Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Earth Day 7, what I have and what I've learned

What I have left so far - the same that I had yesterday morning! That is a great thing. Especially because yesterday I was on way home and I almost had a breakdown and bought a hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts but the bus came so I quick ran out and jumped on. I had a tea bag that went into compost, tupperwear that went into the dishwasher, some leftover food that went into compost and 2 cans from beans that went into recycling. I still have the lids to take to NJ, along with the plastic from the Seventh Generation toilet paper rolls. I also have about 5 bags that I can reuse to bring in lunches, or snacks into work, and I'm working on buying ingredients to bake my own bread this week! Hopefully I'll have a recipe and pictures posted by the last day of this experiment, May 1st.

Yesterday one thing that I did that I was excited about - I've been saving those plastic baggies from Whole Foods and I stopped at the Westerly Market for some nuts. I usually get those nuts in a tin, but yesterday I went to the bulk bins and took out my handy plastic baggie and filled it! It was a great feeling to be reusing and not have to create more garbage and I walked back to work smiling:) I wonder if doing this does something for your stress levels, in the beginning of this experiment I felt more stressed but now that I'm using the bags over and over again that I've accumulated, I truly feel stressfree and content about something that I never used to be conscious doing...namely purchasing things like nuts. 

While at work I was talking to a customer who composts and he let me know that there are places in the city, community gardens that take compost every Saturday. This is good news just in case we can't bury it at the lakehouse or in our little yard outside of our apt, we'll have a place to bring it.

Sometimes its difficult to watch other people not recycling. This morning on the train I saw 2 women nonchalantly chatting and drinking their styrofoam DD cups and for a second I wanted to just say - those cups will never degrade ladies, which means they will probably be sitting in the ocean as your little grandchildren play in it. But of course I didn't say that, as it would be rude to tell a stranger how to live their lives, but I did feel annoyed by them and I remembered when I would drink out of those from DD without a care in the world.  I guess everyone has their own time for change.

If you ever have something you'd like to say about Starbucks, they have a site where you can voice your opinion. I put up a post about having a bin in the Starbucks where customers could drop lids off for recycling, copy and paste the link below if you'd like to see and/or comment. It turns out alot of other people have been thinking the same thing.
Starbucks Recycle Your Lids

Another thing I learned -
There is a great database called http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ that can tell you how toxic your makeup/lotion is. Its not exactly talking about recycling but it is about using chemicals and that does have to do with being green, so I thought I'd share.

I calculated the winner using random.org for the Dagoba flavored organic lip glosses giveaway from ecolips and the winner is comment #1 Sara from Domestically Challenged! Congratulations Sara! The Winner will be contacted by within the next 48 hours. Thanks for entering!

-Nikki

5 comments:

  1. I always bring tote bags to do my grocery shopping, which I think makes a HUGE difference. There is a coffee shop in town that gives you a discount if you bring in your own mug, so I go there when I can!

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  2. You are on a roll!!! I am bringing my totes with me when I go our shopping. You have inspired me. And I finally remembered!

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  3. Right on, you are rocking and rolling. You should read Pretty Green Girls blog. She's an old co-worker of mine and you remind me of her. Especially with the plastic bags to buy bulk foods. Check her out.

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  4. WHOOO HOOOO!!! I am so excited YIPEEE!!!! I am emailing you now!

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  5. That's a really good idea for Starbucks. We own a coffee shop and more and more people are bringing in their own mugs, which is really cool!

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Thanks for stopping by and dropping some comment love!

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