So many blogs, so little time...

My greatest confession: I'm just doing this for the money.
I mean sure, I'd love to do it to save humanity -get all those fuckers to start recycling their chopsticks, reuse their plastic forks, and just bring a clothe bag to Trader Joe's and avoid the whole paper/plastic dilemma- but really, I just do it for the money. The adds on the side? They're there for you to click. That little tip jar? Yup, add a snide joke like "401k fund" or "Fear Change? The leave it...". The weird, obsessive posting on craigslist R&R? Trying to lead you here like Hansel and Gretel following breadcrumbs.
Sigh. When did I become so shallow?

These guys sell organic stuff and green stuff, let's write about them

<li><a href="http://www.brenmarco.com/supermarket/Superindex/organic.html?gclid=CPCRtrLdo4gCFQloYAodLy4TXA/">AmAzInG EnViro PlAstics!</a></li>

NatureWorks PLA -The Revolution in Packaging!

Biodegradable Plastic!
Edible Styrofoam!
party cups made from corn!
Burn these forks in the campfire, it's completely non-toxic and safe to do!

Wooo-Hooo!!!! Let's go crazy!

SOme Environmentalists these guys are

I'm temping at an Environmental conversation group.
They obviously think big picture and forget the little things.
They had me buy 30 different sodas -sick, sugary sodas- for a lunch meeting, but no juice. They go through paper towels and plates by the tree. What happened to reduce? Reuse? Recycle?
What happened to environmentall conscious?
Yeah, it's good you're buying land and sorta saving it, but as for YOURSELVES, the personal lifestyle shift that's required in successful conservation?
To be continued...

My vision...

Why did I start these blogs? As tools of social change, consumption practices and raising awareness of everyday environmental choices.  So far, I'm the only one who visits this blog, but I hope that changes. 

 

Here's my vision: to start an internet petition ro some other process to get corporations large and small to be a little more aware of their environmental impact and make the choices clear to them.

 

And here's a way to start it:

 

Currently, Trader Joe's uses exclusively paper bags when bagging up people's purchases. Conversely, they sell a reuseable fabric bag, but for $4.  Why don't they sell a cheap environmentally friendly option?  They could ask, "For an extra dollar, would you like this reuseable fabric bag?  What sort of choice do you think consumers -and at Trader Joe's, overly environmentally conscious consumers- will make?

 

As an added incentive, Trader Joe's could charge ten cents for every paper bag (usually doubled) -a fraction of the impact of that bag's single-use consumption.

 

So, I'd like to start a campaign:  Trader Joe's, I'm asking you to promote environmentally friendly, cheap, reuseable fabric bags to your consumers.  Not the passive, "we offer them in our stores" (at an outrageous, disincentive price of $4 a pop) sort of promotion, but offer them at ring up, make it cheap, and make it clear: $1 for a reuseable fabric bag that you can use again and again, or $.10 for a paper bag that within ten visit amount to that fabric bag?

 

Let the challenge begin....

Review: Mansfled Paper Co.

These guys' ad appeared on my blog as environmentally friendly, recycleable containers. Well, that's kinda right: being old school (started in 1946, pre-environmentally awareness days) they make paper stuff: plates, cups, etc. Better than styro-foam and other hazardous materials, but not really what I'm looking for.

On the plus side, they do sell and promote environmentally friendly cleaning agents, like Hydrogen Peroxide based cleaners called EnvirOx. They even list the "drawbacks" ("EPA Environmental Hazard!") of regular, standard cleaners, like bleach. SO, yeah for the old foagies!

Review: Recycling sites

https://www.konnects.com/recycling/?gclid=CJypmMWHwIcCFQsnYQodkSGwHw

Recycling Connects is a really boring site.  S'pozedly to "Connect Business people in the recycling industry", there's really nothing to it.  it offers a free trial, which suggests you usually gotta pay, and that's kind of a turnoff.  Their graphics are lousy and there's nothing I can gleen from their site to use for this post.

Summary: Don't bother.

unikeeper.com is also another ad featured on this page, and it sucks too. Why? cause I blog about RECYCLEABLE stuff (and I CAP THAT not cause I'm yelling at you, but in a futile attempt at getting adsense to recognize my niche: RECYCLE, ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, REUSEABLE, etc etc).  Uni keeper is none of that, just more plastic stuff.  Yuck.

Wow!  On my sty-ro fo-am (again, broken up to confuse adsense)blog, a cool ad appeared for BAMBOO SHOPSTICKS!  Now that's kinda cool, I should blog about bamboo.  Oh, the things to do....

 

Obsessed about Reusing

We don't through away anything.

(unless it rots, of course.  We're not that disgusting.)

I have a thing for jars and chopsticks.

I view a newly emptied jar like a mother views a newborn.

I wash it tenderly and reapply the lid, a variant of cutting the umbilical cord.

 

Ok, perhaps that's too extreme....

Decrying the Google Ads on this site!

Such hypocracy! Google ads selling CHEAP PLASTIC PLATES! The kind you use ONCE and throw away!
NNNOOOOO!!!!!
Yuck! Not more junk!
(sigh)
Ok, this is an attempt to change that ad: NO TO P-L-A-S-T-I-C and D-I-S-P-O-S-A-B-L-E!
We want ads that call for Environmentally friendly products,
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Biodegradeable.
Cermanic or glass or something that we can reuse again and again.
Environmental.
Biodegradeable.
Biodiesel.
maybe if I repeat myself enough times, the ad scanner will pick it up:
Environmental
Reusable.
Biodegradeable.
Biodiesel.

Now let's see....

Overcome by Stuff

Besieged by junk.

 

I have too much stuff.

Everyone I know has too much stuff.

Society is about collecting stuff.

STUFF.

Shit.

Junk.

Things you don’t need.

Supposed TOYS to occupy our minds, to occupy our lives, to convince us that our lives are worth wasting away in a five by five foot cubicle for eight hours a day.

Selling our souls to the biggest sales.

Stuff.

I hate my stuff.

Today I fantasized about taking the tiny things –candle bits, old French cheese, notepads, leadless mechanical pencils- and putting them in a bag.

I’ll leave them on the back door of my apartment building, or just hand them to the homeless wheelchaired veteran who lives in the alley.

“Here, these objects are invaluable to me.  May they bring you joy”.

 

and take photos...

of our creative uses of throw-away items. Like the styrofoam cups I'm using to paint my van. Photos! Photos! Photos!