Share your green ways at a UP Earth Week panel discussion

Earth Day is April 22 and there will be a bunch of events this month taking place around the city. Here's one that you can either actively participate in or just attend:

My name is Margie Young, and I'm a co-president of the College Ecology Club at the University of Portland. We're trying to get together a small panel of speakers from Portland or the metro area for Monday, April 16th, at 5:45 at the University of Portland in Buckley Center room 163 as part of our Earth Week activities (April 16-22).

We're looking for a few people to talk about:

• what they personally do to try to be more sustainable and environmentally conscious (including personal lifestyle choices as well as writing a letter to senators, etc.)
• why they do it--what motivates them to change their lifestyles
• how moving towards sustainability/more eco-friendly lives has affected their involvement in their local community
• where they see hope for future generations and the future of the planet

If you would like to come to speak at the panel, you are welcome to bring along your kids--just let me know! I can also make (free) dinner arrangements for you on campus that evening. If anyone is interested in coming to share their story or if you have any questions, please send me an e-mail at mailto:mayoung@up.edu by April 6th!

Kudos to Hoot-n-Annie for giving out reusable bags

We've been talking about using reusable bags a lot here lately, so I just wanted to give a shout out to a great little children's consignment store in SW Portland that is bagging its clothing sales in green, canvas bags (just like they're selling at Whole Foods). Hoot-n-Annie has just started giving out the bags on a trial basis, and they hope to be able to do it permanently if they can swing it financially. The store is run by two great women, Tracy and Michelle, and I'm just so impressed that a small, fairly new business would take such a bold step.

Score a victory for Cheap-o-Dad and Craigslist.org

My husband has been threatening to start a blog called "Cheap-o-Dad" and he may be onto something. Here's why: In a rush of crazed energy last weekend, we ripped out the hopelessly stained off-white carpeting that has been in our master bedroom for a good 20 years -- very nice hardwood floor was revealed. As anyone with kids knows, white carpeting is a really bad idea.

So I had been researching what we should do with the old carpet and padding, and figured a trip to the dump was in our future. At least it would be a field trip, and it'd only cost about $20.

Cheap-o-Dad to the rescue. Waste $20 bucks, rent a truck and drive to the dump? Forget it. In a flash, Cheap-o-Dad posted to the Portland Craigslist free ads. And 5 people wanted this beat-up old carpet and padding! Can you believe it? I had figured no one in their right mind would want that carpet. Well, I stand corrected. Good work Cheap-o-Dad!

Schoolhouse Supplies: reduces, reuses, recycles!

I posted today on ReadySetMom about a tour Heather and I took at the Schoolhouse Supplies store earlier this week. If you don't know about this organization, please check out my Schoolhouse Supplies post. They do important work in support of the teachers and children of Portland Public Schools, and they are also amazing stewards for the environment by reusing a huge amount of business surplus supply that might otherwise end up recycled or in a landfill. If you know of companies that can help this organization, please get them in contact with Schoolhouse Supplies. Every little bit helps! And do your part this summer during their big supply drive. I'll be sure to post about it again once they kick off their drive in August.

Arbor Day Celebration March 31

Celebrate Arbor Day/Week at the World Forestry Center with crafts, paper making, guided hikes and lessons on environmental stewardship on March 31, from 10am to 5pm. This all ages event is free with paid admission. Call 503-228-1367 for more information.

Could Portland follow San Francisco's big ban on plastic bags?

Today San Francisco became the first US city to ban the use of plastic grocery bags due to a number of environmental factors. Lightweight plastic bags increase litter, block sewage systems, cannot be recycled into new bags and use a significant amount of petroleum to manufacture. Grocery stores have six months to switch to paper bags, reusable bags or compostable plastic bags. Of course the stores are not happy about it because of increased costs, which they say will be passed along to the consumer.

A few months ago I posted about the "paper v. plastic" dilemma, and the info I found (here, here and here) surprisingly was in favor of plastic by a slim margin (well, really, bringing your own reusable bag is the most environmentally responsible choice). The production and recycling of paper bags require significantly more energy and chemicals, though they are more likely to be recycled than plastic bags and are not made with petroleum. So I guess, while it is admirable that SF is taking a stance, I'm not sure they are really making a substantial environmental decision.

What if there was a ban on all single-use bags -- paper and plastic? What if stores started following IKEA's example and start charging customers for using single-use bags? In the UK, bag usage at IKEA dropped by 95%. I still have a hard time remembering to bring my cloth bags into the grocery store, even though I now keep them in my car. But if I knew I was going to be charged for a paper or plastic bag? I think I'd start remembering pronto, and after awhile it would become a habit. What about you? Could you completely give up paper and plastic bags in favor of reusable ones?

A sad day for Chicken Mom...

Well, our box of chicks arrived this morning.  Unfortunately, none of them survived their trip.  I immediately contacted Customer Service at My Pet Chicken to find out what the deal was (and to get a little sympathy - there's nothing like opening a box of dead chicks to put a crimp in your day), and apparently there were some defective heating units that got shipped to them from the manufacturer.  Traci, the wonderfully kind women I spoke to on the phone, was nearly as devastated as I was - she said they'd never lost a single chick before, much less a whole box!  She thought they'd managed to get all of the defective heating units out of circulation, but apparently not.

This is one of the disadvantages of mail-ordering chicks - shipping can be stressful for them, and they don't always make it.  It made me wonder why we hadn't just gone down to the feed store and chosen from their stock, although we wouldn't necessarily have been able to hand-pick our breeds.  I will also admit to an allergy to shopping around - it's much easier for me to fill out a web order form than to call a bunch of different places to see if they have the particular thing I want.  I have a tough time balancing the whole "buy locally" thing with the "get exactly what I want in the most convenient way possible" thing, especially with two kids who make any shopping trip a challenge (to put it kindly).  I love shopping at New Seasons because they make it easy to do both (and I can shut the kids up by opening a box of bunny crackers for them while they're in the cart)!  But that's a topic for another post.  I'm very happy with the way My Pet Chicken has handled the whole thing, and I'm thinking positively and trusting that the replacement chicks will be happy and healthy when I open their box...

I was very worried that this whole experience would be traumatic for the kids, but they handled it much better than I did.  Owen didn't even notice me bringing the chick box in, but Sydney immediately spotted it and started asking questions.  She knew we were waiting for the chickens, and she was determined not to miss a thing!  I was a little concerned that the box was a bit cold and damp and had a noticeable lack of peeping coming from it, so I didn't let her watch while I was opening the box.  I eventually had to explain, though, because she was relentlessly asking to see our new chicks.  It was hard for me to figure out how to explain the whole death thing to her.  We've talked about it before, but I don't think she really understands it (although she does love to shock her parents by telling us she wants her brother to die).  Today she had a close-up view, and I think it's good for her not to be completely shielded from it. 

I let her hold one of the dead chicks, and she explored it thoroughly, gently touching its tiny beak and claws, probing its little wing and stroking its downy fluff.  She didn't find it upsetting at all, but I nearly lost it!  Tonight we are going to have a little chick funeral and bury them in the backyard beneath the Star Magnolia tree.  We might talk about the circle of life, and how when you're dead, you go back into the earth so that bacteria and worms and bugs can turn you into dirt, and then other things will use your dirt to grow.  Is that going to be completely lost on a 4-year-old?

Next week we'll try again with a new batch.  Traci has promised that we will get a heating element that works this time, but I'll be on pins and needles Monday night and Tuesday morning until those babies are safe in their warm little pen.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

gDiapers - the test trial continues

A while back on ReadySetMom, Heather posted about her experiences with gDiapers. As it turned out, her plumbing didn't dig flushing them, and her son did not dig wearing something Heather called a "panty." Perhaps if she would have called them sumo-wrestler shorts, or some such... Oh well, water under the bridge.

In the meantime, I've been pleased to report that my toddler is nearly out of diapers. She just wears one for sleeping, and often stays dry all night. However, the one night I felt cocky enough to let her sleep in undies instead of a pull-up she peed all over the sheets. And since we co-sleep, I ended up soaked in pee. Delightful.

So I suggested a trade. I had a crate full of baby wipes left that we wouldn't be using. And she had a box of gDiapers gathering dust in her son's closet. Unlike her son, my daughter was thrilled to put on the gDiaper. It seemed very bulky to both of us at first, but after a while, she got used to it. She would have gladly worn another one today, but I had to remind her that big girls only wear diapers at night, and not during the day. So far, she managed to keep dry last night, so I plan to reuse the pad until it gets wet. So I have nothing to report on the flushability, swishability factor of gDiapers. But I will report back once we get to that stage.

How about the other EnviroMoms out there? Are you using gDiapers? Are they worth the cost? Are they more or less trouble than cloth?

Why chickens?

Hi!  My name is Chrissy (aka Chicken Mom), and I'll be writing a series of posts over the next weeks and months about getting chickens in the city.  But first a little bit about myself.  I'm a mom of two (4-year-old Sydney and Owen, who is almost 2) and wife to Bill.  We live in NE Portland in an old Craftsman bungalow which is in a state of slow but constant improvement.  I am an obsessive knitter and knitwear designer who spends most of my precious free time knitting or coming up with new design ideas.  And I am constantly working to lessen the impact of my family on the earth.  I was so delighted to discover the EnviroMom blog! 

Our newest venture will be a flock of three hens for our backyard, who will provide us with fresh organic eggs and lots of poo for our compost pile.  I love the idea of chickens as fertilizer producers and natural pest control (they eat lots of bugs, although they'll sometimes eat the plants right along with them), but the main reason I've wanted chickens for the past few years is I think they'll make fabulous pets.

Wanna compost? Check out a composting demo site.

I really, really want to compost our food scraps. It's just hard to figure out what type of composting will work for our family. I thought the worm bin was the answer until I read several accounts of worms dying and the maintenance required to keep the bin "healthy." Renee's method works for their family, but I don't know if we would be up for it in the cold, wet winter months. (Yeah, excuses, I know.) So I was delighted to discover that Metro has three compost demonstration sites around Portland, and one is over at the community garden next to Fulton Park Community Center, just minutes from home. I went today and it was great. They had about 12 different yard and food composting systems set up -- everything from wood and wire bins to plastic Earth Machines to a bonafide worm bin. Signs explained how each one works and listed the pros and cons. At this point I'm leaning toward an Earth Machine. I also liked the Green Cone, but geesh it's expensive. Does anyone use either one of these? Are they working for you?