Archive for November, 2007

The Vodka Variations

On November 4, I wrote that I had finished up my last bottle of Act fluoride rinse and had decided not to replace it. Several dentists told me they didn’t think I needed it. However, I wasn’t just using the rinse for the fluoride; it had also served as my mouthwash for the last couple [...]

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Obsessing over cutting boards

In a comment a few days ago, Mazzajo wondered, “Perhaps I’m going OTT about this? If I intend to use a (new) item responsibly, then does it matter what the company does?? What do you think?” We can get a bit over the top sometimes in our quest to be as ecologically sensitive as possible. [...]

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Target, Multi-Pure, my Cupboards, and the Perils of PVC

By now, many of you have heard that after a national campaign by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ), Target has agreed to systematically reduce its use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic (aka vinyl) in products and packaging it carries in its stores.  Blogger LifeLessPlastic wrote a letter to Target to show her [...]

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San Francisco Green Festival, the aftermath

The San Francisco Green Festival was somewhat of a sanctuary after my dismal visit to the bay on Friday. It was huge, HUGE! I went intending to browse and gather information. I ended up with a backpack and tote bag full of stuff but almost zero plastic. (I’ll tell you about the one bit of [...]

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San Francisco Bay oil spill

By now, everyone has heard about the terrible oil spill in the San Francisco Bay last week. Friday, I stopped at the wharf on my way to the Green Festival, to see for myself. The smell was terrible. Like walking into a chemical factory, except it was outside! Oil floated on top of the water [...]

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Week 21 Results: 13.8 oz of plastic

What a week it was. A terrible oil spill. A Green Festival. I’ll write about both in the next post. For now, here’s the weekly plastic tally: Non-recyclable items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began: 6 Refresh Endura single-use eye drop containers (#4 plastic). 1 outer wrapper from a box of [...]

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Misc: a Challenge, a Festival, & a whole bunch of Blogs

I’m feeling kind of brain dead tonight, so this post will just be a list of cool things to check out. (Hey, if it’s good enough for Green L.A. Girl, it’s good enough for Fake Plastic Fish!) 1) The Great Plastic Challenge: [11/28/2010 Update: The Great Plastic Challenge Site has been removed.] 2) San Francisco [...]

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It’s plastic! Evert Fresh is made out of plastic!

Read 12/20/2007 update to this post here. Sorry to go all Charlton Heston on you. It’s just that, based on several blog posts I’ve read, a lot of people seem to think that Evert Fresh green produce bags are plastic-free, and they are absolutely not. After calling the company several times a week for over [...]

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Tales of an on-again off-again activist

Last month, in my Green Sangha meeting, we were discussing how hard it can be to have compassion for people who just don’t seem to care about the planet and how easy it can be to feel self-righteous. I piped up and said that I don’t really understand how people change, how they go from [...]

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Recycling Part 4: a visit to California Waste Solutions

Friday morning, I took another field trip, this time to California Waste Solutions, the company that picks up the recycling in my section of Oakland. Justin Johnson, CWS Commercial Accounts Manager, was my tour guide. If you’ll recall, during my trip to the Davis Street Transfer Station, the Waste Management sorting machines were inoperable as [...]

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