EnviroMom

Plum harvesting party @ Zenger Farms, Sept. 1

Pick a peck of plums! Zenger Farm is ripe with plums and needs volunteers to gather the harvest. Tomorrow, Saturday the 1st, show up at the farm, pick some plums and take some home - gratis - as your reward. The farm is at 11741 SE Foster Road, a true urban farm, and a place we should all check out sometime. Their mission is "to promote sustainable food systems, environmental stewardship and local economic development through a working urban farm." Enough said!

Sound off: unsafe imports

Wanna give the government a piece of you mind on all the unsafe imports that have been sold in our country and later recalled? The Bush administration will conduct a meeting this fall to hear Americans' advice on how to stem a wave of unsafe imports. The October 1 all-day meeting at the Agriculture Department in Washington will gather suggestions about how the government and companies can better ensure the safety of imported food and other products.Submit your comments at http://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments or http://www.regulations.gov.

Neighbors for the Environment -- excellent example of community-building

When Renee and I had our EnviroMom/Master Recycler booth at Multnomah Days we were lucky to have a great group of folks in the booth next door: Neighbors for the Environment (NFTE or 'nifty'). NFTE was inspired by the Northwest Earth Institute and essentially encourages neighbors to form groups (much like our GreenGroups) to discuss ways to address global climate change. They currently list four groups on their Web site (all in SW) and will list any new groups that crop up. In addition to meetings, some of the activities NFTE suggests are neighborhood work parties, cooperative recycling, emergency preparedness plans, tool sharing and car pooling.

Doesn't that sound ideal? Do you hang out with your neighbors, pool resources and help out one another? Isn't that the way it should be? (We've become such an insular society.) All it would take is a note in a mailbox, or stopping to chat when a neighbor is working in the yard, and you could create a neighborhood support system. Sounds great to me (now if only we could transition to 29-hour days...).

Tie-dye cloth napkins are groovy!

My kids have really gotten on board with the idea of durable goods vs. disposable. I am so glad we went ahead and made the cloth, tie-dye napkins. As novice tie-dye artists, it was a lot of fun, not nearly as messy as I feared, and I think they will have real pride of ownership (and hopefully will hang onto) these lunch-box napkins. The trickiest part was getting their tiny fingers into the rubber gloves. I also mixed the dye in small batches using big yogurt tubs (since we weren't making large pieces, such as t-shirts).

Rate your neighborhood on its walkscore

Thanks to Sightline's post, I stumbled onto a web service called walkscore.com. You key in you address, and it calculates how walkable your neighborhood is. I love the idea. But I was a little dismayed, at first, to see that my neighborhood only scores 54 out of 100. And I feel my neighborhood is extremely walkable. I guess if I can add any insight, it would be that walkscore seems based on an urban-dwelling, 20-something's view of what it's cool to walk to: bars and movie theaters rank high, and farmers' markets, kids clothing resale and family-friendly aren't on the list.

That said, have you calculated your neighborhood's walkscore? What do you think?

Reduce, reuse, recycle: lessons learned during summer

I've had a few people asking how things were going on a couple of post items, so I will do a catch-all update:

• Cheap-o-dad has not filled up his gas tank all summer long. He is down to about a 1/16th of a tank, but with clear skies forecast for this week, and Labor Day within tasting distance, I think we can call it good. He's gotten into great shape over the summer, has saved money and gas, and better yet, has inspired some co-workers to walk or bike to work as well
• I'm making those cloth napkins, darnit. Y'all have inspired me. I've given up the idea of natural dyes, and might actually have to eat the beets we got in the CSA box this week. I am going with your standard tie-dye colors, but am pleased that I found a bag full of old, dingy-gray, and very used cotton t-shirts that will gain new life by becoming napkins for my kids' lunches this year. Now I just have to find a time to do this project with my 5-year-old and maintain my sanity as she constantly peppers me with: "can we do the tie-dye now? can we do the tie-dye now? can we do the tie-dye now?"
  
• I rode my bike downtown last weekend to help at a Master Recycler table at the Portland Farmer's Market. I'm now 12.5 hours to the good in my payback for all the wonderful learning from the Master Recycler class. I am pleased to report that the people who stop to chat (quite a few) are very open to the things we've talked about: Green Building last weekend, and Green Cleaners two weeks ago at the Multnomah Days street fair. I also feel like I know what I'm talking about. Life as a Master Recycler is more rewarding and motivating that I could have hoped.

Green wraps for green gifts

Metro's Judie Miller asks a great question in an Oregonian article about eco-friendly gift wrap: "why spend money on something that only gets used once?" That question resonated with me. But also saddened me that most Americans don't think twice about spending money on disposable goods. Argh! Let's hope that will start to change. In any case, I love the little cloth gift bags that Lucky Crow is making. They're festive enough so they don't take the fun out of gifting. And pretty much infinitely reusable. I like their idea of creating a culture that celebrates (instead of disparages) re-gifting!

A similar idea came up at a GreenGroup meeting ages ago. That was to use scrap pieces of fabric and ribbon to wrap with, instead of gift wrap paper that will only be used once or at best, twice, before it gets ratty looking. Or better yet, to use left-over end pieces of wall-paper that are very durable and can be used again and again.

I've found that lately it's been a struggle for me to buy birthday presents when my kids are invited to parties. I would imagine most of my kids' friends' homes are as overflowing in stuff as mine and really don't need anything new. But I also don't want my kid to be the one who amid the present-opening phase offers up a can of black beans and a jar of salsa (really, who can't use a can of black beans on a regular basis?). So I've been giving more books and less toys. That's the best idea I've found lately.

How about you? What enviro-friendly gift tactics do you employ?

Wal-Mart: mercenary and trailblazer

I can probably count the number of times I've been in a Wal-Mart on one hand. I'm not a fan of the behemoth store that runs small businesses out of town or doesn't provide health insurance for about half of its employees. But lately I've been hearing more about Wal-Mart using its tremendous influence to change manufacturing and quality control processes. Here are some examples:

Last autumn, Wal-Mart announced that they would judge manufacturers on their ability to reduce packaging. The implication is that those manufacturers who don't comply won't do business with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart estimates that the plan will annually save 323,000 tons of coal and 67 million gallons of diesel fuel from being burned. And it will keep keep about 677,000 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

A short time later, the store announced it would be working with manufacturers to substitute 20 toxic chemicals found in cleaning products with more environmentally-friendly alternatives. They hope to see these chemicals eliminated in the next two years.

Wal-Mart pledged to sell one million compact fluorescent light bulbs in 2007 and has forced manufacturers to cut the mercury content in the bulbs by one-third.

In response to recent toy recalls due to lead paint and other hazards, Wal-Mart announced it would require toy manufacturers to submit evidence of safety testing and would set up independent labs for additional testing. Of course, Wal-Mart is blamed for all of the corner-cutting by manufacturers since the store pushes for the lowest possible price.

And just this morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart has undertaken a multiyear campaign to update older stores with new lighting and air conditioning systems. In addition, it has started buying more locally-grown produce to cut back on fuel usage and emissions. Some stores are outfitted with waterless urinals, skylights and employ wind energy. They are on track to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent by 2012.

These things still won't make me a Wal-Mart customer or change my feelings about some of their business practices, but from an environmental standpoint, they are certainly taking more responsibility for themselves and their manufacturers.

Reuse: T-shirts embellished with reclaimed fabric

While I was browsing in my favorite kid's clothing consignment shop, Hoot-n-Annie, some t-shirts reached out, tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Now aren't we just about the cutest thing you've ever seen?" And they were! Crafty Hoot owners Michelle and Tracy have taken used fabric scraps and created the darlingest designs on new and used t-shirts for kids up to about age 6. I saw a pre-owned embellished t-shirt for $10 and a new one for $18, so that's about the range. I love this one with Annie the sheep, and there was the cutest bird and just a whole slew of adorable critters. They have a few on their Etsy site and a whole lot more in the store. Plus, they're having a 30% off green tag sale now through the end of August!

GreenGroup forming in Vancouver

Merry, an EnviroMom reader and Vancouver resident, is starting up an GreenGroup in Vancouver. The first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 26, at 4 pm at Moxie's (1919 Main St in Vancouver, WA). If you're interested in joining, send us an email so we know how many people will be attending. GreenGroups are an easy way to share ideas, support one another and get a little more green into your family's life!