Paper versus Plastic? Neither, of course!

As most of my followers know, I have been tracking how many bags I'm saving by using my reusable bags when shopping. For those that don't, catch up here: Down with Shopping Bags! Recently, I have learned some interesting facts. I volunteer at the Shedd Aquarium and recently worked an Eco-social they had, where I learned that the resources to make a paper bag including wood, energy and water far out way the recourses required to make a plastic bag! I was astounded that it takes over a gallon of water per bag! Yes, a GALLON, per bag!! So this made me want to find out more, because when I accidentally forgot my reusable bags, which is rare but does happen, I wanted to know what to use. One study I read noted that it takes 70% more energy to make a paper bag versus a plastic one! (Website sited) It also takes 91% less energy according to the EPA to recycle a plastic bag versus a paper! There are definitely pros and cons to either... THIS is a good one illustrating why plastic is better and unfortunately I couldn't find one that was very pro paper at all, must just said neither...

So which one do you choose? There is no simple answer but here is my opinion:

Reusable Bags: This is obviously our first choice, chose one that is recyclable or biodegradable at the end of its life though, watch out for the freebie ones.

After that I opt for:

Paper: because I have a compost during warm months and I never have enough "browns", other reasons would be if you need a weed block for your garden or have another use for paper bags like school books, roasting peppers, gift wrapping, etc.

Plastic: if you don't have any of the above needs for paper and promise to return them to the store for recycling then plastic is really your best option. Bringing it back for recycling is key here, so that it doesn't end up in the ocean or a landfill, and yes your bag from Chicago CAN end up in the Ocean...

Holiday Green Guide (Coupons)

As the nation gears up for black Friday, I thought this little coupon book might help steer some of us away from all the toys made and shipped from China and the like, and focus on the gifts we can buy that might help us further our goals in being kind to the environment. There are a number of great companies in there so feel free to peruse as it is free until December 31st.

http://www.holidaygreenguide.com/

Drop the Plastic Bag on Facebook

I was just sent this cause on Facebook and since I have a running blog on my experiences of trying to drop my plastic bag habit I thought I'd share it. Come join the cause.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/11443

New Search Engine

My husband sent me this link after explaining to him this morning that plastic bags can not go into the recycling, as is common in almost all municiplaties, with a couple of exceptions of course. This search engine however, allows you to search for the nearest recycling facility that collects things that your local municipality may not if it does at all. For example ours does all plastics except styrofoam, #6 and plastic bags. I can search on this for the nearest one that excepts for example #6, for us it is 23 miles away, but at least we now know it is an option. They also have little helpful articles every week, like for example this week's was on composting. A good find!

http://earth911.com/

Commercial composting in Illinois

Illinois allows for local composting only, but on 08/13/09 Governor Quinn signed into law bill SB0099, now public act 96-0418. This bill will allow food waste to be commercially composted and sold all over the nation, a great benefit for anyone with food waste, farmers and the planet! This is a great new avenue for green jobs, since previously you could only compost locally, you could not transport or sell the composted materials. The bill is to take affect in January 1, 2010.

To read more: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=99&GAID=10&DocTypeID=SB&SessionID=76&GA=96

Support the latest Eco-bill in the Senate

We don't have a lot of time, so hurry and show your support.

http://act.repoweramerica.org/page/s/emailsenate

From Repower America:
Our Senators are getting back to work in Washington next week, and they've just announced that they'll be introducing their version of a clean energy and climate bill before the end of the month.That means there's still a narrow window of time to make sure they get it right. Tens of thousands of folks like you have already sent letters to their Senators asking them to seize this opportunity.In fact, we're only 30,000 letters away from reaching 100,000 -- that's a lot of people sending their voices directly into the halls of Washington. That's a powerful message.

Plastic Bag Update

For those that follow my efforts to never use a plastic bag again I wanted to send out a 13 month update. I have been tracking since 06/23/09 for mainly my purchases and some of our collective household purchases and have saved over 175 bags to date. For those that don't know what these bags do and that most municipalities DO NOT recycle them, including Chicago, see my original post: http://ordinarilygreen.blogspot.com/2008/11/down-with-shopping-bags.html

My total of saved bags as of 06/23/09 (stats kept since 08/06/09):

• 179 Plastic Shopping Bags
  
• 45 Fruit/Veggie Plastic Bags
  
• 19 Paper Shopping Bags

Carrotmob

I ran across this organization that just came to Chicago, but they are all over the US and even in Europe. There is an inagural event at Fox and Obel near Navy Pier on August 9th. The basic idea is that they organize a mob to head to a certain store during set hours to increase their profit which is earmarked for greening their facilities.

Recycle Caps with Aveda

A number of municipalties and trash removal services that offer recycling do not recycle anything above plastics #1 and #2, and rigid plastic caps are typically #5. Living in Chicago, we are fortunate that the City does recycle no.'s 1-5 and 7, however my office does not have the option to recycle becuase it is not served by the City, so we only have paper recycling, it saddens me everyday. A friend and fellow diver sent me this link to Aveda's new campaign to Recycle Caps, which are typically not recycled either properly by most people or not taken by the local recycler. A lot of consumers don't realize that they should seperate their caps from their bottles and such, so that they can be recycled. That whole bottle, in some cases, will end up in the landfill even though you put it in the recycle bin. So collect all of your caps and take them to your nearest Aveda salon, they'll be happy to take them, and then more recycled bottles will make it through the recycling stream.

Aveda's site:

http://aveda.aveda.com/aboutaveda/caps.asp

Understanding the differences between plastics, including what contains the BPA:

http://www.plasticfreebottles.com/pdf/Understanding-Plastic-Codes.pdf

Green Your Dining

I saw this group at the Greenfest and completely forgot until I got my weekly email from Fresh Squeeze today. The Green Restaurant Association is like LEEDS for restaurants! It is a great organization. They have recently expanded to add manufacturer's and distributors. The basic idea behind this organization is for restaurants to sign up and follow a number of steps over a period of time to gain points your first ranking comes at 100 points and the top ranking is 470 points. They have a search engine on the site to find restaurants that are currently listed. Check it out and make your next dining experience a more Green one. They do have for the Diners a certificate you can print out and leave with your bill to help get the word out that you care how green you favorite local spot is.

For the Restaurant: http://www.dinegreen.com/restaurants/

For the Diner: http://www.dinegreen.com/customers/

For the Manufacturer: http://www.dinegreen.com/manufacturers/

For the Distributor: http://www.dinegreen.com/distributors/

Eco-Ink

My husband sent me a link to a forgotten eco-print cartridge company. They refill your used cartridges and sell them or they will sell you your own refill kit. A smart idea and they are much cheaper than the originals. I have used these in my epson for some time now with no problems.

I did notice that there are larger capacity office machines on there, such as a copier/printer/fax machine you'd find in your office. I have not tried these as our office printers are under contract for supplies and maintenance, but if you do try please post here how they work.

http://www.green-ink-and-toner.com/

Green Festivals 2009

A friend of mine just sent me this email on Green Festivals, so I thought I'd pass it on.  It looks like a great free resource for anyone wanting to find our more information on becoming green. 

The link for the site is here: http://www.greenfestivals.org/

The locations and dates are:

Denver - May 2nd and 3rd

Chicago - May 16th and 17th

Washington DC - October 10th and 11th

San Francisco - November 13-15th

Seattle's was on March 28th and 29th.

Green Building Initiative

I have been learning about Green Globes today for a project we have coming up, and the more I read the more I am impressed.  This seems like such a smart system that anyone can use whether they are building new or they want to green up their existing building.  It is not a points system but an overall evaulation, which makes a lot of sense.  Also on this site is a great database for everyone that lists by state what incentives are available in your area. This includes renewable energy rebates, rebates from gas and electric companies for the purchase of energy star and energy efficient appliance purcahses, as well as just insulation purchases.  VERY handy. I am glad I found it because we've been talking about getting rid of the piece o' crap water heater our lovely developer sold our place with and now with the incentives we might be able to actually afford one... 

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency

Green Building Initiative

Double Sided Printing

As I wrote my Earth Day blog and talked to friends on Facebook today about Earth Day, I realized one simple change everyone can do on their computer whether at home or work or elsewhere, which is setting your printers to by default print double sided. This will definitely decrease on your overall paper use which will save a few trees and help the environment with one easy step. So how do you change this setting so that is default? Easy, see my step by step instructions below. 

For Windows XP and Vista

1. Windows Vista:  Go to your Start Menu and search for Printer. You can also go to your control panel, then Hardware and Sound then Printers.  Windows XP:  Go to your Start Menu and choose Printers and Faxes.  Alternately go to Contorl Panel and then Printers and Faxes.
2. Choose Printers. Under that dialog box right click on the printer you want to change and choose Properties or Printer Properties. 
   
3. In the Printer property dialog box choose the Printing Preference button, usually in the lower right had corner.
   
4. In the Printing Preference dialog box find where it says Duplex printing or Double Sided Printing this is usually under Page Layout, Finishing or More Options, etc...  Set your Duplex printing to Open to Left and save or apply.  You are set. 
   

I unfortunately am not a Mac user, so I don't know much, but from what I could dicsern on a couple of Mac Forums you have to set each printer in each application by changing the printer settings and choosing save as.  If any of the Mac users reading this can help please post more information. Thanks!

Happy Earth Day!

Since today is the only day out of the year that we actually officially recognize this great planet we all take for granit, I thought I'd start my celebrations by posting a blog on what my plans are for Earth Day.  I will be doing some things that I have made routine in my quest for a more sustainable life, and others that I am trying to add to my plan all in honor of Earth Day.  

1. I took public transit to work this morning and I plan to walk the 3.5 miles home this evening.  While I do both of these things reguraly, well maybe the walking really only when it is warm, I made a concious effort to commit to both no matter what temptations came up, for example it is a bit chilly today but I'll wear a coat and not allow that to be the excuse I use to not walk home. 
   
2. I plan to eat vegetarian only meals today.  While I have been trying to reduce the amount of meat that I eat, this includes all meat both land and ocean based, overall, I wanted to make a point of it today.  It has been a goal of mine for awhile now to try and reduce my commercial meat intake, there are so many studies on how bad this industry actually is for both ourselves and our environments, that I just couldn't ignore it, but I have a hard time just being a vegetarian...  I attended a sustainable fish dinner last night at a local fish monger, Dirk's Fish, that has partnered with the Shedd Aquarium, where I volunteer.  I learned a lot and got a refresher on some things I had already learned from the Shedd. After last night's dinner, I have decided that my ultimate goal would be to reduce my meat intake and make sure that all of the meat that I do consume is sustainable. Now that we have a place we can go to purchase fish and trust that it is sustainable I have the Ocean side covered.  Now to find a butcher with the same mentality... 
3. Composting.  This is an area I have been wanting to get into for awhile now I just haven't figured out how to do it in a condo in Chicago.  I plan to research more on this subject today in honor of Earth Day. I'd really like to make or purchase a composter as soon as possible, but I need a rodent proof one that will fit in our tiny yard... The quest will continue today for Earth Day. 
4. Letting others know it is Earth Day. I have already changed most of my various tags to something like "Kelly is wondering what everyone else is doing to celebrate Earth Day." I hope this will inspire at least one or two more people to join in on the quest to save this planet we take for granit.  I am obviously also writing this blog on Earth Day. 
5. Salvation Army donation.  While I will not be able to get to Salvation Army tonight to make my donation I am going to raid my house this evening for items we no longer use or clothing that no longer fits and donate those items to Salvation Army for reuse by someone else. This is one of the best ways to get one of the R's in and support a good cause this Earth Day. 
6. Continue to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  We are avid recyclers in my home with our blue bag recycling through our trash service.  Since I volunteer at the Shedd we have some additional oppurtunities to recycle things like techno waste, cell phones and batteries.  My husband recently went on a tour of the Chicago Recycling Center on Goose Island and found out they will take our old/ruined cords, light bulb strings, medications as well as a various number of other things we didn't have a place to recycle.  This Earth Day I'd like to work on the 3 R's and continue my efforts to finds places that will do or help me with my quest.

Earth Day is meant to celebrate what we have in the planet and I intend to celebrate the day by treating it as sustainably as I can today especially, but throughout my life as well. 

Free e-book from Grist

I actually own one this book, it is well worth the read.  Live Earth and Grist are giving away the e-book version for free for Earth Day.  I thought I'd pass it along. 

http://liveearth.org/2009/04/get-a-free-ebook-from-grist/

Wa$ted!

If you have the channel called Planet Green then you've probably flipped by this show. They go into different houses and acess their ecological footprint then help them to reduce it, the more they reduce and the more money they save the more money they give them at the end of the show. The one I have seen was a fraternity house and they made a pretty good dent.  Anyway, their website has a lot of great information on it but the Eco-Calculator is by far the most in depth I have seen so far. So check it out along with the rest of their site, and if you don't get the channel Planet Green ask for it, there are a ton of great shows on that channel, from cooking green with Emeril to gameshows about the environment.  I'll be posting our footprint, and updating it as we do more to our condo as well.  Feel free to post yours as well so we can all help each other acheive a smaller footprint and put more money in our own pockets.

http://www.wastedtv.co.nz/index.cfm?&action=calculator

March 28th is Earth Hour

Don't forget that at 8:30pm at your local time it is Earth Hour.  Turn off all your lights, unplug as much as you can and show your support for this world wide event.  For more information the website is: http://www.earthhour.org/home/ Feel free to post any photos you may be attempting to take of the dark cities and neighborhoods, I'd love to see some.

eBay is furthering their Green effort

eBay has been working to further their green efforts with a new portion of there site providing advice on greening your purchases, greening your thoughts and talking with other green minded people.  40 of their employees started this green team and now there are 1000 employees on the team.  It is a great step forward by a large company, I hope it sets an example for others. 

http://www.ebaygreenteam.com/

Photovoltaic Batteries

My friend is on a role today. He just sent me these great photovoltaic batteries.  I think I'd still prefer my Solio but the flexible solar panels have me very intrigued... Check it out. 

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/02/18/suncat-solar-batteries-by-knut-karlsen/

Growning Water in Chicago

A fellow architect sent this article to me via email and I thought it was too cool of a concept to not pass on.  It is right in line with my electrified roads for electric cars, think bumper cars with the grid coming from solar panels and wind turbines along said road and attached to any bridges over said road. I think these two plans would work beautifully together... 

Anyway, this idea from Urban Labs won a big award in 2006 and has been further recognized by the AIA in 2009 with the $100,000 Latrobe Prize. Their concept is simple, build on Chicago's vast green spaces to create green boulevards to the Lake that will naturally clean used water and return it to the lake.  They are also calling for the reversal of the Chicago River (which unfortunately would need a MAJOR clean-up first) and the reuse of the current deep tunnels that collect run-off and divert it to the Mississippi basin as new 'L' lines for the CTA since these tunnels would no longer be required.  This is an idea that could be a great model for many other Cities, so all I have to ask as a Chicagoan is: Mayor Daley, when do we start? 

The blog that was forwarded to me: http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2009/02/theres-gold-in-that-there-h20.html

The Urban Lab website with more details: http://www.urbanlab.com/h2o/

Use the Revloving Door Everytime

This my friends is an easy green idea that pretty much any abled body person can follow.  If you are going into a building and you have a choice between either a revolving door or a side door with no vestibule, use the revolving door.  First of all those side doors are meant for handicapped access and they are usually clearly marked, if you are using it and someone that physically can't using the revolving door comes up you'll feel like a schmuck, so just don't do it.  Secondly, if the air temp warmer or colder then the inside controlled temp, you are adding to the demand of the air handling system by adding cooler or warmer air into the building in very large bursts,especially if it is windy. The revolving door mixes air by the shear nature of the door and does not add to the demands of the air handling systems, therefore not adding to the energy demands of the building.  So bottom line if a revolving door is an option use it to help conserve energy.  

A side note to this one, because I see people doing it all the time, is hitting the ADA button to electrically open a door.  This wastes energy when you can just push on the door yourself if you are able. I think bottom line is if you are able bodied don't use the items clearly marked for those that are not. It is that simple.

Ecofont

A friend of mine just sent me a copy of a daily email she gets called Daily Candy, usually this is full of great new stuff around Chicago, and typically offers some discounts, but today it was touting Ecofont.  Here is the excerpt:

Hole Lotta Love
Download the New Ecofont Typeface

Our holidays were neither silent nor holy. (But we're on our knees thanking someone they're over.)

It's not too late to become a holey roller. Just download Ecofont, a brand new typeface designed by some Dutch geniuses that's made up of tiny little holes.

Here's the backstory: Most printer cartridges end up in landfills. The more ink we use, the more garbage we create. So Spranq designed a font that uses 20 percent less ink by simply removing as much of each letter as possible, while still leaving it readable. Basically, the whizzes got rid of the line that connects the dots to create the characters.

It's free to download and use, so there's no reason not to.

Unless you're just a total a-hole.

Available online at ecofont.eu.

Download, use, share, support and let us know how it works for you. So far for me it works really well in emails, word docs and excel.  I'm going to see if it is compatible with my CAD software next.