Okay so if you ever latched on to the old 80s sitcom Punky Brewster, then you know who Soleil Moon Frye is. In fact, I’d go so far as saying that even if you never watched Punky Brewster, you’ve definitely heard the two words punky and brewster juxtaposed next to each other in everyday conversation at least once in your misbegotten life.

Anywho, the point is that Ms. Brewster– actually I’m going to try to be respectful and call her Ms. Frye– she was on television the other night. Or was it the other morning? In any case, I discovered that she has her very own baby boutique in L.A. which is VERY GREEN. It’s called The Little Seed. Frye, with the help of her co-founders Tolmach and Birkett, support a common dictum that it is never too early to sow the seed… of being green. The store gives parents the chance to buy exclusively organic/eco-friendly products and take care of their baby.

Apparently, if clothes contain dyes, they can be an irritant to a baby’s skin. And there’s really nothing more sensitive than a baby’s skin. Not even a menstruating hormal teenage girl.

**CLEARS THROAT** In any case, the shop contains a baby changing station, an arts and crafts center and REUSEABLE BAGS! WOOO there’s that word again. That pair of words. So awesome.

Green and lovable, isn’t it? And who doesn’t love babies? Two reasons you should support Punky. I mean… Ms. Frye.

http://www.thelittleseed.com

I saw the movie WALL-E recently. It was totally adorable and I expected that. What I didn’t expect was how the very premise of the film was most likely constructed to teach us all a lesson. If you haven’t seen the film, you should probably stop reading right about here.

So the film centers on a little robot named WALL-E whose sole duty is to compact all of the trash on Earth. At this point in time (many years in the future), the planet has become unlivable due to the excessive waste of the human race, in the form of trash and CFC emissions. Therefore, the human race migrated to a space station of sorts and planned on being there for only 5 years. Instead, they planned on living there indefinitely. The space station operates under the name BnL (Big ‘n Large) and there is nothing explicitly American about the space station, this conglomerate seems to run the show up there with very little human input into anything. Due to the advancement in technology, humans just buzz around on little hovercraft la-z-boys, focused solely on the computer in front of room. There is absolutely no physical interaction of any kind. For this reason, humans are fat people with minimal bone structure and even less muscular definition (as seen below).

OK, I know, they’re fatties. The message seems to be that this will be our fate if we do not change. Right now, we’re living stagnantly. Stagnant life is analogous to laziness. Laziness gives rise to weight gain, lethargy, so on and so forth. The reason we ignore the climate crisis is because it is an inconvenience to pay attention to. And Pixar says, “Here is the cost of our apathy.” Are we so unappreciative of all the beauty of the Earth (the seas, the mountains, the life that inhabits it) that we would allow our petty indulgences to ruin it all?

As the movie progresses, WALL-E’s mission (with the help of Eve, the robot above) is to take the 1st plant he’s ever found and bring it to the space station. Once the captain (also pictured above) sees the plant, he realizes it is time to go back to the Earth– the plant being evidence that life is sustainable again.

The planet is something we are responsible for. If we don’t take care of it, we will suffer serious consequences. Perhaps we won’t turn into amorphous beings, but it’s really ungrateful of us to not take note of the effects of our actions. As a race, especially in the USA, we are always focuses on consumption. What to do, where to go, work work work, what to eat, etc etc. We really need to slow down for one minute and allow change. We need to change. We need to break out of this mundane and eco-unfriendly routine.
I know I sound preachy, but really people!

The fact that the most powerful body of governance was a multinational corporation like BnL speaks to how multinational corporations bear an overly heavy influence on American politics– I won’t name any names. *cough* OIL COMPANIES! *cough, hacking cough*.

OK, so I just called someone out. Who cares really? The point is you know I’m onto something here.

This movie could not have been clearer to me. If you haven’t seen it, get up, move, get out and go see it. It will really affect you.

On another note, it’s adorable.
Click here for showtimes!

Bottled water may be convenient but at what cost? The plastic bottles water is sold in use a ton of fossil fuels to produce and transport. According to Pacific Institute, in order to make the plastic bottles to quench America’s thirst for bottled water, companies used “17 million barrels of oil last year – enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year – and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.”

Dasani (Coca-Cola) and Aquafina (PepsiCo), the two top-selling bottled water brands, have both made clear that their water is essentially filtered tap water. Can’t we just filter and bottle our own water and save the cash?

Evian, Poland Springs, and other brands may actually use Spring water, but think about the cost of transporting that water all over the world.

“But isn’t bottled water cleaner than tap water?” you ask. No. As a matter of fact tap water is regulated on a regular basis by the government, whereas the laws on testing tap water are less strict. According to www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org, “tap water is tested far more frequently and has more independent oversight by state and federal environmental authorities (EPA and DEP).” As a matter of fact, companies are often responsible for testing the water themselves. I know I feel slightly brainwashed after hearing that companies spend tens of millions of dollars per year trying to convince us that bottled water is cleaner and purer.

I was reading an article about a week ago in the Washington Post Express that was saying it was becoming trendy to actively boycott bottled water. The trend may be catching on in a big way. San Fransisco, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake city have banned city employees from buying bottled water with city funds when tap water is available or discouraged employees from drinking bottled water. Ann Arbor, Michigan banned commercially-bottled water from all city events. Santa Barbara, CA has also stopped offering bottled water at city events. Restaurants across the country have stopped offering bottled water. Chicago began taxing bottled water. Seattle city departments have stopped buying bottled water.

Quick quiz:

Drinking tap water is:

a) cheaper than drinking bottled water

b) a small step towards being kind to the environment

c) just as safe

d) all of the above.

You’re right, folks, d is the correct answer!

So, what should we do? Invest in a reusable water bottle. I know refilling a bottle of water may seem like a good idea but refilling a plastic water bottle has been shown to be potentially dangerous. So, either use a glass bottle (eg Perrier) or invest in a BPA-free bottle and fill it with filtered or non-filtered tap water. Here are some examples:

-Nalgene choice (www.nalgenechoice.com)

Nalgene is a classic. The website organizes the bottles by color, volume, and usage, which is super-helpful and means you have a ton of options. Examples include:

Nalgene Flask ($9):

12oz, dishwasher safe, with a polycarbonate insulation sleeve. Its leak-proof and can double as an actual flask on the weekends (party safely!).

The Classic Wide-Mouth ($9):

The Classic Nalgene is 32oz of sturdy goodness. It makes a statement too. It says “I’m rugged and outdoorsy.” Also available in 16oz.

On the Go (OTG) ($10):

Perfect for the gym with its one-handed usage (for swigging on the elliptical) and spill-proof nozzle (for throwing into your duffel bag). Plus, 24 oz is just enough water.

-Fit & Fresh LivPure ($13)

This water bottle, which holds 20 oz of water, has a built in filter which traps up to 50% of the chlorine in tap water and prevents the growth of bacteria and mildew.

(www.fit-fresh.com/products/livpure/)-Check out the where to buy tab.

-Camelbak Better Bottle with Classic Cap

Available in 16oz ($8), 25oz ($9), and 32oz ($10), these are pretty standard bottles. They come in cute colors, too! (www.rei.com).

For more information on the anti-bottled water movement check out:

www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org

I feel it is my duty to introduce our new writer, our newest groovy, green girl, if you will. Her name is Lenna. She’s really pretty and she’s as groovy as the come (second to me of course). But she will be sharing her greenness with the world as well, and I felt it my duty to warn you of her impending genius.
Carry on. Drive hybrids. Recycle. PEACE.

Treehugger.com (one of my fave websites!) posted an article yesterday about UC Berkeley students sequestering themselves at the top of a tree to protect a grove from being eradicated. Now, I’ve got to say that I am totally into acts of heroism and such, but these crunchy kids went just a bit too far (and I can say that because I’m “green” and not psychotic).

Well, you be the judge. You tell me if its psychotic for students to stay in trees for 18 months. Just noble you say? OK, well then tell me if its noble for these students to hock pooh (and I’m not talking about the ‘hunny-loving’ bear) at the tree-cutters and local authorities.

If you’re a normal person, then you would agree that doing so kind of puts the movement to shame. It makes hip greensters (or is it, “Green Hipsters,”) like us look extremist, inconsiderate, dirty, mean and disgusting. The list could go on, but as a liberal college girl, I am, to put it mildly, ashamed of my demographic.

This photo was taken at the scene: (courtesy of http://evan.mcnabbs.org)

“These students just went way too far,” piped Christopher Robin at the site of the pooh.

My first concern was *of course!* Santa and his workshop. And his reindeer. They’ll have to move to the South Pole, I guess.

Then I remembered a little thing called global warming. You know, one of the major reasons why I started this blog- the huge reason why I want to be green and want to help other people incorporate little green choices into their day-to-day lives.

Think about what the Earth would look like when the northern cap is melted. You could feasibly row from Scandinavia to Newfoundland by taking a shortcut through what-once-was Santa’s newlywed palace with Mrs Claus. Of course, I’m no Magellan– rowing that far would be exhausting, but jokes aside- this is a serious issue.

Okay, who did it? Here are some possible suspects…

1. Dark Ice: “Soot from cars, forest fires and factories could be causing the snow and ice to melt faster. Pure ice and snow is white and reflects light and heat, but the ice turns grey or even black when soot falls onto it. According to Charlie Zender, a climate physicist at University of California, Irvine, this so-called dark ice could be the cause of 94 percent of Artic warming.”

2. Underwater volcanoes.

3. The natural warming of the planet (aside from global warming being exacerbated by CFC emissions).

4. CFC Emissions and the climate crisis.

What does this mean? (aside from Santa becoming a hobo…)

1. Polar bears are in MAJOR trouble.

2. There is now a Northwest passage between Europe and North America.

3. This whole heating up of the planet is moving a bit too fast for my liking.

The NOAA has set up a live webcam so you can watch the icecap melt which must be about as exciting as watching paint dry and as terrifying as watching the movie 1408 (look, don’t give me a hard time, I found that film TERRIFYING).

At the end of his article, Cheung tells us that Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to slash Cali’s emissions levels to the values recorded at 1990 by the year 2020. His quip at the end kind of made the article for me:

“Perhaps ‘Mr Freeze’ will save us?”

Anyway, as I headed to the checkout counter, my jaw dropped, my eyes bugged, and my socks were violently knocked off at the sight of TJ Maxx’s very own Earth-friendly shopper fabric bag.

It was red. Red just happened to be my favorite color. It’s large too, only 79 measely cents (three quarters and four pennies) of awesomeness. On the bag, “IT BAG” is in large print and on the sides, it reads the store’s name.

Of course, I bought one! What were you thinking, really, now?! In any case, it brought me to today’s subject: fabric bags. Every grocery store (or most of them) have been jumping on the fabric bag-wagon (PUN MOS’ DEF’ INTENDED, Y’ALL). However, grocery stores are not the only place I shop. In fact, I would feel just plain awkward bringing a fabric Hannaford bag to shop at Macy’s or something. Which is why I found the TJ Maxx IT BAG. (I also would like to add that I HEART Hannaford majorly for promoting eco-friendliness by issuing bag credits to shoppers who use fabric bags and also by endorsing minimal plastic bag use **END SHAMELESS PLUG**). I would just like to add that the Hannaford bags are awesome because they fold up and fit in your purse.

In any case, my point is that billions and billions of plastic bags are being used every year and are used. Ending up in landfills and being too light to stay still, the bags end up flying around. The toxins in them eventually contaminate the ground, polluting our plants, soil and water. They also end up hurting the Bambis of the world.

“YO! Lay off Bambi, man. I don’t want to hear no shiz-nat about Bambi gettin’ hiz-urt, dawg,” said the urbanite reading this blog.

“I’m sorry!” I quickly interject realizing that I’m talking to no one except another voice in my head.

Moving on… I do love the Bambis of the world enough to just buy a reusable bag. Sometimes, I do recognize, it is awkward to tell the clerk that you don’t want her mangy plastic bags. So, if you end up using plastic, be sure to recycle it — most supermarkets actually have a recycle bin for plastic bags, so that should be your destination.

SO YOU’VE DECIDED YOU WANT A TRENDY FABRIC BAG, HAVE YE?? ARRRRGH. *pirate face*

Well, isn’t that splendiferous? The good news is that there are a ton of really trendy bags out there for you to buy. I will even push you in the proper direction by sharing some of my faves (aside from those found at your local Hannaford Supermarkets and TJ Maxx).

FredFlare.com

“Mega-durable tote bag!”

$28

Made of natural canvas and printed with water-based inks.

A portion of sales will go towards World Wildlife Fund

AmericanApparel.net

The incredible Cities Bag!

$28

Bull-Denim Woven Cotton

Print of major cities on both sides!

lululemon

Price unknown

Click here to read the words on the bag (Lululemon’s manifesto!)

Can only be bought in-store

Click here for a list of store locations

If you are still unsatisfied with, you should search for the fad-fave, “I Am Not a Plastic Bag” Bag on eBay. It’s probably your best shot. And eBaying is eco-friendly because it is second-hand. Also check out ShopIntuition’s biodegradable bag. $19.99. Go for it. I’ve said enough. Much love and stay green.

]]> http://groovygreengirl.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/paper-or-plastic-how-about-neither-yeah-i-said-it/feed/ 2 groovygreengirl fredflare bag americanapparel lululemon http://groovygreengirl.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/the-walls-are-closing-in-on-me-eeeeek/ http://groovygreengirl.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/the-walls-are-closing-in-on-me-eeeeek/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:25:53 +0000 groovygreengirl http://groovygreengirl.wordpress.com/?p=13 ]]> I know. So dramatic as usual, right?

So, I’m talking about my room. It’s dreadfully small and jammed with things I don’t need. What is a girl to do? I feel like I am the chief supplier of items for Salvation Army to sell, so I don’t always want to go to them.

This is the part where I answer my own question. Why don’t I just FREECYCLE my goods?

“Hark! Freecycle!” you say.

“Yes, of course!” I reply vociferously.

“FREECYCLE IS NOT EVEN A WORD!” you fire back, rightfully in doing so.

Aaaand this is the part where I tell you that it is a play-on-words. A playful way of saying we must either recycle our goods or FREECYCLE them. Which is how I stumbled across freecycle.org. The best way to explain it is to think about every time you drive by someones house and you see an old coffee table, a pile of socks or a dead cat sitting at the end of their driveway (maybe the dead cat isn’t the most appropriate example).
Basically, the act of putting things at the end of your driveway for free is a way of FREECYCLING (yes, I will keep writing that in all-caps). This website is a gateway for people to commune about what they’re putting out on their lawn on whatever day. And you would be surprised at how many people use the site! I was going to join a group for my hometown, but, alas- there wasn’t one. Which is why I’m applying to head up one myself. It’s very easy to do, it’s just like “adminning” a blog or a forum. You just have to live in the place you’re monitoring.

Everyone though, please check out the site. Support the cause. This way, you cut down on the amount of trash which carves into your local landfill. Freecycle.org has already cut back on over 400 tons of garbage! Click now!

Let’s do some research. The first thing they say you notice when you get into a hybrid (rather than a gas-guzzler) is the silence. That’s right, folks, at most, you hear a light hum rather than listening to CFC’s eat the sky. Or atmosphere in real terms. The car has the start-stop feature which means that even when you turn the ignition, you will not burn any gas until you start driving at speeds exceeding 15mph. How cool is that? Savvy-speeders will be especially pleased to know that if you accelerate slow enough, you could even abstain from burning gas at speeds up to 30 mph! So cool. No words for how cool that is. Think about sitting in traffic, or at the longest red light of your life, you no longer have to hate yourself for losing the fuel. With the start-stop feature, you’re running on your battery, baby!!

From this, we gather that based on how much we accelerate (AKA whether we gun it or ease into high speeds) and what speed we are aiming to achieve, the internal computer of the car delineates the power between the two fuel sources: fuel and electricity.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re freaking out. Maybe not in the good way either. You’re thinking to yourself, “What if I’m driving on the highway at high speeds with tons of cars and my battery croaks?” I know this seems plausible based on what I’ve told you. You’re all like, “OMG,” but let me tell you this, you don’t need to be a mechanic to understand how it works. The electric motor and the batteries have a give-and-take relationship of shifting power and energy to one another when it is needed. The computer in your car will monitor the battery life. It will never let it exceed 60% and never let it dip below 40%— ensuring you a couple hundred thousand miles of use out of your battery.

All of this technology allows you to emit fewer CFCs into the atmosphere, you save tons of money on gas (Hybrids give you anywhere from 30 to 60 MPG!!). The alternatives to buying a hybrid just aren’t as attractive…

Diesel fuel is an important mid-point in discussing hybrids and improving the fuel economy. However, right now, diesel is near hitting $5.00 per gallon where I live, so I’m not crazy about driving one. They do save you 35% more fuel than “conventional” gas-powered cars. The CFCs are also cut down considerably. Surprisingly, the exhaust from a diesel car can be particularly harmful to asthmatics. So if you have asthma and want to save the world, maybe diesel isn’t really right for you.

E85 Ethanol is also a rather green alternative as it is derived from starch crops, sugar crops and trees or wild grasses. Using E85 Ethanol cuts down on emissions considerably and is often being diluted into the gas we pump everyday (ie. 10% ethanol, 90% gasoline). Nowadays, however, there are only a select few models which run on E85 Ethanol, the most popular of them being the Toyota Prius, the most renowned member of the Hybrid fam’.

There are some hippies out there who want us to use Hydrogen. Not a terrible idea, really- this would be a very clean fuel. Hydrogen, however, is an element which bonds to just about anything, so it is rarely found pure in nature. The process of extracting Hydrogen from its bond with another element would require a great deal of electricity, which emits greenhouse gases into the sky. So, while you would end up with a very clean, fuel-efficient car, you would also have already emitted a great deal of gunk into the atmosphere.

So really, my opinion is that you are better off with a hybrid, the Toyota Prius, again being the leader of the pack. It gets you 45-48 MPG, it looks snazzy, and it’s not nearly as expensive as the other hybrids as it sells for just over $20,000. It also comes with a shield in your car to protect you from high Electro-Magnetic-Field (EMF) given off by the electric power of your car. High levels of EMF (up to 3MG) has been linked with causing health issues, but the fact that the Prius protects its driver from that makes me feel more comfortable. It also allows you to feel safe in a larger vehicle and save on gas at the same time.

Source: http://www.hybridcars.com

Apparently there’s this couple in Maine, William and Deborah Lord, who constructed a solar house on a thoughtfully-chosen plot of land. The house isn’t too deep into the deep woods of Maine so that way, more sunlight can be absorbed by the solar roof.

photo courtesy of http://www.solarhouse.com/

One half of the roof (solar thermal panels) is dedicated to making hot water while the other half is the hub of the home’s electricity (photovoltaic panels). They smartly point out that the roof of a home covers the most space and might as well be put to good use. The roof isn’t shingled, it’s covered in solar thermal panels and photovoltaic panels which hone the energy to an inverter.

The thermal paneled-side, being responsible for heating the home and making the water hot, syphons the water with piping that leads to two 500 gallon tanks in the basement. When the water temperature dips below the temperature of the panels, it is essentially heated on the roof below the panels in thin pipes. Then it goes to a heat exchanging tank and then to its container in one of the 500 gallon tanks. Awesome, right?

Sounds paradisical? Well, it kind of is. The only two gripes I had were about wintertime and the cost of constructing such a home. For starters, the Lords (on their website) tell me that the wintertime is actually a prime season for garnering a great deal of energy. Crisp, cold days bring clear skies, which means more sunlight.

Then, I thought. Oh my Lords (pun very much intended), how on Earth would the common man be able to pay for such a green home?! The Lords say that it is so worth it. True. It does reduce the common man’s gaudy footprint on the world. They say that it costs about $20,000 to make you’re home partially solar (aka not completely). $20,000 is a lot of money for the common man to dish out. The Lords themselves have a 4.2kw system and according to my guess-timating, it probably cost them $40,000.

However, they don’t pay a penny for powering their home. The only charge they tell me about is $7.24 from the Maine Electric Company for hooking them up to the grid. Also, you will be doing a great deal to reduce your footprint. Your neighbors will envy you. Hell, I will envy you. And who doesn’t like the idea of people wanting to be them? Seriously, who?

I, for one, support the Lords. Personally, when I think about how simple it was for them to go completely green and have a solar-powered home, it makes me wonder why more celebrities don’t do the same thing. Talk about sending a message.

Works Cited: http://www.solarhouse.com/index2.htm