I almost never check the comments on this blog because, well, it's reminiscent of my days as a single gal waiting for the phone to ring (cue violins...). Of course there are the days when my husband has written to me, usually when he has learned for the first time a new house rule (I have learned to stop doing that, as you know). But scanning the blog recently, I noticed a comment from someone I don't actually know who suggested a shower head for me to use called the "Green Choice" showerhead. http://www.showertek.com/blog/product-reviews/re-nest-reviews-the-green-choice-showerhead/ It lets you turn down the pressure of the water so that you A) don't have to stand in the buff freezing your patootie off during your Navy Shower and B) don't have an excuse to use the same amount of water as it takes to quench the thirst of the Loch Ness Monster. Anyway Nigel, thank you for the suggestion. It's on my Costco list - winter's coming!!!
Did I mention yesterday that Coke has not gotten back to me? (Cue violins again...) Their website does mention that they are harvesting rainwater in the communities where they make their product (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/challenges_opportunities.html#india). I kind of still want a response to my questions. Should I assume this means that they will not have control over who has access to this water? I just want to fully understand. Because if they can harvest enough rainwater in order to replenish the water they use, then why not just use the rainwater? Why take the water in the first place? Just sayin... Maybe I'm just being annoying, but I want to know. This quality probably explains the whole waiting-by-the-phone reference (Cue, violins!)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
What's Your Beef?
(I'm writing this sentence after finishing this blog entry. Warning: it's a real snoozer in the beginning!!! But it gets better toward the end. I guess I could do something about it as opposed to talking about myself behind my own back, but I don't feel like it.)
It took a couple of days to muster the energy to do something about the dishes after having guests on Sunday. Needless to say, the dishwasher was bursting. I had to wash some by hand and you can't believe how careful I was being to ensure that I did not use a ton of water. Really, it wasn't any more time consuming than handwashing usually is. But here's what I did.
1) Every time I washed a dish, I only put a little bit of water on it as I scrubbed (plus the water that I mix with the soap)
2) As I rinsed, I made sure that the next dish was underneath and catching the water so that I could scrub it using that water.
3) I made sure to run the sink at half the pressure and shut it off when I wasn't rinsing.
I wish I knew how much water all this was saving. I have to say, though, that when I had to wash out a cup that had milk in it. One cup, okay? I was sure to use the excess water to soak the dishes that were waiting to be washed and I filled three bowls. THREE BOWLS to wash just one cup. And that's using my whimpy half pressure method. So I don't really want to think about how much water I wasted all those times I had the water rushing out of the faucet like Niagara Falls.
Yesterday, after doing dishes, I read this really reliable source called Facebook (every hear of it?) that we could be saving like a kabillion gallons of water if we only ate beef once a week. (Okay, don't fact check kabillion, nerds, it was just a really high number, aight?) Now, I loves some beef, but I couldn't ignore this. So I looked for a more reliable source (if there is such a thing) and I found this great site called creativecitizen.com, which tells you the kind of impact you can make on the environment by changing certain behaviors. Here's the link about cutting beef down to once-a-week (http://creativecitizen.com/solutions/87-Eat-Less-Beef):
"Eat beef only once a week and reduce C02 emissions by 3,028 pounds and save 207,920 gallons of water. According to New Scientist Magazine, every one kilogram of beef produces the equivalent of 36.4 kilograms (80 pounds) of C02."
I highly recommend the site. Am I going to cut beef down to once a week? Who me? Uhhh, I have to say, I don't even know if I could tell you how many times I actually eat beef. Hey, I've already cut out bottled water and even greatly reduced bottled drinks... the beef would be really difficult. My daughter is a vegan, can I just swipe her brownie points on this one??? Jeez, you're persistent! I will say this, I am going to give my grocery list another look to see how much beef is on it and then take it from there, okay? You know I'll update you honestly. But, how about you?
Anyway, take a look at the site. You are bound to find one simple thing you can do that would make a huge impact on how much water you use, and the environment. It's a great site!!!
It took a couple of days to muster the energy to do something about the dishes after having guests on Sunday. Needless to say, the dishwasher was bursting. I had to wash some by hand and you can't believe how careful I was being to ensure that I did not use a ton of water. Really, it wasn't any more time consuming than handwashing usually is. But here's what I did.
1) Every time I washed a dish, I only put a little bit of water on it as I scrubbed (plus the water that I mix with the soap)
2) As I rinsed, I made sure that the next dish was underneath and catching the water so that I could scrub it using that water.
3) I made sure to run the sink at half the pressure and shut it off when I wasn't rinsing.
I wish I knew how much water all this was saving. I have to say, though, that when I had to wash out a cup that had milk in it. One cup, okay? I was sure to use the excess water to soak the dishes that were waiting to be washed and I filled three bowls. THREE BOWLS to wash just one cup. And that's using my whimpy half pressure method. So I don't really want to think about how much water I wasted all those times I had the water rushing out of the faucet like Niagara Falls.
Yesterday, after doing dishes, I read this really reliable source called Facebook (every hear of it?) that we could be saving like a kabillion gallons of water if we only ate beef once a week. (Okay, don't fact check kabillion, nerds, it was just a really high number, aight?) Now, I loves some beef, but I couldn't ignore this. So I looked for a more reliable source (if there is such a thing) and I found this great site called creativecitizen.com, which tells you the kind of impact you can make on the environment by changing certain behaviors. Here's the link about cutting beef down to once-a-week (http://creativecitizen.com/solutions/87-Eat-Less-Beef):
"Eat beef only once a week and reduce C02 emissions by 3,028 pounds and save 207,920 gallons of water. According to New Scientist Magazine, every one kilogram of beef produces the equivalent of 36.4 kilograms (80 pounds) of C02."
I highly recommend the site. Am I going to cut beef down to once a week? Who me? Uhhh, I have to say, I don't even know if I could tell you how many times I actually eat beef. Hey, I've already cut out bottled water and even greatly reduced bottled drinks... the beef would be really difficult. My daughter is a vegan, can I just swipe her brownie points on this one??? Jeez, you're persistent! I will say this, I am going to give my grocery list another look to see how much beef is on it and then take it from there, okay? You know I'll update you honestly. But, how about you?
Anyway, take a look at the site. You are bound to find one simple thing you can do that would make a huge impact on how much water you use, and the environment. It's a great site!!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Canning It
You almost got a wine soaked blog entry about toilets yesterday...
Wait a minute, before I continue, that is my way of saying that the ONE and a half glasses of wine I had at dinner with another couple last night made me sleepy. So I'm qualifying for you kids out there. There are enough people in the public eye acting like a bunch of hooligans. You don't need to start thinking that this concerned-mommy-slash-citizen-turned-blogging-babbler is one of them. Now, back to the can...
I don't know if any of you caught my comments about toilets the other day because I erased the whole rant the next day. I never edit this thing, but I did erase that one for other reasons. I will now happily rehash the gist of what was in my dissertation... because I don't have anything else to say today.
Did you know that the water in your toilet is the same water you drink? Watch it, now, I'm not saying you could actually drink the water in your toilet. No. That would be gross. What I'm saying, is the water that flows in and out of your toilet is the same water that comes out of your kitchen sink. Now, take a moment and think about this. Just stop what you're doing and think about it. Does this make any sense to you? Because if it does, please tell me why.
So, I start doing a little research to find out if there are some inventions out there that will start recycling the water from the sink, bathtub or washing machine by connecting them to the toilet tank, so that the water that receives your poop is not water that would be better served making the coffee that thereby makes you have to poop. And once again, thank goodness for smart people:
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/815/
http://www.geekologie.com/2008/03/washing_machinetoilet_combo_sa.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNDVxJdXBPA
Now, for you fellow nerds out there who say, "hmm, I think I would like to do some research of my own," and google water, toilet, recycle, you WILL get articles about technology that some places are considering to recycle the TOILET water. You will then either throw up, pass out or be so confused and upset that you start Moon Walking. I would encourage us to read all of the water saving options out there with an open mind. As we say in Karate - Gassho!
Wait a minute, before I continue, that is my way of saying that the ONE and a half glasses of wine I had at dinner with another couple last night made me sleepy. So I'm qualifying for you kids out there. There are enough people in the public eye acting like a bunch of hooligans. You don't need to start thinking that this concerned-mommy-slash-citizen-turned-blogging-babbler is one of them. Now, back to the can...
I don't know if any of you caught my comments about toilets the other day because I erased the whole rant the next day. I never edit this thing, but I did erase that one for other reasons. I will now happily rehash the gist of what was in my dissertation... because I don't have anything else to say today.
Did you know that the water in your toilet is the same water you drink? Watch it, now, I'm not saying you could actually drink the water in your toilet. No. That would be gross. What I'm saying, is the water that flows in and out of your toilet is the same water that comes out of your kitchen sink. Now, take a moment and think about this. Just stop what you're doing and think about it. Does this make any sense to you? Because if it does, please tell me why.
So, I start doing a little research to find out if there are some inventions out there that will start recycling the water from the sink, bathtub or washing machine by connecting them to the toilet tank, so that the water that receives your poop is not water that would be better served making the coffee that thereby makes you have to poop. And once again, thank goodness for smart people:
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/815/
http://www.geekologie.com/2008/03/washing_machinetoilet_combo_sa.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNDVxJdXBPA
Now, for you fellow nerds out there who say, "hmm, I think I would like to do some research of my own," and google water, toilet, recycle, you WILL get articles about technology that some places are considering to recycle the TOILET water. You will then either throw up, pass out or be so confused and upset that you start Moon Walking. I would encourage us to read all of the water saving options out there with an open mind. As we say in Karate - Gassho!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Best Laid Plans
I showered with a watering can this morning. I got all ready for my shower and then said to my son, uh, honey, can you get that watering can in the hall for mommy. He waddled over and brought it right to me and then blurted out with the urgent whine that can only come from a three year old. "What are you doing!?"
Well, I have one major suggestion for anyone who is planning on getting on board with this idea - catching all of the unused water to use for other purposes, like watering plants - use something that has a very WIDE brim. Because the little opening at the top of this sort-of-fancy watering can I bought at the very fancy boutique Target caught all of about a half pint of water. Okay, yes, it's something, but not enough to allow my son to think his mom's a wierd-0.
In other news, my husband has been making his own iced tea and we still have over half of the one bottled drink we bought for the week. He is making a serious effort to be on board with this new policy of no bottled drinks in the house and I love him so much for that. I know it's not easy.
I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I am fully aware that by doing this blog thing, that I am opening myself up to being a hypocrite. Well, today is only half way over and I committed a big no no. There I am at the local farmers market, acting all crunchy munchy with my canvas bag and organic produce. Then we hit the Tamale stand (the best tamale's EVER, by the way. And organic!) and GULP! I realize I don't have my steel, chemical-free, life-saving, water-saving, environment-saving, hypocrite-saving, WORLD-saving, canteens! So what do you do with a sweaty kid whose parched and whining and no water fountain in site? You buy a bottle of "Arkansas' finest," as tomale-guy put it. Oh Lord, how I did cringe. My husband turned to me and said, "Isn't this something you're not supposed to do?" All I could do was nod. Tomorrow is another day.
Anyway, after realizing that I'm not perfect (darn, cause yesterday, I thought I was!) my email to Coke was very humble. (Wha? I told you i was going to have to ask Muhtar himself!) Here it is:
Hi,
I recently saw your CEO on a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative and heard him speak about your goals toward water neutrality. I had seen a documentary about Coke using water in India a couple of years ago and am happy about this newfound effort toward sustainability! I have three questions for you:
1) Will the water these initiatives be replenishing the very communities where you actually use the water to make your products?
2) Will the water generated in these initiatives be owned by Coke, who will then charge the people of the communities for the water? If so, how can you insure that the poorest communities will have access to the water?
3) Given your company's new awareness of this growing problem of water shortage, would your company ever consider eliminating your bottled water division Dasani, knowing that bottled water is a part of the cause of this growing water shortage?
Thank you so much in advance for your honest response to these questions. I am just a private citizen with a growing concern for this worldwide problem.
I will let you know when they write back. Let me know if you hear anything at recess or in study hall!
Well, I have one major suggestion for anyone who is planning on getting on board with this idea - catching all of the unused water to use for other purposes, like watering plants - use something that has a very WIDE brim. Because the little opening at the top of this sort-of-fancy watering can I bought at the very fancy boutique Target caught all of about a half pint of water. Okay, yes, it's something, but not enough to allow my son to think his mom's a wierd-0.
In other news, my husband has been making his own iced tea and we still have over half of the one bottled drink we bought for the week. He is making a serious effort to be on board with this new policy of no bottled drinks in the house and I love him so much for that. I know it's not easy.
I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I am fully aware that by doing this blog thing, that I am opening myself up to being a hypocrite. Well, today is only half way over and I committed a big no no. There I am at the local farmers market, acting all crunchy munchy with my canvas bag and organic produce. Then we hit the Tamale stand (the best tamale's EVER, by the way. And organic!) and GULP! I realize I don't have my steel, chemical-free, life-saving, water-saving, environment-saving, hypocrite-saving, WORLD-saving, canteens! So what do you do with a sweaty kid whose parched and whining and no water fountain in site? You buy a bottle of "Arkansas' finest," as tomale-guy put it. Oh Lord, how I did cringe. My husband turned to me and said, "Isn't this something you're not supposed to do?" All I could do was nod. Tomorrow is another day.
Anyway, after realizing that I'm not perfect (darn, cause yesterday, I thought I was!) my email to Coke was very humble. (Wha? I told you i was going to have to ask Muhtar himself!) Here it is:
Hi,
I recently saw your CEO on a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative and heard him speak about your goals toward water neutrality. I had seen a documentary about Coke using water in India a couple of years ago and am happy about this newfound effort toward sustainability! I have three questions for you:
1) Will the water these initiatives be replenishing the very communities where you actually use the water to make your products?
2) Will the water generated in these initiatives be owned by Coke, who will then charge the people of the communities for the water? If so, how can you insure that the poorest communities will have access to the water?
3) Given your company's new awareness of this growing problem of water shortage, would your company ever consider eliminating your bottled water division Dasani, knowing that bottled water is a part of the cause of this growing water shortage?
Thank you so much in advance for your honest response to these questions. I am just a private citizen with a growing concern for this worldwide problem.
I will let you know when they write back. Let me know if you hear anything at recess or in study hall!
Friday, September 25, 2009
...You Got Some 'Splainin To Do!
I know, I left you hanging. I'm actually still contemplating whether or not I want to go into it. The Bill Clinton reference, I mean. I watched the Clinton Global Initiative on Tuesday. Wanna watch it? http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/ourmeetings/meeting_2009_annual_webcast.asp?Section=OurMeetings&PageTitle=Webcast%3C/a%3E
I guess I'm just waiting until I'm smarter to talk about what I heard. I mean, gee wiz, those people on that panel were a hell of a lot smarter than me. CEO, President, Prime Minister-types all shooting the breeze with Bill Clinton. Among them, Muhtar Kent, CEO of Coke. Hey... Coke... where did I recently see you that made me vow I would never buy another one of your products ever again...? Oh, A World Without Water. Oh. Gee. How embarrassing for you, Coke.
I know that documentary was made two years ago, but in two years, Coke has gone from sucking land dry to getting a foot massage for their "green" ways?
Coke is spreading the word that they are setting a new goal for themselves. Water neutrality. Sounds awesome, right? And Bill Clinton seemed to be impressed. Usually, that's all I need to know. Here it is on their website that lets readers know how awesome they are:
http://www.cokecorporateresponsibility.co.uk/environment/water-use/replenishing-the-water-we-use.html
"The Global Water Challenge: In partnership with many non-governmental organizations, the Coca-Cola system has established 68 community-based water initiatives in 40 countries, including The Global Water Challenge."
So, all the smart people up there clapped and listened and looked pretty impressed. Hey, they're all way smarter than me, so found myself smiling too. After all, I'm just a schmuck with a computer I can turn on and off that plays these webcast thingies for me, I don't know how it works... So maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but the "non-governmental" part of that sentence makes me a little nervous. Like will they be charging people for it at a price that they see fit? Because privatization is the thing that scares me cause I'm still living in Camp Waterisahumanright. I actually joined Twitter during the webcast just so that I could tweet that darn question, but I am too simple-minded to have even been able to do that, so maybe I should just look at the birdie and whistle a happy tune... No, I can't. I really want to know. Can anyone find the answer to my question? Am I going to have to email Muhtar? Hey, I'm tough enough to take a navy shower, I'm tough enough to blast through a little PR BS and find out what's going on.
Let me just say, that I want the answer to be "no" - that they will not own and operate the water that runs into people's homes. I'm not looking for Coke to be evil, I want to believe everything on their self-loving website. Please Coke, tell me what I want to hear so I don't give you the evil eye - because I know that would do serious damage to you.
In the meantime, for those of you who are still on the third paragraph of this entry and thinking, how the heck can anyone be "water neutral," here's a link for you: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/the-next-greenwash-water-neutrality.php.
I guess I'm just waiting until I'm smarter to talk about what I heard. I mean, gee wiz, those people on that panel were a hell of a lot smarter than me. CEO, President, Prime Minister-types all shooting the breeze with Bill Clinton. Among them, Muhtar Kent, CEO of Coke. Hey... Coke... where did I recently see you that made me vow I would never buy another one of your products ever again...? Oh, A World Without Water. Oh. Gee. How embarrassing for you, Coke.
I know that documentary was made two years ago, but in two years, Coke has gone from sucking land dry to getting a foot massage for their "green" ways?
Coke is spreading the word that they are setting a new goal for themselves. Water neutrality. Sounds awesome, right? And Bill Clinton seemed to be impressed. Usually, that's all I need to know. Here it is on their website that lets readers know how awesome they are:
http://www.cokecorporateresponsibility.co.uk/environment/water-use/replenishing-the-water-we-use.html
"The Global Water Challenge: In partnership with many non-governmental organizations, the Coca-Cola system has established 68 community-based water initiatives in 40 countries, including The Global Water Challenge."
So, all the smart people up there clapped and listened and looked pretty impressed. Hey, they're all way smarter than me, so found myself smiling too. After all, I'm just a schmuck with a computer I can turn on and off that plays these webcast thingies for me, I don't know how it works... So maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but the "non-governmental" part of that sentence makes me a little nervous. Like will they be charging people for it at a price that they see fit? Because privatization is the thing that scares me cause I'm still living in Camp Waterisahumanright. I actually joined Twitter during the webcast just so that I could tweet that darn question, but I am too simple-minded to have even been able to do that, so maybe I should just look at the birdie and whistle a happy tune... No, I can't. I really want to know. Can anyone find the answer to my question? Am I going to have to email Muhtar? Hey, I'm tough enough to take a navy shower, I'm tough enough to blast through a little PR BS and find out what's going on.
Let me just say, that I want the answer to be "no" - that they will not own and operate the water that runs into people's homes. I'm not looking for Coke to be evil, I want to believe everything on their self-loving website. Please Coke, tell me what I want to hear so I don't give you the evil eye - because I know that would do serious damage to you.
In the meantime, for those of you who are still on the third paragraph of this entry and thinking, how the heck can anyone be "water neutral," here's a link for you: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/the-next-greenwash-water-neutrality.php.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Oh so sleepy this evening. I have so much to talk about that would just fascinate the pants off you - toilets, laundry, Bill Clinton - but I just don't think I can tonight. (You're wondering why I said Bill Clinton, right? See how I just stuck that in there so that maybe you would read tomorrow, hoping that I explain. Is my hook working?)
I will say that my steel cups from KleenKanteen came in today and boy oh boy, you'd think my son was the most deprived child on earth the way he freaked out when he saw his new cup. So excited. When does life stop being that way?
Anyway, we went to a party tonight, where I knew there would be bottled water. I was sure to bring out cups so that we would not be tempted to drink any bottled water, and it was fine. Hey, that wasn't difficult!
On the home front, the whole Navy shower is second nature now. I will say, however, that my shower has two knobs, one for hot and one for cold. I hate to be a whiner when there are so many people in the world deprived of so many necessities, but the two knobs are kind of a pain. I have learned to endure water of any temperature ranging from holy-pig-fart-my-teeth-are-going-to-freeze-cold to oh-my-lord-my-toenails-are-going-to-melt-hot, just so that I don't waste the water waiting for it to get to the perfect temperature. If you're redoing your bathroom and you are a navy showerer, then I recommend getting one of those things that you turn and then pop out, so it's always on the temperature you want it to be.
Did I actually use the word "fart" in this blog entry. I'm really tired...
I will say that my steel cups from KleenKanteen came in today and boy oh boy, you'd think my son was the most deprived child on earth the way he freaked out when he saw his new cup. So excited. When does life stop being that way?
Anyway, we went to a party tonight, where I knew there would be bottled water. I was sure to bring out cups so that we would not be tempted to drink any bottled water, and it was fine. Hey, that wasn't difficult!
On the home front, the whole Navy shower is second nature now. I will say, however, that my shower has two knobs, one for hot and one for cold. I hate to be a whiner when there are so many people in the world deprived of so many necessities, but the two knobs are kind of a pain. I have learned to endure water of any temperature ranging from holy-pig-fart-my-teeth-are-going-to-freeze-cold to oh-my-lord-my-toenails-are-going-to-melt-hot, just so that I don't waste the water waiting for it to get to the perfect temperature. If you're redoing your bathroom and you are a navy showerer, then I recommend getting one of those things that you turn and then pop out, so it's always on the temperature you want it to be.
Did I actually use the word "fart" in this blog entry. I'm really tired...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Good Things Come in Small Packages
Ever notice how the common thing to do is to turn the sink on before putting soap on your hands. And there's the sink, running while you lather up. It might not amount to much, but I'm noticing if I soap up first, then turn on the sink, I don't use as much water. What is helpful in this capacity is that I use that foamy soap, not the gel, which is too gooey and thick. If you have the gel, just fill the dispenser half way with water to thin it out (and to avoid buying soap every other week).
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