How To Stop Global Warming, or, A Cranky Person Spouts Off

People say, "What is the sense of our small effort?" They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.
~Dorothy Day

Travel and learn. Photo by Lisa Kau.

When contemplating what to write for this month's Green Mom's Carnival, which has the topic of Global Warming, I was flummoxed. Global Warming? What on earth could I add to the Global Warming dialog? I felt inadequate, small, unworthy (even though sustainability is what I do). And that, dear readers, is the key.

Each and every one of us MUST do what we can. Regardless of our scientific credentials. Regardless of our status, our education, our confidence (or lack of it). It is up to us - individuals - to make a difference. I am not a parent (although I have three nieces, whom I love so fiercely it actually hurts, and for whom I would throw myself in front of an oncoming train), but when I think of what kind of world we are leaving for future generations I almost despair. Almost.

I once had a boyfriend (of the Earth First! variety) who would spray paint “Nature bats last!” on isolated bridges and over passes in ravaged, heavily-logged national parks and wilderness areas. While I was a bit appalled at the vandalism, I agree with the sentiment. Human beings are just a blip on the planet’s radar; we are currently wreaking havoc, but are ultimately not as important as we like to think we are.

We have the opportunity to make a huge paradigm shift – respecting nature, living sustainably, slowing consumerism, sharing our wealth, building communities, and learning kindness. I am embarrassed at the riches Americans squander each and every day; for example, we buy bottled water with extra shots of caffeine or vitamins or just a really pretty label, while others, by a mere accident of birth, do not even have clean water to drink.

To me it all comes down to personal responsibility, and deciding to think about something other (bigger!) than ourselves. I remain optimistically realistic, and just a bit cranky.

How to Curb Global Warming, Part One

1. Take responsibility - for your actions, your non-actions, your attitudes and your biases.
2. Stop driving. Seriously. Just stop. (Mark Sheppard doesn't agree with me...and boy, he is really cranky!)
3. Work (hard!) for change.
4. Take care of everyone. Not just the pretty or the rich or the sane or the educated. Everyone.
5. Be kind.
6. Stop competing.
7. Consider reading the Utne Reader, Orion and YES! Magazine instead of People and Entertainment Weekly. Do we really give a horse's patoot about how Jen is coping with Brad and Angelina's ever-growing family?
8. Find work you love. Embrace a new paradigm.
9. Share. The one who dies with the most toys does NOT win. He's just dead, with lots of stuff for someone else to deal with.
10. Turn off your TV, and cancel your cable.
11. Read books. Borrow them from the library, or use Bookmooch.
12. Speaking of libraries, support them. If you don't have any cash, volunteer.
13. Become frugal. Think of it as another way of conserving resources.
14. Eat lower on the food chain.
15. Grow your own vegetables, swap with neighbors. If you don't have the space, join a community garden. Get creative!
16. Compost, and be amazed at what nature can do.
17. Spay and neuter your pets (9.6 million animals are euthanized - killed, put down, - annually) and encourage others to do so, too.
18. Do not buy dogs from puppy mills.
19. Get to know your neighbors.
20. Travel, and learn that the world is made up of people a lot like us.
21. Understand that valuing conspicuous consumption is, well, kind of stupid. Do we think it really matters if we have the new style of Jimmy Choo shoes?
22. Don't be cranky.
    
    

Sell your soul (sole?) for Jimmy Choo's. Photo Credit CafeHangout on Flickr

More info on the Green Mom's Carnival can be found here.

Vision of a New Way of Doing Business

I haven't posted here for awhile. And I was feeling guilty (ah, well, there's something new!) about it - after all, a new business needs constant attention, enthusiastic diligence, constant feelers to contacts, both new and old...

Frankly, I've been rather frantic. Working on a Media Kit (Earth Day is four months away - and everyone seems to want to talk to us at Earth Day!), making lists (and checking them twice) of green bloggers who might be interested in collaborating, writing copy for ads that won't run until the fall of 2009 but are due NOW, trying to determine which of all the tempting events, conferences and trade shows to attend (hmmmmm....if I "Pitch My Product" in Chicago at the Country Living Women Entrepreneur's event I can't make it to the Book Expo in NYC...), creating a delightful, cohesive and fun seminar program for the summer & fall of 2009, PLUS cook dinner, pretend to clean, sew thermal window shades for our house (it's been below zero - outside - each morning for the last week when we awaken...), filing all the dozens of papers, magazine tear sheets, pamphlets, and brilliant ideas that are constantly whirling around my desk and my head...

And then I finally came to my senses. I moved to Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage to live more sustainably. And the longer I live here, the more I realize that sustainability is about more than reducing my physical footprint. I need to be sustainable. I need to set reasonable working hours, regardless of how new and entreprenerial my business is. I need to breathe, to play, to run around with the dog, to talk with friends, to give myself time to recharge and regroup. I need to nap. So I'm taking a few days off; I hope to have a sustainable plan for this blog in 2009.

Fionn, snoozing.

Thanks for reading. I hope to continue to make it worth your while in the future.

The Milkweed Mercantile November Newsletter

Photo: Glen Bolosan

This Month's Theme: Gratitude

Dear readers,
Regardless of what is happening around us, we all have so much for which to be grateful. As an individual, I am grateful for my husband, who makes my life a joy; my supportive friends who are always there when I need them; and my crazy pets, who never fail to provide entertainment. I am grateful to have a warm house to live in; what I like even better is that you can often find a friend nestled into the couch, cup of tea in hand, in front of the wood stove. As the Top Banana of the Milkweed Mercantile, I am grateful for the talented Rabbits who are and will become members of the staff, and for their creative and insightful contributions to making the Mercantile a thriving, heart-based success. I am also grateful to you, the Mercantile's many supporters - thank you so much! And as an American, I am grateful to have a new president-elect, and a renewed sense of hope in our country.

So take a deep breath. Thanksgiving CAN be fun, and the day after does not have to be crazy.
A Bit Nervous about Thanksgiving? Read Facing the Family by Teri Trespicio

Featured Seasonal Recipe: Cranberry Sauce (hint: it's easy!)
Growing up I thought that cranberry sauce always came in the shape of a can, and that those horizontal lines etched in every inch or so were to help your mom know where to slice it, just like this:

Photo credit: Zach Kowalczyk

A few years ago, though, I learned to make my own cranberry sauce. What a revelation! It's easy, and the taste difference is stunning. Added bonus: the cranberries pop as they cook, making it a fun project to do with kids. Cranberries have a lot of natural pectin, so your sauce will definitely gel. I don't strain mine (way too much work!) and like to add pecans and orange zest. Presented in a lovely dish when you arrive for dinner, Aunt Edna will think youíre a GENIUS! Note: Make extra so that you can add a bit of it to your leftover turkey sandwiches on Friday...

Photo Credit: Sarah J. Gim

Delightfully Delicious Cranberry Sauce
Makes 2 1/4 cups

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

4 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 cup chopped pecans

zest from 1 orange

1. Wash and pick over cranberries.
2. In a large saucepan bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil.
3. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst.
4. Add in the roughly chopped pecans and orange zest. You can also add a cup of raisins or currants, or up to a pint of fresh or frozen blueberries for added sweetness.
5. Remove from heat. Pour into serving bowl and cool completely at room temperature. Chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Mercantile Construction Update

Thomas keys the plaster into the strawbales.

Our beautiful strawbale building now has two of three coats of plaster, and the Fuego fireplace was installed this week. We are planning on heating the upstairs with a series of ducts (also installed), counting on the theory that hot air rises. For updated photos, please see our Flickr page!

The Department of Give That Woman A Microphone and She'll be Happy Forever:

I was a guest on the Revolutionary Muse Podcast Radio on Monday, November 11, 2008.
Click here to listen.

Holiday Sanity, Part One

Are you looking for ideas for inexpensive, creative and eco-friendly gifts? Take a look at this from our Friends at the Center for a New American Dream.

And there are lots of ways to wrap your gifts without spending lots money OR trashing the environment!

Featured Products: 15% off all Edibles!

Dark Chocolate Wally Bar

Last but not least, we would appreciate your support as you are doing your holiday gift-giving. Highly recommended: the amazing Chocolate Wally Bars and Blueberry Lavender Preserves make the perfect hostess gift. And be sure to check out our "Giving to Others" section. All Mercantile purchases are unconditionally guaranteed, come packed in eco-friendly packaging, and are shipped via USPS Priority Mail.

15% OFF Coupon
Use the secret code "Sweet Potato Pie" during checkout to receive a 15% discount on all edibles purchased before December 20, 2008. Supplies limited to stock on hand - shop early!


All of us here at the Milkweed Mercantile send good wishes for a healthy, harmonious and delicious holiday!

Alline Anderson, Kurt Kessner, Amy Seiden, and Annie Radford

"You really can change the world if you care enough."
- Marion Wright Edelman

The Realities of Renewable Energy

The power system in our house is very modestly sized. Before leaving Berkeley we went around the house with a clipboard and took notes on how many watts for how much time each appliance we were taking with us used. We bought a small system, knowing that we would have to economize power-wise when cloudy weather prevailed.

This is one of those times. We are still building the Mercantile, and the power that we have is being prioritized for power tools used in construction.

The sun is scheduled to come back out on Sunday (hmmmm, how appropriate!) and I'll have more to post then.

Internet use aside, this is a lovely opportunity to catch up on reading, hanging out with friends, and sitting by the fire with a nice cup of Peace Coffee. Yum.

And just in case you're worried, the Mercantile's power system will be much larger, to accommodate the number of guests we expect to have at any one time.

Have a great day!

I'll Have a Little Humble Pie with that Plastic Tumbler, please...

Learning, learning, learning. I am always learning.

After reading today's Fake Plastic Fish entry, I have asked our web guru to pull all of the #5 plastic items from the Mercantile inventory. I hope it will be done by the end of the day.

While #5 is food grade plastic and previously considered safe, there is now some question about how safe it really is. And it would seem rather hypocritcal for me to continue to carry the items. On one hand it breaks my heart - I love the idea of being able to use recycled plastic, as kind of a penance for our over-consumption. But on the other hand, this is just another red flag, another "come to Jesus" moment.

We must stop all of this consuming. We must find ways to be more thoughtful in what we use, and how. We are so rich, and so priviledged; we must take responsiblity for the waste we are generating.

Also on today's Fake Plastic Fish was this 60 Minutes Report about exporting electronic waste - you know all of those cell phone, computer monitors and televisions we "recycle" each year? Turns out much of the recycling is not done here in the US - our very toxic waste goes to the poorest parts of China. Watch it here:


Watch CBS Videos Online

Do we really need the newest, thinnest phone that does everything from answer your email to walking your dog? And how many tvs do we all need? (Disclosure:when my parents passed away in 2004, there were FIVE tvs. Five. For two people. It's just how we're used to living. We feel we deserve it. But at what cost?).

It feels so insurmountable, so overwhelming. But like anything else, I just have to take it in small pieces. I'm taking a vow to be more deliberate and thoughtful before I buy things. How about you?

Should you need some lovely recycled plastic, um, flower vases, let me know:

Ooooh, what a pretty flower vase!

The Laptop Lunches would be great for beading supplies. I can get them for you wholesale!

Fantastic beading supply cases, cheap.

A Plastic-Free Life: WWBD (What Would Beth Do)?

I have been very inspired by Beth Terry and her blog Fake Plastic Fish. While I flap my jaws about plastic consumption, Beth is taking action. Check out her blog – you’ll see what I mean. I really want to join Beth’s Plastic Posse. But to do so I feel I need to be more deliberate and judicious in my plastic usage - just because we live at an eco-village doesn't mean we have it all figured out. Often, it means that we don't, but are consciously seeking the answers!

Here are the questions she poses, and my answers. How would YOU answer the following?

1. What was it that first inspired you to eliminate plastic from your life? Was it a particular issue? News article? Experience? And when was this?

The first I remember being aware of the evils of plastic was in high school (way back in the disco-inferno 70's). We heard about turtles and sea birds being strangled by the plastic 6-pack rings. Of course, we didn’t stop buying the six-packs; we simply became vigilant about cutting them apart. Years later when I started composting all food scraps, buying in bulk, recycling paper and aluminum and steel, my garbage output became pretty darned small (put out weekly in, um, plastic bags...). I was impressed with myself. But I still kept buying plastic. It’s time for a little humility, and a more concerted effort.

2) What have been the 1-3 easiest changes to make?

Some things have been absolutely easy-peasy no-brainers: grocery bags, coffee cups, reusable flatware and glass storage containers at home.

I really enjoy bringing my own bags to the grocery store. The nice Mennonite ladies at the local store totally get it, and the teenagers at the local "supermarket" put up with it (remember, we’re in the middle of rural red-state Missouri). My favorite bag is made from recycled PET (read: plastic) and while I understand the irony in this, I also feel a responsibility to support the companies making products out of recycled plastic. I also have one made out of recycled organic cotton, and some really old beaters from years and years ago...

I always bring my own coffee cup. While this is mainly about being very annoyed by disposable cups, I really like having my own cup. I know exactly how much sugar and milk to put in to make it taste perfect, and my hand doesn’t get burned holding it. This too, is recycled plastic. (I can imagine Beth shaking her head, moaning "oh no, where have I gone wrong..."). But until I can find a stainless steel tumbler with a screw-on lid, I’m sticking to it. Pop-off lids tend to do just that, and I’ve had too many papers, purses, car seats and desk tops soggified from tipped over coffee tumblers to believe that they'll stay on. My search continues. Let me know if you find one!

Tucked in the bottom of my bag whenever I travel is my bamboo flatware travel kit and cloth napkin. The first one I made for myself, and then I made more for friends. These were so popular that I now make them for our store. Once again, my motives are pretty selfish. I HATE using plastic flatware. The stuff breaks, and is just plain cheesy to eat with. The same goes for the “compostable” flatware (talk about a load of crap! Just because it CAN be composted doesn’t mean that it WILL be composted. Can you say “greenwashing?”).

When we leave for a trip we are fully stocked with delicious edibles. But when we get to our destination we usually buy some food. (Side note on life at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage: Trips beginning here in rural Missouri seem to take forever. We get up at 4:30 a.m. and drive our bio-diesel vehicle-coop car to the train station in Quincy, Il. From there we take a 4½-hour train ride to Chicago’s Union Station. From there we either get on another train or take the El to the airport. It makes for a long, hungry day.)

In train stations and airports (and on trains and airplanes) it is considered criminal to give a patron a metal fork and knife to use while dining. So I bring my own. And get to use my own cloth napkin, too.

You can just as easily bring your own flatware; it doesn’t have to be fancy schmancy bamboo. Just get a cloth napkin, wrap it around a fork, knife and spoon you’re willing to part with and tie it up with a rubber band or ribbon. This will, however, only work on trains. Dude! You’re so eco!

Home food storage: I love Pyrex. Borosilicate glass is the coolest stuff! I’ve found some fabulous old glass refrigerator containers at auctions and on E-bay - the truly "vintage" ones have glass lids. We also sell some at the Mercantile, so I have a set of these in my kitchen, although they do have plastic lids. Quart jars are great for leftovers. Once you start, it gets easier.

3)What has been your biggest challenge so far?

Plastic is everywhere! EVERYWHERE! It’s like body snatchers. Or Republicans. Or SUVs. Or ragweed pollen in the fall. Even when I buy in bulk there is plastic. A 10-lb box of organic raisins or walnuts? Inside the cardboard box is a plastic bag. Sigh.

So I set small goals, and reward myself for small victories (I am very easily amused). My goal this month: learn to make ricotta and mozzarella (both easy cheeses), cottage cheese and sour cream**. Ted (here at Dancing Rabbit) makes fabulous yogurt and delivers it in quart jars; there’s no reason to be buying any of these in plastic containers. Milk is available from two local dairies; both use glass bottles.

**just found this link for sour cream and cottage cheese, and this for ricotta, both over at Crunchy Chicken. Yay!

4)What one thing would you say to encourage others to lessen their plastic consumption?

Start small. Be kind, to yourself and others. And realize that you are not alone in your quest!

Here is lots more inspiration from members (official and unofficial) of the Plastic Posse. You'll find great ideas, lots of humanity, and absolutely no judgement for anyone but themselves:

Arduous Blog

Mindful Momma

Life Less Plastic

Citizen Green

Plastic is Forever

A Slice of the Pie

The Gamble Life

Cousin Yellowstone's...

This will make you want to give up plastic altogether......while this will inspire you.

Good luck - we're all in this together!

And Now the Waiting Begins...