Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

I know it’s a sin, but I love drying my clothes in the dryer. Unlike my husband who grew up enjoying the Yankee pleasure of stiff, abrasive towels, I grew up in suburban Long Island where my towels were fluffed in the dryer. I am still getting used to being exfoliated after every shower but am finding that I use the same towel many more times. The towel softens up after a while and the thought of going through the stiffy phase again is a deterrent.


It’s 9:40 at night and I just realized that I forgot my wet laundry in the washer. With a sound akin to a whine I said to my husband Topher, “Can you put my clothes in the dryer?” In his authoritative, bossy voice, he answered- “Honey, you got to walk the walk and talk the talk.” I was so tired but Topher talked me down and offered to come and help me. So there we were hanging laundry at 10 pm at night in the dark. It was certainly a lot more fun doing it together. Hell- I guess it was so cool that I am writing about it now. I wouldn’t be writing about what it was we were sacrificing. Most likely some form of mindless entertainment. Ahhh… another eco diva’s delicate morals not defiled.

Sustainability Chronicles continues with Andrea finding a reusable shopping bag she can remember because it is cleverly hidden in the bottom of her purse!

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.

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.