Check out my New, Green, USA Shoes!

Last year, I first discovered Okabashi Shoes. Made in the USA, and capable of being recycled into new shoes, they are pretty nifty.

my new shoes

This year, I finally got two Okabashi pairs for myself, and I'm loving them. Each was under $20; a price point that no one can complain about. They are decently comfy -- certainly more so than the Jelly fad of the 1980s -- and come in great colors.  I got a green pair of clogs that I use in the garden. (These are PERFECT for that.) And, I've got a pair of red 'strappy' shoes that I've worn to work a few times with great success.

Anyone else tried these and can comment on them? Has anyone actually returned them to be recycled?

A Tale of Three Sippy Cups

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My theme today is cups. Not cups that hold Beer, but cups that hold juice and milk.

A few years ago, I lamented about not being able to buy just the part I want for certain products. Now, I am further lamenting that even when it is possible, buying just the part I want is often difficult and expensive.

My Goal: Revive 3 Sippy/Straw Cups that have had just one part wear out on each of them. I don't want to toss them and get new ones. I just want to replace the broken parts.

The slightly worn Frog Cup

Nuby Flip-It Insulated Cup

My son chewed through the straw on this in a few weeks.  Tracking down this product was actually a bit difficult, as I bought it under the brand 'Cottontails.' But eventually the Internet led me to 'Nuby' and photos proved it was the same cup.

That tip then led me to Nuby's incomprehensible site. I just had no idea at all where to go after reading this wackiness, so I went to Amazon and found the Nuby Replacement Straw Kit for cups. The photo shows 3 lids, but it actually only includes one. The reviews are deservedly scathing: twice the price of a whole new cup just for a replacement straw, plus shipping??? It's one thing to reuse and replace, but it's another to get totally screwed while doing it.  After hunting around on Amazon a little more, I found another replacement straw kit that is a better deal, but still very close to the cost of a whole new cup. I thought about writing Nuby to complain, but the incomprehensible website (see above) had no way to Contact them that I could find. That's a little scary if I had actually had a serious issue with the cup.

The Dino Cup

Playtex Insulated Twist 'n Click Straw Cup 

My darling son chewed through the straw of this one in 2 days. So, I'm barely motivated to get a new one only to see it munched through again. You need to read essays of text to figure out which type of replacement straw you need, but they do have some pretty good photos and lots of big red warnings that warn you of common mistakes.  Same basic pricing issue as the Nuby cup: I can get a 2-pack of new cups for the same cost as 3 replacement straws plus shipping. I'm not sure that is worth it.
Playtex actually had a 'contact us' section on their website, so I wrote them about my frustrations in trying to replace the straw at a reasonable price.

It's frustrating that the straw wears out so quickly on this cup (My son chewed through it after two uses) but it is difficult and expensive to buy replacement parts. (You can buy the new cups in stores, but need to pay shipping for the replacement parts.) Have you considered packaging extra straws in with the cup and charging $1-$2 more? I don't think I'll bother with a new straw, but I am wondering if the cup is recyclable or if I have to trash it. It has no recycling symbol on it, but isn't polypropylene recyclable? 

 They wrote back within 48 hours. 

Thank you for contacting us regarding the Playtex® Insulator® Straw Cups. To answer your question, these cups have a recycle code of 5. Please contact your local recycling facility to verify they recycle this type of plastic. In appreciation for your feedback we are sending you two coupons that we encourage you to use towards any Playtex Infant Feeding products.

Well, maybe I'll try getting those replacement straws, after all! (Then, if he chews through the first in two days. I'll pack up the cup and give it as a gift to someone else.) 



Take & Toss

So Simple. So colorful.

These cups have been our all-around favorite cups, with the sippy cup lids rather than the straw lids. (Note: They are our favorites after you make the holes larger with an ice pick. This is an important detail as so many reviews of these have parents saying "We can't get a drop of liquid out through these lids!")

But our son chomps on these lids, too, and eventually they need to be replaced. The CUPS last forever; all we need are LIDS. But the only place to get lids is online and they cost of the lids is just about the same as the lid + cup, plus I need to pay shipping. Why is it so much more expensive to just get the lids? I pay it as a contribution to the environment (why buy more cups I don't need), but it is frustrating. I wrote to them about this ...

We like your sippy cups very much. For something supposedly designed to be tossed away, they are nearly indestructible. The lids, however, are more destructible. It is great that you sell replacement lids, but you only do it on your main site. Have you ever considered making these replacement parts more widely available? Have you ever considered packaging the cups with an extra lid and then just charging an extra dollar? Either of these would be helpful.

They wrote me back almost immediately, saying that they'd definitely pass along my ideas to their product department. Whether that actually happens or not, it was nice to get a response.

But one thing I'll say about Take & Toss... once the lids wear out you can definitely toss them in the recycling bin. There are just simple plastic, #5 recycling. (At least where we live, we can recycle these). That's nice. The other cups are too complex and I'm not sure they are really recyclable. I just made an order for more lids and more bowls. These things are great.

***

Are other folks having the same experience? That just one or two parts of these cups wear out and then you're stuck? 

If you can't communicate, how can you do business?

As the energy tax credit supposedly expired on December 31, 2010, we had our leaky, 25+ year-old front windows on our townhome replaced. We used the same company that we used for the back windows three years ago: The Hodges Company in Arlington, Virginia.

They aren't the cheapest shop in town, but they are fabulous.

They send out a crew of two guys who really know their stuff, and can speak excellent English to communicate this knowledge. Three years ago, they talked to us about issues with our one sliding door frame, and also took out a wasp nest. This time, they talked to us about some serious issues that had been introduced to the dormer windows on our room because of how our new roof had been installed four years ago.



So let's talk about that roof experience, for comparison, from Masters Roofing. That crew was all hispanic, and none of them spoke very good English. The would have been fine if I was in Mexico. But it's sort of problematic here. I can speak some spanish, but not enough to communicate complex construction ideas. We were a little worried about what was going on up there, 4 stories up, but there was no one we could talk to. And as it turns out, what was going on up there was that the work was not being done correctly.

Don't get me wrong; I'm all for people speaking multiple languages. But if we want to remain one Great American melting pot, as opposed to a collection of disparate pots sitting next to each other, we really need to make English the official language. One language needs to unite us for commerce, government, and large collective events, while individuals retain their german, spanish, indian, chinese, russian and other heritages for interactions with family and friends.

This seems like a pretty important topic, but no one wants to talk about it. Instead, the country is starting to slowly divide. What are others seeing and feeling about this?

A little more Science on Science Friday

This past friday, Science Friday did a Persuasion, Energy, and Behavior segment. Generally, I'm very pleased with National Public Radio. They tend more toward objective, in-depth reporting than anything else on the radio. And this is a really great show; encouraging science is something we need to do in this country.

However, I found this piece much less NPR Science and much more mass-media Editorial. It was disappointing. Some of the concepts were interesting -- i.e., are some people not trying to be energy-efficient due to their political views -- but the overtone of "If you don't use Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs), you're stupid" was insulting. I've certainly had misgivings about CFLs in the past -- their technology and their disposal -- and I don't consider myself 'Stupid'.

I was pleased to note that there are multiple pages of similar commentary on the segment page forums, so hopefully the producers will take note.

BPA issues continue

A few weeks ago, I outlined the Baby Bottle Dilemma involving BPA. Today, a news story noted that more studies are showing links to cancer. Although the FDA is still calling the chemical safe, New Jersey has apparently taken steps to ban its sale and Canada is considering a similar step.

One of the groups doing the study is the National Toxicology Program. I wonder if the Angry Toxicologist will have a comment ...

Baby Gift Kits for New Parents

So, we've now survived 11+ weeks with our little baby boy, who squeezes out about 24 dirty diapers a day and manages to leak onto his clothes for at least a third of these changes. I now have two great ideas for gift 'kits' for first-time parents. I'll be able to try them out soon as several people I know are hoping to get pregnant in the near future.

Diapers 101: Diapering in 5 easy steps

There are a million diaper and diaper-related products on the market, and you can inevitably find someone who "swears" by each one of them. It sort of stinks to have to buy all of them yourself to try them out. So, my "Diapers 101" kit includes my take on the diapering process as well as some samples of the various products.

Step 1: Put a new diaper under current diaper, before removing current diaper

If you skip this step, be prepared to do a lot of laundry (using the handy-dandy Laundry 101 Kit mentioned below) and have a lot of stains on the bottoms of your baby clothes. [I've found that this step is very hard for some Dads to remember]

So the million-dollar question is this: what type of diaper are you going to put there? You first must choose between cloth vs. disposable. Even if you are trying to be as green as possible, this isn't an obvious answer. Cloth diapers use a LOT of water and if you use a service there are a LOT of chemicals at play. I chose disposable diapers.

The size you need coming out of the hospital (more than likely) is "N" for Newborn. If your baby is over 9 lbs, you may find it better to start with Size 1. But as you won't really know this till it happens, best to have some N's on hand. Here are my findings in testing four brands of Newborn diapers on my 7+lb. newborn:

Pampers Swaddlers. The hospital used a flavor of Pampers, and this is what we started with. In general, we've liked these the best. They have a type of woven mesh that wicks the runny poop away from Baby; this is important if you are having diaper rash issues.

Huggies Newborn Gentle Care. At first, Pampers fit best. Then, as his shape changed, Huggies fit better. Huggies have the best elastic of all the ones we tried. They really do "hug" the baby, and they are generally a tiny bit cheaper than Pampers. But they don't have the wicking mesh.

Seventh Generation Newborn Diapers. I really wanted to use these, as they are chlorine-free. But they leaked a lot for us when we tried the N size a few weeks ago. I wrote to Seventh Generation, and they said that they were working to improve absorbency. So, I tried the #1 size last week and WHAT a DIFFERENCE. The #1's have more elastic than even the Huggies. They are super. I am not clear if the N's have been changed, too, or if they were left without elastic to make them easier to turn down to avoid the umbilical cord. Either way, the #1's get the thumbs-up from me. [I'll continue to alternate with Pampers, however, as that grid really, really helps his diaper rash]

Luvs Newborn. These didn't work for us at all. They leaked HORRIBLY; they have no elastic on them and aren't very thick. However, if you are on a budget, they are by far the cheapest of the ones we tried. Also, one woman said that every brand except this one made her baby break out in a rash. So clearly, Luvs have their place in the world of diapers.

Costco's Kirkland diapers. The smallest size that they make is size 1-2, but they are quite decent, as well. They are very similar to Huggies.

So, once you have the diaper selected (and I recommend trying diapers.com to purchase them), you are on to the next step ...

Step 2: Remove dirty Diaper

Try to wipe as much poop off as possible with the old diaper so it doesn't get on the new diaper. Then pull away old diaper, hopefully leaving baby's butt sitting on new diaper. If it slid out from under baby, try to adjust it quickly before his outfit ends up on the receiving end of something unpleasant.

Note: boys WILL pee on you. And even though people say "You can see it coming," I disagree with that ... Sometimes it is totally without warning.

Step 3: Clean baby's bottom

You have two general options for cleaning baby's little bottom: Disposable Wipes or Wash Cloths (using soap/water). Due to our issues with diaper rash, we actually use a wash cloth at home (we use an old tupperware container next to the changing stand and put warm/fresh water in it each time) and we use wipes on the road.

My recommendations:

Wash Cloth:
-- Baby Poop never comes out of cloth entirely, especially the yellow/seedy stuff if you are breast feeding. So, I recommend using one particular cloth for the butt and make sure its clear which one it is. We always use a blue cloth: Blue for Butt. And we use a yellow cloth for washing his fact and the rest of his body.
-- It is actually worthwhile to get baby wash cloths; they actually are softer than regular adult ones

Disposable Wipes
-- We tried several different brands: be sure to get the Unscented ones, at least to start with. The all seemed generally fine
-- I liked the Seventh Generation wipes the best; they seemed the softest and as even unscented has a bit of a scent, I liked the lemony smell these had.

And then one final step/tip: if you are having severe problems with diaper rash, let baby air-dry for 5 minutes or even better blow-dry with a hair-dryer for a few seconds. (My baby loves the hair dryer!)

Step 4: Protect and/or Battle against Diaper Rash

For protecting baby's butt and preventing diaper rash, we found that putting a layer of Petroleum Jelly all over his butt works great as a first layer. The hospital nurses suggested it and they are right. Not only does it help prevent rash, it makes cleaning his bottom much easier as the poop doesn't stick to it as much. [And if you have a boy circumcised, you'll need clean petroleum jelly to put on his little wee-wee. I won't use the real word for wee-wee as I don't want my blog to get black-listed as a porn site, sigh.]

Note: You can buy Petroleum Jelly in a tub or a tube. The tube is more expensive but a lot neater/tidier to use.

For some lucky folks, just lathering up baby's butt with jelly prevents diaper rash. But for those of us not so lucky, there are a million anti-diaper rash creams on the market. I've tried several and here are my opinions of them ...

Balmex [Made in Canada]. I got a tube of this at my baby shower, from a girl who swore by it. So, I started with this. It didn't work for me at all. The rash just kept getting worse. But clearly it worked for her child, so it may work for others, too.

Desitin, Original [Made in USA] My mother used it, my mother-in-law used it, my friends use it, my CEO uses it, and 99% of the new-moms-group in Springfield uses it. Why? Because it works. It is important to get ORIGININAL, and not the others. For example, Desitin Clear is just Desitin mixed with Petroleum Jelly, which you can do yourself, much cheaper.

-- Smith's Rosebud Salve [Made in USA]. My grandmother used this on my mother. I found that it does great to maintain a diaper-rash free bottom, but really bad cases needed the power of Zinc Oxide (e.g. Desitin). However, Smith's has the great characteristic of healing my own chapped hands. i.e. Even with having Petroleum Jelly on my hands, after 48 hours of touching Zinc Oxide every 1-2 hours, my hands were so dry and leathery that I didn't want to touch my fingers to each other. Using Smith's really helped with that.

-- Boudreaux's Butt Paste [Made in USA]. I've barely used this; I got it as a gift. It spreads very nicely but I don't like the yucky brown color. I keep it in my diaper bag.

These are the only ointments I've tried, but the list goes on and on: Dr. Smiths, Aquaphor, A&D, etc. There are a ton of them to choose from. I don't know anyone who uses any of the others, however, so I haven't been inclined to try them.

Step 5: Put on the new diaper

Most disposables have some sort of velcro-like tab to close the diaper. KEY: Make sure that the tabs are secure.

If if seems hard to make them secure, or the diaper seems tight, or you suddenly find yourself having leakage issues, it's time for a sanity check; How much does your baby weigh and what size diapers are you using? We were SHOCKED when Alexander outgrew his newborn N diapers. He was only a few weeks old. How could he POSSIBLY be already in size 1 instead of N? And yet, that is how it happened. There is actually a lot of overlap between the sizes, and they move through them quickly (NOTE! Every diaper company sizes differently in terms of weight. i.e. so a size 1 Pampers is meant for different weights than a size 1 Huggies which is different than size 1 7th Generation.)

And that's it! You've changed a diaper!

Here are a few more general tips in regards to the diaper changing station ...

- Babies LOVE mirrors. The best place for a changing station is on a dresser with a huge mirror, so baby can turn his head to look in the mirror. This is a 'crowd pleaser' from day 1.

- Be sure to get the curved changing pads that hold baby in a sort of "U" shape

- You buy covers to go on the pads, but to extend their life so you don't need more than 1 or 2 of them, lay a towel on top of it. Towels are fast and easy to toss into the laundry and wash. We had a ton of old ones from my parents, so this worked well for us.

- Put a mobile above station; try to find one with simple bright shapes rather than one with little stuffed animals. My friend gave me her old one and it has been a hit since about week 2, when he could start to see it.


In terms of packaging up my Diaper 101 Kit for a baby shower present, I'd package it in a basket. Maybe a nice rectangular one that could later be used for shelf storage. I'd include a copy of my five steps, and if the new parents registered for a diaper changing pad or cover, I might toss one of those in, too. Or, maybe toss in something fun, like the infamous "Mr. New Dad" t-shirt.


Laundry 101

The other new parent kit I might put together would be for laundry. Seem easy? Well, it still takes some assembly as baby's skin can be very sensitive to dyes, fragrances, cleaning agents, etc. Here are the pieces:

Dreft. It's been around a Loooong time. For baby's clothes. Wash all new clothes before using them.

Seventh Generation Fragrance/Dye Free Laundry detergent. For mom and dad's clothes, as baby will be leaning on them. Technically, Dreft could also be used on Mom/Dad's stuff.


Dryer Balls. You'll want two sets: the type that fluff the laundry and the type that prevent static. These take the place of dryer sheets, which have a lot of perfume in them. NOTE: I tried using these balls for our clothes, too. They work for small stuff, but fail in loads of large items, like sheets or bathrobes. Go back to dryer sheets for these items. I've heard that tennis balls also work, but haven't tried them myself.

***

And now, I'm off to make one of these Kits for my friends who are having a baby in the summer!

Disposing of Fluorescents

A few months ago, I had talked about the totally unpublicized downside of Fluorescent lights, including the trendy new Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs): the disposal of the MERCURY in them.

This is a followup tale of two disposal scenarios: one of hope and one of despair ...

First, the DESPAIR ...

I've been saving two large fluorescent tubes in my garage for two years, meaning to eventually find and take them to the local recycling center for such things. My father-in-law was visiting for a week and volunteered to deal with these for me.

I felt that we had to drive them somewhere, but he decided to call our trash/recycling service that picks up paper and glass: Trash Away (who supposedly holds all appropriate permits and does things properly). The woman on the phone said to set them to one side and that the pickup crew would set them aside for special recycling.

Based on experience, I never believe anything that comes out of the mouth of HQ of our trash/recycling service. I figured that one of 3 things would happen when we tried this:

A) They would actually do what they said; the recycling truck would pick up the tubes and set them aside. This would be AMAZING and would restore my faith in humanity, or at least in our pickup service.

B) They would leave the tubes on curb

C) They would simply toss the mercury-laden tubes in with all the other garbage on the garbage truck.

So, pickup day came. I was nursing my newborn and watching from the window when the trash/recycling trucks came rolling into my court.

Drumroll please: the answer was: C (of course)
They tossed the mercury-laden tubes into the trash truck, where they will now leak mercury into a landfill or even worse into the air via incineration. Now just imagine mercury coming from every home in the country due to CFLs. Scary.

Now, the HOPE, to counter that sadness ...

After speaking to some of my friends at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), they are going to talk to some of their action committees about having supermarkets pick up the torch and setup bins for CFL bulb collection and disposal/recycling. That would be excellent.

And in fact, it looks like some markets are already doing it! My friend Joanna reported that MOM (my organic market) in Northern Virginia is already doing it. Hurrah!

Hopefully we'll see some bigger markets follow suite ... Wegman's, Hannafords, Bloom, etc. (I won't hold my breath for Giant. My list of peeves against Giant just grows daily.)

Why Can't I Just Buy the Part I Want?

The new trend seems to be towards packaging products in giant sets. Gift wrap sets, with multiple rolls of paper, ribbon, and bows. Big sets of tools, etc.

And this is all very nice, if you need all of those pieces. But if you don't ....

My husband owns a battery-powered, hand-held drill. The battery lasted for about two years, then would no longer recharge. So, we set about the task of finding a new battery. At first, we couldn't even find one. Then, he did find a place to buy one, but it was 5x the cost of buying a whole new drill set (which of course comes with a new battery). This is ridiculous. How is it economically possible that it is cheaper to sell a drill + bits + battery than just the battery itself??? This type of packaging and selling is encouraging waste and a throw-away economy; we're filling up our landfills with perfectly good drills because some Marketing Genius (tm) has decided this is the way to price. Insanity.

Another example: We're expecting our first baby. A baby needs a crib, and a crib apparently needs something called a "bumper" that lines the crib and stops baby from bumping into the crib bars when crawling around. Fine.
[NOTE: I'll have whole other posts on the horrors of wading through the baby-product jungle.]

You can buy some very simple, plain bumpers separately. But if you want an interesting bumper, with shapes and colors, you apparently only have three options:

1) Buy a HUGE SET of crap that includes a cool bumper
or
2) Find someone who sews to make you a cool bumper (or learn to sew yourself)
or
3) Find the bumper you want being sold second-hand by someone who doesn't mind splitting up the set.

Let's look at my example:
The Zoofari 6-Piece Crib Set. It comes with:

• The object of my desire: The Bumper. With a nifty giraffe on it.

But it ALSO includes:

• A Quilt (I don't need a quilt. I already have blankets and quilts pouring in so fast that I'm going to need a whole new linen closet just to hold them)
• A fitted sheet (Fine, but I'd be OK with a plain yellow sheet that's less expensive.)
• A dust ruffle (Fine, but ditto above. A plain color would be just great, and less expensive)
• A window valance (I can't really think of anything more USELESS. My windows already have coverings on them. And in fact, how is a valance really going to effectively cover a window, anyways?)
• A diaper stacker (What the hell is a diaper stacker? Cross out my comment above about not being able to think of anything more useless than a valance. This is CLEARLY more useless. In looking up diaper stackers, it looks like something for people who have lots of time to take diapers out of the perfectly good boxes they come in and stack them in a different container)

I've done numerous web searches, checked eBay, etc. And you just can NOT get that bumper separately. You can get almost every other piece separate, as well as a zillion other pieces to the set (hamper, rug, lamp, wall-hangings, mobile, the list goes on and on and on). But that bumper is ONLY in the set.

I guess I'll be setting aside a little bit of drawer space to hold that valance ...

Eat Local!

To continue in the spirit of Earth Day last week, this is an idea whose time has come: Eat Local. (Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say come again. I don't think that this concept would seem very revolutionary to our great-grandparents.)

A take-out eatery has just opened in Seattle, Washington, USA. Eat Local is Pro-local agriculture, Pro-local business, Environmentally Friendly, and Sustainable. It's got it all. What a fabulous idea!

I'm pretty sure that I don't have the entrepreneurial food-service expertise to try such an undertaking myself, but that doesn't mean I'm just waiting on the curb for "Eat Local" to open up a shop near me. There is a flood of interest in local produce (safer, less cost/pollution to move to market, supporting local economy, etc.) so finding additional resources and information is easy as locally-baked pie.

The pet food poisoning has focused a lot of attention on the safety issues that imported food can represent: other countries don't necessarily have the same regulations that you might be used to and there is also the opportunity for terrorist interception and tampering. Very little food is being inspected right now, for example, that is entering the USA.

Another aspect of the produce industry that is coming to light: Organic is not the same thing as Local. While this may seem obvious on the surface, consider that:

1. Organic in that other country may be defined differently than in your own


2. If the distributer isn't labeling Country-of-Origin on the canned or processed good; how do you know


3. If you are buying organic to be environmentally sensitive, if it comes from China and you live in the USA, it's consumed a lot of fuel and energy to come here.

Everyone is starting to jump into the Local bandwagon, at least here in the US, and while sometimes this type of behavior is a bad thing, I don't believe this to be the case in this instance. Local governments and states are starting to encourage local businesses and farms, Corporations like Whole Foods are starting to reach out to local businesses and support fledgling farms, Local groups and blogs are writing about the trials and triumphs of eating local, and
Special events are being planned to highlight local produce and grow the market.

All of this attention gives the average Nitpicky Consumer a lot of good options.

I just did a few quick web searches for "local farmers markets northern virginia united states" and within minutes I had links to all sorts of local markets, including the oldest continuing market at the same site in the united states: Alexandria Farmers Market. I plan on checking it out in a few weeks, and I'll report back!

Read the Fine, Green Print

Earth Day was April 22nd. In honor of this, the Nitpicky Consumer is taking the time to ponder environmental issues. Unlike the Media Machine (as I'll call the collective world media), I'd like to take a step back from the hype. There are very few resources available that provide a thoughtful comparison of environmental alternatives from A-Z, i.e. throughout the whole life-cycle of the product or service.

• Is it created using 'green' methods? Using recycled materials? What does it take to produce its core components, in terms of energy and resources?
• How maintainable is the product? i.e. How soon will it need to be replaced?
• Once the product does need to be replaced, can it be recycled or must it be trashed? If it can be recycled, how easy is it for the 'average consumer' to understand and do?

Easy Example of the Machine in action, hyping the good side of a new idea while completely ignoring the potential pitfalls:
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs), also known as Compact Fluorescent Lamps.

Go to any major media resource online, and it will be easy as pie to find articles about the amazing energy-saving properties of CFLs and how great it would be to stop using halogens and other designer lights. And of course anything as fabulous as this needs to be mandated, so there is a lot of recent attention on governments trying to figure out how to force everyone to switch, either by raising taxes on traditional incandescents or even making incandescent bulbs illegal. The CFL benefits are easy to list.

But I couldn't find much info on the downsides: i.e. the things that you might not think about right away. My neighbors rightfully pointed out to me that you can't use a dimmer/rheostat with compact fluorescent lights. Well, you CAN, but it costs several hundred dollars so most average consumers won't be making this switch. And quite frankly, dimmers save energy, too. We only use our kitchen table light, dimmed quite low, as an addition to candles. I imagine our dimmed light is not using much more energy than a CFL would in that same fixture (though I can't yet test this as I haven't gotten a hold of one of the nifty gizmos that let's you track such things).

By looking past the main-stream media, you can find more general info about how the CFLs are manufactured, how they actually work, and their life-cycle.

Now, better informed, you have a clue into the downside of CFLs: what happens when they break or wear out. Now you've definitely left the Media Machine behind, and you're reading text-heavy government documents. An EPA fact sheet on CFLs and an Energy Star FAQ on proper disposal of Compact Fluorescent Lights shed some light on this facet of CFLs, which probably won't get full Media Machine attention for several years:

• Compact Fluorescent Lights, just like any fluorescent light, contain mercury. There is currently no substitute for this mercury. Each one contains about as much as the tip of a ballpoint pen.
  
• If you break a CFL you should NOT touch any part of it with your bare hands. Unfortunately, as some of them look from the outside like regular incandescents, I am quite certain that not everyone is going to realize this.
• And most important of all, old/used CFLs should NOT be disposed of in the trash.
  

Well then ... what do you do with them when they break or wear out? As the helpful FAQs explain, you can call various numbers and visit various websites or call your local government to find the closest disposal location. I went to earth911.org (the site recommended by energystar.gov), and was thrilled to find out that the closest disposal site to me is -- wait for it -- 46 miles away.

At this point, if you're like most average consumers (especially in America), you'll simply toss it into the garbage bin and hope it doesn't cause too much of an issue. But once we have a million of these, broken and leaking mercury in our landfills, or being incinerated into the air we breath, I suspect we're going to have an issue.

Am I against CFLs? Certainly Not. I am starting to switch to them myself.

Do I think that there should be legislation requiring them? Certainly Not. Let's allow people to make their own decisions, although government may need to become involved in disposal.

It seems to me that a good balance for a home at this point would be to have a 50-50 mix of CFLs and Incandescents (on a rheostat). And it wouldn't hurt to have one neighbor who volunteers to drive the 46 miles to dispose of everyone's old fluourescents, once every 5 years or so.

Green Cleaners go Mainstream

The Washington Post had a great article today on How 'Green' Cleaners Measure Up. Of course, any one of us could go out and buy armfuls of cleaning products in order to compare them, but isn't it more fun to let someone else do it and read about the results? Even better, they included a link to a general editorial on the green movement and its impact on cleaning products (Green is Cleaning Up) that THEN linked to the web page of a local cleaning service in the DC area (The Green Mop) and THAT is where the real treasure is. The owner of the Green Mop, Mia Gallina, has posted all sorts of 'recipes' for simple cleaning solutions that are non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Good stuff. My shower has a permanent mold problem, and I'm going to try her vinegar solution!

Good Neighbor = Green Lawn???

The dark side of fastidiousness reared its ugly head today, in a new ad campaign from Lawn Doctor (a nationwide USA lawn service). It is an atrocious, insulting, condescending, obnoxious ad campaign based on the idea that if your lawn isn't bright green, weed-free, and being cared for by Lawn Doctor, you are a bad neighbor

In the radio ad that I heard while driving this morning, the situation is this:

- A homeowner receives a visit from her ARC**

- They gently chastise her for having weeds in her lawn and she is heartily ashamed of her grievous deed

- They inform her that they have taken it upon themselves to schedule a visit by Lawn Doctor and she is delighted!

- They then trot off to the house next door to do something with the "ugly sectional" on the porch.

And then, if you go to the Lawn Doctor website, at least currently, you'll also see a big ad that says "How to be a Good Neighbor" and the answer (of course) is to refer your other neighbors to Lawn Doctor!

Mere words can barely describe how I'd feel about my neighbors if they sent a Lawn Doctor representative to my house, but I can tell you that "Good Neighbor" would not be among these words. Personally, I think I'm a better neighbor by NOT treating my lawn because I'd rather have neighbors who host crab-bakes rather than show off their weed-free lawns. [If you're not following this logic, the concept is that too many nutrients are flooding our bays and clouding up the water with algae blooms, thus killing off the grasses that bay crabs need to survive. Lawn services play a role in this; not as big a role as agriculture, but one could argue that we need corn more than we need weed-free lawns. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and others can tell you all about this.]

Please note: It's ok to be Nitpicky as long as you respect the right of others to NOT be so. What is that saying ... " An it harm none, do as you will"? Here in the United States -- the self-proclaimed champions of personal freedom and liberty -- you'd think we'd be more conscious of this. But we really aren't. A lot of people don't "get" the concept that freedom means allowing people to do what they want, even if you yourself don't agree with their choices. When you start imposing your opinions on everyone else, you can no longer call it freedom

So, bottomline, I'm infuriated by Lawn Doctor's advertisement. But it's a free country, so they can make the ad that they want. But woe to my neighbor who shows up with a green brochure in her hand ...

** Footnote: I loath Architectural Review Committees (ARCs). They are typically filled with people who epitomize the dark-side of Nitpicky. They want things a certain way and join the ARC to impose their subjective opinions on others in the community in order to create their own personal version of a Stepford Utopia. I currently live within a community that sports both a Home Owners Association and an ARC and it has been a real learning experience. I will NEVER buy another home that falls within the jurisdiction of an ARC. I'd say more, but I'm sure that I'll have an opportunity soon. We typically have at least one run-in with our ARC each year that narrowly misses litigation.

BTW: If you are on an ARC and are saying "Wait! I'm not like that", then I invite you to take a look at the notices you are sending out. If you haven't sent any notices in the past year, or the notice was something like "Hi, two of your windows are broken and your roof is caving in; could you please fix this?", then you are correct to say that you are not the type of ARC I am talking about. But if your notices are something to the effect of "You have 14 days to powerwash your driveway because we measured a millimeter of dirt on it, plus 3 of your bricks are mildewed and must be clean, and the stone gargoyle statue in your back yard is visible through the fence and does not blend well with the harmonious nature of our colonial-style community," then you ARE the what I am talking about.