car stuff

I have diligently not posted about cars so far. And no, it is not because I am the secret owner of a great honking 4WD. It is because they are not of much interest to me as I don't drive. Don't see the need to, never have, probably never will.

The Object of My Affections and I do have a car (well, I suppose he has it, but I do get to ride in it sometimes!) It is a Ford Focus - a fairly small car that is suitable for two people. We are now looking (alright, he is) at getting a new car - a small station wagon affair. Diesel.

I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. And I confess, it has been triggered by having a couple of large dogs to drag about. Makes me realise what a very first world life we lead.

On the upside I am a diligent train user, that has to count for something. And I walk a lot to get from A to B. On my way to the train station each morning as I wait to cross the road, I am always amazed at the fact that 95% of the cars that go past only have one person in them. There is something deeply, deeply wrong about that.

dog poo bags again

After getting all excited at the prospect of biodegradable plastic-ish bags for picking up the dog poo, I realised all I was going to be doing was consuming more stuff. And doing my best to not use plastic bags (although I admit the odd few do get into the house).

The solution - ask the family. Now when the Object of My Affections' ma and pa come over they bring us their excess plastic bags. Problem solved - I am not consuming something I would not otherwise need, we don't increase our plastic bag usage and we use up some that would otherwise go to rubbish.

Good solution - am vaguely surprised that it was not immediately obvious (well, to me, anyway)...

look back in horror

I had an image pop into my head the other day about the volume of stuff that I have discarded during my life - and it was a vision of a large and very unattractive pile of wasted food; general household waste; packaging; old shoes and clothes; toys and the general detritus that you shed in a life. And it was not attractive.

And multiply that by a few billion and it is even less so. It did however encourage me to commit to grow my notional rubbish heap as little as possible.

the drycleaning dilemma

I took some clothes for drycleaning yesterday. I don't do this often (maybe a couple of items a month), but the convenience factor is high - which is to say I don't want to be washing/ironing silk shirts or trying to clean work suits etc. Partly because I am a crap ironer in the first instance (with absolutely no interest in getting better) and I don't know what else to do in the second instance.

I had a bit of an epiphany in the shop to do with really 'seeing' the kilometres of plastic that encased every single item of clothing and the huge number of wire coathangers for which there seems to be no provision for recycling. And then there is the cleaning fluids. A quick google revealed that Perchloroethylene (known as perc) is the most commonly used solvent in dry cleaning. It is hazardous to both health and to the environment. So, obviously the answer is not to do it.

So now I want to know is there an alternative?

death to the plastic bag

Ok, be warned, this is a bit of a spleen vent.

Plastic bags are everywhere. I try very hard not to end up with them - I use carry bags or stuff things into whatever bag I am carrying at the time. And gee, sometimes I even use my hands and just carry things home in them. But they are still in my life
(plastic bags that is). Even bread comes in plastic bags - it seems like everything comes in bloody plastic.

I don't get it - given the damn stuff doesn't break down for a very long time - and when it does it isn't exactly benign - why is it allowed? Why are approximately six billion plastic bags churned out and used every year in Australia alone?

I heard an interview with Ian Kiernan (Mr Clean Up Australia) on the ABC the other day that made me quite sick - and this is why: "In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii, lies a floating garbage patch twice the size of Britain. It is a place where the water is filled with six times as much plastic as plankton. This plastic-plankton soup is entering the food chain and heading for our dinner plates. Plastic bags are mistaken as food and consumed by a wide range of marine species, especially those that consume jellyfish or squid, which resemble plastic bags when floating in the water column."

So these crappy plastic bags are not only choking marine life, they are breaking down at sea and entering the food chain - with unknown (but gee, let me guess, toxic) results. After all the damned things are a petroleum by-product. And those of us who eat sea food will sooner or later end up with some of those broken down molecules in our food. At the risk of sounding bitter and twisted, it seems no more than we deserve. A not very nice example of what goes round comes round.

Let's say no to plastic and other crappy packaging. We don't need it, it is energy intensive to make and it doesn't go away once we're finished with it. And it does not add to our quality of life. Just say no.

how time flies

I have just rather belatedly realised I have been at this gig for over 12 months now. And although I ain't perfect, I'm pretty pleased with the progress that's been made. Have bought some stuff, but only a fraction of what I would have normally. Have also got rid of a lot of stuff that is now being used by other people, rather than stagnating at my house. Have used up a lot of stuff that was hanging about in the bathroom and laundry cupboards. I now buy virtually all of my books and CDs second hand - and am even managing to give some books away (believe me, this is a seriously significant step from the last of the great book hoarders). I shop at second hand clothes shops. And perhaps most importantly of all I am actively thinking of what I buy - transport miles, packaging, do I really need it, all that sort of thing.

However, perfection eludes me. I still have a few things to work on. The move to organics has not worked as I would have liked - due mainly to convenience and the obstruction of the object of my affections (he's pretty good, but gets obstinate on some things. Most irritating). I still have too much stuff in my life, and every now and again I do buy something new. But hardly ever. Like most things, a work in progress ...

face stuff

For a while now I have been using skin products from the Natural Source - they do an organic line and the Daintree line which is based on naturopathic principles. The products are great and reasonably priced, they come in reasonably sized containers and are not overpackaged. What more could you want? There are a few stores in Melbourne (including a new one in Bourke Street) and I guess they are around the country. They also do cosmetics - including mineral based makeup. Good stuff.