Is it better....

to use regular plates and glasses instead of plastic or disposables if you keep breaking them?

I seem to be having a butterfingers problem. Last week -- broke a glass. Tonight -- broke a plate and a dessert bowl. What's going on? And that's not really an isolated incident. I figure that I break (accidentally!) about one plate or glass a month. Broken glass is not recyclable.

I guess I'm still ahead of the game, but sheesh! None of the information I've read about the benefits of reusables mentions breaking stuff.

Then there's the rag I used to wipe up the shards because I wasn't getting all of the micro-shards with the broom. I threw that away. At least I used a really gross rag.

And how about last week, when I was bringing home the groceries in lovely canvas bags, and then dropped one of the bags (how this happened, I don't know) that contained 2 bottles of wine. I ended up throwing away the bag because I just couldn't deal with all the shards of glass and didn't want to put it in the washer like that.

El Reciclaje -- Recycling in Spanish

I'm so excited that today we started the community action chapter in Spanish class. Part of the chapter focuses on recycling. This gives me a legit way to talk to my (kid) students about what we can and can't recycle. I had already banned throwing away paper in the classroom :) and I make the students use one piece of paper over and over for warm-ups instead of starting on a fresh sheet of paper (Why do they want to do that? I don't get it.) I'm trying to think of something to really push the boundaries and learn Spanish at the same time. Ideas?

Tape

This year I have also been lashing out against tape. In an elementary school it's hard to be a purist about this, because tape is so prevalent. However, I tell the kids that it's better to glue than to tape because tape has plastic and will last forever. Maybe that's oversimplifying things. I'm pretty much making up my explanation, so I thought I'd consult Fake Plastic Fish. Sure 'nuff -- tape has plastic -- she encourages people to use either paper tape or something else.

In the meantime, my students are beginning to think I'm crazy. "She hates tape!" "She thinks the pencil sharpener is too loud!" "She cries out in pain if I throw paper in the trash!"

But come on. The pencil sharpener is REALLY loud. For Pete's sake... what happened to the pencil sharpeners that worked on people power? The electric ones stop class. It can't be money. The manual ones cost about $15 new. The electric ones? Around 30. Wow.

And the magic of giving a kid a little pencil sharpener with a catcher for the shavings? I don't see many of those. But "GGGGGGRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZ!!!!" in the middle of class? ALL the time.

Recycling Pizza Boxes

Every Friday, my school orders 20 pizzas. They come in a cardboard box. It's not coated with wax, so no worries there. We pass out tons of pizza and then toss the boxes in the trash (gasp!) OR we have this kind of face-off:

Rule Girl: Pizza boxes can't be recycled.
Green teacher: We can tear off the tops and recycle them. Those don't have any cheese or grease.
Green mom: Some of the bottoms don't have any grease either. Let's recycle those too!

After Green mom left, Green teachers (there were 3) were getting the cardboard ready for the bin and found several boxes that did (!) have grease on them. Ahhhh... the slippery slope. So I thought I'd find out what the real deal is on pizza boxes.

According to Earth911, pizza boxes CAN be recycled as long as you tear off any parts that have grease or food on them. The top of the box can usually be torn off and recycled with no problem.

According to the City of Austin recycling website, pizza boxes and any cardboard with food residue, should go in the garbage. I also checked another City of Austin site, in which you can look up things alphabetically. Under "P" for pizza, it says:
"Solid Waste Services cannot recycle pizza boxes due to food and grease contamination. Please put pizza boxes in your garbage cart."

Hmmmm... what a quandry.

Apparently, the people who sneak in contaminated boxes cause a problem. The grease and food contaminates the materials, causing wasted materials and money.

While searching around, I happened upon a pizza chain called Pizza Fusion, which offers a discount if you bring back your pizza box. Reusing. Interesting.

The conclusion seems to be that the City of Austin does NOT accept pizza boxes. Having seen what happened at school last week, I understand why. But it still seems okay to me to pull of the clean tops and recycle those. Of course, the boxes could be shredded or torn up for compost. But that's a lot of tearing during a 20 minute lunch period.

Any thoughts?

More Scouting News

This week the Daisy scouts in my troop are going to earn the "Use Resources Wisely" petal. We are following up on a hike that we took at a nature preserve. Our guide told us that every 4 months Austin sends enough trash to the landfill to fill the Erwin Center (for you non-Austinites, the Erwin Center is where we have big concerts. It's really big.)

So, we are going to have a kindergarten level discussion of the 3 R's, with an emphasis on "Reduce". I am bringing a big box of trash (I wonder how this will go over. Hopefully okay. The trash is clean.) that we are going to look at and sort. We will also talk about what other choices we could make to reduce the amount of trash. I will make every effort to be cool and not preachy :)

I've been looking around for cool things to tell the girls. About 50% of carpet is made of recycled plastic. Interesting. So is fleece and the filling of sleeping bags. But the tip I'm happiest about is from No Impact Man -- wrap your sandwiches in the liner of cereal boxes. Why did I never think of that?

Green Daisy Scout Snack

This year I became a girl scout. It's really exciting for me because my mother didn't let me become a girl scout when I was little. She said it was a fascist organization. I think it's a nice way for my daughter to make friends.

Somehow, I ended up being the troop leader. I did not intend to be the troop leader when I went to the sign-up meeting, but now I am, and that's pretty fun too.

At each meeting, the girls have a snack. Usually, we have a designated snack mom. I have discovered that 10 5-year-olds don't pay any attention to the meeting until they have had a snack. Also that chocolate cupcakes are more popular than vanilla cupcakes.

Some of the moms bring little bottles of water. The girls usually like the bottles, but I have noticed that they don't actually DRINK much of the water. One day, we had a field trip and I brought along Capri-Sun juices. I think that they're slightly better than juice boxes because at least the packaging is smaller, and neither one is recyclable. I'm not sure if that's right. Again, however, the girls had a few sips and that was it. A giant waste.

So I bought a bunch of little Dixie cups -- you know -- the size that you have in the bathroom to rinse your mouth after you brush your teeth (although I always just filled my hand with water, but I digress). I told the girls that they could fill a cup with water from the water fountain if they were thirsty. That seems to work fine. (And they can have their water with them at the table instead of being in a big line at the fountain).

I guess it would be better to have permanent cups for each girl, but I'm just not there yet. Maybe when we do the "Use Resources Responsibly" petal.

So, what do you think? Is a dixie cup better than a Capri sun wrapper? Is Capri Sun (the juice, not the juice "drink") better than a juice box (not recyclable in our area)? I assume that a plastic water bottle is the worst, even if recycled. Especially if it doesn't even serve its purpose -- it seems a big waste for 3 or 4 sips of water.

Killing Trees

I'm a teacher. This semester, I'm teaching all kinds of classes. I try to minimize my use of paper. I always print on both sides of the paper; I use scratch paper to print out my lesson plans and things that students won't see, or I fold it and make it into a little coloring book for my kids.

But teaching is paper intensive. Another option is to use overheads. But then I wonder -- is it better to make an overhead, that will save about 100 pages of paper over its lifetime, or is the overhead worse? I guess paper can be reused and composted or recycled, and the plastic in the overhead will never go away, so I'm guessing that a copy is better.

I generally make my students share copies, if possible. For example, if I want them to read a poem in pairs, I give one copy per pair. Then, I often make them turn it back in and I save it for the next semester.

Many schools are now using ELMO, or another document camera. With this technology, the teacher can project a paper or picture (or anything, really) onto a screen without making an overhead. I imagine that it uses a lot of energy.

What do you think?
Overhead or copies for the class?
Elmo or copies?
Overhead or Elmo?
Slates for each child?

Importing Recycling

I know that you've been wondering where I've been. I've been a slacker. No... not, really. I moved, and then I went on a family trip to Mexico. But now... I'm back! (yeah!)

I've done a lot of traveling in Latin America, but since I had kids.... not so much. When I went to Isla Mujeres (a little island close to Cancun) this last week, I realized that I hadn't been to Mexico in at least six years. That's pretty crazy, considering that I love to travel and live in Texas.

I'm not sure what the water situation is in Isla, but I have been sick enough when traveling that I was really paranoid about drinking the water. So, for a week, we drank bottled water (boo... hiss!) I could not find it in anything but plastic bottles. Luckily, our hotel had a water cooler that we used to fill up the bottles, but between the water and some juices, I ended up with quite a plastic bottle collection. I couldn't find anywhere to recycle them (or anything, for that matter). So, I ended up importing the empties (most of them, I'm not a saint... I did throw some away) for recycling in the US.

In my previous travels, it was much easier to get a glass bottle (especially for juice and sodas), and the glass bottles were always returnable. Almost every glass bottle that our group used (many many beer bottles, as we were testing all the Mexican beers for an important research project) was non-returnable. Why? Why would they make a specifically non-returnable bottle?
I'm pretty used to this, because in Texas we don't have deposit bottles, but I thought that it was common in Latin America. When I have traveled around, you were frequently not allowed to take the bottle with you if you got a drink, or it was poured into a plastic bag so you could take it "to go". (I know... plastic bag = evil, but returnable bottle = good).

What's going on? Is this common throughout Mexico? Is it because of US influence? Are returnable bottles going out of style? Or is it just because I was in a tourist area?

Vacationing with Kids

We have 3 children -- currently aged 6, 4 and 2. This summer, they'll all turn 1 year older :)
I LOVE to go on vacation. It's basically the only thing that I'm really willing to spend money on. I'm not really a luxury vacation kind of person, but I have to get away several times a year, or I go crazy. That's why I have a job with lots of vacation built in :)

Before I had children, I used to rent out my apartment every summer, take my giant summer pay check and go to South America for the summer. Things become more complicated with kids, especially when there are 3 of 'em.

Four years ago, we took the two oldest (at the time almost 3 and almost 1 -- I can't believe we did this, looking back) to Spain. We had a great time, but we spent a LOT of money... and this is before the Euro was where it is now. We also realized that because of the fact that we were traveling with kids, we couldn't really do the things that we used to do when we traveled on our own. That's frustrating at times, but can also be good because the nice thing about kids is....

You're "allowed" to do things with kids that you might not normally do as an adult.

For example:

• inhale marshmallows straight out of the package if there's a burn ban and you can't make a fire.
  
• float down the river on a giant sea horse raft.
• Dance in a circle, twirling a girl on each arm.
• Play mommy cat and baby cat.
• Lay under the stars, trying to figure out what that moving star is... (aliens?)
• Swim "in place" in a river current, with a cheering crowd
  

I did all these things just this past weekend. Sure, I could have done them on my own, but it doesn't feel goofy at all with kids... it just feels normal.

After our trip to Spain, C and I decided that we needed to focus more on vacationing close to home. It's less expensive (and also creates fewer emissions b/c of no flying!) and is just more realistic for us. When we took the kids to Spain, we spent almost all of our time at the playground or at the beach. When we went to the Prado, my kids kept trying to touch the paintings. They also had a super short attention span. We had a great time eating at bakeries in the mornings. We had fun meeting other families (guess where? beach and playground). To me, it didn't really make sense to travel so far to go to places that we have close to home. (Don't get me wrong... I LOVE Spain... and I know that the beaches and playgrounds are different... but still...)

This weekend, we went to one of the many Texas State Parks. I LOVE the state parks, but had not really spent any time in them until I had kids. Then I decided that they needed a dose of nature and we needed a cheap vacation. We spent 3 nights and 2 days for a total cost of 30 dollars in lodging, 10 dollars in popsicles, and 15 dollars in floats (plus groceries we brought from home). Totally worth it.

Ah... but is it a green vacation?
Yes and no.

Yes:
outdoor, off the grid (no electricity)
give kids and parents appreciation of nature
much better than flying somewhere
picked up some cans and bottles thrown around and brought them home to recycle
State park recycles aluminum :)
Saved shower water & heating of water by bathing in river for 3 days
Saved washing lots of clothes by wearing almost nothing but a bathing suit for 3 days
No:
drove there (I just can't escape this problem it seems... Texas is too darned big)
bought giant plastic sea horse float (I'm sorry! But I swear I'll use it again! And I have a patch kit in case it gets a flat!)
massive use of sunscreen ( but this is really unavoidable in the summertime in Texas unless we stay inside all the time. Of course not the perfectly green kind...)

Easy Green Happy Hour

How to have an easy green happy hour:

This worked really well because at our Whole Foods, you can buy wine, they will open it for you, and there is a really nice deck/patio thingy.

1. Invite people. Everybody picks a buddy.
2. One buddy buys drink, one buddy buys snacks. This way, you don't end up with 10 bottles of wine and no food.
3. One person brings picnic cups for everybody. (I have lots of plastic dinosaur cups -- they are a good size for a glass of wine, and it's not too hard to bring 10. Glass would be nicer, but more complicated.)
4. Compost all the food waste/paper after HH.
5. Recycle the (many!) bottles.

We did this last night, and it was really fun. It was also extremely stress-free and relaxing :)

Guardian of the Plastic

Do you ever feel like you are hoarding trash? Sometimes I do. For example, what am I supposed to do with a plastic bottle that held moisturizer? There's no recycling number on it, so I can't recycle it. Maybe I could use it for something else in the future. I keep trying to convince myself it's a fun bath toy, but really all that happens is that the kids squirt water on the floor.

How long do I have to hang on to plastic stuff that I don't want? I feel bad just chunking it in the trash, but that seems to be its destiny.

Also.... stickers. Stickers are the bane of my existence. There is nothing good to be said of them. Kids stick them on the furniture, on the walls, on the windows, on the floor, on their bodies (and then cry when you peel them off). Of course, they can't be recycled. They're just trash. Please stop giving my children trash! (This is directed to the world at large, including WF ... I don't care if the stickers are of dolphins.)

Can you tell I've had a frustrating day? Actually, it hasn't been too bad, but the stickers have been weighing on me lately.

An interesting plastic turning point has occurred this week -- our huge stockpile of plastic bags that we have been using as trash bags came to an end. What are we supposed to put our trash in? I feel like this is a dumb question, and there must be a really obvious answer, but really.... tell me. Here are the options that I can think of:

• paper bags -- but it will get gross and leak
• put the trash in other bags and non-recyclable containers -- this is what we're doing, but it makes a big mess.
• no bag -- C is fond of this option, but I find it icky.

It's true... I have a huge trash aversion (well, who doesn't?). The trash is totally C's department, but since I do most of the throwing of stuff in the trash, I probably get the most exposure to the trashcan. So, what to do?

The average American throws out 4.5 lbs. of trash a day. That means my family would be responsible for 22.5 lbs. of trash (a day!). I think that we're below average, but we still seem to throw out a lot of trash. The worms are helping out, little by little, but they really need to reproduce.

Driving Update & Depressing Plastic

Driving Update
Over the last week, C and I have driven a horrifying 287 miles! GAH! It seems like every week we drive MORE instead of less. Here's the breakdown:
190 miles -- camping trip
3 trips to elementary school - 12 (one of these trips was my fault because I overslept and my son missed the bus. Bad me!)
1 trip to work -- 8 miles (it was raining)
1 family trip to hang out with another family -- 8 miles
C drives to school -- 15 miles (or so)
"business" -- 40 miles (at least)
That leaves 14 miles. My estimates may be off.

I wish that we could drive less. The trips to the school are always in a carpool -- there is no bus service for PreK in the morning. The camping trip was a lot of driving, but there is a limited camping season before it gets too hot. I think camping is important for children, but I think driving is bad -- it's a quandry. I do feel good that we have basically eliminated a lot of the short trips we used to take in the car. I don't drive the car 1/2 mile to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner. I ride my bike or pick it up on the way home from school.

The main reasons that we drove this week were:
1. Camping -- impossible to reach any other way: 190 miles
2. Much faster to drive/need to carry kids or other stuff in car: 48 miles
3. Bad weather: 23 miles
4. Car pool: 8 miles
5. Oversleeping: 4 miles

We did keep to the goal of driving less than 100 miles if you leave out the camping trip, but I'm puzzled as to how to get the mileage down.

Depressing Plastic
I LOVE Beth's Fake Plastic Fish blog. She is so inspiring. She is trying to eliminate plastic from her life and is educating others about the evils of plastic. Her blog and others have had me really thinking about plastic lately.

Here are some fun facts that I have learned:

• All plastic that has been made is still around.

• Plastic doesn't biodegrade -- it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces.

• There is a huge amount of plastic swirling around in the middle of the ocean (The Great Pacific Garbage Patch).

• Plastic is really hard to avoid.

I ran into this picture of a sea turtle on shipwreckcentral.com. Guess what's around its middle. Yep. Plastic. This picture horrifies me, and I can't help but think about it when I'm at the store.


The more that I read about the issue, the more I can't believe that people aren't more upset about it. I think it's a natural tendency to look away from hard problems. I am mad that when I go to the grocery store I am forced to buy plastic that I don't want -- and then I have to figure out some way to responsibly reuse it or recycle it. And it doesn't even really recycle! Plastic bottles don't become new plastic bottles! They need virgin plastic for that. Plastic bottles become stuff like fleece or park benches... (actually, I am still kind of surprised that fleece is made out of plastic). It's sickening.

BUT! I did have a small moment of plastic happiness today. I saw someone throwing boxes full of plastic bottles into the dumpster, so I ran outside:
(let the freak show begin)
GG: Hi! Are there bottles in those boxes?
Dude: Yeah... mostly plastic ones.
GG: Oh! You don't have to throw them away. We recycle. I'll recycle them for you. (I am such a geek. I cannot believe I am offering to recycle a stranger's trash)
Dude: Yeah, but they're not #1 or #2.
GG: Ecology Action accepts all the numbers.
Dude: They only accept #1 and #2.
GG: Yeah, they used to, but now they take them all. It's new.
Dude: Oh, great, I recycle there anyways.

(And he put the boxes back in his car to take them to the recycling center)

...or maybe he drove around to the other dumpster to throw his trash away in peace.

Recycling Envelopes

Our apartment complex has paper recycling, but I had been told that we could not recycle envelopes. Turns out that's not true! I checked the website for the city and they accept envelopes -- even ones with windows. That still freaks me out a little, so I'll tear the window out, but that will really cut down on the trash.

Scented Candles
Recently I was talking with a friend about scented candles. I love the smell, but I started thinking that they must be causing indoor pollution -- after all, the candle melts, and where does it go? Into your lungs? According to WebMD, some candles with metal wicks can cause lead poisoning. I have a few candles, but they don't have metal wicks. But what about the other stuff? The EPA did a literature review on the topic:
http://web.ksl.com/dump/news/cc/series/candepa.htm
They found that: "When candles are burned, they emit trace amounts of organic chemicals, including acetaldehyde,formaldehyde, acrolein, and naphthalene (Lau et al., 1997). However, the primary constituent of public health concern in candle emissions is lead."

These organic chemicals were found to be at safe levels in most normal candle-using scenarios, but a "worst case scenario", such as burning 30 candles for several hours in a small space (your bedroom perhaps?) could result in harmful levels.

As much as I totally trust the government, and believe in the "acceptable" risk levels that the EPA sets, I think I'll opt out of the candles. Indoor air pollution is already a problem, so why add to it?

4 Bags unstuffed
Today was an awesome day in getting rid of stuff. My husband got involved and we have a HUGE bag of weird tools and household items to get rid of. I also threw in 2 years of Men's Health magazines and a cookbook that I haven't looked at since we got married (how to throw a cocktail party -- hah!)

C (my husband) says he has "divorced" the car. He rode his bike and took the bus to school day and was very happy with how it worked out. I rode the scooter to work and stopped by WF for some swiss chard (I'm addicted) and had to carry it around in my backpack with my students' papers because I forgot to bring my bag. Good thing it wasn't wet.

Car miles today: zero! :)

photo: www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org