Portland should follow IKEA's example: choose reusable bags

IKEA will open in Portland July 25 (woo hoo). Hopefully, they won't wait long before they start charging customers for plastic bags, as they are now doing in the Seattle store. IKEA charges five cents for every plastic bag you use at checkout, and they donate the money to American Forests, a non-profit tree-planting organization. As an alternative, IKEA sells a large, reusable bag for only 59 cents. The store cites these statistics:

• The average family of 4 accumulates 1460 plastic shopping bags a year
• 100 billion are given away each year in the US
• Plus it can take up to 1000 years for a plastic bag to break down in the environment

We've talked about this before -- paper bags are just as bad for the environment as plastic bags and it would be great if Portland lived up to its image as a trailblazer and banned all single-use bags. (Attention Sam Adams.) I wrote an op-ed for the Oregonian -- an open letter to Commissioner Sam -- about this subject six weeks ago (it was never published), but I know from personal experience how easy it is to change personal habits and start carrying reusable bags. Feel strongly about the issue? Send Sam an email! In the meantime, look for reusable bags at your grocery store -- just about every store offers them now for a buck or two.

Toasting the bottle bill? Try BYOB

Don't get me wrong. I'm as excited as the Oregonian to be toasting the new, improved bottle bill (which includes non-fizzy bottled water for the first time). The only thing I'd suggest is we toast with our durable water bottles, instead of the disposable plastic ones that many Americans consume like they were bottled at the fountain of youth. Recycling is great. If the new bottle bill incents people to recycle plastic bottles via their pocketbook, more power to 'em. But I think we need to encourage them to buy less stuff, as Heather posted a while back. Portland is home to some of the best drinking water is the world. If you don't have one already, get yourself a durable water bottle, and stop buying those big ol' cases of water from the grocery store. Lord knows where that water comes from. But I'll bet you a dollar it wasn't the fountain of youth.

Support SOLV with one click!

SOLV needs to gather 10,000 signatures by June 1 to be eligible for the Oregon Charitable Checkoff Program -- where Oregon residents can donate money to charities right from their tax forms. SOLV has the potential to raise tens of thousands of dollars by participating in the program; but, they need the email signatures from 10,000 registered Oregon voters by Friday. So, do this:

1) Visit SOLV

2) Enter your name, email address, home address and county

3) Click SUBMIT

That's it!

Take 2: A recycling center that works for this family

As Chrissy posted last week on her blog, I too was a newbie to the Master Recycler plastics roundup held earlier this month. While I'd washed all my plastics prior to the morning of the roundup, I had not sorted in any way, shape or form. So I spend much of that Saturday morning sorting plastic bags, clamshells, tubs, etc..

But with the roundup under my belt, it clarified what I needed to do to organize our house for recyclables that are not part of the curbside program. The first thing was to put recycle bins on each floor (we live in a 3-story house with the garage on the basement level). So now we have a recycle bin in the main-level kitchen, competing with our normal garbage can (under the sink) and the compost bin (on the counter). We also have a recycle bin on the second-story at the end of the hall. Having these bins has ensured that magazines, newspapers, shampoo bottles, post-it notes, plastic bags, etc. all make it to designated recycling programs.

So this final step was setting up a sort center in the basement. I put it next to our yellow bins, where we collect all the recyclables for the curbside program. Now, it's not in any way pretty, mind you, but it does the job. Since it's in the basement, I wasn't too concerned about the pretty factor. What's especially cool is that all the bins are reused in some way. The shelving is our former baby changing table, with a few bins that used to hold diapers, wipes, etc. The numbered cardboard boxes are from Costco or old moving boxes, and I'll fill in as I get more (right now there are just spaces for a few of the numbered plastics). On the very top, there's a box for non-numbered plastics. As a KidTip, my preschooler enjoys helping me find the numbers on the items and put them in the proper place in the sorting center. And her vision is a lot sharper than mine, so this is a truly helpful thing!

Lookin' for stainless steel sippy cups?

Awhile back I posted that Mirador in SE would be getting some, and I just received an email that they're in! Here's the good word:

The S/S sippy sups are 12 oz and sell for $18.25. There is a 12 oz S/S water bottle with a sports cap style lid for $14.25. Also an 18 oz S/S with both a sports style lid or a flat S/S lid and those are $15.25.

The low-down on carbon offsets

Any day now I expect to see Paris Hilton parading a "carbon neutral is hot" t-shirt, because, baby, carbon offsets are the new black. A couple weeks ago the Oregonian ran an article in which Nike, Keen Footwear and REI boasted their impending "carbon neutral" status. No, they aren't changing their manufacturing processes or working to reduce the amount of fossil fuels they consume. They are buying their way out with carbon offsets.

Carbon offsets are projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. Companies pay X amount of dollars toward a project that may be implemented anywhere in the world; the project's measured effectiveness at reducing greenhouse gases is then subtracted from the energy usage of the company. So, for instance, a company in Oregon could purchase offsets that would fund a tree-planting project in Germany. The company could then claim that they had reduced energy usage by X percent based on the amount of greenhouse gases the trees were absorbing. Even from 5,000 miles away they can claim this because the planet shares the atmosphere. We are all one.

Individuals can do this, too. Say you want to fly to Mexico (god I want to fly to Mexico. immediately.). On the site TerraPass, you can calculate how much CO2 you emit flying round trip from Portland to Ixtapa: 3,557 lbs. of CO2. Then, for only $36.95 I can buy offsets that will go toward renewal energy projects...somewhere. Presto! No more guilt. Now pour me a margarita.

I think offsets are a fine temporary step to addressing global warming dilemma (if they're used for legit projects), but when do manufacturers start taking direct responsibility for their inefficiencies and change the way they do business? Because we're living in a global economy supported by cheap oil and cheaper overseas labor, where's the incentive? At some point shouldn't these Nikes of the world be making huge changes internally? Do we need to organize a mass boycott against all manufacturers? (You did not hear that here. I never said it.)

Now I'm off to pull the giant wad out of my panties.

Forming eastside GreenGroup. Want to join?

We post often about our GreenGroup. It's been such a wonderful exercise in green=minded community building. We discuss challenges, brainstorm, validate one another's efforts and just enjoy hanging out together! With that in mind, we're pleased to introduce Jenny, who's looking to form an east-side GreenGroup:

Dear enviromoms west side: I was very happy to hear of what you are doing on the west side.  I'm interested in getting involved with an east side green mom type of group, and I could help by organizing a monthly event, if not the whole endeavor!  My interests include organics, recycling, outdoors and green building and I would welcome meeting other green moms!

You know you want to be in a GreenGroup! C'mon and join in with Jenny. Send Jenny or us and email if you're interested!

Cluck, cluck (almost)

Sorry for the long hiatus!  If you remember my last post (which was almost a month ago - yikes!), I was heading off on a sock-knitting cruise.  Since my return, I've been a crazy woman trying to get back to reality.  Fortunately, while I was gone (and since I took the kids with me), my husband finished the chicken coop.  It is really quite nice!  Any chicken would be proud to call it home, thanks to Bill's more-than-adequate construction skills.

A source for pasture-fed chicken?

I've been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and it's completely blown my mind. I'm not a vegetarian, nor do I intend to become one, but I imagine I'll be cooking less meat from now on. Up until now I've always thought buying "organic, free-range chicken" meant that my chicken had once been out pecking at grubs in the wide outdoors, the wind ruffling its downy feathers. Ha. Free-range simply means that chickens aren't kept in a cage, but they can be kept in a large building (free to roam). Thousands of them. Being fed organic corn, not grubs. Yes, there is a door! To the outside! But these simple-minded animals have never seen the outdoors so they are too scared to go out there. Chances are, my free-range chicken lived its entire seven-week life in a stinky, dark building. How is that natural? (Stepping off of soap-box now...)

I know that New Seasons' Pacific Village chicken is not pasture-fed -- you can tell by the photos on their Web site. Do you know of a brand or a local store that carries pasture-fed chicken?

101 re-use ideas for yogurt cups

On our last day of Master Recycler class, Betty Patton, director of the Association of Oregon Recyclers, made a great point for those who grouse that certain plastics are not part of the curbside recycling program. She suggested we think about why we have these items instead. So if it's a plastic takeout container, think about ways to avoid getting it in the first place. She brings her own durable takeout containers when she dines out (I've thought about doing that, but haven't managed to yet). But I did see a very normal-looking mom her daughter the other day wrapping their leftover restaurant food to go in their own containers from home. And I just thought that was the best.

But for today I wanted to brainstorm on 101 re-uses for yogurt cups. I know I won't stop buying yogurt anytime in the near future. I have switched to the larger size, as that ends up being less packaging than the individual sized yogurts (I used to buy without those without a second thought). Since they are not currently collected as part of the curbside recycling program in our area, I'm getting creative on how to re-use them. Here are some of the things we do with yogurt cups in our house:

• Holders for markers and crayons
• Holders for small art supplies like sequins and beads
• Buckets for building sand-castles
• Rinse buckets for shampooing the kids' hair at bath-time
• Bathtub toys
• Rinse buckets for cleaning sinks, tubs, showers, etc.
• Holder for coffee grounds (I've been saving coffee grounds separately from the compost for a slug deterrent for garden plants)
• At our preschool, they use the little ones for paint cups at the art easel

Now hopefully, you can suggest a few more re-use ideas for yogurt cups, and see if we can cooperatively come up with 101 ideas...