Need-a-Bag? Project

Okay, so DG and I got together on Thursday eve to try our hand at making "T-totes." I was informed by Ms. G that "T-bag" is slang for some sex act, so I think we're calling them "T-totes," now (that's not a sex act, is it? Geez). Anyway, she brought over all these fabulous tanks from various thrift shops and we spent about a half hour sewing the bottoms up (it would have taken less time except the thread kept breaking on my machine [I really have to get it cleaned]). But when they were done they were stretchy, seemed strong and would be able to hold various produce items found at a farmer's market or neighborhood grocery store. So, I think we're going to go to the farmer's market next Saturday and hand the "T-totes" out, along with the other totes we picked up at the thrift stores around town.

More About Commuting by Bike

Well, I decided on Friday when DJ was with the g-rents that I would test the route to take him to school by bike. I'm going back on Bikely.com to modify the route some but it was actually okay. There is one truly gnarly hill that you have to get up on the way home, and while I did it (huffing and puffing the whole way -- out of shape, much?) I don't think I'd be able to do it even with DJ helping on the ridealong. We'll walk that one. It took about 40 minutes from the school to the house, that was going uphill and with a headwind most of the way, but if we plan on leaving the house by 7 am we should get there by the bell. I'm feeling confident about this and think we could try it as early as Tuesday morning.

Update on Washing Hair with Baking Soda and Vinegar

Well, I've been completely shamps-free for over 2 months now. I just don't wash my hair that often now -- an accidental environmentalist side benefit of being lazy. And it's totally easy--I should be using bottles to keep supplies of the mixtures like DG does and that way I might be doing it more. Today I'm feeling especially grubby because I rode to work and it was so humid this morning. I'm still sweating.

Update on Commuting to School

Enthusiasm for taking my son to school by bike has been waning. I was briefly inspired by a dad who picks up his daughter at my son's school using a tandem, so I chatted him up before school let out the other day. Unfortunately, he couldn't really give me any tips because his commute is about a half-mile. Lucky. His child is sooo zoned for that school. Anyway, here's what I'm going to do today; after I get out of work at noon I'm going to ride to my son's school from campus and then home, just to get a feel for how treacherous it would be (and by treacherous I mean cars, not so much the amazingly steep hill on 8th Ave.) with DJ in tow. The g-rents are picking him up today so I don't have to worry about transpo.

Book: Confronting Consumption

I'm reading Confronting Consumption for the REL4936 class and it's all fairly blowing my mind. I'm having a bit of a disconnect. As I first read this stuff about individualization of environmentalism it was coming across totally as Greek. Then it slowly dawned on me what was being said and I kind of had an uncomfortable epiphany. The main gist of the book covers the different ways we are sort of fooling ourselves out of our rightful inheritance to the "good things" in life by pursuing a completely manufactured "good life." Does that make sense? Instead of citizens working towards keeping harmful industrial practices in check we've somehow fooled ourselves into taking the brunt of the results of these harmful practices on our own shoulders so we exercise our voices on these issues by individual consumer decisions rather than by being better caretakers. When we should be combining less individual transportation by car with demanding more stringent emissions and fuel standards, we are instead encouraged to buy more fuel-efficient cars and make no other changes to our lifestyle; instead of buying less packaged products and demanding that companies find better alternatives to present packaging technologies, we are instead encouraged to recycle more vigorously and buy "earth-friendly" packaging.

The "10 things you can do to save the earth" philosophy has been heavily damned in these pages and I'm faced with the uncomfortable realization that a lot of my current assumptions about how to "live green" have been based largely on this notion of being a consumer first and a citizen second.

I was talking about the book this morning with one of the librarians I work with, and after going on about the individualization of environmentalism, and how we are squandering social and political capital when we don't face these tougher issues of action, she asked, "does the book say anything about what we're supposed to do?" She touched, I think, on the fundamental question a lot of us are asking, which is how do we get out of this mess? The essays in Confronting Consumption are not an instruction book to action but an outline of the problems citizens are up against and which problems are the most pressing. So far it is an incredible read, but not for the faint of heart or the easily angered.

Project: DIY BioDiesel!

Ohmygosh. I can't stand it. I was going to stop blogging after the last post because I really have to get some class reading done but I stopped by this Blogspot site on my way out and became entranced.

Named simply Biodiesel, the blog starts off with the top 10 reasons why you should make your own biodiesel. Then it takes you to a list of articles by the author of the blog, a Mr. Then, where, among other things, you can learn the best games to play at a child's birthday party. I found the link to the article on making your own bathtub biodiesel (not the real name but it should be) and it sounds even scarier to make than cold-process soap. Anti-freeze? Lye? Yow!

Who is this mysterious Mr. Then, who simultaneously unlocks the secrets to party games and homemade biodiesel? Perhaps the world is not ready to know the answer.

Swiped photo from Biodiesel blogspot blog. Thank you, Mr. Then.