What’s Left: An Eye-Opening Interactive Look at Our Limited Natural Resources
What’s Left?
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The Great Maryland Lawn Mower Event
This year we decided to redo the back yard. It had once been grass, that was then dug up an turned into a bicycle pump track. Unfortunately this led to a lot of mud. Combined with muddy paws and shoes all over my kitchen floor it was more than I could bare. So finally, after two years of filthy floors Mr. Jones agreed to convert back to a regular old lawn. We’ve decided we’d rather spend our time doing things that don’t involve constantly digging in the backyard anyway. So..back to mowing the lawn. We have an old hand-me-down gas mower that is a complete overkill for our small city yard. We’d consider switching to electric, but it’s been cost prohivitive given that our goal is reducing our debt, not increasing it. Luckily for us Baltimore City is again hosting to ‘The Great Maryland Lawn Mower Event’ on August 14. On Saturday morning Mr. Jones (who has already pre-registered here) will be trading in our old mower for a shiny new Neuton CE 6 battery-powered mower. Best yet, this mower which retails in the $400+ range is available at a substantial discount for only $175. (They also have the CE5 available for $135 if you don’t need the larger cutting deck). This is a great opportunity for all Maryland residents to put a dent in their pollution output without banging up their wallet.
More on the Neuton CE6:
Cut a 19″ path with our larger model. The Neuton CE6 Mower gives you the powerful performance of a gas mower with convenience of DURACELL® battery technology. There is no gas or oil to spill and no engine emissions to pollute the air. Neuton is the only mower powered by DURACELL®. With 360 watt-hours of battery energy, it has plenty of power to mow through even tall, wet grass. The Neuton CE6 mower is ideal for lawns up to 1/3 acre (about 15,000 sq. ft.) on a single charge. If you need more time, just drop in an optional spare battery and keep mowing!
The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at the London College of Fashion
I so want to go back to school right now. Yes, I know that I just graduated and I already have an expensive enough hobby, having collected several unrelated degrees that are of no use in the real world. However, should I ever have my chance to fulfill my dream of learning fashion design, I am so going to this school! What makes this school so unique is that it focuses on sustainability in the fashion industry. They are askign designers to think about what fashion really means to society and then distilling those notions and paring them down through more earth-friendly practices including, but not limited to: factoring in the true cost of production (rather than just pumping out, cheap throw-away styles and continually innovating and sharing the knowledge gained through new approaches. The section of their vision that I find most interesting reads, “Put human well-being at the heart of fashion production and consumption. Changing fashion practices to improve well-being of workers, consumers, designers, and producers is central to a more sustainable future.” This is an admirable goal and one that I hope, for all of our sakes, can be taught to the forward-thinking design students who will shape the goals of our collective fashion future.
Bio-couture: The Future of Fashion?
photographer Santiago Arribas Peña from the Science Museum
I stumbled upon a link to the BioCouture research project and was intrigued by what I found there. From what I’ve found by looking through the various photos on the website is that the goal is to radically change the clothing industry to address the ecological impact and the sustainability of fashion in the future. There have been a number of movements in the last few years to reduce the environmental impact of the immensely destructive chothing industry. Recycling and Refashioning have challenged the way that fabrics are viewed and used. Organic and Fair Trade seek to address the economic and ecological devastation visited upon developing countries. However, this BioCouture movement may just be the most radical yet. They have created and are using a new type of fiber, bacterial-cellulose combined with natural fruit, vegetable and spices to dye the material. Their website, which seems unfinished, does show some completed pieces including a “Veggie” Biker jacket decorated with and a “denim” shirt stained indigo with natural colorants. What I’m most surprised to see if that most of these materials are dated 2007.
Under the “links” section is the equivalent of an “About” page that lists information about the project team members. These include an author, Suzanne Lee, and a Dr. who serves as co-director of a Biotech firm funded by a grant from The Research Centre for Fashion, the Body and Material Cultures. You can purchase a copy of Ms. Lee’s book, published in 2005, on Amazon: Fashioning the Future
Curran by Cellucomp (UNITED KINGDOM) is a high-strength biofiber formulated from degraded carrots with a stiffness that rivals carbon fiber. The material is remarkable for its capacity to enhance sustainability in a wide range of applications where lightness, maximum performance, and durability are crucial, from consumer products to aeronautics.
In poking around the internet a bit more, I was able to locate the new, updated website for The Biocouture project website. An update on the homepage indicates that the new BioCouture jacket is on display at London’s Science Museum in the Wellcome Wing. The jacket will appear in a new exhibit titled, “‘Trash Fashion: designing out waste’” beginning June 2010 through February 2011.
I’ll continue to follow the exciting developments of the BioCouture project. I love the idea of growing fabric from bacteria using environmentally-friendly manufacturing practices. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to buy new clothes without damaging the earth. Until then though, I’ll just keep refashioning the clothes I recycle from Goodwill.
Recycle-A-Bicycle
Looking for a bicycle this summer? Even if you need parts, safety gear or accessories I always recommend supporting your local bike shop. I was so excited to come across these bike shops in NYC. These retails stores take in bicycle and gear donations, refurbish them and sell them to the public. Best yet, profits from the retail sales go to support youth programs around New York City.
Recycle-a-Bicycle is an innovative, fun youth training and environmental education initiative that has taken root in New York City public schools and respected after-school youth programs.
These youth programs are actually based in the public schools where kids can sign up to learn bicycle mechanics as an elective. Body do I wish I could’ve taken that in school! What a great way to get kids interested in biking early, who may not have had the opportunity. Bicycling is great for health and the environment and and caring for your own bike, which can otherwise be an expensive endeavor, is a great life skill to learn. For kids who don’t have the resources to buy a bike from the retail shops, they allow students to drop in after school and work in the shop to earn a bike. Additionally they sponsor summer programs focused on arts and the environment. All of these programs help teach these kids responsiblity, ingenuity and proof that good things can be achieved through hard work and volunteerism. So, if you are in the NYC area, you can donate a bike, volunteer your time and spread the word. For the rest of us, check out more about the program here and donate what you can. Help support a great program that supports the recycling and kids. Hey, maybe you could even start a movement like this in your own city…
TerraCycle is working to make products from Trash: Join the Brigade
My mother called me last night to tell me about an interesting notice on the side of her Wheat Thins box. Apparently Wheat Thins has teamed up with Terracycle to recyle their packages. My mother proceeded to tell me a bit more about it and then sent me a link to read through today. Here’s what I found in their “About Us” page:
TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage.You can be a part of our eco-revolution, just sign up for one of our FREE Brigades or look for TerraCycle products at your local retailer.
Founded in 2001 by a 19 year old Princeton University freshman named Tom Szaky, TerraCycle started as an organic fertilizer company and has grown into a multi-category, eco-friendly powerhouse. Tom’s dream was to find way a new, more responsible way of doing doing business that would be good for the planet, good for people and good for the bottom line! TerraCycle has won many awards and accolades for its environmentally responsible business model from Inc. Magazine, Red Herring, The Home Depot, The Environmental Business Journal, The Social Venture Network, Zerofootprint and many other highly regarded organizations.
TerraCycle also runs free national collection programs that pay non-profits and schools TerraCycle has exclusive partnerships with major CPG companies such as Kraft Foods, Frito Lay (Pepsi), Stonyfield Farm, Mars Wrigley and many more. The partnerships create free collection programs that pay schools and non-profits nationwide to collect used packaging such as drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, cookie wrappers, chip bags and more! The collected materials are upcycled into affordable, high quality products ranging from tote bags and purses to shower curtains and kites. In addition, TerraCycle works with these partners to find innovative uses for all of their waste streams and, by making products from these various waste streams, TerraCycle prevents 1000’s of tons of waste from going to landfills.
Intrigued I check out their products and noted that they are doing some of what I’ve seen on Etsy an other websites, just on a much larger scale. I signed up to be a member of the Brigade and have chosen to donate my earnings to the Nature Conservancy. I fully intend to volunteer clean-up after our pot-lucks at work and harass the poor women I work with to bring in their garbage so that I can get to work. Unfortunately you have to sign up for a Brigade and there must be open slots and so far the items that I collect most often, don’t have any openings. I’ll continue to look into this and let you know once I’m able to start recycling my garbage with Terracycle. This is a great idea though and I’m glad that we are beginning to see recyling and upcycling on a larger scale.
Spill Baby, Spill!
I’ve been in numerous debates with friends and family over offshore drilling ever since Sara Palin uttered that famous “Drill Baby, Drill!” during her campaign speech. Unfortunately my argument can be easily illustrated just by reading any of the recent headlines about the recent BP drilling disaster in the Gulf Coast. What’s most concerning is that we pushed humanity’s technological capabilities and now we have no known way to stop this “spill” from potentially destroying all of Earth’s oceans. In fact, I think we should stop using the word spill because to me a spill is something that is done and over and we can begin cleaning up; not the case with the current flood of petroleum continually blasting into the Gulf of Mexico. If you look to my new GreenPeace widget on the right-hand side of my blog you can actually watch it tick out the gallons of oil being spilled off the coast of the United States as I type this. Pictures of the disaster are everywhere and show just how enormous this crisis has become. Some interesting calculations that I’ve come across indicate that one (1) gallon of oil can ruin about one (1) million gallons of water. We know that there are about 31 gallons of oil in a barrel. That’s 31 million gallons of water ruined per barrel. The hole drilled deep into the Earth’s crust that is uncontrollably shooting 5,000 barrels of pressurized oil into the Gulf of Mexico is destroying a terrifyingly vast swath of our environment each day since April 20, 2010. Worse yet, our technology to drill seems to have outpaced our ability to recover from this disaster. We are all in far more danger than is currently being reported and IF, that’s a very big if, we can stop this environmental catastrophe in time to stop the demise of the entire planet we have got to do more as individuals to reduce our reliance on petroleum immediately. We also have to stand up and say no to more offshore drilling. Even if we manage to survive this cataclysmic event, the repercussions of extending our capabilities without understanding the implications or providing sufficient safeguards will be felt for generations to come.
Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap
Boy am I sorry I didn’t see this sooner! I was posting a comment on the Baltimore Sun this morning and to the right saw and ad for the Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap. I had never even heard of this, but I was immediately excited. Woohoo, someone is organizing clothing swaps in my very own city! I love clothing swaps because you can shop for free and reducing your carbon footprint by reusing the clothes that someone else no longer wants. I love to swap out my closet at least twice a year and since I discovered clothing swaps I don’t have to feel bad about it anymore; It’s glorious. I clicked on the link and noted that they were having a swap this Saturday, May 1 from 10am – 6pm in Mt. Vernon. I’ll be out of town on Saturday celebrating my Dad’s birthday, so unfortunately I’ll have to miss this one. The good news? They are traveling all over the city (and have been since early April) through the middle of May. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next swap so that I can spruce up my wardrobe for Spring. The Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap has it’s own website here where it says:
Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap:
Style & Sustainability Through Common Threads
April 18 – May 17, 2010All ages, genders and sizes are welcome to participate in a new kind of shopping experience that benefits the environment and the Baltimore community. Donate, trade or take clothing and accessories in an exciting, outdoor, store-like, money-free exchange. (Even if you do not donate, you may take up to three items!) The Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap will travel to a variety of locations throughout Baltimore city for one month.
The swap is free and open to the general public.
Their mission is simple, “The Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap’s mission is to raise awareness about recycling, focused on secondhand clothing and accessories, through an exciting and free service that benefits the environment and brings together the Baltimore community.” There are two very important differences from the little clothing swaps that I attend (usually put on by friends at my local bar/restaurant The Parkside):
1. You can only bring Ten (10) items to donate
2. You have to tag your items
Still, choosing only ten preloved items to donate may be the hardest part and if shopping for free means that you have to fill out some little paper tags I think it’s worth it.
Here are the remaining events; see you there!
Saturday, May 1
Mount Vernon Park, North Square
699 North Charles St
Baltimore, Maryland
10 am – 6 pm
JUST ADDED:
Sunday, May 2
Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar
Underneath the Jones Falls Expressway at Holliday & Saratoga streets
7 am – noon
Sunday, May 9
Patterson Park (specific address not yet determined)
10 am – 6 pm
Friday, May 14 – Monday, May 17
Maryland Institute College of Art, Mount Royal Station, Frost Plaza
1300 Mount Royal Ave
Baltimore, Maryland 21217
Fri: 11 am – 8 pm
Sat-Mon: 11 am – 5 pm
Enter the Inhabitat Spring Greening Competition
Inhabitat, a blog devoted to sustainable design, wants you to make something awesome out of old junk and share it! They are hosting the Spring Greening Competition, where you can compete for praise, recognition and $250 gift certificate to be used in the Inhabitat Shop. The Inhabitat shop has everything from worm composters to fashionable pumps, so you’ll have no problem spending your new loot. So…find some old junk, make something rad, take a bunch of photos and enter the competition already!
It’s Flip-Flop Time People!
I’m so excited; it’s my favorite time of year. I love, love, love wearing flip-flops. Unfortunately the pair I have on today were frequently abused by my daughter last year and now the rubber thong pops out while I’m walking which is annoying at best, and dangerous at worst. So..it’s flip-flop shopping time. I’ll relegate my previously loved DC flippers to the gardening or house-cleaning pile and get a new pair. I wanted to go eco-friendly though and I began surfing for some new flippy floppies and found these, adorable Roxy Eden Sandals:
Eden Sandals
The garden of Eden needs a little help and here’s a little way to start. This entire sandal is made from EcoFoam and rubber, giving the Earth a little break. Non toxic, recyclable, and decomposable. What could possibly be better? Imported.
According to the Greenprint Buyer’s Guide provided on the site my new flip-flops will be made biodegradable, natural rubber and non-petroleum EVA foam and stuck together using water-based glue. These things are good because:
That’s pretty exciting, and with such a snazzy design I”m going to snap up two pair (1 for me and 1 for my daughter).
