Posts Tagged by Environment

Mother Culture

June 7, 2010 Posted by Issa under Mother Culture
No Comments

Mother Culture whispers to us from the day we are born. She speaks to us through the voices of our parents and other caretakers and from the picture books and nursery rhymes. And it grows from there. Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, internet pages. School teachers and school books, the word problems in the math sections, the chapters in the history book, the charts in economics class. From billboards and graffiti, sermons, jokes, and casual chitchat with neighbors. We hear a same story, and we share it with others. Over and over again. Keep Reading

Switching to Bathroom Cloth

June 1, 2010 Posted by Issa under Simple-Eco-Happy
4 Comments

I recently switched over to using cloth in my bathroom, instead of toilet paper. The guest bathroom and Joshua’s bathroom still have toilet paper, but I’ve been enjoying cloth in my own. Like the switch from paper towels to washcloths in the kitchen and the switch to reusable menstrual products, switching to bathroom cloth has been equally satisfying. Here’s a little 101 on the whole idea. Keep Reading

Step One: Notice

May 17, 2010 Posted by Issa under Mother Culture
3 Comments

Have you seen the 1988 John Carpenter movie They Live? The most memorable bit to me is when Roddy Piper’s character puts on a pair of found sunglasses and instantly begins seeing subliminal messages in the things around him. I find it useful to do the job of those sunglasses for myself sometimes, especially with advertising. Ads are trying to convince me to buy their product, but they are often trying to convince me of something pretty silly in an effort to do so. When I’m watching a car ad and I say out loud to myself, “Oh, apparently, if I buy this brand of car, chicks will dig me,” I hope that it makes my mind less fertile ground for that message. Keep Reading

Food Waste

May 10, 2010 Posted by Issa under Animals
No Comments

I read a lot of homesteading blogs and other blogs that cover environmental or hippie topics from one direction or another. A common things that I see is various “challenges”, where the blogger will try really hard to do or not do something in a given time frame. Maybe it’s a no-TV challenge, where the blogger will not watch any television for a week or a month. Maybe it’s monitoring plastic purchases or going cold turkey on fast food. Recently, I watched several bloggers take part in a “Real Food Challenge”, which involved a variety of ways to alter ones relationship with food.

Recently, I ran across a blogger who focuses on food waste. On Friday she posts what food her family wasted that week, including a picture. There are other bloggers who are in on this Food Waste challenge, including posting pictures of waste and outlining ways to reduce food waste. Keep Reading

Washcloths in the Kitchen

December 21, 2009 Posted by Issa under Simple-Eco-Happy
2 Comments

I use washcloths exclusively in the kitchen. Joshua feels strongly about having paper towels on hand for a couple of specific tasks. I feel strongly about paper towels not being visible in my kitchen, so that they do not accidentally get over-used. The end result is that there is one lonely roll of paper towels hidden in a little-used cabinet, but I personally only ever use washcloths.

Originally, this choice related primarily to environmental concern. Paper towels are single-use items, which seems especially grievous for a small task like hand-drying. Over time, I have become less vocal about attributing certain choices to environmental reasons, though. The truth is that I don’t know for certain how this single choice stacks up environmentally. For example, am I wiping out all potential environmental benefits of reusing by washing them in hot water? I don’t know. Keep Reading

Eco-Commerce

November 7, 2009 Posted by Issa under Simple-Eco-Happy
3 Comments

I found some products clearly being marketed to me. I walked past the display in the grocery store and they caught my eye quite well. My brain was right in step as well – “Oh! Plates made from leaves! Bamboo! So eco-conscious!” The products and their packaging have the look that I like – a minimalist, nature look that I first noticed in yoga-commerce.

I also appreciate the idea that if there’s something that I really want to do, I should be on the lookout for ways to do it that take my larger environment in mind. Making useful products out of leaves? Who wouldn’t approve of that? Keep Reading

« Previous Page