Coupons, Catalogs, Oh My!

Hello dear friends.

After throwing the stacks of mailer coupons and catalogs that we get in the mail, we decided to do something about the sheer quantity of paper goods.

I collected all of the catalogs (and by the way, we only ordered from one of these catalogs and they sold our address to seven others, hence the mighty accumulation of waste!) and called their 1-800 numbers. The process was pretty painless. I only had to stay on the line a maximum of two minutes and that was not the norm. If you are interested, all you need to do is let them know that you'd like to be taken off of their mailing list, give them your address, and a code on the back of the catalog, and you are done!

Apparently we may get one or two more of each of them, since they are pre-printed, but we are hopeful that this time in November, we will be catalog free. I've done the same thing for our neighborhood mailer coupons and the only thing that seems to be left is the Pennysaver.

I highly recommend you consider doing this too, especially if you notice, like we did, that you are always throwing these things away instead of using them. Another nifty thing is most companies have catalogs online, so no paper needs to be wasted!

Just another, relatively easy strategy to reduce the unnecessary production of paper waste.

Until next time,

S&T

The Consumer-fast: An Elaboration (and an invitation to YOU)

Hello blogosphere.

Tristan and I have enacted our consumer-fast. So far, we've decided that what we will buy falls into two categories: nourishment (food) and hygiene/cleaning.

However, we want to be clear that we aren't trying to guilt anyone into not buying things. We only want people to start thinking about what they buy and what they need. Also, we want to figure out what we actually need. So, whereas we may be very strict in the first year, when the first year is up, we may actually buy some new things; however, we are going to research what we buy and research what we don't buy and figure out what are the best things to invest in. That's why Tristan in particular wants to call this experiment "Changing Our Spending Habits" or "Becoming Conscious of Our Spending Habits and How Those Habits Impact the Earth."

One recent negotiation that I've recently faced, for example, is the following: I wanted to buy lipstick, as I'm running out. But, lipstick is neither hygiene or a food item!!! But, chap-stick is a hygiene item and Burt's Bee is a pretty good company. They use 30% post-industrial waste to create their products and they don't test on animals. So, using this logic, I will buy Burt's Bee chap-stick with some color. This negotiation equals a new way to consume lipstick...

We hope to find many more of these smart shopping negotiations. In other words, we hope to buy fewer things of better quality that impact the earth in a minimal way. That will be our main goal; however, we believe that in order to achieve this goal, we need to be very strict for the first year.

And readers, even if you don't want to do this for a year, consider doing it for a week or even a few days.

All in all, even in the days that we have done this consumer-fast, we've been blessed by a strange sense of well-being.

If you are interested in trying this consumer-fast, let us know how it goes.

Peace,

s&t

My Consumer-Fast

Hello dear friends.

After watching No Impact Man, I found myself thinking about one of the strategies enacted by him and his family: refraining from buying anything new for a year. Yes, a complete year.

I've decided to take up this challenge. Food (for me, Tristan, and the girls), toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc. are not on the fasting list. The main things that I will refrain from buying will be clothing, shoes, trinkets, gadgets, CDs, movies, etc. Basically, things that I already have.

I truly believe that a consumer-fast, for me at least, is necessary. I want to be able to go into a store and avoid the impulse of purchasing unnecessary items. After making this decision, I decided to test out the theory. I walked into Ross, the land of never ending things and cheap prices. The act of looking around, knowing that I would not be buying anything was actually liberating in a sense. I knew that I was going to leave the store without spending money. However, I also felt the sting of perceived obsolescence.

Perceived obsolescence is a system that has been exercised for all of its worth by our consumer culture. Annie Leonard (the woman who created the brilliant "Story of Stuff") refers to this when she asks viewers if we ever noticed how quickly styles change. One year, jeans have bell bottoms and the next year, they have skinny pant legs. T.V.s have rounded screens, and now they have flat screens. So, what effect do these shifts in style cause?

According to Leonard (and I happen to agree), say we have a T.V. with a rounded screen. Once the flat screened T.V.s come into fashion, you are increasingly persuaded (because of advertising and peer pressure) to buy the flat screen T.V. Never mind if your T.V. works just fine. That's not the point. The point is, in order to be an effective consumer, you have to be on top of these stylistic changes. You cannot have an outdated "thing." This is perceived obsolescence. We perceive that our things are outdated, causing us to throw them away and replace them.

Now, returning to Ross: I found myself looking through the racks of clothing, at the shoes, at the sunglasses. I noticed how fashion has changed (plaid shirts, linen, buttons on sleeves, etc.) and I have to admit, I felt the urge to buy these things because my closet is not made up of this new fashion. And here is the conundrum that we, as consumers, face. Do we keep what we have, or, do we throw things away and replace them with the latest style? This tendency to be updated is so ingrained within us that I felt the pull towards purchasing.

I will continue keeping track of my consumer-fast on the blog. For now, it seems to be going well. Let us see what happens after the first month is over.

(Excellent news: Tristan has decided to join the consumer-fast, although, he likes to call it changing his consumption patterns!!)

Cheers,
s

A Cat Related Relevation

Hello dear friends.

We, as you may know, have two little girls and they result in a lot of waste. The only reason we still use plastic bags is for their litter. The way their litter is packaged, however, is also a problem. We buy large boxes every month and a half for their litter and then, once the litter is gone, we have to throw the boxes away.

Last night, I discovered a way to reduce the litter waste and I think it can work. We just got a plastic container full of litter and what we plan to do is to refill the container with loose litter from Petco. I think this can lead to a reduction of (some of) our kitty waste.

We'll let you know how it goes. Right now, let us consider ways to rethink our use. Sometimes, like with this litter scenario, the solution can be (temporarily) hidden, but discoverable nonetheless.

Please feel free to share your recommendations on what you do to reduce your furry children's trash.

With cheers,

s&t

An Email from Energy Action Coalition

Here, for you, an email we'd like to share:

"Congressional recess is over. School is starting back up.

Across the country young people are getting back to work, and we're not alone.

During August, young people found the moral courage to confront dozens of politicians, demanding they stand with people not polluters. Meanwhile, Big Oil was busy handing out their dirty energy money and polluting our politics. Politicians and the media began to take notice; the New York Timesdescribed it as a 'clash' between Big Oil and grassroots groups [1].

But things are just heating up. And as we dig our heels in for the fall election season, we'll need more leadership.

Over 200 campuses and communities have stepped up to lead Power Vote - can you help us get to 300 by next week?

Help build our ranks so that we can counter the dirty energy industry and get to work in a major way.

Let's face it. As we approach the 2010 elections people are disenchanted with failure of leadership, partisan gridlock, and an utter lack of progress on federal clean energy and climate legislation. People are looking for inspiration, looking for leadership.

This election season, the leadership we need is our own. We need to show politicians that we're getting to work, that we're building our movement and our power.

And we're seeing this leadership all across the country. The 200 campuses and communities who have signed up to lead Power Vote are building the political support for the local clean energy solutions we're working on in our communities.

Share the inspiration:

• Abbie from University of Mary Washington stood up to Governor McDonnell of Virginia to educate and press him on the dangers of offshore drilling. Young people in Missouri, Florida, Georgia and more have joined her in demanding that their politicians stand with people, not polluters. [2]

• Megan and her group at University South Florida in St. Petersburg have helped bring over 130 people into the movement in the last week. Our movement is growing bigger with Power Vote pledge drives like this happening at back to school events across the country.

• Students from Howard University in DC kicked off the semester with an environmental justice event to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

• Scott from Detroit is planning some major community outreach and home weatherization efforts for the 'Global Day of Work Parties' on October 10th. With events in every corner of the globe, this day is shaping up to be a huge opportunity to get our 'Get to Work' message across.

Share the inspiration: Forward this email, share it on Facebook, and invite an emerging activist to become a Power Vote Leader.

In the coming weeks we're excited to work with all of you to make our mark on the upcoming elections. We need to show our power more than ever - not just by turning out to vote but by asking tough question of candidates, by bringing new solutions into the dialogue, and by believing in our own ability to lead and getting to work ourselves."

With gratitude for your leadership,

Whit Jones

Co-Field Director
Energy Action Coalition

PS. Share this on Facebook and Twitter: I just joined the Power Vote campaign for clean energy. You should too http://bit.ly/b3G1V3

[1] New York Times: Oil Groups, Climate Bill Supporters Clash In Summer Campaigns: http://nyti.ms/a4nXvh
[2] Virginia Youth confront Governor on Offshore Views: http://bit.ly/cWeOaO

---

Energy Action Coalition is a youth-led coalition of 50 organizations working together to fight for a clean, just and renewable energy future. Get live updates from the youth climate movement on Facebook and Twitter. For a list of Energy Action Coalition partners, please visit our Energy Action Partners page. unsubscribe

Here Comes More Waste: The Literal and Commercial Kind

Hello dear readers.

In our previous posts, we've told you how we've been desperately trying to cut back our use of papergoods in our home. We only use paper towels in emergencies (say, our cat throwing up a hairball) and we use toilet paper for, well, you know.

Other than that, we use towels and old t-shirts that we've recycled to clean the house, Tristan uses cloth napkins to dry his hands in public bathrooms (I'm still trying to get on board with this one), and we use cloth napkins at the dinner table. It works really well.

However, we were quite frustrated to hear that Kleenex is creating disposable Hand Towels! Really? What ever happened to regular, washable, resuseable hand towels? To promote the sale of these disposable Hand Towels, Kleenex states, "People in the U.S. dry their hands on cloth bathroom towels approximately 200 billion times a year. The CDC guidelines for hand washing recommends hand drying with a single-use towel. Families have not had a practical alternative to traditional cloth hand towels in their home bathrooms… until now.

Kleenex^® Hand Towels are an innovative solution that delivers one clean, fresh, dry towel every time you wash your hands. Each and every box is specifically designed with you in mind." (Kleenex homepage).

There are several interesting things about the rhetoric that Kleenex has chosen to use here. The language about sanitation is not accidental. Assuming that we dry our hands 200 billion times a year, does that mean we are willing to switch to 200 billion disposable Hand Towels? What would that do to our already dwindling world forests? The description also insinuates a fear that our consumer culture (what Kleenex's new handy Hand Towels is a part of) asserts that it can solve, one hand towel at a time; Kleenex promotes excessive waste in the guise of health.

Now. We've all gotten along really well with cloth towels, right? Haven't we? We already have an overwhelming amount of waste because of our "disposable" lifestyle. Do we really need more disposable goods? Just something to think about.

p.s.: we'd love to hear your feedback and thoughts about this product! Time deconstruct consumer culture people!

Cheers,

s&t

Growth Among New York Concrete: No Impact Man

Dear readers, we share with you a recommendation, and (because how can you not?), a critique of the documentary, No Impact Man.

We just finished watching it last night and we have to say that we do recommend it. The premise of one family reducing their carbon footprint is radical as it is hopeful in its gesture. They go through phases, from eating locally and only walking or riding bikes, to eliminating their paper goods, and finally, abstaining from electricity.

Colin Beavan blogged about his families experiences for the year on his blog. Some people argued that Beavan's new found interest in carbon reduction was highly self-serving, as it was linked to the promotion of his new book. It is important to note that his book and the documentary that subsequently followed were NOT impact neutral.

Much of the critism came from a place of "how dare you tell me to live without?!" and seemed to reinforce our birthright to consumption, the fear that without things, our lives would be meaningless. Other criticism seemed to be much deeper, touching upon notions of privilage and oppertunism.

Basically, Beavan had many contradictions in what he was doing. However, aren't we all riddled with contradictions as we live in a system that promotes a very distructive lifestyle? None of us can really live outside of the system, but we can make changes within the system. We can also push the system to change. In the end, we think that Beavan did some of these things; Beavan offered us moments of self-reflexivity.

Given the amount of impact our culture has on the environment, there are surprisingly few movies that begin to scratch the surface of how much we destroy for our lifestyle. There should be hundreds or thousands of movies in this genre, but there aren't.

We welcome No Impact Man, and we have begun to ask ourselves, what reductions from the movie can we adopt? More on that come in the next post.

Cheers,

s&t

To inspire you, our dear reader, to become more earth friendly, here are two videos by Annie Leonard, an activist and all around inspiring lady:

Story of Stuff

The Story of Bottled Water

You can also check out an audio interview that feminist magazine Bitch recently printed with Leonard:

Bitch Magazine--Talking Trash with Annie Leonard

Readers: feel free to send us (and share with us) interesting videos and articles about reducing our waste. We'd love to see them!

We're back!

Hello friends, we have finally found the time to re-enter the blog. Tristan has taken his second try at the bar, and I have spent the summer teaching at Claremont Graduate. We may have been away from the blogosphere, but the idea of reducing trash has never left us.

Our big plan for the next month is to plant a garden in the backyard! We plan to use our compost soil as well as a little bit of organic fertilizer. We already have all the seeds, as they were a gift from our wedding. We will have to use some water, and a couple of days in the garden for prep and planting. Pictures to be uploaded once the gardening takes place, say three weeks from now.

Our second plan is to document everything we buy, use, and throw away for an entire week. We will upload pictures and include a written documentation of what happened to whatever we bought. This will likely happen in early January, after the holidays. It will be a good way to start the new year.

Cheers for now.

Recycling Tips and for You, Our Lovely Readers, a Request!

Welcome back readers!

Just for you, just because it's Friday, we're doing 2 posts in 1 day!

Here are some things we are currently doing in our home to reduce trash:

1. We no longer use paper towels or paper napkins. We are using cloth napkins that we bought for cheap at Ross and we already had four. We also use kitchen towels for drying and cleaning. For heavy cleaning, you can take old t-shirts and cut them up to use as towels, and also, old towels can become good rags for cleaning.

2. We've bought one cloth bag for the grocery store and we've rummaged through our closets and have found about six other ones that we can use for groceries. Note, it is much easier to carry groceries in cloth bags than paper bags.

3. Now you might be asking yourselves, what do we use for trash bags in the kitchen if we use cloth bags at the grocery store? The answer is simple: we do not use plastic or paper bags. What we do is separate our trash between recycling, composting, and throw-away. We have one recycle bin and one trash bin and one compost pot in the kitchen. We empty them daily into their corresponding bins without any bags. Every time we empty them, we wash them out. So far, it has worked really well. Trash has not spilled onto the sidewalk and things look and smell clean.

We do, however, use plastic bags that we collect for the cat litter (we need something to collect the poop in, and we haven't come up with a better solution. Suggestions??). We then put the bag of poop in the trash bin and dispose of it.

4. Tristan is working on not using paper towels in public bathrooms and instead relying on a handkerchief (seriously, he bought handkerchiefs!) that sometimes he remembers and sometimes doesn't. But one thing you can always do is use the hand air-dryer rather than use paper towels. I have yet to buy my own hanky.

5. For all the ladies out there reading, we know how much plastic goes into each tampon, yes the tampon. If you buy o.b. tampons, you can seriously reduce your monthly plastic consumption. They are small, discrete and don't have any plastic applicators. Just a small film around the outside to keep it clean. That's it.

6. Tristan stopped buying sodas, because they are single serving and instead has turned to brewing tea in large pots to drink all day. Yum.

7. We currently hang-dry most of our clothing and only use half a dryer sheet per load. A friend who worked at a dryer-sheet company told us that half a sheet is more than enough to leave your clothes smelling fresh and feeling soft.

8. We bought reusable water bottles and traveling mugs for coffee and tea and have been happily using them as well.

Our request to you is that you post some of your tips for reducing trash, or even things you are considering doing, on this blog as comments.

Cheers until next week,
S&T

And the List Continues...

Hello everyone.

We hope that the first week of the new year brought with it moments of growth.

As for cataloguing our personal items, we have begun to take a stock of the bedroom.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing I (Shayda) have come across is how many items of clothing and how many pairs of shoes I actually have. I'd like to consider myself someone who doesn't really care about having a lot of shoes, and yet I have fourteen pairs. The point is that I didn't know how much I had until I looked.

The other thing I noticed, that I recommend you to try, is to actually COUNT your clothing. Yes, every bit of it. I'm talking socks, underwear, t-shirts, everything. I always think that I don't have anything to wear. Once I catalogued everything and saw the large quantity of things, the many options, I reconsidered. Something that I think might help the daily dilemma of "I don't have anything to wear" is to keep everything organized. I had socks in my t-shirt section, pants in the long sleeve section. As a result, I just found articles of clothing that I had forgotten about! Perhaps this is why we keep buying and re-buying things we already own: we forget what we have.

Below are a list of things I found in my closet and dresser. Tristan will post his soon:

socks (individual socks, since I mix and match mine): 43
underwear: 29
leggings: 5
pantyhose: 2
jeans: 5
dress pants: 4
exercise pants: 2
exercise shoes: 3
exercise tops/t-shirts/tank tops: 29
pajamas: 2
robe: 1
long sleeves: 35
jackets: 10
dresses: 11
suits: 2
skirts: 4
purses: 5
scarves: 11
hats: 3
gloves: 2
galosh: 1
boots: 3
exercise shoes: 2
in-door, keep feet warm shoes: 2
flip flops: 3
dress shoes/work shoes: 9

All these articles of clothing create a slightly embarrassing reality. I didn't know that I had so many things. Many of the things that I uncovered in the piles of clothes, in the shoes, are things that I don't wear; yet I still have them. Also, there are many things that I've found that I didn't know I have, things I no longer have to buy.

My challenge to you, the reader, is to take stock of what you have, clothing-wise. You might be surprised at what you find.

Happy searching,
Shayda & Tristan

The New Year: Let the Cataloguing Begin!

That's right people. The new year has begun and we are moving towards becoming trash free. As we said in December, we have begun the work of cataloguing all our worldly possessions. We have not completed this task, but we have learned how many things we have in our home.

In general, the holidays were great. We spent most of the time with family and friends. We had a solstice party where we remembered the earth. We burned an old wreath we had from years ago. As we burned the wreath, we asked people to think of one thing they can do for the earth in the coming year (by the way people, if you store your wreath in a flat box or a tied trash bag, you can reuse it. We kept ours for three years and it still looked great).

Here's a partial list of the things we found in our home. By next week we will have a completed list.

Mainly, what we discovered was that we have much more of everything than we actually need AND we're still not done cataloguing everything. Much of the things we have are old and used or were bought second-hand. We have a ton of stuff that doesn't match or is part of an old set. This is particularly true of the kitchen items. Most of our plates and cups were hand-me-downs from family or were bought for cheap from a thrift store. However, this does not discount their usefulness. We also realized how much we love all the things we have and how great they truly are. We would like to use the list to remind us of the abundance in our lives and also to make us more aware of the fact that we need very little material items to be happy, and that actually, we already have much more than we need.

Hold your breath! Here it comes:

Big plates: 25
Little plates: 6
Serving plates: 18
Bowls: 23
Tea/coffee cups: 26
Drinking cups: 23
Wine glasses: 15
Cheap knives: 13
Cheap spoons: 14
Cheap forks: 11
Nicer knives: 8
Nicer spoons: 16
Nicer forks: 16
Serving stuff/mixing stuff: 26
Oven mittens: 2
Hot place mats: 5
Hot pads: 3
Tea pots: 4
measuring stuff: 5
Toaster, micro-oven, coffee pot, blender, microwave, stove, oven, refrigerator, washer/dryer: 1 of each
Cutting knives: 4
Skewers: 4
BBQ utensils: 3
Miscellaneous jars and bowls: 13
Matte containers: 6
Random dishes: 7
Shoe holders: 3
Wooden nick-nacks: 4
Brooms: 3
Dust pans: 2
Mops: 2
Cat bowls: 7
Traveling mugs: 2
Reusable water bottles: 5
Cutting boards: 4
Dish towels: 10
Strainers: 2
Pans: 4
Pots: 5
Coasters: 13
Tea Kettle: 1
Dinner table: 1
Bed: 1
Desks: 2
Couch: 1
Built in kitchen table: 1
Futon: 1
Coffee table: 1
Art on walls: 23
Books: 660
Records and CDs: 300
End table: 1
Stools: 3
DVDs: 16
Bookshelves: 7
Cats: 2
Filing cabinets: 3
Chairs: 9
Random nick-nacks in home: 104
Computers: 2
Bottles in bathroom: 32
Computer monitor: 1
Cabinet in bathroom: 1
Stereo: 1
Dresser: 1
Radio: 1
Exercise bike: 1
Lamps: 3
Desk lamps: 2
Printer: 1
Telephone: 1
Cellphones: 2
Mirrors: 2
Love alter: 70 or so items
Family pictures: 20
Scrapbooks: 5
Photo box: large and filled to capacity
Big bath towels: 13
Hand towels: 15
Shower mats: 5
Place mats: 22
Cloth napkins: 17
Pillows: 17
Blankets: 14

Yes, this is most of our stuff, but there are still a couple of areas we have yet to catalogue. Those include our clothes, shoes, and other bathroom stuff.

It was exhausting to go through all of this, and that IS the point. One thing we decided after this is that we are only going to buy higher quality things and much fewer of them. We decided we rather have one good pair of shoes than three pairs that will break down quickly. The same is true for all items.

Okay, logging off until next Sunday when we will finish cataloguing the rest of our possessions as well as talk about the things we are already doing to reduce our trash consumption.

Cheers,
S&T