Opinions

Living Free

by nan on 2010/09/01 · 2 comments

This is an excerpt from a dialogue I frequently have with a friend. We are both in transition, dreaming of possibilities and being torn by realities. We talked again last night, and here is some of what I said.

I think too much planning ruins what we are really supposed to be doing – being free. If the spontaneous move doesn’t work, you make another one. I don’t know. Someone said I was a gypsy in a previous life.

You know, I may have told you this, but when I was about 20 in the early 70s, I read a Dear Abby column titled Advice at 85: Live Daringly. I still have it somewhere, and it shaped me. An 85 year old woman wrote to Abby and said if she had to do it over again, she’d eat ice cream for breakfast, and walk barefoot in winter more often (among other things). She felt she’d spent so much energy doing the ‘right’ thing that she missed living.

We should be spontaneous and deal with the consequences. We could die tomorrow, so what is there to lose? Nothing! Our society says this is wrong, and that is wrong, so we abide by its lame rules and lose out.

Follow your heart. Be spontaneous. Forget the rules. Be free.

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Do We Really Need to Use Toothpaste?

by nan on 2010/08/31 · 10 comments

I ran out of toothpaste last week. I thought I could squeeze one more brushing out of the tube, but it was impossible. So I brushed my teeth without, and flossed and used mouthwash as usual.

My mouth didn’t feel any different, so I had to ask myself, do we really need toothpaste?

My dad was a dentist. I am well-acquainted with dental hygiene. Brush twice a day, brush your tongue, replace your toothbrush regularly, get a check-up every six months, and go easy on the sweets. This has kept me from major dental work most of my life.

In the last ten years or so, the emphasis at the dentist has been not so much on teeth as gum disease. A cleaning now consists of a laser cleaning beneath the gum line, a flossing and a quick scoot over the surfaces with the spinny thing dipped in an abrasive. Gum disease seems to be at the root (ha ha ha) of most dental problems. It’s not just cavities anymore!

So I began to think about toothpaste while I brushed without it.

> What good does it do? Does it just make your breath minty fresh, or does it actually clean?
> If our problems are below the gum line, does toothpaste get down in there and clean it out?
> I floss after a good brushing with toothpaste, and there is stuff between my teeth that a toothbrush and paste don’t get.

Our society is obsessed with cleanliness. My teenage daughters take every hygiene commercial to heart, and think they need this deodorant, that toothbrush, this face or body wash, that shampoo, and so on. They recite ads like they are absolute truth. (They have so much to learn about hype!) Toothpaste that makes their breath fresh is high on their list of must-haves.

Other countries don’t focus on the sterile lifestyle American ads purport. Articles have been written about how our children are sicker, because their homes are immaculate, and they are never exposed to dirt and germs. We are building up resistance to antibiotics, because of anti-bacterial hand soaps and other unnatural things we absorb into our bodies.

Indigenous people use chewing sticks, native plant parts that have antimicrobial qualities. They chew on a stick until it is frayed, all the while getting it’s disinfecting benefits, then they go over their teeth with the frayed end.

I met a woman in my travels about 20 years ago, and she did not brush her teeth. She had a twig in her hand, and she picked and cleaned her teeth and gums with that during the course of the day. She had beautiful teeth. I don’t know if this was a genuine chewing stick, which you can buy, or if she felt the way I do – keep the hidden spaces around your teeth clean.

So what’s up with toothpaste? It cleans the surfaces. It does not clean between your teeth or under your gums, where dental problems begin.

Toothpaste is a multi-billion dollar industry. The choices these days are overwhelming – whitening, breath-freshening, plaque-removing, tartar-controlling, paste, gel, paste-gel combo, travel size, family size and everything in between. Manufacturers want to please every corner of the market, since it’s all about money. Their ads tell you you have to have this product, or people won’t like you. Who doesn’t want to be liked? So we buy it – we buy their hype and their product. (photo: flickr Clean Wal-Mart)

But do we need it?

I think not. I figure I can brush sans toothpaste, floss, rinse with mouthwash and pick my teeth during the day as usual, and I’ll be fine. I mean, if toothpaste (and I use plain old toothpaste without all those amazing properties that will make me wildly popular) cleans the surfaces, I can do that with a good brush.

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Eco Recap 8.26.10

by nan on 2010/08/26 · 0 comments

There’s a little bit of everything this week! You can follow me on Twitter and Facebook to read the stuff I didn’t have room for!

> Now THIS is closer to my idea of being green – holistic and progressive! I think all new construction should have sustainable features, but I also believe that taking care of each other is eco-friendly. Here is a green school that serves the children in a poor neighborhood of Bogota.

> Speaking of holistic… We all know we are moving at warp speed with technology fueling us. We have news in our pockets on our phones before a newspaper every hears of it. We we can communicate 24/7 with friends and relatives around the world via Twitter, Facebook and other social media. Slowing down is good for your health, and good health is eco-friendly.

> I’ve always been astonished and horrified at the energy use and waste in hotels. Towels and sheets get washed after one use, toiletries are thrown away after one use, empty rooms are heated or cooled, breakfast food is tossed in the trash – I shudder as I write this, and I haven’t even mentioned water and electricity usage! I can travel and relax now, though, since some hotels are going green, and there is even a Green Hotels Association!

> Autumn is on its way. The days are shortening, the mornings are chilly. Your house needs some attention to get it through the winter!

> Reduce, reuse, recycle, and strive for zero waste. I couldn’t have said this better than my friend Julie Urluab at Taiga Company – ‘Zero waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.’

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Eco-living Tips: Reuse Your Plastic Bags

by nan on 2010/08/25 · 2 comments

Reusable shopping bags have become very popular. Cloth bags have cut down on the manufacture of new plastic bags, which in turn has cut down on a lot of pollution and CO2 emissions. They have also helped reduce the waste plastic bags create. I’m sure you’ve seen images like this one of bags hung up in trees and scattered on the side of the road. On my bike rides, I see them tangled in barbed wire fences, and I can here them flapping in the wind. What an awful sound in a place where I should only hear my bike tires on the road and the sounds of cows and crows. (photo: flickr cuttlefish)

Most of you probably have a drawer full of these, even as you switched to fabric reusable bags. But buying a reusable bag defeats the purpose of saving energy, when you have a bunch at home still.

Reuse/recycle the plastic shopping bags you have!

I never see anyone in the grocery store with an old Wal Mart or Albertson’s bag. Everyone has rushed out to buy a new bag, possibly made in China of plastic, probably from some online retailer, who then has to ship it to you. That’s a lot of embodied energy in a supposedly green item!

Using the plastic bags you already have at home seems to be the most logical choice when you are switching to reusables. Once you have used those up, THEN go to a local store and buy a reusable cloth bag hopefully made by a local artist or, at least, by a company in your city or state.

Throwing away something perfectly usable to buy something that is more eco-friendly is not eco-friendly at all.

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Eco Recap 8.19.10

by nan on 2010/08/19 · 0 comments

As always, there is lots of information to share this week! You can follow me on Twitter and Facebook for the stuff I didn’t have room for here.

> My idea (for now) of rain harvesting is a bunch of buckets and 55-gallon trash cans lining the house under the roof. I use the water mostly for garden irrigation, but I have been known to dunk my head in it on a hot summer day. Someday I will get official with gutters and a cistern, and when I do, this item will come in handy.

> You don’t need LEED certification to live in an efficient, healthy home. You can, however, use their guidelines to make improvements. Start with an energy audit, and caulk and seal obvious leaks, then move up to larger items. Greening your home is not beautiful, until you get your utility bill. Here are five simple ways to get started.

> Get prepared for when the economy picks back up. There will be a demand for workers in sustainable fields. Here’s a projection on green jobs for the next ten years.

fat tire, sustainable brewery, new belgium, beer > I love beer. What I have been drinking for the last ten years or so is Fat Tire, one of several brews of New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado. New Belgium is one of the most sustainable businesses in the US. Serendipity that I like their beer AND they are green! Here are four other eco-friendly craft breweries, and be sure to read the comments for even more.

> Consumption is evil. We need to cut back and do without every new gadget that comes along, repurpose what we have, and recycle what we don’t need anymore. Check out this list of anti-consumers, and get inspired to live a simpler life.

> It wouldn’t be a recap without a green building! This comes from the Draw-Your-Own-Conclusions Department. Being green, to me, is holistic. It’s a lifestyle, a complete way of living, including appreciating nature, taking care of each other, and staying healthy. The largest cosmetic company in Brazil is embarking on a country-wide green building project. They are creating places for thousands of employees, sales people, consultants and contractors to meet, have trainings, stay and feel at home. The buildings are efficient modulars, which I love. What I don’t love is that (and I hope we all know this by now!), cosmetics are loaded with toxic ingredients, including lead and other heavy metals. So how green is this company? To me, not very. You can build green all you want, but if your product is toxic, it means little. Is this greenwash, hypocrisy, or just lack of education? Draw your own conclusions.

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This One’s for Realtors® – Or the Ups and Downs of Selling Your Home

by nan on 2010/08/05 · 1 comment

As most of you know, I put my house on the market a few weeks ago. I have lived here for almost 12 years, so this is a happy/sad occasion.

Happy: I can downsize to something that suits my needs better, now that my daughters are starting to move away. The house is about 2,000 square feet, and I probably live in about 600 of that. The rest is wasted space until the girls come home to visit, which isn’t often and rarely at the same time! I love my house, but I am lost in it!

Happy: I can quit paying a mortgage. It’s been a struggle to keep up payments in this real estate market. I will be glad to get the mortgage and maintenance costs off my back and rent for a while, but……

Sad: …….it doesn’t feel good to be in that situation. I wanted to downsize, but I wasn’t planning to so soon. I feel I don’t have a choice.

Sad: All the prep work over the last several months to get it pretty for showing. I have gone through and sorted every room and closet to see what I need to keep, what I want to keep for the girls, and what I can sell or give away. I have made several trips to our public library with books and magazines, Habitat for Humanity and the freebox at our recycling center for just about everything else. I have burned lots of paper and am printing on the backsides of what is still usable.

I packed away things I don’t need right away, but that I will take with me – framed pictures, the girls’ artwork, 35+ years of journals, spring needs for the greenhouse. My store room and shed are getting full of packed boxes! I gave my older daughter some pots and pans that I don’t use anymore.

This morning, I continued to go through my kitchen cupboards to sort/clean/organize. If a potential buyer opens a cupboard looking for storage space, they will get a fairly accurate idea of how much there is (plenty!). I put a 1/4 cup measuring cup in a container of coffee that I keep in the freezer. I stopped, thinking, ‘What if I need this for baking?’ And in the same second, I thought, ‘I don’t bake now that the girls are gone,’ and I started to cry.

We tell our clients to declutter as much as possible so potential buyers can see the floors, walls, windows and floor plan, and get a sense of living there themselves. If there is too much of ‘You’ in the house, they get distracted when looking, and they may not be able to visualize themselves having coffee, watching a movie, raising children or entertaining in what could be their new home.

> Put away pictures, knick knacks and family mementos.
> Take out as much furniture as you can, even if you have to put it in storage.
> Put away your countertop appliances.
> Let the bones of the house show.
> Do small repairs – touch-up painting, window washing, deep cleaning if necessary.
> Think ‘curb appeal’ with an attractive yard and entry way. Plant flowers, clean up walkways.

I have been on the receiving end of my own advice this year.

And it’s been painful. It’s a grieving process.

Not only am I selling my house, I am selling a precious time of my life raising my girls here. I am selling the kitchen where we have baked cakes, cookies, corn bread and pumpkin rolls, and made hundreds of tortillas that we ate warm with butter. My younger daughter, at about 12, made a cherry pie from scratch in this kitchen.

My home does not feel homey. It’s more like a museum or a hotel. Few of my personal things are out. And my routine has been disrupted! I have to look for things I use every day. I’ve put the kitchen hand soap in a drawer, and never remember that when I go to use it. I have the kitchen trash in a different place, an inconvenient place, but it’s ‘out of the way’ of a potential buyer’s view.

I wash and put away my dishes all the time, and put the dish drainer under the sink when I’m done. I make my bed every morning. I keep my clothes picked up and dirty laundry, again, ‘out of the way.’ I don’t really LIVE here anymore! There aren’t even curtains on the windows, so buyers can easily see the amazing views, but I feel totally exposed at night. It’s very hard, and a constant reminder of this shitty economy and losing my children to adulthood to live on my own again.

I am already worried about where I might go. Will my utilities be as low? Will it be sunny? Will it be warm in winter and cool in summer? Will I be able to grow food? Will I be able to have great views? Will my neighbors be kind and helpful? Will it be safe? These are all things I have where I am.

I have no restrictions on showing times, so anyone can come any time (within reason, of course). Any of those showings can send me and my memories packing into the unknown. I am unsettled, physically and emotionally.

So, all you Realtors® out there, please keep this in mind when you work with your sellers. It’s a very emotional experience, all day every day. It starts with the circumstances leading up to selling, and moves to the decision to sell, the prep work, listing and showing. I have yet to go through the process of negotiating a contract, closing the deal and moving, but I don’t imagine that will be easy.

I closed a short sale last December. Not only did this couple lose their house and business, they were getting a divorce, and they had three small children. In hindsight, now that I am selling partly for financial reasons, I don’t think I was compassionate enough when they dug their heels in and refused to do what was needed according to bank deadlines. I can’t change that now, but I can change the way I do business in the future.

Please be sensitive to what your sellers are going through. More hand-holding, less do-this-do-that, and a little understanding will ease the home sale journey, no matter the reasons.

(sunset from the porch June 5, 2010)

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Reunion!

by nan on 2010/06/24 · 3 comments

It’s time for a short break for me! Company has come to town – seven women I have not seen since high school graduation in 1972! The last thing I want to worry about these next few days while we have an amazing reunion (and recovery days afterward!) is posting to this blog, Twitter and Facebook. I’ll be back next week with a couple guest posts and hopefully some writing of my own.

I have gone back to school to be a Residential Planner. It will expand my real estate business, but it’s very time-consuming. And I miss getting up and writing in the morning! I have a few weeks off from school, so I hope to get caught up with desert verde, too, and bring you some original writing.

Meanwhile, go through the drop-downs in the navigation menu at the top of the page, and read Eco-living Tips, the Solar Building Series, and facts and news about Eco Building. Check out the Nature Quotes and Book selections, and visit the ads on the right side of the page to help keep this blog alive! There is lots to see while I’m gone a few days!

See you soon!

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(House) Size Does Matter

by nan on 2010/06/01 · 6 comments

Big is not beautiful anymore. American home square footage has been ballooning for years, but that’s got to end.

In our patriotic efforts to live up to our international reputation of being over-consumptive, we are living in way more space than we need. We have media rooms, master suites, walk-in closets that can be mistaken for bedrooms, and extra living and dining areas. I grew up in a house, some of which was reserved for company – formal living and dining rooms. I never understood that excess. It eventually dawned on my parents that they actually lived in about 1000 square feet, and they built their final house accordingly.

Jenkins Lane 4 My first house, as a single 30-something, was a 16′x24′ passive solar post and beam saltbox in New Hampshire. It had more space than I needed – full basement, two stories and a cozy reading loft on the ‘third floor.’ Utility bills were low. Being passive solar, it did not need supplemental heat on sunny winter days. Being small, it did not take much wood to keep it comfortable at night.

I now have children, and my house is about 2000 square feet. The space has served us well for the last eleven years. We have lived in every inch of it, and I even remodeled to reduce my energy bills and improve the traffic pattern and heating/cooling air flow. As the kids are growing up and moving out on their own, though, I am drowning in the extra room. I am ready to downsize.

A friend of mine owns a pumice passive solar duplex, one side of which is 665 square feet. It is one bedroom and a full bath with a petite kitchen, a living room and a storage room with a washer and dryer. I had this listed for sale a couple years ago, and every time I was in it, I said to myself, ‘I could live here with no kids.’ It was just enough room. If it was still for sale, I’d probably buy it.

Extravagance vs Simplicity

Why do we think bigger is better? Ask yourself that as you consider these parts of home ownership:

> cost
> maintenance
> cleaning
> utilities
> waste

Do you really need more of all those in your life? Right. I didn’t think so.

Downsize Without Sacrifice

> Make sure you have storage space. Not too much, otherwise you’ll continue to fill it up with ‘stuff,’ and stuff is what we are trying to get rid of!
> The furniture must be to scale. Small room, small furniture. That is why the pumice duplex seemed so spacious – the kitchen was small but complete, and the living room furniture fit in the space it was given.
> Built-ins take up interior wall space, not living space. Use them. Double-duty built-ins, like a bench that is storage below, are very effective and space-saving.
> Get rid of your stuff! Have yard sales, and donate to churches and battered women shelters. Visit second-hand stores, freebox and recycling center regularly. Dump your stuff! The less stuff you have, the less room you will need. My rule is if I have not used something in six months, I get rid of it. If that makes you nervous, use one year as a timeline.
> Raised ceilings, which I don’t recommend for heating purposes, give the illusion of more space. Raise them if you must. Just don’t tell me about it.

The Benefits

> Save money on utilities and maintenance.
> Save money on your mortgage or your rent.
> If you are building, you will cut costs with less material.
> If you are building, you will create less waste (good for the landfill).
> If you are building, you will have a smaller footprint, eating up less of the planet’s precious vegetation.
> Reduce your carbon footprint and save our natural resources.

Next time you move or build, think big by going small.

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The Oil Is Just in the Wrong Place

by nan on 2010/05/28 · 1 comment

Like the rest of the world, I am horrified at the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

I am horrified that:

> BP did not have a plan for a disaster such as this. How could they have not foreseen the potential and had a fix in place?

> Our government is acting so slowly. Is this our MO? Why do we not jump on environmental catastrophes as soon as they happen?

> Animals are dying probably horrible deaths, and not just the ones we see wash up on shore, like birds, fish and dolphins. The mud on the gulf floor is (or was…) teeming with life. We have lost a lot we can’t even see.

As I tried to look at the big picture, an ecological picture, I saw that this oil is part of the earth’s make-up. It churns miles below the crust, although I don’t know its ecological purpose. The oil is just as much a part of the earth’s ecosystems and processes as the animals it is killing.

It’s just in the wrong place.

Think about it. Here is a beautiful, natural substance from miles below the ocean floor showing itself to us, showing us its power. It is a small yet significant part of the earth, no less important than a flower, mountain or cloud.

It’s just in the wrong place.

We should have no disdain for the oil. It’s not the oil’s fault it is wreaking havoc. It did not ask to be drilled and brought to the surface for our greedy use, just as redwoods did not ask to be cut down for lumber. It is not an invasive species encroaching on a space that suits its needs.

People say the oil is awful, but it’s not! It’s not the oil! The oil has a purpose, but it’s not for drilling, burning in cars and killing people over. Don’t blame the oil. People are causing these problems, not the oil. Point fingers at the greedy corporations and politicians who constantly manipulate the planet for their pockets. Mother Nature needs to be left alone to her processes.

The oil is just in the wrong place.

And that is a very humbling thought.

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America’s Mantra – Consume, Consume, Consume

by nan on 2010/05/18 · 3 comments

I don’t get much city exposure, but when I do, I’m amazed at how many cars and people occupy the planet. I was in a crowded mall the other day and followed that with a zany Trader Joe’s experience.

It dawned on me we will never make everyone energy- and consumption-conscious. Middle America will always want the latest fad in clothes, cars, shampoo and furniture. Manufacturers know this, and change their lines, not only in the name of creativity, but also to keep the public wanting/needing their items to keep the money flowing. This is capitalism simplified.

The consumption is horrifying. People shop for the sake of shopping.

Can we get the general public to stop buying ‘unnecessary plastic objects,’ as Nanci Griffith says about the ubiquitous Woolworth’s and its inventory in the intro to Love at the Five and Dime on One Fair Summer Evening? She talks about a gig she goes to in England. When she gets off the plane and heads towards her hotel, the cab rounds a corner, and lo and behold, there is Woolworth’s, an American icon. The sight of it made her want to stop the cab, run in and ‘fill up my suitcase with unnecessary plastic objects.’ That’s quite a statement on consumption!

Do you want to help the planet and all living species, including yourself? Stop repeating the mantra, and cut back your consumption. Here’s how.

> First, be sure you actually need an item. What do we need? Food, clothing, shelter. Don’t buy something if you don’t need it!

I used to be an impulsive shopper. A catalog would come in the mail, and I would buy something that immediately caught my eye. I’ll say 99% of the time, that item would never get used. I had to train myself to mark a catalog with what I liked, then put it aside to revisit in a few days. When I went back to it, 99% of the time, I did not need that item. I saved money, resources and my dignity. I had to learn to do this in stores, too, even second-hand stores. Find something attractive, think on it, then revisit it. Most of the time, I’d go home empty handed.

> Shop with a list, and stick to it. This helps you buy things you actually need, even food, further cutting down on impulsive shopping. For sensible food purchases, I make a menu, and shop accordingly. Little food gets wasted, money is saved, and meals are balanced.

I go yard sale-ing with a list. Yard sales are conducive to impulse shopping – so much great stuff and so cheap! Know what you need and look for it. Don’t bring home a bunch of stuff for the sake of buying used!

My eco-sin confession ~> I’m a compulsive book-buyer. My wish list on Amazon is huge with books I’ve looked at and almost bought, so I’m getting better. There have been eras, though, when my shelves were lined with interesting books I never read.

> Buy used goods. What I have always called ‘the other side of the equation’ is now called ‘embodied energy’ – the energy used to create new goods. We can calculate our carbon footprint based on our home energy bills, the food we eat and the cars we drive. The embodied energy spent in purchasing new items needs to be considered just as heavily. If we are buying used items, embodied energy is not expended.

Mother Earth’s natural process is recycling. She is constantly turning her products into new products with other uses – rocks become soil, dead trees are homes for birds, dead animals are food for other animals. We need to follow her example and recycle everything into a new use.

> Don’t buy something to upgrade to green. If you have an item that is functioning but maybe not so eco-friendly, do not replace it with the green version. Wait until it dies and needs replacing. Exceptions to this may be appliances that will cut your energy use. The new refrigerators and front-loading washing machines save enough energy to offset their manufacture in a short period of time. To buy something ‘green’ for the sake of being green, though, is contributing to the problem of consumption and ends up not being so green after all.

> Pay attention. Be aware of your purchasing habits. Research where items come from, consider the emissions of shipping and manufacture, and recycle the goods you are replacing.

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