method for the win!

I love the tips and tricks for more green cleaning, too! (And really, who doesn't want to wear method's lavender scent as perfume/cologne! Come on, I know you've thought about it, too!)

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!

one man review - the method method

Guess who just reviewed method's brand spankin' new book, the method method? Oh, yeah, that would be moi! And you can read my review over on method's official people against dirty blog today! Right now! This very instant! What are you waiting for? (You know you wanna!) So go, go, Speed Racer!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

here's the dirt

Take a look-see! method has gone composting! Word, if only I could get my office to sincerely make an attempt at recycling their plastic water bottles (or hey, not buy water bottles at ALL!) But as one employee at my office likes to (jokingly?) say: "More trash for Mother Earth! Fill'er up!" Yeah, I'm working an uphill battle here, folks.

Anyway, over on their (oh you know by now) official method people against dirty blog, the word of the day is composting!

"Though we may be people against dirty, we do make one exception for the grimy stuff…compost! A family of happy, well-fed worms resides in our 3rd floor kitchen, and chomps the day away while the rest of us work.

Much to our delight, our hunky San Francisco mayor has just made sure that we’re not the only ones reveling in green bin fun. Gavin Newsom signed a new law that mandates composting across the city and county of San Francisco.

While worm-haters will eventually be fined for not separating out their food scraps, the city will first spread the message through an educational campaign. Seems like a cool way to put the carrot before the stick. We’ll be on the lookout for pizza boxes that instruct the masses to recycle a clean box and compost a greasy box (see Gavin’s demo piece above). As if the boxes are ever grease free.

The good people of San Francisco already have much to be proud of – our fair city already diverts 72 percent of waste bound for landfills to recycling and composting programs. The new pro-worm, anti-methane law will hopefully help the city meet its 2020 goal of sending zero waste to landfill. And you wonder where we get our inspiration from.
- Katie S."

+

Wow! The part that really stands out to me is "(the) law will hopefully help the city meet its 2020 goal of sending zero waste to landfill." That's BIG! But uh, how does that work exactly? I mean, can you compost couches, and razor blades? I'm not sure what they mean when they say zero waste to landfills. Anyone with more information, let me know! I'm really curious! Comment away!

Does this mean method lust's next eco-challenge should be composting? I've always shied away from this. It just seems foreign to me. And confusing. All I know is there are worms involved. That live in containers. LOL Perhaps I should become a little more compost knowledgeable! I'll get back to you on this one!

Do you compost? Love it? Hate it? Tell us!

to blow, or not to blow

Alright, I have a question for all you method lusters? In the land of going green, I often times start thinking to myself "how far is too far? Is there a too far? When will my friends think I've completely gone over the edge? When do the men in white come to pick me up? Will they serve hot chocolate? Cause I'd love a cup! Mmm, but wearing all that white, they might not be too eager to be serving hot chocolate. Perhaps a nice white mocha instead, that'd work well also..." Oh, Uhm, my question to you is - hankerchiefs? Lust'em? Hate'em? Wouldn't ever date'em?

You see, I think hankerchiefs are a love/hate kind of thing. My dad has always used a hankerchief, but I was never really attacted to the idea. I mean, blowing your nose on this piece of fabric, then sliding it back into your pants pocket for "next time." I mean, come on now, you know? And I think that's what really grosses most people out.

But a couple years ago, I decided to pick up a pack. I'm a retro sorta guy, and hankerchiefs suddenly took on an "old school sophisticated" style that I'd been missing. And so I'll keep one in my truck, and use it when needed, and you know what, it's not gross at all. I'm surprised! I own about three of them (they usually come in packs of three) and since I live in North Carolina, allergy capital of the world as far as I'm concerned (it's crazy! Seriously!) I use a LOT of tissues. And I started wondering this week "You know, Nathan. If you started using your hankerchiefs around the house, instead of grabbing for a tissue every time you had to blow your nose; just think of all the tissues you'd save! Which would be better for the environment, AND my wallet!" Of course I'd keep a box in the bathroom for guests. I haven't gone THAT crazy! ("You need a tissue? Oh, there's a hankerchief in the bathroom! Just use that! But don't forget to fold it up all nice like, maybe in the shape of a swan or something, for the next guest to use!" Ha ha!)

It's sort of like my "no more paper towels" usage. All cloths to clean now. Use, wash, reuse, no waste. I could just throw the hankerchiefs in with the cleaning cloths once a week! So what do you think of this? Are hankerchiefs just nasty to you? Is it all in our heads? Would this help the environment out if everyone started using them? Or is my white mocha on it's way?

Mmm... white mocha.

earth day comes but once a year...

...and yet we can do so much to help out Mother Earth each and every day! Earth Day 2009 happens to be April 22 (Yeah, that'd be this Wednesday!) So let's all celebrate in style! So we'll have an earth to celebrate for zillions and zillions of years to come!

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. (But plenty of therapy will help me out on this one, let's hope? Ok?)

Which reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons that just ran this past weekend. Where Lisa had to do a report on her town, 50 years in the future. And when she went to research it, her information was full of earthly doom and gloom! It just gets worse and worse!" She exclaimed after doing some internet searching, which resulted in a doctor prescribing some happy pills in the name of Ignoritol! (Gotta lust that name!) And it was just so perfect. There are so many people out there just DANGED and DETERMINED to ignore it all! And if it doesn't fit into their plans, too bad. And you know what, I can take a lot from people; but when it comes to ignorance with either the subject of homosexuality, OR being green for the environment/saving the earth for us, and future generations; well, I lose my patience!

Yeah, you've been warned! LOL

So, with all that said, what are YOUR plans this Earth Day? What thing will you do to make this planet a better place for us all, animal, plant, and man? Remember, it doesn't have to be anything big. Small wins out, too. If everyone did something small, guess what, it'd become BIG! So bike to work, eat lunch at work (instead of driving somewhere to eat), buy organic food, go plastic bagless (word, what do I have to say to you to get this into your head? Seriously, where is my hammer? OH, there it is!), go paper towel-less, plant a tree, plant a garden, start using only method cleaning products (shameless plug, I know!) So, what will YOU be doing this Earth Day? Tell us!

+

image: caglecartoons.com

one person's trash..

A very insightful article from the Washington Post concerning a drop in trash! (Isn't it funny that they actually measure things like drops and surges in trash?)

"A Trashed Economy Foretold | By Brigid Schulte

Along with the stock market and the foreclosure rate, a less-heralded barometer has signaled the arrival of hard times: the landfill.

In an extravagantly wasteful society that typically puts 254 million tons of unwanted stuff at the curb to be thrown away each year, landfill managers say they knew something was amiss in the economy when they saw trash levels start steadily dropping last year. Now, some are reporting declines as sharp as 30 percent.

"The trash man is the first one to know about a recession because we see it first," said Richard S. Weber, manager of the Loudoun County landfill. "Circuit City's closing, so people aren't going there and buying those big boxes of stuff and throwing away all that Styrofoam and shrink-wrap . . . and whatever they were replacing."

Trash volume has dropped so much, Weber said, that instead of running out of space in 2012, as had been projected, the Loudoun landfill will gain a year and a half or so of use. "That's huge," he said.

In Prince William County, which has been particularly hard hit with foreclosures, the amount of discarded refrigerators, washers, dryers and other appliances that are usually sent to the landfill has fallen by 20 percent since the recession started. "People aren't buying new," said Tom Smith, solid waste program manager. "They're making do with what they have."

It's all part of the cycle of stuff that people in the trash business say they've seen in every economic downturn since the end of World War II. People don't buy stuff, so there's less packaging -- which typically makes up one-third of all landfill trash -- to toss. With a drop in demand, manufacturers make less, creating less waste. More vacant homes and fewer people in a community mean less trash. A stagnant housing market means less construction debris. On tight budgets, people eat out less, so restaurants order less, so there's less to throw away. Landscapers are out of work, so there's less yard debris.

At the Montgomery County transfer station, it wasn't unusual to see as many as 40 garbage trucks waiting in a line that snaked nearly a mile back to the entrance gate on Shady Grove Road to dump their loads. "Now, there's virtually no line," manager Peter Karasik said. "Ever."

Even in Virginia, which takes in more out-of-state garbage than any state save one, trash men began noticing declines in late 2007 of 10 to 20 percent. "And normally garbage is a pretty steady business because everybody wants to get rid of it," said Richard Doucette, a waste program manager with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Now, he said, some landfills are laying off workers.

Finally, said Ben Boxer, spokesman for Fairfax County's solid waste management program, the economy is forcing people to heed the environmentalists' mantra: Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! Repair! "A lot of these things that people throw away do have a valuable second life," he said, "especially for those who, now more than ever, are going to be facing difficult times."

In better times, Boxer has seen perfectly usable sofas crammed into dumpsters. But now, instead of ending up at the dump, stuff is being repaired and kept or traded on Web sites such as Freecycle.org, where as many as 70,000 people a week have been registering to swap stuff since the recession officially began in the fall.

Americans might not be saving string and rubber bands like their grandparents did during the Great Depression. But as the recession drags on, they are clearly rethinking the way they use their plentiful stuff.

These are the kinds of times that compel Paul Zehfuss to drive about 15 minutes from Springfield to Alexandria during his lunch hour to a new store that sells only batteries to get a little more life out of his electric toothbrush.

In other times, Zehfuss would have "absolutely" tossed the thing. His two-year-old silver Braun would have become just another ounce in what some environmental groups calculate as the 25,000 tons of toothbrushes Americans throw away every year.

"I realize this is kind of stupid," Zehfuss said. "But I'd rather replace the battery right now than buy new.""

Head here to read the rest of the article!

+

You know, something that drives me batty is when I see perfectly good items being pushed to the curb for the trash to pick up, instead of going to the local Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc! What is the deal with people becoming SO lazy, they'd rather just throw it out on their yard than take it to one of these retail stores so that some additional use can be gotten from not only the object, but it helps to employ people in need at these businesses! I've thought more times than not of just picking it up and dragging it there myself (and have on occasion done this!) But I think it'd become a full time job if I was to get really serious about it! So come on people, do your part to reduce trash in the landfills, and help out these businesses! No more good furniture, etc. on the curbs!

Oh, and the guy that used to throw his electric toothbrushes away, instead of just buying new batteries for it. He. Should. Be. Shot. Seriously, who are these people? Just how wasteful can one person be? OH my word. Ridiculous. If he's got that much money to waste, he could just buy ME an electric toothbrush, cause Nathan ain't got enough money to be buying himself one! He's gotta manually go up and down on his pearly whites (well, actually coffee tainted whites.) Geesh! - Nathan's rant, over and out.

what happened to adam's hair?!

Oh, and yeah, you can read about Adam and Eric's latest (and second!) trip to the White House, too!