Affluence

I often think to myself that money is freedom. The less money you have, the more you have to focus on meeting basic needs. Once you have more than the basic amount that works for your family, you can work on meeting Maslow's hierarchy of needs (morality, self-actualization and so forth) or even (since I really am a Carol Gilligan lover myself) strengthening relationships as the end goal. My Achilles heel of consumption is definitely buying people rockin' presents (stuff I could easily deny myself, hmmm). But I digress...

For the upcoming APLS (Affluent People Living Simply) Carnival (which you can participate in if you send your entry to aplscarnival at gmail dot com by Sept. 10), we were tasked with thinking about what it means to be affluent. I guess a lot of folks commented about how uncomfortable they were calling themselves affluent. Myself? Not so much. C'mon, you know your parents used to invoke starving children all over the world when you wouldn't eat your dried-out meatloaf. Even if your station wagon *did* have a rusted-out floor that reminded y'all of the Flintstones. Even if your neighbor retired at 40 to sail around the world. In the relative sense, I would venture to say that lots of us with the time and resources to blog are probably affluent.

I am affluent because I can afford to spend my free time poking around the interwebs researching product safety. Because I can, as part of a family vacation, stop by BlogHer to meet fellow enviro-mama bloggers that I now pepper with daily questions and green business ideas (ok, that really means: make this! this safe product! for my kiiiiids!).

I have competing goals when I am considering purchases or actions. First and foremost, I consider health and safety for my kids. Is this plastic going to leach into my child's food and cause her harm? Does tuna have levels of mercury that will damage my child's developing brain? And so forth.

On the other hand, as a mother, I also consider it my duty to keep the earth's air and water clean, and resources undepleted, not only for my children but for their children and for all of the other kids around the world who aren't as, well, affluent as my kids. And I would venture to say that to one degree or another, lots of us who have pets consider most animals to be in need of protection as well. Not to mention the earth itself, which is a pretty magical ecosystem.

So: safety/health, protection, stewardship. I consider those my competing demands when thinking about, say, what to make for dinner. Or what type of clothing to get for my toddler (thanks, Big Green Purse! we love the Maggie's Organics athletic socks). Or even whether we choose to simply stop consuming. You know the list.

It is truly fortunate that our family has the resources (money, time, education) to consider making choices that reflect our values. I recognize that not everyone is affluent in this particular way, and not everyone has my same decision-making schema. That's why being greener-than-thou is so ridiculous. I so appreciate being able to be neurotic thoughtful about my life-worth-living, and love doing so in the company of others who are thinking about many of the same issues. Hats off to the green blogosphere! Thanks for giving me so much to think about -- and to act on.

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Stack Your Plates To Skip the Plastic Wrap

Did you guys read Super Baby Food? With its 17,000 healthy recipes for maximizing the nutritional value of every morsel your drooling baby eats? The baby equivalent of What To Expect From a Book Chock Full of Guilt Trips for Hormonally Vulnerable Women? Anyhoo, I actually really loved reading Super Baby Food and can heartily recommend it as a curiosity piece. You can read a chapter on grinding seeds and growing your own sprouts and go back to feeding your kid some mushy avocado while you daydream about a decade in which you are able to sleep for more than four consecutive hours. Then read a different book on cutesy food decorations, and go back to feeding your kid some oatios.

But I am totally digressing. This post is about a tricky way to get around plastic wrap and foil. Plastic wrap is fraught with troubles: potential leaching into food, even if it's made from theoretically safer plastics; lack of biodegradability; cutesy holiday patterns. Foil takes a whole lotta energy to produce. So what to do? Use Pyrex and Corningware, 'fo 'sho, but what if you don't have any in the right size and no cash to restock your Tupperware supply with glass and metal tiffins?

Use your *existing* bowls and plates and stack them. Yaron, Super Baby Food author and all-round purveyor of fabulous tips, swears by her particular plates (which I don't have). Whatever. This tip still works just fine for me. Salad plate on top of bowl? Check. Soup bowl on top of cereal bowl? Check. Try it! You're just looking for a close-to-airtight fit. What do you have to lose, except a bowl of leftovers?



For other, you know, cheap and easy tips, check out Thrifty Green Thursday at the Green Baby Guide. Read more!

Back to School: Greener Fundraising Ideas

Here's another compilation of resources for fellow parents hoping to get actively involved in their kids' schools from an environmental angle: eco-friendly (or at least eco-friendlier?) fundraising.

I got an email recently from one of my favorite people, a woman who lives in Boulder with her family. K was disenchanted with her school's giftwrap fundraising program, particularly since her children's elementary school is solar-powered and has local, sustainable, organic meals prepared by none other than Chef Ann Cooper. Be still my beating heart. Anyhoo, K is actively seeking fundraising alternatives.

I've enclosed her letter to a local green group below to help the rest of us in our efforts, and I promised K I'd pass along all of the green school fundraising resources I've come across in my blogging travels. If you've used any of these programs (I have no direct knowledge of any of them, sadly) please comment and let us know how you liked 'em.

K herself scouted out Greenraising's Earth Friendly Fundraising and Green Students but hasn't tried them out.

Think Recycle and Northwest Specialty Coffee were recommended by a friend who shifted the fundraising at Capital City Charter School.

Let's Go Green comes via Green Mom Finds.

I contacted a group called Fair Trade Towns and they responded with the following:

We have many Fair Trade companies who are also very green and have school fundraising programs, including some of those WFTD sponsor companies.

Here are a few organizations that have programs in place - links provided :
Global Goods Partners
Equal Exchange
Lutheran World Relief (with Divine Chocolate)
Global Exchange Online Store
A Greater Gift (SERVV Int'l)

You might also be interested in knowing that we have Fair Trade curriculum out there now, for all ages, and it works well to incorporate with the fundraising efforts (so the kids understand the importance of what they are selling and who made these products). Curriculum is provided by: TransFair USA, Equal Exchange, and Global Exchange. For a full list and links you can go to Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN).

Below is an email that K sent to a GenGreen, a website started by a Ft. Collins woman to connect people who are interested in green products, jobs, programs, services, etc...

"Hi GenGreen!
Thanks for creating a great website! In September 2007, I listened to Ryan Warner's interview with Charisse McAuliffe on Colorado Matters, KCFR. I am writing you today because I seek some advice on locally-made green products. I am an active parent at Mesa Elementary in Boulder, CO. Mesa is doing a lot of good things for the environment -- Mesa has solar panels, a compost & recycling program with Eco-Cycle, a Garden to the Table program. But we also have an annual gift wrap fundraiser. This fundraiser doesn't appeal to me as I am trying hard at home to reduce, reuse and recycle. (None of the 2007 Sally Foster gift wrap was made from recyclable paper. And because gift wrap is high in contaminates, Eco-Cycle only recycles it during 1 week of the year.) I understand that we need fundraisers to help support our schools. So I was thinking that our kids could sell green products that are are actually needed. I found another green fundraising program that sells: CF'L's, Klean Kanteens, Bento-style lunch boxes (to replace plastic baggies). I think these are great ideas. Perhaps we could even find some locally-made green products. That's why I'm writing to you--GenGreen seems to have its finger on the pulse of local green products. Can you recommend some useful green products that are made right here in Colorado? I found a Denver company called "Baggyshirts" that makes reusable bags from clothing. I appreciate any advise or help you can offer. Thanks very much! ~K"

Here is the recent response from GenGreen:

Begin forwarded message:

Hello K,

I recently received a contact form from you via our new site GenGreenLife.com regarding locally produced, eco-friendly products that might be a greener fundraising alternative for your school, Mesa Elementary. We are thrilled that you reached out to us in this capacity and hope to be able to help! Below I have listed some local retailers that might be worth looking into. Some might require a little investigation, but for the most part I tried to include businesses and orgs producing their own products locally. (More info about these businesses can be found on our site).

Africa Bags
Loveland, CO
Website: http://africabags.org
Email: support@africabags.org

Boulder's Best Organics
2525 Arapahoe Ave. Suite E4-555
Boulder, CO 80302
Phone: (303) 499-6742
Website: http://www.bouldersbestorganics.com
E-mail: info@bouldersbestorganics.com

Ecologic Designs Inc.
2500 N. 47th St. #12
Boulder, CO 80308
Phone: (303) 250-5734
Website: http://www.ecologicdesigns.com
E-mail: n/a

English Retreads
4949 N. Broadway #147
Boulder, CO 80304
Phone: (303) 258-1625
Website: http://www.englishretreads.com
E-mail: info@englishretreads.com

Onno Textiles
1633 Pine Street
Boulder, CO 80302
Phone: (303) 928-7170
Website: http://www.onnotextiles.com
E-mail: alicia@onnotextiles.com

Cool Planet Jewelry
Telluride, CO 81435
Phone: (970) 544-9808
Website: http://www.coolplanetjewelry.com

There are also a couple of online resources that you might want to check out:
http://oneplanetfundraising.com (I suspect you may have already found this one!)
http://www.fundraising-ideas.org/listings/recycle.html
http://www.fundraiserhelp.com/earth-friendly-fundraisers.htm
http://www.easy-fundraising-ideas.com/products/gogreen-unique-fundraising/

*Keep in mind that I'm not endorsing the credibility of these sites, they just looked like they might have some useful info.

As you may know, it is the mission of GenGreen to be the most diverse and comprehensive resource available for people looking to live a locally-focused, environmentally conscious lifestyle. Currently, we are in the process of launching our new GenGreen Ambassador Program. GenGreen Ambassadors are highly motivated, eco-minded individuals (like you!) across the country that promote awareness of the GenGreenLife.com resource and the GenGreen mission. If you would like more info about how to become a GenGreen Ambassador and how to encourage sustainable activities in your area, please let me know…we would love to have someone like you on the Colorado Team.

Please let me know if I can be of any more help with your fundraising efforts and let me know how it goes!

Best,

Beth Buczynski
Ambassador Program and Content Coordinator

GenGreen LLC
Find the Green in Everything
415 Mason Ct. #1
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Local 970-488-3636
Toll Free 866-922-2952
www.gengreenlife.com

That's a lot of linkety goodness and even lots of info about local Colorado resources. Maybe K's example will inspire the rest of us, as we filter through eco friendly fundraising ideas, to remember to look close to home. Divine Chocolate, here I come! And K? You rock. Good luck and thanks for your inspiration.

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Going Green Yahoogroup - Join It!

I'm not sure if I've ever posted about Burbanmom - but I can tell you that I read her blog avidly. She lives not far from me (ok, a little further south), in a -- you guessed it -- suburban community. Don't let that lull you into a false sense of security, though, she's an excellent taskmaster and has no shame when it comes to greening her own life or, via her new group, yours. That's why I want to so wholeheartedly recommend that you join her in Going Green with Burbanmom.

For those of you who belong to the old-school DC Urban Moms list, or local neighborhood listservs, this group is just like 'em. Except that it's peopled by folks who joke about composting landlords who won't allow green gardening efforts to get off the ground. No, seriously, it's a group of fellow trying-to-be-green folks (all of them in various stages of conservation but most of them, as far as I can tell, most definitely darker green than me! Which is all good, right, more for me to learn!).

It's not too late to join in -- Burbanmom's first two challenges were to green your energy choices (more on that soon, I promise) and to start line drying. I b'lieve she even said the words, "Stop whining about bird poop." SIGH. I just today bought a fold-away rack that I can install above our bathtub (every little bit counts, eh?) and I am going to look into a retractible multi-line drying system for our sun porch.

So anyhoo (heh heh), if you want to join an active group of folks who will email you advice on all your green questions (like my recent query about what to use to fill up some stuffed animals I've been making without resorting to polyfill, plaintive request for suggestions of specific projects to green an elementary school, and musing about whether rain barrels will attract mosquitoes -- all questions for which I am still actively soliciting answers), send an email to Going_Green_With_Burbanmom-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (no need to have any message) or check it out here!

Thanks so much to 'Burbs for setting up such a useful resource. Let's all take advantage of it -- and each other -- to muddle our way through to greener lives.



*Image courtesy of sxc. Read more!

Happy Earth Day! Number Crunching Edition

Creative take on consumption and environmentalism? You have got to check out Running the Numbers by Chris Jordan. His huge photographs depict topics like plastic cups (the closeup at left is a tiny piece of a montage he did of 1 million of them - the amount used up on airlines every six hours). I can't remember where I found this, but it's probably from BB-blog, my source for all things visually interesting.

I figure it's a fine time to do a little assembling of resources for number crunching (ie analyzing my personal consumption and resource use). So much of what's interesting to me right now is just about raising my own awareness level, and learning to make my lifestyle and economic choices more carefully.

On the home front, I've been wondering just how to calculate our basic carbon footprint. There are basic web tools out there for figuring out your water, electricity, and carbon usage.

• The EPA's got a climate change emissions calculator. Plus, they have a catalog of links to a wide range of non-EPA climate change driven calculators tracking emissions and energy usage here.
• A quick (and dirty?) carbon footprint calculator from Zerofootprint
• Zerofootprint's also got a One-Minute Water Calculator to estimate water usage for varying lifestyles
• CSPI's Eating Green Calculator and Score Your Diet will help you analyze the impact of the food you eat.
• Airhead's emissions calculator will help you decide which travel destination is the greenest choice. (via Suite101)
• Low Impact Living will calculate an environmental impact score for your household.
• Check out this article about the surprisingly lowest-impact diet of eating a little bit of meat. via Treehugger
• A paper calculator from the Environmental Defense Fund which looks like it would be great if used for a corporate enviro effort (my sister in law's been doing lots of green sourcing at her job and having a tremendous impact).

But my favorite calculator is over at Riot For Austerity. You may have to join the group to see their files, but I've been hearing about the group for awhile from lunatics luminaries like Burbanmom and I think it sounds like a great place to listen and learn. Basically, the group members are going to try to reduce their impact to spur government action and for the larger sense of living simply so that others may simply live. To join the group go to the 90% Reduction Yahoogroup. Here's part of their welcome message:

"Welcome to the Riot for Austerity 90% Emissions Reduction Project. The goal that participants have set for themselves is to cut their emissions by 90% of what the average person in the US consumes - the approximate amount people in the rich world need to reduce by in order to avoid the worst effects of global warming.... We’re doing this for several reasons. First, because it is necessary - if we want to bestow a decent world on our children, we have to cut our emissions, and much harder and faster than any government has proposed. The reason governments do not propose it is because they believe it is politically infeasible. So we want to present our leaders with as many people as possible who will stand up and say “I did it. Our nation can too.”

I don't know about you, but my personal goal? Just to live more simply. I am hoping to use the tools above to help myself learn about my consumption patterns and to make conscious choices about what I'd like to do rather then living blindly and greedily off of resources I don't really even need or notice. I figure any improvement is better than nothing, huh? Slow, steady, continual improvement.

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