Archive for August, 2007

Direct Action, Part 1: Green Sangha

Sunday morning, a week ago, I’m sitting in a cottage in Berkeley with nine other people, eyes closed, watching my breath as thoughts come and go. It’s a meditation retreat, yes, but it’s more than that, and I’m attempting to let go of the agenda I arrived with and relax into the moment. Twenty minutes [...]

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Week 9 Results: 6.1 oz of plastic

Plastic is not healthy for humans or bears. (Just look at the stoicism in his eyes as Bear helps me present this week’s tally.) The weight is up a bit this week as I say, “Goodbye,” to the very last bit of plastic toilet paper packaging. Here’s the list: Non-recyclable items used this week but [...]

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Weekend Poll & Question

I want to try a new thing on the weekends, but first, I need to know how many people actually check this blog on the weekends. (My stats page shows that readership goes down somewhat on the weekends, so I’m not sure if I should blog on those days or give it a rest.) So [...]

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Seventh Generation & Amazon.com: Solving my toilet paper problem

11/01/2012 Update:  This is an old post.  Seventh Generation has since replaced the product mentioned in this post with this one:  http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Generation-Bathroom-Tissue-Sheets/dp/B007636DIW/. The pack of 60 500-sheet 2-ply rolls and the pack of 60 1,000-sheet 1-ply rolls are the new subscribe and save, plastic-free options.  I will check them out and blog more about them at [...]

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Store Report: Rainbow Grocery

I’ve mentioned Rainbow Grocery in quite a few posts, and now I’m going to explain it, so those folks who are not lucky enough to live in the SF Bay Area will know what I’m talking about. Rainbow Grocery makes me wish I still lived in San Francisco. There’s a certain familiar smell and feel [...]

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Success! My letter to Comcast

Just because I think plastic bags should be re-used multiple times doesn’t mean I want new ones literally showing up on my doorknob, but that’s just what happened a few days ago. I came home to find this advertising piece from Comcast hanging there in a plastic bag. Talk about instant irritation! “Holy crap!” I [...]

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How to host a plastic-free potluck summer party

Do it like Mea and Jerry of Draper Farms did it this past Saturday night. 1) Invite 100 of your closest friends to your organic farm in beautiful Marin County, CA. (Or 20 friends to your house in the burbs. Or 2 people to your studio apartment in the city. The size of the crowd [...]

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Week 8 Results: 3.6 oz of plastic

Still working my way through the plastic in my cupboards, but there’s an end in sight. Just a few more weeks before we see the end of it. Here’s this week’s tally: Non-recyclable items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began: 8 Refresh Endura single-use eyedrop containers (#4 plastic). 1 inside wrapper [...]

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Woman drinks wine, unwittingly threatens endangered animals

I love wine. I really do. And I’ve drunk a fair amount of it during the weeks since I started my plastic project. But it wasn’t until I read this article a couple of days ago that it occurred to me that some of the wine corks I’ve pulled have been made of plastic! And [...]

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BioBags vs. Plastic Bags: A Continuing Debate

In response to yesterday’s post on Eco-runners collecting litter in BioBags, an anonymous commenter had this to say: If you’re planning on landfilling non-reusable, non-recyclable materials, there really isn’t any point in using compostable bags to do it in. Organic material doesn’t compost or properly biodegrade in landfills. It breaks down anaerobically, producing methane. It [...]

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