Standing in line

My dad once told me that instead of looking for the shortest line, he looks for the one with the most interesting people in it (so California, so not New York). I think I'm finally in a ((develop)mental) place in my life where I would agree that this is the best method. However, at the co-op, there's not an option. There's only one line. One terribly long line. But today I got lucky.

I ended up standing in line in front of two very rambunctious and precocious children. And since I didn't have to put them to bed or give them medicine, it was just fun.

Annica and her long-haired, towheaded little brother were shopping with dad this morning. After exclaiming, "Look at all the beautiful vegetables!" (while peering into the freezer case), Annica informed me that "Daddy married mommy, and then we had butterflies."

Seems like the right way to do it.

Green Consumerism, Investing, Living, etc.

I think it's not just me. And I think it's not just the people I work and am friends with. I think that people all over the country and the world are starting (and continuing) to seriously reconsider some of the ways we choose to live. That's a good thing. However, like any mass movement, the mass-ive version is less attractive than the original idea -- it gets a little watered down.

Sometimes that's a good thing. Not everyone can wear haute couture (because we can't all look like 14 year old girly boys forever), but nearly everyone can wear prêt-à-porter. Likewise, not everyone is ready to commit to keeping a worm bin and going off the grid, but they can make changes like recycling, switching to CFL light bulbs, and turning off the water while they brush. When great masses of people take small steps, it's as or more powerful than when a few take some giant leaps.

All of this focus on the environment is welcome in my book, but it has its limitations. What is the environment if not the place where we (and many other forms of life) live? The thing that environmentalism, as it is typically defined, leaves out is the social system.

Environmental factors like carbon emission, chemical pollution, energy use, etc. are relatively easy to measure with the tools of science and therefore easier for us to attach numbers to and wrap our minds around. However, those factors don't exist in a vacuum. They exist in a very messy world of societies, states, emotions, and other human realities. Social issues like poverty, community unity, education, justice, labor rights, and diversity are not so easy to measure. Sure we can get data on these issues, but they're much messier and more interconnected. Plus, improvements might take a while to show up in the numbers. But this doesn't make them less important. Just because science/math can't test for them as individual variables doesn't mean that they don't exist.

That's why I like the concept of sustainability. It's not as limiting to "green" things as our typical definition of environment. But if we start using that word to replace just the scientifically measured side, we'll miss something.

If you're interested in other concepts of what we call environment, No Impact Man has some great posts about the philosophy behind what he calls "human health, happiness, and security." He also has some great things to say about bringing the environmental discussion home -- to air pollution on your street -- not just polar bears trying to find icebergs.

I clearly need to read more fiction.

Compost Craze

I keep hearing little peeps from friends and family who are saying things like "Hmm, I really don't see that grapefruit peel in the trash the same way anymore. I keep thinking that it would make excellent worm food. How many worms did you say you have? Do they multiply? Does it stink? How do you harvest it?"

Oh I encourage you! The worm bin makes you feel super wholesome... and if you want to feel a little less wholesome, think about it this way: worms are hermaphrodites and therefore have both sex organs -- they can do anyone! And from the looks of the baby worms we have, I think they do!

I'll find and post some more practical tips soon. I'm just happy that it's catching on without any direct attempts to convert people.

Red Wiggler Delight

In mid-October, my roommate, Grant, and I started a worm bin. A worm bin? In your apartment? Oh, yes, my friends.

Before we even decided to live together, the condition for being my roommate (other than being willing to accept all of my insanities and quirks) was that we would have an indoor vermi-compost system in our apartment. Grant obliged. I've been wanting to do it for years but didn't have the drive to do it and/or didn't want to offend a roommate by introducing worms into our already-established environment. Well no more!

Vermi-composting, besides being a great way to avoid stinky garbage (since all of the stink-causing stuff goes into the worm bin), is also a great way to help reduce greenhouse gases. Rotting food accounts for somewhere around 16% of our residential greenhouse gas emissions [Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions April 2007]. This is because a) we throw away way too much edible food and b) because food is put in the garbage, and therefore a landfill, where it is then anaerobically decomposed. This anaerobic decomposition produces Methane, which, as you know is pretty deadly stuff and toxic us and to our environment. The worms, on the other hand, along with some helpful bacteria and other microbes break down the food waste aerobically, which doesn't produce the toxic gases.

And not only that, but when it's time to harvest my precious worm castings, my plants (and probably the tree outside too) will be extremely happy. I turned my waste into liquid gold for my little plant friends. My garbage will turn into next season's rosemary, sage, basil and whatever else we want to grow!

If you still think living with worms is gross and you have a backyard, it works there too (and you don't have to deal with worms or rotting food inside). Or, if you're still thinking it's not for you, you could at least buy the stuff. (What, buy worm poop?) Well, yes. There is a lovely company called TerraCycle that composts food by getting paid to take it out of the waste stream (brilliant business model, eh? not only do they not pay for their raw materials, but they get paid to take them). They take this garbage and feed it to their worms and then package the castings into all re-used containers. Not recycled, re-used. It's pretty cool. You can get it in regular stores, it's less expensive than the toxic alternatives, and their advertising indicates that plants grow better with TerraCycle than with their more toxic counter parts. Try it! (Plus they have a ton of awesome community building projects that are built into the business.)