Anyone Going Green? Ideas please...

[budbeerlady]

I just love this thread! It has some great idea, some are not for me but that is okay too. I can see that in the future it will become more and more important for us to become less dependant on our oil, plastic, throw away life style.

We stopped using paper plates a while ago. Its messy in the garbage, you are throwing away money and why waste the manufacturing energy to make them. I use some 7th generation dish soap and wash my solid plates. (or if it is a heck of a week I run the dishwasher without the dry cycle.)

Now my Grandma (90 in 4 months and doing awesome!) reuses her paper plates. It cracks me up, but really how dirty is your plate if you just put a cookie or something dry on it. She doesnt give company a used plate or anything, but for herself she reuses it.

 

[minnie1928]

For those interested in composting, I was just looking at my county waste management's website. They are offering compost bins for only $8. Perhaps others do this as well....

 

[TPCShauna]

Here's some more fuel for flaming...

I've been saying for years that I'd like to see product testing performed on life-sentence inmates. It would save our animals and occasionally even have the side-benefit of torturing and/or killing the rapists and mass murderers that our tax dollars currently support.

Oh my gosh, I SOOOOO agree with this and say it all the time. After all, animals are cute and fluffy, but prisoners did something wrong to land there in the first place.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks this!

 

[LisaR]

The gross-out factor, I promise you, is purely an American state of mind. We are hyper clean as a nation and other cultures think WE are the weird ones. The nose-in-the-air attitude is what is getting this country into all kinds of trouble with the rest of the world. "Our" way is not the only way and belittling others b/c they are different is, well, unAmerican.

If you or anyone else wishes to use a "family cloth," fine by me. Your family = your life. However, please don't insinuate that because most Americans thumb their noses at cloth diapers and family clothes that that is the reason this country is in the sad shape it is in. I assure you we are not losing men and women everyday in Iraq because of our lack of the family cloth.

On that note, while I know only one person that lives overseas, I do know many people from other countries that have moved to the U.S. I do not know a single one that uses a family cloth. I am willing to bet us snooty Americans aren't the only ones that are grossed out by this.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

We're getting off-topic here. Please steer the conversation back to ideas for "going green" and away from world politics. I know that we're capable of doing it.

 

[graygables]

If you or anyone else wishes to use a "family cloth," fine by me. Your family = your life. However, please don't insinuate that because most Americans thumb their noses at cloth diapers and family clothes that that is the reason this country is in the sad shape it is in. I assure you we are not losing men and women everyday in Iraq because of our lack of the family cloth.

On that note, while I know only one person that lives overseas, I do know many people from other countries that have moved to the U.S. I do not know a single one that uses a family cloth. I am willing to bet us snooty Americans aren't the only ones that are grossed out by this.

As a former Army brat whose officer father (AND our family) served our country through Korea, Viet Nam and beyond for 20 years, I am certainly NOT insinuating that "family cloth" is the underlying cause of the war in Iraq. I grew up overseas and have spent a lot of time travelling and visiting even after moving back to the States. I can tell you, Americans are viewed as arrogant and "snooty" (and worse). Part of that does have to do with the Our Way Is the Only Way attitude and the looking-down-the-nose at those who are different. Calling others' practices "weird" and "nasty" when they really aren't so "weird" or "nasty" globally speaking is precisely the attitude that I'm talking about. If you want to see "nasty", try using a toilet in Turkey. A couple of foot pads and a hole in the ground. If you're lucky, the person before you ran some water to rinse it...and I hope you brought your own cloth/TP b/c you won't find any there!

Back to living green...

 

[budbeerlady]

Going back to the green thing, I will admit to being a forgiener in other countries who has sacrified a sock to be comfortable!

Anyone with the worm composting bin live the northern states? I am very interested in this idea!(dd has a thing about worms, she tries to keep them as pets outside, then they get too hot in the jar, ya know its pretty gross!)

But I wonder what would I have to do in the winter? Or just buy new worms in the spring? Just curious how the thing worked all year long? And did you make your own or did you buy one?

Thanks! Who knew I could find out about worm composting/ farming on the dis?!

 

[ticktock]

You're clearly happy with tampons and I am not trying to persuade you to switch to the Diva Cup. I just want to make a comment about "not as gross as something reusable." Imagine if everyone used paper plates all the time. All the food scraps would just be tossed out with the plates. And then someone came along and said, "We use plates made out of plastic or ceramic and you just wash them and use them again." People might think, that is disgusting! You have to handle the smeary sauces and the bones (if you eat meat)! Instead of bundling them up directly and neatly into the trash. And then the next night you're going to eat from the same plate???? But we'll all fine with that because it's what we're used to.




I'm not the ideal DC user because I have a very heavy flow. I have to change it several times a day for a couple days of my period. (I had to change tampons every hour sometimes.) If you have a light flow you can probably just change it morning and night. I have to change it away from home. If there's not a single user bathroom available, and there are other people, then I just wipe it off thoroughly and reinsert. Otherwise I will wash it in the sink. Someone might come in and see this, but I figure that public restrooms often have changing tables, and I don't think it's any worse than seeing or being in proximity to a poopy diaper.






I had never heard of the "family cloth" thing before this thread, and I don't want to try it myself, but I don't think it's overboard. I think it's great that some people are doing that.

I know that people in other parts of the world enjoy eating bugs, and although my emotional reaction is "That's gross!" at the same time I'm aware that it isn't actually disgusting. I have the feelings I do because of the society in which I was raised, but if I were born there I'd be happily munching grasshoppers.

We can't control our initial internal reactions. (Although as adults we've learned it's good manners sometimes not to express these reactions.) And often we don't need to question them. We can live with them and there's no internal conflict. But sometimes there might be some other pressure that would cause us to rethink. If I were starving or if I could win $1,000,000, maybe I could get over that reaction to eating bugs. After all, I know that other people like them and they are nutritious. Similarly, if a person really wanted to save money and/or use less resources, she might want to learn more about some of these practices even if her initial reaction was negative.

So, yes, people might have that reaction initially. And they might simply remain with that thinking. But some people might be motivated to at least find out more and see if it might work for them.

OK I'm not trying to be ugly and I do agree with most of what you said BUT rinsing your bodily fluids out in a public bathroom sink is IMHO way over the line.

Yes I know that in the ideal situation period blood is sterile but how many situations are ideal? If this caught on it could be a HUGE public health hazard. I'm sure you personally are healthy etc.. but I also know that having multiple sex partners is very fashionable with the young set now (they call it being polyamorous, puke, I call it a biohazard). Just the type of young "hip" people who are also attracted to things like the deva cup.

I applaud your use of the deva cup both for enviromental reasons and for the plain fact that you can make your own decisions. But please don't rinse it in a sink someone else is going to be using. It sets a dangerous precedent. As Thomas Jefferson said Your right to swing your arm ends at my nose. KWIM?

 

[graygables]

Going back to the green thing, I will admit to being a forgiener in other countries who has sacrified a sock to be comfortable!

Anyone with the worm composting bin live the northern states? I am very interested in this idea!(dd has a thing about worms, she tries to keep them as pets outside, then they get too hot in the jar, ya know its pretty gross!)

But I wonder what would I have to do in the winter? Or just buy new worms in the spring? Just curious how the thing worked all year long? And did you make your own or did you buy one?

Thanks! Who knew I could find out about worm composting/ farming on the dis?!

We're in NE Ohio. We keep our worm bin in our laundry room. I actually tried it in a corner of the kitchen (under a counter, waaayy back in the corner), but that was a pain, plus DD were younger and tended to knock a bit of dirt off when they raked it in. The laundry room was ideal for it. We bought one, it's back in one of my posts. I really like that one, very easy to set up and use.

 

[budbeerlady]

We're in NE Ohio. We keep our worm bin in our laundry room. I actually tried it in a corner of the kitchen (under a counter, waaayy back in the corner), but that was a pain, plus DD were younger and tended to knock a bit of dirt off when they raked it in. The laundry room was ideal for it. We bought one, it's back in one of my posts. I really like that one, very easy to set up and use.

I did look that up on an earlier page and thought that it looked cool. In the house, do they ever escape? I dont know if I can get Dh to go for in the house with the dog and all.

 

[ladysoleil]

I applaud your use of the deva cup both for enviromental reasons and for the plain fact that you can make your own decisions. But please don't rinse it in a sink someone else is going to be using. It sets a dangerous precedent. As Thomas Jefferson said Your right to swing your arm ends at my nose. KWIM?

I'm not flaming, I'm curious, really, please don't take this as flaming, but I really want to ask. Going by that logic, do you also think that if a woman's hands get a little messy while changing a tampon or pad, she shouldn't wash them at a public sink because someone else might use it and it's a health hazard? If I cut my hand, am I allowed to wash it at a public sink? Or is that a health hazard too?

I'd feel comfortable that the hot water and soap would keep contagion minimal.

(Realistically, if it makes you feel any better, most people I know who use the cups deal with the maintenance at home, it's a lot easier to clean up and more discreet. I don't think there will ever be an epidemic of people all cleaning cups in public sinks.)

 

[formernyer]

I'm not flaming, I'm curious, really, please don't take this as flaming, but I really want to ask. Going by that logic, do you also think that if a woman's hands get a little messy while changing a tampon or pad, she shouldn't wash them at a public sink because someone else might use it and it's a health hazard? If I cut my hand, am I allowed to wash it at a public sink? Or is that a health hazard too?

I'd feel comfortable that the hot water and soap would keep contagion minimal.

(Realistically, if it makes you feel any better, most people I know who use the cups deal with the maintenance at home, it's a lot easier to clean up and more discreet. I don't think there will ever be an epidemic of people all cleaning cups in public sinks.)

Personally, I see a huge difference between the two. If a little blood gets on the hand while changing a tampon, it is most likely wiped onto a piece of toilet paper (or family cloth) before the woman leaves the stall. There is very little left on the hands to clean in the sink. It's a lot different to rinse ounces of menstrual blood in the public sink. It's also not something that I, or probably most other people, want to be exposed to watching.

As for the comparison to changing a diaper in a public place, most of us don't enjoy watching or being around that either; however, it's a necessary evil. The baby can't change himself, so there's no choice other than doing it for him. Adults, on the other hand, have options to prevent having to expose their bodily fluids/excrements in public.

Personally, I'm even against breastfeeding in public, but I know I'm in the minority with that one. I just don't find it appropriate for women to be allowed to expose their breasts publicly as long as there's a baby attached to it. Fortunately, most women these days pump, but back in the 1980s it seemed fashionable for women to pop their shirts open in stores and restaurants.

 

[punkin]

Personally, I'm even against breastfeeding in public, but I know I'm in the minority with that one. I just don't find it appropriate for women to be allowed to expose their breasts publicly as long as there's a baby attached to it. Fortunately, most women these days pump, but back in the 1980s it seemed fashionable for women to pop their shirts open in stores and restaurants.

Please, please, please, let's not start on this.

I have pumped and "popped my shirt open is stores and restaurants" and I am rather militant about my right to do so.

 

[Zoesmama03]

OK I'm not trying to be ugly and I do agree with most of what you said BUT rinsing your bodily fluids out in a public bathroom sink is IMHO way over the line.

Yes I know that in the ideal situation period blood is sterile but how many situations are ideal? If this caught on it could be a HUGE public health hazard. I'm sure you personally are healthy etc.. but I also know that having multiple sex partners is very fashionable with the young set now (they call it being polyamorous, puke, I call it a biohazard). Just the type of young "hip" people who are also attracted to things like the deva cup.

I applaud your use of the deva cup both for enviromental reasons and for the plain fact that you can make your own decisions. But please don't rinse it in a sink someone else is going to be using. It sets a dangerous precedent. As Thomas Jefferson said Your right to swing your arm ends at my nose. KWIM?

I'm sorry that whole Just the type of young "hip" people attracted to things like that is outta line here. I'm very much attracted to my DIva Cup, I wasn't at first but you know what it works. I'm very much a monogomaous person and all of my friends that use Diva Cups are the same married with familes and do no sleep around.


Get real. You have just as much chance of catching something from the toliet with or without a sanitary sheet to cover it as you do with a sink that may or may not have had blood rinsed down it.
I agree with another person. IF I cut my hand am I expected to bleed to death becasue god forbid my "germs" or potential for diseases be caught by someone else because I used the same sink to clean it up as they did to wash their hands. GROW UP!!! REALLY!!! My gosh you might get cooties.


You know what catch on, these cups WILL become more known. They have been using these things in Canada for YEARS and YEARS. Technology or no technology these things are GREAT inventions that could make a world of difference to women in 3rd world countries the SAME as here. I'm not telling anyone to dump and wash their body fluids in the sink. Its not likely it would have to be dumped that often while out in public. It holds an ounce and the average women looses 2-3 ounces their ENTIRE period. Just doesn't happen.

Maybe we need biohazard boxes for those tampons and pads too.

 

[Zoesmama03]

Personally, I see a huge difference between the two. If a little blood gets on the hand while changing a tampon, it is most likely wiped onto a piece of toilet paper (or family cloth) before the woman leaves the stall. There is very little left on the hands to clean in the sink. It's a lot different to rinse ounces of menstrual blood in the public sink. It's also not something that I, or probably most other people, want to be exposed to watching.

For one you dump the whole ounce it carries in the toliet left with some residue the same as if you get some on your hand while changing pads or tampons.

The same is true of the Diva Cup it gets wiped off.

Like I said I don't rinse mine in public, because of mostly embarassment but also because I too believe nobody needs to see my body fluids if it can be avoided. Ive only come upon the situation to need to dump it a few times in public and I do as instructions say and is completely safe to wipe it off and re-insert and clean it when I get home.

 

[Lyn5]

My father has always used cloth handkerchiefs and I did growing up. We had facial tissue in the bathroom too...but I guess it is a matter of preference and choice.

 

[imsayin]

I just don't find it appropriate for women to be allowed to expose their breasts publicly as long as there's a baby attached to it. Fortunately, most women these days pump, but back in the 1980s it seemed fashionable for women to pop their shirts open in stores and restaurants.

I had my kids in the 90's and I popped my shirt open whenever the baby was hungry, and I'd do it today if I had one. It's not like I was pulling a Janet Jackson. If someone has an issue with this, that's their problem.

Back on topic: I'm working on being greener, but it's a slow process.

Anyone know how I can get charities to quit sending solicitations? We had my mother-in-law's mail forwarded to our address, she died 3 years ago, and I still can't stop this mail!

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Second warning, people! Stay on topic! Leave the political statements and public breastfeeding discussions for the CB. We're talking about "going green" here.

 

[mjbaby]

Anyone know how I can get charities to quit sending solicitations? We had my mother-in-law's mail forwarded to our address, she died 3 years ago, and I still can't stop this mail!

Unfortunately, you may be getting your MIL's mail because the charity direct-mail circuit discovered she was a soft touch.

I tried going the route of the Direct Mail marketing preference list, with some results, but for the really intractable groups I ended up stuffing the contents into their reply envelope with a note to not contact me again. I mean, it's not like one wouldn't know where to look for a good organization if one decided to give money to an animal (or educational or health care or political or environmental or, or, or...) group, right? Not a single group contacted me again after having to pay the postage of their entire mailing right back to them.

 

[IluvKingLouis]

Thanks for such a great topic. I've learned alot. I would even be willing to try the DivaCup were it not for the heavy periods and clotting I experience.

Here's our small contribution in trying to be more green:

• Bought a Prius 11 months ago
• Unplug appliances when not in use
• Will be replacing light bulbs with CF's
• Got rid of our Downstairs TV and now have only one in Master Bedroom ---
  this results in watching much less TV.
• Try to cook from scratch so as not to buy heavily packaged items
• Combine trips so we never run out for just one errand
• Both DH and I telecommute, but it's tough to find such an arrangement & we're quite lucky.
• Read all my newspapers and most of my newsmagazines online
• Wash only with cold water
• Have drought resistant/low water grass in our backyard --- would like it in the front too but it's an HOA thing.

Thanks again for so many good idea's!