Recycling- not a linear process

Recycling is just that, a cycle, and so we must be aware to not only participate in recycling but also use our consumerism to reinforce its economy.

* Choose glass containers over plastic

* Buy recycled paper and understand paper jargon

Buy post-consumer. If the label indicates recycled but not post consumer it means that the company is simply collecting the scraps from the floor and putting them back onto the assembly line. 100% post consumer is ideal.

TCF (totally chlorine free): means virgin paper that wasn’t made with chlorine or chlorine-containing products.

PCF (processed chlorine free): recycled paper that was made without being re-bleached using chlorine or chlorine-containing products.

* Buy recycled toilet paper- it’s not reused its recycled-

if every household bought a 12-pack of 100% recycled paper rather than 400 sheet rolls made from virgin fiber, it would save 4.4 million trees and prevent the equivalent of 17 000 garbage trucks full of TP from going to the landfill.

* Be aware of packaging. Pick the loaf of bread that hasn’t been triple wrapped in plastic.

dirty dozen

Organic is expensive. So find out which foods are better bought organic and which are not.

A word of encouragement, well many words

One of the major issues with global warming and environmental destruction is that the people who care feel powerless. How can one person make any conceivable difference? But I figure if we are aware of the daily differences we can make, why not?

Think about the tobacco industry, they were almighty. Most of the developed world was smoking at one point and time, but as we learned the health implications and experienced the losses it could cause, people effected change. Smoking transformed from a trend to a bad habit in a decade, and now tobacco industries cannot even promote their product without displaying a picture of a devastated body organ on the packaging.

The same process is beginning to occur with the environmental movement. As more and more people bring reusable bags to the grocery store, you try harder and harder to remember.  As tales begin to trickle through the grapevine about pesticides and growth hormones, we begin at least comparing prices between the organic meat and regular ground beef.

My favorite part is when you do it, the sense of pride. Yes the organic sugar cost me $1.25 more than the regular sugar, and I defiantly thought twice before making the purchase. But I have never been so proud to own sugar in my life!

So lets just do it because it feels good. Sometimes it will cost more, and often it will cost nothing. For the most part it is just a process of learning and doing. 

Boycott Bottled Water...plastic sucks

Yes, we have all heard it - bottled water is bad- but why?

Bottled water is a multi-billion dollar industry, in 2006, Americans spent nearly $11 billion on more than 8 billion gallons of bottled water. And for what? Your tap water has been nicely filled into a plastic bottle and it'll be $1.75 please.

Aquafina fills its water from the taps of many southern states of America. Companies such as Aquafina and Dasini are not even required to do any testing on their water if it is sold within the same state, while local governments are.


So tap water is tested and regulated, while bottled water is not

The bottled water industry drains 1.5 million barrels of oil each year, and 75% of bottles are thrown in landfill. With the cost of oil it works out that it takes 2litres of water to make 1Litre of bottled water.

Plastic bottled water contains bisphenol A, (which has now officially been declared a toxin by Health Canada).

Bisphenal A is a chemical that may damage male sperm cells, may influences birth defects, and is associated with many cancer cases. It can also, at nonmolar doses, reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy in certain lines of breast cancer cells.

Researchers are now finding that it may also be related to childhood obesity levels.

If you live in Victoria and the Greater Victoria region you should know that our tap water is from the Sooke reservoir. The Capital Regional District manages and protects this large environment 365 days of the year. It is only open to the public in the first weeks of May. Our water quality is excellent and we have no excuse not to indulge.

http://www.crd.bc.ca/water/waterquality/documents/water_quality-web.pdf

In the past two years I have probably purchased under 5 bottles of water. Often at clubs or bars they want to make a buck and so only provide water to their customers at a cost. Water should be a right to every person in the world. 

I would like to acknowledge Lucky Bar in Victoria, BC, who have taken the pledge not to sell any bottles of water at their bar.  

Coffee.. our daily fuel

Coffee is a daily must for many people, in fact 2.25 Billion cups of coffee are consumed daily.

Coffee is good, obviously, but 90% of its production takes place in developing countries. During the 1970's and 1980's the US agency for Industrial development offered Latin America $80 Million to switch coffee production to a monoculture.

Prior to this seemingly large offer, coffee was shade grown and mixed in with other vegetation that provided food for locals. It is now a sun grown monocrop.
The issues with this are obvious, increased use of pesticides, lower biodiversity, land degradation etc.. But the reason we don't do anything about it is because we are not directly effected. But, boy would we be pissed if we didn't get that morning cup of joe.

So... lets make the connection.

Since the transformation from sustainable shade grown coffee to sun grown monoculture there has been a complete devastation of the songbird population. Song birds are migratory, and so in the spring and summer come to North America and eat the same insects that are the primary vectors of infectious and parasitic disease.

Loss of Songbirds = Increased risk of disease

What you can do - buy local and fair trade coffee. Practice your sustainability first thing in the morning every morning. You will never taste a better cup of coffee.

What I will do- I am more of a tea drinker, which is equally as much of an issue. First I will be more conscious to buy fair trade tea, and continue to buy Red Rose as they have a commitment with the rainforest alliance. Second, I will only buy boxes of tea that do not have individual wrapping. Each tea bag does not need to have its own packaging, its absurd.