It’s a Bird, A Plane, A House

You may or may not have seen this.  This woman has been on a number of TV shows.  She wanted to build a house…she told her architect that it should look “feminine.”  The architect came up with the idea of using an old 747.   I guess what’s more feminine than a phallus shaped hull of an airplane?  It has that certain je ne sais quois. 

This story has been all over the place, but I still think it’s an interesting story of recycling.  There are also architects using old shipping containers.  They can be cut into a ton of different configurations and it’s almost like using prefab.  What’s old is new again.

Photo Gallery: The Garden Update

Spring kinda happened here in the Chicago burbs.  It’s supposed to be in the 70’s here this week consistently, so we’ll see.  I think it’s just going to go right into summer.  Anyway, the garden is underway.  We bought some cocoa mulch yesterday.  It’s great for veggies b/c its so fine.  It also smells great - although I really wanted a chocolate bar when I was done.  Here is a short photo gallery of our first raised bed.

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Easy Green: Rain Barrel Time

In most parts of the country, you don’t have to worry about freezing anymore.  It’s time to break out the rain barrels!  I actually put mine out several weeks ago. There is a lot of rain this time of year and your barrels will fill up amazingly fast.  My water is just sitting there waiting for the new flowers that need some love.

Why have a rain barrel?  I have one because I wanted to build a project and I wanted to harvest rain water.  It’s not entirely because I’m cheap - part of it is definitely the standard answer - because I can.  The less water going into our storm sewers, the  better - back to the earth, baby. 

There are a few options on rain barrels - buy one or make one yourself.  It all depends on the look you’re going for.  For me, I made my own. After doing some research, I found that the best recommended barrel material is food-grade plastic.  I called up a Coca-Cola bottling plant nearby and they happily gave me as many barrles as I wanted.  I could only fit two in the car and I thought that was a good starting point.  If you really wanted them to be prettier, you could paint them with some Krylon plastic paint (it’s made for childrens outdoor plastic toys, etc) - but I can’t really recommend spray paint on a green site, right?

Last year, I only hooked up one barrel.  That seemed to be pretty sufficient for our watering needs, but since I had the other barrel just staring at me, I decided to daisy chain them together.  So right now, I have two 55gal barrels on my deck - about 2 feet above the ground with spigots coming off of them. 

Basic setup:

• Food-grade barrel
• Spigot
• Downspout attachment with screen
• Overflow pipe (important)

My Setup

• Downspout into barrel one
• Overflow pipe out of barrel one - flexible sump pump hose
• Spigot near bottom of barrel
• Barb connector near top of barrel one - just below overflow line
• Barb connector in identical spot on barrel two
• Spigot near bottom of barrel

When barrel one fills up, it spills over into barrel two.  When barrel two is full, there is no where for the water to go, so it exits from the overflow flexible hose.  The barrels are elevated about two feet which is plenty of gravity to water pretty much anything I need.

One big question everyone asks is regarding mosquitoes.  Yes, they can be an issue with an open-ended rain barrel.  You want to make sure your barrel is as tight as possible or has screen prevening mosquitoes from getting to the water in the first place.  If they can’t get in, they can’t lay eggs.  Maybe you inherited barrels that have open holes.  In this case there are a few options.  Instead of contaminating the water with some chemicals, try adding a little veggie oil. The oil will create a barrier at the top of the water and not let the eggs break through.  Another option is adding some cider vinegar to the water.  This will kill anything that has hatched and deter moquitoes from visiting to lay more eggs.

Easy Green: Air Your Clean Laundry

If you think about clothes lines and drying your laundry in the great outdoors here in the U.S., you probably think about the Leave It To Beaver days.  The good old days.  In fact, with suburban sprawl and the need to look “pretty,” many suburban housing associations actually ban clothes lines.  Modern clothes dryers may seem so easy, but there is something special about putting sheets on your bed that were dried in the great outdoors.  It’s that certain je ne sais quoi. 

Technically, I’m not even supposed to have anything up in my backyard.  It’s ridiculously nuts.  Sure, I don’t necessarily want to see the neighbor’s naughty unmentionables flapping in the wind, but it’s only clothing.  I know this is an odd topic in the middle of a cold Chicago winter.  If I put any wet laundry out right now, I’d have a stiff, frozen piece of cloth.  So we just hang some of it in the basement.  Of course I was watching one of my favorite television channels, Current TV.  They recently had a pod called “Dirty Laundry” done by an American living in Spain.  He talks of how quaint and beautiful it is to see everyone’s laundry.  People don’t use dryers like they do here.  I can’t remember the last time I saw laundry hanging in someone’s yard (besides my own) in the five years. 

Anyway - my point is - if you can, air dry your laundry.  I really would like to expand our operations this year and get a better setup to hang more laundry.  I know that I’m probably not supposed to, but until someone stops us, we’ll push the envelope.  How ludicris is it that you can’t do something so simple that saves a ton of energy?  It’s frustrating.

Enjoy the pod! 

Holy S4!+ I Just Made Butter

Okay, maybe I’m naive or something, but I had no idea that you could just make butter.  I guess I’ve never really thought about it.  When you picture someone making butter, you think about the old butter churns and someone who looks like Laura Ingalls Wilder.  They have this vintage dress on while they’re churning the butter in the summer kitchen.  You might also think of a very bad dance which is the only dance I can perhaps do - which is “churn the butter.” 

Then I was reading Crunchy Chicken (a great blog that my wife has been reading for a long time).  She had a post that read, Holy Cow, I just made butter.  It immediately caught my attention.  I read the post and how simple it is to make butter and had to do it.  I held out until tonight.  Of course, I wait to go to the store until there is a nice snow storm with 5-7″ of snow already on the ground and more blowing down.  It has been in my little pea brain all week - eating away at me.

Here are the basics.  Get yourself some cream or heavy whipping cream - I bought a quart of heavy whipping cream, but not the ultra pasteurized option.  I cheated and used our KitchenAid mixer.  Just throw on the whisk attachment and let-her-rip.  If you’ve made whipped cream before, just do that…and keep going…and going…and going.  It’s super easy and not too messy.  Eventually the butter starts to form and the “buttermilk” separates.  Just pour that off and go a little farther.  Then pour off again (save it and use it for baking) - kneed the butter and rinse until it rinses clean.  I put it in some wax paper and put it in the fridge.  Okay - so first I made some buttered bread to test it out.  So delicious! 

This may not necessarily be a “green” tip, but I’m excited that I made something so simple as butter.  It’s not something I thought was possible.  I think I may try the “Ball” jar method where you just shake, shake, shake.  Someone had a great idea where your kids just roll the jar back and forth…until its butter.  Not bad.  Then I can make some herb butter…and honey butter…the possibilities are endless.

Here are the directions I used.  Thanks Crunchy Chicken!!

Recycling: Plastics Primer

So you made a resolution to start recycling more or you think you’re doing a good job because you’re recycling all of your plastic containers.  Great - I applaud your efforts.  Question, though - do you know what plastics your garbage company actually accepts for recycling?  Do you ever look at the numbers on all of your plastics?  Have you ever wondered what the heck those numbers mean? 

Let’s do this.  Flip over that soda bottle or take-out food container and look for the recycling symbol with the number in the middle.  Now go ask your bestest friend ever, Google, for the website of your local town or your waste disposal company.  See what kinds of plastics they accept.  You might also want to ask Google where you can actually drop-off those plastics that your garbage company won’t collect curbside. 

Most curbside recycling programs only take #1 and #2 plastics.  It’s frustrating because we should be able to recycle all of these plastics, but its really hard to find someone to take them.  Try Earth 911 to see what you can recycle.  Want to know what to do with different items rather than throwing them away?  Check out the Lime site.

Alright - now that you have that down - lets look at the various types of plastics out there.  There are 6 and then a frankenplastic - #7. 

#1 PET/PETE - Polyethylene Terephthalate - Soda bottles, water bottles

#2 HPDE - High Density Polyethelyne - Toys, detergent bottles, shampoo, milk jugs, etc.

#3 V or PVC - Polyvinyl Chloride - PVC plumbing, meat plastic wrapping, shower curtains - these offgas a lot - very distinguished smell

#4 LDPE - Low Density Polyethelyne - Newpaper bags, grocery bags - take these back to the grocery store for recycling

#5 PP - Polypropylene - Yogurt containers, margarine tubs, sour cream containers, Tupperware, diapers

#6 PS - Polystyrene - Most people think this is styrofoam - it is - but that’s the expanded polystyrene.  Tons of take out food containers, plastic utensils, CD jewel cases

#7 OTHER - Any mix of 1-6 plastics

Easy Green: Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap

Yes, this Easy Green is a product.  Sure its something that you have to go out and buy and find - so maybe it’s not exactly “easy green.”  This is one of those products that is so great that I think it should be in every household.  Why is it so great?  Well - I’ll try to explain, but I just won’t be able to cover all of it.  Let’s talk about the history of this fair trade organic eco-friendly soap.  Who the heck is Dr Bronner? 

Dr. Bronner  - a third generation soap maker - was a crazy man.  Well - some people thought so at least.  He was also a smart man.  He came to the States in the ’20’s and urged his parents too, as well.  He was afraid of what might come from Hitler’s rule.  His last contact with his parents was a telegram that read, “you were right.”  His parents and many family members died in the holocaust.  Dr Bronner created something called the “Moral ABCs” which is a philosophy that combines both Christian and Jewish among other influences.  When he was promoting this philosphy at the University of Chicago, he was actually arrested and committed to a mental institution.  Dr Bronner was able to escape from the institution in Elgin, IL after several shock treatments.  There is a documentary that follows his son around and talks about his life (I fell asleep watching it - video snippet below). To this day, each bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap contains the complete text of the Moral ABC’s.  Here is a sample:

Absolute cleanliness is Godliness! Who else but God gave man Love that can spark mere dust to life! Poetry, uniting All-One! All brave! All life! Who else but God! “Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!

So what makes this soap so great?  First off, it’s real soap - not some weird combination of toxic chemicals.  I bet you have no idea what kind of things you are putting on your body each day you shower, put make up on, brush your teeth, etc.  Dr Bronner’s soap is a “castile soap.”  What that means is that the soap is all vegetarian based rather than made from animal fat.  This also means that the grey water coming from your shower or sink or out in the wild is non-toxic and isn’t going to hurt the environment.  This is probably why they sell about 5 different sizes of the soap at REI.  It’s safe. 

Why is this soap magical?  You can use it for any number of applications and it is very concentrated so you can use a tiny dab and it goes a long way.  Here are some example uses that I personally use it for:  shower soap, shampoo, hand soap (very diluted - love it in a foaming pump), washing dishes (in sink), shave soap, even floors.  Some people use it for toothpaste - I’ve tried - once - I’ll stick to regular toothpaste for now. 

Dr Bronner soap comes in bar form and liquid.  If you want the soap that has the most lather - go for it.  What kind of scents do they have?  Peppermint, Almond, Eucalytpus, Baby Mild, Tea Tree, and Lavender. I prefer peppermint.  The tingle gives you that certain je ne sais quois.  

Peppermint Magic Soap ingredients:
Water, Saponified Organic Coconut & Olive oils (w/ retained Glycerin), Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Organic Peppermint Oil, Organic Mentha Arvensis, Citric Acid, Vitamin E

PS -Did I mention they’re Fair Trade for their ingredients? 

Sundance Channel Documentary Snippet 

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Easy Green: No Plastic Baggies

This one is easy…but not as easy as it should be.  I use wax paper baggies for my sandwiches when I brown bag it.  They may seem odd to some, but it’s kind of a throwback to the Leave It To Beaver era.  I like them because they’re bigger than a standard baggie - so they fit my fatty sandwich in there easily.  The other benefits are obvious.  You’re not using disposable plastic and the paper is recyclable. 

Now comes the part about how it’s not as easy as it should be.  I’ve checked two of my regular grocery stores with no luck finding these.  The only place that I’ve seen them is at Whole Foods and I don’t live anywhere close to one.  I’m not sure if Trader Joe’s sells them or not.  So I walked down the entire aisle - twice - looking for these.  All I saw was a wall of plastic baggies.  It was evidence of our disposable society.  Maybe if they were made from corn-based plastic - but they’re not - just a bunch of oil.

Before I get flamed for bashing disposable products and then telling people to use disposable wax paper bags, I must say that I am not perfect (yes, I am admitting it - shhh - don’t tell anyone).  I am still using a disposable product.  At least I can recycle this one or compost it.  Sure they’re better, but wax baggies aren’t perfect.

If you’re better than I - like my daughter - you can buy a Wrap-N-Mat.  These are great for kids - great for anyone, really.  They’re exactly what they sound like - a sandwich wrap that when you open it becomes a placemat.  We bought ours at Reusablebags.com and I recommend you do the same.  I really like them and their customer service.  I know you all like videos - so don’t fret - here’s Wrap-N-Mat being showcased on NBC.

Now if you’re like my friend Amy and Karen, then you’ll want to go with the Wonder Bread case.  Yeah - its plastic, but it’s retro.  I’m not sure where to buy one, though. 

How about a bento box?  These are cool Japanese lunchboxes.  All with separate little cases for each little lunch portion.  The popular ones are Laptop Lunches.  There is a new one that I’d love to try called Lunchopolis from ironically enough Lunchopolis.com.  They’re made from a polycarbonate.  The tagline reads “help eliminate 3.5 billion pounds of lunchbox garbage generated each year.”  Think about that.  3.5billion pounds.  Think about that next time you’re at a fast-food joint and you’re throwing away your garbage. 

Tired of Junk Mail? Get Green Dimes

Are you tired of getting junk mail every single day in the mail?  Hate that you signed up for one thing and now you get 20 different catalogs?  Well, GreenDimes.com is here for the rescue.  Reduce your junk mail by 70-90%!

My wife and I signed up for Greendimes in April of this year.  At that time, it was an annual subscription - it has since changed to a one-time lifetime subscription.  I can’t even remember what we paid for it, but I thought it was worth it (now its only $15 forever).  I hated getting so much junk mail from credit card companies and generic mailers.  So we had heard about GreenDimes.com and decided what is there to lose other than a couple dollars.  Telling the wife that the ever dreamy Matt Damon was onboard was probably enough for the sell.  This sounds like the Hair Club for Men.  Matt received GreenDimes as a gift for the holidays.  He was so impressed with the organization that he is now on their board of directors. 

Here’s how it works.  You sign-up and the GreenDimes staff works to get your name off of the direct mailer mailing lists.  Yes, you could do this all on your own, but a lifetime subscription is only $15!  That will take care of the bulk of the mail you get.  Next you login to your account.  You can whitelist and blacklist various catalogs, etc.  Stuff that you signed up for once, but you don’t want anymore.  GD will take care of removing you from the lists.  You’ll also receive some pre-paid postcards in the mail that you have to sign so that GD can work on your behalf.  Simple as that.

Did I forget to mention the fact that when you subscribe, GreenDimes works with partners to plant 10 trees on your behalf?  You even get to pick the region of the world that you want the trees planted in.  Not bad.

Now - I have to mention that you need to be patient.  Don’t expect to sign-up today and your junk mail will stop tomorrow.  It takes time.  Its a slow moving boat, but well worth it in the long run.  So sign-up and be patient.  Save some of the 53 million trees used annually for catalogs. 

Don’t forget - GreenDimes makes a great stocking stuffer, too!  Give a lifetime subscription to someone you care about.

PS - Email me and I’ll send you a referral - jason at screamtobegreen.com

Watch GreenDimes on Good Morning America
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Easy Green: Use REAL Napkins

I’d have to say that is was early summer when we made the switch to using real cloth napkins at home.  We still had our reserve supply of disposable on-hand for emergencies and/or laziness.  When we first started out, we got a small batch from my wife’s grandmother.  We began to get hooked, so we sought out more.  My friend Joy hooked me up with another stack that she got at a local thrift store (thanks Joy!).  Now whenever we have to use disposable napkins at home because we haven’t washed the others yet it just feels very weird.  Feeling weird is good, though.  I’m trained - as much as I can be, I guess.

The first benefit is easy - you’re not throwing away the waste.  The counter argument is that you’re using water to wash the napkins in the laundry.  Yes, you are using water in the washing machine, but it is far less than the water that is needed to produce the paper napkin that you use once and toss.  Many napkins are made from virgin wood and contain minimal recycled paper.  Even if you buy 100% recycled paper napkins, you’re far better off using cloth.  The recycling process uses lots of water and lots of energy.  I don’t want to hear about it being gross, either.  Its a napkin and a modern washing machine. 

We were at the in-law’s tonight where they use disposable napkins like most people do.  My four year old son says to his grandmother something to the effect of “you should use real napkins because those ones are wasteful.”  It was pretty funny to all of us, but I guess he does pay attention to us.  Maybe it’s because I just bought another 6 napkins for a whopping $0.82 today.

So I had planned on writing this post today when I happened to check a great blog, The Green Daily.  Ironically, they also wrote on this topic today.  They link out to a site that teaches you to make your own napkins, as well.  Check it.