12 posts tagged “environment”

This weekend, Shane and I once again headed out on our bikes, crossing over Burrard Bridge and riding along the residential streets to reach Jericho Beach.  An environmental non-profit, Evergreen, was hosting the Earth Day Vancouver Celebration there on Saturday afternoon.  As with last weekend’s biking extravaganza, we were treated to valet bike parking at the front gates.  You gotta love that convenience (particularly when it means not lugging around two bike helmets all day)!

We started off with a Nature Walk around Jericho Beach's ponds, hosted by an elderly gentleman named Adrian.  An avid bird-watcher since the age of ten, Adrian was extremely knowledgeable about the area’s flora and fauna.  We learned about the trees along the park's paths, the native plants in B.C. and the non-native, invasive species that organizations in the city are working to control (damn you, English ivy).  Adrian also pointed out and identified the birds we saw (and the bird calls we heard) along the way.

Our two hiking companions on the walk – both students here from Japan – provided some amusing exchanges as we observed the birds.  I got a kick out of their perspective.  For example, when they saw a mallard swimming out in the pond, one said, “Ah, a duck.  It’s cute.”  The other responded, “Yes, cute.  And also: delicious.”

After the tour, we meandered through the booths at the Eco-Fair (scoring some freebies, including 100% recycled toilet paper in 100% recyclable packaging - yay!), all while taking in the fabulous views over the bay.  We watched some First Nations dancers at the main stage and checked out the bicycle-powered P.A. system (!) attached to the puppet show.  But my favorite part of the day was watching artists (with help from the public) create “organic sculptures” – art made from materials that will naturally decompose over time.  I cannot get enough of this hippie shit, you guys.

And the final highlight of the day?  We received two $5 Starbucks gift cards (plus coupons for free cups of coffee) at the registration table!  It may be hard for future events to top that.  Because if there is anything better than a fun, free festival, it is a fun, free festival that PAYS ME to attend.

One amusing thing about this move so far has been my continued ability to be surprised by being here.  Because our life still revolves around the usual routines of eating, sleeping, cooking, cleaning, etc., I have a tendency to get caught up in those regular tasks and temporarily forget where I am.  Not in a blacked-out-and-now-think-the
-President-is-Martin-Sheen way, but in an oblivious-to-the-world-beyond-my-apartment way.

So, when we do finally leave home and walk (or run) a couple blocks one way or another, I end up reacting to my surroundings with mental exclamations, e.g. “Hey, the ocean!” or “Hey, towering conifers/mountains!” or “Hey, the pungent smell of pot!”  All of which leads to the startling conclusion that we are still residing at the same geographic coordinates as Vancouver.  Who knew?  (Yes, I know: apparently everyone but me.)

I’ve mentioned before that we have slowly been trying to greenify our apartment.  Well, in the past several months, I decided to tackle a new area: cleaning products.

 

For years, I had bought the same brand names I used growing up – Windex, Soft Scrub, Dawn, Tide, all those products my mom (and probably your mom) (and maybe your dad?) stocked up on at home.  They worked fine, were familiar and easy to find – what more could I want?

 

Then I happened to read an article about the amount of chemicals in your average laundry detergent (HOLY SHIT) – how they get on your clothes, onto your body and out into the environment.  I started to seriously question not only my detergent use, but the use of many other items in our household, from hand soap to toilet cleaner.  How could I make my home less chemically-covered? What could I do to better “detoxify” my life?  (Besides getting rid of those A*Teens CDs?)

 

I ended up checking out a book on the subject for guidance.  The extreme nature of the author’s cleaning fixation was a bit beyond me (who in their right mind dusts once A WEEK?), but the simple recipes for homemade remedies were not.  I was easily able to gather the ingredients and concoct “natural” equivalents for most of the products we normally buy.  For our more complex cleaning needs, I turned to Method and Seventh Generation, who both meet the environmentally-safe criteria established in the book.  (And have a tendency to come packaged in awesome-looking containers.)

 

After many months of use, I can report the homemade cleaners not only work surprisingly well, but truly stand the test of time.  They are cheap and easy, too (insert prostitution joke here); I highly recommend giving them a shot, if you’re open to this sort of thing.  My favorite alternatives are below.  (And please send me any suggestions of your own!)

 

I’ve been dying for some good, old-fashioned, PLAIN popcorn lately.  After a horrible experience with a box misleadingly titled “Crispy and White” (which also happened to be “Saturated with Fat”), I got online to see how one would go about popping corn without the aid of an air-popper.  Or oil.  Because we are not cool enough to keep either in our kitchen.

 

So here’s how homemade microwave popcorn works:

1)       Open a small brown paper bag.

2)      Cover the bottom of the bag in popcorn kernels.

3)      Close the bag using tiny folds (so it will stay shut.)

4)      Place a paper towel in the microwave, and put the bag on top.

5)      Heat on high until most of the corn sounds like it has popped.

6)      Pour contents into a bowl, season as desired, and enjoy!

 

It’s just that simple – you can even re-use the bag!  Fabulous!  I’m never getting that pre-packaged crap again.  (Sorry, Orville.)

The preview gave me chills, and the hour-long episodes themselves have left me utterly amazed by the insane variety of life on our beautiful planet.  This series more than lives up to its hype; I definitely recommend it.

Our apartment totals about 840 square feet, but that includes our patio, an area that is only functional approximately 90 days of the year.  So we try to get out there a LOT during that brief stretch of time and enjoy the extra room.  We’ve invested money in a nice wooden table and chairs, and I’ve put a lot of effort into cultivating a few small flowerpots to brighten up the area.  Unfortunately, as we found out at the beginning of June, we’re not the only ones who see our patio as a great place to settle down.

 

Some barn swallows (according to my grandpa, the family’s walking Wikipedia) decided that right above our patio door was the perfect spot to build a nest.  Now, if you’re not familiar with these birds, I will tell you that they are extremely aggressive when they perceive a threat.  No matter how mundane my plant-watering or pancake-eating seemed to me, the birds wasted no time in diving directly at my head whenever I walked or sat outside – always veering away at the last second, yes, but still diving.  At my HEAD.

 

Clearly, this was war.

 

I went on the offensive immediately, knowing that once there were eggs and/or baby birds involved, I wouldn’t have the heart to continue the fight.  I brushed away the dried-mud beginnings of the nest.  I stuck packing tape in the rafters.  I put up bits of ribbon to flutter in the breeze.  And I stood firmly on our patio, broom in hand, shaking my fist at the birds as they chattered and swirled angrily around me – undoubtedly a portent of the feisty old lady I will someday become.  (“You kids get off my goddamn lawn!”)

 

It took three days for the swallows to give up, but surrender they did; the couple reluctantly roosted at the apartment next door.  Needless to say, I was relieved.  I mean, I love Mother Nature and all that, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend the summer watching her take a shit on my back deck.

From a recent One Day newsletter:

 

<< 33% of Canadians are "very concerned" about the effects of climate change, while another 43% are "somewhat concerned."  Only 0.4% believe the climate isn't changing. 

 

When asked what they've personally done in the past year to help reduce the effects of climate change, 77% saved power, 62% bought energy-efficient devices, 42% bought green products, and 31% improved home insulation.  One-quarter have bought or plan to buy a smaller car.

 

47% of Canadians have watched Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth, second only to Australia, with 54% having seen the film. >>

OR "More trivial exploits of two yuppie DINKs"

 

In our bathroom, we have five light bulbs, three over the mirror and two in the overhead light.  The wattage of each of the mirror bulbs, which are fully exposed from below, is a whopping *one hundred*.  So you can imagine the blinding potential of our restroom – particularly on those post-midnight trips to the bathroom, as we stumble from our beds searching for relief, only to be hit LIKE A TON OF BRICKS by the amazing wattage of our bathroom lights.

 

Furthermore, when left on for about a half hour, the powerful bulbs gain the ability TO SINGE EYEBROWS.  In the summer, the heat they generate becomes particularly stifling; on more than one occasion, Shane and I have conducted our morning “primping” in front of the open freezer.  Trust me, you don’t know what a good morning means until you experience the smell of frozen veggie burgers while brushing your hair.

 

The funny part is: neither of us ever thought to *change* the bulbs in our bathroom.  But last week, I heard a discussion on MPR's Midmorning about energy-efficient light bulbs, which – if you’ll pardon me for saying – finally set off the light bulb in *my* head.  We could not only do away with the blinding and the burning, but save some energy as well!  Genius!!

 

So, that extra darkness you may experience tonight?  The feeling that maybe a star burned out, or perhaps the moon is a quarter thinner than it appears?  That's us switching out our 420 watts for 90 watts (total!) of compact fluorescents.

In the mail last night, I received a big, bulky envelope from the Sierra Club, a well-known environmental group.  The organization sent me PAGES AND PAGES of letters and pamphlets, with a final plea for my donation to help save the sequoia trees.

 

Sorry, Sierra Club, but the massive amount of paper I sorted through to find that monetary request made me wonder how serious you really are about saving trees.