Cup still leakproof!

I posted awhile ago about my Starbucks cup that is a bicyclist's dream, as in you can throw it in your pannier upside-down and it will not leak! Well, in the last couple of months the stopper in the lid was hanging by a scrap and, finally, ripped off (thought I was about to eat a bug in my last gulp of coffee), and I was afraid I would have to search on eBay for another cup - I don't think they still make this model. I hate the idea of getting rid of this cup, mostly because I haven't figured out if I can recycle it - could probably scrap it, I guess. Anyway, wanted to report that, thanks to Starbucks' designers' brilliance, the cup continues to be leakproof! Feeling very lucky and hoping that this thing lasts a few more years while I figure out what to do with it post-intended use.

Entertainment Weekly subscription on its way, thanks to Recyclebank

Damn you, stupid coupon

Thank you, Recyclebank, for not jerking me around too much with your watch a video-take a quiz-get points scheme to get people to live more environmentally (although how buying anything helps you become more environmental is kind of beyond me).  There was the time, though, when I accidentally spent 25 precious, precious points on a 2-dollar coupon for eco razors that I didn't want and, as it turns out, didn't get because a.) Stores in my area don't sell them, and b.) the coupon never printed out because I didn't download the stupid coupon software properly and the dang thing got lost in the ether.  Did I complain to you?  Almost!  But then I found a couple of fabulous videos for products I never intend to buy because one especially is from GE and the other is, well, mayonnaise.  Anyway, that put me at exactly 250 points and then I immediately ordered my 1 yr subscription to Entertainment Weekly.  Yay!

Shop Co-op (Dammit!)

I've been a member of Citizen's Co-op since they first started taking members, about 4 years ago.  It was still a twinkle in Gretchen's eye, but almost exactly one year ago it finally opened up and...I haven't been shopping there very much.  Sometime earlier in the year an email went out to exhort folks to shop at the co-op more and over what they had been doing already - I think I remember they wanted something like 100-dollars worth of shopping from each member per month.  Not from me, however; I do maybe 1/4 of that in a month, if that.  This is where environmentalism becomes not so accidental, and I think where a lot of people begin to balk.  We're Americans, after all, rugged individualists - we can't be told where to shop or how much to buy.  Oh, wait.  Can we?  No!  We can be subtly lured into purchasing crap we don't need but God help the soul who tries to make us buy something because it will help the community.  At least that's how I feel.

Frankly, getting to the co-op is kind of a pain and Ward's is so much closer.  But I feel like a guilty heel of a co-op member slinking away from an illicit tryst everytime I shop at Ward's though.  Even today DJ and I went to

Fresh Market, which is in a completely different universe from our own Publix/Ward's solar system, and I couldn't help but feel like I was going behind the co-op's back, like a traitorous thug.  Thug?  Yeah, I think so.  And here is a picture of some "Eco-zip" bags that I saw while at Fresh Market.

So, I have to shop more at the co-op "to help the community" even though it's kind of a drag to get to and they don't sell donuts and Bleinheim Ginger Ale, the latter of which I got at Fresh Market and is so tasty (I don't know if Fresh Market sells donuts. Probably not).

Ziploc, Recyclebank, and using glassware for storage

So I've been obsessed with getting points on Recyclebank - you take a quiz or watch a video and then take a quiz, or make a pledge to be more green, or buy something from one of their sponsors and Recyclebank gives you points that you can collect for a reward of some kind.  The thing I am so totally gunning for is a year's subscription to Entertainment Weekly, which is 250 points.  I am almost halfway there!!!!  I don't buy stuff and I won't sign up for accounts, but I will take their quizzes and watch sponsored videos - like, last night I watched a video for some eco recycled motor oil product and then watched one for Kashi and took a simple quiz after each.  So, as long as I can skate by without having to actually buy anything I will soon be sitting pretty with a new Entertainment Weekly subscription, yay!

But, anyway, so one of things on Recyclebank is that you can get points by posting codes from special boxes of Ziploc bags, I think from all the smaller sandwich bags which we hardly ever buy.  But I was thinking, with  the fact that Ziploc, along with Glad and (of course) Pyrex are making glass food containers now, why isn't Ziploc asking people for codes to those things?  I would totally jump all over that because I am starting to make the transition to glass containers.

Going from plastic to glass has been really, really slow - I purchased the above container from Ziploc while on vacation and then got some small Pyrex containers after I got back.  Plus, if you've ever seen the inside of our fridge, we basically pile up everything willy-nilly where ever it will fit, so sometimes we have food-a-lanches where containers launch themselves onto the floor from being stacked precariously on top of some cheese or a bag of carrots.  So, I am going into this whole plastic-to-glass thing with a bit of trepidation because the nice thing about plastic is that it won't shatter or break a toe.  Wait, I take that back - I did have a plastic container shatter when it fell out of the freezer but that was from a height and the plastic was brittle from being frozen.

More about Rewards with Greenopolis and RecycleBank

So while on vacation I went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in St. Augustine for the sole purpose of recycling a butt-load of cans and bottles at the Promise of Pepsico's Dream Machine. We collected a bunch of recyclables over the course of our vacation and I discovered this machine when we went on the Ripley's Ghost Tour (which is truly creepy and you should go if you get the chance). Anyway, recycling through this method has been like a game – well, actually, it is a game. Every time I recycle a can or bottle in the Dream Machine I get rewarded with 5 points – right now I've got 160 points. That's not all from recycling, mind you – through RecycleBank and Greenopolis, I've also played a recycling game, pledged to take shorter showers (i've gone on rants about this before – see here) and I've used their iphone app, RecyclePix. With Recylepix I take a picture of a can or bottle that I'm considering recycling and then post it on the Greenopolis website, where it gets sucked into a vortex of environmental action, never to be seen again. I guess. I don't know, because I haven't seen any of the pictures I've posted – I get points for posting the pictures and then extra points for putting a caption on the photo, and then extra points if I post it on Facebook or Twitter. I don't do the social networking thing for something like RecyclePix, but you can friend the AE on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, if you are so inclined.

I guess I'm wary about posting to FB and Twitter with this stuff because in a really big way this all seems really vapid, and it's giving greater glory to Pepsico and WM, who sponsor the Dream Machine. On the other hand, the idea of rewarding people for environmental behaviors is appealing to me. The dream Machine is actually a good cause not just because of the environmental aspect but also because it benefits a veterans group. I hate to say it, but this might be the only way to get people to think about responsible environmental behaviors, the carrot and stick strategies of rewards and benefits.

Speaking of benefits, I'm going to check and see what 160 points gets me, rewards-wise!

Back. Well, I don't know what kind of rewards I get because there's no place to check. There is a rewards site, but it just tells you about all the cool things you can get, without actually telling you what they are. WHAT WAS THE POINT?! Also, even though Greenopolis is partnered with RecycleBank, my points on Greenopolis are separate from RecycleBank. I would have probably about 200 or 300 points if the accounts were connected. If I can find my Greenopolis pictures I'll post them.

Ripleys recycle or don't

Going to recycle at ripley's believe it or not museum!