june 2025 donation

 

this month i donated to the molokai heritage trust which is trying to reacquire land (from colonizers [my term entirely]) on molokaʻi to return to native hawaiians. 

living in hawaii has been really educational! i didn't know basically anything about native hawaiians, their culture, or their history before coming here. i still don't know very much (tho i have read two books about hawaiian history), but of what i do know, i feel like mainstream americans can learn a lot from. 

clothing

Generation Z & The Fast Fashion Paradox

I'm not gen z, and I don't do fast fashion, but clothing is definitely my biggest consumer weakness. it's worse too because I wear mostly synthetics tho I, obviously, know better. I justify it to myself in saying that I'm upgrading my wardrobe to better brands which use better quality materials so items last longer and shed fewer micro-plastics. and yeah, I actually have cycled out all my columbia fleeces for north face, marmot, and arc'teryx. I also never buy new, because used is cheaper but also more environmentally friendly. I also try to sell all my clothes rather than donating them because there's more control that it doesn't end up in landfill. 

but regardless of those reasons, I still have way too much clothes =\ I literally have like 10 fleeces. different weights, but several at each weight. it's also really ridiculous because I only wear certain colors so it's even more pronounced that I have too much. I sometimes blame my completist inclinations. when I was much younger I would try to finish everything in a series: nancy drew, stephen king, etc. I definitely still have a little of that now, but it's less pronounced. 

I don't even think it's the clothes itself (studies confirm it usually isn't), but the excitement of getting a good deal, of winning an auction, of having something come in the mail, of getting something new. realizing this, I've more recently told myself that a good deal is not good enough. good thing J is much better at that, lol. we were at grocery outlet and they had a $20 bottle of sake that used to be like $80 and I really wanted to get it. not because I like sake, but because it was such a good deal! we ended up not buying it because neither of us really likes sake and my reasoning for wanting it was really stupid. tho had I been shopping by myself, I might have bought it. ugh.

for 2021 I'm going to focus on narrowing down my closest. that doesn't mean I can't buy anything new, but I do think I want to do the one thing in one thing out rule. and, more importantly, really focus more on the purging. I probably have 20 dresses total? for some reason, I love buying them but am always too "embarrassed" to wear them. buy for your actual life, not the life you want, or some saying like that. 

my purchasing guidelines for new things: economics, ethics, and the environment. not necessarily in that order. 

harm vs harm

I've been thinking a lot about harm lately, and unintended consequences. you cannot live life without causing harm. and it's not even as easy as trying to live causing the least amount of harm possible because sometimes it's impossible to weigh.

at our office, sometimes even deciding where to eat brings up a lot of questions. do we get slightly better tasting burritos at whole foods which is owned by amazon which annually produces nearly as much carbon as swizerland or denmark? not to mention all their terrible workers' rights issues, and lack of paying taxes. or do we get not as tasty burritos at chronic taco which probably also does a lot of terrible things that we just don't know about because they're not as closely scrutinized as amazon?

and that's just lunch! where do you stand on bioplastics or the conventional kind?

a lot of people would say, bioplastics, of course, because it doesn't come from petroleum, and it has a smaller carbon footprint because most oil doesn't come from america anyway. but that's just the oil aspect. most bioplastic in the states is made from corn since we have govt subsidies for that. but it's those same subsidies which ultimately led to high fructose corn syrup in everything because we have too much corn and the govt asked scientists to come up with ways to use it up. and, while both oil and corn require water, corn requires more land and possibly causes more water pollutants because of fertilizers and pesticides. oil has led to war, which farming hasn't as much, but our modern conventional farming has led to hella cancers and also involves migrant workers / illegal immigration issues which oil likely has too much definitely on a smaller scale.

end of life is murky too. bioplastics are rarely recycled or composted. in fact, they actually contaminate regular plastic recycling and most waste haulers don't even want it. almost all bioplastics end up in landfill where they don't biodegrade at all, but do release methane, which regular plastic doesn't. methane, of course, contributes to increased greenhouse gases which aggravates climate change.

so, which is better? well, they both suck. just in different ways.

I tell the customers to decide what matters most to them (for me, i sacrifice taste and eat at chronic because i don't like to support amazon), and not worry too much about the rest. i also suggest they do research so they can make informed decisions, but as demonstrated above, sometimes it's the knowing too much that makes it impossible to make decisions!

articles about bioplastic here and here
fact sheet about bioplastic

i also want to emphasize that a lot of the bioplastic on the market isn't even 100% plant based plastic. something is considered bioplastic even if it's a blend of plant based and petroleum based plastics.

cuprite2

while i think the cuprite system would work, i definitely have reservations about it. i think if i were to address take-away coffee shops, it might work best to open my own damn drink shop and implement the following rules:

- no disposable cups, plates, coffee stirrers, etc. minimal disposable anything else
- we have real cups, plates, silverware, etc. for you to use in store
- want it to go? bring your own cups and containers for food
- want it to go but forgot your containers? pay a $2 "deposit" and take something from the "donation" bin
- you bring back something from the donation bin, or you make a flat out donation of stuff, you get $1 back per item up to $5 or $10
- possibly have a public sink for people to wash out their stuff

why don't they get their full deposit back? this will encourage them to bring their own cup. we don't really care if we get that cup back. we want them to bring their own.

cuprite

doing what we do, we meet a lot of people with a lot of different ideas on how to attack plastic pollution. last week we talked to two recent college grads who have an idea on reusable coffee cups and a community rental program: CupRite.

i don't totally understand how it's supposed to work. but based just the video, i have a few suggestions. (honestly, i'm writing this post because I haven't really stopped thinking about it since saturday when we met the girls)

- each store buys a certain number of cups. a 4-digit (or whatever) code is engraved on the inside bottom of each cup (that way cups only empty cups can be returned). that code corresponds to the store so you can track, per store, number returned, and lost and damaged cups. also behavioral things like what distance do people go, how many days does it take to return. 

- lock the drop off box (people will steal cups out of unlocked boxes; who will pay to get new ones?). the box can be unlocked with the same 4-digit code engraved inside the cup (so the lock will have to have multiple unlock codes [not sure if that's possible]).

- this probably works best in a closed environment (college or larger work campus with drop boxes inside each building), that way you might not even need lock boxes or codes. tho, again, you can track behavioral things with the codes.

- you can also make this into an app where people have to enter the location code where they drop off the cup (which can also give them an unlock code to the box, so the engraved number is just a store ID). eventually you'll know who is fake returning cups and charge those people. (you get cc info when they sign up. if they return all their cups, they never get charged. or you can do a deposit system. you can even allow them on lost cup within a time period or number of uses. you can also incorporate this into loyalty program of certain $% off their 11th cup or whatever)

it ain’t easy being green

I forget what my 2017 new year’s resolution was. I’m pretty sure it was to eat less beef, which I totally have. I did it because our “regular” cows are terrible for the environment. they hella pollute our land, air, and water. damn things taste so good tho!

this year I’m going to focus on lessening my overall negative environmental impact. starting last week, lol. I’ve always donated lightly used items rather than throwing them away, and have always been careful about conserving electricity and water, and, of course, recycling paper, aluminum, and common plastics. since volunteering with SoCal harvest a number of years ago, I’ve also been pretty aware of my food waste and convinced my dad to get a compost bin for our yard. and I think he’s also on the verge of getting a rain barrel, yahoo! of course, since volunteering with algalita I’ve cut more and more plastics out of my life and have mostly stopped frivolous shopping too.

but the other day, ab said something that really got me thinking. she said that ocean institute had asked her to give a 20 minute talk at their facility down in Dana Point, which is a 60-90 minute drive from here. I said that is they were also willing to compensate her driving time... she said that even so, it wouldn’t be worth the greenhouse gases of driving down there. she is so right!

I don’t mind driving, long distances anyway. and I always try to carpool, take efficient driving routes, and don’t idle my car for more than a couple minutes (more than a minute or two, the co2 released is more than how much you would produce turning off the car and restarting it). but I really don’t think anything of driving 40 minutes away for a meal. and while I think about riding my bike to work, if I’m honest, I haven’t really seriously considered it. well, I’m gonna. ...not bike to work. it’s winter and too damn cold. but if I need to go to stater brothers up the street, I’m going to bike. and when it gets warm again I’m really really going to consider biking to work and especially to practice. and maybe get a skateboard so I won’t drive to whole foods for lunch. ...tho first learning to be way better at skateboarding, ha. tell ya what tho, I’m probably going to eat out less too. it’s not that great for the environment either. I’ll be working at the farmers market once a month anyway so can get locally sourced stuff there. ...now to learn to cook...

I’m really really gonna stop buying bottled shampoo and body wash, even the refill stuff. I’m gonna remember to avoid stuff with palm oil and too many chemicals. I’m going to pay more attention to where my food comes from and try harder to eat locally and less processed stuff and less meat in general. I’m going to start asking more often for “no straw please” and bringing my bento box for leftovers when I do eat out. and more! oy, there’s a lot to remember and do but it’ll totally be worth it!!

without china

what we'd wear if china didn't exist


went thru my current outfit and very surprisingly, i'd be wearing everything i'm still wearing!! i also included the brands i'm wearing and which country "owns" that brand. my list is surprisingly american. the one thing i'm wearing not from an american company is my watch, tho the only thing i'm wearing i know is made in america, are my bobby pins.

pj bottoms - india (old navy - american)
underwear - doesn't say (gilly hicks - american)
bra - phillipines (calvin klein - american)
tank top - doesn't say (gap - american)
shirt - nicaragua (gap - american)
seatshirt - vietnam (abercrombie & fitch - american)

bobby pins - usa (goody - american)
ring - doesn't say (coach - american)
watch - case, switzerland (swatch - swiss)

btw, it's funny but i thought gilly hicks was from australia, because it actaully says sydney on the tag. turns out they're owned by abercrombie & fitch, which for some reason i thought was a british brand.

how about you? anything surprising results?

book swapping

i love books. i joined librarything a few years ago cause i thought it was a great place to catalogue my books. and if i were ever out and couldn't remember if i had already owned something, i could look it up. (btw, i joined back in feb 2006 and i don't even know if smart phones were around at the time but that was pretty forward thinking!)

unfortunately, the one feature librarything didn't have was a built-in book swapping system. so last year i joined goodreads, which isn't a site dedicated to book swapping, but it did have it and as an added bonus, a number of my friends were already members.

i took advantage of the book swap thing and i really happy with it until they canceled the thing! so annoying because the only reason i signed up for goodreads was for the bookswap. :(

anyway, i still wanted to swap books cause 1. it's a fun idea 2. it's good for the environment 3. it's cheaper than most other ways of getting books 4. it's good for the post office 5. i love getting stuff in the mail. (who am i kidding, it's all about #5!)

so i did some research and it's kind of weird but most of the sites charge the shipper to send books. in other words, it's free to receive them. ... tho most sites have a point system so you can't take advantage and get way more free books without sending any. but anyway, i finally signed up for booksfreeswap which has the receiver pay for shipping in advance. the shipper just has package the books, print out the shipping label, and put the package in their mailbox. so easy!

anyway, the real reason i'm telling you this story is because i'm sending out my first package today. and she only paid $3.42 to receive three books in great condition, which is an amazing deal!

(as i mentioned, booksfreeswap is one of the few sites that makes the receiver pay for the shipping, which i think only makes sense. also, this way there's no confusing point system to keep track of. but the "catch" is that the first time you want to request a book, you have "deposit" $10 into you account. and every month after that 25cents is deducted from your account to help run the site. it's not a lot of $ and i'm totally cool with it, but i didn't read anything about this system until after i signed up for the site. i haven't gone back to find if they do tell you about this stuff upfront, but i did re-read the faqs and it's not in there, which is pretty shady.)

(update: even shadier, i was talking to the person i shipped my books to and mentioned how amazing it was she only paid $3.42 for three books. i got the number from the postage that i printed out. she wrote back: "I paid $5.37. The rest goes to the site. The site charges as low as 50 cents for mass market paperbacks AFTER the first book. Hardbacks can cost over a dollar. Ordering only one book at a time can be expensive, just due to the way media mail works." ...what?! look, $5 something is still great for three books. but it's hella shady the site doesn't tell you about all these extra fees before you sign up!!)

(one more thing!! when i sent my books to someone, i guess i didn't wrap it well enough because the books came loose and were lost in the mail. all the receiver got was the wrapping and note in the mail. :( but she contacted booksfreeswap about it and got her money back from them. no hassle. pretty nice!)

50 vhs's anyone?

we've been doing some long overdue cleaning lately and found about 50 vhs tapes. that's a lot! i wanted to get rid of them but figured that must be a better way than just throwing them in the trash. i went online and got two suggestions: freecycle and recycling through greendisk.

freecycle is a free online network where you can offer or request stuff in your community. anything. as long there's no money involved. so kind of like craigslist but actually free. greendisk seems like a great service to recycle your "technotrash." you pack it, ship it, pay a small fee, and forget about it.

but since i didn't really want to pay the fee (tho yeah, it would've been only $7 not including shipping) i decided to freecycle it first. if no one wanted it there, i'd send it to greendisk.


anyway, i put my offer of vhs tapes online, and about a month later someone contacted me! he wanted the tapes even tho they're all used and have super random recordings on them. and earlier this week i found our old vcr, which he said he could use too.

i met with him and his wife today at the local mcdonald's (to be safe). turns out they've been freecycling for about a year and they joined because they too were tired of seeing everything go into the trash.

btw, before i left the house to meet him, i called rip and told him where i was going to be, just in case i never came back. he was, unsurprisingly, not too happy. he thought the whole thing sounded unsafe. which i can definitely see. but that's why i wanted to meet somewhere public, and also why i called rip to tell him where i'd be. later on rip said that i should've gone with someone, which i would also have preferred, but everyone's at work and from his emails, the guy sounded really normal. which, i know, sounds stupid. but i just figured that while i'm sure there are crazies on freecycle, most of us aren't nuts. and i was taking basic precautions already. anyway. i was glad to meet then. and i had no expectations of what he would look like, but him and his wife were not hippies. just cool folks who like to be able to record tv shows. and you know what? i don't blame them. i don't have tivo or a dvr either. and i could just figure out how to record onto vhs, they would not have been getting mine! anyway, just wanted to blog about this experience.

i'm happy today!

save the rain!

a few months ago there was an article in the la times about resources conservation that mentioned rainwater harvesting (i know it's big in some australian communities, but know nothing about it stateside). i did some quick research and here's a short summary: for homes in the burbs, there are two main kinds of simple rainwater collecting: one that stems from your rain gutters, and the other really low tech way of regular plastic barrels with large openings on top. seeing as how it does rain much is so cal, the rain gutter way is the more practical and efficient way. for more info about the gutter way, including a pictorial how-to go here.

i seem to remember hearing that even during the rainy season, california is always suffering a drought. but with all the rain lately (it's rained like a week straight! and it isn't really intermittent either; it's all day long), i wonder if we (the govt, that is) are doing anything to try to hold onto the rain water.

i couldn't find any answers for that, but i did find out from the california energy commission website that "Energy represents the largest controllable cost of providing water or wastewater services to the public. California water and wastewater agencies spend more than $500 million each year on energy costs. [their italics and bold]" i also read on the national resources defense council website that "The California State Water Project is the largest single user of energy in California. In the process of delivering water from the San Francisco Bay-Delta to Southern California, the project uses 2 to 3 percent of all electricity consumed in the state."

i get that $500million a year isn't that much when compared to the rest of california's yearly budget. i also get that 2-3% is hardly anything at all. but we could be spending this money and energy on other things, no? and seeing as how southern california's rainy season is especially short you'd think we'd be trying to retain as much water as we could when we actually got it for free!

efficiency (other stuff)

other simple ways make your "footprint" smaller:

- don't use disposible razors & use re-chargeable batteries
  these are too obvious to explain!

- don't use plastic tampons
  why plastic is even an option! cardboard biodegrades much faster and while it may be less "smooth" but unless you're doing it wrong, even with cardboard you'll never get a papercut. an even better option than tampons / pads is a mooncup; buy it only once and you can use it for the rest of aunt flo's life!

- use smarter toilet paper smarter
  two smarters but at least four ways to save! unless you had an accident, you won't need a fistful of tp, so use as little as you need. you go several times a day, so that one or two extra squares really adds up. be sure to buy tp containing as much post-consumer product as possible; it's the 21st century, so green doesn't have to mean scratchy. and even awesomer, scott now offers a tube-free roll which doesn't have the cardboard tube in the middle. another option is to buy bleach-free tp. our tp is normally whitened using chlorine in not the most environmentally friendly processes. so be sure to get (starting with most environmentally friendly): unbleached, processed chlorine free (pcf) or totally chorline free (tcf). tp that is elemental chlorine free (ecf) or stuff using chlorine gas is no good! (source)

- get the largest size you can
  if you're going to finish it anyway, why get little bottles? getting shampoo (toothpaste, cereal, detergent...) in the larger size means you'll cut down on packaging. but also you'll save $ since it's generally cheaper to get the large size , and even if not, you save on not having to drive back to the store so frequently.
  and while the tsa only permits 3fl oz or less per item for your carry-on, that doesn't mean you can only buy that size. get it once and re-fill it with your regular product later. this is esp important because even when the bottles are recyclable, the sorting machines normally miss them cause they're too small. in other words, recyclable or not, most little containers end up in landfills!

- always decline extra packaging
  if you're picking up only a couple things, why get a bag? or if you've already got one bag, why get another? this also means you can avoid other shoppers' dirty looks when you blunder into them with all your stuff. also, a lots places wrap your purchase in tissue paper. but unless this is a gift, you don't need that extra paper. and some places will wrap your glassware in tissue paper. but if you also bought a shirt, have them wrap your stuff in that instaed.

- give eco-packaged gifts, not cards
  if you're giving a present, why not just include a name tag instead of a card? added bonus, you won't have to think up something witty or cute to write. also, while you can re-use old wrapping paper (which is, admittedly, a hassle), you can gift-wrap in other smarter ways by using unexpected materials: tissue paper (which is a lot easier to re-use), in-side-out paper shopping bags which you can customize with your own illustrative artwork, colorful plastic shopping bags, magazine papers, old fliers / posters, floral arrangement tissue cloths, old clothing cut up, the list goes on!
  or if you're tired of your current wrapping paper, instead of buying a new roll, trade with a friend. that way you'll both have "new" wrapping paper!

- return used giftcards
  most chain stores have their giftcard display right at the cash register anyway. so if you've finished yours, return it there.

- return dry cleaning "swag"
  do you really need those filmy plastic protectors or cheapo wire hangers anyway? if you don't have time to return them on the spot, return the next time you dry clean something.

my list is pretty specific so obviously there's a ton of stuff i'm missing but i'm sure you get the point. our daily lives have so much unnecessary stuff that in nearly every aspect of our lives could we do doing something to better ourselves and the environment.

efficiency (energy)

simple ways to conserve energy (besides the usual or turning off lights when exiting the room):

i have this weird little rule where i let myself only have three things on at a time. so if i already have two lights and the radio on, i can't turn on anything else (the whole computer unit counts as one thing). or if i'm charging my phone, i only get the tv and vcr, no light! this actually helps me remain focused on my work too. how many of us are guilty of having watching the tv while doing something on the computer? you can only look at one thing at a time anyway, so why do you have multiple things on?

don't forget to unplug your non-daily use electronics / appliances. even if you're not using them, weirdly enough they still use energy. so unplug your chargers, radios, blenders, hair dryers, etc.

use power strips, and turn them off too! all my computer stuff is plugged into my power strip. and when i turn off the computer for the night, i turn off the strip as well.

use natural light! why turn on an electric light if you can just open your window blinds or drapes? i think a lot of people are so used to turning lights on that they dont' realize how bright it is already during the day. and i don't know about you, but i prefer the natural light over that yellow tinge or electric hum of light bulbs anyway. and this leads to the next one...

pee wit the light off, and in other similar situations... if you're a girl, you sit down, so all you really need is to see the toilet seat and toilet paper, do you really need the light on for that? and similarly, if you're opening the fridge to grab a snack, why do you need the kitchen light? the fridge already has one. i think you get the point. there's very little that you really need to see clearly and in full, bright light. so if you don't need it, don't bother.

also remember to only use hot water when necessary. not only will you save water, but it takes energy to heat up that water.

efficiency (h20)

rereading my last post made me want to also talk about other stuff you can do to help out the environment. cause maybe recycling isn't your thing. it can be pretty annoying having to drive all around town to drop off stuff at the proper place, and if you city already makes you sort your recyclables from your garbage, maybe what you're doing is good enough.

besides all the usual things people do (turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, only run the dish washer / laundry with full loads) i also do these simple things:

water:
i take pretty fast showers. i usually undress (as i wait for the water to warm up), shower, shampoo, shave, dress in less than 15 minutes. and luckily, our shower head has this cool button thing so you can "pause" the water (so i can shampoo / condition without immediately washing away my product). btw, i usually shampoo and condition first, so as i wait for my conditioner to soak in, i soap up the rest of my body, also with the water off. even if you don't have the pause button, just switching up your routine can help you be more efficient with water.

i don't recommend this for everyone, but i do it anyway because i do my sport on saturdays and sundays but i don't do my laundry saturday night. i wash my clothes in the shower. you're not supposed to use warm water when washing dry-fit stuff anyway, so i'll toss my clothes into the shower, get in, turn the water on, and and as i wait for the water to heat up, i hand wash my laundry. it's not super clean, but i'm going to wear it again the next day (after which i machine wash) so as long as it's clean enough...

i used to do this and will probably start again. keep an empty bucket in the shower. but make sure it only catches the clean water, which you can use to water plants with when you're done.

don't just rinse your produce, wash it in a little bucket thing so you can collect the water, which you can use to water your plants with. it'll also catch the dirt, bugs and small plant break-offs which i'm sure is good for your garden anyway. besides, if you wash your produce in a bucket you'll know when it's actually clean. you can rise your veggies for 5 minutes but how will you know when the water is running clear?

a few other super simple things: water your lawn at night. if you water during the day a lot of the water will evaporate before it gets to soak into the soil anyway. but if you do it at night the water will have a chance to actually reach the roots.

lather up your soap before you turn on the tap. you're supposed to wash your hands for however long it takes the sing the birthday song and you can't do it correctly if all the soap is being rinsed away from your hands anyway.

only use hot water when necessary. not only will you save the energy it takes to heat up the water, but you end up wasting a lot of cold water as well. if you need to use hot water, put a bucket under the tap to catch the cold water and use that to water plants / mop your floors...