Coal country

Despite really just wanting to stay inside and hunker down on a chilly, wet November evening, we headed to Greendrinks on Tuesday night to watch Coal Country.  We saw a short version, a screener for the entire movie that just aired on the Discovery Channel’s Planet Green.

Since we pretty much never watch TV, and don’t have cable, we were out of the loop on that one, but it will be re-aired on December 20 at 12pm, December 24 10:30 pm, and December 25 at 2:30 pm.  I think all the times are Eastern.

They presented both sides, the people of Appalachia whose families have worked in coal forever and believe their local way of life would collapse without coal, and other long-time residents who see their way of life being ruined because of the coal.  You can click here to find out more about mountain top removal, which is anything but clean.

 

Buy Nothing Day

Make plans now to celebrate Buy Nothing Day next Friday, November 27th .  You don’t have to spend “Black Friday” in a haze of consumption, waiting in long lines amid frenzied crowds.  You can fight back and make a statement against our materialistic society! Instead of heading to the stores, relax and spend time with family and friends, engaging in meaningful activities that consume minimal resources.

People doing cool things

Today I attended a talk by Robert S. Lawrence, the director of the Center for a Livable Future, focused on food production, diet, environment, and human health.  I can’t help but love it when lots of research supports my dietary choices.  The talk caused some squirming among those in the audience who might have different relationships to meat.

Nosing around the CLF website led me to their blog, which features a “Resource” list on the right side of the page.  I found The Green Fork and the Eat Well Guide.  You can use the Eat Well Guide to find local/organic/sustainable food in your area AND (my favorite part) is that you can use it to plan a trip and it will show you all of the food options along your route!  I will definitely be using this in the future.  I also look forward to checking out some of the other cool resource links when I have more time.

Green bookworm

Worm

Are you looking for a good book?  A green book?  I used to be a strictly fiction-only gal, unless I was reading for class. Reading for pleasure should be fun and relaxing, not serious and thought-provoking, right? Well, now that I’m out of school, I’ve found myself gravitating to nonfiction. It’s amazing how getting to pick the topic and not being required to read a book changed my perspective.

I recently completed two great reads:

Affluenza
Everything I Want to do is Illegal

I still don’t have a lot of time to read, so I am amassing an ever-growing list of books:

Simple Prosperity
Radical Simplicity
Cradle to Cradle
Just Food
American Idle
Worms Eat My Garbage

My local public library carries all of these, so it’s just a matter of time.

Then there are the books on the, “I want to read eventually, but not relevant right now,” list, much to my mother’s chagrin:

Your Best Birth
Birthing from Within
Guide to Childbirth

Have scissors, will cut

A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of hair shears and started trimming my own hair.  Even the uber-cheap hair cuts that I opted for would add up over the course of a year.  At the time, I simply visited a beauty supply chain and bought a basic $10-$15 pair.

A bit over a year ago, I changed my hair care regimen drastically when I stopped using shampoo and styling products (mousse was my big addiction).  I can’t remember which I quit using first, but the combination creates a vicious cycle — use styling products which build up in hair, thus requiring shampoo to remove build-up; shampoo strips hair of natural oils so hair gets frizzy, thus requiring styling products.  Rinse and repeat.  In the process, I was unnecessarily exposing my body and the environment to all sorts of nasty chemicals (just because you rinse them down the drain, doesn’t mean they’re gone) and creating waste in the form of all of those empty shampoo bottles and mousse cans.

Despite the fact that I am perfectly happy with my product- and poo-free hair*, I imagine most stylists would be less than enthusiastic and would have a long list of things that were “wrong” with my hair that their amazing products could fix.  Uh-huh.  This made it even more imperative that I cut my own hair.

Unfortunately, my hair shears grew dull and were doing more bending the ends of my hair than cutting. Options: buy a new pair or get them sharpened (which may not even be an option with low end shears). Sharpening is by far the greener option, but in this case, sharpening (~$20) would cost more than buying a similar pair of scissors.  Instead, I shelled out a bit more dough and purchased a pair of hair shears that are able to be sharpened, are worth sharpening, and should last pretty much forever. This option is by far greener than buying a new pair every two years, and cheaper in the long run.

I am very excited to try my fancy new shears, but I must reign in my enthusiasm or I may end up totally hairless!

*Let me know if you have questions about going shampoo-free.