Vida

This year we signed up to participate in our neighborhood's community garden.  We have no idea what we're doing, but we planted the April seeds (and tomato starter) yesterday.  Fingers crossed something grows!

When we set out to develop denim, we were told we couldn’t do it all. That commercial denim destroys the environment. That only super-stretchy sells. That designer jeans need a designer price tag. Good thing we don’t do what we’re told. via Everlane I heard about a new jean that was environmentally friendly with ethical factories and I was almost all in.  Then I found out they were selling for $68.  Jeans you can feel good about?  Yes. And this is me.  I've moved over to almost exclusively purchase jeans from Madewell (which is so expensive), but I love how they look and feel. I figured I would save some money and take a chance. They even let you go inside the denim factory ! I love when you purchase them online you can choose from different sizes and heights for the model to have a better idea how they will fit on you.  I'm 5'4" and I never know if I should get regular length or ankle length (and they turn out to be regular for me).  I was a...

YOU DID IT! 7 days without a plastic water bottle!  I'm proud :) Now, wash that bottle and try to use it more often! ( via ) And if a dosomething.org campaign catches your eye, let me know, I'm in!

1 More Day!  Thanks for helping the environment with me a little bit this week and helping out to do something good! Today, we have a very informative infographic to summarize. ( via ) Thank you for joining me to make a difference!

Hey Guys!  Happy Sunday! It's already day 5 of the week water bottle challenge!  Did you find it easier or harder to remember your water bottle over the weekend? Reusing 1 water bottle will prevent the purchase and consumption of more than 240 plastic bottles every year. ( source ) Do you remember when water bottles were not popularized yet?  I feel like I do.  I was definitely young, but these are a recent development.  Meaning...we don't actually need them. ( via )

Day 4 - Fact 4 How are you doing?  Has remembering your water bottle become easier?  It'll be a habit before you know it! Yes, recycling a water bottle is a better option than throwing it away.  And reusing it a few times before you recycle it is even better.  But right now we're reducing , the best option! So let's chat about recycling, which is good.  T he energy it takes to recycle plastic bottles is mind-boggling. It's no simple task to melt down all those bottles, and the plastic is usually degraded in the process and often can't be used for food-grade products again.  But not great.  ( source and view a video of a recycling plant ). Reduce Reduce Reduce And now for the much anticipated reader picture....my sister :)  When I told Karen about the challenge she responded "easy"  She always drinks out of her reusable bottle.  So I told her to send me a photo.  Here you go! Thank you, Karen!

Day 3 - Fact 3 Plastic water bottles can take between 400 and 1,000 years to decompose. ( source ) Let's just ignore the 1,000 years for a second because that's too much. If you are lucky you will live as long a 1/4 of the life of a quickly decomposing water bottle.  That's only one water bottle. ( via ) Guess what?  If you use your own bottle, you don't have to worry!

Here we are, day 2! I'm always wont to save a buck or two.  How about saving a ton?   Our first bottled water fact is on dolla dolla bills. (via) The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rate equals about $.49 per year, that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400.   ( source ) We are lucky enough to currently have tap water you can drink, unless you're in Flint, Michigan, than please don't.  You know they still haven't fixed the issue in Flint.  I bet anyone there will tell you how much they wish they could drink from the tap.   I remember while living in Mexico we had a big jug of water we would take to the corner store, give them the empty container and take home a full one.  It was heavy!  Seriously, it was probably 30 pounds, at least.  I am always grateful to drink from the tap.

Today is World Water Day!  What a perfect day to start our water bottle challenge! Did you know it takes 3 times the amount of water in the bottle to make the bottle? And an average of 663 million people worldwide who do not have access to clean water. ( via ) Take a second and appreciate clean water. Read more about World Water Day or consider making a donation to charity: water .

One of my friends working in a non-profit once told me they couldn't imagine volunteering in addition to their regular work day because she gives so much of herself every day.  And I get that.  (I'm sure many people who work at for-profit organizations can feel that way too.)  Sometimes it's nice to do something you personally feel strongly about too.  It actually makes you feel better in general. A couple weeks ago I was at a conference in Atlanta.  I sat down in the general session ballroom at the beginning of the second day.  The night before I worked in my hotel room while crying because I felt so overwhelmed (it made it difficult to read the emails I was answering).  So I was maybe not in the best space to feel interested in anything but sleep.  (Although the run in the morning did help!) Then the CEO from DoSomething.org kicked off the presentations.  When she was done I wanted to move to New York and work for them.  Needless ...

A Couple Weekends Ago: Cashier: Would you like a bag today? Me: No, thank you.  I'll use my backpack. Cashier:  Save the 7 cents. Me:  And the environment. Cashier: People seem to care more about the 7 cents. Me:  Not me. February 1st Chicago put a 7 cent tax in place for plastic bags and somehow it seems to be working!  Last year I was excited about a plastic bag ban and then a loophole slid in for stores to have even thicker bags that "people would reuse."  Spoiler: no one reused them.  And it was terrible. So as February 1st approached I refused to get my hopes up. Then I started to notice people bringing in bags  or just saying they'd carry their stuff and skip the bag.   I don't think I will come to understand how in other people's minds 7 cents is terrible and the thicker bags weren't.  Regardless I'm glad it's working. P.S. Would you like to know more about terrible plastics?   Read here .

This seems like a great resolution for 2017.  Produce less waste! P.S.  See the article here .

I'm going to assume you are voting, if you live in the United States.   I voted a couple weeks ago and I did quite a bit of research as I completed my ballot.   One issue that I always consider is climate change.  I watched the documentary "Before the Flood" and I guess I didn't realize there were so many people still denying climate change.  I was quite shocked.   And, gosh, our government can be depressing.  So.  Do what you can do and vote! We can even see climate change here in Chicago in several ways.  Even Lake Michigan is rising.  I notice as I run on the lakefront.  I had no idea what's going on in Florida. If you'd like to watch the documentary, it's free through Sunday.

If you are very upset about the Starbucks cups, I know what you can do to control the cup you drink out of. Bring your own. Note: you can do this all the time and it actually has other benefits too!

When we moved a couple weeks ago we used a U-Haul truck to make the move.  It was A LOT of work.  A lot.  It's possible we will not do it ourselves again...  The only thing that made us feel better is how much money we saved!   As we drove our U-Haul all over Chicago, one stop in Wicker Park, to Logan Square, to Lakeview, to Logan Square, I noticed a sign that they will reuse boxes.  This excited me!  Almost all our boxes were already used before we packed and they had more life to them.   They even say you can leave the boxes in the U-Haul when you return the truck.  We did not have time to fill the truck with boxes before we returned it, but we took some boxes over the next day.   No need to just put them in the recycling bin.  Recycling is good.  Reusing is better! U-Haul actually has several programs. Need to connect with someone while you're looking for boxes or done with yours?  www.uhaul.com/Exchange/ Ch...

Tuesday San Francisco joined the cities participating in styrofoam bans !  Yay, San Francisco! I would say, "Come on, Chicago."  But going off what happened with the plastic bag ban and the fact that it's now worse than before the so called "ban" I guess it's better to stay bad, rather than making it worse. Super happy San Francisco has it together though!

I have become a big fan of growlers.   (I am not a big fan of some breweries charging you extra to fill a different brewery's growler, but maybe that's a legality?) Let's break it down though. Growlers provide you with fresh beer, straight from the keg ... and ... they are good for the environment! The beer bottling process takes a lot of water and resources.  Using growlers, you cut down on the water used to clean all the bottles and the glass.  Yes, glass is recyclable, but how nice is it to not even use the resource in the first place.  No need to use energy to recycle (please tell me we don't need to step back to make sure you're recycling) if you're just using your growler again. I think you get about 5 pint glasses from a growler...?  It's something like that.  And you should try to drink it quickly.  I've heard once opening at home you should drink it in 4-6 hours.  I have never finished a growler in 4-6 hours.  Nev...

Who watches Jim Hamblin's videos on The Atlantic?   I can't help it, I love them.  They make me laugh while learning about something I've typically never thought about. I have two videos for you to check it out below.  (I couldn't choose one!)  Note:  they are all good! They have an option to subscribe so you receive a notification when there's a new video...subscribed! P.S. He writes articles and such too.

I remember when I learned plastic bottle caps cannot be recycled .  Often recycling plants will throw the entire plastic bottle away if the person who is recycling it didn't remove the cap. Over Christmas, my dad mentioned his Rotary Club was collecting them.  The company they worked with will accept donated plastic bottle caps and make them into park benches ( see here ).  Sounds like a win, win to me! Here's their bench from the caps they collected: Read more in the town newspaper article. P.S. They also make other things from the plastic bottle caps too.

Everyone's heard of the do not call list.  Right?  If not, put your number on it now. Have you heard of the do not mail list ?  I had not.   I must have purchased from someone who sold my name as part of a list.  Which happens, and I get it, but I was getting SO MANY catalogs, which I did not need.  I started thinking about what a waste of paper (and money) it was and decided I would slowly start removing my name from their mailing lists. I sent a note to Shutterfly to remove me and they so helpfully sent along information on the do not mail list.  Thank you, Shutterfly! I put in my information so I will hopefully stop receiving all the catalogs that go directly to recycle. You can customize what you want and what you don't if you're worried about that. Let's save some paper!