Getting my fix (Day 146)…

July 24, 2007

mr. fixit

I was playing with Sophie the other day when suddenly her toy broke — my first instinct was to throw it out, but then I realized all I’d really have to do is tie a couple pieces of string back together and it would work just fine. Not quite as good as new, but 99% of the way there.

As some readers have already suggested, fixing things — rather than tossing them out and buying new stuff — is most eco-friendly. While I’m far from being a Ms. Fixit, I’m surrounded by others who can change a faulty zipper (the dry cleaners), sew on a button (mom), attach a new lock to my bike (dad) and so on.

Today’s green move, then, is to try and fix whatever’s broken before throwing it away.

13 Comments | green, landfill, reduce | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa

It’s like camping! Except more pathetic (Day 145)…

July 23, 2007

fork and pan

Sigh. A true sign that things over here at Thistle headquarters are getting a little desperate: I find myself eating dinner and thinking, yeah, plates are so overrated. Who needs plates? They just mean one more thing to clean, which means all the more water and soap being used.

So my green move today is to make like a university student/camping enthusiast and eat straight out of the frying pan (or the pot, depending on what I’m cooking). I suppose if I invested in a nice cast-iron skillet, it would make for a better culinary canvas. But still, something about eating out of the pot just screams “lazy,” “uncivilized” and “pathetic”.

Photo courtesy of Jasmic on Flickr.

13 Comments | food, reduce, soap, water | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa

Cutting the juice loose (Day 137)…

July 15, 2007

juice bottles

To go along with yesterday’s post about giving up all canned beverages, today I’m also going to be giving up all those pre-packaged juices, including both the bottled and boxed variety (On a side note: if you’re looking for an amusing form of procrastination, enter the search term “drink box” at Flickr.com and you’ll find a lot of pictures of people either drunk and boxing, drunk and in a box, or drunk with a box on their head).

Almost all such juices are full of high fructose corn syrup and other artificial sweeteners, with next to no real juice in them at all unless it’s from concentrate. And even the ones that do seem healthy still come in plastic or glass — which, yes, can be recycled, but it’s much more environmentally friendly to simply buy some fruit and eat it.

The only juices I ever really buy anyway are those green ones with spirulina and added vitamins and lots of other stuff I’d never actually purchase on its own. But if I’m really craving that, I can always walk next door to Fresh with my own glass and get them to make one for me.

Photo courtesy of Kyler Storm on Flickr

6 Comments | food, packaging, plastic, recycling, reduce, waste | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa

Time to ban the can (Day 136)…

July 14, 2007

Is anything that comes in a can good for you? I’m talking beverages here, like Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew, Red Bull and so on. I can’t think of a single canned liquid that has any nutritional value whatsoever, but that’s just one reason why I’m banning them as of today — the other is that, while pop cans can be recycled, it’s always better to reduce, and with my trusty water bottle on me at all times, there’s really no reason to indulge in anything other than Toronto’s finest.

Sometimes I’d get beer in cans, but now that I’m drinking local stuff it’s always in bottles. I like the occasional iced tea, but I can always make my own. And I’m sure I’ll get the occasional craving for a Brio or a Limonata, but otherwise I think this change will be pretty easy, and by the end of the year, my pancreas will surely thank me.

2 Comments | beer, landfill, recycling, reduce, waste, water bottle | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa

Making the cut (Day 128)…

July 6, 2007

haircut

You know, I really haven’t minded parting with my hair dryer that much, but there was something about having two feet of wet hair dangling from my head that was just weighing me down. It was time for it to go, so I made an appointment at the salon and got it cut. Like, really cut. Like above my shoulders and barely fits in a ponytail cut.

Less hair means less product being consumed, so my green move today will be to keep my hair short.

14 Comments | hair, hair dryer, reduce | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa

Showering in the dark (Day 125)…

July 3, 2007

The light in my bathroom went out this morning — it’s one of the few halogens that I unfortunately can’t switch to a CFL — and I didn’t have time to get a new bulb. So instead, I just brushed my teeth and took a shower with it off. I felt a bit silly at first, but because the sun had already come up, I could see well enough to get all my ablutions done without a problem. Then I thought, “Why not do this for the rest of the year?”

I’m not going to put my makeup on without some decent lighting so I’ll switch it on for that, and when the days get shorter in the Winter I might need to turn it on at some point so I don’t start washing my face with conditioner and brushing my teeth with moisturizer. But for now, I’ll be using a little less power for my shower.

6 Comments | electricity, energy, reduce, toilettries, water | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa

Too many Stars in my eyes (Day 116)…

June 24, 2007

I’m a journalist. I work at a newspaper. And I like to have a real, live copy of it every morning to read with my coffee and oatmeal, so I’m not about to cancel my subscription to the Post anytime soon (plus it’s free, and it’s the only employee perk I get, so cut me some slack).

However, I’ve been getting the Star on Sundays, because the Post only prints Monday to Saturday, and suddenly they’ve started delivering it to me free of charge every day of the week. It’s way too much paper, and while I love getting complimentary anything, it means hauling down stacks of it to the recycling bin every few days and is really a waste.

So as of today, I’m cancelling my subscription, and going back to one newspaper a day.

6 Comments | paper, recycling, reduce, waste | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa

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