Category Archives: Green Ideas

It wasn’t the candle

Mom: I started painting the den.

Me: Cool.  Did you use low VOC paint?

Mom: Um, sure . . . .  What it low VOC paint?  [Translates as, “probably not.”]

Sometimes, I take my environmental knowledge for granted.  VOC stands for volatile organic compound.  These chemicals occur in paint, among other things.  If you are painting, especially indoors, you will inhale VOCs.  Breathing VOCs is bad.  Immediate health risks include breathing problems, headache, and eye irritation.  Over time, some VOCs are also linked to cancer risk.

The levels of VOCs are highest immediately after painting, but your newly painted walls continue to off-gas VOCs long after the paint is dry.  The good news is that low- or no-VOC paint is readily available.  Look or ask for it for your next indoor painting project.

In addition to the random knowledge already in my head, I found information on VOCs here and here.  If you want more details, click one of those links.

Misadventures

Looking for an alternative to biking to my father-in-law’s for brunch yesterday, I opted for the bus.  Given our post brunch plans, we normally would have driven to this brunch together, but somebody had pre-brunch plans involving the car (ahem).  I absolutely refused to drive a second car and was not looking forward to the seven mile, midday sun pounding down on my poor vulnerable skin bike ride, so the bus seemed like a good solution (although it meant missing MY pre-brunch plans).  Anyhow.

I consulted my print copy of the bus schedules (updated March 30, 2009) and planned my route.  Seven block (half mile) walk to first bus, 5 minute ride, arrive at transfer station, 6 minute wait, 5 minute ride, <2 block walk.  Looks good, right?

Well, to get things started, I left the apartment without my bus pass.  I realized my mistake about 3.5 blocks into the walk, and decided I would [just barely] have enough time to go back for it.  I ran back to the apartment, in my not-so-good for running sandals, grabbed my bus pass, changed into better-for-running sandals, and left again.  If I missed this bus, my only option for arriving at brunch on time would be driving  — THE HORROR!  With that in mind, I did my best to run the half mile to the bus stop.  I arrived with two minutes to spare, which means I would not have made it if I walked.

We reached the transfer station, and I went to check which bay I needed to wait at for the second bus (the #56).  I noticed the posted bus schedules there, and decided to double check the departure time for the #56.  Unlike the other five bus schedules, the schedule for the #56 did not show ANY TIMES for Sunday.  What?  Then I noticed that, also unlike all of the other posted schedules, the #56 schedule said, “Updated June 8, 2009,” at the bottom.  Lovely little change they made to the March 30, 2009 guide that I consulted when planning my trip.

For a moment, I refused to believe the updated schedule, thinking maybe they just meant the Sunday schedule would be the same as Saturday and had left off the word “Sunday.”  I also knew that if I left right then, and did not wait around to see if the bus showed up, I would probably have time to walk to my father-in-law’s house, but if I waited and then had to walk, I would be late for brunch, so I set out on my little suburban hike.  I estimated (correctly) that it would be about 2 miles.

It was quite hot, and sunny, but I was wearing my sun hat and sun shirt, so the only exposed skin was the bottom half of my calves and the tops of my feet.  That is, until my tank top crept up, leaving a gap between the bottom of my shirt and the top of my pants.  I am not one to walk around in public baring my stomach (not that I have any issues with my stomach, it is quite nice, thanks), but at that point it was so hot, and the breeze on my stomach felt so good, that after one attempt to pull the shirt down, I decided that I just didn’t care.

I kept a brisk pace, and, although I felt slightly sorry for myself, I was mostly amused and glad that I was healthy and had strong legs to carry me and would be arriving without resorting to driving.  I arrived right on time, pulled down my shirt, and enjoyed a lovely brunch.

Now reading

Everything I Want to do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front by Joel Salatin (courtesy of my local public library)

I’m not very far into it yet, but it is already quite enlightening and reinforces our decision to support local farmers.

No bananas for me

I stopped buying bananas over 7 months ago.  I have always loved banana bread (especially chocolate chip banana bread) but bananas do not grow here.  They do not grow anywhere near here, and thus have a large carbon footprint.  In fact, Barabara Kingsolver referred to bananas as “the Hummers” of the food world.  And I do not like Hummers one bit — shocker, I know.

In addition to the banana bread, I used to eat a banana pretty much every morning on my oatmeal.  Now I eat other fruit on my oatmeal, ideally local (like apples when in season).  For quick bread options, I have zucchini and pumpkin, which are both delicious.  Surprisingly, I miss bananas very little.

I know there are other foods I eat that also come from far away (ahem, chocolate), but this was my starting point, something glaringly obvious that I consumed every day.  Being green is a work in progress.

The other green

With my public health focus in behavioral science and health education, I am well aware that people make decisions and choices based on individual priorities, and no two people are motivated by exactly the same thing.  Economic incentives (i.e., saving money) motivate many people.  Who doesn’t like saving money?

For me, there are many reasons to be “green.”  An idea of stewardship and social justice rank high in my green motivation list.  The planet is not ours to exploit.  It would take 5 planets with Earth’s resources to allow everyone alive today to live like we do in the United States.  (To learn more about this, visit http://www.ecofoot.org/.)  We’re taking way more than our share, and that’s both disgusting and scary in its implications.

As mentioned in my “About Me” section, many eco-friendly behaviors are also preventive health behaviors.  However, health, in and of itself, is not a strong motivator for many people.

So eco-friendly behaviors are 1) good for the planet, and 2) good for health.  Having a planet that can sustain human life is not enough?  Reducing rates of obesity and chronic disease just doesn’t do it for you?  Do you need more motivation?    If so, there is good news: going green can save you green!

I haven’t talked a lot about this yet, since it is only one part of my personal reason for eco-friendly living, but good for the planet can be good for your wallet.  Part of the challenge is overcoming the now mentality.  Insulating your home will certainly save you money over the years, but there is an upfront cost to the future savings.  Same with buying energy efficient appliances.

While you can eat a healthy diet very affordably, you can also eat an unhealthy diet very affordably.  (Thanks, Farm Bill!)  If you do not think about the future cost in health, there are plenty of cheap, low nutritional value calories out there.  But nothing comes free, you just pay in different ways.  You may actually have to pay a bit more to eat real food instead of “food products”  produced from “food ingredients.”  One of the vendors at the farmer’s market has a great sign: “You can pay your farmer or you can pay your doctor.”

Living simply on as little money as possible is important to me.  Fortunately, the green in my wallet is very compatible with a green lifestyle, so stay tuned.  Click here if you want to see what someone else is already writing about this.