Extreme Recycling

With Earth Day on the horizon, we always give a little extra thought to how we can reduce waste and improve our energy efficiency in our house. Of course, we all try to take our re-usable bags with us when we go shopping, but somehow there always seem to be a few plastic grocery bags that get into the house. Rather than throw them away, we’ve made an extreme sport out of re-using a bag as many times as we can before finally abandoning it to the waste stream. The trick is to find uses that allow the bags to be used over and over again until every possible use has been exhausted. Here are our favorites:

• Use them as packing material instead of Styrofoam or bubble wrap. And be sure to put a note in the package reminding the recipient to reuse the bags.
• Make a soft nest for your Christmas ornaments while they’re in storage.
• Pack some in your suitcase: they’re great for isolating your laundry and shoes from the rest of your clothes.
• Tuck them into your beach tote for wet towels and swimsuits.
• Use them for your toiletries when you travel. I wish I could say that I have a snazzy, monogrammed cosmetic bag for travel, but I actually use the same plastic grocery bag (or sometimes a big Ziploc) over and over again. Who’s to know?
• Line the bottom of something that needs filler: a flower pot, a basket filled with candles, and shredded plastic bags make great confetti for a gift bag.
• Cushion your china while it’s in storage.
• Store your outdoor pillows inside them during the off-season.
• Put one in your carry-on bag when you travel. How many times have you purchased food at the airport for your flight, and had it leak all over the contents of your carry-on?
• Our dog Jasper likes to eat the fluff out of his dogbed. When it starts to deflate, a few plastic bags make it nice and puffy again.

We stop just short of this:

Although we do admire the industriousness and creativity of Tyler Velten, an architecture student at Yale who designed and created the chandelier, we're not quite that extreme. Yet.

Tips for a Healthy Family Home #5

To keep your momentum going, and as Jack Furber says "don't say you're going to help the earth and then totally blow it off," subscribe to an email newsletter that will keep green living tips coming to your mailbox regularly.

I like these because they're all easy, realistic and have ideas that are achievable for busy families:
7th Generation Blog
IdealBite
Green Living Tips
The Green Guide

Tips for the Healthy Family Home #4

It's never too late to make a list of green resolutions. And the day after Earth Day is like Green New Year. Perfect.

Ours are as follows:
Mom -- Don't buy anything we don't absolutely need
Dad -- Stop hiding the trash in with the recycling when the trash can is full
Andie -- Try to buy only sustainable or organic clothing
Jack -- Take my lunch to school in a bag that is reusable
Katie -- Use both sides of my paper

Tips for a Healthy Family Home #3

A lightbulb is going on over my head -- a CFL bulb that is. CFL bulbs last up to ten times longer, use only about 25% of the energy, and generate 90% less heat than regular lightbulbs.

1000 Bulbs.com is a great place to stock up on CFL bulbs so you can always have them handy.
When your bulbs eventually burn out, remember that they have mercury in them, so you can't just throw them away. Visit EcoJoe's.com for advice on how to dispose of them properly.

Tips for a Healthy Family Home #2

Recycling is certainly more work than just throwing everything in the trash, but it pays off in all the obvious ways. One payoff that's not so obvious is this: when we require our trash to be sorted in our house, we require our children to pause and make a decision before throwing something away. Considering the impact of your actions, however small, is a skill that my kids will draw on regularly later in life.

Real Simple magazine is a great resource for ideas on how to set up simple and usable recycling systems in your home that also look great, how to reuse just about anything, and information on what is and is not recyclable.

I especially like their 10 Smart Uses for Old Plastic Bags.

Tips for a Healthy Family Home #1

Whether you like Al Gore or not, you have to admit, it's getting hotter every summer. My husband can no longer stand the 100 degree + temperature in Alamo, and for the past several years has sought refuge and cool wind in Olympia every summer.

For those not so lucky to have parents on the water, there's always a basket of sunscreen in the backyard and a sprinkler. We have used these clam baskets in our backyard for sunscreen, hats, goggles for years:

They're cute, useful, weatherproof, and can be found at any flea market anywhere in America. Click here to find the flea market closest to where you live.

If you're looking for advice on which organic sunscreen to use, EcoBusinessLinks.com is a good source for information. We like Soleo because it's made in California.

Earth Day Tips for a Healthy Family Home

Because Earth Day is Wednesday, I thought this would be a good week to focus on five little things you can do in your home that will make a big impact this week and beyond. Starting tomorrow, check Suburban Zen each day this week for a new one.

Bringing My Own Bags to the Grocery Store is the Least of my Worries

How have I never noticed this before? It's not just the grocery stores -- everyone gives you a bag when you shop. On a recent shopping trip, if I hadn't taken some control, I would have ended up with about ten bags for approx. $100 worth of purchases. I bought a tube of lipstick and the salesperson tried to give me a bag for it. I realized then that I need to bring my shopping bags with me everywhere.

I love FreePeople, because they give you a very cute reusable bag when you shop there.

However, I'm a little old to shop there regularly and, while I wish they would sell their bags, they don't.

I've had my eye on some shopping bags for awhile and haven't managed to buy them, but now I think I will.

I like these because they're cute, but also because:
They don't look like grocery bags
They are sold in a set of 5 that roll up into a pouch that's 9"x6" so they're easy to carry around
The website I like ReusableBags.com, participates in 1% for the Planet, an organization that inspires it's members to donate 1% of their sales to environmental causes around the world
A very cool green living expert Antoinette Nue likes them too

And best of all, I won't have to feel compelled to carry my lunch to work in a giant Nordstrom shopping bag, just so the bag won't go to waste.

Green Your (Fill in the Blank)

If you read Suburban Zen regularly, you know I'm very interested in the topic of sustainability. With children in the house, I feel a responsibility toward organic and sustainable living for three reasons: to build a healthy home for my family, to do what I can to ensure that future generations inherit a clean and healthy planet, and to set a good example for my children.

Being a working mother of three, sometimes I find something other than sustainability becomes a priority in my decisions -- I've been known to buy the little individual bags of Grahamy Bears for the convenience of it. However, I do try hard. The biggest challenge is sorting through the volumes of information to decide what's right. A resource that I rely on regularly is the website GreenYour.com. This site allows me to find ideas for greening pretty much anything, just by typing the subject into their search box. For example, a search for "Green Your Family Dinner" returned this:

Tip: Grow your own organic vegetables
... trips to the gym, and the environment. Get the whole family involved—kids like growing vegetables, although they usually like ... makes it handy to harvest fresh vegetables for tonight's dinner! How big should my garden be? Start small. ...

Tip: Choose organic coffee
Organic coffee is harvested sans chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Choosing organic coffee allows you to savor what many believe is not only a more flavorful cup o' joe, but also a healthier, more environmentally friendly alternative to standard brew ...

Tip: Choose reusable food service items
... snacks : Whether you’re packing daily lunches for the family or sharing coffee with a colleague, stay away from throw-aways like ... meals : When hosting family and friends for a holiday dinner, skip the paper cups and napkins and use reusable ones instead. You may ...

Tip: Choose a high chair made from sustainable materials
Your baby's perch at the dinner table may look green after a meal of pureed peas , but plastic and ... toxic chemicals protect indoor air quality and your family's health. Many high chairs are made of plastic, which is a ... them soft is a form of polyurethane (part of the urethane family of chemicals), that can contain many toxins, including (but not limited ...

Tip: Use paper product alternatives
... : Whether you’re in need of napkins for tonight’s dinner or this weekend’s party, look for reusable cloth napkins and put away ... ? Read emails on-screen, send electronic letters and family updates instead of paper cards, and pick up e-books (online, that is) to ...

Tip: Choose nontoxic baby dishes and utensils
... is playing a spoon-on-bowl symphony to serenade your dinner, it’s easy to see why plastic is often used to make durable ... gas belonging to the VOC (volatile organic compound) family of chemicals. It is widely used in personal care products, building ...

Tip: Shop locally
... caught fish and local farm meat for your next family meal. Ultimate local choices - DIY Avoid shopping ... travel the average 1,500 to 2,500 miles, it arrives on the dinner table shortly after it was picked, ensuring that it's much fresher. ...

Each excerpt links to a larger article with great information drawn from many different sources. There are three types of information that searches return:
Facts which aggregate research on environmental impact
Tips provide recommendations and simple steps to help you take action
Products list products and resources that have been vetted by the GreenYour editorial staff of experts and meet their green criteria.

While I still have to do most of the work, it's nice to have a resource I can rely on to point me in the right direction. I'm hoping that the Green Council will spawn a whole series of sites like this: IronYour.com, PutAwayYour.com, CleanYourHouseforYou.com. When you think about it, the possibilities are endless.

Resolution #7: Be a Little Greener

I rarely borrow content for my posts, but The Daily Green has a fun list of ways to go green in the New Year that I wish I'd written:

I will relinquish my title of Most Likely to Acquire Useless Crap I Don’t Wear or Need.
Admit it — your closet is full of had-to-have items that have been punished to a life of hanging unworn. You have enough notepads, pens, books, magnets, and collectible tchotchkes to fill a mini storage unit. Yes, our purchases keep the economy going, but most of us buy far more than we need. (There are whole TV shows dedicated to demonstrating ways to unclutter!) Remember that packaging, waste, and pollution are created to make these items available to you. If you trash those once-new goodies when you’re no longer interested in them, they will live in a landfill for years and years. It’s time to clean out, and stop the crap collecting.

I will avenge my phantom load.
Phantom load has nothing to do with the pounds that mysteriously appeared on your midsection over the holidays. The term refers to the energy wasted by electronics and power chargers when they are plugged in but not in use. That’s right — your computer cord, cell phone charger, and time-telling DVD player are all sucking energy from the outlet even when there isn’t anything attached or being watched (hence the spooky phantom-ness). Actually cut the power to your electronics by plugging them in to a power strip and flipping the switch to off when you’re not watching or listening.

I will be smarter than bottled water companies and drink for free what they are trying to sell me.
Kicking the plastic water bottle habit might sound like an impossible feat if you’re as addicted as the average thirsty American; last year we consumed about 50 billion plastic water bottles. If the fact that plastic is bad for the environment doesn’t get you to quit, just think: several bottled water brands use the same H20 that’s available from your faucet. So buy an eco-chic reusable stainless steel bottle, and refill it throughout the day — for free. If you’re parched at the mere thought of quitting cold turkey, ease into a plastic-bottle–free life by bringing one less bottle a week to the gym, or by giving them up at the office.

If I can remember to TiVo “Dancing with the Stars,” I can remember to bring my own bags to the grocery store.
It’s as if plastic shopping bags are required to exit a store—the disposable sacks are forced on customers even when the purchase is just a can of soda. But plastic bags are made from petroleum and only about 1 percent of the estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion Annie Bell plastic bags consumed worldwide are recycled each year. Most end up in landfills (where they take perhaps 1000 years to decompose) or in the sea. If you start bringing your own bags now, you’ll be ahead of the curve if plastic ones become outlawed in your community.

I will switch to recycled paper products at home (but not if they make me chafe).
We know there are some folks out there who must have two-ply, but even you can commit to changing just one thing. If you have a Larry David-like aversion to recycled toilet paper, try the paper towels. If brown won’t match your kitchen colors, look for recycled paper towels that are whitened without chlorine or stick with washable dishcloths. By purchasing recycled paper products you’re preventing trees from being chopped down, and paper waste from ending up in landfills. In addition, less energy and water is required to produce a recycled paper product.

I will consider whether my meal came from the farm or the factory.
Big agriculture isn’t all bad. Everyone has a guilty culinary pleasure that comes from a big factory (see: Oreos, and Cap’n Crunch). But while you’re worrying about your own carbon footprint, remember that your food has one too. Think of how many miles your food has traveled (do you really need berries from Chile?), how many chemicals are used, and how much pollution and waste have been generated in the production of your foodstuffs. Support local agriculture by shopping for food at a farmers market. The goods will be fresh, and you might enjoy meeting some of the people who grew your dinner.

I will take a day off from road rage and take mass transit or car-pool one day a week.
If you have public transportation options available to you, try switching to the train or bus one day a week. According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transportation use saves 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline each year, and can reduce household expenses by $6,200. Plus you’ll get a day off from road rage. If you don’t live near public transportation, try organizing a once-a-week carpool with your neighbors or coworkers. You’ll save on fuel, tolls, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by removing cars from the road. As a bonus, you’ll gain access to that exclusive carpool lane.

Thanks, Annie Bell Muzaurieta. Any ideas on how to lose ten pounds?

Kermit was Wrong by guest blogger Andie Furber

First, I want to say Happy Birthday to my Grandpa Doug. Happy Birthday Grandpa.

My mom has been writing about being green all week, so I thought I would too. Being green is important, and anyone can do it. Even kids. Here are some ways for kids to make their own room green and eco-friendly:

1) Keep a recycling bin in your room. Whenever you're finished with paper, bottles, cans or other recyclables, put them in the bin instead of throwing them away. If possible, try using both sides of the paper.

2) Try organic bedding. It's really comfortable, and comes in all kinds of colors and patterns, and is totally eco-friendly. I like this one from PBTeen


3) Try putting some plants in your room. They clean your air in a Green way. For the best plants to clean your air, see my mom's post entitled, "My Mom was Ahead of Her Time."

4) Try reusing stuff for your room. When your parents decide once again that it's time to purge the house, snag a few things from their pile to add to your room. The best way to be eco-friendly is to reuse things instead of adding new things. My brother is always taking plants, coffee tables, bins, and decorations into his room.

5) When you ask your parents to buy you new things for your room, make sure it's something you will like for a long time and won't want to replace after just a little while. Like I said in number 4, adding new things is not very green.

6) Use CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb) lightbulbs in your lamps, because they use less energy, and always turn off your lights when you leave your room, or during the day when the sun's out.

Being green is important. Saving energy and our resources can help conserve our earth. Anyone can go green, and everyone should. Even kids. So try these tips, and even these small things you do can make a difference in our world.

My House Isn't a Mess, It's Wabi- Sabi

I made reference to the concept of wabi-sabi a few days ago, and have been thinking about it ever since.

Wabi-sabi is the japanese concept of appreciating the beauty in imperfection and of accepting the natural cycle of growth and decay. Wabi-sabi celebrates cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace stains, scratches, rust, and frayed edges, and the march of time they represent.

Does that sound like a concept for a working mother of three to embrace, or what?!

Even before the concept of wabi-sabi came into vogue, I unknowingly embraced it. I've always been drawn to things that have interesting stories, show signs of use, and look older than they are.

Now that I have three children in my house, wabi-sabi is the center of my decorating philosophy. I make a point of never buying anything that won't get better with the use of three messy, happy children. My dining table is made of reclaimed planks and has dings, scratches and dents in it. Perfect. The chairs in my family room are red leather and show all the wear and tear of hundreds of movie nights in that room. Love them. The wicker sofa on my front porch came from my mother-in-law and is weathered to show several layers of paint in different colors. Can't beat it.

The neutral carpet in my bedrooms shows all the marks that time, weather and loving use leave behind, but it is not wabi-sabi at all. When I finally get around to it, I'm going to replace the carpet with reclaimed wood floors, then my house will be truly wabi-sabi.