My eco action for this week is to ban Styrofoam and other take-out containers from my life. I bought these great glass containers at Wal-Mart and will keep them in my car to use when I have leftovers or take-out at a restaurant.
Week three of taking one eco-action per week finds me preparing for a trip to New York- for the weekend. When you live in Hawaii, there is no better way to ratchet up your carbon footprint than leaving the island. The total lack of reliable and comprehensive public transportation on the Big Island also means that we drive in our cars a lot even when we are on the island. Since so many Hawaii residents have family on the U.S. mainland, travel to the mainland is unavoidable.
I was fantasizing about arriving into New York harbor, after a hard month at sea on the deck of a clipper ship, but unfortunately there was not a sailing vessel packed with hardened travelers and vermin departing to get me there on time. This snarky comment just prompted me to check and see if there is actually a way to sail to the U.S. mainland on a clipper ship. To my surprise I found that there are majestic sailing ships at sea, although at this point they are employed to take people on luxury vacations as opposed to utilitarian travel. More in alignment with what I am talking about, I found out about the journey of Junk- a sailing raft made of plastic bottles. They are sailing from California to Hawaii to raise awareness about the amount of plastic in our oceans.
Arriving in Penn Station and ascending up to street level outside of Madison Square Garden, the first thing I saw was a huge bottle of Ranch dressing suspended from the side of a building. Being that my primary focus is trying to be more green, my first thought upon looking around was “we’re fucked”. That is until I remembered that our brothers and sisters in Manhattan actually have a lower carbon footprint than those of us righteous rural dwellers- 30% less. My next thought was “Wow, Andrea, you self-righteous eco-elitist, get a grip.”
At any rate, I clearly needed to do something to offset the carbon generated by my trip. If you are still on the fence about offsetting your carbon, check out David Suzuki’s website, which is one of the most informative sources that I have found on the whole topic. There are a number of websites where you can calculate and offset your carbon from traveling: Planetair, My Climate , TerraPass. However, I chose to offset my carbon with Evolution Sage, a local Hawaii company that invests in renewable energy right here in Hawaii. My trip alone contributed 4,305 pounds of CO2, but I decided that I should just offset the whole enchilada right now- my home and home office. I have previously offset my travel to and from work, so I left that out of this calculation. I would like to offset more, as I know that I am barely making a dent by offsetting our electrical and transportation. What about the carbon impact of all of our consumption? But, I will need to save that for another day. For $258 I offset the 31,600 pounds of CO2 that my family spews into the atmosphere. If we make another trip to the mainland this year for a family wedding- it will be back to the carbon calculator for me. Am I now guilt free? Do I have a license to pollute? No and No. I continue to look for ways to reduce our electrical and transportation fuel consumption. Show me the clipper ship. Or the alternative fuel jets.
In preparation for a business trip on the East Coast, I needed some new clothes. (I will explore the concept of needs vs. wants another time!) Before upscale resorts located in Hawaii, clothes shopping was something that you had to do at K-Mart. Now, of course, we have on-line shopping and many cool little boutiques in the resort areas. I decided to see if I could find any eco-clothes. I kept my eyes peeled for organic cotton and bamboo, although I am personally partial to organic cotton.
One shop in Kailua-Kona called Eden had a brand called Green Dragon. I can see that the surf industry has finally caught the green wave. Taking a hint from Patagonia, the original, and still the leader in environmentally friendly business. At the surf shops, I found quite a few organic cotton t-shirts for guys from Quicksilver, Local Motion. Quicksilver also has a Choose Your Cause hangtag, which indicates that they will donate 3% of net sales to teh Quicksilver foundation. You can then go online and Choose your Cause. I bought a great t-shirt that was made by a local company called The Organik.
There was limited environmentally friendly clothing options for women in the stores. I also did a pretty good online search, but was not able to find anything that fit my needs for business and organic. I ended up ordering a casual shirt from Patagonia and then went standard for the rest.
Yup- did it again, standing at the check out with no canvas bag. Once again, I carted the groceries to the car, but this time there was a full cart, not just OJ and apples. Luckily there was a big box in my trunk that I had just emptied a bunch of used books out of. I filled it with my groceries, proud of my ingenuity. When I got home I just carried the box upstairs. Such an elegant solution – that is until it broke and I dumped the groceries, eggs and all, at the top of the stairs. However… I did save 8 -10 plastic bags!
It has become obvious to me that I need a two prong approach.
1. I need a reusable shopping bag that fits in my purse, LIVES in my purse. I found a great selection at ReusableBags.com
I am still waiting for it to arrive, but I have high hopes for this.
2. In the event that I forget to put the reusable bags back into my purse after emptying them, which is likely given my current track record, I need a back-up system. I just purchased a plastic (the ubiquitous plastic) milk crate from Wal-Mart (boy, it’s hard to stay pure) and now I keep that in the trunk of my car.
This turned out to work very well. Once again, I found myself standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, “Paper or Plastic?” “Neither” I burst out, I will role the cart to my car and empty the groceries into my new milk crate. The cashier was so curious about this system that she offered to help me. She handed me the groceries and I put them into the crate. The cashier suggested I just bring in the crate next time and put it in the cart. Yet another innovation! Carrying the milk crate upstairs was easier than carrying a bunch of bags. Long live the pinky finger! Never again to be strangulated by plastic bags.
I decided to start slowly and just try to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. Using a canvas shopping bag is Green 101, after all.
My son was home sick with a cold and requested that I stop at the store for orange juice and apples. Standing in front of the apples, about to grab a plastic bag, I realized that I left my canvas shopping bag in the car AGAIN. I was talking to a friend about addiction the other day. Apparently a conversion, similar to a religious conversion is required to break an addiction. Well, my epiphany has not come yet, so I am relying somewhat feebly on my intellect to help me make the change.
So there I am in front of the apple display- I decided just to put the apples directly into my basket without a plastic bag. I don’t even know why I need a plastic bag for apples. Because my mother always did it? Because that is just the way it is done? I can understand wanting your veggies in plastic bags, otherwise they get limp in the fridge. (Note to self to check alternatives to that one! Almost Vegetarian has a good idea for glass containers.) I can’t think of any good reason to keep apples in a plastic bag. Didn’t people in the old days keep apples in their cellars or something?
My friend Terry told me the other day that when he forgets his reusable bags he just wheels the cart out to his car- sans bags. Great idea! That is what I did. Now I aways say, “If you can’t bring the bag to the groceries, bring the groceries to the bag.”
Then, of course, I had to bring the basket back into the food store, which is the same round trip distance had I just returned to the car for my bags in the first place. But wait! There is a point. I was not backtracking, which is important. There is also an important new idea evolving from this. If you have ever (and I know you have) carried multiple bags (paper, plastic, canvas- whatever) into your house from your car, you know that it is a pain. I always try to carry too much, two bags in my arms, one hanging off my pinky finger, cutting off my blood flow. How about an easy to carry, sturdy, re-usable box that I keep in my car? Taking a clue from Costo-they never ask paper or plastic- it is box or nothing.
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