freecycle friday winner 2 sunny!
congratulations to the winner freecycle friday #2 - sunny!
here are sunny’s fabulous eco-tips:
1. one can donate his or her old clothes, shoes, household items (i.e. bedding, kitchen supplies) etc. to the Salvation Army or a nearby Goodwill.
2. another option for trading not only books but also clothes is http://rehashclothes.com/
if you have some clothes that you believe might find a better home than via salvation army or goodwill, you can trade your dear item for another, newer, exciting item as well as post what you are looking for so that others can possibly provide a similar item which they were looking to get rid of anyway!
3. if you place a ‘no junk mail’ note on your mail box, you’ll receive less junk mail! thus saving more paper.
4. it’s easy to use the back of printed paper for notes and lists. make a pile for scrap paper and start today!
5. old appliances such as radios, toasters, modems, etc. can be taken apart and used for parts. one can sell them to a local repair/electrical shop instead of discarding them.
6. you can go to http://www.rbrc.org/consumer/ to check out where to find out where to drop off your rechargeable batteries from cell phones, cameras, laptops, etc.
7. if you have a puppy, or a doggy, let them play with plastic bottles and roll around with them! my puppy loves playing with empty soda bottles and generally crushes them for me so that when they are ready for disposal, more bottles can fit in the bin. aluminum cans can also be crushed before placing in the recycling bin/bag/box. Plastic, reusable bins are the preferred container of course.
8. you can donate various paper products, beans, beads, fabric scraps, ribbons, used paper clips, and trinkets, to kindergartens for craft-making
9. one can re-use [washed] meat trays from the super market as paint palettes!
10. old dried up flowers excrete great color when squeezed onto paper with warm water! one can use these old flowers for ‘paint’ before simply throwing them out.
11. i’m sure someone else has already said this, but if you use an aluminum water bottle it saves a lot of plastic waste every time your mouth is parched and you’re not at home.
12. use plastic lead pencils (or pens) instead of the old #2 style pencils. save some trees.
13. try to use electric stoves, grills, or ovens and microwaves over gas stoves.
14. use dishcloths for cleaning instead of paper towels.
check out our lovely runner up nina’s eco-tip here.
see more free stuff here.
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help! who are your favorite green celebrities?
you guys know who my favorite eco-celeb is:
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| adrian grenier at charity:water’s charity:ball 2008 |
but i’d love to know who yours are and why.
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freecycle friday: north face snowboarding jacket
i know, i know. it’s not friday today, but i thought i’d move freecycle friday to monday because there are already so many reasons to love friday, and monday really gets no love.
this week’s oldie but goodie is a women’s powder blue north face outer that i used to rock on the slopes (size l). if you think you can give it a good home,
comment on this post with your favorite eco-tip or product.
the best tips will be re-capped at the end of the week, and the one with the most reader votes by 6pm on friday will score this purty north face.
remember - pics of you demonstrating your tip get extra credit!
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good luck!
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frugal friday
in an effort to curb my spending now that i am no longer employed full-time, i am putting myself on a strict $28 a week budget.
if i am able to pull this off, i’ll have made it through the year on $1,456*. i’ll also be able to prove to many of you that being eco (that’s what the japanese call it) can actually save you money rather than cost you money.
today’s lunch (mooched off my mom):
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this week’s summary
monday: $15 for sul lung tang at gahm mee ohk. paid for by albert (is it fair to say that he owes me money and is paying it back?) total for day: $0
tuesday: worked from home and ate a can of corn and piece of onion bread that i already had. attended the yelp inaugural ball and had to give a $10 donation that was also paid for by albert. he still owes me money! he also paid for my basil chicken at lannam. gosh, how can i make this look less gold-diggerish?!!! oh i know, i paid $6 for coatcheck for both of us. was that as pathetic as it sounded? total for day: $6
wednesday: worked from home and ate another piece of onion bread, some pretzels that i found lying around and rotting potato salad. made a dinner of cut-up hot dogs (i can always count on you, hot dogs), a quarter bag of frozen mustard greens, parmesan cheese and pasta. fried up a leftoever bag of okonomiyaki mix that was half-spilled in cabinet. total for day: $0
thursday: rode bus to office, $2.50. scored 7 saltines, a bag of salt & vinegar (my fave) chips and a banana at work. ate leftover udon with leftover curry and leftover tofu (all old) for dinner. total for day: $2.50
friday: the day is still young. so far, i ate a piece of toast with questionable mozarella melted on top. i’m meeting the lovely kelly (also jobless at the moment) for dinner, and am nervous about being penurious. i have $19.50 to spend…wish me luck!
* does not include housing or trips, which i am not sure what to do about yet since i have 2 big mandatory ones coming up.
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my grandpa pwns me by recycling styrofoam
this is my grampa.
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he’s not my real grampa, which is probably why i didn’t inherit his tragically good looks, but look! we do share a love of plaid!
like most japanese grampas, ojiichan, which is what i call my grampa because i have no idea what his real name is, does not know much about planet green, eco-blogging, or even really what the internet is for that matter. so when i went to my grandma and grampa’s mansion (this means apartment building in japanese - so odd!), i was blown away by the magnitude of eco-innovation that exists in their little household. in japan, it is not unheard of for thick booklets of more than 20 pages to be distributed showing people how to sort their trash, and community crusaders have been known to dumpster dive to investigate the whereabouts of improperly sorted garbage so that they can return it to the non-compliant owners.
since i usually pride myself on being the annoying eco-cop in any group, i almost swallowed my muscat flavored gum when i confidently tossed away a thin, plastic wrapper from some noodles (you know, the kind that comes on cup-a-noodle), only to be pwned by ojiichan who showed me the six bags he set out to sort trash. six! he told me to throw the wrapper into one bag and a twist tie that i was trying to throw out into another. a twist tie!
but here is the clincher - japanese people recycle styrofoam!
jepsra’s mascot: his darn pants are part of his shell. he went as far as to recycle his shell! how can i possibly compete?
anyhow, i found this info on the japan expanded polystyrene recycling association or jepsra’s website, and thought it was both interesting and envy-inducing.
the collection method:
note: epsy plazas are recycling bases for styrofoam. the “eps” stands for expanded polystyrene and the “y” is to make it sound cuter.
how the eps gets recycled:
these are the most current charts i could find about eps recycling in japan. if anyone has any newer information, please share!
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turn your plastic bag into a sewing machine cover
despite the utter yuckiness i feel for apple, i can’t help but be drawn to the disgustingly pretty things they churn out, and this here sky blue bag is no exception.
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does anyone remember this one? i got it when i purchased my ibook way back when, and still remember feeling more in awe about the bag than i did about the computer! it’s been in my closet for years now and instead of trashing it, i wanted to honor it by making it into a cover for my sewing machine!
the steps are fairly simple:
1. cut off the bottom and top inch or so of the bag and turn it inside out.
2. trace the outline of the item you want to make a cover for, leaving about an inch and a half for the hem.
3. sew along the outline you traced and try it on for size. if it fits correctly, trim the edges off so that it looks like this:
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4. turn your completed cover right side out and voila!
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you can also cut a little side slit out for any plugs or wires that need to poke out.
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now your sewing machine, toaster oven, or mao zedong bust can stay dust-free and you have saved another bag from the dump! pat yourself on the back, mister!
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greenaid grenade eco-bag
saw this little gem at spring in dumbo and it really blew me away! was that as bad as it sounded in my head when i thought of it?
well regardless, remember that part in full-time killers when andy lau throws one activated grenade into the crime boss’s jail cell, and then tosses in 20 more dormant grenades so the poor guy has to look for the one grenade that will kill him? well this product really has nothing to do with that, but it’s still pretty sweet.
sure, it looks like a cute and cuddly live one, but it is actually a compartment for your reusable bag that you can clip onto your jeans or purse!
image courtesy of switchedonset.com
while you’re there, ask them if they have the dexter chair:
this would be a pretty snazzy and inexpensive way to jazz up a flea market find.
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trendwatch: my hashi benetton chopsticks
i really must give ecoprops to my japanese homies for pioneering eco (pronounced eh-ko ｴｺ) before it was what all the cool kids were doing, and my observations from my recent trip to japan only furthered that belief. to be fair, there were some rather disappointing practices that made me frown as well, but more on that later.
since my closest friends like to beat me when i don’t bring back omiyage for them, i found myself scrambling around the massive shopping complexes of my mom’s hometown whimpering, and at times, blatantly talking to myself. each shop displayed wares which were either too cutesy, too useless or too illegal to bring back to the u.s. until, to my utter delight, i discovered my hashi (by benetton, yes, that benetton). apparently, they don’t just make corduroy pants and cashmere berets in all the colors of the rainbow. they also make chopsticks in all the colors of the rainbow!
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my hashi, which means, surprise!, “my chopsticks” in the mother tongue, allow you to tote around your own pair of utensils and obnoxiously whip them out when dining with your pals. it’s a great conversation starter, although you should be warned that many of the reactions will be hostile. one hostess even tried to force her disposable wooden chopsticks on me! seriously, can i live?!!!
overall, i think these my hashi are great, but there are 2 flaws that i would like to point out:
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1. they are packaged in a plastic tube wrapped in yet another plastic sleeve! why??! they are supposed to be eco-conscious!
2. the “hashi wipe” tissues that come in the package are a bit silly. i’d rather excuse myself to clean my hashi in the bathroom than rub them vigorously with alcohol-smelling disposable napkins.
all in all, i give my hashi a thumb and a pointer finger up! get it? because you use those fingers to hold your hashi… no? okay, i’ll stop now. let’s just say that they are worth the 1050 yen, but you could certainly find a better, less wasteful alternative.
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daylesford organic does it again
check out daylesford organic’s beautiful new milk packaging. not only are these containers squashy and easy to compact, they are also biodegradable. yet another inspiring example of sophisticated and responsible design.
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save the world by clubbing
as a follow-up to my post on the opening of greenhouse in soho last week, i wanted to give a full-fledged shoutout to the piezoelectric dance floor at club surya in london. yes, it sounds like something out of an episode of get smart or batman (the original one with adam west), but i am kicking myself for not thinking of this sooner! the brainchild of club4climate (you must, if you do nothing else of importance today, check out this website because it will blow you away) founder andrew charalambous, a.k.a. “dr. earth,” the revolutionary flooring uses quartz crystals and ceramics to transform clubbers’ dancing into electricity.
dr. earth offers free entry to any clubber that can prove he/she walked or used a bicycle to get to his clubs, although i’m not really sure how - perhaps a heartrate reading? surya also has its own wind turbine and solar energy system with plans to surplus power to local citizens.
the non-evil dr. is also planning to open a club4climate party island where eco-clubbers can gather to “save the world lying down and sipping cocktails next to the pool.” it will undoubtedly be expensive to attend a bash there, but i can’t wait until 2010, the slated opening date, to see what eco-innovations the island will reveal.
“unless we stop preaching to people and use an inclusive philosophy we’re never going to create the revolution to combat climate change,” said charalambous to reuters.
“it’s also about creating avenues of thought. imagine what you could achieve if big corporations adopted this kind of initiative.”
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a peek at simon doonan’s eco-chic holiday windows and a brief history of barneys
barneys unveiled its groovy holiday windows this week as an homage to the 50th anniversary of the peace sign. simon doonan, creative director at the tony department store found his inspiration for the psychedelic 60s vignettes after reading tom brokaw’s new book, Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the ’60s and Today.
the whimsical windows showcased the work of designers like derek lam, diane von furstenberg, donna karan, doo ri, three as four, and narcisco rodriguez displayed amidst multi-colored afro-piks, hippie flowers and painted butterflies. but the outfits, which were contrastingly neutral and subdued, were not just pretty on the outside - each design was cut and sewn with a clean conscience, using sustainable fabrics from the earthpledge futurefashion initiative.
select designers (three as four, derek lam, rodarte, zero maria cornejo and behnaz sarafpour) crafted their creations using Ingeo™, a revolutionary corn-based biodegradable and sustainable fabric. although Ingeo™ is not a household name yet, its applications are gaining steam in the mainstream. case in point: i recently spotted target bedding that proudly displayed the Ingeo™ name. oh target - be still my heart.
here are some pics of the windows, but i highly recommend that you check them out for yourself if you’re in the area!
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if you’ve gotten this far, you probably won’t mind reading a couple of interesting facts about barneys that i picked up from wiki:
the company began in 1923, when barney pressman (i had no idea!) opened his first store with the $500 raised by pawning his wife’s engagement ring. i certainly hope he bought her a new one after that.
the original slogan was “no bunk, no junk, no imitations.”
barneys was originally a discount retailer.
barney pressman claimed to be the first manhattan retailer to use radio and television, beginning with “calling all men to barney’s” radio spots in the 1930s that parodied the introduction of the dick tracy show.
mr. pressman used women encased in barrels to give away matchbooks with the store name and address. and once chartered a boat to take 2,000 of his customers from manhattan to coney island.
the apostrophe in barney’s was dropped by 1979, and about 1981 the removal became official. (The removal of the apostrophe would be short lived–it was reinserted around the end of the decade.) i think this statement might need to be amended as i have not seen a “barneys” with an apostrophe on the official website or any recent flyers or ads.
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how to get people to recycle their beer cans without resorting to violence
intriguing, i say. i don’t think there is any need to explain, because a picture = 1000 words.
idea by brenda osorio / rodrigo ambriz
via idealist
seems like there is some contention about the fact that the concept might fail because partygoers love to leave floaters. what happens if a half-full can is inserted into one of the slots in the cardboard? things would be so much easier if people would just drink their whole drink!
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beauty and brains: eco towers abu dhabi
eco towers will be the first mixed use leed platinum certified skyscrapers in the middle east. the 23-story towers flaunt such earth friendly features such as:
air purification systems, renewable energy, toxic-free materials, dual glaze windows, water efficiency and waste reduction, not to mention breathtaking curves.
images courtesy of www.igreenspot.com
fyi: leed stands for leadership in energy and environmental design and provides standards for environmentally sustainable construction.
take a gander at the rating system when you have a chance. it will no doubt help you impress people at the next green cocktail party you attend.
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why is this a site?
swyyne has always been an experiment for me. with all of the other super eco sites out there, i've been feeling like i want to contribute something just a bit different. so for now, here are my random musings.
look for stuff
feed yourself