Cities should charge for bags

I love this story. In January, Washington, D.C. started charging a five-cent tax on bags and it has made a huge difference. The number of bags used by shoppers dropped dramatically -- from 22.5 million to 3 million.
 
I've always felt that cities should do what D.C. is doing because I think they're going to have to in order to get people to make the switch. We'd like to think that everyone is going to be environmentally conscious but the reality is that old habits die hard, that is until money is involved. All the folks at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods carry their reusable bags into the store with pride but the regular ol' grocery store is a different matter. Some people bring their own bags but it still seems to be a minority, even in California where the major chains are required to sell reusable bags.

I hear people saying they always forget their bags but if they were suddenly charged, I can guarantee they wouldn't leave home without them. It is an easy habit to get into. I hardly ever forget my bags because I have a half dozen at home, plus three in the car that roll up and fit in my glove compartment. All right, to be honest I did forget a bag today when I went to Home Depot. I almost was going to run to my car to get my bag before I got in line but I decided not to because I was being lazy. But I bet if I'd been charged for that bag, I would have gone back to my car. Not because five cents is a lot of money but because of the principal of it -- why pay for something you already have.

The tax is one of the first of it's kind in the nation, according to the Washington Post article. Even better, the money raised from the tax is paying for a river cleanup. I hope that other cities follow in D.C.'s lead, and soon.

More fresh eggs

I think I need to take a food photography class because I take a lot of photos of food for this blog, but it's hard making it look as good in the photos as it does in person. I need to learn the secrets of drool-worthy "food porn."

The picture above is of the eggs I bought at the farmers market yesterday. I made one for breakfast today and it did not disappoint. The woman working at the stand told me the eggs came from a farm in Bakersfield. I bought a half dozen for $2. That's more than a dollar cheaper than cage-free eggs at Whole Foods. It's more expensive than the grocery store (yesterday's Ralphs circular had a dozen eggs for a mere 99 cents) but I think it's worth it because they taste sooo much better. I like that they're big -- it seemed like the yolk was bigger than even the extra large eggs they sell at the grocery store. And maybe it's psychological because I know where the eggs came from, but it tasted really fresh.

I was inspired to buy the eggs after one of my students brought us eggs from her happy backyard chicken. Her eggs were smaller than the ones I bought at the farmers market but both were full of flavor and fresh. I hope I can make it to the farmers market on a more regular basis because now that I've been spoiled, it's going to be hard to go back to eggs at Ralphs.

A paper cup that isn't

If it looks like a paper cup, look again

I don't usually like to buy new things and claim to be doing something good for the environment, but I had to have this mug. It's called Non-Paper Cup and it's a travel mug made of ceramic with a silicone lid and sleeve that's made to look like a disposable cup. I bought it at Cost Plus yesterday. This morning I made green tea  in the mug and then was able to bring it in the car without worrying about spills. And it kept my tea warm (for a while at least). It saves the extra step of making tea in a cup and then having to transfer it to a travel mug. Plus my travel mug has a residual coffee smell that doesn't go so well with the gentle taste of tea.

I first saw one of these mugs at Christmas in the gift shop at the Dallas Museum of Art. It looked more like a real paper cup since it was all white, and it was nicer since it was made of porcelain. I was tempted to buy it but didn't want to add another item to my already bulging, post-Christmas suitcase. So I was excited when Laura told me she'd seen them in a Cost Plus flier. Doing a quick search, it looks like they sell them everywhere now, including Target. At $7.99, this one is a pretty good price. It's big at 14 ounces and the built-in sleeve is a nice add because the ceramic part of the cup does get hot. And it's fun to use because it feels like you've indulged in a hot drink from Starbucks.

Back to the farmers market

 

These Pink Lady apples were so crisp I had to buy them.

I know I know, I've been so bad about updating my blog lately. I'm particularly disappointed in myself because I'd planned to blog more often. I usually play rugby at this time of year but I took the spring season off because I wanted more time for other things, like blogging (and after 11 seasons, my body was telling me it was time for a break). OK, I know I have a small readership so who cares, right? But the point was committing myself to writing regularly (and I figured that if I did want to be read by more people than my dad and my sister, I needed to write more). So here it is the end of February and I've blogged only four times since the beginning of the year. I have one guess as to why. I've been training for a half marathon and so even though I'm not at rugby practice, I'm still spending time exercising, which leaves less time for blogging. And if that isn't the reason, I have no excuse except laziness, which is a definite possibility. But today, even with my training run, I have something to blog about.

My running partner and I ran past the farmers market on our 11-mile run this morning. She said she could smell fresh fruit. But with a stuffy nose, all I could smell was the overpowering sweet scent of kettle corn. I haven't been to the farmers market in months but seeing the row of white canopies (and smelling kettle corn in a weak moment!) made me want to go. So after our run, I stretched, showered and ate, then returned to the scene of the crime, this time driving since my legs were spent.

I stopped at the crafts fair first and bought two pairs of cheap sunglasses to replace the pair I lost last Sunday. Then, in the 10 minutes before the farmers market closed at 2, I filled one reusable bag full of $15 worth of fruit and veggies. Lettuce, spinach, broccoli, onions, potatoes, grape tomatoes ... avocados, organic apples and an orange (extra vitamin C to help me get over my cold).

Rushing through the farmers market isn't the best way to shop. It's better to take one walk through to see what's being sold and then decide what to buy. I bought broccoli and then farther down saw bright green organic broccoli I would have preferred. I also bought organic apples after sampling crisp Pink Ladies. But at $2.50 a pound, they were more expensive than organic apples on sale at Whole Foods. But overall, the trip was worth it. You can't beat not having to roll a wobbly cart through massive aisles and waiting in line at the grocery store. And the vendors are much friendlier than grocery store clerks. A woman who was already packing away her produce went into the back of her truck to find an orange for me, even though I was only buying one for a whoppin' 50 cents.

Another benefit is that you have to stick to your budget, since the vendors only take cash. I didn't have enough money left over for a bag of kettle corn. But that was probably for the best!

Truly fresh eggs

 

Eggs from a very happy chicken, Gracie. They're so yellow.

I haven't blogged in what feels like ages. I haven't even updated the last two weeks of my mileage challenge, which ended two weeks ago. But since right now I don't feel like finding the notebook I was keeping track of my daily mileage in, I'm writing about something else much more fun than my commute: food. I don't write about the teens I work with very often because it seems like an invasion of their privacy since they interact with us without expecting anecdotes about their lives to be shared in a blog. But I just had to mention the tasty, fresh eggs the other editors and I got from one of our students. She's writing a story about her pet chickens and brought each of us two eggs from Gracie. Each pair were wrapped in a paper towel tucked into a paper bag. We unwrapped them to take a look and it felt like Christmas Day. The delicate eggs were different colors and sizes. I had one medium brown one and a small white egg. The words "happy chicken" came to mind, instead of "chicken factory."

I didn't know how long they'd stay fresh but didn't have a chance to make them over the weekend. So on Tuesday morning I whipped up the two eggs for breakfast before work. The yolks were bright yellow and my eggs were glowing on my plate. And they tasted sooo good and fresh. Because, well, they were. It felt even better than eating free-range eggs that still have to be packaged and shipped. These eggs just traveled down the 60 freeway from Walnut.

That morning at work we all raved about our eggs. Laura said it made her want her own chicken. I don't think I'm ready for that responsibility but she also said she wanted to try buying eggs at a farmers market. I think that's a much better idea!

Mileage count: Week 2

For week two of sharing my mileage in my blog I'm proud to say I have an improvement to report: 281 miles instead of 363. What made the difference was one day of taking the train, which I hadn't done in months. I also jumped on my bike a few times to cut out short trips.

Here's the daily breakdown:

• Monday: On my day off, I drove 15 miles to a doctor's appointment and to my softball game.
  

• Tuesday: Drove to work. 64 miles.
  

• Wednesday: Drove to work. 64 miles.
  

• Thursday: I took the train to work so I drove only nine miles. Hooray! And made good headway in the book that I had been neglecting.
  

• Friday: Back to driving to work. But I did bike to the gym at 5:45 am. 64 miles.
  

• Saturday: Drove to work, blah blah. 65 miles. Biked a mile to my friend's house (in boots, thank you very much) and then we walked down to 2nd Street for dinner.

• Sunday: Another no-driving Sunday. I'll call it a biking Sunday. I biked to the same friend's house so we could go running, then biked home, changed and biked to a park 1.5 miles away for softball practice. Coming home I was pretty exhausted and hungry. Yes driving would have been easier but biking isn't too bad, as long as I stay in a two-mile radius of my apartment.
  

Mileage count: Week 1

It's the end of the first week of my experiment to publicly share my mileage. All added up, I drove a grand total of 363 miles. Now that you're done gasping and can read again, here's how it breaks down:

• Monday (my day off): I rode my bike to the gym instead of driving. This is something I should do on a regular basis since it's a whoppin' 1.5 miles away. I drove 16 miles to drop some stuff off at Goodwill and go to the nearby Target. I ended the day getting a ride to my softball game.

• Tuesday: Drove to and from work for a total of 64 miles.

• Wednesday: Another 64-mile commute.
  

• Thursday: At the end of a 13-hour work day, the 110 ramp is closed so I take a detour, adding an extra two miles and a lot of internal cursing at L.A. (My co-worker's guess the next day was that it was closed for filming, which made me even more annoyed.) Total=66 miles.

• Friday: I add an extra 20 miles to my commute to drive to a school to work with a student. Total=82 miles.
  

• Saturday: 66 miles driving to work (I discover that my all-freeway route on Saturdays is slightly longer), then five miles round-trip to meet friends for dinner. I considered biking but I was already running late. Total=71 miles.
  

•  To end the week, I had a no-car Sunday. Since I've taken public transportation to work and liked it, I decided to take the bus to Home Depot. When I'm in my car doing errands I don't think twice about adding another destination or driving to the nice mall over the one that's closest (as I did on New Year's Day, Christmas gift cards in hand). But when you're leaving your car behind, running errands becomes simpler and more streamlined, but not faster so you have to have extra time on your hands. But it did help in my environmental goal of not over-consuming since I couldn't impulse buy and throw whatever I bought in the car.

The Home Depot is three miles away but easy to get to by bus since it's just a straight shot up Cherry. So I walked 15 minutes from my apartment to Cherry, waited about eight minutes for the bus, then rode on the bus for 10 minutes. I got my paint samples and headed out. On the way back the bus came as soon as I arrived at the bus stop. And getting off at 4th Street, I browsed in some antique stores on Retro Row on my walk home with the sun shining (hint, I was enjoying myself). The extra time it took wasn't a big deal but I think that's partly because of the novelty of it all. I'm not sure how often I could do this, or if I could extend it to a whole weekend.

For the rest of the day, I went running with two friends, walked to the grocery store just around the corner from my house and resisted the urge to drive to Target to return some things I'd bought earlier in the week.

A mile here, a mile there starts to add up

After visiting my sister and her family in Dallas for Christmas, I've realized that I can be an impatient, slightly pushy and self-centered Angeleno. So my new year's resolution is to be more considerate. I'll try to thank store clerks and waiters, ask politely for directions and not interrupt a salesperson helping someone else to ask where the bathroom is (I did really have to go). After several years of big city living and always being in a hurry, I found that in a city full of Southern manners where the pace was slower, I liked that people took the time to be gracious to one another. And I started being nicer in return (maybe it helped that I was on vacation and more relaxed). That felt good so I want to extend that positive energy throughout the year.

Despite the theme of my blog, I didn't make a new year's resolution related to the environment. I already do what I can and the big change I could make -- reducing the miles I drive -- is a resolution destined to be broken faster than you can say "diet." But in the spirit of the new year and new beginnings, and inspired by a suggestion from my co-worker Mike, for the next month I'm going to share my mileage in my blog. The goal of my public shaming is to become more aware of how much I drive.

I worked today but didn't remember my plan until I was midway through my morning commute so I'll start on Monday, Jan. 4. Mike recorded his purchases in his blog every day. In a similar vein, I'll be recording my exact mileage. The big culprit will be my commute but I'll also keep track of my weekend driving. This isn't the best timing because lately I've had the urge to redecorate and want to go furniture shopping, which of course involves a lot of driving. But I'm hoping it will force me to cut back, from getting back in the habit of taking public transportation to work to biking more on the weekend. I'll record my mileage every day and update my blog once a week with the total. Mike said his experiment made him more aware of the obvious: small purchases add up. I'm curious to see what I learn. It may be that saying thank you is easier than leaving my car at home.