Archive for January, 2008

A Bittersweet Symphony called D2W

Back in September, I wrote about the plastic AT&T Yellow Pages bag that showed up on my doorstep unsolicited. Here’s the update. I called the Yellow Pages, found out to whom I should write, and sent this letter (PDF file). Not long afterwards, I actually received a telephone call from Jim Troup, the head of [...]

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Weekly Recipes: Vegetarian Split Pea Soup and Beet & Cabbage Borscht

I thought I’d start a new weekly recipe post here. I’m realizing that each week when I post my plastic tally, you get to see what foods I consumed that were packaged in plastic, but you don’t get to see all the delicious things I got to have that weren’t. So these posts will focus [...]

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Plastic-free Knitting

Knitting is a nice, eco-friendly hobby, right? Well, maybe. But it depends on the tools we choose and the materials we use. (Hey, that rhymes.) For a long time, I’ve been opting for natural fibers over acrylic and other synthetic yarns. But it wasn’t until I decided to knit a hat for one of my [...]

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Oakland Bag Ban + Send a note to Zip Car!

Here are my friend Nancy, a poor seagull, and I at the Oakland plastic bag ban press conference on the steps of City Hall this morning. (I’ve got to do something about my hair soon! I’m starting to look like one of the Partridge Family boys.) It was a beautiful, sunny day: a reprieve from [...]

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Week 32 Results: 3.7 oz. of plastic waste

The weight is up a bit this week, but with only 6 items in the tally (I count container and top as two separate items) it’s the lowest number of plastic items yet. Recyclable items used up this week but purchased before the plastic project began: 1 laundry detergent bottle (#2 plastic). I’m not sure [...]

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Extra! Extra! Locals needed at Oakland City Hall on Monday!

If you live in the SF Bay Area and have some time free Monday morning, your presence is requested on the steps of Oakland City Hall OR Hearing Room 1, on the first floor of City Hall in case of rain. Please come with your reusable canvas bags in hand to show support for Oakland’s [...]

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Learning To Fix Stuff, Part 2

On January 2, I reported about my broken plastic hairdryer and how I was hoping to fix it during my visit to my electronics technician (not “electrician,” there’s a difference I’m told) dad in Hawaii. Well, I’m happy to report that it’s fixed. He was able to figure out what part was bad and knew [...]

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Week 31 Results: .6 oz. of plastic waste

This is the tally for last week. My company birthday lunch was on Wednesday, and I ended up with much less plastic than I feared. I requested a potluck lunch, rather than delivery from a restaurant, because I didn’t want to be responsible for a lot of disposable containers and because my office mate makes [...]

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Some things about Hawai‘i that have little to do with plastic

I jotted these words in my notebook on the plane yesterday flying home from O‘ahu as Diamond Head receded in the distance, clouds and water took over the view, and a lump started to form in my throat. My mom and dad lived in Waikiki in the early 60′s, my dad working for the phone [...]

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Plastic in Paradise

Paradise… Plastic… Paradise… Plastic… Paradise… Plastic… Paradise… Plastic… Paradise… Plastic… Yep, even I ended up using plastic in paradise. I tried so hard all day to avoid it. My folks are fast food people, and on a road trip, McDonald’s is the “restaurant” of choice. I filled up my Klean Kanteen with water all day. [...]

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