The Succulent Wife's Favorite Things

Reduce Bottled Water Waste

I've blogged about this before ( here and here among some of the posts) and it appears that there is no end in sight with this subject, the heartbreaking and wasteful use of water bottles. This latest campaign is highly visual. You might not be able to read the copy that says "Last year 14 million gallons of oil were consumed to make plastic water bottles". 

What bothers me more than having a hard time reading the copy (and having to think that NO ONE but a two year old drinks out of a water bottle with such spill results),  is that Brita, the company behind this campaign is not so upfront about... being behind this campaign. I don't know what there is to hide. The Brita home water filtration system proposes a legitimate way for hardcore water bottle users to make a switch. Anyhow, I'm still glad to see that the volume of noise on the subject is escalating. This will hopefully show some results before it's too late. FWIW, there is also a pledge that you can take to indicate your involvement in the cause. Go to the FilterForGood website for that.

Garbage! The Revolution - Great Documentary About Our Trash Problems

My daughter school held a screening of "Garbage! The Revolution" on Earth Day this last week.  This fantastic and highly digestible documentary has made us all much more aware of our over-the-top consumption habits. I thought that my family was well versed on the topic of trash and recycling. Not even close. If you think you know everything about our trash problem, think again... or watch the documentary. As a society, we are largely ignoring the problem because of the typical "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome. When our trash is hauled away, we don't really need to think about it any more. But we are running out of place to put it and then, there is the toxic seepage, among some of the obvious garbage issues.

Buy, rent, borrow this movie and share it with as many people as you can and discuss it with friends and their children. Spread the word. And yes, you should feel ambivalent (better yet, guilty) when you eat out of that Styrofoam cup or plate or grab that pile of napkins that you won't even use when you go out to eat. That would be the desired outcome after you've seen this documentary and raised your awareness of the issue. Here's the trailer. Order the documentary here at www.GarbageRevolution.com

Inventive Repurposing of Used Water Bottles

I've posted about this before (here and here), about how horrible individual plastic water bottles are for our environment. Our family does not buy them anymore... unless we are really, really stranded. We now refill our Sigg water bottles instead.  And, as we all become more aware of this problem, we are seeing many designers coming up with inventive uses for repurposing the plastic water or drink bottle. It's not that any of these ideas will have any great impact on the environmental cause, but it's refreshing to see and to know that our newfound awareness is making its way into original concepts and designs.

By Xuan Ju, engineer and industrial designer comes the plastic bottle clothing hanger: simply assemble two plastic bottles into a hook-hanger by screwing the bottles into the hook.

Or this fun Facade Vase by Orca Design.  In their words:  "Recycled products are often stigmatized as aesthetically inferior and reusing an old product usually means a compromise in the visual appeal". But not so with the elegant "facade" that Orca has designed for this existing "vase" that is the water bottle.

Clean Drinking Water for Third World Countries

How very, very, very clever. This little "bicycle" allows residents in third world countries faster and easier access to water sources and allows them to filter the water as they transport it.  This arduous task is usually assigned to the village women who most often have to walk miles to a water source.  Could this contraption provide some aid and relief?

I so admire the minds that create these things. Bravo!

Designboom Winners: Din-Ink Pen Cap Cutlery - and Biodegradable Too!

From the latest Designboom competition winners. The theme of this particular competition was Dining in 2015 and it got 4843 entries from 98 countries. Din-ink was one of three winners out of 4843 entries from 98 countries. Din-ink is a design team from Italy. In their own words:

"Turn your favourite office tool from your desk in a common cutlery...this is din-ink. A set of pen caps, including a fork-cap, a knife-cap and a spoon-cap, that replaces the normal pen cap during lunch time! All caps are made by annually renewable resources, like natural starch and fibres, to be 100% biodegradable and atoxic, warranting the best alimentary use. Dispensing each set in a compostable packaging the whole set is designed to respect the environment. Now give your office ballpoint pen a good excuse to be gnawed by your teeth: use them for din-ink".

I  wonder when these might be available. These "emergency" utensils would be wonderful to stash in an office drawer, the car's glove compartment, another in my handbag, my kid's lunch box...

See all the competition's results here

How to Get Off Selected Catalog Lists – New Service & It’s Free!

Wow, look at what I just found: www.CatalogChoice.org. Now you can get your name and address off catalog lists thanks to this new service. I have a noticeable feeling of guilt every time I open my mailbox and shift through all the unwanted and unsolicited catalogs. Some I got because I ordered something, once,  years ago and they continue sending. Others because my name was sold to a mailing company. Regardless, I don’t need catalogs. I can find anything I want by going online.

So, I was quite thrilled to find out about this new, a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It is endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and funded by the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, and the Kendeda Fund. This page will tell you all about that.

Our mission:The mission of Catalog Choice is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices. We aim to accomplish this by freely providing the Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses. Consumers can indicate which catalogs they no longer wish to receive, and businesses can receive a list of consumers no longer wanting to receive their catalogs.

They ask to HELP SPREAD THE WORD, hence this post. You can do it too by displaying a badge like the one to your left. 

Over eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of paper catalogs (read about other environmental impacts here. It took me just 15 minutes to go through the entire list of catalogs and unsubscribe from 36. Boy, that felt good!!!

SpudWare Biodegradable and Compostable Cutlery - Made from Potatoes

Why go Spudware™? Currently, huge volumes of paper, plastic and styrofoam cutlery, tableware and food packaging are used and disposed of each year. To give an idea of the scale, an estimated 39 billion items of disposable cutlery are used in the US each year (source: The Food Packaging Institute, Washington, D.C.). That's just outrageous!  Switching to compostable foodware and packaging would remove the economic barrier to composting, as food waste, packaging, and tableware could simply be processed together.

Great for alternatives for restaurateurs who offer To Go service and for individuals or families with the smaller quantities available at Treecycle where you can get a set of 50 spoons-50 forks-50 knives for $20. Here's the scoop on the Spudware cutlery:

• biodegrades in 180 days
• made from corn and potato
• GM free
• heat resistant up to 105C
• durable and reusable
• good feel and weight

Isn't this what they use at Whole Foods for their takeout food service?

via IG Picks.

Vivienne Westwood has got a point: "People must stop buying and buying"

via Telegraph.co.uk

Vivienne Westwood. I love her! Not just because she is still so sassy and provocative and sexy at age 66 years young, but also because - and this is so totally counter-intuitive to anyone who is in the high consumerist world of fashion - she has the courage to say what's right and what, incidentally, has been on my mind for some time.

"Dame Vivienne Westwood thinks we should all stop shopping for clothes. "If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season," she says in that softly bossy northern accent of hers. "I'll tell you what I'd like them to buy – nothing. I'd like people to stop buying and buying and buying."

In Britain, we're spending £38.4 billion a year on clothes. Pushing ourselves into debt and chucking our cast-offs into landfill, we'd be hard pushed to demonstrate that, as a result of this spending, we look any better".

In Praise of Tap Water - New York Times Editorial

As a follow up to the May 27, 2007 article in the NY Times on the subject of bottled water and to my related blogpost, Wednesday's  editorial reinforces  the ecological inappropriateness on this consumer good. Here is an excerpt:

In Praise of Tap Water:

On the streets of New York or Denver or San Mateo this summer, it seems the telltale cap of a water bottle is sticking out of every other satchel. Americans are increasingly thirsty for what is billed as the healthiest, and often most expensive, water on the grocery shelf. But this country has some of the best public water supplies in the world. Instead of consuming four billion gallons of water a year in individual-sized bottles, we need to start thinking about what all those bottles are doing to the planet’s health.

Here are the hard, dry facts: Yes, drinking water is a good thing, far better than buying soft drinks, or liquid candy, as nutritionists like to call it. And almost all municipal water in America is so good that nobody needs to import a single bottle from Italy or France or the Fiji Islands. Meanwhile, if you choose to get your recommended eight glasses a day from bottled water, you could spend up to $1,400 annually. The same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents.

Click HERE for a link to the online article on NYTimes.com (free registration required).

Cheers to ordering iced water in restaurants and to packing your own when you head out the door.

Terra Plana Shoes: Eco-Friendly AND Stylish

Terra Plana was founded by the sons of the Clarks footwear chain.  They make footwear from recycled car tires, old army blankets, car seats and other recycled materials.

Inspired by ecological survival, Terra Plana believes in a variety of non-generic products and sustainable strategies.  Their shoes are designed so that they can be kept for life. “Reparability, lightness, anatomic design, and durability are all staples of sustainable shoe making”. All that AND  style too!

Our society of consumerism has lead us into purchasing almost exclusively disposable goods. Doesn’t work? Throw it!  Buy another one!  Huh? I remember my parents bringing all their appliances to that local repair shop around the corner. What happened?

It is now almost expected that all things fashion should be "renewed" every six months, but our bad consumer habits have pushed us to create all categories of disposable goods, electronics and furniture included. There is scarcely any heirloom potential for our purchased goods anymore. The Terra Plana Shoe company has me  excited at the possibility that we could be purchasing an item to be cherishing and to grow old and comfortable with. An old concept that is new again.

Terra Plana combines  an understanding of classic shoe making with passion for modern techniques and materials. Take a look at these great designs:

And for those who wish they could go barefoot all the time, there is the Dopie.  I'll wear these over Crocs any day...
 

 

A Must Read Article in Today's New York Times: The Unintended Consequences of Hyperhydration

Quite the awakening article on America’s exaggerated use of the disposable water bottle .  You will find below some fascinating excerpts to the article written by Jon Mooallem, a contributing writer with the New York Times. This full NY Times magazine article can be found HERE .

The article is mostly about the fact that the Bottle Bill (which in some states refund a nickel for every returned bottle) does NOT cover water bottles and about all the complications in the chanels between manufacturer, distributor, retailer and consumer to arrive at some working solution to handle all this waste. Anyhoo, read on and get enlightened:

"Bottle bills are still surprisingly good at inspiring recycling and reducing litter. But, though they are idiosyncratic in every state, the vast majority of the laws share one colossal, unanticipated flaw: they place a deposit on beer and carbonated beverages only. The bottle bill’s scope, and to some extent the very vision of a more waste-conscious world that first motivated it, has been swiftly trivialized by the ubiquity of bottled water. This year, Americans will drink more than 30 billion single-serving bottles of water. Oregonians will throw out about 170 million empty ones. Those same bottles, filled with something fizzy, would carry nickel deposits."   ...   

"The laws were written in a different era, a less health-obsessed one, when drinking out of a bottle or can meant drinking beer or soda."   ...   

"Americans buy about 215 billion beverage containers every year, more than quadruple those bought in 1971."      ...      

"In her office one morning, Vicki Berger seemed to share this principled insensitivity. When it comes to bottled water, she said, “when are we going to say enough is enough of this product?” (Berger had previously explained her position on water this way: “The product is zilch! You’re buying a friggin’ container!”)"     ....    

"Americans will throw out more than two million tons of PET bottles this year. Even when recycled, it is hard to turn scrap PET into new bottles. More virgin material is always necessary. PET is a petroleum product; it comes from oil. The Container Recycling Institute estimates that 18 million barrels of crude-oil equivalent were needed to replace the bottles we chucked in 2005, bottles that were likely shipped long distances to begin with —from Maine or Calistoga or Fiji."

Oy! I’m guilty of it myself. I buy the 24 pack of 24 oz water bottles. The kids each grab a bottle in the morning on their way to school. What has somewhat alleviated my guilt over consuming all that plastic is that my family recycles like no other  in our community. Yep, we are the ones with the overflowing recycling curbside bins, while my neighbors hardly ever put theirs out. I even bring back my recycling from the office. So does my husband. But this article sure sheds a bright light on this issue and brought on a new decision for me and my family. I am buying sturdy, refillable, dishwasher proof (these bottles, put directly in our mouths accumulate lots of bacteria and need to be washed frequently) bottle for the whole family and we will be taking the time to refill them with our own tap water. I will look to find the best water bottle and will share that with you so that you can buy your own in my store, www.TheSucculentWife.com. Stay tuned for that part.

In fact, I don’t remember ever being this thirsty as a child. Do you? My parents don’t remember needed to carry water bottles on every errand or every car trip we took.  It’s time for us to rethink all this…