Barter, Give, and Get Stuff

Check out this great article on sharing within our local communities.

Transacting through barter, gifting, time banks, and other creative means will instantly open up potential for strong, localized, and sustainable economies. We have a wealth of valuable people, skills, goods, time, and potential in our communities!

Why I Ride My Bike

Let’s dust off our bikes put our wheels to the ground. Let’s take to the streets, lets make our hearts pound! <3

Use Less Plastic!

Every piece of plastic ever made still exists today, and much of this plastic has traveled from our hands to our oceans. The most important thing you can do is use less plastic. Join the Blue movement and sign the plastic pledge at SaveMyOceans.com

Use Less Plastic from TakePart on Vimeo.

Toilet Paper, t.p., tea --> pee

Over the course of finals week, and after countless pots of tea to get me through some rough nights of grueling paper writing/editing...

... I've come to strongly resent toilet paper.

The fact is, countless virgin trees are destroyed for the necessary pulp and large amounts of chemicals are used to turn the wood pulp into the soft, fluffy, white tissues we like to use in the united states.

Regardless of the fact that I buy 100% post consumer recycled t.p. -- those darn packages of t.p. are wrapped with plastic packaging, require petroleum fuel to produce the materials, and a lot more fuel is burned getting them to their destination. There's really no way to get around it.

Other environmentally sound options? Bidet...Cloth....drip dry? (eww!)

I suppose I could start integrating cloth into my daily bathroom habits... like for number 1, and save the precious t.p. stock for the more important bathroom trips.

This hasn't been the first time I've been seriously considering other alternatives to t.p. -- however the reoccurring problem with this is that I currently a) don't have extra cloth scraps to donate to the cause, and b) i'm broke as a motherfucker -- meaning I cannot afford excessive laundry use. Quarters are a precious precious commodity.. and yes, I hoard them.

So, t.p., for now -- i'm stuck with you. But sometime in the near future, I'll get you out of my life!

Green Long Beach Festival 2010!!!!

Sense of Community

By strengthening my ties with the people around me, allowing myself to connect and reconnect with new and old friends -- I'll be building and supporting my own sense of community.

What does this mean to me? And how will my individual actions help support my community?

Earth Week Mayhem

all i have to say about earth week planning right now...

is good luck to us all.