This carbon counting is complicated

This story in the Boston Globe, "For a route to green living, you'll need a map," is really fascinating on many levels. First, it introduced me to fun new environmental terms:

-- carbon conscious. As in people are taking into consideration how much energy was used to make the products they're buying. (For example, buying bottled water from France, which uses nuclear energy, may have less of a carbon footprint than buying water from the US, where we use plants powered by fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.)
-- carbon calories. One experts imagines the day when people will be counting the carbon footprint of their food like they count calories.

Then it brought on the guilt. This is what it said about the most energy-efficient way of cooking:

"The microwave uses the least energy, followed by frying and boiling and, finally, the conventional oven. (Think how wasteful it is to heat up an entire oven just to cook a baked potato or two.)"

You talkin' to me? I just made one lonely sweet potato in the oven yesterday. But I grew up when microwaves were the hip new thing and remember the concerns over standing too close and getting cancer, so microwaving is ingrained in my mind as a less healthy way of cooking, even if that's not true anymore. Grrr, this is complicated.

But I felt vindicated when it pointed out that hanging onto an older computer is better than ditching it for a new energy-efficient model because of the energy used in manufacturing. Buying green has becoming a marketing ploy so it's helpful to remember that sometimes the most green thing you can do is not buy anything at all (I'm still using my old-school 19-inch TV that my dad bought me when I graduated from college, although I won't deny sometimes pining for those flat-screen high-def thingys).

The point of the article is that as consumers try to make better decisions, the reality is that we don't really fully know the carbon impact of the stuff we're buying. Great. Now I'm really overwhelmed. Well, then again, the flip side is that as I sit here nibbling on mini squares of Lindt truffles, I don't feel so bad eating chocolate imported from Europe. I'm just gonna have to hope Lindt's carbon footprint is smaller than that of an American candy bar, because Swiss chocolate is far superior and sorry Earth, I'm just not going to give it up for a Snickers bar.

A power strip that saves electricity

I need a power strip, which gave me the opportunity to look into buying one I'd read about a while ago. There are power strip surge protectors that automatically turn off the devices plugged into them, which cuts down on something called "vampire power." That's the smalllow leaking of power that happens when your electronics are plugged in, even when they're turned off. But after looking into it, I think one wouldn't fit my needs.

An article by New York Times technology writer David Pogue from last year sings the praises of the APC Power-Saving SurgeArrest power strip surge protector. But it's only for desktop computers and all the gadgets we have connected to them. I need a power strip for a wall with three things plugged into it -- a small stereo, cable modem and wireless router. And I have a laptop, not a desktop computer, and I don't have peripherals like a printer or scanner. So I guess there's no point.

Pogue's article says that "25 percent of the power used by home electronics is consumed while they are turned off." For those who might be interested in buying one, the website EFI (Energy Federation Inc.) has the APC and other types of energy-saving surge protectors for sale.

In the meantime, I'll buy an ordinary power strip. And it's a small inconvenience but I'll try to remember to unplug my laptop at night.

It's not a grind to recycle your coffee cup sleeve

Yesterday I was in a local coffee shop, It's a Grind, and saw something cool. They had put out a wicker basket with a sign that read "Recycle your coffee sleeve here." And sure enough, inside were a few cardboard coffee sleeves and a few plastic lids. Those are the two things that are recyclable when you buy coffee to go. You'd think the paper cup would be recyclable but it's not (I think something about the material lining the inside). So at least It's a Grind was trying to make a difference where it could. I'm not sure who is recycling their sleeves and lids, maybe regulars bring theirs back the next day. Or some customers who get their coffee in a paper cup end up staying (there were some people at the tables with to-go cups, others had their coffee in big white mugs). Although really, those regular customers should be using travel mugs and the sit-down customers should be getting mugs instead of paper cups, but of course the world isn't that perfect. For when it's not, it's nice to see a business making it easy to recycle (note to the coffee giants Starbucks and Coffee Bean).

Eating local, how hard can it be?

This article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Farm Fresh Family: Eating local is no piece of cake," is about a Seattle family that took on the challenge of eating locally grown and raised food, and discovered that one of their greatest joys was seeing their 3-year-old son embrace fresh food like whole fish (over frozen fish nuggets). This is my favorite excerpt from the mom's blog:

Overheard in the bath tonight

"I have three kinds of fish for you: king, coho and sockeye. Which one do you like best?"

"You can put them into the freezer and cut them into stripes."

"I like the sockeye best, the other ones aren't the best."

-- Colin, age 3 1/2, playing with his fish toys in the bath, apparently running a fish stand.

Before you think that only hippies can do this, the writer explains that they're an ordinary gas-guzzling, Costco-loving family. It was hard but there were awards, like chicken without added salt and lettuce so fresh and tasty they actually wanted to eat salad.

I could relate to the inconvenience of shopping at farmers markets, which are open just once a week for a few hours. I haven't been to my local Sunday farmers market in months. I was much better about shopping there last summer. There are definitely benefits -- cheaper produce, more variety and the knowledge that you're eating healthy, in-season, pesticide-free food. But nothing beats the convenience of the grocery store around the corner from my apartment that's so close I can walk to it (which slightly alleviates my guilt of not shopping at the farmers market, especially when I'm carrying my reusable grocery bags). The mother pointed out that when she lived in Paris, there were three neighborhood farmers markets a week so it was easy to run out midweek and refresh her fridge with fresh, local produce. I saw the same when I visited my sister in Geneva. She shopped every week at two farmers markets, one she could walk to while pushing a stroller and another she took the tram to (which points out other things Europe does well, like a great public transportation system).

As this article points out, eating local can be cheaper (farmers markets) or more expensive (a whole chicken from a local farm), depending on what you're buying. Unfortunately, it's almost always less convenient until we train ourselves to shop in a different way (because really, who likes spending hours at Costco, fighting traffic in the parking lot and running over small children inside the store, only to leave with way more stuff than you intended and a lot less cash).

Killing the earth softly

I have a bad Coffee Bean habit. It's not that I go way too often, but when I do go I know it's wasteful. Today I bought a tea but because it was so hot they doubled up the cups. Oh joy, two non-recyclable, straight-to-the-dump paper cups for the price of one! Knowing that I can recycle the lid is giving me little consolation. I also bought a scone and of course they put it in a paper bag, which I think is OK to recycle even though there's some residual oil stains on it (hey, I thought that was supposed to be a low-fat scone?). I sometimes remember to take a coffee mug from my office or happen to have my travel mug, but it seems like I only remember half the time. Today I went to the Coffee Bean to buy a box of herbal tea bags but I changed my mind so I bought a cup of tea instead, meaning I didn't have a mug with me.

Sure, two cups and a paper bag aren't exactly mass waste but it adds up. I feel bad and I only go to the Bean about once a week. What about the people who go every day? Or the thousands of coffees, lattes, iced blended concoctions and pastries they sell, adding up to thousands of cups and brown paper bags that I'm guessing only a small percentage of end up recycled. It bothers me because the easiest and best solution would be DIY -- make my own tea and coffee, bring my own snacks -- and pretend like the Bean isn't there, even though in reality it's 30 steps from my office door. But I don't think I have that willpower because it's just too darn convenient. So instead of resolving to cut back on the Bean, I'll just feel guilty and write about it, which feels like an ablution because I see how obsessive I've being and I'm washed of my guilt. There, I feel better already.

More than you wanted to know about toilets

I'm way behind in updating my blog but here's a quick read, a fascinating opinion piece from the New York Times on sanitation and how to make it more environmental. Not sure how to do that? Think a "urine diversion" toilet. I can't believe I read this article over breakfast. So far my oatmeal has stayed down but my coffee isn't looking too appetizing!

The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27george.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all

After I read that article, I remembered seeing a picture of a composting toilet in the Los Angeles Times last week. I guess talk of these toilets is all the rage. The picture of the beefy composting toilet caught my attention but at first I ignored the story. I figured it would be one of those "look what a few crazy people in San Francisco are doing" stories (nope, the writer is in LA but she did hesitate to replace her toilet " with something so. . . .Berkeley"). But I went back and looked at it. It gives all the info you want (and more) about composting toilets. Fascinating, oddly fascinating.

The link to "Taking the plunge with a composting toilet": http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-realist28-2009feb28,0,6198376.story