Trash Free is the Way to Be!

Hey guys! Hope the green life is going well.

My research has taken me to a route I never thought I'd find myself on: Trash-free living.

Obviously not right away, but I'm going to work up to living trash-free at least 3 to 4 days out of the week. What is trash free? Exactly that-- no waste whatsoever. I will compost, reuse, recycle, or just not buy (less consumption also helps). This will be extremely difficult, but not impossible!

As it turns out, you can't curbside recycle everything. With that, I found a couple recycling centers around my neighborhood (Googlemaps) that can take the things I can't recycle at home. For example, medicine bottles, plastic bags, bottle caps, certain types of plastic wraps and cardboards are all everyday items that curb-side recycling will not take care of. Centers like the JG Recycling Co take care of most of these items.

Check out the blogs listed below. They're people who have been living trash-free for a while, and have some interesting ways of doing it. Very informative and very helpful, especially to me!

Trash-free Blogs:

http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/2009/06/23/the-go-trash-free-challenge/

this one is awesome: http://www.greengarbageproject.com/

http://www.yourguidetogreen.com/learn/articles/Garbage-Free-Lunch

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

Catch ya later!

Its Been a Minute

This Green Lifestyle is crazy!

Speaking of green lifestyles, this weekend I attended the Green Lifestyle Film Festival at UCLA.

It was pretty eye-opening.

I walked into the theater expecting to start off with an educational video on veganism or recycling and such; instead I got a full shot of a woman giving birth in water. That was a bit shocking, but then again, so was the entire movie.

It was unbelievably moving. To see women giving birth in water, and then women in a hospital with surgical tools- shocking.

I learned a thing or two from the vegan "Cruelty-Free" chefs they had give delectable demonstrations. Whole living foods chef Koya Webb made a delicious "Cha Cha Chili" that was incredibly tasteful.

The films were very educational, except for Vegan 101, which was an Australian actress/film maker who thought she was a lot funnier than she actually was. Her attempts at poking fun at the many "vegan haters" out there were anything but funny; in fact, they were quite nauseating.

Other than that I went to a bunch of the booths set up by vendors from a variety of organizations. One lady in particular was selling purses she made from old movie films. Instead of burning them and releasing all those toxins into our atmosphere, she cuts them up (which is still destroying them according to copy right laws) and sewed them together to recycle them into cute little bags and cell phone cases.

I got a nifty little goody bag (made of 100% grass) with a cornucopia of different eco-friendly products such as biodegradable toothpicks, eco-friendly pet grooming wipes, glee gum, organic Amber Ale, organic olive oil, ecotulip seeds, and much, much, more!

Next up: Sustainable Works

I go to my first meeting this Thursday at 3pm, I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

For now, stay green!

Learn Something New Everyday

I have a confession to make: I've been extremely wasteful lately.

At least I can admit it though!

I think I'm making progress just by noticing how much I waste now, and trying not to waste as much. The whole having a cold thing isn't very "eco-friendly."

Thats my largest problem besides laziness at the moment.

Otherwise, I've been slightly successful!

Today I went to Trader Joe's and bought one of their nifty reusable grocery bags for 99¢, and it's adorable!

Trader Joe's has some awesome organic products too. This may sound dumb, but I never really realized that regular grocery store eggs are white because they're bleached. That creeps me out, a lot. TJ's has "Free Range" eggs, which are brown by the way, and very tasty!

I did my laundry yesterday. I happened to get it all done in 2 loads, which I thought was conserving water.

Nothing to be concerned about right? Wrong.

As it turns out, dryer sheets and fabric softener are some of the most toxic products available today. I know, i was shocked too.

So i did some research. I found out that multiple ingredients in dryer sheets and fabric softeners are actually on the EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) hazardous waste list, and we're washing our clothes with them!

Want to do you're own research? Check out this article from NaturalNews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com/001061.html

Or how about this one from Ezinearticles.com

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Toxic-Danger-of-Fabric-Softener-and-Dryer-Sheets&id=16953=

Why don't you just google "toxic dryer sheets" or "danger of dryer sheets" and see for yourself!

"But Ale, my clothes smell so good and feel so soft! I can't give up fabric softener!"

You don't have to! Health food stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have brands of dryer sheets and fabric softeners that are much more safe for you and the environment. They also sell these "Eco-friendly" dryer balls on TrueGreenOnline.com

As it turns out, a lot of the household items we use everyday are toxic. Everything from deodorant to toothpaste to perfume and even shampoos.

What the hell has been going on? I feel so violated!

Starting Slow

How do you go green when you've got a cold?

Best suggestion: Buy a handkerchief.

Maybe two, I'm not sure.

Today I learned I'm going to have to stop buying water bottles. I think I'll keep the ones I have and just refill them with my Britta Water filter.

I already have a separate trashcan for recycling, and my roommates and I definitely take advantage of it, but that's just the beginning.

If you watched the video "The Story of Stuff" you know the average American throws out about 4lbs of trash per day and up to 56 tons in a year.

What the fuck?

ALE STOP BEING LAZY!

This is one of my biggest challenges: stop being lazy.

Here's a list of the little things I'm starting out with and maybe already do:

1. Recycling trash can

2. Don't run the water

3. Refill/Reuse water bottles

4. Conserve tissues/napkins

5. Carpool/ take the bus

6. Use energy conserving lightbulbs

That's not too bad to start!

I joined this organization called "Sustainable Works" at my school. They'll be teaching me more about how to reduce my "footprint" and what-not. I'll be doing more for the environment and more for myself.

Now that's what I call a win-win.

One last thing! Here's another video for your informational pleasure:

"Collapse" by Jared Diamond

find it on youtube or watch it here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse.html

Now go out and paint our planet green!

A Formal Introduction

Hey there!

The name's Ale. It's splendid to meet you.

I'm just going to get straight to the point here:

It has been brought to my attention that the world as we know it is dying. Like literally, Planet Earth is dying. Whether you want to believe it or not, humans suck.

We suck the life out of anything and everything we can. Why is that? I have no idea.

Maybe its because we're all selfish bastards in one way or another. It's not always intentional, and we can't help it, but most people put themselves before others.

Not all the time, but definitely most of the time.

Where was I?

Oh right, selfish bastards.

Well anyway, I've been taking a psychology class at school, and my professor is awesome.

He's been taking an evolutionary psychology direction, and I love it. To me, it makes perfect sense: We must understand where we came from and what we were designed for in order to understand how we got to where we are now, right?

So he started the class by informing the class of exactly what I just informed you. And we've been watching some pretty convincing videos.

So, I'm devoting this blog to my "turning over a new leaf" experience.

I'm goin' green!

Everyday I'm going to make some effort to save the environment. Whether it be recycling, conserving energy, or not using as much water, I am going to do the research and find the many ways in which I can reduce my "Footprint."

I'm going to start you off with a video that seriously altered my perspective on this issue, maybe it'll help change yours too.

It's called: The Story of Stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

Watch it and let me know what you think.

Got any suggestions? Please do tell!

Don't forget we're all in this together.

It's not just my Earth, its yours too.