Greening Your Pet

When we've taken pets into our homes and families, we must be conscious of their footprints, too. If you have a dog, consider using vegetarian feed. Cats are obligate carnivores, but you can at least steer clear of foods with beef in them.

Cat litter is another major source of environmental impact for our feline friends. First of all, stay away from clay based litter. Clays are not biodegradable or environmentally-friendly. There are, however, non-clay options that clump. Try Swheat Scoop. Made of (surprise, surprise!) wheat, Swheart Scoop is 100% biodegradable, flushable (for both sewer and septic systems), compostable (non-vegetable gardens only, of course), and renewable. It is free from fragrances and chemicals, and produces far less dust than your typical clay based litter. The litter feels about the same as your traditional litter, so your cat won't have a hard time transitioning at all.

There are other options, too! You can consider Feline Pine, which is chemical free and made from 100% recycled material. There's also Yesterday's News, which is fragrance free, non-toxic, more absorbent than clay, and virtually non-tracking. (I have reservations about only a "significant portion" of this litter being post-consumer material.)

Tree Hugger has a post about making your own newspaper-based litter, if you are so inclined (and have a source of used newspaper). Check it out here.

Handy Pocket Guides

With so many unsustainable features of American culture, it can be daunting to try to remember what's good and what's harmful in any given sector. Luckily, there's help. Experts can focus on one issue at a time and boil their recommendations down to handy-dandy pocket-sized guides.

From seafoods to plastics, produce to cosmetics, check out these pocket guides from Green Home.

More Diapers!

This weekend we visited our parents' homes, and my in-laws mentioned my blog. I think they've absorbed a thing or two from it, which is great. But my father-in-law actually ridiculed our view about cloth diapers, saying that he bets we will change our minds when we have our first baby. Sure, a funny joke, but a little insulting, in light of all the changes we have already made and those that we will continue to make in the seven to ten years between now and when we have children. I cannot imagine using disposable products now, let alone in a decade!

But on the way home from our trip, Ben and I discussed the diaper issue again. We said that no matter how strongly we feel on the issue, it would be irresponsible to claim that we know we'll use cloth diapers for our children. We can, however, know that we use rags instead of paper towels, cloth napkins instead of paper ones, cloth menstrual pads instead of disposable products. In other words, we have an ever-improving track record on very comparable issues.

However, as on many issues, we believe that in ten years there will be a completely different range of products and options from which to choose. Maybe we would use disposable diapers if they were biodegradable, compostable, and made from 100% post-consumer materials. [Check out Nature Babycare for a pretty good disposable option like this.] We don't know what our set of options will be then. In 2008 though, cloth is our best choice.

Enter Earth 911's article "Another Player in the Diaper Dillema." The article introduces a third option: flushable diapers. They combine a cloth outer diaper with a plastic-free, flushable insert. Pretty good option, eh? Check them out!

Modular Living

We currently live in a 1800+ square foot house. I'm not too sure why we live in such a large house, just the two of us with no plans to start a family in this town. Really, it was when we were looking at houses that our eyes and minds got greedy. "How great it would be to have a large library, a dinette, two offices," etc. We knew better than to buy more than we needed, but our conception of what we "needed" became more and more warped as we thought about getting the most square footage for our dollar.

I'm very committed to our next home being significantly smaller. And when we move, I plan to donate lots of things we don't really need to Goodwill (and encourage Ben to do the same).

Modular houses offer exciting options for new small homes. [Large homes, too, actually, but I'm looking at the small ones.] Many are built of recycled/reused/reclaimed materials and designed, engineered really, to be as space and energy efficient as possible. Check out some interesting examples:
-Dome House
-Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

...and this article talks about some of the benefits and offers more examples.

It's really very exciting to think about paring down our possessions a lot and living in a home that fits what we really need, not what our consumer-culture brainwashes us into craving.

AAA: Atrocious, Abominal, Abhorrent

Living in the suburbs, we all likely do a lot of driving. It makes sense, then, that many of us are interested in roadside assistance programs. The most well-known of these, of course, is AAA. Many of us probably know that AAA has a very powerful Congressional lobby. But we probably don't realize how evil their lobbying efforts are.

Some facts. AAA:
-Lobbied against the Clean Air Act in 1990.
-Doesn't recognize domestic partners as "family members."
-Is a member of the American Highway Users Alliance, who unsurprisingly support the destruction of virgin land and the construction of more, well, highways.
-Lobbied against California's 2006 Proposition 87, a "$4 billion program to reduce petroleum consumption by 25 percent, with research and production incentives for alternative energy, alternative energy vehicles, energy efficient technologies, and for education and training."

...and if you're a member of AAA, your membership dues are directly paying for their fight against the environment!

But, have heart, there is another option! Better World Club, the fastest growing automobile club in the nation, offers an eco-friendly roadside assistance plan. An Alternet article about Better World Club says, "Discounts are offered to hybrid vehicle owners, and carbon offsets are offered to all members. 'Our pricing is based on the cost to the environment, not the cost of service,' Rofsky is proud to say. It works out nicely that the pricing comes in at the same as, or in some cases cheaper than, AAA."

But that's not all! The article continues: "Better World Club encourages people that don't drive everywhere too, offering the nation's first and only bicycle roadside assistance plan. Members who bust a chain, pop a tire, or run into any other bicycle related mishap will be picked up and driven anywhere they want to go (home, nearest bike shop, a hotel, etc.) up to 30 miles away. Members can add the bicycle plan to their existing roadside service package, or individuals can sign up for the plan independent of the car service..."

Please give Alternet's article "Did You Know AAA Is Bad for the Environment? But You Can Get Green Roadside Assistance" a read. Then consider switching to Better World Club next time your AAA membership is up for renewal.

Junk Mail...Revenge!

An interesting article on ProQuo recently, Top 10 Creative Responses to Junk Mail.

Most of them are not too interesting, but the one about blending it up and making your own blank paper is pretty cool. I'd like to try it some time.

But the awesome one is #7: Response Package. The article reads:
"Many are inclined to view themselves as victims of junk mail, but some creative (and/or angry) types will take aggressive counter-action. These folks don't just demand their removal from direct mailing lists, but rather, they send direct mailers bricks (that right, bricks). The Office of Strategic Influence Web site explains that direct mailers pay approximately 20 cents an ounce on their pre-paid postage. An eight pound package, therefore, would end up costing them approximately $25. So if you don't mind paying a little extra for a larger envelope or shipping box, your revenge would be moderately significant."

I'd love to do this! If you're brave enough to try it, let me know!

UPDATE: Read TreeHugger's "Stop Junk Mail: 7 Ways to Reduce It and Opt Out for Good" for summaries, pros, and cons for seven unique methods of reducing your junk mail. Certainly worth the read.

Image from http://www.officeofstrategicinfluence.com/bulkmailer/packages9.jpg

More Composters

Ok, so it probably isn't very sustainable of me, but I find myself wanting something I don't technically need. But when it's a composter...

I'm lusting over Nature Mill's automatic composters.

Here's some reasons I want one:
-The price ($299-$399) is comparable to non-automated units, and the shipping is much, much cheaper than other composters (just $15).
-It can process up to 120 lbs a month, which is more waste than most of us could possibly produce.
-It's odor-free. The website says, "Continuous air flow and a powerful carbon filter remove odors. The unit is completely sealed." Filters need replacing only every five years.
-It's made of recycled plastic.
-It's energy-efficient. It uses "5 kwh / month - as much as a typical night light... Uses far less energy than hauling the same amount of waste in a diesel garbage truck."
-And it produces compost in TWO weeks! I'm so jealous...

So here's the plan: Nature Mill offers a 15% discount on each unit when three or more are purchased together. (New prices: $249-$335) The three can be different models, different colors, shipped to different places, and charged to different people. The company is just trying to get users to encourage friends and collegues to compost, too.

[Review my first post on composting to remember why it is so essential for a sustainable lifestyle.]

If you're considering getting one, post something in the comments, and we'll see if we can get three or more of us together!