery and dishware is collected for composting, which is a huge plus here in NYC where the city doesn’t collect this stuff, but the signage declaring this was small and nearly invisible. The menu layout is somewhat confusing and overwhelming, and designed more for their London clientele than the NYC one. All of these fixes are relatively easy and quick to tackle, and would go a long way towards making this fantastic restaurant a huge success in the US market.
Overall, I’m thrilled to have another good option for a place to meet and eat, and one which takes deep care in sourcing ingredients and lightening their footprint.
Have you tried a new restaurant lately? Any shout-outs to favorite haunts?
[Image from Otarian]
Topics: Food | 1 Comment »
Exhibit: National Agriculture Library Food Posters
By Karina | August 11, 2010
You may have noticed that I love two things especially much: canning food, and war propaganda. So you can imagine my joy when I came across a new exhibit featuring food-related propaganda posters from WWI through WWII! It’s at the National Agriculture Library in Beltsville MD through August 30.
I flipped through the on-line resource put together by the curator, Cory Bernat, and y’all, it is amazing! There are lots of materials available on-line and with a thoughtful commentary to boot. Here are a few of my favorites (all courtesy beans-are-bullets.com):
Did you know potatoes were so patriotic? And I love the absolutely priceless caricature of the all-american family canning together. The family that cans together…. doesn’t starve in the winter!
And this one is just straight away to the point.
There is an excellent interview with the curator here, and I love this commentary about the purpose of the posters:
“…most of them are not really about food—they’re about behavior modification. Both times, with both wars, the government needed the public to modify their behavior for the national good. (And today, that’s exactly what Michelle Obama is trying to get people to do: change their behavior to curb childhood obesity.) As the Food Administration’s publications director put it to state officials back in 1917: “All you gentlemen have to do is induce the American people to change their ways of living!” He’s saying it with irony, of course, because that’s a very hard task.”
We’re a little bit into behavior modification for the better here at Tiny Choices, so of course I find these graphically thrilling posters to be compelling.
And if you can go to the exhibit, let me know!
Do you think posters like this have a place in modern american society? would they change anyone’s mind??
(via Treehugger)
Topics: General | No Comments »
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