Quick tip: Switch off the lights.

I'll be the first to admit, I never understood the point of occasions such as Earth hour. For those of you who are not familiar with Earth Hour (now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if that's what it was really called): earth hour was an hour once a year when everyone around the world turned off their lights for a full 60 minutes. This usually coincided with Earth Day on April 23d, which is meant to remind us about environment issues.

As you may have guessed, today's quick tip is about conserving energy in the form of lighting. (I'll keep it simple and keep heating out of this until the fall and winter months are upon us.)
Quick tip: Only turn on the lights you need, and only keep them on for however long you need them.




Remember how much fun you would have as a kid during power outages? (I was scared of the dark for a long time but power outages were always fun!) How about spending time at a cottage without electricity and lighting candles once the sun went down?
Here's a short list of things that are fun to do by candlelight or in the dark:
- Playing board games or cards
- Eating dinner
- Having friends over for wine!
- Sleeping
- Romance
- Listening to music

Last words: I recently found out that beeswax candles are the best option. This is because they contain "no paraffin, benzene, acrolyn, lead, stearic acid, or any other chemicals. As a result no toxic petrochemical by-products are released during the burning of beeswax candles." Source. For this reason, I'm burning whatever candles I have now and will make the switch once I burn through my current toxic candles.

This week's challenge: Plastic awareness.

I was going to post about something else tonight but in the last few hours, I’ve gotten excessively antsy about plastic. You may have noticed that my blog lacks the usual abundant and frightening amount of statistics that comes with most environmentally-related information.
The usual tactic: scare and then encourage (change).
My approach is rather: awareness (which you do yourself) and then change. I’m not going to fill this post up with scary statistics about plastic and waste, I’ll limit myself to one fact okay, two facts, and a challenge. So here goes…

Plastic facts:
1. Plastic cannot be recycled, it can only be downcycled. [Want to know more about downcylcing? Click here.] So all the plastic that is produced will eventually end up in landfills.
2. Just like the tobacco and alcohol industry, the plastic industry has lawyers and individuals who lobby the government in order to ensure themselves a profitable future. [This to say that we can’t rely on the government to pass laws. We need to start changing our habits and asking governments to change these laws.]

This mid-week’s challenge:
Observe, or if you’re motivated enough keep a list, of all the plastic in your life. Look around your home, the grocery store (warning: that’s the scariest part), at work, at school, at restaurants and where ever else.

My own on-going exploration with awareness brought me to realize that the products I use in my bathroom need improvement…


I look forward to your comments, realizations and even pictures!

2 easy tips for buying less clothes (while still keeping things interesting.)

This weekend has been pretty eventful, due in large part to the fact that I got to attend my first wedding as an adult! (The other 3 occurred while I was between the ages of 2 and 13 so my memories escape me a little.)

I had a dress all picked out and I'd aimlessly left it lying on the bed. When Juha walked into the bedroom, he asked "What's this?" to which I replied that that's what I'd be wearing to his cousin's wedding on Saturday. "But the invitation says 'smart casual.'"

"Oh."

I didn't end up buying anything new though, so here's how I did it.

Tip 1: When dressing up for an occasion, invite a few friends over (1 or 2 days ahead of time) and ask them to rummage through your closet and dress you.
Maybe this is more of a tip for women, but regardless, it would work for men too. (Ask your girlfriend, sister, mom, friend, etc.)

Because seriously, when are you ever gonna wear this again? Credit here.

What ended up happening is that Juha's mom and sister were also wondering what to wear. They invited me over and since I had been with my friends that afternoon, we stopped by to give a trifecta of opinions! When a belt or scarf would have completed the outfit, one of us was likely to own it if the other didn't.

After this exercise, we headed to my place where I proceeded to empty out my closet, gather all my shoes and open up my jewelry box! Not only did I end up with a great outfit that I would've struggled to put together on my own, but I wore a few items which had been sitting in my closet with the tags still on, and the whole thing lasted about 10 minutes. Best of all, the total cost of the entire operation was $0.

This brings me to tip 2: Give your clothes away, swap them when they don't fit and borrow when you need something for an occasion.

A friend of mine did this a few months ago. She invited people over for an evening, and it just so happened she had emptied out her closet that day. She had a big pile of clothes on her bed and they were all up for grabs. Whatever we didn't want, she'd try to sell or give away.

This doesn't only apply to clothes but also shoes that never quite fit you but you love (you'll still see them around but on your friend instead) or other pieces which you've tried to incorporate into your wardrobe but it just hasn't worked (after trying out Tip 1). Whatever is left that none of your friends want, you can give away to second hand stores or recycling pickups. Of course there are still some things you'll need to buy new (underwear, socks, comfortable shoes, etc.) but try this method before heading to the store.


Isla Fisher in the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, photo credit here.

What's in it for you?
- It's fun.
- You save a lot of money.
- You reuse and enjoy clothes (as they pass from hand to hand) instead of throwing them away.
- You discover different combinations, freshen up your style and keep boredom at bay.
- Your friends can do the same when they want to get rid of something and you'll be on the receiving end.

Related posts:

Easy adjustment: Only buy things you really like.

Why sustainability is shedding its hippie image.

In North America, sustainability, environmentalism or eco-friendliness are often falsely associated with hippies, poor hygiene and a love of peace. It’s only recently that it’s dawned on me, as I tried to defend my recent interests, that this does not apply all over the world. People in different countries and of different cultures do not associate the environment and its preservation with a skewed stereotype that is meant to put the majority of people off the idea entirely. So how is it that those things were associated to begin with? And why should we change this perception?


If you're not familiar with 'said perception' of a hippie and/or are looking for photo credit click here.

hip•pie
[hip-ee] noun
a person, especially of the late 1960s, who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness, often expressed externally in the wearing of casual, folksy clothing and of beads, headbands, used garments, etc.
Thank you, dictionary.com.

They may not all wear bellbottoms, experiment with hallucinogenics, refuse to wash their hair and rally in protest of the government but the baby boomers from the 60s and 70s are, for the most part, still around.
I have to pause here and reflect on this image… and how American it is, because to some, it seems like a global phenomenon. My parents, and all those related to me who were alive in the 1960s and 1970s were largely cut off from this phenomenon due to the fact that they were born behind the iron curtain. For this reason, I myself have never quite been able to understand, nor romanticize the notion of hippiness.. or hippihood?
Their purpose was the pleasure of living without the hardships of those who lived through the two World Wars and the Great Depression had to suffer through and maybe today isn't all they had imagined but its definitely different than yesterday.

Okay, so what does that have to do with the environment?

I wanted to bring up that idea of the original hippie, not to wake the one within you, but rather to contrast it with the incorrect stereotype of today. When I bring up the environment in conversation or vegetarianism or pollution or over-consumption, I notice a change in people’s perceptions. Like this whole time they had thought I was someone ‘normal’ and suddenly they’ve discovered I’m one of ‘those people’ who has lost the joy of riding in a car or eating steak: the tree-huggers.


These crazy kids came from here.

The more you disassociate the two, the hippie and the environmentalist, the more likely you are to realize that we're all in the same boat. I simply think that these perceptions are instilled in us for a reason: money and fear (and denial.) Okay 3 reasons, but denial and fear go hand-in-hand.
To put it simply, whenever there have been times of change, there have been those to resist it. The future is unknown to us and so we fear it. The present is frightening with scientists crunching numbers for when we'll destroy the planet and generations to come will suffer and yet we don't know what to do about it. Yet, there are some very powerful people who want to continue profiting from the way we are currently living. There's nothing wrong with profit (most of you know I went/go to business school) when all the externalities have to be accounted for (which right now is not the case.)

So where does that leave us?

Well that’s really up to you. Hippies and those conscientious about the environment do have something in common, and it’s not pants, hair nor drugs. It’s a revolution. But while one set of people took to the streets, protesting the system and arguing against war, the other set is going about it much more silently. Changing habits little-by-little, talking to family and friends, coming up with solutions to help one-another, getting the government involved, revolutions can come in many forms. So although there are similarities, there are also stark differences. Habits and years of them stand between where we are now and where we’d like to be (in terms of consumption, pollution, conservation, sustainability and other big scary issues that need tackling) but we need to start somewhere…

And that’s where this blog comes in.
(And the infinite resources of the internet. But “And that’s where this blog comes in” sounded catchier.)

Life motto: Be the change you want to see in the world.

Do you ever happen upon a really dirty area in your neighbourhood? Is there a bench in a park you love that always seems to pile up a lot of garbage?

I've been spending a lot of time wondering about this lately and asking myself how people can care so little for their surroundings. It just so happens that I think many people care, but sometimes they're waiting for someone to come along and ask them to help. This is why today, I want to talk about a motto that a friend of mine cites as her inspiration.

Life motto: Be the change you want to see in the world.

Last night, I got home late and noticed that outside a neighbour's balcony, the ground was covered in cigarette butts. I found this repulsive last night, and woke up this morning with the urge to go clean it up. I toyed with the idea of leaving it there for a bit so the negligent neighbour could see the harm he'd done but I worried that the wind would blow everything around. So instead, I wrote the person a letter, asking him to use an ashtray next time. Then, I went outside and picked up 207 cigarette butts off the street. (Yes, you read that right.) I used a thicker plastic bag I had as a glove and a little bread bag to hold the garbage. I've also decided that when I deliver my letter, I'll also return the bag to its rightful owner.

Before:

After:

All 207 of them, plus a few packets of snuff, a ball of paper towel and 2-3 empty packs of cigarettes.

To be honest, I noticed people staring at me this morning while I was doing this and that made me happy (though I also felt slightly awkward!) I don't think it looked like I'd been out partying the night before so I hope they didn't think that was my mess. But if you see someone doing a clean-up like that, you're more likely to go out and do one yourself. Which is actually how I ended up out there in the first place...

I've been having a lot of ideas lately. Some of them are good, like this blog (I hope!) and some of them not so much. I'm sure I'm not the only person with ideas and that's why I think when you have a good one, you should go with it. Try it out, see if it can work, and when it takes off, you'll be all the more grateful for trying.

For example, my friend Donna has been taking the bus to and from the city for the past 2 years. Through the changing seasons, she's noticed that the bus stops can sometimes be really filthy places. To remedy this, she spoke to a friend about going out there and cleaning them up herself (even though there's a company who owns them and therefore should look after them properly.) The friend she spoke with offered to help and said she's sure other people would come help too!

So here we are, a few weeks later, organizing an event to gather the community together and show people we can make a difference. Tampere has been getting increasingly dirtier, especially during the weekends after long nights of partying (and sadly, littering). Over 60 people are expected to come help out and the local newspaper Aamulehti will be there to take pictures, talk to people and write about the event so more people can hear about it.

It hasn't been all smooth sailing though. It can be quite discouraging to walk around and see lots of trash sitting there or blowing in the wind, but we have to believe that people didn't realize what harm they were causing when they threw that trash there. Some people don't see a point in picking it up, while others think it's a great idea and are bringing the kids to teach them about it too. But what I take away from this, is that many ideas can turn into something really positive and that even making a small difference, for example, in terms of garbage picked up, can end up inspiring people to do the same, or at least, think twice about throwing garbage on the ground.

I'll post more about the event on Sunday, after it takes place!

Update: I just went over to the building and spoke with the guy who had the party. I rang his bell, handed him the note (no mailbox) and gave him the bag of butts. I really don't feel any anger and he seemed like a nice guy, just embarrassed. I think that keeping an open mind and being friendly always goes a long way too.

Still a long way to go!

In the interest of self-disclosure, I just bought some new flats that have nothing to do with the environment. I pondered about whether or not I should post this but decided I didn't want to come off as someone who does everything right without any effort, because that wouldn't be true. So instead, shoes go on my eco-friendly wishlist for next purchase!



I had seen them weeks, if not months, ago but at 96€ full price, there was no way I was gonna gamble on another pair of flats. Since they went on sale though, and I knew I really loved them, I went back and got them today.
[See my previous post on only buying stuff you love.]

I'd been trying to decide which items get my focus when it comes to sustainable-living and I've decided that I'm of the opinion that shoes should be made for the individual and not bought second-hand. Though I suppose if they're heels or party shoes and you wear them rarely then the fact that they're not shaped to your foot is not a huge problem. Otherwise, I have some issues with the hygiene of it all but you could make sure they're properly sterilized too.
The irony was that when I was trying them on, I looked up at some other shoes. They were really colourful and, I have to admit, pretty ugly, but they were 100% recycled. The guilt hit me a little but the style was so far from what I'd wear that I couldn't even consider wearing them, let alone ever paying money for them. It seemed to me there are lots of options for eco-friendly shoes which are comfortable but they are restricted to more casual styles... that was before I came home and Googled a little and found this article: Top 10 Eco Friendly, Socially Conscious and Vegan Shoes. Okay so it's not the perfect article because those shoes aren't 100% perfect either, but each of them has something sustainable, whether production methods, content or labour. I was thinking more along the lines of Simple shoes or another shoe company which I cannot find right now, despite the last half an hour I just spent Googling...

What can I say? I have a long way to go. I hope they last me forever. My next purchase will be sustainable! I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Making tough choices? Figure out your priorities.

I met my friend Donna today because I'm helping her organize a community garbage pick-up event this coming Sunday and we had some running around to do. One of the spots we ran through was Tampere's central square, which is host to a variety of festivals and different vendors throughout the summer. This is one big reason that the center has tons of garbage flying around it but there are also nice things available there. This week, the theme is French Cuisine and products!

The bakery has a line running through the square (it's run out of a truck) and other vendors are selling candy, fresh nuts or even soaps! I noticed a huge stand of French natural soaps from Marseilles and couldn't resist. I promised myself that I'd stop buying liquid soaps, in an effort to reduce waste. In addition, I've been buying only soaps without any waste at all (no packaging, no bags, etc.) They usually tend to run about 5-8euros/bar but I get such joy out of using them that I don't mind paying a few euros extra, and they last long too.

Today in the square, the soaps cost 5 euros each or 5 for 20 euros. I got so excited but there were a few things to consider:
+ no waste
+ natural soaps
+ great price
- driven in a truck from France
- production impact unknown
= how do you calculate that?

In the end, I came home with 5 bars of them and had a photo shoot! It's sometimes hard to make decisions like that but those decisions are part of every day life. I'm trying to make lots of choices at the same time, and all my intentions are good: I don't want to have a negative impact on my surroundings. But this takes some getting used to and should be done step-by-step (especially since this is in the sub-title of this blog.)

So the moral of this story, and the lesson for this post is: Figure out your priorities.

If energy and water are more important for you, focus on those. If emissions are on your mind, reduce those first. If waste is your most pressing concern, start with that. I could keep going but you get the point. So long as you're aware and you start somewhere, you're heading in the right direction.

And now for the photo shoot... (these should last me about a year!)