eco - free food?

I know, I know, I know! I've been so slack on envrionmental/going green posts here on method lust! What's the deal'e'oh, yo?! Well, here you go! I just found this today and my eyes, they were'a opened! People (with plenty of income) going grocery store dumpster diving for free groceries, all in order to live more simply, and environmentally friendly (including stopping unnecessary waste.) I'm really curious what your thoughts are here! Could you do this? Do you do this? Don't be shy - share!

green truckin'

method's convoy keeps truckin' on, in the most grand green manner possible! Over on their official people against dirty blog, method had this to say:

"Have you seen any of these bad boys rolling down the road near you? if so, it was one of our expanded fleet of biodiesel-powered trucks and trailers, now serving our Chicago distribution center and enabling 75 percent of our product orders to be shipped in vehicles powered by planet-friendly fuel.

this is especially great news as Adam, our co-founder and chief greenskeeper, points out, “one biodiesel truck saves an estimated 62,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 686 tons of carbon dioxide annually.”

the fleet operates on biodiesel largely made from waste vegetable oil recovered from restaurants..."

You can read the whole post here!

byoc?

Wowzers! I've been mulling over this very idea for quite some time now! In fact, I've had many friends (you all know who you are, too!) make fun of me with lines like "so you did remember to bring your Tupperware to the restaurant, right? No stryofoam for you!" with a wink and a nudge. But honestly, this is one thing I've never really been able to do. Oh oh oh! This could be my 2011 eco-challenge! Oh oh oh! Hmm... and the wheels they start a spinnin'! The idea is taking a reusable container to restaurants with you! - BYOC (bring your own container!) And Takeout Without is leading the way!

Now, I'd see this more so as an "after you've eaten at a restaurant and have leftovers to bring home" kind of thing. I'm not sure how you'd do this with a situation like calling in takeout? "Hold on, I'll stop by and bring you some Glad ware, and then I'll come back to pick up the food a little later!" But for leftovers, this would work great! It's just the same ole' "what will people at the restaurant/the waiter/waitress/friends I'm dining with/chef/my grandmother/God think of me bringing along a container for my leftovers? Will I embarrass myself?!" Well, God would love the idea! He's all for the planet, don't you know!

Wait a minute, though. That's the exact same thought process I once had towards reusable bags! Or telling my friends and family I no longer use paper towels! And I've moved way past any of those uncomfortable feelings. You don't like my reusable bag? Well, suck my five fingered fist of plastic bag freedom! No paper towels in the house make you sad? Get out and don't come back! No, not even for Christmas! In fact, especially not even for Christmas! (I'm working on my anger issues, ok?) So this might be just as easy! Don't like me pulling out my reusable takeout container in the restaurant? Put'em up! We're gonna fight! Steak knives and broken wine glasses for weapons! (Still working on those anger issues. It's only been like two sentences, what did you expect from me, an anger-free miracle?! Cause it ain't gonna happen, mister! You hear me! Oh no, wait, not again... count to ten, count to ten.)

So check this out from Takeout Without's website:

"Say no to unnecessary packaging. Fill your stomach. Not the landfill.

It takes approximately 20 seconds to put our food into take out containers. Convenient? No, it's actually inconvenient since the packaging can remain in our landfills forever, causing continued damage to us and our world. The American population tosses out enough paper bags and plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. TakeOutWithOut exists to help you to fill your stomach, not the landfill.

Our actions can be powerful! Every little bit counts. We can't aim for perfection, but we can aim for improvement by saying NO to unnecessary packaging and even toting our own reusables. TakeOutWithOut - enjoy your food, save your money, improve your health and help our planet!"

For all the details, go here! What do you think of this idea? Lust it? Hate it? Have you done this? Ever got into a fight with someone and used steak knives and broken wine glasses? (If so, who won, and do you still have both of your eyes?) Let method lust know what you think of Takeout Without! Could this be your 2011 eco-challenge?

0 + 0 = 0

What do you think about the United State's first ever (cause the Europeans already beat us to it! - No surprise there!) zero waste no packaging grocery store, In.gredients? Thoughts? Would you give this a try?

green corporate ethics?

Here's a very interesting new article from method co-founder Adam Lowry, writing for treehugger.com, concerning so called "green plastics" and how they might just not be as green as they want you to believe (No! From the plastics industry!? I'm shocked... wink.)

"Corporate ethics is one of the most critical components of the green tech revolution today. The foundation of sustainable product design is innovation in base materials, novel new green chemistries that replace dirty ones, better building materials that don't pollute or off-gas, and novel new plastics that are compatible with the environment. However, there is a concerning trend emerging of material innovation half-measures that create wonderful marketing claims for their producers, but no significant environmental benefit.

Nowhere is this trend more evident than in the world of plastics. In an effort to improve upon the dismal environmental fate of most plastics that end up in our landfills, gutters, or oceans, an enormous amount of energy has been focused on creating biodegradable, plant based, or somehow greener plastics ... These new technologies are exciting and necessary. However, new findings are emerging that shed light on the fact that eliminating the unwanted consequences of plastic use and fundamentally reinventing the plastics that pervade our daily lives is harder than it looks.

A new study published recently in Environmental Science & Technology shows that the class of plastics known as oxo-degradable plastics, may not be as green as they seem. Oxo-degradable plastics are regular polyethylene (PE, or "#2") or polypropylene (PP, or "#5") plastics that contain special additives that cause them to degrade when exposed to sunlight or heat. The promise is appealing—plastics just like the ones we use everyday, without any of the nasty side effects. But this new study shows that instead of actually degrading the plastic, these additives simply break the plastic down into particles too small for us to see, making it potentially more dangerous by mobilizing into our soil and water small particles of plastic that can absorb pollutants and other chemicals..."

Read the entire article here!

slapping some cents into you?

Lawmaker puts price on use of plastic bags | By Jimmy Vielkind

"If Assemblyman Micah Kellner has his way, someone carrying a plastic bag full of groceries would get the same disdainful looks that might be directed at a pregnant lady smoking, or someone walking away from the stinky contribution their pooch has made to a New York City sidewalk.

"I want to make it a faux pas to be seen on the street with a plastic bag," said Kellner, a Manhattan Democrat. "While we may use plastic bags for a couple of minutes to bring home our groceries, they stay in the environment for thousands of years."

Kellner is sponsoring a bill, introduced late last month, that would impose a 25-cent tax on every plastic bag used to carry groceries or other store merchandise in New York City. The same bill would incentivize the use of reusable shopping bags -- made of canvas or thicker, sometimes recycled plastic -- by allowing grocers to give them to consumers if they leave a quarter as a deposit. After a year, the unclaimed quarters would be swept to City Hall's coffers. A tax break would be offered to cover "a majority" of the cost of reusable bags, which cost over $1 on the low end, more if you want hemp or recycled cotton.

Kellner notes that because plastic bags often end up as litter, his measure would keep streets cleaner. And if the bags do make it to landfills, the non-biodegradable, petroleum-based sacks outlive us all.

Kellner cited a reusable bag company's claim that the average American will go through 60 bags after four shopping trips.

David Vermillion, a spokesman for Hilex Poly, the nation's largest recycler and manufacturer of plastic bags, framed it this way: "By that math, he's taxing a family $3.75 every time they go to the grocery store -- money they could use to buy milk for their children."

Vermillion notes that plastic bags are 100 percent recyclable, and many municipalities have taken steps to make it easier for consumers to have them reprocessed. Albany County unanimously passed a law in 2008 requiring stores larger than 10,000 square feet (the size of the average Price Chopper or Target) to place bins outside their doors allowing consumers to drop off used bags. It mirrored a similar law that went on the books in New York City earlier that year.

Price Chopper stores also offer a 3-cent-per-bag rebate for customers who bring their own reusable carriers. But the Big Apple's residents still go through 5.2 billion plastic bags a year, according to a 2009 estimate by the New York City Department of Sanitation.

"That's billion with a B," said Kellner..."

Read the rest over on TimesUnion.com

Thoughts?

zero-waste

method lust reader Kirby sent me this really intriguing article! A California family that says they run a zero-waste home! The piece showcases some hardcore ways in which the family makes this happen (things that, honestly, I don't even think I could manage to do.) But man, it's eye-opening, and gives you plenty to think about (such as recycling plastic can only go so far. No matter what, that plastic will one day still end up as garbage on this planet, never to go away.) The piece begins:

"The zero-waste home | Meet The Johnsons

On trash day in Mill Valley, California, the Johnson home has no garbage. Nothing. There is a hefty compost bin and a teeny recycling bin—one that Béa Johnson is embarrassed exists at all. “So much recycling really goes to waste, so you need to try to reduce that too.”

Garbage, though, is something that happens rarely in this modern, minimalistically decorated house. That’s by day-to-day intention—to live simpler and lighter on the planet. Their quest started three years ago when Béa and husband Scott downsized from a 3,000-square-foot home to their current 1,400 square feet. But it had been on Béa’s mind ever since she’d nannied for a family that lost everything in a fire. Béa decided she wanted to truly love and use and know everything she kept in her home. “Even down to the vegetable peeler,” she says.

“When we started getting rid of things, it was kind of addictive,” she continues. “In a recession, people are inclined to keep things, but I feel the opposite. The less I have, the richer I feel. Stuff weighs you down.”

Even life memories and heirlooms. Béa says, “Photos are a good way to keep the memory of something without keeping it because of emotional attachment or the guilt of letting it go.” Put another way: Hang onto the photo of your grandmother in her fur coat, but if you never wear the coat, it’s just taking up space in your closet.

Scott and Béa still have “vices.” Makeup has been hard to purge for Béa, and English muffins for Scott—both come with some nonrecyclable packaging.

“We don’t do everything right,” she says..."

+

Two things she says that really resonate with me:

"Clean up is done with microfiber cloths. “People are really attached to paper towels,” Béa says. “But they’re the easiest thing to give up.” - How many times have I told you lusters this? It's so true. You simply cannot imagine. I've been paper towel free since July 2008, people! You can, too.

"Recycling is not bad, it is simply best to reduce and reuse first.. Reduce-Reuse-Recycle are to be excercised in order. Many people seem to forget that." - Really true, and something I don't really think much about (as when I recycle I always think I'm doing "the right thing.")

You can read the entire article here on Sunset.com! And the family even has a blog, Zero Waste Home.

What did you think of the article? Too hardcore? Were there some things that you could take away from the piece, and use in your daily life? What have you been doing to help make your home into a less-waste place?

bag it!

Check out this amazing documentary from Suzan Beraza. The film examines the impact of plastics on the environment, marine animals and human health. (And we all know what method lust (Nathan Aaron) thinks of plastic bags! Evil!)

Lots more information can be found on the official website!

sleeping with the fishes

method has this adorable fish tank (from their San Fran office) live video feed going!

"we love clean dishes and happy fishes. our smarty dish dishwasher tablets give you sparkling clean dishes free of phosphates and chlorine bleach. phosphates in our water systems lead to algae blooms that kill our fish population. do your dishes (and the fishes) a favor."

More from their official blog, people against dirty:

"hi there. my name is mr.pickles and i speak for the fishes (or at least the fishes in the method office). say hi to heidi and pat finn too. hi! we live in a tank at method and this is our first time blogging.

method adopted us a few weeks ago to be the spokesfishes against dirty. they set us up in this tricked-out tank and are recording our every bubble (think real world for fish). we’re here to talk about the dirty ingredients in your dishwasher detergent that make their way to our rivers and lakes.

one of the dirtiest ingredients is called phosphates. it travels from dishwasher, through the city pipes, and empties into our water. it’s a fertilizer and it causes an overgrowth of algae blooms. the algae is not only hard to navigate but it also depletes the water of oxygen and without oxygen we can die.

so we’re broadcasting live 24/7 to get the word out about smarty dish. these dishwasher tablets leave your dishes sparkling clean but are free of phosphates and chlorine bleach. yippee!"

So whenever you need a break, just check in with the fish!

greener clorox?

An interesting look into Clorox and GreenWorks via Fortune magazine (and website, along with CNN Money.) And method gets a shout-out, and some quick screen time.

"Customers expect color and scent in their products" was mentioned, when synthetic items were discussed. My thoughts are a) I don't personally think color is necessary. method has done a great job in the past with colored bottles taking the place of colored products, and I think that works well. (In fact I've always been curious why method hasn't taken all of their products in this direction.) Most of method's holiday hand wash line within the past three years or so has consisted of clear hand wash, in a colored bottle; compared to the "everyday" hand wash they product, which is colored hand wash in a clear bottle. Why not just colored bottles all the way? And b) scents are always going to be requested (IMHO) but why do they have to be synthetic? Points to ponder.

What do you think of the video? What about Sierra Club's partnership with Clorox? Tell it!

things that shouldn't be

These make me so angry, I can't even express it without placing an R rating on method lust. And we all know R ratings are dirty (in the words of a certain brand we all know and love!) Seriously, these. make. me. so. angry. - It's a complete waste. I'm so disgusted at this point with the Big Brands uncanny ability to make anything look disgusting in order to sell their products for "healthy living." (To which it actually creates the opposite.)

Ultimatemoneyblog.com actually spells it out perfectly for me:

"The other day I was reading a magazine and came across an advertisement for new Kleenex disposable hand towels. After I got over the initial disgust, I decided to check them out and see what Kleenex has to say about them. On their website, they state that “your hands are only as clean as the towel used to clean them.” “A clean, fresh towel every time.” Come on! If you’re really that scared of germs, you need more than disposable hand towels.

Here are the problems I have with disposable hand towels:

+ They consume more resources
+ They create more waste
+ They teach people (and children) that disposable is better
+ They are pointless

It just sickens me to think that a huge corporation like Kleenex would produce and market a product like this. With all the natural resources being consumed, the last thing we need is another disposable product, especially one that is pretty much useless and replaces something that has worked well for so many years."

Mother Nature Network has this to say:

"A clean, fresh towel every time. It sounds nice but it's a bit of a nightmare in reality.

Kleenex is trying to market the idea that we should now be using one-use disposable (Kleenex brand) hand towels instead of the cotton reusable hand towels found in most homes.

I'm a pragmatic greenie, I've been known to use a paper towel every now and then, but this is just too much. Does everything in our lives need to be disposable?

If you're in the marketing department of companies like Kleenex the answer is very much "yes".

I agree with my buddy David over at Green for Good who called this one out for the eco-dud that it is. He wrote:

In the hand drying facts on their Web site, Kleenex tries to scare us into believing that “regular washing of cloth hand towels does not ensure cleanliness.”

Wow, we should really start wearing disposable clothes if that's true.

To make matters worse, the geniuses at Kimberly-Clark have chosen Earth Month to launch a major television ad push for Kleenex hand towels. Of course, they depict normal hand towels as disgustingly as possible by showing everyone, even the family dog, getting their dirty mitts all over them.

And how cute is this? Kleenex has penned an educational Drying Song to teach your kids how to be wasteful too. Because “no yucky old towel’s gonna ruin my day.”

Sorry Kleenex, but it’s our Earth Day that you’re ruining. Sigh.

Here's the lyrics for their Hand Washing Song:

My hands are gonna be clean
When I wash and I dry with mommy and sing
This song that's exactly two clean hands long
Warm water and soap and bubbles that shine
A Kleenex® Hand Towel that's mine all mine
And a song that's exactly two clean hands long
No yucky old towel's gonna ruin my day
I dry my hands the Kleenex® towel way
So if you're a fan of clean hands too
Roll up your sleeves and I'll sing with you.

I'm going to point this to my two young daughters for the shady marketing-to-kids that it is. I mean, come on - do we really want to train our children to desire a one-use throw-away hand towel?"

+

It's time we stopped showing the next generation that disposal is ok. Cause it ain't, ok?

And yes, Colgate Wisp, I'm talking to you, too.



Get some gum already, girl. Geesh.

All of you, you make me sick. Get out of my face. The article above is right on the money. It's time Big Brand became responsible for their actions, and what they produce. I'm completely over the whole "we just make what people want." Cause trust me, as time has gone by I've learned something profound. What people (usually) want, is not what people (usually) need. Well, at least when it comes to convenience products. People will be lazy, until you make them be otherwise. (In Nathan's humble opinion.)

Thoughts? (I know you got some!)

+

And don't even get me started on this...

environmental disaster

I'll keep my overall thoughts on this to myself, but no matter where people sit with oil usage/drilling/etc., everyone (should) realize the environmental disaster this has caused. I'm talking about the BP oil spill, which has been going on for a month now.

As everyone knows, this site is about more than just method products (as much as we lust them!) It's also about making this world a better place to live, going green (as green as each of us can), and simply helping out Mother Earth. She's all we've got, you know?

Also (here he goes again!), you do realize (most) plastic bags are made from oil, right? (According to a recent nationwide online survey, 72 percent of the American public does not know that conventional plastic is made from petroleum products. And yes, I realize plastic bags are a teeny tiny drop in the bucket where oil usage is concerned, but just imagine what changes could happen if we all just did something as simple as stopped using plastic bags (which I harp on, over and over and over and over and...) And yes, I realize the irony involved when one photo below shows the BP cleanup, along with tons and tons of plastic bags. Sigh.

No matter what, these images are heartbreaking.





You can view all the photography with captions at Boston.com.

and here we have...

The North Atlantic ocean just called. It was feeling really jealous of the Pacific Ocean and said it wanted it's own giant plastic sludge patch to play with! - No more sharing! Well, hey, and it got it. Yeah, yeah, plastics industry, you just keep on telling yourself you're NOT part of the problem. Frickin' frackin'... (thanks to method luster Rebecca for this article!)

PS - This is THE line to keep in mind: "(We are) a throwaway culture that uses non-biodegradable materials for disposable products."

+

A 2nd garbage patch: Plastic soup seen in Atlantic | By Mike Melia

Researchers are warning of a new blight at sea: a swirl of confetti-like plastic debris stretching over a remote expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

The floating garbage — hard to spot from the surface and spun together by a vortex of currents — was documented by two groups of scientists who trawled the sea between scenic Bermuda and Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores islands.

The studies describe a soup of micro-particles similar to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a phenomenon discovered a decade ago between Hawaii and California that researchers say is likely to exist in other places around the globe.

"We found the great Atlantic garbage patch," said Anna Cummins, who collected plastic samples on a sailing voyage in February.

The debris is harmful for fish, sea mammals — and at the top of the food chain, potentially humans — even though much of the plastic has broken into such tiny pieces they are nearly invisible.

Since there is no realistic way of cleaning the oceans, advocates say the key is to keep more plastic out by raising awareness and, wherever possible, challenging a throwaway culture that uses non-biodegradable materials for disposable products.

"Our job now is to let people know that plastic ocean pollution is a global problem — it unfortunately is not confined to a single patch," Cummins said.

The research teams presented their findings in February at the 2010 Oceans Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon. While scientists have reported finding plastic in parts of the Atlantic since the 1970s, the researchers say they have taken important steps toward mapping the extent of the pollution.

Cummins and her husband, Marcus Eriksen, of Santa Monica, California, sailed across the Atlantic for their research project. They plan similar studies in the South Atlantic in November and the South Pacific next spring.

On the voyage from Bermuda to the Azores, they crossed the Sargasso Sea, an area bounded by ocean currents including the Gulf Stream. They took samples every 100 miles (160 kilometers) with one interruption caused by a major storm. Each time they pulled up the trawl, it was full of plastic.

A separate study by undergraduates with the Woods Hole, Massachusetts-based Sea Education Association collected more than 6,000 samples on trips between Canada and the Caribbean over two decades. The lead investigator, Kara Lavendar Law, said they found the highest concentrations of plastics between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude, an offshore patch equivalent to the area between roughly Cuba and Washington, D.C.

Long trails of seaweed, mixed with bottles, crates and other flotsam, drift in the still waters of the area, known as the North Atlantic Subtropical Convergence Zone. Cummins' team even netted a Trigger fish trapped alive inside a plastic bucket.

But the most nettlesome trash is nearly invisible: countless specks of plastic, often smaller than pencil erasers, suspended near the surface of the deep blue Atlantic.

"It's shocking to see it firsthand," Cummins said. "Nothing compares to being out there. We've managed to leave our footprint really everywhere."

Still more data are needed to assess the dimensions of the North Atlantic patch.

Charles Moore, an ocean researcher credited with discovering the Pacific garbage patch in 1997, said the Atlantic undoubtedly has comparable amounts of plastic. The east coast of the United States has more people and more rivers to funnel garbage into the sea. But since the Atlantic is stormier, debris there likely is more diffuse, he said.

Whatever the difference between the two regions, plastics are devastating the environment across the world, said Moore, whose Algalita Marine Research Foundation based in Long Beach, California, was among the sponsors for Cummins and Eriksen.

"Humanity's plastic footprint is probably more dangerous than its carbon footprint," he said...

+

Read the rest over on Yahoo! News

real results

Earlier this week method Twittered this article titled "Did D.C.'s bag tax work?" and the results are mind-blowing!

"Yes, it did.

The District's 5-cent bag tax generated about $150,000 during January to help clean up the Anacostia River, even though residents have dramatically scaled back their use of disposable bags, according to a report city officials issued Monday.

In its first assessment of how the new law is working, the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue estimated that food and grocery establishments gave out about 3 million bags in January. Before the bag tax took effect Jan. 1, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer had said that about 22.5 million bags were being issued each month in 2009.

That's an 82 percent reduction in the number of plastic bags and $150,000 for the city. Hopefully this'll encourage Santa Barbara and other wavering cities."

+

Did you get that? In one month they generated $150,000 for the city to use for (hopefully) eco-cleanup! And they went from giving out 22.5 million bags (and this is one city! That's the thing, imagine HOW many bags are given out each year when D.C. alone gives out 22.5 million!? That's freakin' insane) to 3 million bags.

And their reduction in the number of plastic bags given was: 82%. EIGHTY. TWO. PERCENT. That my friends, is what you call RESULTS. Seriously, I'm shocked. Imagine if every city did this? In fact, every state.

Screw the plastic bag industry. I hate that people might lose their jobs (I genuinely do.) But I've also had it up to the tip-top of my head with industries plodding forward like nothing's wrong cause "that's how they've always done it, and until there is a rule put into place we'll just do what we've always done Hell or high water - for better or worse." Sick of it. It's time companies, corporations, and industries were responsible for what they do and create! Something you'll be hearing much more about here on method lust, trust me.

82%. How about my hometown of Greensboro, NC tries this out. I mean, we are freakin' called GREENSboro. Maybe it's about time we started acting like it...

are you a good bag, or a bad bag?

Intriguing! Walmart is currently doing reusable bag testing in a select number of their stores, where you are REQUIRED to purchase a reusable bag (or bring your own!) View the video here (embedding has been unfortunately disabled!) Then come on back. Don't worry, I'll wait. I have a cup of hot tea and some mint M&Ms to keep me busy til you get back...

+

So, what do you think? Personally, I think it's a great idea (to a point!) If people won't do it on their own (and we all know the majority of Americans. They don't do anything unless they're made to! Wait, did I just say that?) than just make them buy the bags. My only problem with this "solution" is something people don't always keep in mind. Reusable bags can become just as much of a problem as plastic bags, if the situation isn't kept in check. If someone went to Walmart and bought a new set of reusable bags every time, well, that's just wasteful. And landfill-ful, after a while, too. I have seven reusable tote bags. Six regular size, one oversized for big purchases. And that's it. That's all I need. I resist (most) urges to take more, when they're given to me (unless they're method totes! Then I just grab! Ha ha!)

But I remember when I first starting doing the reusable totes thing, it was hard at times for me to remember my bags, also. Now I ended up carrying the items out in my arms, bagless. Sort of a "punishment" to remind me to bring my bags with me next time. But I can see how after a while people might either get frustrated from having to buy them multiple times, and that will help them remember; or they'll just finally get into the habit.

What I'm NOT a fan of is Walmart's low-end cheap reusable bag "that will tear after a while." They're completely missing the entire point! But then Walmart equaling cheap? Who would have guessed! Ahem... But hopefully they're on the right track, and people will catch on with time.

Thoughts?

mr. shiny suds

UPDATE NOW, with Take Action-ability!

+

Leave it to method to always take something just ONE step further than you feel comfortable with. And I mean that in a good way! This video is hysterical! Not only are the shiny suds sexist frat boys, but I love when the woman says "what the f*!?" upon discovering them in the morning. ONLY in a method video! Ha ha! It looks like method made this video themselves, which is sorta a peek into what their television commercials could look like, if they were to ever go in that direction! Enjoy!

behind the scenes

You know, I've always been interested in seeing just exactly what happens to my recyclables once I've thrown them in the container, and the waste management trucks have picked them up! So I finally did some investigating, and it's rather interesting! Check it out!

new morning routine?

Giggle, giggle! Ok, I just have to share this adorable PSA (or is that Pee-SA? Yeah, I can't take credit for that, either, it was mentioned in the article! LOL) that method just twittered about on their method tweet (which you can also read here on method lust! Just scroll down, a bit further, keep going, to your right... there!)

It's all about.... drum roll, peeing in your shower to save water! The article, which comes to us from mother nature network (mnn.com), says:

"No matter how long we stay in or what kind of showerhead we use, we all have unique shower routines and rituals, some more complex than others. The Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Altantica, via a cute, kid-oriented TV ad campaign called "Xixi no Banho," suggests that citizens add one more task to their soaping-up, shampooing, conditioning and shaving routines — peeing.

The group believes that by adding a yellow stream to the morning's shower, one toilet flush can be prevented. If one flush is avoided each day in a single household, 4,380 liters (1,157 gallons) of water is saved per year.

As you'll see in the below, um, "PeeSA," Gandhi, Michael Jordan and Alfred Hitchcock are portrayed emptying their bladders while rinsing off. Now if that's not inspiration for young Brazilians to tinkle in the tub, I don't know what is.
- Matt Hickman"

+

So, uh, what do you think? Of course I know most of your first reactions are going to be "eww! Gross!" But then maybe take a step back, and think it through. As a couple commenters on the mnn.com said say:

"Urine from healthy people is sterile!" and "You Americans are really funny. I don't see what the big deal is. I always peed in the shower. Eating McDonald's hamburgers is way more disgusting." (And they're probably right, especially after you watch Food, Inc. Gah.) and, get THIS! "Actually... your pee contains urea which is an ingredient that is found in OTC fungal treatments. Yet, pee alone won't cure athletes foot." along with "Urea is also found in many lotions. It keeps your skin nice and hydrated. Portuguese urine used to be highly desirable back in the day before commercial lotions were available. It was also used as a tooth whitening agent!"

Wow, who knew, right? And did we want to know? Ok, so I bet no one will admit they do this even if they do, but imagine if everyone followed through, and each person saved 1,157 gallons of water a year. Yeah, that would add up quick! Thoughts? Will these be part of your new morning routine? (No one is going to comment on this post, I just know it! - Be brave!)

the great pacific garbage patch

+

You can also check out this documentary on The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, on VBS.tv (the first three, of eleven, are currently online.) video one | video two | video three

+

And here's an interesting observation, from one viewer:

"My first thought after watching was “I am NEVER using plastic again!”. But seriously folks, that is not an easy thing to do. The computer I’m typing on right now is made of plastic. My glasses have plastic in the frames. I’m not sure it would even be possible to replace everything in my life that is made with plastic (my car, for example). While I applaud the efforts of bloggers like Fake Plastic Fish and Life Less Plastic the sad reality is that this problem – the toxic plastic garbage wasteland of the North Pacific gyre – is not going to go away because a few of us choose to use stainless steel tupperware or cloth grocery bags. The problem is not only global (want another freaky thought? there are four other oceanic Gyres on Earth…) , but goes to the very nature of our society and its dependence on a material that is non-biodegradable and unmanageable as waste. It’s bad enough that we Westerners created this stuff and then became totally dependent on it, but now we are exporting our disposable plastic lifestyle to countries that lack curbside recycling and waste management facilities.

But even if we were to recycle every piece of plastic manufactured there would still be the issue of garbage (ever seen what happens to the area around a McDonalds restaurant, despite the presence of multiple waste bins?). There’s also those darned nurdles – the tiny plastic pellets that are melted down and then coloured and moulded into the final product – which escape from train cars and truck beds, blowing in the wind like dust, and collecting all over the earth’s surface including the oceans.

I think what needs to happen is we need to make this issue so well-known that people raise enough of a stink about it to prompt some change. People need to start viewing plastic the same way we view non-dolphin friendly tuna. Our society needs to invent/find materials to replace plastic that can be disposed of responsibly and which do not pose such a threat to life on this planet.

In the meantime, I’m going to do my bit by trying to cut all unnecessary plastic out of my life (starting with my shampoo). I have written in the past about being plastic bag free; Google around and you’ll come up with many more suggestions and tips. And if you feel overwhelmed, as I did when I first watched that documentary, just take a deep breath and say to yourself “One step at a time”… Spread the word, and hopefully one day the ecological horror show that is Garbage Island will become simply one more embarrassing episode of human history that we somehow managed to survive without going extinct.
- Rural Aspirations"

+

In one great note that made me happy this weekend, I've discovered that there are a few cashiers at Target that now, even if I don't pull out my reusable tote/don't have it with me at that moment the cashier will not place the item in a bag, but simply put it on the counter while I finish checking out. (Sometimes I forget it, rarely; but sometimes. In those cases though, I ALWAYS carry the item out bagless. Always.) They actually recognize me as the "reusable tote guy!" and I don't even have to yell out quickly "I have my own bag!" anymore! Yes, see, you can teach old cashiers new tricks (or even young cashiers, or middle-age cashiers, or...!)

shock and awe

Wow. Just wow. The world does work in mysterious ways, let me tell ya! How so, you ask? Well, get this.

So uhm, remember this from April? Ok, well, specifically, this part:

"You know, recently I had a big disagreement (we won't call it an argument, though if it went on any longer, it definitely would have been. Possibly with fists?) with a friend's mother! (I know, his mother! And yes, friend, you know who you are! (Shakes fist in air!) I think his hidden goal was to get me all riled up, cause actually, well, he's evil. Ha ha! But in the end, all my talk of polar bears drowning, method lusting, helping the earth in small ways, and just say no to plastic bags was met with "well if we don't use plastic, what will we make everything out of?/global warming is a bunch of baloney/green cleaning products should be the exact same price as the crappy cleaning products that cost me nothing cause they're made of bad, nasty chemicals (but since they're not, I ain't buyin' them)/I'm not about to take any responsibility myself"-ness. And honestly, I'm still slightly erked."

Yeah, that post. Ha ha! So get this... said friend sends me an email a couple days ago. And the shorthand version is:

"Just wanted to let you know, my mom told me she finally went out and purchased a hand towel to use in the kitchen, instead of constantly using paper towels. And it was all because of the conversation we'd had during that drive (to Ikea.)"

My mouth dropped to the floor, I think literally, upon reading this. I mean (and yes, he's reading this - Hi, Sam!) if there was ever anyone I thought I simply couldn't crack when it came to this eco thing, it would have been his mother! Moral of this story is truly, you never know WHAT could come from a green conversation with someone, anyone! That little seed might actually get planted, and you may never know! So next time the opportunity arises, and you start thinking "Oh, why bother? What I say will never make a difference, big or small." Say it anyway, you just might be surprised.

- Even if it's three months later. Wow!