by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I’ve been collecting used paper of all kinds for recycling for a few years now and, even though I successfully got off the junk mail lists on Green Dimes two years back, it’s amazing how quickly my bin fills up. I find some satisfaction in toting it off to the recycling center every month, knowing that by buying recycled and using recycled, I’m keeping my dirty paws off the planet - at least a little. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for most business - large or small. Even now, it is estimated that at least 60% of paper is still not recycled and only about 30% is made from PCW (Post Consumer Waste) - the minimum EPA requirement.

Traditional paper mills use several energy intense steps in production, involving carbon and other gas emissions, chemical and solid waste (usually flushed into waterways) and catastrophic amounts of water. Making paper from PWC rather than trees uses about 40% less resources, less energy and less pollution.

Not enough people know that paper recycling has become easier and more convenient than years past. You can include unopened junk mail - no “window” removal is required - and though it will depend on your local recycler’s guidelines, most often mixed paper can include colored paper and paperboard (sometimes called tag board, which describes most product packaging, like that of a toothpaste box (why is toothpaste in a box anyway?? Another reason to DIY!). BTW, glossy stuff can be added to magazine recycling. Some cities are including paper in their regular pick-up. If that’s not the case, you can most likely find a drop-off center near you to make an occasional drop.

Step One: Buy recycled paper supplies, office and school products. First, look for a locally-owned store in your area. If they don’t already have recycled supplies, request them! Although big box stores often offer a token amount of recycled supplies, it is smarter to support the companies who are exclusively green. Remember that the growth of environmentally responsible companies will force the paper industry towards higher levels of sustainability (and allow lower prices).

Next - go online. GreenLine Paper Company has been owned and operated by environmentalists since 1992 in York, PA. They’ve steadily expanded product selection and now include kitchen, bath, restaurant and cleaning supplies, as well as Fair Trade and Organic Coffee, Tea and Chocolate. They also reuse their shipping cartons and use only biodegradable packaging. Their goal is to educate consumers as well as sell responsible products. I’ve been ordering for years and can vouch for their quality and customer service.

Another company has more recently come onto the scene. The Green Office, established in 2005, offers great green and Fair Trade products and then some. They provide a wide range of supplies, including office furniture. Socially and environmentally, they’ve got it covered, with services including sustainability consulting and even retail high-quality cost-effective renewable energy and emission reduction credits (Offsets). The web site contains the most thorough and user-friendly information that I’ve come across at Offsetting 101. Their blog and newsletter will keep you up to date on the greening of corporate (and other) America and beyond.

Step Two: Recycle all the paper that comes into your world. Setting aside a bin in both your home and office gives you “throw-away” convenience without the guilt. Like so many things that once felt “normal” in daily living, recycling rather than trashing will become automatic. You’ll wonder what took you so long.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

As I’ve spent the Summer learning to like it hot, commuting by bicycle, traveling less while learning to work and vacation right where I live, I’ve been feeling good. I’ve gotten involved in more things in my community and have enjoyed the peacefulness of Summer. Wait a minute, just why is it so peaceful? Where is everyone?

We Westerners commit a lot of eco-sins in our constant pursuit of pleasure and one high on that list is the second or “Vacation Home”. Somewhere along the rocky road towards wealth, this trend got started and hasn’t looked back. It’s so common that there are websites and magazines dedicated to the business of building, buying and selling this version of the other “American Dream” at the beach, in the mountains and on the lakes.

The idea of environmental footprint gets blown out of the water on this one. A second home which uses resources to build, complete with roads, chemically-laden landscaping and utilities, equipped with boats and/or tennis courts, sitting empty most of the year? Ouch. Add into the equation the time that people spend driving from house #1 to House #2 and you have a lot of energy spent on very, very few, very, very occasionally. Sustainable? Not by a long shot.

Although tourism is an important part of the economy, this permanent influx of “people with money” invites the mega-stores to move in, often transforming comfortable small towns into strip mall-villes. In many cases, these large, excessive homes make beaches, mountain trails or lake fronts inaccessible to the public and pushes out the locals.

Are those with the dollars to spend likely to give up this luxury? Doubtful. Can it be done in a way that respects nature and falls into a sustainable lifestyle? To a large degree, yes. First on the list, second homes don’t need to be big. In fact, they can be very, very small - tiny, in fact. Domes, Yurts, Teepees and other ways to live lightly are now widely available. After all, you’re there to enjoy the great outdoors, right? Lloyd Alter of TreeHugger has a lot to say about that.

Bring back the idea of co-oping with friends or family and you’ve all taken a considerably smaller step. Building green means you could even stay off the grid with water-catchment systems and solar energy. Learn that there is no “away” in trash terms and adopt the attitude of “leave no trace”. Consider the additional miles you will be traveling and commit to acquiring an alternative energy vehicle to make the trips.

One more thing - be part of the community - shop and eat locally. Enjoy what you came for and keep it safe and welcoming for everyone.

by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC

Sometimes I feel so lucky. Not only did I get a chance to celebrate my recent green wedding to my beautiful lady, on a goat farm, with good folks all around, but when it came time to give us gifts, we realized that our friends really know us. So many people spent both time and love thinking up gifts to celebrate our marriage in ways that made sense. Many items were handcrafted, others local, and many were even created by the gift givers themselves. Two gifts in particular stand out, both for their originality, their appropriateness and their downright sweetness.

The first of these I will touch on only briefly, as I am sure that Jerry and Tracey are heartily sick of the attention that they are receiving for their decision to further offset my honeymoon flight (having already purchased a TerraPass) by foregoing air-conditioning for the month of June. As Jerry says, it feels weird to get noticed for doing something that just makes sense. Nevertheless, given the fact I had previously sworn I would never fly again and then finding myself in love and in North Carolina, I was supremely grateful for Jerry and Tracey’s loving and thoughtful gift. I’m now considering asking them to forgo eating for the next year so I can buy that Hummer I’ve always wanted~

The other gift that stood out as being ‘so us’ came from Jenni’s sisters, Sarah and Laura, cousin Jessica, and Sarah’s boyfriend, Andy. We knew they were spending a day building something for us, but what that something would be we had no idea. Then it arrived – a 3ft x 4ft wooden cage, with ‘crack house’ scrawled on the side. At first I was a little mystified - was this the groom’s new sleeping quarters? All became clear when I noticed the baskets attached to the back of the structure. They’d made us a chicken house, and had even bought three little chickens to live in it. Both Jenni and I have secretly harbored dreams of owning chickens one day, but had both been putting it off until we got our own place (at least that was our excuse). This gift spurred us on to take the plunge and what a joy it’s been!

Henrietta, Agatha and Martha are now firmly entrenched as part of the family. They are yet to start laying, though they should reach ‘womanhood’ soon. They are already providing a steady stream of future compost, and an endless source of amusement. Even Bela, our cat, loves to sit near them and keep them company (he licked his lips a few times when they first arrived, but he’s never really seen them as lunch). And in terms of hassle, we never should have worried. They roam free in our yard, coming in at night to their comfy coop. We occasionally fill their food and water bowl and throw out a few scraps from the kitchen to supplement their diet. They’re not exactly the geniuses of the animal world, but there’s something calming about watching a chicken scratching around for bugs. I had wandered what I’d make of chicken-keeping, but I admit that I’m definitely hooked. Maybe we’ll get a goat for our anniversary…

Anyhow, as I say, sometimes I just feel so lucky. Getting someone a gift is so often thought of as just ‘going shopping’ – we’re so pleased to know folks who can think outside of the box and beyond the basket.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I’ve been dwelling on the plastic bottle thing. After all, many things - equally unnecessary - are packaged in plastic bottles besides water. Dish soap, laundry soap, hand soap, floor soap…then it hit me - this is all just soap! If I can use one soap that can clean everything, then I can cut down my bottle use significantly, right? Yep, and the answer has been staring at us for about 50 years. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Castile Soaps can and will do it all, organically, safely and spectacularly.

Castile is actually a term for any vegetable oil-based soap. Dr. Bronner’s soaps are made with olive, hemp and palm oils (instead of animal fat) and coconut oil for lathering. Their cleaning strength and therapeutic properties are enhanced with pure essential oils, making this product nature-friendly and 100% biodegradable (great for both indoor and outdoor use). Coming in liquid and bars, this soap can be diluted to varying ratios to clean just about anything. Super-economical, you can use just a few drops full-strength in the shower and just one drop for brushing your teeth. (For hard-surface cleaning, choose Sal Suds, Bronner’s all-purpose cleaner made from plant-based surfactants.)

Hold on, it’s gets even better.

Dr. Bronner’s bottles are made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic and Bronner’s gives generously and regularly to social and environmental causes. Certified in the practices of Fair Trade, employees enjoy profit-sharing, bonuses and excellent health benefits. If that’s not enough, you can enjoy the label…

“The over 30,000 words spread across all the soap labels were Dr. Bronner’s life work of searching every religion and philosophy for “Full Truths” that can be summed up in two beautiful sentences:

1. CONSTRUCTIVE CAPITALISM IS WHERE YOU SHARE THE PROFIT WITH THE WORKERS AND THE EARTH FROM WHICH YOU MADE IT!

2. WE ARE ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND WE SHOULD TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER AND SPACESHIP EARTH!”

It sounds like Dr. Bronner’s does it all and says it all. Read the full story here.

For more information on specific uses and ratios of dilution, see the web site or look for “Clean House, Clean Planet” by Karen Logan.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I’ve seemed to have caused a stir in this area regarding my Summer with less A/C. That’s right - not zero A/C, just less. It started as some readers know, as a way to “offset” a friend’s flight to Paris for his honeymoon in June. And yes, I went all of June without turning on A/C. This never felt particularly heroic to me - June still provides cool nights here in the somewhat South and I have a shady yard to spend time in. I’m betting there were many other people keeping windows open that month.

July quickly turned hotter and although I rationed my hours of A/C use, I ended up significantly over my original goal of 8 hours per week. We’re having 100 degree temps. right now for August, so I’m closed up with shades drawn. I’ve had the A/C turned on every night so far, though I’ve still been able to get through most of the day without it. With the thermostat set on 85, it usually comes on around 4 or 5pm. Still, under the ceiling fans, 85 degrees is kind of nice - that much I learned.

I’ve told and retold the story as above, yet my supposed valiant effort to help save the planet has been escalated to unreasonable proportions. In the last week, it’s been written up in the city newspaper and yesterday I was called in for an interview for NPR’s “The Story” (broadcasting Friday, 8/10). Today, our local TV news station sent a camera to my house.

I’m starting to feel awkward about all this attention. The questions continually posed at me seem aimed at some dramatic consequence, as if I set out across the Sahara. No matter how many times I tell them how easy this has been, they want to hear about the blood, sweat and tears. In reality, I’ve suffered very little and gained a lot by challenging the status quo of “comfort”. This wasn’t a radical action in any sense, nor just a temporary experiment. This is simply me learning and growing and doing my best to be comfortable yet be conscious of my actions and their effects on nature. It’s also me protecting my future - not an entirely selfless act.

Yes, I do want people to look at A/C as a privilege and not a right. After all, I hesitate to consider how many people are enduring this heat wave in NC without that choice of whether to flip the switch. But I want it to represent much more than that. I want people to live every day with awareness of how much energy and other natural resources they consume and how much it costs the environment. I want everyone to gain perspective on what we perceive as absolutely necessary in our lives - not just to cut carbon emissions and save energy, but to relearn what it means to live with nature rather than against it and possibly, remember a way of life where we worked with our hands and, yep, our blood, tears - and sweat.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Speaking of toothbrushes in landfills - what about all those tubes that can’t be recycled? I switched to natural toothpaste long ago and enjoy the benefit I get from essential oils and other natural ingredients, but I’ve been long considering the whole DIY idea for toothpaste because I’ve never found a way to recycle the tubes (or get all the paste out of them). Well, I’m sorry that I put it off because I’ve discovered not only that it is super simple to do, but it’s good for your dental health.

The only ingredients I didn’t have on hand was vegetable glycerine, which was easy to find at the food market. Here’s the basic recipe from OraMedia Dental Self-Sufficiency: Mix 3 parts baking soda with one part sea salt. Add an essential oil for taste and/or therapeutic benefit. This can be used as a tooth powder. If you prefer a paste, add 3 tsp. of vegetable gylcerin to each 1/2 cup of powder and enough water to make a paste. (Apparently, gylcerin can require extra rinsing for demineralization so some people prefer to substitute plain water.)

Additional ingredients and variations is where it really gets fun and therapeutic! You can substitute raw apple cider vinegar for water in the above recipe and/or moisten your toothbrush with hydrogen peroxide before using powder or paste. The OraMedia site is also a great resource for research and testimonials. (I’m hoping to find a version tasty enough for pets.)

There are many variations to help you match your needs. For instance, you can also add:

Vit. C powder - antioxidant

Clay - alternative to baking soda

Tea tree oil - anti-bacterial

MSM powder - soothes gums

My own experiment included coconut oil, which gave the paste a creamier texture and a great taste. This site says that making your own toothpaste or powder can provide a year’s worth of use (for a family of 4) for about $1.50! Wow.

I’m just happy to be tube-free! Here’s smiling at you!

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Ok, this one is a no-brainer. Really. If we can’t at least do this, the rest of our efforts are doomed. I mean it. It’s one thing to struggle through the harder changes - like no A/C in August or giving up your car. But we can and should all do the easy stuff - don’t we owe that much to the planet and ourselves?

For instance, we all brush our teeth - every last one of us. Heck, some of us (including me - surprise!) brush our pet’s teeth. So, it stands to reason that if we all recycled our toothbrushes, it would make a difference, right? (Not too mention all those non-recyclable tubes of toothpaste - more on that later!)

Well, for now you can at least recycle your toothbrush and it’s really, really easy. Recycline makes the Preserve Toothbrush - a great product that is both environmentally and functionally friendly (I’ve used them for years and can say that first- hand). Recycline has it covered - they create these toothbrushes (and razors) from recycled polypropylene and the packaging they come in is also made from recycled material. Then they take them back and recycle them again - bristles and all, turning this reinforced material into plastic lumber.

Recycline makes this process very Easy by providing you with a pre-paid envelope which you can simply drop in the mailbox. Each envelope will hold several old brushes and their containers, so I store mine under the sink and then just drop them in the mail when full after several months. This company has been in the Green from the get-go and they are currently a semi-finalist in Forbes.com “Boost Your Business” contest. To add your vote, go here.

This makes me think about other easy changes we could all make - I’m talking REALLY Easy changes - no sacrifice necessary. Hey, I know things are more serious than that - we also need the big stuff to happen - like alternative energy and fuels, large-scale water conservation, more organic farming, and regulations for big business. But the little things matter - karma-wise and otherwise. It is the smaller things that we do daily that can stoke the fire of change within ourselves and others and provide growing awareness of how we live and why - creating a new/old perspective.

I’ll start a list of Easy changes below. I’ve done all of them - damn easily. Please add to my list and I will promise to try anything I haven’t yet done.

Change one (or many) lightbulbs to CFL’s

Turn the lights off

Use rags instead of paper towels

Give up using napkins (bring your own reusables)

Give up plastic bags (bring your own reusables)

Turn down the heat and the A/C

Wash clothes less often and use cold water

Hang dry

No lawn, less lawn and/or push mow

Buy less (or nothing) new

Buy sustainable stuff

Buy organic

Buy fair trade

Recycle

Give up bottled water

Bring your own drinking bottles and coffee mugs

Use only biodegradable cleaning and body products

Use bar soap instead of bottled soap

Navy showers

Join your local co-op

Fill your car tires with nitrogen

Don’t wash your car

Grow herbs and/or vegetables

Compost

Drive less

Offset

Watch less (or no) TV

Read magazines and pay bills online

Walk or bicycle to any destination under 1 - 2 miles

Adopt a pet from a shelter

Reuse, recycle, rebuild, restore, restyle, rethink

Buy recycled office supplies

Don’t idle your car - ever

Support local businesses

Wash dishes by hand (with the faucet OFF)

Share tools

Give consumables as gifts and don’t use gift wrap

Fly less

Eat Less Meat

Eat Local Foods

Consolidate and/or share your car trips

Host a “Stuff Swap” with friends

Tell a friend

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Bugs - can’t live without ‘em, but do we have to live with them? Yes, sort of, but there are ways to find a balance. We had been living with ants in our kitchen for a couple years when we decided on the direct approach - we politely and sincerely ASKED them to leave. We haven’t seen an ant since. I’m serious. It worked.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had this result with my yard and pets. Since I’ve been a pet-owner in a southern climate, I’ve had to come to terms with using flea and tick products. Recently, I’ve faced a new problem with one dog who has contracted hook worms 3 times in one year, an intestinal parasite that can live in the soil. Normally, they are not found in a North Carolina climate, but global warming has changed that. Although the animal can be treated with dewormer once infected, there’s no preventative available.

In a bit of desperation, I went in search of a way to treat the soil in my yard, but resolved to only use something that would be safe for the environment and other critters.

Much to my surprise, I found a solution at CedarCide Industries, a company using the safe and natural essential oil of cedar to control fleas, flies, ticks, mosquitos, chiggers, mites, no-see-ums, ants termites, moth and venomous snakes. The best news is that there is no effect on other animals like birds or squirrels, or beneficial insects such as ladybugs, butterflies, frogs, toads and garden variety snakes. The website is packed with information. I emailed to ask about the hookworms in my yard.

I heard back immediately from Ben, who has 50 years in the business and sure knows his stuff (you have to read about this guy!). This is only part of what he sent back:

CedarCides PCO CHOICE Insect control concentrate. I know that it’s biggest attribute is its ability to dissolve the insect egg and larvae. This is critical when controlling hook worms. When one can interrupt the egg layer cycle, create a barrier of entry, then you will subsequently eliminate the next generation of insects.

Hook Worms are predominately found in the Tropical South. Normally they are not that common in North Carolina. PCO CHOICE comes in gallon or quart bottles. It is supplied with a hose end sprayer calibrated for outside use with this specific concentrate. The concentrate will provide a total of 8 applications or 160 gallons of spray. I suggest that unless you have a huge yard, this will last all season. To use, just put four ounces of concentrate into the cup, fill to 26 ounces with water, reattach to the sprayer mechanism and initiate spraying.

PCO CHOICE can also be purchased with a two gallon Compression Sprayer for use inside the home. Mix 2 oz per gallon of water. It will not stain and leaves a temporarily pleasant Cedar Closet aroma which is lethal to insects such as Scorpions, Roaches, Fleas, Carpet Beetles, Crickets, Silverfish and many others.

Dr. Ben Oldag
askben@cedarcide.com

800 842 1464.

I’m ordering soon and will follow up with my results! CedarCide is Cedar-Wise!