7 posts tagged “environment”
I don't know about you, but one thing that has driven me crazy about kids' toys are the number of easily-breakable, cheaptastic made-in-China plastic toys that fall apart, and often become hazardous due to small, sharp parts, and only disappoint kids rather than entertain. The worst, as far as I'm concerned, are remote control cars. We've gone through at least 6 that have broken down, sometimes on the first day they arrived in our house. People just seem to love to buy these, but more often than not, they are not built for the wear and tear of a regular little boy. And the number of batteries they go through - we've had cars that need 6 AAs to run. Others that are rechargeable maintain only a minimal charge, and soon don't work at all. That is why I was so excited when I found the Discover Rig by Sprig Toys. First of all, it is made in Canada from recycled plastic and recovered wood chips, runs on kid-power, and is incredibly durable. They don't show it in the picture, but the truck comes with a T handle, so kids can push it from behind. When you push it along, it lights up and says "Jambo!", so on top of everything else, my son is learning Swahili. I'm over the freaking moon with this truck.
I picked it up at Wowy-Zowy Toys, but I just saw it on sale at Chapters today.
The second green toy I got for ReRe for Christmas was a tea set made in California from recycled milk jugs by a company called Green Toys. It was great to have at the hotel with his cousins, as a tea party is a great thing to do to occupy a group of kids for a little while. It is totally unbreakable, and easily washed up. They also have a gardening set and a sand castle set, and given how well these products are made, and that they are made from recycled plastic, I'm likely to pick those up as well.
The other day I was at Whole Foods, quaffing a coffee and bakery samples (oh you've done it too) and I noticed a new reusable shopping bag they were selling. The Feed 100 Bag is produced by FEED Project*, and for every bag that is sold, 100 meals are provided to school children in Rwanda through the World Food Program. The bag is $30, so for that you get what I feel is the best reusable bag I've ever owned, and you get to provide 100 kids with a meal (and come on, when was the last time you fed 100 people with $30, let alone at Whole Foods). Only downside: no tax receipt. But let me tell you why this bag rocks: First of all, it folds into a wallet-sized pouch, so it fits in your purse/diaper bag, but the pouch is made of burlap, and becomes a sturdy base for the bag, so you can actually set it down without everything falling out, and it offers some protection. The next great thing is that the inside has a bunch of large pockets, so you can divide out your stuff, or even use the bag to comfortablly carry your wallet, keys, etc., which is impossible with mesh bags, and awkward with flimsy cotton bags. Thirdly, The wide straps actually sit comfortably and securely on your shoulder. They are also secured with grommets, so you can expect the handles to last a while. I've been looking for a reusable bag that I could use exclusively for non-food purchases, and I think this one is it. I took it to the mall today for some clothes shopping for my son and husband, and I fit a lot of stuff in it, and because of its sturdy square shape, the folded clothes stacked nicely and didn't get crumpled (one of my pet peeves). I'm thinking it would make a great gift for an environmentally- and socially-aware friend.
* Yes, FEED Project was founded by Lauren Bush, who is the President's neice and a former model, but I'm not holding that against her. This bag rocks.
My husband and I had agreed earlier this year that we would forgo landscaping services and do everything ourselves. We have also agreed to only use organic/child-safe products (not for use by child labourers, people, just safe for kids to play on). And so far we have met this requirement by purchasing absolutely no fertilizer or pesticides/herbicides, organic or otherwise. The lawn and garden are growing just fine, so we have little motivation to do what all our neighbours seem to be doing, which is have one of those monstrous bags of soil parked in their driveways, which somehow improves your lawn. I'm still not seeing the connection, but I'm too shy to ask anyone. I've been pulling weeds by hand, but some knarly thistles in the backyard are necessitating the purchase of an equally knarly weed extractor.
The sticking point between us has been the selection of a lawnmower. I, of course, wanted one that was as environmentally friendly as possible, save having our land zoned agricultural and getting some goats. Easy to find, since World Vision is just up the street, I hear you can buy goats as presents from them. Anyhoo, this is the one I wanted:
The Neuton: emission-free, quiet, light, and supposedly cuts really well. The battery charge is supposed to run 45 minutes to an hour, which may be enough for us, if we are uninterrupted, but the guys who used to cut our lawn took longer than this, so we weren't sure it would last long enough for us to do the front and back in one go.
On the other hand, my husband, after canvassing every man he knows, said we absolutely had to get a gas mower, one that is self-propelled, and preferably the most expensive mower in whatever store I went to. This is the one that fit the bill:
The Lawn Boy Sensa-Speed mower, with, um, a Honda motor in it. To me, it looks like a Transformer, but hopefully a friendly one that would mow my lawn for me. Thing is, this is called a 'walk-behind', not a 'push' mower, meaning that, it really just needs you to steer. Also, the sensa-speed will speed up or slow down the wheels, depending on how fast you walk. But it sucks gas, puffs a packa day, and I think it takes part in the seal hunt during the winter.
So my husband and I entered into our usual debate style (Roberts rules) and, to make a long story short, he won the judges over with this argument: given the overall movement toward green products, it can be assumed that if emission-free mowers could do the job, they would be outselling the gas mowers. Since I could not provide empirical proof that the Neuton could cut our suburban lawn without having to be parked half-way through for a 16 hour charge, I didn't have much ground to stand on.
So with my head hung low, I headed out yesterday to buy the Lawn Boy at Home Depot. When I got to the mowers, there was this little cluster of men hanging around the Honda-powered Lawn Boy. I flagged down a sales guy, and pointing at it, I said "I'll take one." He nodded like a maitre d', said "But of course, madame" and waved down another sale guy (more attention that I have received at Home Depot EVER) and said "This lady would like the Honda motor mower". A hush fell over the men present, as they parted their group and allowed me and my personal assistants to walk down the aisle and pull the mower box off the shelf. I think I heard the words "Honda motor" whispered approvingly between the men present about a hundred times. The only person who didn't seem to care was the check-out girl, who couldn't even find the SKU number on the box, and needed to be assisted by myself in this endeavor.
So I brought this behemoth home (along with a grass trimmer with an Energuide sticker on it), and after ReRe was in bed, Getalife and I headed out to the garage to assemble it. Turned out it was already assembled in the box, and just needed us to pull the handle up. Oh ya, and then have the proper motor oil (came in the box) and FRESH gasoline, which we didn't have, and were both too tired to venture out to buy, and convinced ourselves it was too late to mow anyway. So then I realized that, at some point in the near future, we were going to have to change the oil on the motor ourselves. I asked Getalife if he was prepared to do this, and he got that look on his face that said "Now look like you knew you were going to do this without freaking out about having to do this with my own hands". He started to say something about having someone come and do it, but I must have looked threatening enough that he finished his sentence with "....it can't be that hard....".
So we parked the mower for the night, and amused each other by making threatening gestures towards our bushes with the trimmer. People wonder what we see in each other.
In some prophetic twist, the day after I stated my new year's resolutions, I read in the local Mississauga newspaper about an organization who does home energy audits. Greensaver is a Toronto-based, non-profit company who will come to your house and conduct a review or audit (the latter being much more extensive, if you are planning major work) of where your home is losing energy, and give you suggestions on how to deal with the problems through home repairs or renovations. They also provide retrofit services such as insulating and air sealing services. I made an appointment right away, and this morning the energy advisor came with a clip board and a very powerful fan. We walked through the house from bottom to top, feeling where there were definite cold spots and heat loss points, and checking our "Air Leak Monitors" (i.e. cobwebs) to see where we had visibly significant air flow. She pointed out the major areas where she could already see problems: inadequate insulation in the attic; degraded caulking around windows and baseboards; a nice gapping hole in one duct joint very close to the furnace, where a steady breeze of warm air was blowing out. Then she sealed the front door and turned on her fan, to suck the air out of the house, thereby increasing the rate of air flow into the house through every crack and cranny, and demonstrate where the cold air was seeping in. Here is a look at the fan contraption:
Not sure what my neighbours thought, but they are friendly enough that if they were bothered by this, they will ask. So anyway, the energy advisor cranked up the fan, and within a couple minutes, I could already feel a breeze blowing through the house, especially from upstairs.
We went up to check out where the major air flow spots were, and we could feel a breeze as strong as a hairdryer, but freezing cold, blowing out from under the door to the closet where the attic door is. We then ran our hands along the molding around the windows, and it was shocking how strong the airflow was. Even out of electrical sockets and light switches, I could feel a distinct air flow, like those surprised little faces on the outlets were puffing up their cheeks and blowing into my hand. Even around the toilet paper holder in our powder room, which is on the exterior wall and has lost some of its grout, you could feel a shot of cold air blowing in. When we went downstairs, one of the strongest breezes we felt was blowing out of the old fireplace ash duct, which was only being covered up with a metal plate and wire. All in all it was very surprising to be able to feel just how many places in our home cold air was able to get inside.
We will still have to wait a few weeks before we get the written report, but the major suggestions were to improve the insulations in the attics, caulk around every point where air may be getting in, and put gaskets in all the light switches and electrical outlets. The advisor emphasized that it won't be enough to get just the big leaks, as once they are dealt with, the other points will have greater pressure on them, and will leak at higher volumes. One surprising piece of advice she gave me was to leave our interior doors open and increase airflow by increasing the clearance at the bottoms of these doors. I had been keeping the interior doors closed on the coldest rooms (especially the laundry room and downstairs bathroom) as I thought this was conserving heat, but she said that the air flow continues unabated, and this just makes the furnace run inefficiently. I am sure there is a more technical explanation, since I still have my doubts, but I will try leaving doors open, except when it is a safety issue for my son.
Basically, all the things she suggested were things we can do ourselves, save for installing the new door on the attic, since some carpentry will be involved, and we don't have the skill or equipment required, and neither my husband or I are looking to acquire these. The one area where she was not able to give me advice, and she was very upfront about this, was improving heat circulation in our house, as the upstairs is always significantly warmer than the downstairs, and this would need an assessment by a home heating professional. This assessment also confirmed what we have learned so far, that given our home's age (built mid-50's), any renovation will need to be a significant undertaking, including the replacement of air heating/cooling and circulation systems, the water heating system, and possibly the entire electrical system, although the electrical was greatly upgraded by the previous owners. I'm just glad we are so happy with our house the way it is, that we don't feel a need to undertake this at the present time.
So what did this cost? Unfortunately, this service is not provided free-of-charge, unless you have a household income below a certain threshold, so this assessment cost us $340+tax. We are supposed to get $150 back from the government, but the rest is out of pocket. Hopefully this will be off-set by the savings in heating and cooling our home.
Once we get the full written assessment, the next task will be to decide what we are going to do ourselves, and what we will have professionals help us with. Since we don't use the fireplace, we're have some chimney folks in to seal it off. We also may have Greensaver back to seal up the attic and put in the proper insulation, but I think I can handle the gaskets and caulking myself. How hard can it be?
Well, as Junkii mentioned, a very Green friend of ours, Kate, has purchased carbon offsets from an organization called Offsetters, to make up for an airline trip to California. Offsetters was recommended by the Pembina Institute, and sells offsets to folks like the David Suzuki Foundation, and those crazy folks at WestJet, to offset air travel, with no surcharge paid by passengers. I also heard on the radio about a Toronto-based organization called ZeroFootprint, who has a deal with Air Canada, where people can pay a voluntary $13 carbon surcharge when they book their airline tickets on-line, and Air Canada gives this to ZeroFootprint to plant trees. I'll check these groups out, and see if it makes sense to buy carbon offsets from them.
Kate is also powering her house with Bullfrog Power, a power supplier who purchases all their energy from green sources. I'm intrigued. Will also look into that, and let you know what I find out. Our little house is getting greener every day!
When I was in second year university, living with 4 other granola-crunching eco-feminists and one carnivorous rugby player, I made a pinky swear with one of the former that we would never own cars. Well, she now lives on an organic farm, and I hear she has a truck. So since she broke the swear first, and I now live in the burbs, I finally, at the age of 33ish, own my own car. I had told myself that I would try to get the most fuel-efficient car possible, which meant going with a hybrid. I knew I was going to need a hatchback of some sort to carry stuff, but didn't want an SUV. I was also very concerned about safety ratings and crash-tests, since I would be transporting lil'ReRe around. Well, I was very disappointed to find out that the hybrids have terrible comparative safety ratings. The Ford Escape Hybrid, which I thought would fit my bill, has either 'Acceptable' or 'Marginal' on many of its tests. And the cars with the best safety ratings had average levels of fuel efficiency. There didn't seem to be any one vehicle that was both highly efficient, and tested well across the board for safety.
In the end, safety trumped fuel efficiency, and I ended up going with the Mazda CX-7, which is one of their cross-over vehicles, not quite an SUV, but when the back seats are folded down, it has a lot of cargo space (I was able to put a 7' long IKEA bookshelf box in it without having to take out the baby seat, I think I'm in love). But now I'm looking into Carbon Offsets, as a way of making up for the fact that my car, while very safe, is still sucking fossil fuels. So my question to you is whether anyone knows anything about Carbon Offsets, whether they are just one more slap of hot sticky tar on my road to good environmental intentions, or whether they could actually make a difference. I, for one, do believe that conservation is the true way to go, and will try to continue to walk, use public transit or now use my bike, to get around whenever I can.
BUT, in the meantime, I also need help in another category: Tunes. Since I didn't have a car, or a quality stereo for most of my adult life, I own very few CDs to listen to in my car. My husband had all hip hop in his car, and I am likely the only white girl who has Jay-Z's Black Album memorized from start to finish (I even know who produced most of the tracks). jjv has given me a pile of music to work thru, and for that, I am grateful. But right now I only have 2 in the 6-CD changer, those being U2's 18 Singles and an Indigo Girls compilation. I will soon be adding the latest Killers CD that my younger sister gave me for my birthday. Now, the U2 CD has indeed renewed my love for this band and has a great new single on it, but REALLY, I can't keep driving around singing Closer To Fine for the rest of my life. I need help. I need suggestions. I need driving music. What do you think?
I may not be as environmentally friendly or socially responsible as I could be, but I try to make an effort. For example, I won't wear diamonds, since their trade is linked to violence and exploitation in Africa. And after hearing about how the mining of Coltan (a mineral used in cell phones and other electronics) has contibuted to the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I told myself I would keep the same cell phone I had for as long as possible. Up until yesterday, it had lasted 4 years, which is like, 88 in human years.
Yesterday, I went down to the lobby to get the mail, carrying lil'ReRe in the sling. I took my housekeys and my cell phone, as I was waiting to get a call from my husband. There was a lot of mail to pick up, and I was having a hard time carrying it all without lil'ReRe grabbing it. Since a lot of it was work-related for my husband, I didn't want him drooling over it. I wanted to keep his hands busy with something else, but I won't let him play with my keys; keys rank with money and public washrooms in their dirtiness for me. So I let him carry my cell phone; he likes to look at the display when I hold it, and he seems to like things where he can push the buttons. Somewhere in my head a voice was saying he was going to chew on it, but I ignored it, thinking he'd only have it for a couple minutes until we got back into our apartment, and my phone had been thrown and dropped and rained on for four years, it could handle a couple minutes with a baby.
Ya, so this morning while I was out running errands, I tried making a call. I tried opening my phonebook. I tried to turn my cell phone off. I tried to answer a call from my sister that just happened to come in while I was trying to unlock the keypad. Nothing. Just a blue display that said MARGOT'S FON, just like it has for 4 years. I went straight to Bell World and told the service girl my phone wasn't working. She asked me whether I wanted a new phone or to try to get mine fixed. I immediately said I wanted it fixed, wanting to stick to my cell phone convictions. She took one look at my phone and said it was unlikely the in-house tech guys could fix a phone so old, but that they would take a look.
Well, the first thing the tech guy did was to pop the battery off, and reveal the gooey gob of baby spit that was still residing in my phone. I feigned ignorance while he politely said "Well, that might be the problem" and told me it was unlikely that the phone could be salvaged, especially given the erratic behaviour it had already demonstrated. I was still making excuses about how it rained yesterday when he revealed that, since I hadn't gotten a new phone for so long, I had apparently built up enough "credits" with Bell to be eligible for $200 off a new phone. So I got a limited edition Samsung a920, which it turns out is a pretty cool phone, if I can figure out how to use it.
So, anyone know how to recycle a cell phone?
Here's my old phone and my new phone:
