Tag: Lifestyle
October is Energy Awareness month. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy since 1991, the goal is to increase awareness of ways to decrease energy consumption, particularly in Federal agencies and buildings. This year the theme is A Sustainable Energy Future; Putting All the Pieces Together. The objective is to encourage everyone to see how they fit into the big picture. We all make decisions daily that impact sustainability and a new energy economy. This really ties into Oh! Eco Me’s blog theme, “becoming greener one small step at a time”. It doesn’t take large changes to make an impact. You don’t have to eat granola everyday or give up life’s little comforts to make small changes that matter. So, here’s some small energy tips to try for the rest of October:
1. Change to compact flourescent bulbs.
Ok., I have to tell you this. I really detest the light that is given off by fluorescent bulbs. I have spent a small fortune buying these curly bulbs, putting them in my lamps, and taking them out again. However, I’ve discovered that I get more pleasing light if I replace just half of my lamps with fluorescent bulbs. That way I still get the soft light that I like in the room, but the comfort of knowing that I am being “half-way” energy efficient! Small changes, right?
2. Turn off the lights.
No matter what type of light bulbs you use, you can make a huge impact simply by turning out the lights (along with other electrical appliances when they are not being used). It’s amazing how easy it is to get into the habit of turning out lights when you leave a room. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, it counts. I used to be Mrs. Kilowatt, but now it is second nature to turn out lights that we aren’t using. So easy, and yet so meaningful.
3. Combine trips and share rides.
If you find it difficult to share a ride to work, maybe you could try combining trips for chores. For me, that is a much easier goal to accomplish. I live in a very central location to Everything in town, so it’s easy to fall into the habit of running in and out to pick up this and that. I have friends who live a little further out of town, and I’ve noticed they are very good at planning chores so that they make trips “into town” count. I can do the same thing on a different level if I just add a little more planning into my lifestyle.
4. Take a train or a bus.
I would LOVE to do this. I live in a city where mass transit is simply not available. Just as the city seemed to be making strides in offering reliable mass transit, the economic downturn blasted into our world. Many of the routes and times have been discontinued. I am hopeful for the future! But, if you live in a city that is large enough, and fortunate enough, to have reliable mass transit, by all means, please take advantage of it this month.
5. Buying a new appliance? Check out the energy star ratings!
If you are in the market for new appliances, please try to purchase energy star appliances. It’s easy to learn to read the energy star labels to make informed decisions about how the appliances you are considering stack up energy-wise. Reading these labels and making informed decisions not only promotes making more sustainable purchases, but will also save you money in the long run. More efficient appliances mean less money spent on heating, cooling, electricity, etc.
October 15, 2009
Crayons and sunshine. Do those two words evoke any sort of memory for you? What I think of is a time in summer, around 1965, when we would take crayons out to the street and melt them on the hot asphalt. The warm sunshine would transform them into pools of smooth, semi-liquid color. We would run our fingers over the waxy spots and stand back and admire our Jackson Pollock street paintings.
Today crayons and sunshine are teaming up in an entirely different, but no less pleasing, way. Binney-Smith, manufacturer of Crayola crayons, has just announced a new solar facility to be built in North Carolina. Nearly 3 billion Crayola crayons are manufactured per year! That’s a lot of color on the asphalt! Solar energy will provide 10% of the facility’s total electrical usage by the time it is finished in 2010.
Kudos to Binney-Smith for partnering with other local companies to focus on alternative energy sources! The Stimulus Act will partially provide funding for this project; your tax dollars at work. However, I have to wonder about their initiatives, considering the fact that the products they are best known for (crayons) are made from some pretty non-ecofriendly ingredients.
Crayons are made largely from paraffin wax, a non-renewable, petroleum based product. But, I love crayons! They are embedded in my childhood memories. Think, however, about the number of little crayon nubs that get thrown into the landfill. Did you know that most kids use 730 crayons by the time they are 10 years old? Yikes! And, of course, they don’t use the entire crayon! I know we always had at least one shoebox full of those little color tidbits. How can you recycle those little guys? Here are some ideas:
First Smith-Binney doesn’t have a recycling program. You can’t send them back and have them re-melted, but there are ways to repurpose them.
Crazycrayons.com is a recycling program for crayons. As of October 2009, they’ve accepted over 46,000 pounds of crayons from schools and restaurants to be recycled! Simply put, they melt them down and turn them into new, fun shaped crayons. They also make fire-starters out of them. I have to wonder if you get colorful sparks or something fun, when you use toss those on the fire! This is a great program to get your kids involved in recycling!
Melt Crayons down at home and make new, fun shaped crayons! I played with this over the weekend, and it’s actually pretty fun. If you have kids at home, this is a neat craft project. (However, it does require operating the stove, and HOT stuff, so it requires adult supervision). Basically, you just pop crayons in a muffin tin and heat over a double boiler. Once melted down, you can remake them into new crayons by pouring the melted wax into candy molds.
Melt down old crayons and use them to paint with. This is for the artsy-craft-sy crowd. You can use them for a sort of encaustic painting effect. Pretty neat, but not much control. I used that technique on the crayon portrait below. I’m actually pretty taken with it, and may try to refine it a little more. I like the idea of encaustic painting to recycle crayons and think I’ll continue down this path for a while.
Forget Crayola brand and buy some soy-based crayons. I emailed Binney-Smith to see if they had any plans for future soy-based products or any comment on their current products. Surprise, I haven’t heard a word from those guys.
Prang crayons, manufactured by Dixon Ticonderoga, are a mass produced brand of soy crayons. Dixon Ticnderoga bought the rights to soy-based crayon manufacturing in 1997 and began mass-producing the crayons for schools and department stores. They claim that the soy-based crayons are smoother and have brighter colors than their wax based competitors. If you’ve use soy based crayons and have an opinion on the quality, please let me know!
Crayon Portrait on a Saturday Morning
PS – What is your favorite Crayola color?
Don’t you love the way Crayola names their colors? My favorite color is, and always has been, blue green. Here are some of the awesome names of a few of the colors used in the drawings for this post:
Goldenrod, Timberwolf, Tumbleweed, Plum, Spring Green (another favorite)
Can you name others?
October 13, 2009
Butternut Squash, the pumpkin wannabe
In the South, squash is synonymous with yellow. As in, crook-neck. We eat it in the summer. We stew it with onions. If you’re an adventurous cook, it’s grilled or even roasted. Sometimes it even gets turned into a casserole. It is small and manageable, unlike it’s cousins, the Butternut and Acorn squashes.
I am attempting to eat locally or at least seasonally whenever I can (translated as when it’s convenient). Believing in this concept is easy, cooking it is a a bit more of a challenge, particularly for someone who is as cooking challenged as I am. Walking through the grocery Sunday I encountered all manner of appetizing produce, from Chile, Mexico, even Canada. Until I got to the Butternut squash, which by the way, were NOT with the other real squash, ie; crook-neck. They were smooth and hard-looking and way back in my mind I’m thinking they are in season. Ignoring the fact that the label says they’re from Michigan, (which in my book, may as well be Canada in terms of distance), I picked one out and like an orphaned puppy, I brought it home. Now what?
The label had instructions for microwaving it. Nuke it. Sounded fast, but less than appetizing. Like Dr. Frankenstein studying a cadaver, I found my sharpest knife and sliced the beast in half. It was beautiful. Smooth and very orange, but not sweet-potato orange, more yellow orange, almost like a pumpkin, but not quite. Then I spied the seeds. OMG, it’s a pumpkin wannabe. It even smelled pumpkin-ish, but buttery. Hence, the name I suppose. Dutifully, I followed the mico-wave method. 8 minutes until tender. Then, my creative side took over. Peeling it neatly, I cubed it up and sprinkled it with olive oil and a little Tony’s Cajun seasoning. I figure any veggie is good roasted! And, it’s fast. I ran it in the oven, but maybe I just didn’t leave it long enough. It never took on that almost crispy but just roasted look of most veggies. And, it tasted fair. But, I know there is a better way.
Do you know how to cook these autumn squashes? If you have the magic touch for something quick, easy and tasty, please share! I’ll be happy to prepare it and share the bounty! (Or at least the credit).
October 9, 2009
At Bluff Park Art show this weekend there were several artists with beautiful ink pen creations. Pens made out of everything from wood to denim. I picked several pens up. I caressed them. I oohed and ahhed. And I set each one back in its holder. Turning to my friend, I said, “You know those are so beautiful, but I couldn’t buy one because I would never be able to hang on to it.”
What???
A couple of days later, I’m really regretting not buying one of those little works of art for myself. I realized that the comment I made at the show is a prime example of the kind of boxed-in thinking that keeps me from treating the earth as well as I should. I’m really not so scatterbrained that I automatically lose everything, but plastic pens mean nothing to me. I have become accustomed to the “buy, lose, toss and buy” method of keeping up with ink pens. The thought irks me that I would very definitely misplace something just because I can get another one. Cheaply. One more pen in the landfill. When I cleaned out my studio space, I found at least enough working plastic ink pens to completely fill a shoebox. Don’t get me started about the ones that didn’t work anymore. How embarrassing.
Now, I don’t know how many pens are in the landfills right now. But, if you are a mom you can pretty well figure it out. Think about the beginning of school each year. Last year my daughter was required to buy 2 boxes of Bic pens (one blue and one red). Each box had, oh, I don’t know 20 pens in it? OK. 40 pens for my daughter. She has 400 kids in her grade, so 40 pens for each of them, too. That would be 16,000 Bic pens. She’s in high school, so there are 4 grades, so that’s 64,000 pens at the start of the school year. For ONE school. So, you see where I’m going with this. And do you think, that 4 weeks after school started, we could find even One of those plastic pens? Well, of course not, because who would care anything about keeping up with a plastic pen? Did we buy more? You bet.
Tonight I imagine that if I owned a pen that had been lovingly made from beautiful wood, and felt good in my hand, and cost more than 69 cents… I would probably become quite attached to that pen. I would know where it was all of the time. And, I would love to take it out and use it each and every time. I would covet it, and never, ever lose it. With this thought in mind, I went to my studio in search of an old cartridge pen that I had many years ago. I remember how I loved using it, I always loved the way the ink flowed so smoothly. (And I have a mental vision of middle aged men from my fathers generation walking around with ink stains on their shirt pockets from leaking pens. This tickles my fancy). Can you believe that I actually found the pen? Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be in good working order. The nib is crusty and dry, so I am now on the hunt for a new pen. I came across a post from BirminghamMom.com, another local blogger who also attended the art show. She has a nice photo of one of the exhibitor’s pens and she cites another great reason for buying handmade… these pens can actually be keepsakes. Pens can be made out of all sorts of potentially sentimental items. Check out her post here.
And of course, nothing is perfect. Many of these pens have plastic cartridges that you have to replace. You can buy pens that you can refill out of a bottle, but I’m not ready to go there just yet. So, I’ll let you know what I find. I’m really anticipating finding just the right pen, it will be like a fun treasure hunt. And, maybe, my family and co-workers will forgive me if I become a little obsessive over my new possession. Maybe they will be inspired to get their own. And… there’ll be one less pen in the landfill. Small things matter.
October 8, 2009
Beautiful weather blessed Alabama this past Saturday, just in time for our annual fall festivities to begin. Art shows, music festivals and family events take place practically every weekend in North Central Alabama during the month of October. It is my favorite time of year in the south. (Until spring, and then THAT will be my favorite time of year.)
Saturday my daughter, Rachel, a friend, Laura and I made the annual pilgrimage to the Bluff Park art show. This art show has been going on for 46 years, and I have attended probably 25 of them. Boasting artists from all over the southeast, generally beautiful weather, local school bands and premium southern bar-b-que, it is a perfect family outing. I like this show because it’s usually a very good show for the artists. People are walking the show, looking and actually BUYING art! I enjoy seeing people toting large canvases and small sculptures. Love of the visual arts abounds here, and people support it with their dollars. I love this!
Recycle metal jewelry from designers Daniel Grussing and Marie Desjardins
I had to walk the show a little more quickly than usual this year, due to an afternoon conflict; however, even at a fairly fast pace I noticed several artists who were using recycled or sustainable materials to produce their art. Probably this has been going on for a while, but with my newly heightened, eco-friendly super senses I guess I’m just more aware of it now than I have been in the past. From jewelry to sculpture to collages, evidence of reuse and recycle was abundant! One of my favorite finds was a beautiful, hand-woven cocoon made of bamboo. Bright red, it was classically simple and softly supple.The artist is Rita Winters, of Guntersville, AL, whom I tried desperately to meet. Luckily for her she had so much business that it was practically impossible to get in the booth. I had to wait through 3 other women just to try it on. It was beautiful, and although I (unfortunately) wasn’t buying this weekend, I have added it to my Santa wish list! Bamboo was actually being used by many of the weavers this year. I had one artist tell me that she had played with it some in the past, but she was now able to find vendors more readily, also, her vendors were actually selling it in cones now, so there was enough material to work with to produce a larger piece. That’s progress folks!
Beautiful hand-woven Bamboo cocoon by artist Rita Winter
So, what turns an art show into sustainable recreation?
- Slowing down. Just the act of strolling through the park, in the fresh air, at a leisurely pace supports the idea of living a little more sustainably. Key words here – Slowing Down! I know art isn’t for everyone, but you can still get outside and breath deep. Forget the mall frenzy. If art isn’t your thing, take a walk or plant a flower.
- Artists more and more are incorporating recycled materials into their artwork. See what they’re doing, get inspired! Next time you pass a piece of scrap metal on the ground pick it up!
- This particular art show has shuttles that run to the show. Parking is at a premium, so plenty of people carpool to get there! More people stuffed in less cars = less gas and oil!
- Surrounding neighborhoods are rife with garage sales on the day of the show. Talk about reuse! If art isn’t your thing, you’re bound to find some usable household goodies at the garage sales, and all within short distance of each other.
Want to find an outdoor art show or festival near you? Try FairsAndFestivals.net. They have a search that you can define by state, zip and type of event to find festivals near you! So look one up and step outside this fall. It’s sure to perk you up!
PS – If you’re going to be in Alabama the 3rd weekend of October, be sure not to miss the Kentuck Festival in Northport! It has the unbeatable combination of Folk Art and Music and was selected as one of the top ten art fairs and festivals in the US by AmericanStyle magazine!
October 6, 2009
Keeping the lid on saves energy
Softly clattering, my pot lid clicks and knocks in its effort to restrain the heat inside. In a last ditch effort to escape, heat from the pan skirts through the crack between the lid and the skillet… a mist, a vapor; a hot, wet cloud.
Hearing these metallic, clinking, kitchen sounds conjures memories from my childhood. I still have visions of hot, sticky southern Sundays; grownups in the kitchen, matching each pot’s rant with their own clucking and easy-natured fussing. Pots danced on the stove, each one popping, and dancing like a steam induced folk dance.
Cooking with the lid on. Many of my grandparents ways are coming back into practice. They didn’t think of these ways as being eco-friendly, just efficient. However, I often find myself reverting to some of those same habits out of a desire to live more sustainably.
Cooking with the lid on your skillet seems like a such a small thing. A thing that would go un-noticed, something you would just naturally do. And, it has gone unnoticed in my house until just recently. I read that cooking with the lid on your skillet is an easy way to reduce energy consumption in the kitchen. It seemed like an easy endeavor. In fact, I would have sworn to you that this was a practice that I already embraced. I even remarked to a friend, “oh yeah, I always cook with the lid on.”
However, awareness of the more engery efficient “lids on” practice has led me to realize that I really DON’T like to cook with the lid on. Never having considered myself a cook, it surprised me to find that I cared either way about the pot lid.
Today, after a long day at work, I was cooking up a little zucchini sauté in the skillet when I remembered about the lid. Dutifully, I rummaged through the cabinet, found the correct lid and in place it went. The zucchini and cnions and garlic didn’t cry out in protest, but I could have sworn I heard them call my name. With wooden spoon in hand, I hovered about the stove. Had those veggies been long enough under the lid, that I could now peek inside and indulge my desire to smell, and stir, and covertly steal a small sliver of food from the depths of the skillet? It was difficult to leave the side of the stove, I was afraid I might miss another opportunity to inhale that fine aroma.
But in the end, I did cook with the lid on (except for a small peek and stir, or two.) Did it save much energy? Probably not. But the thought that I was conscious enough to give it some thought was good enough for me. Never mind that the veggies were a bit soggy, a tad overcooked from all of that trapped heat and steam, I had saved a small bit of energy… made a conscious decision… brought to light fine memories of people and places past… and enjoyed an intimate dinner shared with my daughter. Not bad results for so small an endeavor as cooking with the lid on.
October 1, 2009
Lunch box, Free! from your supermarket
Do you take your lunch to work? To school? On picnics? Tailgating? Wherever it is that you’re transporting food, you have to figure out how to get it there, right? I pack my lunch practically every single working day of my life. Unless, of course, there’s nothing in my fridge, which certainly does happen. For a while, I was toting my lunch around in disposable plastic containers (a.k.a Ziplock or Glad) stuffed into a Publix shopping bag. Almost eco-friendly, but my lunch-box savvy was definitely lacking.
My daughter also packs her lunch everyday for school, because unlike most teenagers she really doesn’t want to eat deep fried okra, pizza and cold potato bar everyday from the school cafeteria. She took her lunch to school wrapped in a paper towel stuffed into a (eek!) plastic grocery bag.
One day we figured it out. All those little plastic containers that come home from the grocery store packed with things like blueberries, salad greens, etc.… most of those are not friendly #1 or #2 recyclable. (Although surprisingly, some are, so be sure to check on the bottom). Most are icky #5’s or #7’s. But, hey folks… they have lids…. and they are the perfect solution to keeping your lunch from getting smushed.
So, if you’re a lunch carrier, but not a lunch box carrier, think about repurposing, reusing those great plastic food containers from the grocery store! And, at least, if it does accidentally get tossed, you know it got several good reuses before hitting the trash!
September 29, 2009
Hand-painted Loafers get new life when hand-painted!
These old loafers have gotten a facelift. But, I’m not sure what that means. After my post on how to recycle old shoes, I couldn’t wait to try my hand at painting a pair. It seemed like the perfect marriage of craft and recycling.
So, here’s my version of painted shoes. These loafers are at least 10 years old. They were always so comfortable; I just never gave them up, even though I never wore them ANYWHERE.
Now, I’ve painted them with my signature dragonfly motif. My daughters are threatening to have me featured on TV’s “What Not to Wear” if I dare to put them on and wear them out of the house. What do you think?
We brainstormed about what other good purpose would suit these old friends. We came up with:
• Planters. Line them with plastic, and stick a potted plant in there
• Mail catchers. Hang them on the wall and stick mail in them.
• Book ends. Ummm. No.
• Bird Feeder. Fill with birdseed and hang them in a protected area outside?
So, what do you think? Would you wear them?
Or Repurpose them?
I’d love to hear any ideas you have!
September 21, 2009
On a whim that rivals any spontaneous decision that I was EVER guilty of making, my mother has decided to move. Not that she hasn’t done this before. Several times. Now, I know where I got that mutant gene. (The completely irrational gypsy gene, the one that whispers “move” and you do, no matter what.) She has lived in the same house for the last 10 years. That’s not very long, but, it doesn’t matter; she still has a collection of 50 years worth of stuff that she has carted from house to house over the last several moves. She may have a gypsy gene, but she has the heart of a packrat. Don’t get me wrong. Each time she has moved, she said she had gotten rid of all of her stuff. ALL of her STUFF. Right?
So, Sunday I was at her house to check out the progress she was making on packing. She is moving from about a 3400 square foot house to a 2,000 square foot house this time. There are boxes everywhere and still there is plenty of stuff that will never fit into the next abode. I went, of course, to make sure she wasn’t getting rid of anything valuable, ie; anything I might want. As we strolled about the house, looking and talking, she casually threw out sentences like, “Well, if you don’t want that I’ll be giving it to Jimmy Hale (a local mission).” So, you see, that is good. But, then she would say things like, ” Those old pots and pans, I guess I’ll just throw those in the trash.” Ouch. My newly awakened sense of eco-green-almost-friendly is offended. The thought of throwing metal, plastic and who knows what into the landfill makes me cringe. At the very same time, I completely understand it.
In the emotional frenzy that sometimes constitutes a move, specifically at the age of 75, it’s just too darn demanding to think of how you are going to eco-consciously dismantle your lifetime of belongings and memories. My sister and I trudged up the stairs to the space where she keeps things that are unforgivably sentimental. Too fab to give away, too outdated to use everyday. We dove into my father’s collection of record albums. What fun, what nostalgia. We made a pile of records that would come to my house and never be listened to. We couldn’t bare to toss things that had meaning for him on the world’s stockpile of trivia.
My daughter ran her hands lovingly over the yearbooks that showcased my parents high school romance. Pages of cheerleaders and drop out football stars of the 1950′s. Things that will fall to love-dust before hitting the recycle bins. So, what is the eco-story here. Here is a woman, who came from a generation that has done exactly what some of us today strive to emulate. Reusing, not throwing away… but repurposing. And, here after a lifetime, she has a storehouse of recyclables. That is good. But, for future generations, maybe we have to learn just not to collect so much darn stuff. Exercise the rule: when something new comes in, something old must go out. But, then where does that leave successive generations. With no memories to cyphon through? No memories to cry over? No lessons to learn from a past generation? I doubt it’s that harsh.
So, because my Mom has a conscience, my Dad’s good, heavy coats will go to the local mission. Reuse. Books will go to the library or the thrift store. My Dad’s record albums and turntable came to my house. And some metal pots and pans will go to the landfill. And, that will have to be OK.
August 26, 2009
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