The Seattle City Council approved a proposal (by a 6-1 margin) that will charge shoppers 20 cents for each plastic shopping bag they use. This is great news. The fee will go into effect in January.

Opponents of this proposal have said that it taxes those who cannot afford to purchase reusable bags. So to alleviate that cost, the city of Seattle will distribute reusable paper bags to all residents, also giving lower income residents additional bags to use.

The council also passed a ban on plastic foam food containers that is a two-phase project. The first phase will address take out containers and it will take effect in January as well. Restaurants will not be allowed to use plastic foam in their takeout containers. The second phase will take effect July 2010 and focuses on all plastic food containers and utensils. Businesses will be able to use only recyclable or biodegradable products for their food containers.

I’m glad to see that our city is taking steps to reduce the unnecessary waste produced by convenience. If you live in a place that is using plastic bags and you feel like you want to make changes to that, Bring Your Own Bag is a great organization that is fighting for that. They also recently posted to their blog specifically addressing the situation in North America.

In June Co-op America and Clean Edge Inc. released an assessment of the potential of solar energy in the next fifty years entitled Utility Solar Assessment Study. The 75 page report is detailed enough to include data and evidence to support it’s claims while refraining from being written in a dry, unengaging fashion.

The report’s analysis includes a general introduction to solar energy, including CSP (concentrated solar power), PV (Photovoltaics) technology and the electric utility industry. The report goes on to give a comparison of projected solar energy costs per megawatt with fossil fuel costs. I found this section especially intriguing because the solar cost projections given here, which are based on progressions in similar computer technology and the annuals decreases in solar energy costs in the last 20 years, are what will inevitably draw electric utilities toward major solar investments. Solar Utility investment as well as updating an aging, one way electrical grid are the greatest obstacles that stand in the way of major U.S. solar development according to solar energy experts. Presently, .1% of U.S. energy consumption is produced from solar energy, but Co-op America and Clean Edge Inc believe that this could reach 10% by 2025 if solar energy continues to grow at a rate of 40% each year as it has for the last decade. It’s an excellent report and I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in solar energy.

So I just finished “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp and Camille Kingsolver. What a good book. It talks about their year spent on their farm in Virginia as “locavores”, that is people who are committed to eating locally. In their case, they planned on planting produce as well as raising livestock.

The story is woven beautifully by the very accomplished Kingsolver (author of the highly recommended but never read “Poisonwood Bible”). But the best thing about the book is the approachable way that she, and her family, discuss their reasons along with their results. A lot of their experiences and information that they report in the book has inspired me and influenced me.

Since Mollie began volunteering at Erewhon Farm, she and I have become increasingly interested in local and organic food. Mollie has really spurred me to think about where our food comes from and why it’s important. Recently we’ve watched some documentaries, read articles and books, it’s very clear that what we eat matters to our bodies, our communities, our economy and our planet.

I plan on writing a series of posts about food, why it matters and small changes we can all make to improve our diets, strengthen our communities and care for our planet.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you know that we’re still here, we’ve been traveling this summer. It’s provided us with a lot of different perspectives. Going to other places in our world helps us see our home in a different light, but also learn new and different things about the world.

It’s also allowed us time to slow down, and read for pleasure. I’m reading through Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” which a great read so far. Super informative and had me thinking of a bunch of posts. So keep your eyes peeled for those.

I hope everyone is having a great summer.

Sorry I have been gone for a bit. School is a total time sucker and in attempting to continue to live a simple life I must choose to give up some activities that I enjoy doing. Since spending time with my hubbo and sleeping will not be sacrificed (not even to school no matter how hard it tries to weasel its way in), my blogging cannot be as regular as I would like it to be. Unfortunately this will continue to be the case until I GRADUATE, which will be in DECEMBER!!!!

However, I did want to share with you an awesome find. Nordstrom is now selling Holistia Organic cotton underwear. It is so soft and comes is simple solid colors as well as some funky designs (most of which they unfortunately don’t picture on their site). The one down side is that when I was in the store I read the Ethical Fashion tag and interpreted it as Ethical labor practices. I wasn’t until I was in the middle of writing this post that I realized that it just talking about the environmental practices. So, it isn’t perfect but it is a step in the right direction, especially since cotton is the number one pesticide crop.

I’m happy to say that our hometown Seattle Mariners are doing their part in efforts to take responsibility for the carbon emissions related to their operations. This takes into account travel (for teams, umpires, fans and all people involved), electrical and natural gas resources used in operating the stadium, and all waste produced from the game.

To celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday the Mariners are going to partner with Cedar Grove Composting to stage the first ever carbon neutral Major League Baseball game. To accomplish this, the Mariners are going to purchase carbon offsets from NativeEnergy to account for the 230 short tons of carbon-dioxide produced at a Major League Baseball game.

As we all know carbon offsets are not the answer. Well, the Mariners agree with that too. Mariners chairman and CEO Howard Lincoln says., “we know that just buying carbon offsets isn’t enough”. The Mariners lead the charge in sustainability and conservation in Major League Baseball. They’re one of two teams who composts their food waste. They compost about 100 tons of food waste per season. Last year alone the Mariners recycled “342 tons of plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, cans and glass”. They have also made steps to reduce their consumption of electricity and natural gas (18 and 36 percent respectively).

Apparently there are also going to be many local and national organizations on hand to provide information about conservation and environmental responsibility. We won’t be able to make it to the game on Tuesday, but would love to hear about it from anyone who does make it out to the ball game.

I am groaning under the miseries of a diseased nervous System; a System of all others the most essential to our happiness–or the most productive of our Misery…Lord, what is Man! Today, in the luxuriance of health, exulting in the enjoyment of existence; In a few days, perhaps in a few hours, loaded with conscious painful being, counting the tardy pace of the lingering moments, by the repercussions of anguish, & refusing or denied a Comforter.–Day follows night, and night comes after day, only to curse him with life which gives him no pleasure.

–Robert Burns

Worsted Witch (thank you) brought to my attention the Mental Health Parity Bill, which will require insurers to treat mental illnesses in the same manner as physical illnesses. Please write to congress in support of this bill.

I have always struggled to like, let alone love, the way I look. This is not something that is unusual for women in our culture, but it never makes it any less sad. I actually only think that the wide spread problem of this only makes it more sad. One of the sad things for me is that when I am in my core and not surrounded by negative thoughts I like the way I look a lot. I am proud of the curves on my frame and happy with the face I have. I am able to embrace the wrinkle that runs across my forehead and realize that it is a physical expression of my personal history. There is a strong pull inside of me to have my nieces, sisters, moms, girlfriends and all women in general appreciate, care-for, and love their bodies. It makes me really angry that these women get told all the time that their bodies are not good enough and that they need to make unnatural changes to their bodies to make them beautiful.

I don’t buy Dove products (they are not environmentally friendly and largely unnecessary) and I hate being marketed to. However, marketing is not going anywhere anytime soon and I feel that Dove is doing something positive with their marketing. They are reminding women of all ages that it is OK to love your body and that is something to be celebrated. Take a look at some of their videos below. Women it is time to stand up and embrace your bodies whatever their shape.

image courtesy of kixandthecity.com

Last night Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash debuted his new shoes. This time his Nike’s were a little different. They were made from scraps from other basketball shoes. I know that Nike has long been the bad guy in the world of footwear due to labor and environmental practices, but let’s give credit where credit is due. Nike has recently made a move towards more global responsibility and is now making the Nike Trash Talk which is the shoe model made from scrap material that is based off of their already popular Nike Zoom BB II model.

Nike footwear designer, Kasey Jarvis said: ‘I was really looking for a ‘here and now’ solution to footwear waste, and creating a performance product using waste materials felt like a very innovative solution. Using Nike’s Considered design ethos I was able to create a shoe that stands up to the stringent on-court performance requirements but is also more environmentally friendly.’

Steve Nash has been involved with environmental issues for a long time. It’s really great to see that he is taking that concern to his shoe company and that they are utilizing the waste that they create, and are making it usable. Nash said, “Any opportunity to promote the environment and preserve our planet is a step in the right direction.” If you’d like to get your hands on these, they will go on sale on April 22nd.

Nike still has a lot work to do to clean up it’s international labor and environmental practices.

Working on my Undergrad degree has been a broken trail for me as I have steadily committed to give it a place of importance, but never wanted it to be The Most Important piece in my very full life. There are other things that I have come before and will always come before my formal education. That being said, it has over the years remained important to me to graduate with a Bachelors degree and because of this I made a return to school last September. I am now attending University of Washington and it has been a very positive experience and I am very much enjoying this part of my life. There are some changes to my schooling habits that I have made upon my return that I would like to share with you.
In the spirit of ecological responsibility at universities around the world, I now present you with NOTES on Environmental Changes for Students (or anyone really):

1. Travel Mug filled with: fair trade, organic tea; fair trade, organic, decaf coffee; or fair trade organic hot chocolate. So, good. Drinking a warm beverage is lovely on these cold, wet Seattle days.
   • Produces less waste than disposable cups
   • On campus they have a Tully’s that only uses fully compostable cups. However, unless you actually put these cups (like any compostable products) in your compost they are not compostable.
   • It provides a lovely treat while sitting in class or studying.
2. Bring a refillable water bottle
3. Take public transportation (or of course walk, bike, or carpool)
4. Rebinders
5. Recycled notebook paper
6. Take notes on my computer through WordPress (how to below):
   • Install a webserver on your laptop. It’s easier than you think. There are packages that make it easy to install and setup (MAMP for a Mac and WAMP for a PC).
   • Create a database using the tools installed with either MAMP or WAMP.
   • Install WordPress. There will be some manual text editing you need to do for setup, but it’s minimal.
   • Create categories for each of your classes.
   • Start a new post for each class session.

   When you use this method of taking notes, you can easily look back at past class periods by date, and also there is a search function installed by default. If you run into trouble, my husband has offered assistance to those who need some direction. You can get in touch with him over at his companies web site Vigilanteweb.

7. Print only when a Professor requires a hard copy of an assignment and print on both the front and back of each paper.
   To print on the front and back from my computer I:
   1. Press Print
   2. Within the Print Detail page select Paper Handling
   3. Select “Print Odd Numbered Pages”
   4. Print
   5. Place either the single sheet or stack of printed pages face down in the paper tray with the bottom of the page closest to me in.
   6. Repeat steps 1 and 2
   7. Select “Print: Even Numbered Pages” and “Page Order: Reverse”
8. Buy used Text Books. There are plenty out there already and they are usually cheaper. You can also check text books out of the library instead of buying it. A final suggestion is to book share. If you have a reliable classmate it may work out for you to share a text book and split the cost. Everyone has their own study habits and you know what works best for you.

If anyone else has tips feel free to share them through comments!