How come I didn’t hear about this until now?

Woman can set her water on fire due to the amount of chemicals in it.

I’d seriously be afraid of my house blowing up. I’d have to move.

Can we say….water pollution? Oh no, that’s a fable. I FORGETED.

According to the Daily Green:

“A report by the group ForestEthics estimates that destroying forests to make paper for junk mail releases as much greenhouse gas pollution as 9 million cars.

Another way to look at it: Junk mail produces as much pollution as seven U.S. states combined, or as much as heating 13 million homes each winter.”

Now…how do you even compare that to states since they vary so much in size? Regardless, this is a good addition to my Lazy Environmentalist workshop I did at the Grove

On the way home from house viewing and visiting my Aunts for dinner, I was driving home in the dark and I went up over the hill and this DEER HEAD was in the road. The damn thing had been decapitated (I never did see its body) and there was grossness sprawled out all over the road with this head that looks like it was detached just above the shoulders.

Naturally cause it was RIGHT over the hill (perfect place to hit a deer) I ran over the damn thing *thump THUMP*. I imagine there’s a nice coating of deer guts under my mustang.

I spoke with my realtor today, and he said he spoke with the realtor of the house we liked, and she’s not sure the woman will go below 170k. I’m going to meet with my realtor on Mon or Tues and we’ll put our official offer down on paper. I don’t know if they list the things wrong with the house in those or not so she understand why we’re offering that much. But I’m REALLY hoping that she’ll seriously consider the offer because I’m positively in love with the house.

I will have to light candles.

Per popular demand, the list of options discussed at the Lazy Environmentalist workshop I taught today at the Grove. Feel free to expand on these ideas, as I’d like to expand on it even more.

Note: Some of these ideas are ridiculous on purpose, but they are all fairly valid.

Part 2
Discussion: Lazy Environmentalism

- Forget to wash until you have a full load of dishes or laundry
- Let your dog wash dishes first, less water usage
- Pee in the shower
- Don’t flush after you urinate, this can be done several times before flushing
- Don’t shower everyday
- Shower with a friend!
- Don’t put up Christmas Lights (or a tree with lights), or put up a small tree. Use LED lights if needs be.
- Wrap with newspaper instead of wrapping paper
- Don’t buy gifts (no contributing waste or spending needless money)
- Don’t send cards (same as above)
- Hang up anything you normally would after washing and drying except don’t dry them.
- Stop the dishwasher before the drying cycle. Do it at night and they can dry while you sleep.
- If it’s not dirty, stained or smelly, wear it again. Got a spot? Clean the spot and wear it again.
- Use that semi-dirty shirt laying on the table to clean up the beer you just spilled, instead of papertowels.
- Sour Orange or lemon juice? Dump it in the toilet or shower…flush or rinse…sometime. Helps clean it up.
- Don’t paint your nails
- Throw old chips and bread outside instead of in the trash
- Don’t bother cooking the meat for your meals
- Don’t wash your car, wait for the rain
- Forget to turn on the lights
- Sleep more and watch TV less
- Cook extra for dinner and take it for lunch instead of worrying about going out somewhere to eat
- Don’t preheat the oven, just let it start cooking early
- Don’t buy clothes that require dry cleaning
- Set up power-saving modes for your computers so you can forget to turn them off
- Don’t drive anywhere, just stay home and lay in the sun
- Don’t dry or style your hair, just sweep it up or brush it out and be on your way. This saves electricity and from having to buy plastic bottled chemicals

Is having to go to work everyday.

I wake up and everything is beautiful outside. I’m listening to our turkeys and guineas and bumble bees. I can smell the lilacs and lilies and grass. I can see that wood needs to be split, the garden needs tending, and the pile of scrap wood over there that needs to be put together to make new things.

And I have to get in the car and drive to work to sit in an office all day long where my co-workers constantly have the blinds drawn to block the sunlight and the trees.

I just got back from my first around of hunting. We left a little before 6am while it was still dark, but with the light of a full moon (or close to it). There was already frost on the ground, and I found a new fallen tree to camp out on.

About half an hour after I settled, all of the birds started coming out. I’m still convinced my spot is a cardinal breeding ground, as I saw another swam of males and females a like.

A few times, a small swarm of small birds flew over head. It was so quiet, all I heard was the quiet swaying of their wings in the cold wind. It almost sounded like a gentle rain, to be honest. It was oddly facinating.

Didn’t see a single deer though, and neither did my dad on the other side of the thicket. I was nestled right where fresh rubbings were, but nothing came.

We heard several shots in the distance, some fairly close on the other side of the cornfield, but still didn’t see anything.

I think it’s a lot colder than this time last year, at least today it was. Both of our feet froze, so we decided to come in for a bit.

My friend Anna and I tried to come up with some inspirational ideas for better eating at the Grove. Mainly things like, trying to eat white meat instead of beef, stop bringing donuts and soda, but still eating things like eggs and cheese. Several people often complain about the food, and others often complain about their weight. Even some of the leaders in the Grove talk about how they want to promote healthier eating and that they love to eat vegetables.

But we were surprisingly met with some harsh resistance. People plainly stated they wanted their beef and sugar. I will say I’m disappointed, but I’m certainly not going to force a horse to drink.

In a way, in my mind, it contradicts a lot of environmental concerns. People buy processed, chemical-laden foods, support factory farms by buying meat from the grocery store, etc. Which in return supports a lot of our current environmental problems.

And this is what is preferred in a Druid Grove that advocates supporting our environment (for the most part) instead of eating local organic, eco-friendly foods.

It’s not like I was saying no red meat and no donut ever, I think diet changes should be gradual, and I think people need to reward themselves with a snack once in a while. I dunno, I guess it just boggles my mind. But I’m not going to press the issue. I will attempt to be an example with my own diet. If anything it motivates me to eat healthier and eco-conscience even more.

So I guess that’s a bright side to the whole thing, right?

Today is Blog Action Day, and many popular blogs from around the world are taking the day today to post about environmental issues.

For my topic, I decided to talk about ways my workplace has adjusted to be more environmentally friendly, and how I think it could improve.

Ways my office is environmentally conscious:
- We use silverware
- We keep ceramic cups and mugs for employees to use
- We recently moved to a restored old building (instead of building new)
- We use an energy efficient refrigerator
- We did away with purchasing big jugs of bottled water and now use a brita water filter for tap water
- We recycle soda cans
- We are a web development company so we don’t use as much paper as other companies. Our timesheets are electronic, we communicate via AIM and email, our schedules are all electronic
- Our cleaning crew collects cans to donate the money from them to charity

Things my office still needs to improve:
- They still use paper towels
- They still use paper plates
- They use those little plastic straws for coffee
- They do use a notepad on occasion, but it’s rare I’m not sure how well I can count it
- They do print out quality copies of pages to review and send to clients, which can build up as far as paper usage. However these are on a wax printer, so I think that’s more environmentally friendly.
- They should use more eco-friendly cleaning products
- They order out a lot instead of bringing their own food in reusable containers

Things I’m not sure about:
- I don’t know if they use recycled paper, but they should
- I don’t know if they used recycled ink cartridges, but they should

I should note that I love the secular Halloween, and always had as a kid.

“Halloween is the sweetest day of the year for most kids. But while we gobble up treats, the burden falls on children of West Africa, which exports 43 percent of the world’s chocolate. Almost half of the Ivory Coast cocoa farmers’ kids never go to school because their families need them to work.

Thankfully, companies like Dagoba (dagobachocolate.com), Equal Exchange (equalexchange.com), and Endangered Species Chocolate (chocolatebar.com) source ethically traded cocoa from small farmers who put profits back into their schools and communities. Better yet, they each sell individual pieces perfect for handing out on October 31st. Global Exchange (store.gxonlinestore.org) also makes a Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kit with dark chocolate minis, handmade paper decorations, and postcards full of information.”