Week 33
I’ve spent my last week thinking about situations I call environmental catch-22s. I’m convinced that every environmentalist encounters these problems, because not only do I find myself in “what to do” paradoxes all the time, I keep reading about these from other writers.
An environmental catch-22 is a situation an environmentalist finds herself in when she is trying to pick the best product for the job at hand, and neither product option is really a viable green choice. Let me give you some examples:
At Starbucks the other day with a friend, I forgot to bring my own container, so I opted against buying a prepared drink, meaning I wouldn’t get stuck with a paper or plastic cup I had to throwaway. Not buying something seemed like a rude option, since we sat and chatted for a couple of hours in the store. So, I bought a bottle of San Pellegrino bottled water. Okay, I hate buying water anyway, especially since I had my own stainless steel container filled with tap water sitting in my car, but due to the aforementioned feeling that I needed to buy something, the $1.65 was a small price to pay. Plus, the water came in a glass bottle and had a metal screw-top lid. Both are easily recyclable and, importantly, don’t downcycle like plastic (meaning plastic is ultimately trash, getting closer and closer to the landfill each time we recycle it as the material downgrades). As I sat sipping my bottled water, I glanced at the label and found that the water was bottled in Italy. That means, for me to be drinking this water, it had to board an airplane and fly from Italy, with a huge carbon cost following in its wake. Not only that, but it’s extremely important to be cognizant of the impending water crisis our planet is facing (read Maude Barlow’s Blue Gold for a frightening wake up call about water).
So, catch-22: Should I have bought a drink in a disposable cup or purchased the water flown in from Italy? There was no other drink option beyond drink nothing (which is probably the strategy I’ll adopt next time).
Another example came to me during a Master Recycler field trip on Saturday to the Salem Keizer Transfer Station. We viewed the inner workings of a Household Hazardous Waste facility and watched as Salem residents dropped off both garbage and recycling. Here, the transfer station takes practically any recyclable material – used cooking oil, latex paint, motor oil, paper, plastic, glass, etc. There was even a bin for paper milk cartons and aseptic cartons (soy milk, broth, juice boxes, etc.). This prompted a group discussion about whether milk cartons are truly recyclable. Apparently, according to our instructor, while many recycling facilities accept these cartons, paper mills consider them contaminants and don’t like having to process them. This is because loads of chemicals go into waxing and lining the milk cartons so they don’t break down in the fridge. Plus, virgin trees are mined to produce the cardboard in the first place. Based on this information, I raised my hand and asked which is better for the environment – cardboard or plastic milk containers? The answer I received was”probably plastic” given the above-mentioned reasons.
And yet, it’s a little like the paper versus plastic grocery bag debate – both use energy to produce and recycle, and it seems like the environmental cost of each product is really about the same. And because nothing can be simple, I have a little voice on my shoulder saying, “But wait! Plastic never ever degrades in a landfill and it winds up inside the stomachs of birds and other sea animals, so plastic has to be worse!”
The real problem is we’re stuck in a society that doesn’t have answers to these problems yet. As a consumer trying to do the least harm possible, I’m asking the wrong question: “What is the least harmful product to buy?” when maybe the question I should be asking is “How can I not buy this product at all?”
As a people on the verge of both an environmental crisis and an explosive green movement, it seems to me that the best possible solution is applying cradle to cradle thinking to all of these catch-22s. For more information on cradle to cradle manufacturing, check out either The Story of Stuff or McDonough and Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle: Rethinking the Way We Make Things. Here’s a little excerpt from the book’s Web site to give you an idea what cradle to cradle thinking means:
- “In addition to describing the hopeful, nature-inspired design principles that are making industry both prosperous and sustainable, the book itself is a physical symbol of the changes to come. It is printed on a synthetic ‘paper,’ made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers, designed to look and feel like top quality paper while also being waterproof and rugged. And the book can be easily recycled in localities with systems to collect polypropylene, like that in yogurt containers. This ‘treeless’ book points the way toward the day when synthetic books, like many other products, can be used, recycled, and used again without losing any material quality—in cradle to cradle cycles.” – http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm
Basically, instead of existing in a linear system in which products are made, used, and thrown away, we “close the loop” – we deliberately make products that can be recycled without losing value and later be turned back into other products. It’s a great philosophy, and it’s already happening. As consumers, we simply need to support this idea by buying closed loop products and letting our legislators know we value this sort of innovative thinking.
Week 32
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Pringle Creek Community, a sustainable community living facility being built in Salem, Oregon, only about 20 minutes from our home. A visit to Pringle Creek Community is built into the Master Recycler program, but I missed the visit due to illness. So, I tagged along on the current cohort’s visit and found an experience I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.
It’s a little hard to describe. At its heart, Pringle Creek Community is a 32-acre plot of land, and the people who own and operate this land have vowed to make the community that will be built upon it a model of sustainable living. How this is actually accomplished is a but more complex. Like spokes on a wheel, the sustainable aspects of Pringle Creek are many, combining into a sort of Green Mecca.
You drive into Pringle Creek Community and notice an immediate difference – the roads are narrow and the sidewalks are wide. The message is clear – this community has deliberately been designed to be pedestrian friendly. Later, I would find out that the roads are made of porous asphalt, aiding in delivering rainwater back to underground aquifers without all the road runoff contamination. There is a community center greeting visitors, and here we watch a PowerPoint presentation about the myriad innovative, yet really quite simple, green changes that have been made.
Anyone is welcome to buy a plot of land inside the community and build on it, as long as they adhere to strict green building standards. Many of the buildings have solar panels, and one even has a green roof – 8 inches of soil planted with native plants, asthetically pleasing and, again, aiding in collecting water before it can overflow the storm drain system. The water in the buildings is heated geothermally. Several green houses loom in the distance, newly restored. Community fruit trees and picnic benches are scattered throughout. It’s a work in progress, but it was marvelous to see.
My visit to this community was both encouraging and frustrating, because on one hand I got to meet with people who are passionate about the environment, but I also realized firsthand how little green technology our society is embracing on a widescale basis.
The thought process goes a little something like this: If porous asphalt is better for the environment, and we have the technology to install it, and it holds up as well as regular roads, why aren’t all roads paved with this? Or, if solar panels are an expense upfront, but they ultimately pay for themselves, why aren’t they on every building? In other words, instead of thinking grandly on a national scale, why aren’t we implementing these green solutions everywhere, on a local and individual basis?
Oh, I know a lot of this boils down to money, but it’s not as if the government isn’t already spending money on green building and alternative energy. The thing is, the technology is already here and we know it’s better for the planet. Why can’t we move beyond the knowledge stage and get this implemented?
This led me to think about dish soap, of all things. Dish soap has long been a pet peeve of mine, and it’s a tiny example that encapsulates my entire frustration. Here’s the scenario: You go to the grocery store because you’re out of dish soap. You want a soap that costs a reasonable price, that smells good, and that cleans well. Why is it, that when a majority of people get to the dish soap aisle, they buy a brand-name soap when the green variety costs the same amount, cleans just as well and smells nice, too?
There is no reason not to make this switch – not cost, not effectiveness, not smell, not hand-softness, nothing. So why aren’t all the other brands out of business by now? Of course, it boils down to product loyalty and advertising budget, but that’s just plain stupid. It shouldn’t take an act of government to get chemicals out of our dish soap when we know they are bad for ourselves and the planet. We as consumers should be making this happen. The same argument can be made for solar panels and green roofs and geothermal water heaters and porous asphalt and a host of other proven and comparable green changes.
My visit to Pringle Creek Community was uplifting, in the end, because I realized anew the power of the individual, which is really the reason we are doing the Green Garbage Project in the first place. In the end, grassroots organization is what is going to make these green changes possible.
Week 31
I’ve been thinking a lot about waste produced in the high school where I work, thanks largely to the student who recently approached me about advising a green club. Of course I said yes, so we’ve been spending some time lately getting plans in place for our first meeting, planned this Wednesday. This student is great – she makes a conscientious effort to buy recycled school supplies, for one, toting a folder made from Capri Sun beverage envelopes and pencils made from recycled rubber. She also does a lot of upcycling. She came into class about a month ago wearing earrings painted like pizza slices made from a cut-apart plastic water bottle.
Our future plans for the green club include a recycling contest, working to get the high school certified as an Oregon Green School, planning Earth Day events, and maybe hosting upcycling/crafting sessions after school. Beautiful signs have been made and are ready to be posted. I’m hoping for a good turnout during the first meeting.
On the other hand, I’ve also been working with my journalism class as they plan a Valentine’s Day fundraiser selling cookies during this week’s sporting events. The students’ plan is for the cookies to come wrapped in a cellophane bag tied with a helium balloon. So, it was with great self-loathing that I walked into the store today and purchased several bags of pink latex balloons and heart-covered cellophane bags.
This poses an interesting ethical dilemma for me, one that I don’t know how to solve. On the one hand, I feel like I’m able to bring the Green Garbage Project into the school where I work, starting a green club where there wasn’t one before. I have all sorts of students excited about environmentalism and I’m constantly being asked what I do about this object or that, in order to avoid making trash. This project has proven to be an immense educational tool. I also try to bring my ideals into my classroom life, where I don’t make trash (or what I do make is added to the shoebox). I even save staples at work so I can ball them together and eventually recycle them. I use both sides of paper before recycling it, use colored pencils to correct papers when possible, and give out recycled or green-friendly products are prizes when the occasion arises.
And yet, to support another club I advise, I’ve been pigeon-holed into buying products I find useless and environmentally degrading. If there’s one thing I’ve found during this year, it’s that our society embraces so so many products that we just simply don’t need – most single-serve packaging is a good example of this. Balloons are another illustration – balloons are garbage from the moment we buy them. Sure, they spend an hour or two looking pretty or being filled with water and thrown at each other, but in the end, the latex or Mylar leftovers are destined for the garbage bin. How sad. Can’t we find another decoration to substitute for balloons that “looks pretty?” Something like plants or hand-drawn posters? Anything has to be better than balloons and cellophane bags.
The problem is, I greatly believe in student autonomy, especially when I’m in my adviser shoes. I can guide students in one direction, but when they are planning a fundraiser, it’s up to them to decide on details like balloons and cellophane bags. I just simply can’t convince everyone that trash-free is the way to be.
So the question that bothers me is one of environmental hypocrisy. Sure, the balloons and bags were purchased up front by me, but these are really just supply costs that will be reimbursed after the fundraiser. What issues like these constantly boil down to, for me, is the desperate need for a mindset change in our society. I’ve written before about how much we seem to enjoy our plastic knick-knacks, even though we know they are junk – if we didn’t, there wouldn’t be dollar stores in every suburb in the country. The problem is, a balloon is cheap. A cellophane bag is cheap. Once delivered and fleetingly enjoyed, these are easy to discard with virtually no twinge of guilt. The societal change I’d like to see involves factoring the environmental cost of production and disposal into a product’s cost. If we did this, it would certainly be cheaper to decorate a party with plants than a very costly alternative like balloons. It’s food for thought, anyway.
Week 30
It’s probably no surprise that the hardest room to “de-trash” is the bathroom. The kitchen is pretty easy – just buy food that comes in zero or recyclable packaging. Cleaning is easy – use natural products like lemon, baking soda, and so on. Even buying home decorating items or souvenirs or the like is easy – if it comes in recyclable packaging, buy it – if not, do without.
The bathroom, on the other hand, contains all sorts of items I find necessary (or at least really difficult to eliminate from our lives). So far, we’re doing pretty well. In fact, we’ve mademajor leaps and bounds in just the past couple weeks as we work to find new solutions to the waste we are producing. If you read my New Year’s post, I talked about a couple of our environmental resolutions, which include reducing our recyclable “trash” to almost zero and working to eliminate plastic from our purchases. We’ve been extra conscientious of this as we’ve been doing our regular shopping. The goal for the bathroom, then, is three-fold: zero trash first, zero plastic next, and finally, zero recyclables, too. Here are some of the steps we are taking:
Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion: We finally made it to Salem’s natural food store Life Source, a little marketplace I was quite happy to find. Finally, I can buy my bathroom items in bulk! Bring your own bottles and pump liquids right into them. We invested in some nice glass bottles to fill with bathroom soaps, and now I’m going to order some cork bottle plugs with lotion pumps on them. Zero waste!
Bar soap: Very easy to find wrapped in recyclable paper or nothing at all. Life Source has soap we can slice off a giant block! You might remember my soap-making adventures back in August, so that’s always an option, too….
Toothpaste:We use Tom’s of Maine paste, which I love. It comes in a recyclable metal tube, and though this is packaging, at least it’s not plastic (except for the lid). I’m stumbling across some people who use plain baking soda to brush – anybody try this? I’m pretty attached to my toothpaste, since it uses all natural ingredients and I can get it with or without fluoride.
Toothbrush:We tried out Preserve toothbrushes earlier in the year. The handles of these brushes are made from recycled yogurt containers, and when you’re finished with the brush, you mail it back to the company to be recycled again into a plastic lumber. While we had some success with these toothbrushes (Adam still uses his), I find I much prefer a battery-operated toothbrush. I use a rechargeable battery in mine and throw away the disposable head every couple of months. I’m interested in the wooden toothbrush option, but I want something that cleans as well as my current toothbrush before I make a permanent switch.
Deodorant: We’re using the Crystal deodorant right now, which I really like. It works great, I swear! I was skeptical at first, but I’m a convert now. While the crystal lasts about a year, it still comes packaged in plastic. Once the crystal is gone, I’ll be making the switch to trying out baking soda on a powder puff, which No Impact Man and Beth from Fake Plastic Fish swear by.
Hair removal/shaving:Finally, we come to the hardest of all bathroom products to eliminate – the razor. Adam’s taken care of, as he uses an electric razor with a rechargeable battery. We’ve only had one razor break, and that’s after it lasted about three years. I don’t use an electric razor, because I love the feel of clean-shaven legs. For most of the year, I’ve been using my old Gillette Sensor Excel razor with disposable razors – I reuse the handle and throw away a razor after every fifth use or so. But – these blades keep piling up in the ol’ garbage shoebox and I needed to find a way to eliminate them. With a new product I tried out a couple weeks ago, I think I’m on track to finding a solution.
Months ago, a reader wrote to me and suggested I try Moom, a natural waxing product. I’ve been on the lookout for this for awhile and finally found it! Moom is pretty neat stuff – it’s a sugar wax that comes in a glass jar. The wax itself if made from only a few ingredients – water, sugar, lemon, chamomile, and tea tree oil. The really neat thing is that Moom comes with reusable muslin waxing strips – wax,wash, and reuse! So I bought some and tried it out.
Overall, I loved the stuff and will definitelykeep using it. The jar did come with a foil-plastic composite seal, so a little bit of garbage. But, weighing this against the option of using a disposable razor blade, I’ll get more hair removal for less garbage from Moom versus a razor. I’ve only had my legs waxed once, and this was in a professional salon. All things considered, I can easily say that the first time I used Moom was much less painful than that professional waxing experience. It took longer than shaving, and was quite a bit messier/stickier, but I loved it. And, I haven’t had to shave for two weeks.
Natural hair removal using Moom.
Oh, I know I could not shave, but I really am attached to the clean, fresh feeling of smooth legs. I am also continuously on the lookout for a safety razor handle in antique stores, which would turn my shaving into a completely plastic-free experience, but for now, Moom is a great way for me to reducing shaving-related garbage.