Earth Day 08

So, it's Earth Day. (What you haven't noticed the "greening" of EVERYTHING KNOWN TO MANKIND!?) (Major League Baseball. Really?)

What does a wannabe-crunchy 20 something who already doesn't eat meat and some other crazy stuff do to make today a little more challenging?

Why, not use electricity, of course. (At home. I'm not gonna make everyone at work turn out the lights and off the computers. Geez.)

With no TV to watch, Internet to surf, or dinner to cook - I set out on a walk this morning. A balmy 58 degrees, among chirping birds, green grass , and flowering dogwoods. It was amazing. I spent 45 minutes just walking around. I had intended to go for a run, but it was so gorgeous I wanted to be able to take it all in. I wish I could convey just HOW FREAKING AMAZING IT WAS. The whole time, I was incredulous at how absolutely picturesque it all was.

When I got back, I wanted to take a shower. So I grabbed our camping lantern and threw it on a hook on the back of the door. Ta da! No showering in the dark. It was kind of fun, actually. My hair, though, is another story. I am running out of mousse and curl spray, which makes my wavy hair manageable. No straightening iron because it uses electricity. So a ponytail and hair wrap came to my rescue!

It's kind of crazy to think about how much electricity I use even in the morning - lights (LOTS of lights!), bathroom fan, TV, laptop, and whatever the heck else I keep plugged in for no reason. (Lamps, hair straightener, and Dust Buster, I'm looking at you.) Especially since the mornings are can be (it's Ohio, after all!) so full of sunshine and brightness. No need for artificial light on a day like today!

I think I'm gonna try and use lights less in the morning, what's the point?

PS: If you live in a really awesome city, chances are, your city is on Google Transit. Check it out! It gives you step-by-step public transportation directions without having to drive at all. Even if you hate the earth, don't you like saving money!?

Coffee Makes Me Smarter

So, I might like coffee. Just a little.*

Let be honest, I could have an entire blog on coffee. It’s addictive nature, the best places to get coffee, the best kinds of coffee, how happy I get when I drink coffee (I mean, really, it’s my Prozac!), how I’m scared of the no coffee rule if I get pregnant some day, and the best lattes to try.

But, I’ll spare you the pain of my ruminating on the joys of coffee.

I never had a coffee pot because I didn’t want to enable my addiction. So I unloaded what possibly amounted to thousands of dollars at coffee shops (and subjected myself to some cheap, nasty instant coffee into which I melted Snickers bars. I am not joking. Although am possibly really gross.)

Upon getting married, we were gifted a veritable mountain of money. In Target gift cards, that is. We had discussed getting a coffee pot to help defray the cost of my addiction, but didn’t register for it because we couldn’t find the Perfect Pot. Oh I wanted all the bells and whistles. I wanted to be able to program a pot of coffee for the instant I woke up, at the temperature I desired, made with a little plastic as possible.

Then I got this pesky email that annoyingly made me consider the most energy efficient way to brew coffee. I mean, it’s a blessing and a curse, really, to learn about something like that. It’s always great to know that there are better ways to do things – but, I reallywantedthebellsandwhistles, darn it!

According to Ideal Bite, here are the coffee brewing methods from most-to-least energy efficient:

1. Cold water brewing (no idea how THAT would work or taste)
2. French press
3. Moka pot on the stove (again, no idea)
4. Plain old electric coffee pot

So we went right out and bought ourselves a cute little French press from Target. It’s pretty easy to use, but I’ll admit it’s more work than a plain old coffee pot.

Why I love our French press:

• Less waste! You don’t need filters so just wash or rinse it out every time
• Cheaper – it was less than $20 and there are no filters to ever buy.
• Smaller – we live in a teeny space. Have you seen our kitchen?! So we need every square inch we can get! It doesn’t use up a plug and takes up about a 5 inch circle on our shelf. Plus, we don’t really need a 10 cup coffee maker, so our little 24-oz press is perfect for us.
• Materials – it’s made out of 80-90% glass with just a plastic handle. So someday I can recycle it! Plus, it’s just a lot less resource-intensive than a hunk-o-plastic coffee pot
• Saves energy
• It tastes SO GOOD since the coffee is freshly ground and brewed by hand. Plus it’s kinda fun (except when I’m running late and rushed! Which is every. single. morning. without. exception.)

Why it can be a pain:

• We can’t use ground coffee for drip coffee makers; we buy whole beans and have to grind so we don't get little tiny particles of grounds in our coffee.
• We have to manually boil and pour the water. Just a little more work and a little less convenience.
• No bells and whistles. At all.

Happy coffee drinking!

This is actually a freakin' awesome coffee shop in San Francisco - they have a compost bin next to their trashcan so you can compost your wooden stirrer and compostable coffee cup. SO cool.

* My heart flutters at the mere mention of coffee.

Simplify...Get outside....

After a fun filled night with friends (and lots cake...mmm), it's 1 am and I usually stay awake until 10 pm. So this is gonna be a short post about what we try to do to stay sane and centered. Why is this related to environment? Because when you feel more focused, you make better decisions that line up with who you are and who you want to be. And being relaxed doesn't take too much electricity. Two birds. As well, when you spend time outdoors, you are increasing your connection to nature and how much you value it.

(I warned you I'm freaking tired and may be prone to rambling)

Try some of these:

- Do some yoga or other slow stretching -- it feels great, and the meditation can be sooo relaxing
- Go for a long walk outside
- Drink some peppermint tea (or any kind of tea...peppermint just feels magical to me)
- Curl up with a book
- Learn how to knit...then knit some scarves for Christmas
- Simply sit in a room and absorb and observe -- this is a kind of meditation some monks do
- Light some candles and/or incense
- Take a break from people and be alone for a few hours
- Write
- Be present to the moment and those around you
- Make an effort to complain less, because it usually begets no good

I need to remind myself to take time to do these things...here's to the start of a relaxed, enjoyable holiday season! Time for me to be present to some Zzzz's and meditate my way to sleep.

The Obligatory DUH Post

If you haven’t done this yet (or at least heard of it…), it’s safe to say you’ve been living in a box. Plain and simple: get CFL bulbs. There’s all kinds of statistics like how they save tons of money, reduce CO2 emissions, and yada yada yada. Point is, this is easy and affordable and really makes a difference. The light can be more white and difficult to get used to at first, but then remind yourself to stop whining and suck it up.

We bought a few packs with our many, many, MANY gift cards from our wedding – instead of throwing away the conventional light bulbs already in our apartment, we simply placed them all in a box (So we can take our CFLs with us when we move out, and replace them with the regular old light bulbs. Sneaky, eh?) Utilities are included in our rent, so we’re just doing this out of the goodness of our hearts (You could also call it eco-guilt. Is that a legitimate term?)

The RED LIGHT district

Stop for energy conservation! (gah. corny.)

In our electronic age we can be continually sucking up energy without even noticing. Every plug space used to power the digital clocks, the red “stand-by” lights on a receivers and DVD players, and our charging cell-phone, all ready for our entertainment at any moment. Sure it’s convenient, but is it needed? Not exactly. Here are some easy ways to cut down on that energy use.

1. Plug your TV, DVD player, stereo system, etc. into a power strip and when you are not going to use those items, turn the strip off, this will cut down on the energy used to keep your electronics at a beck-n-call at all times.

2. Unplug that microwave! There’s no doubt that we are already greatly controlled by the ticking clock, so do you really need another appliance to let you know how late you are running? On a normal day, your microwave will use more power to keep its clock lit that it will to heat your food!

3. Take the habit to the office (or home office) – the same method can be applied to your computer electronics as well. Don’t leave all those computers on stand-by, especially during the day, if you are leaving your desk, turn off the monitor, if you are going to be gone for over an hour turn it off completely.

4. The average cell phone takes only a couple of hours to get full of power, so don’t leave in plugged in all night. All that energy just goes to waste. Instead just charge your phone, computer, etc. when they need it, and when they are fully charged, unplug it! The battery can only hold so much juice, its not going to get super strength if you leave it in longer. Also if you’d like you might want to invest in a wind-up charger! (Sorry, I don’t know where to get them yet.)

Well, ecstatic energy saving to you and yours!