Community service and litter pick up

Now that I'm getting settled into my new neighborhood, I've taken on a few challenges to not only connect with my community but to give back what I can based on my own background, skills and interests. I'll discuss all that I'm doing over the next few posts.

Sunday garbage walk

One thing we've been doing over the last several months is a bimonthly Sunday morning garbage pickup walk. Since we live in a town that is heavily visited by tourists, hosts a lot of events and has several profile bars and saloons in the area, we tend to get a lot of late night littering. It's pretty unfortunate, but a lot more manageable than the trash piles in Seattle after a Saturday night.

So, every other Sunday (or thereabouts) when we head out on our walk with the dogs, we pick up all the garbage we run across. Dan mostly does all the picking up (rather than me) because he has an inordinate amount of energy and a much less finicky back than I do.

Up all night to get lucky

This last weekend, we picked up two large garbage bags full of mostly beer cans, bottles and miscellaneous other junk (apparently mini bottles of fireball are a crowd pleaser). We empty the garbage in city garbage cans as we pass by, refilling as we go along. Dan started bringing disposable gloves to keep the ick factor down.

Case in point was the pair of underwear we found in the alley behind the main street restaurants. Someone either had a lucky or very unlucky Saturday night!

It's actually quite amazing what a huge difference spending an hour picking up garbage in a small town can make. Dan used to do the same thing in the Ballard area of Seattle, but it hardly made a dent. Which is why doing it here is so satisfying especially since it takes so little effort.

He gets all the credit for this! I'm really just along for the ride, pointing out what I spot and providing some encouragement (although I'm the one who needs it when faced by angry dogs in alleyways). But I do get the satisfaction of helping keep our small town looking well cared by pitching in and helping as a supplement to what the city does to keep it clean!

Microplastics in the ocean

I crashed a brown bag seminar at work, a talk from a UW - Tacoma professor about her research on Puget Sound water samples and how much plastic is in it. Her research was going to help extrapolate how much plastic there is in the world's oceans. I'm not going to go into great detail of the results of the research done here but, no surprise, she found plastic in all her samples.

What did surprise me, however, was a few of the things she stated. The first was that she didn't believe there was a giant plastic patch in the Pacific. Her thinking was that, since it's hard to specify where the patch is and its size given its mobility due to currents and a whole host of other variables, it didn't exist. This would have made Beth Terry chafe.

The second statement she made was that there was no evidence that plastics, given their stability, were dangerous as far as leaching chemicals goes. She even jokingly offered up the idea that perhaps eating microbeads would be a good dieting method because it gave the feeling of satiety. She said that seabirds and fish could eat it and it would pass through their systems (if not too large, which is a problem) but it otherwise wouldn't affect them negatively from a chemical standpoint. This chapped my hide because there clearly is a lot of research showing that plastics leach all sorts of chemicals. BPA is an obvious example.

The last comment really burned my britches. When she asked us what we could do to prevent plastic in the oceans, the room was silent for a moment so I offered up the most obvious conclusion: "use less plastic". Her response was that they weren't about to take on the plastic industry. The answer, of course, is properly disposing of plastics but many people in the audience kept trying to bring up alternatives to plastics. The speaker stated that it's a "personal choice" but didn't have any suggestions or knowledge on how to avoid plastics.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this seminar, but I guess it was that the speaker would have a broader view of plastics, its affects and would be an activist for less plastics all-around. Instead, she focused directly on her more immediate research and less on the problem as a whole.

I'm not trying to criticize, it just occurred to me that, even scientists who spend their whole careers specializing in studying plastics in the ocean maybe aren't looking at the other issues involved.

What do you think? Do you think the problem of plastics in the ocean is just a disposal issue or are there other endemic problems with plastics?

Edible front yard

After going to see Novella of Farm City fame last week, my husband announced that he wanted to turn our front lawn into edible landscaping.

Now, it should be no surprise to you that I've wanted to do this to our front yard for years, but didn't think he'd be game for the work that would go in to it. However, he hates grass and our front lawn is not exactly the most beautiful turf in the neighborhood, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise (this picture is from March 2007 and the lawn is much less grass and more other things since then).

Other neighbors have removed their lawns, but I can count on two fingers the number of houses in our community that have any kind of edibles growing in their front yard. Okay, make that 1 finger. So, I've always been loathe to do what I really want out front. Our backyard is another matter, and it's turning more into raised bed central although we still have more grass than beds.

In either case, my husband is really getting into it and ordered a book on the matter. We have a couple great landscaping companies in Seattle than specialize in edibles so we'll probably be consulting them for design decisions otherwise we'll most likely end up with rows of raised beds.

What about you? Do you grow food in your front yard or do you keep it to the "safety" of the backyard?

Wherein I air my dirty laundry

It's been a while since I've covered any of the personal changes I've made whilst trying to live a little lighter on the Earth. Well, if you don't count my fixation of peeing all over my plants. For the most part, we've been discussing general topics and I'd like to share with you a recent change I've made.

Let me tell you, I'm most excited about this one. Let me also forewarn you that this is probably more information than you want to hear but, as usual, I'll spare no expense as there are always others out there wondering about the what ifs.

I've been hearing a lot lately about people switching over to non-aluminum based deodorants rather than the standard antiperspirant products. One of the alternatives that people are trying is the crystal deodorant rock.

Now, while I wouldn't mind rubbing The Rock on my armpits or other sweaty areas, I've been doubtful that it will help much with perspiration. And, I don't think he'll fit in my bathroom cabinet.

Anyway, many switch products to reduce the amount of packaging and plastic and many do it for health reasons, believing that the ingredients in standard antiperspirants are harmful. Some people believe that these ingredients may lead to breast cancer or may contribute to Alzheimer's. While none of these claims, as yet, have been backed up by any existing scientific or medical evidence, people are avoiding these products just in case.

I've been intrigued by other's experiences with the crystal, but haven't had the courage to try it. Until now. You see, the chemo my husband is on (or, rather, the four drug combo) has been causing him to have a severe reaction to the Ban roll-on that he's been using forever.

So, he went out and bought a Crystal Body Deodorant, mostly because it claims that it is recommended by Cancer Treatment Centers. I'll let you go through the trouble of reading how it works, but just know that there are a number of different manufacturers that make them and they come in a rock format as well as roll-on. Obviously, The Rock is going to have less plastic involved with it.

I was eyeballing this little gem in the bathroom for about a week before I got the nerve to give it a try. Under controlled circumstances. In other words, on a day when I knew I would be home. With backup nearby. And perhaps a blowtorch.

Now, let me back up and share a little too much about my lifelong challenge with antiperspirants. I come from a long line of highly sweaty individuals. Ever since, well puberty, perspiration has been an enormous problem for me. I've tried a bajillion different antiperspirant combinations over the years and finally settled on using Mitchum as it was pretty much the only stuff that would keep things under control. Barely.

I am not the type of person that can wear a shirt more than once. Something combines with my sweat and the ingredients in these products and creates a hazardous substance that is impossible to remove. In other words, I destroy clothes. If I wanted to get the stains out of my shirts I need to use a bike chain degreaser. Or a pair of scissors. There. Now you know. I've aired what little dirty laundry I have.

So, while I've been reading about other people trying out these alternative methods, I'm thinking, yeah, right. There's no way. It probably works for those non-sweating, hairless people who can wear a shirt for a week straight and no one will notice. I can barely wear a shirt for more than a few hours and I'm ready to change it. Why, God, why?

But, I digress. Let me just tell you that underarm sweating has been the bane of my existence. I cannot wear white. Are you getting the extent of the picture yet, because I really don't want to draw it anymore.

Well, last week I tried it out and holy shit, I can't stop sniffing my pits. No, seriously! Usually a couple hours after taking a shower and applying antiperspirant I start smelling a little. Usually just a mix of whatever fragrance is in the stuff I'm using and a little sweat. Nothing bad, mind you, but there's a smell there.

With this stuff there is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not a whiff of fragrance, pit or anything. It's a fucking miracle. Even after weeding in the garden in the sun for the afternoon, it's a regular sniff-fest around here.

My armpits are so delightful, you can eat off of them and lick them clean!

If you've been thinking of giving the crystal a try, but have been afraid that it wouldn't meet your stink standards, I am hereby endorsing this elixir of the gods. Your pits will thank you. And so will the person sitting next to you on the bus this summer.

What do you use? Does it work and do you like it?

Project Nowaste - The History of Garbage, Part 1

Do you think we have problems with trash? That it's a modern problem caused by too much waste and not enough care about the items being thrown out? Well, garbage has been a problem for cities for hundreds of years.

This installment of the history of garbage covers up to the turn of the 20th century. And, as much as I love studying 17th century social life in London (back when dolphins in the Thames were a common sight), following only the colonies will be sufficient. So, here are a few facts to help you get an idea of the more recent history of garbage.

During Colonial times in the U.S., paper was made from cotton and linen rags. "Rag drives" were held to collect scraps which were then boiled, mashed and pressed into paper. Two hundred years ago scrap metal, ashes, bones and fat (used to make soap and fertilizers) were sold. So, instead of paying for someone to haul these items away, people got paid for this type of trash. In fact, the only things thrown out were glass, broken pottery, and other trash that wouldn't decompose or be fed to the animals.

Fast forward to the mid-1800s where population increases in city centers compounded trash problems. Pigs were let loose in city streets to eat through the garbage that was left out and they, in turn, left behind their own waste products. This not only brought on a horrible smell (both the garbage and the pig waste) but also attracted vermin and rats - even the White House was not immune to this.

Streets were lined under several feet of manure, waste and human fecal matter rendering it unsafe to walk on sidewalks (and under second story windows from which people emptied their chamber pots). It wasn't until 1866 that New York City forbade the throwing of dead animals and garbage into the streets.

During this time there were over 3 million horses working in American cities, each producing over 20 pounds of manure and gallons of urine per day, most of which was left on the streets. And what did you do with your horses when they died? You couldn't transport them out of the city because, well, they were your transportation. So, you left them in the street. In 1880, New York City scavengers removed 15,000 horse carcasses from the streets.

In 1900, American cities began to estimate and record collected wastes. According to one estimate, each American produced annually: 80 - 100 pounds of food waste; 50 - 100 pounds of rubbish; 300 - 1,200 pounds of wood or coal ash - up to 1,400 pounds per person. Not too surprisingly, around the turn of the century, 180 garbage incinerators were built in cities across the U.S. and small and medium sized towns built piggeries, where swine were fed fresh or cooked garbage.

The next installment coming up covers the 20th century. During this time came wealth and with that a throwaway society where the focus of products is on planned obsolescence based on fashion rather than durability.

For those of you calculating the weight of your food waste, how do you compare to the 1900 averages?