The most direct flight path (Day 350)…

February 13, 2008

air canada

First off — oh my god, Day 350, I’m so freakin’ close!

Ahem, now, moving on: Today’s change has to do with flying. I’ve greened my air travel in numerous ways already — carbon-offsetting my flights, peeing before I board, packing carry-on only, choosing the vegetarian meal — realizing, of course, that none of this changes the fact I’m still spewing tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air by choosing to fly in the first place.

But everyone has their green vices, and this is mine. So much like the way I’ve found zillions of ways to green my eating habits without going vegan, I’m gonna find every possible way to green my travelling without limiting my trans-Atlantic options (and the next option: Spain).

This time, then, I’m going to make sure that when I book my flights, I choose the most direct path, with as few stopovers as possible. It might mean I have to sacrifice the air miles I’d get with Air Canada, or that I take a red-eye instead of a day flight, or whatever. But in the end, direct flights are always faster, and because they don’t require multiple take-offs and landings, less fuel is required, then less pollution results.

Photo courtesy of caribb on Flickr

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

People in recycled glass houses, um, still shouldn’t throw stones (Day 349)…

February 12, 2008

recycled glass

Glass is an interesting thing, especially for the eco-minded — those who are health-obsessed or who avoid plastic like the plague tend to love it because it’s reusable, recyclable and doesn’t leach any toxic chemicals.

But on the other hand, manufacturing glass is hardly easy on the environment; this site provides a fairly comprehensive overview of what’s involved in each production stage — as it points out, carbon dioxide emissions related to glass manufacturing in the UK and Ireland amounted to 4.2 million tonnes in 2005 (that’s not including the 3 million tonnes of electricity required). And recycling is limited to both the quantity and quality of glass available; and correct me if I’m wrong, but coloured glass presents more of a problem than clear glass.

Some glass manufacturing companies have taken steps to incorporate certain levels of recycled material into their final product, like Consumers Glass, for example (although their website is written in Comic Sans, which is never to be trusted, if you ask me).

Either way, in the end, I think it comes back to the first and most important step in the waste hierarchy: Reduce. So from now on, I’m going to try to avoid buying any new glass, or at least glass that isn’t recycled. As well, if I’m at the liquor store and deciding between a few different bottles of Ontario vino, I’m going to opt for the one that’s in a clear bottle and make sure I rinse it well before “Bagging it Back.”

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P.S. Valentine’s Day is soon approaching, and while Yours Truly will of course be spending it alone with a bottle of local plonk and a generous portion of cynicism, those looking to green their lovey dovey ways might want to read this here Washington Post story (Green as a Thistle was consulted for it, which makes it extra cool).

Image courtesy of this nifty, but kinda pricey, shopping website

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

The peak of energy savings (Day 348)…

February 11, 2008

peaksaver

Oh, Mondays. How do I love thee? Well, not very much, actually. Which is why I’m only writing a short post, and it’s hardly a love letter.

As I mentioned before, I’ve signed up with Bullfrog Power to make sure all my energy usage in the new house comes from sustainable sources. However, I’m still technically pulling power off the main Hydro grid.

And when summer comes along, with its many rolling brownouts, it’s especially important not to go crazy with the air-conditioning. So I’m signing up with this program called Toronto Hydro Peaksaver. Basically, it involves installing a peaksaver switch on the central air conditioner. During critical times (ie. hot summer days), a signal is sent to cycle your system down and reduce the amount of electricity it uses.

Yes yes, I’ve already sworn off the A/C, but I might make a few concessions this summer when I’ve finished this challenge, plus I can also register to use the peaksaver on my electric water heater.

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

A close curtain call (Day 347)…

February 10, 2008

AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!! Sorry for the ridiculously tardy posts here, everyone — I just got stuck in the blizzard of all blizzards, the snowsquall of all snowsqualls, with 90 km/h winds, 0% visibility and about five feet of powder. Sometimes, I really do wonder whether this whole global warming business actually exists (KIDDING).

Anyway, to make a long story short, getting my computer — by the way, white laptops and snowbanks do NOT mix well — sorted out was one thing, but then the Internet connection fizzled out, and in the Middle of Nowhere, Ontario, in the middle of the night, sorting out logistics like this isn’t easy.

Finally, at 2:51 p.m., here I am, back in Toronto, back in the online community and back in business. Your devoted Thistle is soggy, stressed and somewhat ruddy-cheeked, but otherwise alive and sentient.

I figured, in light of this snowy insanity, I should make a green change today that fits the theme of, well, cold. In my condo, I had these floor-to-ceiling windows and only the filmiest of drapes, which meant the place got cold pretty easily. Fortunately, in my new house, there are smaller windows, solid blinds and room for curtains (used ones, of course, from the old hotel furniture depot).

This is important, of course, when it comes to saving energy. It means less heat needs to be pumped by the furnace (or, if you’re living the Walden life, less wood will need to be burned. And, naturally — or rather unnaturally — there’s always the Fire Log Channel).

So from now on, I’ll be making sure the curtains are shut, especially at night (during the day I might leave them open to let in some natural light; otherwise I’d have to turn on a lamp, which would sort of defeat the whole energy-saving purpose).

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

Recharge at large (Day 346)…

February 9, 2008

recharge

I was sitting here this morning, thinking, “OK, I need a Simple Saturday change, what could I possibly do that’s easy?” Of course nothing came to mind because at this point I’ve done pretty much everything short of inhaling my own exhale and subsisting on a diet of snow.

But then — then! — something occurred to me that was so obvious, so easy, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t already done it: rechargeable batteries.

I’ve made a point already of recycling or properly disposing of my batteries, but using rechargeable ones had been on the back burner for a while, and eventually I just plain forgot about it.

I think the reason it was on the back burner to begin with was that my experience with them has never been great. They often lose their efficiency, to the point where you need to charge the things after just a few hours’ use, and then on top of that there are so many brands on the market, it’s hard to know which type to get.

This website here explains a lot — differentiating between NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) and Li-Ion (Lithium-ion, for digital cameras), then offering breakdowns of all the brands, chargers, solar options, etc. The kind I see most often in store are these GP ones, which can apparently recharge a thousand times. I can’t think of anything I’d actually need to use a thousand times, so that should be good enough.

I’ll probably get those today when I’m at Grassroots, but then I’ll need to also decide on which charging apparatus to get. Part of me wants to splurge on a solar doohickey, but then this standard universal one looks pretty decent, too. Anyone got any recommendations?

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

You can’t beet local eating (Day 345)…

February 8, 2008

aggie

OK folks, next up in the “You’ve Gotta Be Kidding Me” series is local eating. And I mean really local — not just restricted to North America, as I’ve previously pledged, and not just from within Canada; all my meals will be limited to what’s being grown in Ontario.

What does this mean? I’ll tell you what it means: Apples, rhubarb, onions, leeks, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, potatoes, sprouts, butternut squash and beets (apparently “without tops”, though I’m not quite sure what that means). Oh, and seeing as I’m a total mycophobe, there won’t actually be any mushrooms on my plate.

This is what Foodland Ontario says is in season during the month of February, so that’s pretty much what I’ll be buying (exceptions will have to be made for protein, as well as tea and coffee — sorry, but if I don’t have caffeine, I get destructively cranky). The online guide is actually pretty handy, and if you click on the menu items to the left of the screen, you can learn more about all the seasonal produce — there’s even a colouring book section, featuring what appears to be the Foodland Ontario mascot, named Aggie (short for… agriculture, maybe?).

Anyway, I’m going to do my best with this one, but I’m also pretty naive and forgetful when it comes to food, so if I end up eating someone’s homemade bread but it actually had some baking soda from… well, wherever baking soda is from… then I’m not going to lose sleep over it.

Still, I think I’ll have to find some innovative ways to prepare cabbage, and if anyone has any breakfast recipes for beets, feel free to pass those on!

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

An appetite for applications (Day 344)…

February 7, 2008

macbook

I think I’ve talked before about multi-tasking, but can’t find the exact post anywhere. Either way, let me clarify right now that I’m really not the type of person to believe in anything — like, anything at all (restrictive diets, organized religion, true love, whatever), but when it comes to astrology, I am SO a Taurus, and my rising sign is SO Gemini. I realize I sound ridiculous saying this, but truly, I find comfort (Taurus) in gathering information (Gemini) — more and more and more of it, all at once.

Hence, multi-tasking. I check e-mail a million times a day, check facebook at least five times a day, check numerous blogs at least once a day, then on top of that I’ll have a few Skype conversations, a G-chat or two, some articles to research, new house stuff to organize, meals to make, then eat, trips to plan, and all of this tends to happen at once.

This is BAD, though!

It’s been proven in many and many a study that the more you try to focus on at once, the less productive you are. And because so much of what I do revolves around my computer, it means I usually have at least five or six applications running at any given time.

But as my tech-savvy friend pointed out recently, this also has an environmental impact. The more programs I’m trying to run at once, the more energy that’s required. If I just use Firefox, then quit that and just use Word, then quit that and just use Skype, it’s more efficient, and efficiency = green.

No, you’re right, this isn’t a massive change, but it’s one that I hope will keep me a little more focused and keep my MacBook a little less stressed.

MacBook image from o’er here

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

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