Scavenger Hunting

Today we spent some time weaving our way through one of my favorite places to peer into, pick up, turn over and open up stuff; Urban Ore on Murray Street in Berkeley. This for profit location takes in gently used items and re-sells them in their huge (and cold) warehouse and their outside lot at a low, low price. Helping out those looking to stretch a dollar and preventing the items from going into our already bursting landfills. The assortment ranges from broken tiles, bricks, doors still hanging in the frames they were hung in when ripped out of an unsuspecting structure, sinks, toilets, windows, furniture, and an entire wall full of electronic doo-dads that I usually spend the most time hanging around imagining what I could make out of all that stuff.

We have purchased 'containers' for our garden (out of service terracotta sewer pipe & metal duct work), stepping stones (unused pavers), extra seating for inside and out (old church pews), and my favorite find to date; a metal stand that once refurbished, went just inside our front door to catch keys, sunglasses, handbags, and mail. Based on the shape and colors of the sticker (lovingly preserved) on the front, it originally stood in the service area of a Texaco station. It is the perfect height to write comfortably while standing next to it, and the inside is full of slots and places for order pads, pens, and those fun reminder cards that they stuck in your visor so you knew when to stop by next. Some steel wool, primer and two colors of paint later the piece was suitable for inside the house, inspiring a more industrial feel in the room where it now lives.

Before & After

Our mission this afternoon was to find something to use as a new television slash cable box slash DVD player slash mini stereo stand. It is good to have a vivid imagination when going on a scavenger hunt since the idea was to find the shape and height that would work and we would sand, paint, or stain the item to fit our decor. Our first find was a solid wood mantel with an electric heating element, complete with realistic looking logs on a grate. Perfect width and height, the ledge was the right size for the television, but where to put the rest of the stuff? Next we found a changing table, complete with built in steps, but decided that would be too odd, even with a coat of paint. In the end, we didn't find what we were looking for, but did find a really great lampshade for another re-use project that I'm working on. More on that when it's finally finished. Until then, I am ready to be the 'light' of the party!

(images are author's own)

Re-Use, Re-Furbish, Re-Cycle your Wardrobe

In October, Levi Strauss announced both a partnership with Goodwill and a program to tag their clothing with information on what consumers can do once they are done wearing the item they have purchased. The new care labels not only encourage a 'donation when no longer needed', they also encourage washing in cold water, washing less often, and air drying to prolong the life of the garment. All ways for the consumer to reduce the environmental impact of the purchase.

This particular strategy encourages a donation to Goodwill, but there are many organizations that will take clothing to re-sell in their shops including the Salvation Army, St. Vincent De Paul's, and many other regional organizations. Other alternatives include taking gently used clothing to a consignment shop. Consignment shops will take your items, merchandise them in the shop and split the proceeds with you once the garment sells. Or arranging a neighborhood clothing swap to freshen up the wardrobe. This is particularly useful when there are kids in the neighborhood, as they grow out of something, it can be passed along. Teens can update their look without breaking the bank and Adults can not only save money, but will probably find something for their closet as well. All of these methods are a way to have something new without the impact of manufacturing a brand new garment.

Encouraging the reuse and recycle of apparel is one way for individuals to have less of an impact on the environment. By consuming fewer brand new garments, consumers can help manufactures have less of an impact as well. Despite many garments being made from renewable materials like cotton and wool, the manufacturing process itself can have a big impact on the environment. Another popular apparel fabric is polyester, a petroleum based product that uses a large amount of resources to manufacture, which in turn creates emissions and other waste products that go directly into the environment. None of this takes into account the impact of growing the material, transporting the raw materials to the factory, transporting the finished garments to a retail outlet, or the consumer driving miles to a shopping mall. Obviously, this is less than ideal.

Realizing that we can reduce the environmental impact of the clothes we wear by purchasing classic, quality items that can be worn for more than one season is somewhat liberating. It gives us permission to spend a bit more, because the garment will be worn for years. The rise of fast fashion chains such as H&M, TopShop and Zara has meant that more items are being purchased and discarded as fashion trends come and go. By purchasing less, wearing items longer, and passing them on when they no longer fit or are needed we can keep unwanted clothing out of our landfills, reduce the impact on the environment, and probably all have more money in the bank.

When the Wind Comes Sweepin' Down the Plain

Some of you may know that I grew up in a small town in western Oklahoma. About the time I left for California, the state was experiencing an oil boom like none other. According to the Oklahoma Geological Society, each year from 1970 to 1980, completed wells (oil producers and dry holes) tripled. By 1983, this number had doubled again to just over 12,000 completed wells per year in just this state alone. As you can well imagine, this brought a lot of people into the area to work. Housing was built quickly, businesses blossomed and everyone seemed to be set.

Over the next few years, only 10,000 wells were completed each year. However,by the end of the decade, it was down to 2,000 annually. Not very sustainable in terms of a resource or an economic model. Fueled by the collapse of the stock market in October 1987, per capita incomes in the state collapsed by 80%, the workers left to try and find other opportunities, housing emptied and businesses went under. I bring all this up to give some context to my next point.

In 2004 landowners in the area agreed to allow Florida Power & Light to place wind turbines on their properties. According to a flier put out by the company, in 2005 the completed wind farm surrounding the town generates enough electricity to power more than 44,000 homes, more than enough power for the area and plenty to export. The state's economic development team took notice and put a program in place to attract more wind power companies to the state. They realized that because Oklahoma is situated smack dab in the middle of the country's wind and transportation corridors; it is perfectly placed to be a hub of wind power. Partnering with the state's universities, the Commerce Department is working to ensure that the state is a destination for anyone wanting to learn or do more with Wind Power; from manufacturing, R&D and training, to the actual production of power. This was the start of something big for the entire state!

Last year when I was visiting my mom over the holidays, I had some time on my hands and drove out to see what everyone was talking about for myself. After driving past all the old haunts, homes and cruising Main Street I headed out Route 66 towards the tops of the turbines I had seen from the highway. A few miles outside of town, there they were! Stretched out through the fields of wheat were turbines as far as I could see. Of course the wind was blowing and they were turning slowly; doing their job of generating power.

This is a great example of how a region and then a state took advantage of a readily available resource to fuel an economic recovery. The first example (oil) was obviously not sustainable, but the second, well, the lyric "where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain" in the state song is not there for nothing! The new wind farms provide employment, add tax base, provides economic stimulus to the landowners where the turbines are placed. They create no air or water pollution, use no water to generate the electricity and as an added bonus, allow the land to remain in agricultural use, which keeps the existing economic base alive,while providing economic diversity to the area.



Despite the huge advantages, there are some disadvantages to wind power; noise of the turbines, cost to install and maintain, and the required scale - you need quite a few turbines to justify a full scale installation. Wind can be unpredictable; energy cannot be generated if it isn't blowing. Finally, there are some concerns that migrating birds, using the prevailing wind streams to get where they need to go, can be killed by flying into the turbines. All of this must be balanced with the needs of a region, but by balancing energy generation with an effort to reduce the impact to the area surrounding the production, we can utilize a resource that may be endless in supply. This helps reduce dependence on a non-renewable resource, creates jobs and income streams for communities that may be looking for ways to diversify their economy. Sustainability at its best.

Yardens

While killing some time in a local bookstore a few days ago, I came upon this book on the 'local interest' table. I flipped through a few pages of Novella Carpenter's Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer and quickly decided based on the extremely clear descriptions of how she 'harvested' her first rabbit, that I would never farm anything other than fruits or vegetables. I would however be willing to trade produce with someone that could handle those details for me.

Urban Farming has been on the tip of a lot of people's tongues lately, probably as a side effect to so many people wanting to know where their food comes from and lately it hasn't been isolated to the coasts. Time magazine has published articles here and here and I just noticed a piece in a recent People magazine about a young girl that provides a homeless shelter with produce that she grows in her family's backyard. I know that folks living in Northern California seem to be particularly keen on eating local produce and meats. In 2005 four women from the San Francisco Bay area declared themselves Locavores and "urged people to buy, cook and eat from within ... their own foodshed, based on where they live." This "100-mile diet" challenge was taken by a handful of people around the world that year and has grown every challenge since then. In 2007 the word Locavore was chosen as the word of the year by the Oxford American Dictionary.

While the 100-mile diet isn't for everyone, something most of us can do is to grow some things ourself. Earlier in the year First Lady Michelle Obama had part of the White House lawn turned into a vegetable garden as a way to "teach children better eating habits by helping them understand where food comes from." Suddenly the idea of growing our own food didn't seem quite so crazy after all! If we each dug up a small corner of our yard or planted a pot on our patio to grow one thing, we could be one step closer to knowing where the food we eat comes from.

This summer, one of my neighbors did exactly that. After spending a couple of weekends pulling out a row of unruly juniper bushes they built four raised beds and filled them with soil and seeds. Before long the 'Yarden' across the street was sprouting things all over the place; more than the family that lived there could possibly eat. As a result everyone in the neighborhood has been the recipient of a bag of vegetables at some point since then. They definitely knew what they were doing and planted things that would produce all summer and into the fall. Even today, things are still going strong.

Now I recognize that some of us may have perfect growing spots, but not the know how to cultivate. And that is where organizations like San Francisco based Urban Farmers come in. Their goal is "to help families reduce their carbon footprint, reduce their water use, avoid agricultural chemicals in their food, and enjoy nutritious food that taste good -- one garden at a time." Once contacted, they will come take a look and help you get things set up in a way that is both productive and that looks nice. If all you can do is contribute land, that's fine too. This particular group has connected with a city sustainability organization to pilot a program where they plant 'Yardens' in order to grow fruits and vegetables that in turn can be distributed to the community.

Most of us have a space that we can have a container to put a cherry tomato plant and some basil. Add a little more space and there could be beans, cucumbers and a pepper plant. Those of us that are fortunate enough to have yards can plant a profusion of fruits and vegetables and share the bounty with friends, neighbors or even those that may not have the means or ability to grow their own. We've tried grass lawns and English gardens and rock gardens; why not try yardening and see if we can taste the difference.

eGroceries

Recently, I read an article in the Sunday New York Times magazine titled 'Faster Slow Food'. The author theorized that online grocery shopping could promote saner eating habits. As I considered what other implications there might be to buying my groceries online I came up with this; online shopping might be a way to reduce greenhouse gasses by removing cars from the roadway. On the other hand, if I did all of my shopping that way, I would have missed out on meeting and interacting with some really interesting people.

Some researchers in Finland have looked into whether or not online shopping is good for the environment and in 2003 published the results of their review in MIT's Journal of Industrial Ecology. One of the conclusions they reached was that in theory, having groceries delivered means fewer car trips. This makes sense. If every house on my street had their groceries delivered once a week, that's approximately 12 less car trips! Internet Marketing Consultant Dave Chaffey lists several other environmental benefits of eCommerce including fewer vehicle miles, less printed material, and less waste due to digitization of things like software and music.

After thinking about it, I decided that I would want to use grocery delivery as a kind of personal shopping service. Items could be purchased from a mass market grocer, a natural foods store, an outdoor market, or a specialty store like Trader Joe's. One charge to my credit card later, it would all be delivered to my house where all I would have to do is put it away. The time saved by not needing to drive to each store, park and shop and then put it all away would be worth the delivery fee. My car would also be removed from the road and the trip the truck makes to my house would be optimized by consolidating all deliveries from my area together. I already use online stores for commodity items that just need replacing to reduce my trips, so it stands to reason that this would work for me as well.

On the other hand, if I got all of my groceries by shopping online I would miss out on the interactive experience of going to my local farmer's market every week. For the past eight years or so, my neighbors and I have gone to the Walnut Creek Farmer's Market at nine o'clock every Sunday morning. We have favorite stands and try to spread our shopping dollars around evenly each week. Through this experience I have made good friends and met people that I might not otherwise have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know. We know who grew the lettuce in our salad (Hi Barbie & Laurie), the peaches and apples in our lunches (Hi Michelle) the flowers on our table (Hi Stan), and who slaughtered the chicken that we roasted for dinner (Hi Hunter). It also makes me feel slightly less guilty about not growing all of this myself - - well, except for the chicken.

Buying as much as I can from the farmer's market is a way to 'be green' because I know that the items purchased there have not traveled hundreds (or thousands) of miles to get to our table. It also helps to support the local economy which is never a bad thing. In the end, we each have to decide for ourselves what will work best for our situation. But I can't help but think that by balancing grocery shopping at local markets (both farmer's and general grocery) with eCommerce I am acting in a sustainable manner towards both the economy and the environment.

(all images author's own)

An Idea Whose Time Has Come *

Here in the good 'ole United States of America most of us that live in urban areas have the luxury of a sewer system to take care of all that pesky storm water runoff that inevitably happens when H2O falls from the skies.

Generally speaking property owners are charged for this service via a variety of fees tied to water usage. This method assumes all properties in a service area are created equal and rewards those with poor storm water management strategies with a lower fee than they would be charged if each parcel was assessed individually. This unfairly subsidizes those that pour concrete and divert runoff directly onto their neighbors lot or into the storm drain system. As storm sewer systems are deteriorating in this country it is time to change how we handle run off. One way to begin to change could be to make it more attractive to property owners to install a passive storm water management system in the form of planted or permeable surfaces.Planted surfaces can slow the speed of run off leaving a property and reduce any pollution in the water as it filters through plants and soil. A properly planted green roof, green wall or native plant garden allows you to contribute mightily to your corner of the eco-system. Recently I toured the Vauban neighborhood in Freiberg, Germany during a steady downpour. The law in Germany state that each property owner is responsible for managing any storm water that arrives on their property. In Vauban this is accomplished in several ways; green roofs, lots of permeable surfaces, and landscapes that follow the natural curves of the land are used to capture any run off. I was surprised to see areas in the neighborhood that would normally be paved, planted with a sturdy ground cover. However as we continued to walk through the rain, I realized that there appeared to be no streams of water in a gutter that needed to be jumped as we crossed streets. In fact, there were not really any gutters as we know them to speak of, merely a curb to delineate the road from the walkway. This works!

Here in the United States we need to start to change how we think about our land and water management. It would be a start to think about how we can help to manage storm water on our own properties. Eliminating slabs of solid concrete, native plant gardens, and green roofs are several easy ways to do this. (well the green roof is not so easy, but once installed, it's very easy) Not only does this work to help absorb storm water, the plants will work to offset CO2 and will be an attractive contribution to the area. A patio constructed from interlocking or permeable pavers, is not only nicer looking than a slab of concrete, it is a permeable surface that allows water to flow through natural aquifers and into the watershed.

There have been several high profile commercial developments in Northern California that installed a green roof with much fanfare. In 2000 Gap Inc. built an addition to their headquarters campus in San Bruno that featured a green roof whose profile mirrors the surrounding hills. The redesigned California Academy of Sciences features a green roof that not only absorbs almost all storm water that falls on it, but also provides a habitat for native plants and a variety of wildlife. Other features in this particular roof include photovoltaic cells and skylights used to provide natural light as well as cool the building below. We have heard that the new Transbay Terminal building is planned to have a green roof. As we start to see success with commercial projects and fees associated with a deteriorating sewer system, more home owners may be inspired to install this type of roof.

(image courtesy of www.greenroofs.org)

Planting a native garden and eliminating non-permeable surfaces are a more likely choices for those looking to make a difference without major construction. Patio areas can be installed using open cell concrete block with a low, creeping ground cover planted in the cells or with interlocking pavers. Both options allow water to flow through and be absorbed into the ground underneath. Any neighborhood plant nursery should be able to provide a list of native plants for the area as well as being a source of the plants themselves. Ask when the best time to plant is and plan your purchases accordingly. Once established a native plant garden will be a low maintenance way to both stabilize the soil, absorb storm water, and a small refuge for all wildlife, including yourself!

* a thank you to Victor Hugo for his quote...

(images all property of author unless otherwise noted.)