The blog formerly known as   Fake Plastic Fish

Monthly Archives: October 2008

October 29, 2008

Less Impact Cats eat homemade food

This is the amount of waste we have been generating each week to feed our cats since they came to live with us in December of last year. 21 BPA-lined cans to be recycled, as well as a cardboard case covered in plastic wrap. The cans never made it to my tally. While I avoid canned foods for us because of the BPA issue, I don’t include them in the tally because it’s impossible to separate out the weight of metal vs. plastic. Still, regardless of the plastic lining, this is a lot of waste. Yes, the cans can be recycled. But imagine how much energy could be saved if we could avoid the cans altogether!

(Our cats could never tolerate dry food.)

So, I went in search of homemade cat food recipes. I found all kinds of conflicting opinions. There are those who insist cats must eat raw meat to be healthy. And there are those who feel that cooked meat and grains are fine. Not wanting to short-change my pets, I called the Nutrition Clinic at the U.C. Davis Veterinary Medical… Read the rest

October 28, 2008

Voices of the Plastic-Free Blogosphere, Part 1

Today, Enviroblog’s Lisa Frack begins a week-long experiment to live completely plastic-free. I was happy to meet with her while she was visiting Oakland last week and give her a few pointers. But don’t let me be the only one. Check out her blog and give her your best tips!

Two weeks ago, I called for more plastic-free bloggers, and many of you responded. So many, in fact, that it would be an injustice to try and cram everyone into the same post. So this week, we’ll hear from the first 8 bloggers who contacted me. Next week, I’ll post Part 2. And hopefully, as more people join the Plastic-Free Bloggers and Plastic-Free Posse, these posts can become a regular feature.

Imagine the change we can make throughout the blogosphere if more people take on the challenge of reducing their plastic consumption and reporting their results online. We’re creating a plastic-free meme that hopefully will ripple out into the consciousness… Read the rest

October 27, 2008

Grateful for plastic pollution?

With Thanksgiving approaching, I’ve been asked to write about the three green things I’m the most grateful for. Which raises the question:  What’s green?

For example, is it greener to bottle wine in glass or plastic? Most Fake Plastic Fish readers would say glass. But there are plenty of other well-meaning folks who claim plastic is the greener option because of its light weight.

We might not all agree on what products or procedures are the greenest. And some things that we once thought were green (Nalgene bottles for example) turn out not to be after further research. But what green folks have in common, I believe, is the desire to create a world in which life can continue to thrive indefinitely. Life itself is what makes people take up the “green” cause and label themselves and their products and practices “green.” So, with that in mind, these are the “green” things I am most grateful… Read the rest

October 24, 2008

I voted today!

Didn’t want to leave it to chance. What if I get hit by a Prius between now and election day and can’t vote? So I turned in my absentee ballot at the Oakland courthouse on Fallon Street today.

Do you know who you’re voting for? If you’re an absentee voter, why not turn in your ballot now? And if not, you can still vote early in most states and avoid the lines on election day.

Fake Plastic Fish is not a partisan blog. And taking care of the environment is not a partisan issue. Still, I want to tell you that I voted for Barack Obama and got a real lump in my throat as I marked my ballot. This election year has been like no other since I’ve been alive, and I feel privileged to be part of it.

Agree with me or disagree. We all have our opinions. Regardless of who you’re voting for, why not join Ruchi’s Armchair Activists and send letters to both candidates asking them to make environmental protection one of their highest priorities,… Read the rest

October 23, 2008

Skoy cloths: they’re plastic-free and save many, many paper towels.

I gave up paper towels when I first went plastic-free since all brands come wrapped in plastic. Later, I realized how wasteful the whole idea of paper towels is in the first place. So I switched to natural cellulose sponges and cut-up rags. (Microfiber cloths are a no-no for the plastic-free crowd because they’re made from… uh… plastic.)

The thing is, sponges get gross and don’t dry out quickly, so they tend to smell bad after a while. And the rags I was using weren’t particularly absorbent. Then, a few weeks ago, I read about Skoy cloths on the Crunchy Domestic Goddess blog, and thought they sounded like a great idea.

Skoy cloths* are 100% biodegradable, as they’re made from cotton and cellulose. They’re also chlorine-free and contain water-based colors and inks. While highly absorbent like sponges, they are thin and dry out fast. The company claims that one Skoy cloth can replace 15 rolls of paper towels… Read the rest

October 20, 2008

Speshul Anounsmint frum SootsnArya

So HAI Faek Plasstick Fishy peeplz! U all noz last week wuz our 1 yr BIRFDAY! C us sellebrating? OK Soots ur doin it rong akshully. Party hat FAIL. Ennyway Mommybeth iz anemick tonite after she donated blud. Maybe iz becuz we vampire kittehz sucks her blud at nite nyeh heh heh no not till Halloweenz. So she lets us rite post if Big Klumzy Guy will soopervize.

Mommybeth sez nao dat we iz BIG CATS not lytl kittens she will cookz us fud “frum skratch” 2 avoyd plastick rap and BPA canz & we don get dis will she skratch at our skratching post & fud will jus appeer? Y don *we* jus do skratching ourselz & cutz out midllman or midllwomin or wutever. Wao daz a lot about skratching we gess *dis* wuz a skratching post LOL. Mommybeth sez she will put up weakly plasstik tally 2morow wen she not feelz so weekly.

O hay also u allz votez 4 Obama rite rite rite?? he iz verry kool & we wud votez 4 him but we are 2 young & plus were CATZ & we triez 2 get Acorn… Read the rest

October 17, 2008

Find the plastic contest winner!

Last week I held a contest to find a big mass of plastic hidden in some photos from Vajrapani Retreat Center. And the winner is… JULIE who wrote, “I definitely think it’s the decking around the larger building. I’ve been at houses with the reclaimed plastic decking before.” Julie, please email me your address so I can send you the book.

Click to see larger sizes.

All who guessed that it was the railings or the decking on the bridge were on the right track. But the bridge and walkway are all wood, as are the handrails and all the wood of the deck structure (risers, etc.) around the building except for the floorboards themselves. So it was hard to tell at first that the steps and floor boards are plastic. I could tell by looking at the boards from the side. And also from the slipperiness of the boards after some rain.

I wanted to find out more info about the “greenness” of recycled plastic decking vs. Forest Stewardship… Read the rest

October 16, 2008

Report from the North Pacific Gyre. Join the Posse!

Monday night, researchers Dr. Marcus Ericksen and Anna Cummins from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation brought their presentation to the Marin Humane Society to share with us their findings from several trips out to the North Pacific Gyre, aka the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. To the left is a photo of actual objects removed from the carcasses of dead Laysan albatrosses. How a bird eats a toothbrush, I don’t know. But it truly saddens me.

Green Sangha’s Stuart Moody wrote up a terrific summary of the information presented, which I share with you here:

Waste & Recycling Half of the plastic made every year goes to landfill. One quarter of it is “unaccounted for” (litter, blow-away, and otherwise lost). What about the 5% that gets recycled ? At Puente Hills, the nation’s largest landfill, located in LA County, all of the baled plastic gets sent to China for recycling.

Plastic soup Algalita estimates 2.5 million… Read the rest

October 15, 2008

Blog Action Day 2008: Plastic Pollution & Poverty

Reuters: A rubbish collector carries his baby as he walks amid plastic waste at a garbage dump site in Guiyang, Guizhou province June 3, 2008.

Today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers have united to discuss a single issue – poverty. The aim is to raise awareness and initiate action.

Honestly, I signed up to participate without giving the topic much thought, and now that I must come up with a blog post on the issue of poverty, I am nearly struck dumb. What can I possibly say about such enormous suffering?

So my contribution will simply be to show some of the plastic pollution all over the world, pollution which ends up in the world’s poorest regions because, like the plastic floating out in the North Pacific Gyre, these regions are to the Global Rich, out of sight and out of mind.

Reuters: A garbage collector transports plastic bags to recycle at a construction site in Xiangfan, Hubei province, March 16, 2008.

Reuters: Boys collects plastic… Read the rest

October 13, 2008

We need more plastic-free bloggers!

Returning from Earth Resource Foundation’s “No Plastic Left Behind” conference this weekend, it occurs to me that Fake Plastic Fish is lonely. Look at her swimming by herself in a big polluted fish pond. In the beginning, the only other plastic-free bloggers she knew of were Plasticless.com and Vancouver’s Plastic-Free in 2007. But that gal hasn’t posted since January. (Where are you EnviroWoman?) Then along came other similar souls: Life Less Plastic swimming in Chicago, the Biscuit Queen in New York, Polythene Pam in the U.K. and recently Plastic Is Forever, two gals in New York and L.A. But the plastic-free world needs more voices!

Why?

Because living a plastic-free life depends on what’s available where you live. What I realized after attending the conference in Orange County, CA is that I am very, very lucky to live in the SF Bay Area where natural food stores with their big bulk bins are abundant. I … Read the rest