The other day I had to throw out a pair of socks for extreme wear. Then I realized that many of my socks were in disrepair, so I added them to a long growing list of clothing items I needed to replace. As a mother of two I often dream I could indulge a bit more into fashion and shopping, rather it usually goes on a list until things get really unsightly. Well as it so happens (a small tangent here) my wonderful husband and generous friends had all conspired to gift me a shopping spree for my 30th birthday. Their overwhelming generosity allowed me to pick up all the things on my growing list and then some.
When I returned home from shopping I quickly went to work putting the new clothes away and creating a pile of clothes to donate. When I came across my favorite pair of sock, overall they were in decent shape, but they had a very annoying hole in the toe (the kind of hole that when worn surrounds your big toe and then proceeds to strangle it all day, annoying). As I went to toss them in the trash a light bulb went off… If you like the socks so much FIX THEM YOU IDIOT. What…fix a pair of socks…who does that…
Well this thought threw me into a spiral of thoughts. But the end result is this… When did we stop fixing things? I hear tell of women darning socks, patching pants, fixing hems. When did our society stop doing this? I know the answer, when women started working. But seriously it took me less than two minutes to sew up the hole in my sock, are we really that busy? It took me all of ten minutes after that to fix a hem in a pair of pants, Grey’s Anatomy is much longer than that.
Expanding on our throw away culture. There are other things that break in our lives and we just toss them out for the next best thing. There are even things that aren’t broken that we replace (cell phones, anyone). Our culture has gotten complacent in replacing things that don’t need replace, and I am a part of that. So here is my pledge. I will attempt to fix the things that break in my life. If I break it worse (which is quite possible, no harm done). Who knows it could be a new skill, but I know my carbon footprint will be smaller because of it!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
For When I have a house: Part 1
I currently live in a unique situation. My housing is provided with my job. I have been in this situation for almost a decade and live for the day that I can buy my first house. Making that house as green as possible is something that I am dedicated to do. This is the first (hopefully among many) entries that I will write to help me categorize the green home emprovement tips.
Strangely the article that sparked this entry came from the November, 2008 issue of Cooking Light (the only magazine that we subscribe to). The article was on Flooring Fundamentals. I have been interested in how to floor my house for a few years now. I have read many articles about the high amounts of toxins found in traditional carpeting. I have also been turned off from carpets made of carpet (because any environmentalist worth their weight tries to eliminate as much plastic from our lives as possible). For the same reasons vinyl (made of PVC's) is out of the question. That leaves my with tile and hardwood.
Tile has a few drawbacks. One it is expensive. Two it is relatively breakable. The natural stone tiles are beautiful and non-toxic, but they are not a renewable resource. The ceramic tiles are cheaper and more renewable but who knows what the glazes are made of. Recently on the market are glass tiles, often made from found/recycled glass. These are very pretty and durable but can be costly and should be used more for walls and backsplashes (you need less material and so the cost isn't as prohibitive).
Wood floors are popular, renewable, durable, pretty... and expensive. But some of the hardwood is made from virgin wood (whether from the rain-forest or deciduous forests). I don't want to cut down a forest just so my house can be trendy... The easiest and best solution that I have found is Bamboo. It is the safe-haven of home flooring. It is cheap, beautiful, and renewable. Bamboo grows fast and rejuvenates itself. Easy on the environment and non-toxic for indoor air quality. Also good are cork and Eucalptus (though they are both a bit more costly. On the extreme high end of cost is the reclaimed wood movement. This is an increbily interesting idea. When wood structures are condemned, people will come in and remove the wood from siding to floors and old beams. The resulting product is wood flooring with extreme amounts of character, but the cost is prohibitive for most.
But wait there is last minute entry for best flooring option. It is one that has been used in the states since the 50's. It has received a bad rap for the crazy patterns and dated looks that it can give homes. But linoleum is not a bad choice. I found out that it is made from a renewalbe natural product (linseed oil). It is CHEAP, VERY CHEAP. I would caution for more research into what the glue and sealers used in production are made of. In addition, it can be fairly unsightly and look fairly cheap. But in the end it isn't to be ruled out for a flooring option in my house.
Strangely the article that sparked this entry came from the November, 2008 issue of Cooking Light (the only magazine that we subscribe to). The article was on Flooring Fundamentals. I have been interested in how to floor my house for a few years now. I have read many articles about the high amounts of toxins found in traditional carpeting. I have also been turned off from carpets made of carpet (because any environmentalist worth their weight tries to eliminate as much plastic from our lives as possible). For the same reasons vinyl (made of PVC's) is out of the question. That leaves my with tile and hardwood.
Tile has a few drawbacks. One it is expensive. Two it is relatively breakable. The natural stone tiles are beautiful and non-toxic, but they are not a renewable resource. The ceramic tiles are cheaper and more renewable but who knows what the glazes are made of. Recently on the market are glass tiles, often made from found/recycled glass. These are very pretty and durable but can be costly and should be used more for walls and backsplashes (you need less material and so the cost isn't as prohibitive).
Wood floors are popular, renewable, durable, pretty... and expensive. But some of the hardwood is made from virgin wood (whether from the rain-forest or deciduous forests). I don't want to cut down a forest just so my house can be trendy... The easiest and best solution that I have found is Bamboo. It is the safe-haven of home flooring. It is cheap, beautiful, and renewable. Bamboo grows fast and rejuvenates itself. Easy on the environment and non-toxic for indoor air quality. Also good are cork and Eucalptus (though they are both a bit more costly. On the extreme high end of cost is the reclaimed wood movement. This is an increbily interesting idea. When wood structures are condemned, people will come in and remove the wood from siding to floors and old beams. The resulting product is wood flooring with extreme amounts of character, but the cost is prohibitive for most.
But wait there is last minute entry for best flooring option. It is one that has been used in the states since the 50's. It has received a bad rap for the crazy patterns and dated looks that it can give homes. But linoleum is not a bad choice. I found out that it is made from a renewalbe natural product (linseed oil). It is CHEAP, VERY CHEAP. I would caution for more research into what the glue and sealers used in production are made of. In addition, it can be fairly unsightly and look fairly cheap. But in the end it isn't to be ruled out for a flooring option in my house.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
1st post
Today I start an adventure. I have been thinking about creating a blog for a long time now and finally have enough to say that I think someone might like to read.
I am starting this for several purposes:
1. I have a stack of magazine articles that I find interesting and want to remember. But I don't want to have them cluttering my kitchen counter any longer.
2. I want to remember all the useful tips I find for when I have a house of my own.
3. I wanted a way to organize my research for my Master's thesis. For those that are interested the question is: Does feeding children organically reduce their risk of potential health hazards.
4. Give me a space that I can proudly jump on my soap box of environmental radicalism without the scorn of the "non-believers".
I will probably think of other uses for this site, but for now that seems good enough.
I am starting this for several purposes:
1. I have a stack of magazine articles that I find interesting and want to remember. But I don't want to have them cluttering my kitchen counter any longer.
2. I want to remember all the useful tips I find for when I have a house of my own.
3. I wanted a way to organize my research for my Master's thesis. For those that are interested the question is: Does feeding children organically reduce their risk of potential health hazards.
4. Give me a space that I can proudly jump on my soap box of environmental radicalism without the scorn of the "non-believers".
I will probably think of other uses for this site, but for now that seems good enough.
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