Bottled Water is Bad

Need some ammo to convince the hold-outs on the bottled water issue? Here's some nice sources:

The Sierra Club -- this page has some great facts and links to a brochure that you could print out (double sided of course) and post at the office or other offending location.

Lighter Footstep gives a nice succinct 5 reasons not to drink bottled water.

You can encourage your friends to take the Take Back the Tap Pledge.

Finally, lead by example. When it is your turn to be snack mom, don't bring bottled water. Bring a pitcher and some cups. When you have a party, do the same. Use a thermos or canteen to carry water. Drink from the water fountain.

This is a very frustrating issue for me because since I moved I feel like I have stepped back in time and everybody around me seems to be gleefully slurping from bottles and THROWING THEM IN THE TRASH (we have curbside recycling... what gives?) I try to lead by example and I don't want to be some sort of environmental pain in the neck, but I am strongly tempted to do an Earth Day Daisy Scout meeting dedicated to vanquishing the bottled water. My main fear is that I would offend the many well-meaning moms who brought bottled water for snack. What to do?

Trends in my Neighborhood

Here's what I see:

More people are using cloth bags at the grocery store. Not everybody, but a lot more people. I also notice that people often say that they forgot their bags if they are getting plastic. At least they have bags somewhere. Often it takes a while to get into the habit.

People love bottled water. I just don't get it. It's so wasteful, but it is the #1 most popular drink at my kids' elementary school. They have water fountains! It's killing me. The "green team" supposedly worked to green the school carnival, but they sold bottled water at the carnival.

Apparently, bottled water is a big source of income at these school events. Why can't they just sell paper cups of water or sell lemonade or.... ACH! just about anything else?!

On the topic of bottled water, will I come across as a nut if I tell my daughter that she is not allowed to drink bottled water? For example, she goes to a kickball game -- everybody's having bottled water, but I send her with a bottle of tap water from home. That's normal, right? And an after school meeting? All the other girl scouts drinking their bottled water and I'll just tell her to say, "no thanks. I have my own bottle."

It's funny how this seemed so bizarre, but when I write it out it seems bizarre even to worry about it. I'm suffering from bottled water peer pressure. Crazy.

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.

Jokes and Random Thoughts

I love cheesy jokes. I teach Spanish. The best cheesy joke is a cheesy joke in Spanish (I guess it's really cursi, not cheesy, but anyway...)

Que hace un pez?
Nada.

Primer acto: Una banana que no tiene plata.
Segundo acto: Una banana que no tiene plata.
Tercer acto: Una banana que no tiene plata.
Nombre de la obra: PlataNO

Cual es la mitad de uno?
El ombligo.

Now for some cheesy jokes in English:
What do you call a fish with no eye?
Fsh.

What did the fish say when it hit a wall?
Dam.

Finally, I can't help but wonder:
Why did all of Cinderella's stuff disappear and turn into pumpkins, mice, etc. at the stroke of midnight except for her shoes? It seems there is a hole in this story.

Lately, I haven't been very grad and I haven't been as green as I would like. But I do what I can. Today, that's jokes.

Wii -- have I gone over to the dark side?

When I was growing up, we had Atari. My brother and I played it pretty obsessively, but we would sometimes tell our friends that it was broken because we eventually got sick of playing it all the time and wanted to hang out with our friends.

For Christmas, my husband bought me a Wii. I asked for it. No, really, I actually did ask for it. It wasn't for the kids. It wasn't for him. It's my Wii. That's actually pretty important to me because it means the kids have to ask me for permission to play it :)

So, what's going on? I'm not a video game sort of person anymore. I spend most of my time hanging out with my kids or reading.

Well, I have to confess. I like the Wii. It's fun. I can play it with the kids or with my husband or by myself. When people come over, we can bowl. It's fun. You get a little exercise. Sometime you don't want to think too much. Sometimes you just want to do something goofy. So, if it's to okay to go bowling, I figure it's okay to play Wii. Because the reality is... I like to bowl, but never go. It's too complicated with the kids. I don't like it enough to pay a babysitter.

So, the Wii gives us a fun family and friend activity when it's too hard to go out. And when it's freezing cold outside and drizzling, it is a way for the kids to burn off some energy.

Have I turned to the dark side? Mmmm... I don't think so.

What to do when your kids keep eating

I'm back. I'm rested. (Relatively). I've been researching sea lions and squid -- interesting animals, both of them. But the mission of this short back-to-blogging blog is....

What do you do when your kids (or boyfriend, or yourself, or whatever) keep eating?
My kids (7, 5 and 3) are eating me out of house and home. We finish dinner and the first words out of their mouths are "Can I eat something?"

I have decided that they need to be a little more self-sufficient because I am sick of fixing snacks. So, they can fix themselves:
yogurt
cereal with milk
fruit
egg cup (microwave an egg for a minute with a little salt -- they love it)
popcorn
PB & J
trail mix
raisins or other dry fruit

None of the above require much cooking. It's all relatively healthy. I have succumbed to the siren song of the frozen Gogurt. It's strange that I buy the big container of organic yogurt, but for snacking and lunches, a frozen tube of yogurt is so much more appealing. I tell myself that at least it's better than the mini container of yogurt, which seems to have more plastic. But that plastic is at least recyclable..... ARGH.

Anyway, sometimes my kids are going for the 8th snack in a row (it seems) and I am cringing at the price of the food that they are inhaling. 50 cent apple (at least) -- gone! 60 cent pear -- adios! Sometimes I try to get them to eat bananas and cereal because at least those things are less expensive.

I do have to admit that my kids are pretty good about not wasting food -- and have even reported shocking instances of other kids wasting food, as in "X threw half an apple away -- he/she's a waster!"