Flashing back to small posts about random things

I have started reading old posts here. I have actually started from the first one and I am working my way forward, post by post. I think I started the "project" hoping to find some good stuff that I had forgotten about, and reminisce a bit about almost 15 years of writing in some form. 

I have made my way through 2007 and am currently in the spring of 2008. Things will go sideways by the end of that year, and the 2009 posts will have some subtext clear only to me, but we're not there yet. 

In the heady days of 2007, I was excited about this new outlet and was posting nearly every day. A lot of the posts were small updates, random thoughts, articles that had caught my eye, and responding to and promoting my friend's posts who were also beginning bloggers. Not much of those first six months were worth re-reading, and a lot of the moments were mundane, but discovery can come in small moments. But again, I wasn't really there yet. 

Back then I also wrote a lot about environmental concerns. I was pretty passionate about it, wanted to talk about it, share whatever tips I might have, etc. A decade and a half later, I still think we are treating the planet too much like a rental car we don't give a shit about, but I am more discouraged than passionate. The companies that produce so much of the waste in this world have done a great job of pushing the onus on the consumer to consider our own carbon footprint, while not much considering theirs. At their scale, they can make a tiny change that has massive impact, while if I make a massive change the impact is small. 

But I still try to do my best, if only to better live with my decisions. 

Anyway, to harken back to those 2007 days of talking about small random things...why is it so hard to find powder laundry detergent these days? 

I have long used powder over liquid detergent to save on the unnecessary shipping of water, and to reduce plastic bottles going into the waste/recycling stream. However, for some reason it is much harder to find these days. My local grocery has shelves and shelves of liquid/plastic detergent, but not a single cardboard box of powdered detergent. On the way back from the library on Sunday I stopped by a different grocery store. Again, so many choices of liquid detergent. It took me three scans of the aisle and nearly giving up before finally finding the one box/powder choice on the bottom shelf. Small victory. 

I get home and notice a small sticker on the box. 

You can click to enlarge the picture, but it reads, "Thank you for buying @ QFC. If found for resale elsewhere call 888-892-6460." 

So now I wonder if there is a black market for powdered laundry detergent. Maybe I am looking in the wrong aisle, and it is actually locked up behind protective glass somewhere with the Benadryl. 

Happy 140th Birthday National Parks

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.

~ John Muir

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, was not only the first national park in the United States, it is widely held to be the first of its kind in the world. The National Park Service was not established for another 44 years, but the setting aside lands "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations" began at Yellowstone.

More from Wikipedia - Ferdinand V. Hayden (an early surveyor of Yellowstone), while not the only person to have thought of creating a park in the Yellowstone region, was the park's first and most enthusiastic advocate. He believed in “setting aside the area as a pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” and warned that there were those who would come and “make merchandise of these beautiful specimens”. Worrying the area could face the same fate as Niagara Falls, he concluded the site should “be as free as the air or Water.” In his report to the Committee on Public Lands, he concluded that if the bill failed to become law, “the vandals who are now waiting to enter into this wonder-land, will in a single season despoil, beyond recovery, these remarkable curiosities, which have requited all the cunning skill of nature thousands of years to prepare”

There are now 58 protected areas known as National Parks set aside in the United States. A list can be found here. I have friends who intend to visit them all at some point, and after looking through the list it appears I have only made it to seven so far. I will never see them all, but I will never forget visiting the Grand Canyon, riding my bike through the Redwoods, or climbing part way up Mount Rainier.

Though I suppose there is a way to value all the land within the parks, it is impossible to put a price on what it means to have these wonders of nature set aside for us and future generations. As John Muir also said, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

I am thankful that they were saved from the foolish among us, to continue to nurture the best that resides in all of us.

Definition(s) of crazy

I saw something the other day that reminded me of a scene from So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams. The scene:

One day, after coming across a set of detailed instructions on a set of toothpicks, John Watson, distressed and fearing for the world's sanity, built The Asylum to put it in and help it get better.

"It seemed to me that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include a set of detailed instructions for use in a package of toothpicks, was no longer a civilization in which I could live and stay sane."

His asylum was basically an inside-out house. He lived on the outside (inside) with his wife because they were sane. The rest of the world lived on the inside (outside) because they were not. He pitched tent on a beach in California and built four walls around himself. He then decorated his side of the walls to look like the outside of a house, complete with front door leading back in to the outside world. He named the house "The Asylum" and he continued to live blissfully on the one patch of the world outside of it.

And in case his resolve should ever weaken, he had a plaque placed above the door of The Asylum engraved with the words which had driven him out...

Hold stick near center of its length. 
Moisten pointed end in mouth. 
Insert in tooth space, blunt end next to gum. 
Use gentle in-and-out motion.

What I saw was a similar indication that something has gone entirely sideways. I received this free packet of peaches at the finish line of the Carlsbad Marathon.

Nothing too weird here. Peaches packed in white grape and lemon juices, produced by Dole of Westlake Village, CA. Then I happened to look at the side of the package.

The peaches are from Greece, and they were packaged in Thailand before being shipped here to California. At minimum, this 4oz packet of peaches traveled 13,200 miles to be given to me for free. Of course they are not free in any real sense when you consider all the pollution it took to grow, manufacture and ship this tiny carton halfway around the world.

Anyway, it boggles my little mind that, even discounting the environmental costs, that this is the best or cheapest way to get food to our table. And if you're going to give away food, you could probably find more deserving people, less than 13,000 miles away.

Crazy.

Eating locally

I finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver last week, and it is a great read on an interesting topic. Even if you only read the first chapter, it would be worth your time.

Barbara Kingsolver and her family move from Tucson to Virginia and decide to get their food as locally as possible. As one synopsis puts it, the book is "their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it." The book chronicles their first year of being locavores, and includes not only their own experiences, but lots of information on the environmental damage and resource waste behind our normal eating habits.

One of the major points is that we have lost most all our connection to how our food is grown. It all just shows up shrink-wrapped in our grocery store. Most of us have little clue about how far the food has traveled, what chemicals were introduced, or even what the plants look like in the wild. Another point she makes, which is something I have thought about in the past, is that most people (including me) no longer know when fruits or vegetables are in season.

Growing up, I remember that some fruits and vegetables were only in the store at certain times during the year. Now you can get asparagus almost any time of the year. But to make this happen, the vegetable often crosses half the world before it makes it to your table. According to the book, "Each item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1500 miles." Another odd statistic that shows how little sense it all makes - we export 1.1 million tons of potatoes while we also import 1.4 million tons. When all the transport of food across the world is considered, there are far more calories of energy used to produce food than are actually contained in the food itself.

The organic food movement has also taken a good foothold in the market. People are concerned with what kind of pesticides and other chemicals are used in growing their food, and what kind of health risk they pose. The chemicals not only pose some risk to us, but also can sterilize the soil so that it no longer will produce. Just this morning I saw an article, Coming Soon to Your Strawberries: Newly Approved Carcinogenic Pesticide. Methyl Iodide is used to "induce cancer in cell-culture experiments" and has been shown to "bind to DNA and cause mutations", yet it has been approved to be used as a pesticide in 47 states. California has its own approval process, and they are deciding whether it can be used here.

There are many reasons to try to eat more locally, more organically, and getting to know the farmer that grew your food. People do it to reduce pollution and oil consumption, to eliminate chemical pesticides in their diets, to support their local community of farmers instead of shipping their money overseas, and for the simple fact that fresh produce tastes so much better than the well-traveled, shrink-wrapped version.

Not many of us have an acre of free land to grow our own vegetables, but even people living in cities are carving out small areas to grow some food. An article in yesterday's Seattle Times details how much a woman living 15 minutes from downtown Seattle has been able to do. At our own home, Matt is currently making pasta sauce from tomatoes and basil grown in the backyard. The pasta will probably be served with a salad using lettuce from the garden as well.

This is only a small portion of their harvest. They have enough tomatoes that they can give them away or even trade them to a neighbor for firewood.

There are varying degrees that people participate in this local food movement. Some of the above mentioned authors are even grinding their own grain and making their own cheese. Whether you grow some of your own food or just change your habits slightly, the impact can be pretty staggering. From the book,

"If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast."

I've enjoyed several books by Barbara Kingsolver, and I found this book to be a great mix of interesting stories and enlightening information.

Doing it yourself

I've decided I like being a fixer.

When things are not working, I like to figure out why, and if at all possible, to repair it. There are a few reasons I am this way. One is that I hate to throw something away if it can still work, both for financial and environmental reasons. I am also fascinated by how things work. When something breaks, it is an excuse to dig into the nuts and bolts of it (not that there are many nuts and bolts these days). I also have this vision of myself as being self-reliant, like Thoreau at Walden or Tom Hanks stranded on his desert island.

A story clicked into place when I read it a number of years ago. It was in one of books by Robert Fulghum. He is the author of "All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten", but I'm not sure if the story was from this, or one of his other books. He is out on a walk near his house and comes upon one of his neighbors repairing a lawn mower. Mr. Fulghum comments "I wish I was like you and knew how to do those sort of repairs." The neighbor curtly says something like "I am so tired of people saying that. I'm not anything special. I have just taken the time to learn how to do it, and you have chosen not to."

The author was initially taken aback, but as he continued his walk he realized that the neighbor was right. In the past, he simply threw up his hands when something broke, figuring it was too complicated for him to figure out. That he was missing some special gene that allowed mechanics to understand how things worked. Granted, people have some natural abilities that help them grasp certain concepts more easily than others, but to say that you "can't figure it out" is both inaccurate and limiting.

The author took the lesson to heart. Now when something breaks, he knows it is possible to take the time to learn how to fix it. He repairs some things, but takes others in to the mechanic, but now he understands it is a choice and not a necessity. I have tried to hold on to that lesson as well.

Most of all, I like being a fixer for friends. If there is something I already know how to do, I don't hesitate to lend a hand when I can (I am more likely to work on your kitchen than my own). And even if I don't know how to do something, I often take it as an excuse to learn how to do it. I love the idea of being a jack-of-all-trades, and like to add to my list of skills whenever possible. Doing the kitchen remodel recently, though frustrating at times, has been good in that respect.

Recently, the washing machine at the house stopped filling with cold water. It would work for brief periods, but then shut down before the tub was full. It would start up again after an hour or so for no apparent reason, but each load would take a few hours to complete. I initially thought that it was simply the inlet hose. It was one of those flood prevention ones that will shut itself off if there is a leak - a blowout preventer, if you will. It just made sense in my head that it had become defective and was shutting itself off. Then once the pressure balanced out again, it would open up again. It was also the easiest, cheapest fix, so it had that appeal going for it as well.

Of course it wasn't that simple. With my work schedule, I didn't have (make) the time to figure out what was really wrong for another week or two. In the meantime, to bypass the problem and cut laundry time back down to something reasonable, I figured out that we could get the washer to work by filling the tub with cold water from the sink. It took about six large bucket fulls to fill it up, once for the wash and once more for the rinse. It was a very visual reminder of how much water it takes to do a load of laundry. It also made Holly feel like she was working on a farm, bringing in water from the well.

Some time later, I sat down at the computer to see if I could find some troubleshooting advice on the web. After a half hour of research I had narrowed down the likely cause, found the part number, and step by step instructions on how to replace it. I even found a video on how to take the washer apart. The hardest part ended up getting to the parts store while they were open. The repair took another half hour or so and cost all of $28. And laundry in under four hours is worth far more than the effort I put in, which is the most satisfying part.

With multiple 'do-it-yourself' websites at our disposal, it is even easier to learn how to do your own installations and repairs. And of course with money being tighter than ever, it is all the more tempting to save the cost of a repairman. Naturally, there is always the hazard of making things worse and needing to call a professional to "fix your fix". Some instructions I read recently said something like "If you are not comfortable using all the required tools listed, it might be best to call a professional". That seemed like a pretty good place to start.

And of course, I don't repair everything. I learned all about auto repair as a teen and twenty-something working on my '67 Ford. I spent a summer building an engine, I've replaced brakes and clutches on several cars, and have done lots of other odds and ends under the hood. But these days I pay someone to change the oil in my truck. But I know it is something I could do myself. It is just worth the $19 not to do it myself.


As a side note, I came across a book recommendation on another blog recently for Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford. The author talks about the satisfaction of making and fixing things with our hands, and that the manual trades "require careful thinking and are punctuated by moments of genuine pleasure." Crawford draws on his own experience - he quit a miserable think tank job and has found joy and meaning working as a motorcycle mechanic. Publishers Weekly said, "it's hard not to be interested in a philosopher who, in a nation that privileges intellectual attainment, can also successfully replace a carburetor." It sounds like an interesting read.

Doing good, and keeping up appearances

Recycling has become much more mainstream in the last 10 years. We of course have much to improve on (like reducing the amount of stuff in the first place), but it is great to see how much stays out of the landfill. Instead of small plastic bins, we are now rolling 90 gallon cans to the curb each week.

And an added bonus of the large closed bins, there isn't the walk of shame with a display of wine bottles after a large party like the 40th birthday bash on Sunday.

Another high tech gadget for readers

I headed down to the storage unit again yesterday to continue the editing process. I decided to attack the boxes of books one more time. I had already sold off a couple boxes worth before I moved out, but I wanted to raise the cutoff line a little higher. I tried applying the "If I live to be 100 will I ever read this again" rule. Well something close to it. Baby steps for the pack rat.

I ended up with another box packed full of books that didn't make the cut. My first stop yesterday was Third Place Books since they seem to pay out a little more than others. There is also a service I found online called Swaptree. You can trade books, CDs, video games and DVDs with other members. Just list what you have and what you're looking for and see if you get a bite. I didn't feel like offering up my box of castaways this time, since I am trying to downsize and I already have a stack of books I still need to read. But I will probably try it out going forward.

Third Place Books has a cool new service for book lovers. They have the new Espresso Book Machine (EBM). No, it isn't a way to lace the pages with caffeine so you can stay up late reading. The machine is a print-on-demand machine that allows you to create a paperback book in just a few minutes. They have one of only about 30 machines in the world, and one of only five in the country (there is also one in Bellingham).

So what do you print on the machine? Google has scanned in 2.5 million out-of-copyright books that are available to print. This could be great for those obscure, out of print editions. On Demand Books (the company that builds the machines) also has negotiated the rights to an additional 800,000 books. Third Place Books has an online search site where you can see what is available.

But probably the coolest use of the machine - unpublished writers can also produce a book from their work. There is an initial set up fee of about $50 to upload your pdf file, and then it is six cents a page. Until you get that big publishing contract, there is no need to carry any inventory, and you can get a copy in less than five minutes.

Bookstores and smaller publishing houses may be a growing market for the machine. From the Espresso Book Machine Wikipedia page:

"The direct-to-consumer model of the EBM eliminates shipping, warehousing, returns and pulping of unsold books, and allows simultaneous global availability of millions of new and backlist titles. These characteristics may in the future lower prices to consumers and libraries, and allow greater royalties and profits to authors and publishers."

A segment from KOMO News:

Save your money

It looks like the expensive tech shirts with "anti-stink" technology aren't worth the extra money, and can do some harm to your health and the environment.

Why "Anti-Odor" clothes stink

We don't need no stinkin' nanotechnology...

Nerdapalooza

The new library is open! The new library is open!

I stopped by an hour or two after it opened, and it was packed. Lots of adults and children showed up for the grand opening to check everything out (sorry, bad pun). They were welcomed by a live band, clowns, balloon animals and homemade cookies. It was definitely the place to be on a Saturday morning. It was great to see so many children excited to check out books, though they may have been hopped up on sugar cookies.

The new library is bigger, in a better location, and has lots of high and low tech improvements. Where the old library was more of a pickup spot for books on hold, the new one is set up more as a destination. There are more computers and meeting rooms, larger teen and children's sections, as well as a reading area with comfy chairs and a fireplace. One of the high tech improvements are the state-of-the-art book return machines. Each book is scanned so your account and their inventory is updated immediately, and the books are carried to stocking carts, saving employees hours of lifting and sorting books.

Green features of the building include: Natural lighting from banks of windows and skylights; native-plant landscaping and rain gardens; pavement that is porous to let water percolate through it; roof gardens to reduce heat loss and water runoff; and a geothermal energy element, which heats and cools the building using the earth’s energy. Makes ya green with pride.

Now if our town could just get a post office, we'd really be on the map.

Painless green tip for the day

Next time you boil water, cover the saucepan with a lid. A lidless container can consume up to three times more energy than a covered one. And make sure the pot covers the burner: a six inch pot on an eight inch burner wastes more than 40% of the heat.

~ from Runner's World

Clearing the cupboards

One disadvantage of reading the morning paper on the Kindle - no newspapers to wrap up the dishes when you're packing up the kitchen.

There were a couple days worth of newspapers at my parents, but that wasn't nearly enough to wrap up everything. So after I ran out, I drove over to the local transfer/dump/recycling station. Since the recycling bin at the house was filling up fast, I brought along some glass to recycle. I figured I'd grab some newspapers while I was there. Kind of a 'take a penny, leave a penny' situation.

Unfortunately, the newspaper bin was nearly empty, and the few pages that were there were rain soaked. As I walked back to my truck, an older gentleman popped open his trunk. It was full of newspapers. I said "jackpot" and told him what I needed the newspapers for. He was happy to oblige, and we ended up chatting for a couple of minutes. After years in the construction industry, it's not that unusual to have social hour at the dump.

The kitchen is mostly boxed up. There was at least one thing that was eight years old (bread mix), and there were four canisters of Morton salt. And I discovered that the range top converts into a rotisserie. This has definitely been a year of digging into things - finding both things rotting as well as surprises I wish I had known about.

A place for our stuff

I have been going through our things the past few weeks. As I mentioned before, I have been trying to filter things into piles of: keep, sell, give away, or throw away. As I am a pack rat, it has been a long process that I am not quite done with.

The keep pile hasn't really been started. Most of what will be kept will stay in the house for now. Most of what I have been doing the last few weeks is to get the house ready to sell. It has been my experience that houses with some furniture are more attractive than houses that are completely empty. So for now many of the big pieces will remain in the house, but we need to get over half of our stuff out to make it look less cluttered and more appealing.

The sell pile is going to be addressed this weekend. We will be having a garage sale to try and get some money for the things we don't wish to keep or store. There are some larger items like a fridge and washer/dryer that may not go over the weekend, so I will be posting some of the stuff on Craigslist next week. Any money we make will likely go into some final touches on the house.

The three boxes of books kind of fall in between the sell and giveaway piles. I think I netted about $10, so it paid for the gas I suppose.

As to the giveaway pile, we have made a large donation of J's clothes and I will be going through my closets tomorrow. For other things besides clothing that fall between the sell and throwaway piles, I will be placing on the local freecycle site. This is a community of folks that post things of varying value that they no longer need, and don't want to needlessly end up in a landfill. Everything is free. I placed a posting for the old screen door we took of the front of the house, and within an hour I had four people willing to take it. Things that don't end up going in the garage sale or Craigslist will hopefully find a new home through freecycle.

I have been trying to find other ways to recycle some of the clutter we have accumulated. Of course the 90 gallon recycling bin has been overflowing for the last month or two. I have been dropping off all the plastic bags at Home Depot to be turned into decking. I have also found that the local UPS store will take in any styrofoam - both packing peanuts and larger shipping pieces. Trying to do my part to keep from adding to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

I have only made one trip to the dump so far. I didn't even go over the minimum charge as the metal I had (downspouts, curtain rods, etc) was recycled for free. There will probably be an additional trip, but hopefully I can keep most of the stuff out of the landfill.

I think I will be embracing a more minimalist life in the future.

Train tracks, warning tracks and tracking chips

The Seattle area has lots of good public transportation options. There are several bus systems covering the Puget Sound area, Sound Transit trains bring additional commuters to downtown Seattle from Everett in the north and Tacoma in the south, and of course there is the ferry system for folks across the water. And beginning July 18th, link-light rail will be running between Seattle and the airport, picking up travelers and commuters from Tukwila, Rainier Beach and Beacon Hill. Future lines will head to the University of Washington then north to Lynnwood, and another will cross the lake to reach Bellevue and Redmond.

Ridership is up significantly with the one-two punch of rising gas prices last year, and this year's recession making people look more closely at reducing their commuting costs. Riding the bus into work has been great. The park and ride is only a mile away, and the express bus drops me off across the street from my office.

Seattle Metro's website has a great trip planner that is easy as Mapquest. Simply type in your starting and ending point, the time you want to leave or arrive, and how far you are willing to walk. The planner will give you several trip options detailing the bus lines, schedules and fares. I've used it to get to the dealership to pick up my car, and it will get me to the marathon expo on Friday.

And now it is even easier. There is the new ORCA card, which stands for "One Regional Card for All". The card is a regional pass that ties together seven public transportation systems including: bus systems in four counties, Sound Transit trains, Link-Light rail, and the ferry system. The card has a radio frequency chip that identifies you and your account. Simply wave the card by the reader as you enter or exit, and the fares are calculated and deducted. You no longer need to ask for a transfer because the system records your trip on your card. You can load it with cash like a gift card as well as having monthly passes connected to it. Transposing the letters, and with a nod to Lord of the Rings, it could be called "One Card to Rule them All", but then the logo would probably be more menacing than a Killer Whale.

My brother bought Mariner tickets for my parents for Mother's/Father's Day, and he had an extra ticket for me. Rather than drive in, fight traffic, and pay $20 for parking, I hopped on the game-day Sound Transit train. The train drops you off at King Street Station (about a 10 minute walk to the stadium), and the return train takes off 35 minutes after the game ends. It was standing room only, so fortunately I didn't need to stand in line for a ticket and simply swiped my ORCA card as I entered and exited.

The train route runs mostly along the water front of Puget Sound. We passed by beaches and parks with families walking, kid splashing in the waves, and dogs running free. People turned from the water to wave at the train as it rolled by. I don't know what it is about trains that make folks smile and wave, but it happened all along the route.

It was a great afternoon at Safeco Field. Felix Hernandez pitched well before giving up a two run homer in the 7th. The Mariners picked him up by tying it up in the bottom of the inning. In the 8th inning, Ken Griffey Jr was put in as a pinch hitter. The fans stood and clapped through his at-bat as camera flashes flickered throughout the stadium. He hit the ball deep, but the storybook finish was not to be as the ball was caught at the warning track.

The game was still tied in the ninth inning. The Mariners had the crowd on their feet again by loading the bases with two outs. They came away with the win, not on a clutch hit, but rather a throwing error by Arizona. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

Earth Day

Sorry, no big Earth Day post - too busy with work, the job search and other things.

Just a quick tip that is one of the easiest/painless changes you can make. Don't let the water run while you're brushing your teeth. This saves an average of 3,000 gallons a year. Same goes for shaving, washing dishes, etc.

If you want to go one step further - when running the water to get hot water for dishes or shaving, fill up your Brita pitcher, coffee pot, tea kettle, dog bowl, etc.

Though recycling gets all the press, the theme (in order of effectiveness) is - Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. And with money so tight these days, reducing consumption is top of mind for a lot of people. If the environment benefits as a result of cutting back, so much the better.

How to Make a Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit

Most modern synthetic cleaning products are based on age-old formulas using natural ingredients that were passed down through the generations because the chemistry was right. Going back to the original naturally derived ingredients is a way to make cleaning products that work, don’t pollute and save you money. Most are found in your kitchen cupboards. Mix and match with well-chosen and environmentally friendly green cleaning products found in health food stores, and you can easily and simply transform your home into a non-toxic and healthy haven.

As an added bonus, ounce for ounce homemade cleaning formulas cost about one-tenth the price of their commercial counterpart—and that includes costly, but worthwhile essential oils, and concentrated, all-purpose detergents for homemade recipes.

You can find recipes for eight different household cleaners here.

Headline roundup

A few stories I clipped from the paper over the last week or so.

Art Studio Fills Empty Spaces.

In some cultures, you burn a smudge stick to drive out the evil spirits, the bad luck. The past.

But in these days of loss and worry, of pulling back, shutting down and starting over, it might help to put some art on the walls.

That's the idea behind artist Ethan Jack Harrington's traveling studio.

Harrington plans to move his work space from one emptied Seattle storefront to another each month, essentially chasing the bad juju of the recession away, and replacing it with creative energy, beauty and an eye to building and preserving community.

The article points out that it is a win-win situation. The artist gets exposure for his artwork, and the storefront gets some activity instead of remaining empty. Filling empty storefronts also benefits the neighborhood. The article goes on to point out this line of thinking could be applied to vacant houses as well. "someone keeping the home fires burning at a foreclosed home until things turn around."

There was a Stuff You Should Know podcast a week or so ago on squatting. It mentioned that in 2007 there were 672,000 homeless folks and 16.7 million vacant houses. The show seemed in favor of the idea of filling all these empty houses, but they also mentioned how hard it is to get a squatter out of a house.

Cut Your Calories to Lose Weight

For people who are trying to lose weight, it does not matter if they are counting carbohydrates, protein or fat. All that matters is that they are counting something...After two years, every diet group had lost — and regained — about the same amount of weight regardless of what diet had been assigned.

Kind of one of those common sense things, but the diet industry is a massive one selling the latest fad. The good news is it doesn't matter which program clicks with you. It is all about taking in less calories than you burn off. I'll be publishing my "Eat Less, Move More" book soon. Well pamphlet.

"Miracle" water a low-cost alternative cleaner to harsh chemicals

It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it.

Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. U.S. regulators have approved it. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job.

The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current. Researchers have dubbed it electrolyzed water, not as catchy as Mr. Clean. But at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, Calif., some hotel workers are calling it "el liquido milagroso," the miracle liquid.

That's as good a name as any for a substance that scientists said is powerful enough to kill anthrax spores without harming people or the environment.

It's green and it saves money - the mixture costs less than a penny a gallon. It isn't ready for the home yet as the machine costs about $10,000, but hotels, etc. can save money while getting rid of toxic chemicals.

Quote of the Day

It may seem absurd to believe that a "primitive" culture in the Himalaya has anything to teach our industrialized society. But our search for a future that works keeps spiraling back to an ancient connection between ourselves and the earth, an interconnectedness that ancient cultures have never abandoned. - Helena Norberg-Hodge

Quote introducing chapter 12 of Three Cup of Tea.

The runner's footprint

There are some great articles in Runner's World this month regarding the environmental impact of running. The author goes to China where most running shoes are made to tour the factories and speak with the companies. It is a long article but worth the read if you're interested.

I found these two paragraphs an interesting summation:

It's a solid start. But once you look down the rabbit hole, in southeastern China (nexus of the global shoe-manufacturing industry), in research labs, and in our own closets, it turns out that a corporate commitment to build a green shoe is the easy part; the devil is in the details. Environmental impacts, carbon footprints, and toxic substances are hard to gauge in a product with 50 components coming from dozens of different places. The supply chain is hard to identify, much less influence.

Take bamboo, for example. END "infuses" its sockliners with the renewable plant. But Oboz does not. "We explored the process of taking raw bamboo and turning it into a textile, but it requires the use of very strong solvents," says Oboz cofounder Josh Fairchilds. There are similar problems with glue. Is it better to use a nontoxic water-based glue that requires more heat (and thus energy), or is it better to use a more hazardous solvent-based glue as long you use the solvents really carefully? In this manner, each brand has to evaluate its priorities: toxins versus climate change; renewable energy versus renewable materials. Almost every change has its consequences.

Even so, it is important to keep trying to find a better solution. Many shoe companies have made improvements including: reducing the amount of materials in the shoes, reducing the amount of waste, increasing recycled content (though still a small percentage), creating a shoe that biodegrades 50 times faster, and creating programs that collect shoes for recycling and reuse.

It is still an uphill battle. Even beyond the energy, chemicals, etc that go into shoes, this slide show follows a pair of shoes from the factory, to store, to runner, to recycling program - for a total of 12,986 miles. And of course there are the events with their energy use and waste, but efforts are being made there as well. Here are their picks for the ten greenest races and tips on how to be a greener runner.

Damn! Those barefoot runners aren't so crazy after all.

Every little bit helps

I was running late for a meeting, and I only had a couple of minutes to grab lunch on the way. Well I wasn't really late, as our meetings never seem to start on time - but that is a subject for another day.

Since I was pressed for time, I stopped by McDonald's. I ran into the restaurant rather than going through drive-through. I remember reading some tips to save gas, and skipping drive-through is a good one. Roughly 7 cars were in line, all of them idling for 7-10 minutes. You can do the math on their gas mileage for those 10 minutes. As an added bonus there was no one in line inside, so I was in and out in a minute or two.

So next time your grabbing lunch, stopping by the bank, or getting your coffee consider hopping out of your car and saving some gas.

Happy Earth Day

Just in case you didn't visit Google today.

I didn't do anything ground breaking today to honor Earth Day. Just the usual stuff. A lot of the changes we can make are just small things that taken together add up to a more responsible way of living.

I did fill up the tires on my truck to hopefully increase my gas mileage. Tightening budgets may do more to reduce waste than anything else.

I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us - Theodore Roosevelt