Resale Corner Is My Favorite Part Of Town

About a mile from my parent’s house in central Ohio is a small 90s strip mall that remains entirely occupied, although newer and more “attractive” strip malls continue to be built around it.  This success is the result of patronage by a series of resale franchises that run the spectrum of the resale gamut: Once Upon a Child, Plato’s Closet, New Uses General Store, and Play It Again Sports.  For years I have visited these stores, most recently New Uses as I begin to acquire household goods in anticipation of my upcoming graduation from college.

Resale stores like these are a valuable stopgap in a consumer economy.   By purchasing high quality used items from the local community, they provide incentive to recycle.  The items in these stores are the creme de la creme of used.  I’ve often found their purchasing standards so high that some items I bring in get turned away, meaning the Kidney Foundation and Salvation Army still get plenty of donations. Selling at far lower prices than name-brand retail, they encourage the same community to reuse the goods, adding a second-life to the cycle of cradle to grave without transit costs and minimal carbon emissions.

That resale stores succeed in so many subject areas is testament to a willingness to recycle when the opportunity is there.  Everyone from 5 year old soccer players to notoriously picky teenagers to 50 year old househusbands shop at these stores.  Many of the above titles are large franchises with locations all over North America.  If any resale outlet is in your area, I encourage you to utilize it.

Have any noteworthy experiences (good or bad) with reselling?  Let us know about them; my own experiences are far too narrow to be taken for granted

Sustainable Sleep

New years mean new resolutions, and with the pace of the typical schedule, it can be difficult to fit additional activities into each day. However, I offer one resolution that may even make the others easier to keep:

Practice Sustainable Sleep. I know, it may not seem like environmentalism in the traditional sense, but maintaining a sustainable lifestyle allows you to operate more efficiently, and have a higher quality of life. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the loss of even a few hours of sleep each night can cause difficulties with anxiety, mood, and health and impair alertness and motor skills.

“Daytime alertness and memory are impaired by the loss of eight hours of sleep, especially when sleep loss is sustained over a few nights.

“University of Pennsylvania researchers found that when study subjects were only allowed to sleep 4.5 hours a night for one week, they reported feeling more stressed, angry, sad, and mentally exhausted, with overall scores for mood and vigor declining steadily during the test period. “ (both via this NSF PDF)

So start sleeping. Each person requires a different amount of sleep to function at their best, and it can vary over seasons and years. The best way to find out how much is right for you is to simply start sleeping. Go to bed early enough that you can get 9-10 hours of sleep before your alarm would wake you, more if possible. If you wake up naturally before your alarm, get up and begin your day. While the first several days will see you sleeping far more than you thought was necessary, eventually your body will even out to somewhere in the 7-9 hour range.

Stick to this resolution with these sleep tips from the NSF. The quick summary is to make sure you allot plenty of time to relax and sleep, and give yourself a stress free, comfortable place to sleep. These two have been a struggle for me during my time in architecture school and living in the dorm. But I’ve been making an effort this year to reduce my late nights in studio and eliminate my caffeine intake. It’s really made a difference in decreasing my overall stress level.

What are your sustainable resolutions? (photo via)

Yes, It’s Wal-Mart, But At Least The Bag Is Pretty

Wal-Mart has just come out with a reusable bag for shoppers, and surprisingly it is devoid of any large logos. While the green typography is a little smug, I have to admit it has both wit and probably the ability to succeed in the mass market, especially since each bag is only $1 at checkouts of one of the nation’s largest retailers. I think the nice part is while they are twice the size of plastic bags, they’re still small enough to easily carry, unlike those monstrous IKEA bags. Is it greenwashing? Maybe. But either way, it looks like reusable bags are going to be the CFL’s of 2008. So pick your favorite kind, whether it be Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, or homemade, and jump on the latest environmental bandwagon. Just don’t let them be an excuse to over-consume!

(via C3Blog)

Legs To Stand On: Are Multiple (Weaker) Arguments Better Than A Few Strong Ones?

I was reading a post recently at The Sietch that discussed how the radioactive releases of burning coal (including the byproduct fly ash) and it’s potential detriment to our health is just another nail in the coffin for coal power. However, the radiation we could receive from coal isn’t really worth considering when you compare it to what we’re exposed to via naturally occurring radon and even medical x-rays: (via the USGS)

Coal doesn’t even make the pie chart.

Are “weak legs” like this one viable supports for arguments for sustainability or do they devalue the stronger ones they accompany? Is it worth it to even make the radioactive argument when issues such as greenhouse gas release, mountaintop removal, and air quality are so much more compelling? If the subject were being formally debated, an opponent could spend their entire time picking apart the weak legs and undermining your message, while completely circumventing any strong points you hoped they would have to concede.

Environmentalists shouldn’t have to grasp at straws here. We know things such as fossil fuels, over-consumerism, and habitat destruction are bad for the environment, and the people we need to convince know it too. So what’s the problem? Accountability and the bandwagon. It’s hard for individuals to see the environmental results of their shopping choices and energy use when the impact is hundreds or thousands of miles away. It’s also difficult to change when it seems everyone else lives just as wastefully. But the strongest points for sustainable practices have elements of both accountability and individuality.

Consider the “Save the Rainforest” campaigns of the 1990s. They focused on highlighting a specific area that was being destroyed, and connected it to individuals in the Western World. The rainforest is supposedly the home of miracle drugs for cancer and all sorts of unsavory illnesses. Everyone knows someone with cancer. So not only is a parrot in Brazil suffering from habitat destruction, but your great aunt as well.

It’s easy to start analyzing the details when you’re in a group of like-minded sustainable people. But when going head-to-head with an ardent consumerist, stick to the basics. They’re on our side.

Free Hugs

Since you can’t hug on the internet, this is the next best thing.  RSSHugger is a site that seeks to join readers with blogs, according to my rudimentary understanding of the blogosphere.  Quite frankly, I just love the little guy in the logo.  But it seems like an interesting system to try.  Review RSSHugger and you get a free 10-year membership.   It indexes blogs in a user-friendly site that visitors can poke around and find your blog either through a monthly popularity ranking or by topic.  Hopefully the end result is that you get more traffic, RSSHugger gets more traffic, and everyone’s happy.  And quite honestly, who couldn’t use a hug?

Candlelight Power

photo by Bob.Fornal

Although candles were long ago replaced by electric bulbs for most of our lighting needs, we retain their use for decorative, aromative, and emergency functions. As the lights in the guest bathroom at my parent’s house are on the fritz, I “installed” a taper candle and barbeque lighter to retain use of our windowless bathroom. So far this system has been working passably, but I’m curious whether it reduces overall energy use or costs more than the existing fixture.

A candle typically produces about 13 lumens of visible light and 40 watts of heat, depending on the wick (according to Wikipedia) A 40 watt incandescent light bulb will give you 500 lumens for the same power. A compact fluorescent bulb will use about 20-25% of the power of the incandescent (also from Wikipedia) So candles are rightfully categorized as “decoration” and not as a viable energy-efficient lighting system.

But using a single candle to light a room raises questions about the amount of light we actually need. The fixture currently in the bathroom takes 3 bulbs, so we can estimate it provides 1500 lumens, but as evidenced above just 13 lumens provided enough light to negotiate the room.

Take a moment to evaluate your lighting needs and see if you could get by on less. It will save you energy and $$ in the long run.

Tea Time

When the weather gets cold, herbal tea is my best friend. A steaming cup of hydration goodness is the perfect welcome home or companion to a crossword puzzle on a lazy afternoon. But I’ve never liked all the packaging required for tea bags. Not only is there a large box, but individual wrappings for each bag, plus the bags themselves. Seems like a lot of extraneous material.

So I reduced the packaging and increased my potential enjoyment by getting a tea ball. It’s basically a reusable metal tea bag, which not only allows me to get loose leaf tea but customize my concoctions. Loose leaf tea is hard to find in a standard grocery stores, but Whole Foods and other local culinary outlets often have a good selection. It comes in larger cans or bags with no additional interior packaging. Because it’s loose, you decide the amount of each tea to put in the ball, not the manufacturer. So whether you like Earl Grey-Rosemary, Mint-White, or Chai-Oolong-Dandelion, you can go for it. I’ve been favoring a Chrysanthemum-Chamomile-Rose Petal mix lately; the Chrysanthemum was recommended for my digestion, and the rest help mask the flavor of the former. The tea is also more flavorful as the larger leaves retain more of their natural oils and have more surface contact with the water in a tea ball.

This winter I’ll reduce my tea waste by 91 cubic inches by using the tea ball. It’s assuming I drink 1 cup of tea each day all winter, and that the waste from a tea bag and packaging is about 2″x2″x.25″. I know it’s not much, but this is not only contributing to habits of sustainability; it’s improving my experience and encouraging better hydration through a more flavorful and customizable tea. Anytime I can do that AND help the environment, it’s a no brainer.

Merry Christmas!

 Have a Merry (Green) Christmas!!

Getting Your Green Degree: Contacting Representatives

Every few months I get word of some bill sifting around the House, Senate, or my local legislature that piques my interest. Most recently it was the energy bill that is raising the average mpg standard to 35 from 25 but isn’t fulfilling its original potential (courtesy of The Sietch). Although I care deeply about these issues, I find it’s difficult to carry that momentum into actually writing or emailing my representative. This is something I think is common in our busy culture, especially within my demographic which is historically less politically active.

So here’s the skinny on letting the people in charge know what you (their boss) want them to do, and how to make it easy.

Step 1- Know your representatives. Assuming you’re from one of the 50 states (and not a territory) you are represented by 2 senators and 1 congressperson at the national level. You should know their names (although even I had to look mine up). Find your congressperson via this official House website. You need your 9-digit zip code. Here’s the Senate version.

Step 2- Know your issue. Be able to address a bill in Congress by it’s name (HR__ or S__) and think about at least one reason why you support/oppose it. You can find the bills from the current Congress here.

Step 3- Write your letter. Keep it brief and to the point. Be respectful to your representative by addressing them appropriately (The Honorable ____ usually works). By simply stating your opinion on the issue and your one or two reasons for that opinion you save both your time and the representative’s. They care what you think, but don’t have time for rambling or venting. If you want to discuss more than one issue, write more than one letter. CongressLink has some great tips for both letter writing and calling.

Step 4- Send your letter. If you’re emailing, push “send.” If you’re going with snail mail, lick and envelope and drop it in the mailbox. Shouldn’t need more instruction than that.

In truth, this can all be done in 15 minutes or less. Really. Don’t stress over the wording of your letter, just make it clear and concise. You’re writing to the office aide, not preparing an inauguration speech. The hard part is actually motivating yourself to do it. So next time something in Congress really riles you up, write them. It’ll take less time than the commercial breaks for Mythbusters.

A Gaggle of Links!

Today I just might get my car back after my brakes failed last week. Thankfully the problems began not in the mountains of West Virginia on my way home for break, but in the parking lot right next to an auto shop. Although I never complain at the opportunity to borrow my mother’s Prius, it’s a little harder to convince myself to drive my father’s gas guzzling Yukon. I guess this Goldilocks will have to settle for my somewhere-in-between Chevy.

Ireland Bans Incandescent Light Bulbs (from Inhabitat) Imagine how much energy they’ll save! If only we could do that here in the U.S., but apparently we’re busy being the difficult child at the conference in Bali.

Where Me And My No Impact Blog Go From Here (from NoImpactMan) I don’t think that I could ever be as hard-core as Colin was, so I love his point about how by integrating sustainability into our institutions a bit will make it much easier for the masses to go green.

90% Emissions Reductions By 2030? Easy! (from Keith at The Sietch) When you treat the reductions like a loan or savings plan and apply the numbers, 90% really does seem to be within our grasp. I’d like go one step further though and shoot for 95%, because I think those that care should try to do more than just pull their own weight.

Why Don’t We Do It In Our Sleeves? (from Verda Vivo) Disease prevention is crucial around the holidays between the cold weather, the travel, and seeing all those family members. Wash your hands, too