Curses!

The Daily 3 numbers are 666 tonight. WHA?! Reminds me of the guy who cut his hand off with a circular saw, then microwaved it last week because he bore the "mark of the beast". Yikes.

So, my company can't afford toilet paper. On Monday, half the stalls had "No T.P." signs on the doors. By the end of the day, one stall had TP. Tuesday, someone had picked up a few rolls at the grocery store (or wherever). I was trend shopping yesterday so I never made it in to the office, but I did hear that the TP was out and that HR was "aware of the situation and [was] working on it". Again... WHA?! So, I'd forgotten about it today when I walked in, sat down, reached for a strip o'papier only to find my stall was reduced to nothing but a scrumpled up paper towel sitting on the tank. DAMMIT! I didn't know where that pile of crust had been! Beggers can't be choosers, so I tore off a small piece and went about my business. I checked on the status of the rest of the room - there were 3 squares left on 1 roll in the last stall. Honestly! Does this seem like a bad sign? Should I be updating my portfolio and resume?! I should think so. If only my work weren't so enjoyable (management, salary, benefits, and long hours aside) I would be much more motivated to start pounding the pavement. Poo.

Speaking of poo... Biodegradable doggy doo-doo bags are available at Pet Smart. They're called Pooch Pick-up Biodegradable Cornstarch Pet Waste Clean-up Bags. They cost $6.99 for 100 bags (1 per day would last for 2 years). We just started using them.


Ernie wanted to make sure he was doing his part. ;)

Buy them at Pet Smart or here -
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752869&cp=2767032.2767115&fbx=0&fbn=Taxonomy%7CScoopers+%26+Bags&f=Taxonomy%2FPET%2F2767115&fbc=1&parentPage=family&keepsr=1

Angry Girl

I was doing a bit o' shopping at Patina over my lunch break and came across these bags that are really me in a nutshell. When did I become so pissed off?! ARG!! <--Me as a crabby pirate.

I've been slacking on my eco tips. I hardly think the one tip I posted counts as regular postings. So, here is a bunch of info on bottled water...

Save some plastic: drink tap water, versus bottled. 40 to 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown in the trash EVERY DAY! Just like plastic bags, they will sit in a landfill for up to 1000 years before they've decomposed. Additionally, 1.5 million barrels of crude oil are burned annually producing those plastic bottles. That is enough oil to keep 100,000 cars running for a year! Recycling definitely lowers the impact, but only about 12-15% of water bottles are being recycled. Most end up in the trash - largely due to the lack of plastic recycling containers found in places where bottled water is commonly consumed: the office, the car, the gym, parks, etc.

What to do?

One option... Cargill Dow has developed a corn-based plastic (PLA or polylactic acid) that is used to make the biodegradable water bottles used for BIOTA Spring Water, based in Colorado. Unlike the oil used to make PET water bottles (the standard plastic used to make water bottles), corn is a 100% renewable resource! The PLA plastic bottle will biodegrade in just 80 days in composting conditions (high heat, micro-organisms and high humidity). There is a listing, by state, of stores that carry BIOTA water on their web site. Here in Minnesota, it can be purchased at Surdyk's in NE Mpls, the Wedge Co-op in SW Mpls, Lakewinds Co-ops in Anoka, Chanhassen & Minnetonka, and Fresh Season's Market in Minnetonka.
(See note below regarding recycling/composting of PLA plastic.)

Alternatively... Using a dishwasher-safe, stainless steel bottle refilled with tap water and washed between uses is a great idea! Added benefits: bottled water costs about 500 times more than tap water and tap water has more fluoride than bottled, so it is better for your pearly whites!

(Sources: Yahoo! News, MSNBC.com, BIOTAspringwater.com)

There is some concern about mixing PET and PLA plastic when recycling, as explained here by the BIOTA web site:

"Studies have shown that there is no effect on the quality of recycled product when PLA makes up to 1% of the plastic mix. That's a lot of bottles! BIOTA is dedicated to working with municipalities to explore options for separating, recycling and composting PLA bottles. BIOTA is working with Recycle America/Waste Management to create and promote recycling infrastructures that will accept PLA products. The technology already exists to separate PLA from PET. This exciting development will create strong markets for recycled PLA products. BIOTA supports increasing community composting efforts throughout the US as an additional method of creating a resource from a waste!"

Screw bottled water! Go tap, yo!!

Snoop Bloggy Blogg

Chooch.

Been watching Snoop Dogg's Father Hood tonight. He's in Munich. How bizarre to be out to dinner in Germany and run into Snoop Dogg and fam! Anyway, "chooch" was Snoop's word of the day. It's some sort of a gangsta greeting.

Didn't do much today...

Missed out on the last day of Pompeii at the Science Museum today because the tickets were sold out for the day. DAMMIT!

Brian, Ernie and I ended up taking a giant nap and going sledding in the neighborhood instead. It was wicked awesome. Brian took this huge jump and flew like a rag doll. I held my breath and peaked out of one eye to ask if he was okay after he hit the ground with a giant thud. He came a laughing. Phew! We're too old for this, but it was great fun anyway!

Ernie's an old man. I think his hip displasia has begun. RATS! He's limping around when he gets up from naps and looks all sad and pathetic like Tiny Tim. MY POOR BABY!!! :( I'll try to track down some dog dietary supplements tomorrow to help him out.

Went on my online quest for degradable freezer bags for Sociale Gourmet last night. You can get them in the UK, but they don't seem to sell them here. The best I could find was bags free of PVCs and Plasticizers that are packaged in 100% recycled material. I am unsure as to what the PVCs and Plasticizers relation is to the degradability or if it is unrelated. I am going to have to continue researching.

Maybe I will start an eco fact/tip a day in my blog. I've really been getting into that. It's amazing how easy it is for one person to impact our world. Here's a starting place...

Plastic bags take up to 1000 years to decompose. If you spend one week or even one day tracking the number of plastic bags you receive from the stores, it's sickening to think about that number times 6 billion people in the world (obviously, this is going to be a little high as not everyone is getting plastic bags at stores regularly or at all). That is the number of plastic bags that will be piling up on Earth EVERY WEEK and sitting there for 1000 years. I've discovered that paper bags are not a great alternative, either. Plastic bags consume 40% less energy to produce and generate 80% less solid waste than paper bags.

More info here on paper bags...
http://www.cleangreenbags.com/
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7

We have made the switch to reusable/recyclable grocery bags and try to remember them whenever we're headed to the store (I usually keep them in the car as I'm kind of forgetful). I also use 3 nylon shopping bags that fold up into a tiny carrier (smaller than a deck of cards) that I carry in my purse and use as shopping bags whenever I make a purchase. We stopped at 3 stores tonight and saved 5 bags using our reusable bags/totes! Hooray! It's a tiny step, but it feels like the right thing to do. I encourage anyone who is not using reusable totes to give them a try!

I'll research and share these facts and tips to be informative, not to be preachy. Hopefully, it will be fun and interesting!