WHY I USE LOW V.O.C PAINT

I recently painted my room using Dunn Edwards line of low odor, zero VOC paint called Eco Shield. To my surprise, the price of a gallon was actually a few cents lower than the regular paint. ($30 vs $31 per gallon). It's usually the same story for me and painting. I only paint about once a year so in the beginning, I have to relearn some fun things. 1) if you roll the roller too fast, paint sprays in your face and that's not fun. 2) when you push hard on the roller to the wall, paint can and will drip out the side 3) it's no fun getting paint on the ceiling because every time you do it requires getting down off the ladder, getting a wet cloth, getting back on the ladder (which in my case was a really old wooden one about to fall apart), and scrubbing vigorously until the paint comes off. One thing I did remember is that I stained my last carpet with paint because I didn't cover the carpet good enough so this time I prepped extra thouroughly. Thank god because about half way in I was doing the ceiling and sure enough, my tray tipped off the ladder and splat, a big pool of paint spilled on the plastic.

Painting alone gives you lots of time to think. My day was interspersed with moments of zenn where I practiced syncing my rolls with breathing to frustrated moments of spillage and wipeage to moments of literally having no thoughts at all to moments of fear that I wouldn't finish in time. At the end of the day all the breathing and wiping and spilling on myself made realize how important it was for me to be using the no VOC paint. I'm not sure about skin absorption but the fact that I wasn't breathing in harmful chemicals all day gave a good peace of mind. Now that I've used it, I'll never go back.

Going Bio

Isn't she pretty? I would love to find a baby like this.

I want to switch to biodiesel for 2 reasons.
1- I want to reduce my carbon footprint. With the amount of driving I'm doing I'm dumping literally tons of CO2 and other toxins into the air. It pains me.
2-I don't want to give money to the devil anymore. The oil and auto industry are running this country and that has got to stop. I watched "Who Killed the Electric Car" and was enraged, sad, empowered and irrate all at the same time.

If you haven't seen it, watch it and you'll see what I mean. "Who Killed the Electric Car"

I don't own a home, so the biggest impact I can make right now, actually I'd be making less of an impact on the earth but more of an impact on the economy is buy a car that doesn't pollute as much as doesn't use gas. Biodiesel is nearly carbon-neutral, meaning it contributes almost zero emissions to global warming! Biodiesel also dramatically reduces other emissions fairly dramatically. The one emission that goes up with biodiesel is NOx. NOx contributes to smog. But a slight increase (up to 15%) in NOx is greatly offset by the reduction in all other emissions and the major reduction in greenhouse gasses.

I would buy an electric car but they are harder to find and are quite expensive. I started doing research a few weeks ago. At first I was going to go with the obvious and buy an old mercedes like my friend Gerry did. Then I saw that you can run any diesel engine on biodiesel so I explored the idea of getting a used VW. A dealership I bought my current car from found me a VW TDI Golf, 2001, for $12,900. The price was a little high and I don't want my monthly payments to go up so I passed on that. I told her to look out for another at the auctions a little less pricey and she said she would but they are hard to find and when you do find them everyone bids on them. It's a hot item now. That's good news, people are catching on to the biodiesel wave.

It is a little more difficult to get in LA with the biodiesel stations only in Pacific Palisades, Marina del Rey, and Westwood but there are delivery services and once I convert my car to use veggie oil, I won't have to go to any gas station.

Now I think I might hire a guy I found on Craigslist for $300 to find me a good used VW Golf. My budget is about $10k. Let's see what I can find.

Spending to make a Difference

I just went to Ralphs and bought organic. I just needed some juice, egges, milk and frut. I spent about $6 more than I would have if I'd just bought regular eggs and juice. But now I have peace of mind and really yummy organic Tropicana juice.

Lately, I'm feeling the effects of what I put into my body. I had a bowl of organic steamed broccoli the other day and had so much energy that night I couldn't believe it. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's true.

In order to make companies change their ways, they need to see it's more profitable to do things with consideration for a healthy earth. It's so important for every individual to make conscious choices with everything they consume and everything they throw away, it's really the loudest political voice we have. I've always known this but didn't really feel like my little money could make a difference. It probably can't, but all my words, actions, and purchases combined could possibly make a difference, and that's the way I'm trying to live my life today.

the IN-N-OUT Conundrum

IN-N-OUT. The very words conjure up memories of the back of my mom's Chevy station wagon on the way back from the beach. After a long day at T-street beach, and I mean we got there by 11 and stayed til the sun went down, my fabulous mother would pack up 7 sunburnt kids, 5 sandy boogie boards, 7 dirty towels, 2 empty coolers, and leftover snacks back into the old grocery getter and head back home. With a car full of screaming hungry kids, I think it was hard to resist that stop, right off the freeway, the beautiful and delicious In-N-Out. Oh glorious In-N-Out. It shut us up, and made everyone's belly happy.

These days, I've sworn off all fast food except for the occasional Taco Bell when I've lost all self control and of course In-N-Out when I just feel like being naughty. Because everyone knows, if you have to choose fast food, it's the healthiest to pick from because of their fresh ingredients. I order grilled cheese animal style and sometimes a fries and it hits the spot everytime.

Now to quell the guilt a little more, I'm happy to report that In-N-Out has changed their serving trays from the old style throw away cardboard to red plastic re-usable ones. That's for dine in only. It helps, but as one informed diner told me, the 2 worst contributers to global warming are cars and cows. So by eating there, I'm contributing to global warmning? Man, it feels like I can't do anything without being dirty.

Maybe I can buy some carbon points to offset the damage I'm doing just by supporting them. That's ridiculous! At this point, I think the best thing I can do is continue to find the businesses that are at the very least taking baby steps towards less pollution and encourage and congratulate them. So here's to In-N-OUT for not only making the healthiest fast food, but for making a step towards being healthy for the environment.Todd from the band Escaping Zane enjoys his In-N-Out burger.
www. myspace.com/escapingzane

Now This is Happening! in LA

SRCRD is presently registering multifamily residential buildings (five units or more) for a FREE recycling program that will begin in April 2007. Multifamily residential properties participating in the program will receive the following:
* FREE recycling service once a week
* Blue bins for storage of recyclables
* Educational information for residents about materials accepted in the blue bins

If you are interested in registering your multifamily residential building, please call 1-866-933-1101 or email SRCRD@san.lacity.org. Please provide the following information:
* name and phone number
* address of request service
* area of city (ex. Valley Village, Northridge)
* zip code
* type of building (ex. apartment, condominium, mixed use, mobile home)
* number of units
Tenants should provide a contact name and phone number for the building owner or property manager. Condominium owners should provide a contact name and number for their homeowners association.

I signed up my boyfriend's apartment building, let's see how long it takes to implement this free recycling service. In the meantime I'm going to be asking around and giving people the info (or taking their info) to help get as many recycling bins out there as possible. Despite the fact that there are homeless dudes that search through the trash dumpster for recycling, I think much of it gets overlooked or missed because it's at the bottom. With the amount of people in LA living in apartments, there's bound to be an abundance of missing recyling bins.

For more info on how the city's recycling program works and what is and isn't recyclable, see this website
http://www.lacity.org/san/index.htm

I suggest printing out this list and putting it near your trash/recycling area. I'm always wondering what to put in the bin and what to put to the side.
http://www.lacity.org/san/solid_resources/recycling/what_is_recyclable.htm

And while cleaning out my desk I'm wondering, what do I do with these old CD's and batteries? Well, here's what you do. Go to Earth911 on this page http://california.earth911.org/usa/master.asp?s=ls&a=HHW&cat=9&serviceid=

It will tell you where you can recycle all hazardous wastes, from batteries, to monitors, to brake fluids, to extra paint. Now I just have to stop my hand everytime it goes to throw something away and think about it instead of opting for the easy way out. It's do or die now people!

See all the space next to the dumpster for recycling bins? There's no excuse!

A Tree People Earth Day

On Saturday, April 22nd, our Holy Earth Day, I rolled out of bed and stumbled down the street to Lawrence Elementary School to photograph the community planting trees. There was a huge turnout. Lisa Cahill, the team leader, first had a basic training session to show everyone how to plant the trees properly. After the tree was planted, an official naming ceremony was demonstrated. The planters hold hands around the tree and shout "Trees need people, people need trees, welcome ____." In this case the name of the tree was Treeza. I learned from one of the parents that the kids at the school were required to come out and participate. But it wasn't just the school kids there, other local members of the community gladly came out, grabbed a shovel, and helped with the plantings. There were lots of dirty hands and even more smiles.
I have to be honest. It was the first time I'd volunteered for something in about 3 years and it felt so good to do good that I want to do good again. From here on out, I'm pledging to donate at least 2 days to volunteer work per month.







Here is a great site about recycling.
http://www.earth911.org/static.html

Brainstorming

Reading the Vanity Fair green issue again got me all fired up. I agree with Arnold and I've been saying it for a long time, in order to make progress we need to make environmentalism hip and trendy. Not only that, but we need to make it more convienent. Vanity Fair and Outside are giving it a good start but there are still millions of people out there who look at you like a freak if you don't eat meat or talk about recycling.

My mind swirls with ideas. I'd like to profile people who are making efforts for the environment. Not just celebrities and big CEO's, but the little people, who are giving their time and energy to help create momentum. I want to help make them look real cool like they are. The more publicity these people get, the more business and recognition they'll get and the more people will follow.

I belong to a hip online business review site called Yelp.com. Anyone can visit a place, experience the service and write about it. Since joining, I've used it to choose more than 2 weeks of lunch spots and recommended places to my friends. Someone should start a site like that just for business that are living up to green standards. If it becomes cool to live green, more and more teenagers and young adults will do it and they are the ones that will have the biggest impact in the near future.

My friend sells dry cleaning machines and told me some disturbing information. He said there are still dry cleaners out there that use toxic chemicals which get poured down the drain and into our water system. There are places that still have the old machines that aren't EF. (environmentall friendly) The worst part is that no one is enforcing the laws. Stuff like this boils my blood.

I saw a guy with a shopping cart going house to house collecting cans and bottles. Imagine if we could get all those hard working bottle collectors to streamline their process somehow that would benefit them and our neighborhoods. For example, local business could collect their recycling and just give it to these people, who are trying to make an honest living. That way, we support local private businesses and help homelessness.

Props to Leo, Robert Redford, Sheryl Crow, Julia Luis Dreyfus and a handfull of others who are using their celebrity for good causes. They inspire me.

The Circle of Synthetic Stuff

I remember back in junior high (circa 1989) when the green recycle bins first showed up on my family's front step in our lovely suburbia bubble of El Toro, Ca. My friend and I were thrilled at the clean new wheeled toy we could play with. We carted eachother around the block playing ding dong ditch and scaring our neighbors by popping up out of the bin like a jack in the box when someone answered the door.
Despite our initial misuse of the bins, I think most of the neighborhood took to them well, including my mom, who quickly designated an extra area for paper and bottles in the pantry. What a wonderful idea to get people participating. Why aren't these bins everywhere? My boyfriend lives in Sherman Oaks at an apartment complex where there is no recycling bin in sight. Why aren't the managers forced to get one? Is there somewhere I can report them? I'll get back to you on that one after a little research.
I made a little visit to my local private recycling center, Alpha Recycling, and had a few words with the manager Paul. After speaking with him about the business of recycling I wonder why it's so difficult to get everyone to recycle. Many people drop off their valuable recyclable goods that Paul pays cash for. He then bundles it up and sells it off to other companies for processing. He had bundles of everything from cans, to bottles, to plastic, paper, and cardboard. Everything except batteries and metal. He told me he has no problem getting rid of anything. The bundles get shipped off to other areas of California and even overseas to Taiwan. So if recycling is profitable, what is the public system doing? There should be bins everywhere in every city, not just at houses.

My Inspiration

I'm no saint by any means, not even close. I do recycle, I drive a fuel efficient car, I take the subway when I can, I don't litter and I donate to a few enviornmental groups. I want to do better because I know in my heart it's the right thing to do.

Traveling to 3rd world countries made me realize how good I have it. Anyone who was born in America is automatically better off than most people in the world. I went to Africa where the women carry their newborn babies to work on their back with a basket of goods to sell at the market on their head. Here, I have the security of knowing even in the worst of times, I can get a job at McDonalds and work my way up to manager. As an American I feel obligated to give back to the world because I have the luxury of being able to spend my time doing that. I just haven't really found out how to do that exactly.

It really dissapoints me that our country, supposedly the leader of the free world, can't get on the environmental band wagon and set an example for the rest of the world. When the Bush administration declined to sign the Kyoto treaty because it wasn't "fair" to us, I knew we were in trouble. Now Global Warming is a serious issue and it's almost too late. Almost.

There's a lot of hype about it, but who's really acting? Magazines like Vanity Fair, Sports Illustratd and Outside are publishing "green" issues to raise awareness. That's great, but I want to know, who else is taking action and what can I do?