BamBOO?

Remember the smell on your hands during the frog/fetal pig/cat dissection in 10th grade bio?

Formaldehyde is a very old and very common fixative, and one quick glance through the wikipedia page reveals that it is used in far more products than most of us are probably aware of.  While it may not be the most horrible substance in the world,  it certainly doesn’t coincide with those happy “Eco-Friendly!” labels on practically every bamboo product out there.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you have noticed the bamboo trend in everything from flooring to clothing.  As someone who loves trees (and Asian inspired decor), I jumped right on this bandwagon. Unlike woods from trees,  harvesting bamboo does not involve cutting down 50 year old trees and throwing away the bark.  Technically, bamboo is a grass. Like grass, it can grow pretty much anywhere without the help of pesticides and fertilizers, and if you pull one blade out of the massive web of roots, another blade will pop up in its place almost overnight.  Some species of bamboo mature in 5 years, and can grow more than 2 feet in a 24 hour period.   Because of its size, rapid growth, and some other sciencey stuff I won’t get in to, bamboo also releases more oxygen than trees.

If you think about the impact of harvesting enough trees from a rainforest to floor a home, versus harvesting enough bamboo to floor a home, it is clear that bamboo has a significant environmentally friendly edge (and it looks awesome too).  The same goes for any product that can be made with bamboo instead of hardwood – like those cutting boards and utensil trays that are sold pretty much everywhere right now (and they are usually priced nicely, too).

But according to EcoVillageGreen and several other sources I found, “while the growth and cultivation of bamboo is very much organic, the manufacturing process that converts it from woody plant to end product is definitely not green. For flooring, for example, bamboo goes through a complex process ranging from steaming under pressure to kiln drying to hot pressing, all of which are very energy-intensive.  Additionally, some grades of bamboo flooring use formaldehyde adhesives of unknown quantity.”

This is a bit of a dilemma!  While using bamboo products removes that mental image I get of a monkey coming home from a hard day at work to find his tree has been cut down to make a floor in a yuppie mansion, I really don’t relish the idea of eating off of something that could be fixed with a chemical that can preserve dead tissue for decades and smells like the cat I had to cut apart in my high school bio lab.   In terms of eco-friendliness, it still seems that bamboo beats wood in a cage match, but be on the lookout for products that are labeled “formaldehyde free”, especially something in large quantities like flooring or something you’ll prepare food with (I’m giving my bamboo sauce spoon a suspicious glare right now).    My homework now will be to check out the bamboo kitchen accessory section at HomeGoods and see how many, if any, of the products are labeled “formaldehyde free”.   I also emailed the Etsy store I purchased the little sushi plates from to see if they know one way or the other.

The other increasingly common use of bamboo is in textiles – clothes, rugs, robes, towels, etc.  It feels amazingly soft, is usually priced reasonably, and like the bamboo “wood” products, is often labeled “eco friendly”.   It turns out though, this is not often the case. Bamboo fabric is far less environmentally friendly than the other form because of the steps required to turn a wood-like grass in to a silky fabric.   I found a description of the treatment process here, quoted in part:

Bamboo leaves and the soft, inner pith from the hard bamboo trunk are extracted and crushed;

The crushed bamboo cellulose is soaked in a solution of 15% to 20% sodium hydroxide at a temperature between 20 degrees C to 25 degrees C for one to three hours to form alkali cellulose;

The bamboo alkali cellulose is then pressed to remove any excess sodium hydroxide solution. The alkali cellulose is crashed by a grinder and left to dry for 24 hours;

Roughly a third as much carbon disulfide is added to the bamboo alkali cellulose to sulfurize the compound causing it to jell;

Any remaining carbon disulfide is removed by evaporation due to decompression and cellulose sodium xanthogenate is the result;

A diluted solution of sodium hydroxide is added to the cellulose sodium xanthogenate dissolving it to create a viscose solution consisting of about 5% sodium hydroxide and 7% to 15% bamboo fiber cellulose.

The viscose bamboo cellulose is forced through spinneret nozzles into a large container of a diluted sulfuric acid solution which hardens the viscose bamboo cellulose sodium xanthogenate and reconverts it to cellulose bamboo fiber threads which are spun into bamboo fiber yarns to be woven into reconstructed and regenerated bamboo fabric.

I’m no scientist,  but very little of that process is natural, and I have a hard time believing any of those chemicals are remotely eco friendly.   Another dilemma – because cotton goes through the same process to become rayon, but requires pesticides to grow, which bamboo does not.

So what to make of the set of beautiful, soft, affordable, and 100% bamboo towels I ordered from Viva Terra last month?   There is no information on the website or on the tags regarding the manufacturing process – it just says “100% pure bamboo fiber”.  That might mean it was manufactured using the more expensive and less common non-chemical method – I certainly hope so, considering Viva Terra’s eco friendly promises, but it doesn’t seem likely I could find out for sure.  One company that has promised eco-friendly bamboo textiles is Gaiam – but no bamboo towels there.

I guess the takeaway message here is that unless you floor your home with only natural tile and dry yourself off from the shower with leaves, you are going to buy products that would normally be made with wood or cotton.  As an alternative, many of the same things can be purchased in bamboo form with a decreased environmental impact, but not quite a negligible one.  Hopefully as bamboo maintains popularity and more consumers demand to know how their products are made, fewer and fewer chemicals will be involved in the process.

Save some for the pandas though, because they are a lot cuter than humans, and they knew bamboo was awesome long before we did.

More fun with Air Plants

I finished my air plant project!  Here are all three together:

From left to right:

My first try – a beach rock on a slate tile with green air plant

My second piece – another slate tile, with a stone I picked up from the grounds of Chichen Itza in Mexico last year and a reddish purple air plant

My third and final (for now) – a limestone and coral clump I picked up in Key West that happened to have a perfectly sized hole in it, and a green spiky air plant.

Again, I can’t take credit for this idea. It was inspired by the artwork of the person I purchased the plants from. Check out her Etsy shop here.

I’ve had them for a few weeks now and have managed not to kill them, which is impressive for me.  I spray them every few days and leave them in my window where they get sun for about half of the day.  I can’t wait to hang up the tile pieces on the wall in the new apartment.  The coral piece will go on the top shelf of my desk, where it will hopefully* be safe from the curious and deadly claws of Shep.

The total cost of this project was under $25, and that’s including the tiles which are repurposed. The only unnatural component is the silicone glue, but I don’t know if there’s any way around that other than mixing my own concrete.

Speaking of natural materials,  I had a coupon from VivaTerra, so I splurged on two items: bath towels and place mats:

I looked everywhere before I bought these, but couldn’t find anything like them anywhere else.  They are so simple and natural (just rocks glued on to black felt), but they also have a modern look that is not likely to go out of style or clash with any dishes I’d buy in the future.  I photographed the placemat with one of the bamboo sushi plates I purchased from Etsy, but of course this will look a whole lot better set up on the counter rather than my bed!

I must confess though, I had jumped on the bamboo bandwagon without doing my research, and while this shouldn’t really be a surprise, some of the “eco friendly” marketing angles of bamboo products are deceptive.  Wait! Now don’t go throwing away that bamboo cutting board quite yet!   In my next entry, I will post the results of my research on the pros and cons of bamboo.

Happy Summer Solstice to all of you!

Fun with Craigslist Scavenging

One day, a guy named Craig was sitting around, lamenting the fact that he could not find a pitbull, a babysitter, a used futon, and an erotic massage all in one place.  And so, as neccessity is the mother of invention, Craigslist was born.

Need to rent a clearly illegal basement apartment in Dorchester? Done.

Used breast bump? Got it.

Awkward adult encounters?  Yep, all set there, too.

It’s difficult for me to figure out if Craigslist is more awesome than it is creepy, or vis versa.  Not even touching on the whole “Craigslist Killer” thing, it only takes a 5 minute scan through any of the discussion boards or personals posts to be thoroughly grossed out by your fellow humans.   Even in the categories that seem tame, like boring old “Help Wanted”, you are bound to stumble across gems like “human sushi platter wanted for private party” and “part time housekeeper…  must be willing to work in lingerie”

My personal favorite was an email I received through craigslist the last time I was looking for a roommate.  A kind, classy gentleman, without ever having seen a single picture of me, offered me a room in his supposedly stunning penthouse condo in Beacon Hill, with my own bathroom, a parking spot, etc…  for free, so long as I signed a contract that I would spend a certain amount of time walking around naked.  Nothing like swapping your dignity and pride for a sweet pad, right?  I wonder if he ever found a taker…

Anyway, my point is that Craigslist can be awesome, if you are careful.  I am by no means a fearful person, but there are certain risks that you just don’t need to take.  Whenever possible, especially if you’re buying something small, like tickets, always meet the person in a very public place. If possible, dont even get out of your car.   When it comes to buying larger items such as furniture, always bring someone with you.  This doesn’t need to look like you’re being paranoid, but that you just brought a friend to help.

I am guilty of breaking this rule recently, because after talking on the phone with the seller first,  he was clearly very gay, and I didn’t feel even remotely unsafe meeting him outside of his apartment.  That probably wasn’t the brightest move on my part, but I guess I’m just a sucker for very lispy gay guys with apartments full of Crate and Barrel.

For one of the aspects of my attempt to go greener, I wanted to avoid buying new things.  For someone who loves shopping as much as I do, this isn’t easy.  I also have pretty high standards when it comes to what I want our apartment to look like, and Michael and I don’t always agree on styles – which limits the number of acceptable furnishings.  This means that yard-sale hopping would not be an efficient method of finding some of the things we needed (stools for the breakfast bar, a desk for me, and a bed frame).

After we’d looked around on websites and in stores, we’d agreed on a few specific items we wanted:  West Elm breakfast bar stools, priced at $149 each (though they happened to be discontinued) and the Crate and Barrel Ladder Desk ($139).

Even though it took a few weeks of searching (just a couple of minutes when I checked my email each morning), the benefits turned out to be far greater than the minor inconvenience of not just driving to the store and making a purchase:

1. The eco friendly part – not major, but it all adds up – 1 less box full of plastic wrap, packing peanuts, and styrofoam, one less box, one less paper instruction manual, receipt, 1 less desk in demand, etc.

2. The money saving part – I paid 120 for BOTH stools (less than the cost of 1) and 60 for the desk (more than %50 less than retail).  They’re both in good condition, but thanks to being pre-owned, I don’t need to worry about being responsible for the first scratch.

3. The satisfaction part – even though typing in the name of a product in the little search bar on craigslist every few days is FAR from challenging, somehow it is more satisfying to get what I want, at a great price, without stepping foot in a store.  Plus,  no assembly required as long as it fits in your car!

Overall, Craigslist makes the “Re-use” part of living green pretty effortless.  Next time you see something you like at a major retailer, give yourself 2 weeks to find it on craigslist before you buy it new.  My next goal is a platform bed from West Elm, but we’re waiting until we’re actually moved in for that, since I’ve already filled my parents basement up with my stuff.

IKEA – The Original Hipster

You all know a hipster. They are always striving to be so super unique, just like the 5 million other nearly identical hipsters. You just heard of a cool band? Well, trust me, they were listening to that band WAY before they were cool and they will sneer condescendingly at you for enjoying the music of “sell-outs” (because we all know that REAL musicians strive to remain in their parent’s basements playing at the local VFW on Tuesday nights).

Well, like your friendly clove-smoking androgynously styled hipster, IKEA was in to fair trade and eco friendly business practices long before it was cool.  Also, like a hipster, IKEA wants you to believe you are purchasing a cool, unique piece of furniture, despite that fact that approximately 2 billion other people from here to Antarctica have the same exact product.

I worked for IKEA from 2003 to 2006.  In order to work for the company, coworkers must participate in enrichment courses – some about Swedish culture, but many about the history and philosophies of the company.  Ingvar Kamprad (the I and K of IKEA) started the business at some point after the ice age, selling pencils door to door on his bike – another hipster connection!!  (Though I doubt he customized his bike with “mods” or ironic stickers).

A few veneered tables and several kazillion dollars later, Ingvar is one of the richest dudes on the planet (I think right after Bill Gates and the Virgin guy), but as of my last encounter with him, he still drove his own car, flew coach everywhere he went, and insisted on using coffee grinds at least twice before throwing them out.  When store managers sent limos to pick him at the airport in an attempt to kiss his ass, he would refuse to get in them.  If there is a way to use something over and over again until it becomes dust, this guy has thought of it (and then turned the dust in to a plate).

Before the term “eco friendly” was coined, Ingvar was called “cheap”, or “thrifty” if you didn’t want to sound rude.  But the bottom line here is, you can feel generally good about shopping at IKEA, though like anything else, if not limited by budget, there are even better alternatives.  I can also say from personal experience that they treat their employees well and offer insurance packages beyond compare of most American companies (find me another company that offers 2 weeks fully paid PATERNITY leave?).  Not sure what came of it, but when I still worked for them,  I heard that a plan to sell solar panels was in development.

But in the immortal words of Levar Burton, “you don’t have to take my word for it!”:

Supereco.com

buyerbefair.org

Press Release

The biggest downside to shopping at IKEA is…shopping at IKEA.   The stores, all nearly identical in layout, are intentionally designed to get you lost,   forcing you to look at every single product before you wind up crawling to the checkout, and of course by the time you get there, you’ve worked up a mean appetite –  but don’t worry – there’s the meatballs!!

The other drawback is that after you’ve spent 4 hours on your hands and knees with an allen key and a wordless “manual” creating your masterpiece,  your friends will come over, glance at it and say “oh! you got that at IKEA!”, which to me, doesn’t translate to “oh! I love that!”    Although on the flip side, having such a recognizable product does make it easier to recycle when you’re done with it.  When I moved out of my apartment in NYC, I sold pretty much everything – and the IKEA stuff sold the easiest and for the most money, without a doubt.

So,  a hipster is annoying and a little cliche, but you’re probably friends with one anyway.  Think of IKEA the same way.

=

I managed to do something crafty without gluing my fingers together or starting a fire!

When I first came up with the idea of creating a green living space and a blog to go along with it, my friend Ray asked me if I’d ever heard of Etsy.   I hadn’t.

She warned me that discovering it may be dangerous.  2 purchases (but still under 40 dollars) later, it is too soon to determine the level of danger this website poses to my efforts to stay frugal.  I’ll be patriotic and use our nation’s uber-effective color coded “How Scared of Muslims Should I Be Today?” alert system: at the moment, we’re at code Yellow.

Etsy.com is a website where people far more talented than I can sell their handmade, handgrown, and homecooked goodies.  Everything from expensive art to affordable soap, cufflinks made of old typewriter keys, plant arrangements, and everything in between.

Last week, I stumbled across a “store” featuring air plants being sold on their own, or attached to magnets and tiles. I loved her arrangements, and was drawn to the modern but natural look of the air plants. I immediately thought of the small pile of slate tiles I had sitting in my trunk, left over from the fireplace in my last apartment.   After asking the artist if I could buy her plants and steal her idea, I received my plants in the mail over the weekend.  Thanks, Kara!

I only made one today,  just in case it came out horrible, I would have only ruined 1 of the 3 beautiful plants she sent me.  However, I don’t think it came out horrible at all! In fact, I’m kind of proud of it!

Ingredients:  one air plant (10.75 for a set of 3), one natural slate 2×6 tile from Home Depot (I had purchased 4 boxes of these last year at 4.99 each) , one beach rock (free), and some silicone glue (4.99 at ACE Hardware).

Result:

Here is another picture of it,  place on top of the salvaged wood cutting board I purchased this weekend at Longleaf Lumber, which will be the subject of my next post!

I’ll make the other two this week if I have time.

Wake Up

Isn’t it sad that these days, talking about something as simple as caring about the environment immediately evokes right vs left wing POLITICS?

I believe one of the most devastating consequences of the Bush administration and its related think tanks will be the villain-izing of environmentalism.  Thanks to years of propaganda, caring about the planet we ALL live on has been reduced to a bunch of cliches and negative stereotypes of democrats and liberals.

Global warming has been a discussion since I was in grade school, and though I’m sure it was controversial back then, it was certainly not a right vs. left issue.  We now have people like Sarah Palin creating terms like “extreme greenies”, mocking people who DARE to think twice before raping the planet of every last clean molecule.  I really want to know how the hell wanting to protect our home has become a political issue.  If you think I’m being dramatic when I use the term “rape”, check out the film “Jesus Camp”, in which one segment shows a radio DJ stating that God gave us the earth and everything on it to use up as we wished until Jesus came back to get us. In another segment, a mother explains her many reasons for keeping her children out of public schools, where Devil-worshipping liberal teachers “preach” evils like environmentalism.

The fact that the religious right has jumped so eagerly on the anti-environmentalism bandwagon is mind boggling to me.  For a bunch of people who think their Lord and Savior painstakingly created every mountain and river,  they have a funny way of showing their gratitude.  Then again, these are the same people (in one way or another) responsible for imprisoning and banning the works of Galileo for… stating facts.  As the nutcases and fear mongers of all religions have shown us, facts are SCARY.

This bird being dead is a fact.  It’s not George Bush’s fault or Barack Obama’s fault that this bird is dead.  Its not republicans or democrats fault that this bird is dead, and its certainly not “extreme greenies” fault that this bird is dead (sorry, Sarah).   The media and political talking heads will continue to try to distract you by simplifying this disaster. It’s always easier when you can blame someone, especially a black guy.  If pointing the finger in any given direction and saying “See?! I was right and you were wrong!” makes you feel better when you look at this picture, you need to wake up.

Been to the Pacific lately?   There is a massive spread of garbage twice the size of Texas floating along there, killing birds, whales, fish, etc.  So if you’re a republican, you’re not supposed to care about this?  This is what God intended our oceans to look like?

What will it take for this to stop being a political issue and become what it actually is: a humanity issue?  Wouldn’t it be a shame, with all of the possibilities for improvement out there, if we didn’t get our acts together until it was too late?  Wall-E doesn’t seem terribly unrealistic, does it?

The coke bottle I was too lazy to bring to the recycling bin 3 years ago might be floating around in that massive pile of crap. I’m going to keep reminding myself of that any time someone rolls their eyes at me for trying to “go green”.

And with that, I already broke my promise of not making this a political blog, but the scary thing is that the two subjects are so intertwined in the first place. Also, I’m infuriated by the fact that articles discussing the actual environmental impact of this oil spill are buried under piles and piles of nonsense and jibberish and propaganda from politicians and idiots who think that pointing fingers and yelling a lot will help the situation.   That bird died while some cable news dingbat was arguing with an “analyst” of some sort about who’s fault it was.

Imagine if they’d both shut their mouths and grabbed some soap?

Do actual people really spend 80 bucks on shower curtains??

I certainly don’t.

Even if I had $80 burning a hole in my pocket, I don’t think I’d spend it on a shower curtain.  Apparently though, this is the going price for an eco friendly hemp or linen shower curtain.  I won’t pretend to be an expert on these things, but I don’t see how a big plain piece of fabric with some grommets punched in the top could possibly cost even a fraction of that to manufacture, unless of course, it was handmade by Jesus.

After sorting through several google pages of overpriced fabric curtains, I stumbled upon this one from Bed Bath and Beyond.  I like the color, and instead of hemp or linen, it’s made of recycled fabric scraps turned in to yarn.  Its 29.99 plus shipping, which is pretty reasonable, but I was disappointed to discover that the 49043 (give or take) 20% off coupons that end up in the doorway of Michael’s apartment building are not redeemable online, and of course this particular shower curtain is not available in the stores.

I may try bringing it in to a store to see if I can have the 20% off credited to me.

Now for the liner.  Have you ever wondered on the 3rd or 4th day after replacing a shower curtain liner what you may be inhaling when your bathroom STILL reeks?

Turns out, a lot of chemicals.  I can’t vouch for the objectivity of this article, but the study it references seems to be valid.  Some of the highlights of the study are pasted below, along with the link to the full article:

•    108 different volatile organic compounds were released from the shower curtain into the air over twenty-eight days.
•    After one week, 40 different VOCs were detected in the air; after two weeks, 16 VOCS; after three weeks 11 VOCs and; after four weeks, 4 VOCs.
•    The level of Total VOCs measured was over 16 times greater than the recommended guidelines for indoor air quality established by the U.S. Green Building Council, violating these guidelines for seven days.
•    Just one new PVC shower curtain will release Total VOCs that exceed the typical Total VOCs residential level for four days.
•    The concentration of Total VOCs in the Wal-Mart tested shower curtain was so high that the analytical equipment was saturated and further testing had to be halted so that lab equipment would not be damaged.
•    All five curtains tested in phase one contained phthalates DEHP and DINP, chemicals banned in children’s toys in California, Washington, and the European Union.

http://www.womenandenvironment.org/newsreports/volatilevinyl

Yummy!

The good news is that PVC free liners are available at regular retailers, not just the over priced “green” ones.   Finding EVA liners (EVA =ethylene vinyl acetate = PVC free) was effortless – Target has them for under 15, and Bed Bath and Beyond for $9.99.  I’m ordering this one for 11 dollars, since this company is also fair trade approved!

Michael’s bathroom is actually the most eco friendly option, as it won’t require any shower curtains at all.  It has a stand up shower with a glass enclosure.  Other than needing to clean the glass,  my problem with this particular bathroom is that without a shower curtain there is NO color!  If i was designing my own bathroom, I would love to have a glass enclosure, but I’d pick colorful tiles instead of just white and beige so it wouldn’t be quite so boring.  I’m leaving this one alone though – since this is not my bathroom.

4 weeks from today we’ll be moving in!