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!

poll: real or fake?

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not even Halloween yet. And after that, we've got Thanksgiving. And then, Christmas! But here's the thing, last night me and the boyfriend were having an argument, disagreement, discussion about Christmas trees. More so, about which was the more eco-friendly choice. A real tree, or a fake tree? The boyfriend, he's for fake trees. Cutting down real trees is "mean", and if people keep their fake trees for many years, it balances out the initial negatives. Me, I'm for real trees. They're grown specifically for the holiday purpose, a new tree is planted in it's place, and at the end of the holidays many cities turn them into mulch now.

I found one article from Yahoo! Green that I thought was pretty interesting! (And by pretty interesting, I mean agreed with my opinion! Ha!)

"If you want a tree for the holiday, the experts at Grist and TreeHugger say it's actually better to buy a cut real Christmas tree than an artificial tree. Why? In a word, plastics. Fake trees are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Producing this type of plastic creates a lot of pollution, and PVC is difficult to recycle."

But method lust wants to know how you feel! Real, or fake? Which do you feel is more eco-friendly, and why?

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!

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!

method hearts virgin!

Oh how you will totally want to check out this adorable video above, and then click on over to method's official people against dirty blog to learn all about it, and their collaboration with Virgin America!

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..."

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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?

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!

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."

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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!

summer with seo!

It's a video kind of day here at methodlust! method's official people against dirty blog has posted this video with Danny Seo, giving us some cool environmental ways of getting rid of mosquitos and entertaining with style in the summer! Enjoy!