World Water Week

Did you know it was world water week? Tapped has been sending me daily emails this week and I find them very refreshing. (No pun intended.) I first mentioned Tapped back in October of 2009.




This commercial always gets me every time.

• Instead of using bottled water...buy a brita pitcher or brita faucet.

(Actually I have an extra brita pitcher that I friend gave to me because my other one was in storage for three months. Does anyone want a free brita pitcher that's been gently used? You'll have to buy another filter though. First person to email me their address at SheenaLaShay at gmail dot com will have one sent to their home!)

• Use a reusable water bottle. My favorite one is my (RED) one from starbucks. By using it I'm supporting (RED) and discontinuing my use of bottle water or plastic cups.

Granola S.N.A.F.U.

  Photo Credit

I mentioned in a previous post that for the past week I spent time working in New York! Amazing. If you had a peek inside my hand written journals since 2003...you'd know my love affair with New York...well before I began my love affair with Mr. Officer in New York. :) So the fact that I was able to work from there....AMAZING!

Here's my question. How can I practice sustainable acts when things are beyond my control?

First, I needed to get to New York. I suppose the most environmentally sustainable approach would be to walk there. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen. I had to fly there. And there isn't a "Green Airline." And I am not a fan of carbon offsets. I believe they encourage complacency. I'm not sure that there was anything I could have done differently that would encourage a more sustainable approach with my flight.

 I suppose I could have taken the train and bus to the airport, as oppose to a car service. However, the car service arrived at 5am and where I live and with how dark it was...using public transportation on an early Sunday morning wasn't going to work.

(This sounds like I'm making a list of my own complacent acts. I complain about carbon offsets and how they serve as a platform for people to NOT think creatively about problem solving and developing and yet I wasn't being creative either. Now, I'm depressing myself.)

I will say that my stay at the Ritz was encouraging. I suppose I could have looked for a completely eco-friendly hotel in New York, of which I'm sure there are many. But the Ritz was a five minute walk to my office and remember my sustainable guidelines. Convenience is very important! (But not the most important.) What I will say is the Ritz doesn't change your sheets and towels every night. They encourage you to reuse them. And even though I forgot to unplug my chargers from the wall, when I came back to my hotel room...they had unplugged them and folded them nicely. (But they didn't unplug their stuff like the tv, radio and twenty lamps.)

They could probably take things like their in room dining menu and info packet and put it on their hotel channel on the tv to decrease their paper usage.

What I did do...was walk to work each day. There was also an organic grocery store a block from the hotel and I did my shopping there. I discovered this organic HEALTHY licorice from Australia that I fell in love with and Mr. Officer did too! When eating, I ate at local places and avoided restaurant chains. I avoided meat as much as possible. I also brought one of my water bottles from home and used that as oppose to bottled water.

So there were little things I was able to do here and there but what i want are BIG changes in the travel industry. That would be amazing. Seeing the aviation and hospitality industry make large leaps in areas of sustainability would make my life on the road so much easier.

I will admit...I turned the heat up in my hotel room. Not because I was rebelling. At home I keep a few blankets on my bed so that I don't need to heat on 100 degrees. But at the hotel there was only one comfortable. I suppose I could have requested another duvet. Especially since Mr. Officer kept pointing out that it was way too hot in the room.

Oooh. Another sustainable practice and romantic gesture. Mr. Officer and I showered together. Now in the back of my mind, I was thinking...look at us conserving water. I doubt that ever crossed his mind.

I'm not sure what else I could have done. Any advice on how I could travel in a more environmentally friendly way?


boyfriend not green at all.

Washing Dishes

So...I have a problem and could use all the suggestions you might have.

I've received so much feedback and comments and encouragement in these last few weeks and its been so helpful. Since you guys are such good advisers, I am asking for more advice because I have yet to find a google search answer that fixes my most current problem.

When it comes to doing dishes I've come across many tips and tricks.

• only use your dishwasher when its full
• if you have a double sink, fill one with your soapy water and the other with your rinsing water...then proceed to wash dishes
• use an eco-friendly dish soap

I'm sure there are many other tips as well, but I have yet to come across one that is relevant for the problem that I face. Like for instance the video below is assuming I have two sinks.

However, this is my sink.

Notice, it is not a double sink. I only have one sink. So when I was dishes I fill the sink with dishes. Let the water run as I wash and rinse them one by one and then put them on my drying rack.

I am sure this offends your green sensibilities! It offends mines. But I don't know how else to wash my dishes and conserver water with only one sink.

Any suggestions?

The Granola That I Am

A few of my most recent granola tendencies.... (as mentioned before, if I keep going down this path, you might actually catch me hugging a tree)

REUSING

On Sunday I brought a small brown paper bag of fruit to rehearsal for the actors. Once they had consumed the fruit, I folded the bag back up, put it in my bookbag and took it back home with me. Its now under my sink with my collection of bags.

On the same table with the crumpled brown bag, there were also two zip lock bags from the week before that had been filled with almonds and cashews. The bags were now empty and ripe and ready for the trash. Instead of tossing them, I put them back in my bag, took them home and washed them, dried them and put them with the rest of my ziplock bags.

On this same Sunday, we ordered Thai food. (I ordered Spicy Basil with Tofu. It could classify as vegan. It contained no dairy) The container that the food came in was definitely reusable! So dirty container and all, I stuffed that in my bookbag too and took it home, washed it and then used it to store my left over vegan black bean soup in. (vegan except for the scoop of yogurt i added into it. oops)

What have you extended the life cycle of lately?

ECO CONSCIOUS EATING


In considering my carbon food print, the waste I produce, and intriguing leaning towards a vegan lifestyle...today I did some things differently.

I walked past this candy bowl a BILLION times today. This one and one other one that is being kept around the office in preparation for our Oktoberfest this Friday.

It started at 8 am thing morning and I literally slapped my hand away. Man I wanted that twix and that snickers in the lower right hand corner. It has my name on it. But guess what....insert sad sigh here...I grabbed a pear instead. Yes, Sheena actually grabbed a freaking piece of fruit. I figured it was healthier. Plus our fruit is organic. And it yielded less waste than the snickers and twix. If only we had a composter at work. We'd be in serious business with all the coffee grounds and other organic matter we have in the trash there.

What I like, since participating in the No Impact Project, is that even though I ate the pear, I wondered if it was even in season. It's not in season in Illinois but it is in one of our bordering states...Missouri. (Honestly, I wouldn't have even asked myself if the fruit I was eating was even in season a week ago. Before I would have thought, I'm eating fruit so shut up and be grateful its not a pop tart. But now, with what i know, I find that I wonder beyond that. Knowledge really is powerful. Now I'm sounding like a freaking PSA)

This morning I also really wanted a nice cup of coffee. We have this K cup machine at work with lots of flavors and I was planning on mixing Mocha Nut Fudge with Rainforest Nut. Then I was going to add sugar, cream, whip cream and caramel. I was going to do it big. But then I thought about the Low Carbon Calculator Diet and I didn't make the coffee. Instead I had Sweet Ginger Peach Tea. I added honey instead of sugar since I didn't feel like generating more trash with little sugar packets. (However the tea comes in individual boxes that are wrapped in plastic. Really! So I thought about bringing my own loose leaf tea in from now on because that's even less trash. My loose leaf tea is purchased from Teavana and various tea vendors that I come across at street fairs and green festivals. Again, these are not things I even gave thought to before last week.) I realize now its not just about eating healthy and organic, but its also about eating with an eco-conscious mindset. Sure, the coffee is fair trade but have you considered the water it took to produce it? Have you considered how far it needed to travel? Asking myself these questions is growth and I'm glad its all circling through my mind.


WATER

I recently wrote about my struggles with finding ways to reduce my water usage and a dear friend, Erin gave me a very helpful suggestion. My problem was letting the water run for a long time in the mornings to warm up before I brush my teeth and wash my face because its ICE COLD! Erin suggested instead of letting it run, that I microwave it and use that. She suggested rinsing my mouth with the water that was left over. Honestly, I thought that was going to take too much time and take too much effort. And while I want to help the world, the selfish part of me doesn't want to be inconvenienced while I do so. Well ERIN....

What the hell is that, you ask!

Well the clear bowl is the water I heated up in the microwave for two minutes. It was enough to brush my teeth, rinse my mouth, wash my face and water my plants. It worked Erin! And I didn't waste any water!!!!! Thank You for giving me advice!!!!!!

What's that other stuff? Well the cream cheese container is actually full of my homemade tea tree face toner. The little bottle on top is full of my left over homemade face wash that I made the other day. I need to find a recipe for an all natural face moisturizer equivalent to the one I get from the Body Shop.

(Which by the way in the tally in how much I spend on my facial line from the body shop, I left out two things. The moisturize which is $16. And the make up remover which is $14.50. Which brings the total to $81. I spend $81 on all the stuff I used to buy for my face. WOW!)


TRASH

I noticed this at the end of the day today.

What is that, you ask!

That is one piece of trash in my garbage at work! That is a personal record. Usually my trash is overflowing so much that I sneak and throw stuff in other people's trash too. Usually its full of misprints from printing too much. Its full of wrappings from candy and gum. It's usually full of sugar packets from all the ones I put in my coffee. And I can't even tell you what else. Its just usually full of crap. And today, I almost threw a bag away but realized I could still reuse it and as I looked down I thought, "Holy crap! There is only one thing in my garbage!"

Its a piece of tissue that I used as a coaster because my reusable water bottle was sweating on my desk next to my iPhone and I was too lazy to find an empy conference room that might have coasters. I looked around me and saw a number of people using napkins as coasters and so I started looking for some coasters to order to keep around people's desk. The bag that I decided to keep...

....it made its way into my drawer where I keep all my left over bags.

What are you latest granola tendencies? Any suggestions on further steps I can take?

Water - No Impact Project

  

Photo Credit 

 In the morning, I do a naughty thing. After I turn my alarm clock on, I run my bathroom sink water while I start to get dressed. (I take my showers at night, in case you were wondering...) After about three minutes, with half my clothes on, I go back to the bathroom and brush my teeth and wash my face...letting the water run this entire time.

"You should no better you FAKE granola!" the critics may say.

Yeah, well my water is ice cold in the morning and I have sensitive teeth and what else am I supposed to do. Trust me, I am open to suggestions. How do I conserve water but not brush my teeth and wash my face in ice cold water?

I am not one of those who lets the yellow mellow in the toilet. Honestly it grosses me out and even though I'm all for the environment, I am not at the expense that it grosses me out. And that grosses me out. I could stand to fill a jug and put it inside the toilet so that it uses less water when I flush. That's completely doable!

I don't take long showers. I don't have a dish washer. Nor do I have a double sink so that I could stand to conserve even more water. I'm not sure what I could do about water conservation.

Luckily I don't pay my own water bill since I live in an apartment and perhaps that's why I'm all out of creativity on how to change that behavior. Maybe if I saw what my bill might be, I'd come up with all kinds of solutions to do better.

How can an apartment dweller conserve water? Suggestions? And remember, I will not let the yellow mellow!

Taking Action - No Impact Project

Photo Credit

Now that its midweek of the No Impact Project, a call to action has been put forth in the How To Manual. You are asked to choose between three options. Water. Climate Change. Transportation.I chose Water.

I recently saw the extended trailer for Tapped. I’ve reserved it on my netflix cue and have frequented the website. I even brought it up for discussion at a very organic homemade dinner with friends last Sunday. Watching the trailer reminded me of the documentary, The Corporation where in Bolivia water has become a privatized commodity and the World Bank owns the water. Therefore even when it rains, they own the drops. Citizens are not allowed to gather the rain water. It’s illegal.

How is it possible that we lay claim to water? How is not the question. We've done it to the air and land as well, so why not water? What hasn't be privatized these days?




On a side note, this past Columbus day my mother and I were talking. I told her how silly it seemed to me that we hail him as discovering America. “How can you discover something that was there and had a developed culture and people? That’s like me going somewhere I’ve never been…Africa and upon getting there saying, hey look, I’ve discovered a new land.” Just seems ridiculous to me. I’m done celebrating Columbus.

Ever seen this commercial?

This makes me think about what that would mean,if we did live in those conditions. I have the luxury of turning on my faucet, filling up my brita and helping myself to ice cold water whenever I want. I don’t have to walk miles with five gallon jugs to fill up with subpar water. But what if I did?

Remember a year ago when one of the most popular brands of bottled water was exposed for using tap water for their bottled water? Crazy.

At my job we have weekly deliveries of bottled water, we have four machines that yield filtered cold and hot water, we have ice machines (and multiple fridges with freezers that we do not use)…and we even have some faucets that just yield filter water and sparkling filtered water next to the regular water spout.

On the How To Guide, I followed the link to participate in the various petitions. At work, I use a refillable water bottle. Aside from being an informed citizen, signing petitions, and refilling my nalgene, I don't know what else I can do? I can't fly to Bolivia and protest. I can't stop the weekly deliveries of bottled water from coming to my job.

But even as I take on this negative view, I remember my stance and belief in the power of Socio-Political theater. I believe theater and many forms of art can exact change, spur discussions and raise awareness. And perhaps with the many ways in which I feel powerless to change the world, maybe I will find a voice through the stage.