The Adventures of Pei

"So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, good bye"

2011-06-08T07:39:00.000-06:00

The singing children of "The Sound of Music" provide my parting words to you, my supportive readers.

I am embarking on a challenging adventure to advance my professional career that will require copious studying for the rest of this year. Though I intend to continue living as simply and sustainably as possible, there will be no time for blogging. Besides, there are wonderful bloggers on these topics, and the links to some of those blogs appear along the right side on this blog.

Once I decide the time has come to take this blog down, I will give all of you plenty of notice.

My sincere gratitude to each of you for reading, commenting on and sharing this blog! Best wishes to all!

more evidence you should start a garden

2011-06-08T07:26:00.000-06:00

This article in the New York Times discusses global climate change as a factor in the destabilization of the food supply system.

If you haven't already, you should start a garden and learn how to grow some of your own food. The Master Gardeners can help you.

Cellphones and bees: not so happy together? (and the Telephone Game)

2011-06-06T07:22:00.000-06:00

A recent post by The Everyday Minimalist links to a post by Inhabitant that links to a Daily Mail article about the effects of cellphones on bees. The hypothesis is that signals from active cellphones and towers cause bee swarming behavior that may contribute to bee disappearance or colony collapse disorder. Loss of habitat, agro-chemicals and farming practices are other factors that may contribute to declining bee populations.

It's interesting that the Daily Mail article states, "The study did not show that mobile phones were deadly for bees, he said." Yet, Inhabitant titles the post, "It’s Official – Cell Phones are Killing Bees" and The Everyday Minimalist announces, "Active cell phones are killing bees." It's like the game of Telephone where everyone whispers a message to the person next to them and by the time it gets to the last person, the message hardly resembles the original. It seems the same has happened with these blog posts.

As a scientist and advocate for sustainability, I am very disappointed. This kind of sensationalism of scientific information hurts the credibility of the green/sustainable/environmental community. The veracity of information provided in posts must be of utmost importance to bloggers. Otherwise, what's the point of sharing information if it isn't completely true?

Wishy washy on dishwashing

2011-06-04T21:54:00.000-06:00

On the one hand I like hand dishwashing because the soapy water can be dumped on our compost pile (we use biodegradable soap) and the rinse water on the garden. But our Energy Star dishwasher beckons, especially when the dirty dish pile looms. As much as I would like to not incur electric use for the dishwasher, I am not so disciplined to keep up with the dishes, and it's just two people in our household.

I think this shows that as much as I--or anyone--wants to be very sustainable, there are the realities of our developed world life that task our sustainability desires.

What are your thoughts?

Sterile bananas, sterile men

2011-06-02T18:29:00.000-06:00

Below is an excerpt from The New Community Project's weekly NCP Globalization List email.

Speaking of spraying, in the environmental class I'm teaching just now at Elizabethtown College, we were talking about the fact that to keep producing cavendish bananas (the variety we and the EU prefer)--a mutant, sterile banana reproduced from cuttings--each crop has to be sprayed 40 times to beat back plant diseases. One outcome is that 1 in 5 male banana workers in Central America is sterile and female workers suffer increased leukemia and birth defects.

"But if we stopped buying them," remarked one student, "the workers would be out of jobs." True enough--but the best thing that could happen to poor workers in banana-growing regions would be for the corporations to have to pull up stakes and go home, turning the land back over to the locals for (healthy) food production--for themselves.

utterly and completely shameless selling

2011-06-01T14:31:00.000-06:00

If you are a reader of this blog (and live in the El Paso area) you will receive a 20% discount off of our fridge advertised for sale on Craigslist and mentioned in the previous blog post.

Even friends and family of The Adventures of Pei readers can take advantage of this very generous discount!

To receive the discount all one needs to do is print out this post and bring it when the fridge is paid and picked up.

As my father says, "Can't beat that with a stick."

shameless Pei Haus promotion

2011-06-01T13:44:00.004-06:00

If you live in the El Paso area and need a refrigerator and/or a bike trainer, check out the Craigslist ads below.

Fridge - $450 cash and carry

~~Trainer - $10 cash and carry~~ SOLD (that was fast!)

Your purchase helps fund our Summer 2011 home maintenance program. Thank you, y !muchas gracias!*

*(Just had to parody the Popular Mattress fellow. Local folks know what I'm talking about.)

even more about food production and global climate change

2011-06-01T05:00:00.003-06:00

A recent report released by OxFam is the topic of this article in USA Today. One of the things the article says is, "The world's poorest people will be hardest hit as the demand for food rises 70% by 2050 while the world's capacity to increase food production declines..."

Are you ready to start your own garden yet?

Even nations and corporations believe in global warming

2011-05-31T10:25:00.000-06:00

The below is excerpted from the New Community Project's May 30th Africa update email.

You're likely aware of the move by many Rich World nations and commercial interests to purchase African farmland as a hedge against future food shortages [due to global climate change] in their own countries. This article does a nice job of laying out the troubling aspects of such deals, which so far are enriching the few while doing little to safeguard the interests of people in affected farming areas. The whole enterprise has disturbing echoes of previous incursions onto the continent--first for slaves and ivory, then for precious minerals, petroleum and other commodities, now for land.

This summary and the linked article about purchasing farmland in Africa scares me the most of any of the social justice/global warming-related issues. It spells doom for common human decency if nothing is done now to curb potential abuses. Actually, it already is an abuse that non-Africans are purchasing land that will likely be kept from feeding Africans.

I remember a very simple--and very true--slogan on the wall of the Syracuse Real Food Co-op, "Food is politics." We are seeing that play out in Africa, and elsewhere.

Invisible Cyclists in El Paso

2011-05-30T13:04:00.000-06:00

This post over at Utility Cycling is about Invisible Cyclists in L.A. These are working-class bike riders who do so out of necessity to get to their jobs. It includes a video and a link to a companion article in Good Magazine.

I especially like that they've connected bicycling with environmental justice. Another thing they talk about is a bicycle repair cooperative.

The post and linked article are certainly relevant to El Paso, TX where there are many similar bicyclists. While out and about in El Paso I see so many bicyclists who could use the assistance of a bicycle repair cooperative to make their bikes more comfortable and safe. Wonder if a such a thing could work in El Paso?

Chicago knows climate change is real, and they're planning for it

2011-05-29T22:50:00.000-06:00

The New York Times published an article about how the city of Chicago is replacing standard pavement with permeable surfaces, increasing tree cover at hot spots and re-designing landscaped areas to catch rainwater.

They are doing all of this because it is predicted that Chicago will, "have summers like the Deep South, with as many as 72 days over 90 degrees before the end of the century. For most of the 20th century, the city averaged fewer than 15." Also, "Chicago has already changed from one growing zone to another in the last 30 years, and it expects to change several times again by 2070."

Mentioned in the article is that insurance companies are requiring municipalities to plan for risks due climate change (e.g., increased rainfall, increased heat, increased storms with increased severity). If you don't fully believe the scientists, you should believe the insurance companies because their very livelihood depends on modeling future risks.

What is your municipality doing to minimize the contributors to, and effects of climate change?

updates

2011-05-28T21:54:00.000-06:00

If case you haven't noticed, just under this blog's banner there are pages you can click on for additional The Adventures of Pei content. Today I've just made some additions to the Music and both Books pages. Enjoy!

Quinoa conundrum

2011-05-26T14:48:00.001-06:00

Eating quinoa is good...for rich Western people. Not so good for the Bolivians, though.

Read the NY Time article here.

(This week alone, I heard quinoa mentioned by two different people I know. I was a big fan of quinoa until I read this article, the link to which was emailed to me yesterday.)

and even more about consumer chemicals...oops, I mean prodcts

2011-05-17T17:21:00.015-06:00

My peeps in the American Industrial Hygiene Association just totally rock! This group of professionals who totally groove on science, statistics and 10-syllable chemical names get together every year for their annual convetion (AIHce). And without fail, there are compelling and interesting speakers and topics.

One of them is a talk given by Tony Uliano of the Portland State University School of Public Health in Portland, Ore. on consumer product toxicology.

“The average consumer uses nine products in a 24-hour period that potentially exposes them to 120 to 160 different chemicals,” reveals Uliano. “A number of consumer-based agents are so persistent in our environment that they have been detected in all humans tested and in polar bears.” These chemicals include phthalates, mercury, dioxins, BPA, lead, PCBs, PBDE and others.

You can read more here about Tony's talk.

Also, you can read here about the Safe Chemicals Act introduced in the US Senate.

As a consumer, it is important for you to educate yourself and take action in order to protect your health and that of your household. The Environmental Working Group and the US Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health have online resources focusing on consumer products and health issues.

You can even become a carcinogen abolitionist!

And here you can find out your US Representative and here for your Senators. Write each of them a letter and let them know you want safer consumer products, and regulations and enforcement that will make them safe. Asking your senators for their support of the Safe Chemicals Act would be a good start. Click here for more information about writing letters to your elected representatives. And FCNL has a great blog post about writing effective messages to your US congressperson.

No matter what, take action towards reducing the chemicals in your household--everyone will better off for it.

All the more reason to grow your own food

2011-05-17T16:43:00.000-06:00

Came across a video news story about farmers in China misusing growth-promoting chemicals on watermelons, causing the fruits to explode. Click here to watch.

(Just now when I clicked on the link, the ad that played before the news video was for Exxon Mobil. I find it hilarious that an ad for a petroleum/chemical company is juxtaposed with video about the abuse of agricultural chemicals. But maybe its just me. Another theme is greed: greedy company and greedy farmers. Oh the wicked web (of agricultural evil) we weave.)

May is Bike Month, and there are only 16 days left!

2011-05-14T17:24:00.004-06:00

Get psyched about cycling by visiting the blogs and sites listed below.

Abby over at New Urban Habitat has a fabulous list of bike links in this post.

Over at Streetfilms they have created a fantastic video series called Moving Beyond the Automobile, and have included a segment on bicycling. While you are there, check out the companion site Streetsblog by clicking the corresponding top tab.

If you live in northeast El Paso, try the Angora Loop Loop on your bicycle. I describe it as, "mostly residential streets with one roadway of 40 mph; gentle grades on some streets; route passes by two city parks, each with benches and play areas." So grab your family and plan for an easy and fun bicycle adventure, with a picnic at one of the parks.

Read stories of folks who changed their lives by riding a bike on the blog named--you guessed it--Change Your Life, Ride a Bike.

It's very important for you to know the rules of the road for the state you are riding in. You can search them entering the phrase "[name of state] bicycle laws" into your favorite web browser.

For Texas residents, here are the Texas bicycle regulations on the site of Bike Texas, a non-profit bicycling advocacy and education organization.

Have you ridden your bike lately? Tell us about it in the comments.

But it's a dry heat....and good for clothes drying!

2011-05-10T13:03:00.002-06:00

When one complains it is hot here in the Desert Southwest to one's non-desert-dwelling family and friends, this phrase is sure to come up. And, wow, has been it hot and dry, dry, dry here recently. We have been under a steady stream of red flag warnings, meaning any type of fire (e.g., charcoal, campfire, propane stove) could quite readily start a catastrophic wildfire. As a matter of fact, several wildfires have occurred recently, even one due to Army practice on land in New Mexico. Some say it was started by an Abrams tank, thus it has been named the Abrams Fire.

The upside of all this dry weather is that there is no need to use the clothes dryer!

For some ideas on how to dry clothes, check out this post from the blog The Everyday Minimalist.

What clever methods do you use to dry your laundry without the use of a clothes dryer?

Now for some chemical politics

2011-04-27T17:47:00.003-06:00

For those of you who use chemicals in your home (who doesn't?), you should be interested in this legislation. Actually, you should be interested to know that the manufacturers of chemicals currently used in everyday household products are not required to ensure the safety of their chemicals. So, in the the household products we use are chemicals that may not have any data showing that they are safe.

Safe Chemicals Act Introduced in Senate

On April 14, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, an update to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) that would for the first time require that chemical manufacturers ensure the safety of industrial chemicals used in everyday household products. Lautenberg, chairman of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, first introduced the legislation in 2010.

The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 would require that all industrial chemicals go through safety testing in order to be placed or remain on the market. Currently, EPA can order safety testing only after receiving evidence that a chemical may pose a health risk. The new legislation would also require EPA to categorize chemicals based on risks, direct its resources to chemicals likely to render the most harm, and take swift action to minimize risks from chemicals already deemed hazardous. In addition, the Act will institute a public database to catalog chemical information submitted by EPA and develop grant programs and research centers to create chemical alternatives and introduce new chemicals to the market using an accelerated review process.

Watch Sen. Lautenberg’s Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 YouTube video.

Thanks to the American Industrial Hygiene Association (www.aiha.org) for this update.

Garden update

2011-04-25T00:45:00.002-06:00

We tackled the front and back yards as part of our spring cleaning marathon over the past long weekend.

Mathew spreading dried pine needles as mulch over bare soil to keep the dust down. The needles came from branches that were pruned from a few of our eight pine trees and allowed to dry. This area will eventually host two more raised garden beds, similar to the ones in the background.

Visitors at our front door are greeted with Thai Basil in the pot to the left, and Sweet Basil in the other.

My poor pea plants are tiring of the heat and strong winds we've experienced over most of this month.

These garden beds are located right outside the kitchen door; note the use of pine needle mulch. A row of Rainbow Chard, a Sweet Basil plant, a few heirloom Agate Soybean seedlings and a very, very tiny tomato seedling are in the far bed. The dark soil to the right shows where additional Agate Soybeans were planted today. Armenia cucumber seeds were planted along the left border of the same bed. (Both the Agates and Armenians were purchased from Plants of the Southwest in Santa Fe, NM.) The closet bed hosts Jade Pagoda Cabbage seedlings, one red and one yellow bell pepper plants and a Thai Bail plant. The dark soil shows where Frijol Manzano beans were planted today (source: Native Seeds/SEARCH, www.nativeseed.org). I decided that since I live in the Desert Southwest, I should grow those plants that are native or adapted to this environment.

This is Chica in the new Dog Den; Lola is laying on the sidewalk looking through the gate. Now the garden and back yard are safe from digging canines. Part of the Den is surfaced with more of the dried pine needle mulch.

Hot spring...the season, that is

2011-04-21T14:26:00.001-06:00

It's been quite warm during the day in El Paso the past several weeks. At 2:00 p.m. today it was 86 degrees F. Tomorrow and the next day the high is predicted to reach 90 degrees F.

We haven't de-winterized our evaporative cooler and started it up yet--it seems too early. But it would be nice to use it as a whole-house fan right now. That's how my family kept our house cool in the summer when I was growing up.

My hometown is located in central New York state. Our house did not have refrigerated air conditioning (AC), though we had central heat for wintertime. Most Central New Yorkers pined for AC during the summer when we experienced our heatwaves (95+ degrees with 99% humidity--quite awful for us true 4-season folks) for about 3 weeks out of every summer.

My father (the industrial engineer) installed a huge whole-house fan in the mid-1970s. It was positioned in the hallway ceiling and sent air in the attic to be exhausted through the attic vents. That thing was super-powerful--we needed ALL the windows open or it would have sucked in the walls! With night-time temps in the low to mid-60s, it cooled down the house perfectly.

When the sun came up, we'd shut the windows and closed the thermal drapes. (My thrifty mother had bought large thermal drape panels and cut and sewed them to fit all the windows exactly.) The house would stay pretty comfortable until about 3:00 p.m. At about that time we would migrate to the basement family room (that my father built and insulated to the gills) where it was a cool 72 degrees.

Now that I live in the Desert Southwest, I use the same idea to keep our house cool without using too much electricity, or water for that matter.

In the early morning when the temperature is likely the lowest it will be that day, I turn the cooler on high in fan-only mode. This way the water pump is not running, saving on our water use. In this mode, the cooler draws the cool outside air into the house and I let it run until the interior air temperature is stable. Then I turn off the cooler and trap the cool air by shutting the windows and doors, and drawing insulated drapes across the windows.

With ceiling fans in use, the interior is usually comfortable until about 3 p.m. At that point, I open the drapes on non-sunny windows, crack open the windows and turn on the cooler with the pump providing water to the pads.

So, I am able to maintain a comfortable interior environment while still saving water and electricity.

Do you have any tips to share on staying comfortable in summertime while conserving resources?

By the way, over at What Pigs Don't Know last year, Jason posted about his grandparents' whole-house fan, and his efforts to install one in his house (http://pigsdontknow.blogspot.com/2010/08/save-money-by-going-back-in-time-whole.html). It's quite an instructive post. Take a look for yourself.

Four-hour delay. That sounds good to me!

2011-04-14T13:19:00.002-06:00

Okay, a 4-hour delay is not usually a cause for celebration, especially at the train station or Greyhound terminal, or while waiting on hold for customer service (not that I've heard that happen, but sometimes those waits seem endless).

Actually, the delay I am happy is that on our Energy Star dishwasher; it has a 4-hour delay setting. When I first used the dishwasher, I thought, "That's silly. Why would I want to wait four hours for my dishwasher to start?"

Come to find out, the 4-hour delay setting allows the dishwasher to run during non-peak electricity generating hours, which are typically late at night and very early in the morning. According to an article in Green America's magazine:

"Because power sources have to produce the electricity around the time of its use, without any capacity for long-term storage, it is our peak demand that determines the expansion of dirty coal-fired power plants and other polluting forms of energy generation."

Check your dishwasher to see if a similar delay feature is available. If not, you can start your dishwasher just before you head to bed for the night. Oh, and remember to select air dry instead of heated dry to further reduce your electric use.

Chicken compost

2011-04-10T19:45:00.000-06:00

This weekend I attended a Quaker women's retreat on an environmentally-friendly ranch outside of Las Vegas, NM. (It was a pleasant and enriching time spent with very smart and funny women actively engaged with important matters.)

While preparations were being made for the evening common meal, one of the women started the above-pictured compost pail to take to her chickens. A note was made that (I think) said no banana or citrus peels and no meat. Coffee grounds and tea bags were kept out of the pail as well.

Is this the equivalent of a Happy Meal for chickens?

I'm glad you asked me.

2011-04-06T22:43:00.003-06:00

At Kmart today, I purchased a paleta and a nutrition bar (yes, they are foods at the opposite ends of the nutrition spectrum). The cashier asked if I wanted a receipt printed out or not. I was so delighted to be given a choice. Of course I said no.

Why?

First, it would be a waste of a paper as I do not need the receipt for an expense report. Besides, the evidence of my purchase would soon disappear, thus no return.

Secondly, the majority of thermal paper contains BPA.

Thirdly, because of this BPA content, thermal receipts should not be recycled.

"Turns out that recycling thermal paper generates the largest source of BPA entering wastewater treatment plants, which is due to intensive water use during recycling and the free available chemical nature of BPA in paper coatings. Additionally, recycling thermal paper poses a risk for free release of BPA-containing coating materials in recycling facilities as well as the possibility to contaminate new paper production." [http://watoxics.org/toxicswatch/trashing-bpa-receipts]

I also read somewhere (maybe Green American?) that BPA-coated paper ruins recycled-content paper by creating a greyish cast to the paper.

Now, I wonder what the retailers are going to do to protect their employees that handle BPA-coated receipts? Maybe I am being wildly sexist, but I presume that the majority of cashiers at major retailers are female, many of whom could be affected by a synthetic estrogen. What impact will this have on our current and future generations?

Recent meals at Casa PeiHaus

2011-03-31T19:00:00.000-06:00

sauteed Asian broccoli rabe, carrots and garlic over buckwheat noodles topped with chille/garlic sauce and toasted sesame oil

sauteed Asian broccoli rabe, garlic and tofu topped with chile/garlic sauce, soy sauce and toasted sesame oil


yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and homegrown mung bean sprouts in the process of being sauteed


	chopped red cabbage, shredded carrot and homegrown mung bean sprouts mixed with bulgar wheat marinated in rice vinegar, soy sauce, sunflower oil and toasted sesame oil

Switching to AT&T from T-Mobile....even before the deal is sealed

2011-03-28T21:24:00.004-06:00

Yes, that's right. I am switching from T-Mobile (my primary wireless provider since about 2002) to AT&T. And this is before AT&T buys T-Mobile.

But, there is difference: I am giving up my mobile phone for a home phone.

Okay, now that you have stopped laughing enough so you can actually read through your tears, I will explain my decision.

I don't use my phone for work, other than to text my boss that I'll be late to the office. That's about once a week. Pretty sad considering that I only work three days a week.

And, I don't use my phone much for personal calls, maybe 200-300 minutes a month. Most of my text messages are not mission-critical either (e.g., "LOL ur funee!")

Also, there is still the possibility that cellphones contribute to brain cancer, as covered by an article in the most recent issue of Green American.

Not to mention the hassle of charging the phone, especially as my current phone's battery is requiring a daily charge, or a charge after a 45-minute conversation. I could buy a used phone, but the battery could turn into a dud too.

If T-Mobile is purchased by AT&T, the former T-Mobile wireless system will be discontinued, which makes buying a new T-Mobile phone a bad financial move. It's also a bad environmental move since natural resources need to be mined and toxic chemicals produced to create that new phone.

When an ad on Google said I could get unlimited local home phone service and DSL for $36--only $3 more than my monthly cellphone service and $6 more than our existing DSL service*--I was hooked. Sure, there will be taxes and fees that will bring it closer to $46-50 per month, but that is still a $13-18 per month savings.

But what can't be assigned monetary value is the freedom I will feel from being un-tethered to a mobile device. Freedom from charging, keeping track of, caring for and being at the mercy of a cell phone. This will bring increased simplicity to my life, making room for more productive and enriching activities. Or, maybe just plain solitude, which seems to be severely lacking in this modern instant-access, hyper-stimulating culture.

If you may feel that ditching your cell phone may do you some good, check out this article.

*Yes, you remember correctly. I did post that we became internet-free last year. But, we have become more disciplined in our use of the internet. Plus, given my recent mind melting, we recently ditched our over-the-air television in favor of internet as our source of entertainment.

Page updates

2011-03-20T09:04:00.000-06:00

I've just updated my Books I am reading now and Books I have read pages. I decided to put in reverse chronological order the Books I have read page so the most recently read book is at the top. This way you don't have to scroll to the bottom to read my take on the most recently read book.

Communal living

2011-03-17T17:01:00.000-06:00

Over at the cool eco-blog Cheap Like Me, a guest named Lauren posted about her reconsideration of communal living after living singly for a while just out of college. Her reasons supporting communal living (e.g., cost, health, earth-friendlier) made me think of a specific communal living situation I was involved in back in the early 90s. Here's the comment that I left on Lauren's post that gives some more details.

Great ideas, Lauren! One of the best communal living experiences I had was sharing a 6-room, 3-story house with five other people. It was informally known as the Veggie Co-op House. [Pei: At the time I lived there, the population was one man and five women, and either undergraduate or graduate students, or young professionals.]

As the name implies, only vegetarian foods were permitted. Each person had to cook dinner one night a week; the 7th day was left-overs day. It cost $20/week for food per person (this was in the early 1990s) and we shopped at a local co-op grocery store. We had monthly house meetings and did our best to implement consensus decision-making. We had a chore wheel with six different chores listed (e.g., clean upstairs bathroom, clean kitchen, clean all hallways). The chores rotated weekly and you only had to do one chore a week.

So, I lived cheaply, ate lots of good vegetarian food for a reasonable price, did not have a lot of housework, and enjoyed my housemates and the communal/co-op process. Even though I am married now, I think I would not mind a similar set-up.

What kind of communal living situations have you experienced? Did you like it? Why, or why not? Please share you responses in the comments section below. Thanks!

Melting

2011-03-12T10:56:00.002-07:00

While holed up at home during the evening of the incoming February “Deep Freeze”, and the first full day of its deathly cold, I watched television out of sheer boredom.

(You should know that I could not go to the public library, public swimming pool, or recreation center because they were shut down. Besides, the roads were iced over and the city doesn't have a fleet of sanding/salting trucks, so I could not drive or bicycle anywhere. Neither could I do laundry, run the dishwasher, or do baking because residents were asked to reduce their electric, water and gas usage. And, the books I have are very cerebral and I just was not motivated to exercise the brain. In retrospect, I wish I had.)

I watched the early local news, the national news, the later local news, the sitcom before the prime time sitcoms started, two hours of prime time sitcoms, and the evening local news.

During the days of cold that hobbled our city, I watched people receive swift justice from Nancy Grace, cranky justice from Judge Judy, and silly justice in Divorce Court.

I was exposed to incessant commercials for vocational schools, accident attorneys, social security disability attorneys, and debt consolidation attorneys. I saw commercials depicting hip and happening consumerists in the throes of shopping glee/orgasm. I saw cheerful mothers cleaning up after their messy sons and husbands. I saw women seeming so pleased (and perhaps slightly concerned) to eat one tiny bit of chocolate during their one allocated minute of “me-time.”

Then I felt the invisible hand of marketing science reaching into the inter-neural depths of my brain and start the mass-consciousness programming of homogenous socialization. My brain started to melt into a docile and obedient goo of consumer wants and gender role expectations.

Suddenly, I was jolted to my senses by the last un-programmed neuron crying out for rescue.

In desperation for mental first aid, I quickly turned the TV off. After a few minutes I felt the programming grip releasing itself from my cranial mass, slowly and surely. Then, it was gone.

And I felt like myself again.

Who is that self? The person trying to live beyond the grip of consumerism, the woman trying to live beyond proscribed gender roles, the type A personality trying to live beyond multi-tasking, the spiritual seeker trying live beyond the noise of the world in order to hear the still small voice.

Today is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day!

2011-03-08T02:25:00.000-07:00

To all the women and grrls in my life, Happy Day to you!

Check out the IWD site to find out how women around the globe are celebrating!

Today is also Feminist Coming Out Day.

Now, I have something to share that I've been hiding from you all.

(Everyone, take a deep breath in, now breathe out slowly)

Today I am announcing that I'm a feminist.

There, I've said it.

Now the real work starts.

Baking soda, soap, vinegar...rinse...repeat

2011-03-07T20:41:00.002-07:00

I really like Cash Only Living’s recent list on her blog that details some odd—yet money-saving (and resource-saving!) —ideas.

I was so inspired I created a list of my own.

*I use baking soda instead of toothpaste. Sprinkle a little on a damp toothbrush and brush as usual. My dentist said someone of my advanced years does not need a fluoride toothpaste. Nor did he balk at me using straight baking soda.

*I use baking soda for deodorant. Apply a dusting to fingers and then apply to damp arm pits after a shower. The effect lasts about two days for me. (I don't shower every day.)

*I use Cactus Mary (locally-made) soap for shampoo. Wet hair, lather with soap, scrub the scalp and hair, then rinse. Sometimes I follow with a rinse of one part white vinegar and four parts water, followed by a rinse of plain water.

*I use diluted Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds for hand washing dishes, washing laundry, and for most other household cleaning tasks. For our automatic dishwasher, in the soap cup, I mix approximately 1 tablespoon of diluted Sal Suds, one teaspoon baking soda, and one-half teaspoon table salt. White vinegar substitutes for the rinse aid. [UPDATE: I switched back to Seventh Generation automatic dishwasher soap. The rinsing did not throughly remove the powdery residue of the baking soda. I had read that the baking soda was crucial to keep the soap from over-foaming.] One 32-ounce bottle lasts for at least two months. The key is: Dilute! Dilute!

*I use baking soda and white vinegar to clean stainless-steel mugs, pots, sinks, water bottles, and similar items. Also, it helps remove tea and coffee stains from ceramic mugs. It even lessened cooking stains from our enamel-coated cast-iron dutch oven. The explosive foaming action that occurs when the two are mixed make cleaning more of a science experiment! (Okay, that’s really why I do this; I'm such a geek.)

*I use baking soda and white vinegar to clean the ceramic bathroom sink and commode. It really does a job on soap scum, making sink scrubbing much more productive. (Separate bullet point so you didn't get grossed-out by toilet stuff being next to kitchen stuff.)

So, what kinds of simple living/sustainable practices have you found to work for you?

Frugal Friday Tip: cheap mini solar water heaters

2011-02-26T09:39:00.001-07:00

When it became known that BPA poses a human health risk, I demanded that my partner retire his two Nalgene water bottles. (The water bottles were manufactured before non-BPA polypropylene was developed.)

So the abandoned bottles sat in storage. I could not bring myself to throw them out, hoping instead that an alternative use would present itself.

And, indeed, one idea did.

Since the bottles are dark green, as seen in the photo above, it occurred to me that the bottles could quite easily allow the sun's rays to heat the water inside. I gave it a try and found our desert sun to be quite effective in generating very warm (and sometimes hot) water. Even in February, the water is very warm!

I've found that placing the bottles horizontally gives full solar impact. Also, being near other heat-absorbers (the sidewalk and brick wall) increases the heat retention of the water.

Larger, dark containers can be used as well for solar water heating. It's important to remember to sanitize the solar water heaters periodically for hygiene reasons.

My uses for the water include dish washing, hair washing, and (small) bucket bathing. The water is not used for ingestion because of the BPA issue.

This Frugal Friday Tip's benefits are:

re-purposing of unused items
reduction of fossil-fuel energy use

Is this something you have tried? If so, how did it turn out?

Plans to increase bicycle facilities in El Paso

2011-02-22T20:13:00.001-07:00

As a bicyclist, I was very excited to read this El Paso Times article that there is a team of two people specifically looking into bicycling as part of the ongoing updating of our City's Comprehensive Plan called of Plan El Paso.

I was very surprised to read in the article that there are people, such as the two people from The Street Plans Collaborative mentioned in the article, that actually make money consulting only on bikeways. I mean, this is their full time job! They ride around cities, then share ideas to integrate the bicycle as legitimate transportation. Very cool!

How does your city, county, town, or village provide for the bicycle as transportation?

My boss is cool!

2011-02-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

Pictured above are terry-cloth hand towels in the restroom of the firm for which I work. Originally we used paper towels to dry our hands, and we went through a lot of them!

After discussing the matter with my boss and pointing out the sustainability and cost savings of re-useable hand towels versus paper towel, my boss agreed the change. It also helped that I offered to launder the hand towels, which I just add to the towels I wash at home.

So, here's to my cool boss, Nick R.!

Gas bill arrives from recent Deep Freeze. The cost is.....

2011-02-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

Remember my post about our perceived wastefulness (i.e., non-sustainability) during early February's Deep Freeze in El Paso? Today I received our e-bill from the gas company. I thought that because our furnace cycled every 10 minutes, over a two-day period, that the bill would be astronomical.

Turns out we used 19 Ccf (19 x 100 cubic feet, 1,900 cf) of natural gas from January 11th to February 10th. (The previous two months we used 10 Ccf.) Our bill for this month is $20.51.

Adrienne was right when she commented on my post that using a little extra natural resources up front in an urgent situation is better than than paying lots of money (a resource also) to repair the damage that could have resulted had no action been taken.

Now, let's wait and see what the electric bill will be.

Planned community for bicycles!

2011-02-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Check it out at http://www.bicyclecity.com/.

The $231 lamp shade

2011-02-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago, one of our dogs sustained a deep cut on her leg that required stitches and payment of a $231 vet bill. She was sent her home with an Elizabethan-style collar to prevent her from licking and pulling the stitches. During her recovery, my partner jokingly nicknamed the dog, “Lampshade.”

After the wound healed, the collar was no longer needed. Though the “Lampshade” nickname faded away, the idea did not. The result is pictured above: “VetShade” (note the VetOne logo at the bottom edge).

The previous lampshade had suffered several years of abuse by the cats, and was held together by clear packing tape. (We are not fancy interior decorators at Casa PeiHaus.) The metal support bracket was in good shape and I used it to support the new shade. The old shade had to go into the trash, it was in such a pathetic state.

Now I have a cleanable, cat-impervious, light-diffusing lamp shade, all thanks to our klutzy dog (who we still love).

Some words of caution. The lampshade is plastic. Plastic melts and burns at high temperatures. Incandescent light bulbs are hot when turned on. Fluorescent light bulbs generate little heat when turned on. Therefore, use a fluorescent light bulb if you re-purpose a dog collar into a lamp shade. And, never leave the light fixture unattended, just like you would do with a lit candle.

Africa and climate change

2011-02-11T08:41:00.001-07:00

This morning I perused the most recent edition of The Peaceable Table, "A Vegetarian Journal for Quakers and Other People of Faith." What caught my eye was an interesting story about an African vegan fellow.

The man, Peter Opa, grew up in a village in Benin, West Africa. He describes the village he grew up in as an oasis of fresh foods and fruits, beautiful birds and butterflies, plentiful rain, and lovely rivers. After obtaining a degree at an African University, and moving first to the UK then to the US, Peter returned to his home village many years later.

A very sad situation greeted him.

"I recall with tears what my childhood friend, Zossou, told me: “Things are not what they used to be, Peter. Something is wrong. Every farmer is feeling the pain. The crops are withering away. The harvest diminishes every year. We don’t get rain anymore. Even when it rains, it’s not cold enough to bring out the Shirepepe. Remember how we used catch them as kids? It seems like those creatures are gone forever. Your children may never get to know what a Shirepepe looked like. Strange things are happening, Peter. We don’t know where the world is going. Maybe the gods are angry. The sun burns like hell these days. Even birds are dying—I’ve been seeing many dead ones lately. We don’t know why these things are taking place.”

I assured Zossou that it wasn’t the fault of the gods. There is an explanation for this unfortunate development: global warming. And I challenge anybody who denies global warming to go and see the havoc it has caused in African villages where people are dependent on nature for everything."

I encourage you to read the entire article, and to check out Peter's website, www.ajaraproject.org.

Cooking with the sun

2011-02-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

You may have read my recent blog post about the severe weather experienced in the Borderland Region of Texas, Mexico, and New Mexico. Electric and natural gas service were significantly interrupted.

Both of these energy sources are used for indoor cooking in this region, and in much of the US and the developed world. Though we experienced some outages, we're still lucky we can prepare hot food on a gas or electric stove most days of the year.

However, in most of the developing world, cooking is done on stoves fueled with charcoal, wood, dung, or even trash. Thought adequate heat is produced, so is a significant amount of smoke. Many times the smoke inhaled by the preparers of food, primarily women, and can cause premature death, as well as chronic respiratory illnesses.

Another thing I learned in looking into the cook stove issue is that women and girls are the primary gatherers of cook stove fuels. For those that live in unstable areas, they are at greater risk of rape and other harm while they gather.

In September 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the formation of the The Global Alliance for Clean Cook Stoves. This initiative of the UN Foundation intends to reduce negative health and environmental/climate effects by developing and distributing better cook stoves.

And just today, I stumbled on the Solar Cookers International site, a non-profit organization with offices in California and Kenya. In addition to alleviating health effects otherwise experienced with cook stove fires, solar cookers use a natural, sustainable source of fuel--the sun!

Be sure to check out the video on the home page about solar cooking in Africa--it shows women making and using the cook stoves. Even the men use the cookers to make their tea. Watch it to the end to enjoy some lovely singing by the women.

One of the cookers sold by SCI is the SOS sport. I think this model would work well to cook our food in the summertime here in El Paso. It would be more sustainable, as well as a novel way to cook our meals. Not to mention, it would be much better than cooking over a gas stove in the middle of summer!

Have any of you used solar cookers? If so, what was your experience?

Global Warming = Freezing Texas/New Mexico

2011-02-09T20:24:00.001-07:00

(Okay, it's really termed global climate change and not global warming. But I liked the juxtaposition of hot and cold for a catchy title.)

So, finally an article has been posted to connect the recent rash of extremely cold temperatures to human-induced climate change. See the article on Grassroots Press, an independent monthly out of Las Cruces, NM.

In late December 2010, La Greenga posted a blog entry linking to a New York Times article that connects melting glaciers with the increase in colder winters. You can read the post here.

So, when our City and County leaders get together to figure out if the electric, gas, and water utilities could have done more to prevent the recent weather-related domino-effect crippling of all three utilities, they had best come up with a plan to make our utilities--and our citizens--"cold hardy." Because, this will happen again, and sooner than later.

Frugal Friday Tip: Freakin' Freezing Frugal Fail!

2011-02-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you not living in or near El Paso, let me bring you up to date. Since Wednesday morning, we have been experiencing sub-freezing temperatures due to the storm front that swept most of the nation earlier this week. Our LOW temperature on Wednesday was 6 degrees Fahrenheit, and on Thursday it was 1 degree F. The temperature has not exceeded freezing since Tuesday. Maybe this afternoon it might.

So, with all these freezing temperatures, we've had several problems in the region. First the two major electricity generating plants suffered failures due to freezing of instrumentation. So, our electric company had to start buying electric from other sources, implement rolling blackouts that continue today, and literally beg businesses and governmental offices to close to help limit the demand on the system.

Next, the natural gas piping system started experiencing low pressure due to the demand. And outages continue today. One neighborhood of 900 experienced an outage longer than one day.

The most recent effect of the cold weather is icing of the groundwater pumping stations, leading to significantly decreased water reservoir levels. An above-ground water storage tank breached in one neighborhood, flooding a woman's home and her yard. Now the water utility is telling those that have suffered water outages or low pressure to boil water before consuming it. Oh, and that we are to conserve water, despite the fact that leaving faucets dripping is one way to prevent freezing pipes.

I've overheard many people stating that they have no water due to frozen or burst water pipes, or water shut-offs at apartment complexes. One woman said she has not had water at home for the last three days. Others have suffered through multiple blackouts, some up to one hour each. (Remember, although there may be natural gas for heat, electric is needed to operate the blower to distribute the heat throughout the home.) Others have only cold water but not hot because the hot water pipes froze (like us)!

Okay, so we are having an emergency. And silly me thought I could maintain my frugal/conserving ways despite this emergency. Nope, not the case.

We are keeping our faucets dripping in hopes of averting freezing pipes. Wasteful! FAIL!

(Interestingly, it is our hot water pipes that have frozen. Of course when your water heater closet is in your unheated garage, this is not wholly unexpected. But you'd think the water heater would give off some heat, right? Oh wait, we insulated our water heater for efficiency's sake. FAIL!)

When we were standing in front of our Energy Star, double-paned, low E-glass windows late Tuesday night watching the beautiful falling snow, we felt a very cold draft from the windows at the sides where the top and bottom sections meet. Great, we are heating the outdoors. And we spent a lot of money on those windows!! FAIL!

We typically keep our house at 55 degrees F. during the day and night. Based on the formula my father (the process engineer) uses to calculate house temperature relative to outdoor temperature in order to keep pipes from freezing, 55 deg. F. is way too cold to keep the pipes from freezing. On Thursday morning we did not have cold or hot water at all. So we kept the house at 65 degrees F. for a whole day and night (based on expected low overnight temperature), which caused the heater to cycle every 10 minutes, wasting natural gas and electric. FAIL!

We've been using our vehicles because it is just too cold (to those of us who weather 100+ temperatures for weeks at a time). Fuel used and greenhouse gases released. FAIL!

It seems the cumulative good of our frugal/sustainable habits have been erased in just three days of stupid weather. Grrr!

So Frugal Friday is canceled due to weather! (Just like everything else in El Paso.)

Frugal Friday Tip: Cold-frame on the cheap

2011-01-28T13:44:00.003-07:00

The photo above shows the kitchen door that was replaced late last year with a more energy-efficient one. With all that glass, it’s perfect as a cold-frame for when I start some veggies from seed early next month. (Already have turnip seeds germinating in the front yard garden! More on that in a future post.)

Hats off to What Pigs Don’t Know for giving me the idea for re-using this door; see their post here: http://pigsdontknow.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-peas-in-pod.html.

The benefits of this Frugal Friday Tip are:

Reduction of landfill material, and
Re-purposing.

Have you done something similar to this?

PeiHaus meal: sauteed Pak Choi cabbage over broiled tofu

2011-01-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

The firm tofu was sliced into 1/4"-thick rectangles, marinated in a shallow glass baking dish in the refrigerator for about two hours, and broiled for 5-10 minutes per side. The marinade consisted of water, molasses, soy sauce, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. The cabbage was sauteed with garlic and vegetable oil until tender but not mushy.

Kindle comes, and Kindle goes

2011-01-27T12:27:00.003-07:00

You're not going to believe it (especially those of you who know of my affinity for gadgets)!

After purchasing a Kindle 3 WiFi in early December 2010, I gave it away later that same month!

The new version Kindle is the cat's meow of e-readers (IMHO) and reportedly more sustainable than purchasing actual new books. One comment I read (don't remember where) stated that e-books allowed more revenue from sales to go to the author.

However, I decided that I would prefer to support our local public library as well as used booksellers instead of the Amazon/Kindle monopoly.

There are many used bookstores here in the Desert Southwest, such as COAS Bookstore in Las Cruces (visit both locations!), Friends of the El Paso Library shops, Goodwill, etc. Online there are several free book exchanges and plenty of used books to buy at amazon.com and ebay.com.

Another factor is that I could not get completely comfortable reading books and .pdf documents on this electronic device. The e-ink technology is absolutely fabulous (especially in the sun!). But, the whole book package (i.e., cover, pages, feel in the hand) lends itself to a certain experience of the literary that I missed with the Kindle.

In the end, a relative of mine (who is an avid book reader) now has her very own e-gadget, and I am happy browsing the stores and web for interesting used books.

What are your thoughts on e-readers? Do you have one? How do you like it? Do you still read hardcopy books in addition to the e-books?

The Last Organic Outpost in Houston

2011-01-21T12:28:00.001-07:00

Back in early November, while my husband and I were in Houston for a conference, my good friend Ruth took us to the The Last Organic Outpost's Emile Street Community Farm located in the Fifth Ward of Houston.

We were received very warmly by (from left to right) Laura - regular volunteer, Marcela - coordinator, Kevin - youth volunteer, and Mary - worm composting expert. (Thank you to all four of you for a wonderful experience and the generosity of your time so close to closing!!)

As you can see in the photographs below, the farm is a beautiful oasis of lovely edibles!

Below is Mary's "truck-based" worm composting facility.

Do you have community gardening like this in your city or town or village? Please share in the comments below. Thanks!

I will never again complain it is too cold during El Paso's winters to ride my bike

2011-01-16T09:43:00.001-07:00

After one view of the happy winter bicyclists on the Icebike site, I have been suitably reminded of how lucky I am that approximately 300 days a year I do not have to contend with precipitation--liquid or frozen!

Now, Flossie may have a different opinion. Perhaps I should crochet her a frame sweater? ;-)

Frugal Friday Tip

2011-01-14T16:21:00.010-07:00

A while back I received some note cards with included envelopes from a esteemed non-profit organization, who had hoped I would make a donations to them in honor of someone. The cards were to be used by me to announce the donations, with text printed inside the card stating such.

Well, I didn't donate (though the cause is worthy, my bank account is not), but saved the cards because I couldn't bear to recycle them, especially with such nice forest photography and pithy sayings.

This morning I was looking through our stationary drawers, saw the cards, and thought, "Hmm, what can I do with these?" I certainly don't want to send them to someone with the "donation-made-in-your-honor" text crossed out--that would look cheesy.

Then it hit me--tear off the back page with all the text and I'm left with a postcard! (The back of the photo side was completely blank.)

In the photo above, you can see the homemade postcard on the right, and a similar card behind it on the left (oh, and our fruit bowl propping things up). The box drawn along the bottom of the postcard is reserved for post office bar coding. (Another postcard had the same box, and it measured about 4-1/2 inches by 1/2 inch.)

As a note, the US Postal Service website notes that the maximum size for postcards sent for 28 cents is 6 inches long by 4-1/4 inches high by 0.016 inches thick (not sure my ruler measures that thin). So make sure your card meets these dimensions. Larger postcards cost 44 cents to send.

So, this Frugal Friday tip has several benefits:

Re-purposing the card into a postcard
Recycling of the unused page of the card
Reduction of postage needed
Reduction of waste since no envelope used
Re-use of the included envelope for a reduction in the need to buy envelopes

If you have a chance to try this tip, let me know how it turned out by leaving a comment below.

Have a nice weekend!

Some utlitarian cyclists in St. Augustine, FL

2011-01-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

I spotted these riders while on our vacation in St. Augustine over the 2010 Holidays. Bicycles are good haulers!

Sunshine Bus in the Sunshine State

2010-12-29T17:16:00.002-07:00

We spent the day traveling around St. Augustine, Fla. on the local public transit system, The Sunshine Bus Company.

With a name like that, you just have to smile :-)

The photo above shows three of the four routes lined up at the depot awaiting departure. Note the bike racks mounted on the front of the buses!!

Riding Greyhound while simultaneously trashing the planet

2010-12-27T21:30:00.001-07:00

So, to be sustainable, my husband and I rode the Greyhound from El Paso, Tex. to St. Augustine, Fla. Good us--we are reducing our carbon footprint.

During our two-day ride, we bought juice in recycleable containers that we tossed, ate with plastic forks (titanium sporks were trapped in our luggage in the locked bus) out of styrofoam containers, and bought individually-wrapped peppermint candies, among other Earth-dismissive actions. Not to mention, the vegetarian options were sparse to none at the meal stops (typically the Greyhound grill or a convenience store).

Sure, we could have packed a collapsable cooler with fruit pieces, cut veggies, cheese sandwiches, and curried chickpea salad. But, without a ready supply of ice (none at Greyhound stations), this idea does not work. Plus, four bus changes can make keeping track of luggage, personal items, and a cooler rather taxing. So, we'll go the Clif Bar/whole fruit/nuts route on the way back home. No food variety and we'll generate Clif Bar wrappers, but at least we won't be throwing away recycleables.

Greyhound is still better than flying--no TSA touchy-feely.

Some comments on "The Green Book"...and on vegetarian cats

2010-12-23T14:39:00.004-07:00

I discoverd this book while browsing the new releases section of our local library (El Paso Public Library call number 333.72 ROG). In it I found a wealth of practical suggestions for sustainabile living.

That the authors include statistics (such as how much material wil be kept out of landfills each year if each American household purchases on epair of recycled material shoes) brings home the point that small actions matter in the big picture of global climate change and social justice.

(By the way, the answer is an annual diversion of 200 million pounds of materials from landfills.)

For seasoned EarthCare advocates and simple living proponents, some of the material may be well-known. Also, some suggestions may seem less than perfect, but the book is meant to have wide appeal to a variety of lifestyles.

Given the variety of topics covered (e.g., personal care, business and home life, sports, and traveling) even the most practiced "green-ie" will likely find a few nuggets of new information. Most all of the suggestions have similar comparitive statistics as described previously. Overall, the book is a breeze to read because of concisely written recommendations and engaging information.

Conclusion: Recommended.

I do take vigorous exception to the authors' suggestion of putting pets on a vegetarian diet. Omnivores--like canines and home sapiens--might fare well on a vegetarian diet. Cats, however, cannot be put on a vegetarian diet*. They will not thrive and will likely become ill, and perhaps die. This is becuase cats require taurine, an amino acid that their bodies cannot produce. Thus meat is necessary for cats in order to ingest an adequate amount of taurine. Now, it is probably okay to supplement your cat's food with chopped vegetables (my one cat loves to eat small pieces of raw spinach and carrots). But be sure to check with your veterinarian first before modifying your pet's diet.

(*As a note, there are very dedicated vegans who feed a vegan diet to their cats using a taurine/nutrient supplement called VeggieCat. These cat owners/campanions are very exacting and scrupulous about mixing the right amount of various foods to make a nutritionally complete meal for their cats. This takes time and heavy-duty dedication, so one must think long and hard--and do LOTS of research--before taking such a step.)

Flossie at the new Canyon Sage Park picnic area

2010-12-21T15:09:00.003-07:00

I'm not sure of the park's official name, but it runs along Canyon Sage Drive.The park is situated in a new housing development located near the intersection of Railroad Dr. and Angora Loop Dr. When it was first developed, the park had only a sidewalk and trees around its square, grassy interior. Now, at its north, the play area, picnic tables, benches, and trash cans have been added. Eight trees are planted to the south of these improvements, which will hopefully block the summer sun when they mature.

What new things have you discovered while out on your bike?

Flossie and I went to market

2010-12-17T11:34:00.001-07:00

This is my bike Flossie, all tricked out with mustache handle bars, cushy seat, kick stand, and heavy-duty rear metal baskets.

The weather was lovely yesterday so we cruised the one mile to Produce Bazaar to pick up some fruits and vegetables. The round trip (and photo shoot) took just about 40 minutes. And what a lovely way to spend 40 minutes than with my dear Flossie.

Have you ridden your bike lately? If not, show it some love and take it on an adventure!

Senorita y Bicicleta

2010-12-15T11:12:00.002-07:00

Yesterday a friend of mine and I met for lunch at Healthy Bite in downtown El Paso. Just as we were about to enter the shop, along comes Tanya on her trusty cruiser bicycle to pick up another order of tasty, healthy food for delivery. Tanya is being good to the environment by riding her bike instead of driving. And, just as important, she is a good example to all of us how bicycles are a very convenient way to travel about downtown. Way to go, Tanya!

(By the way, our lunch at Healthy Bite was delicious! We had tomato and basil soup and grilled tomato/mozarella/basil panini--yumbola!)

I took something from Kmart without paying for it

2010-12-10T16:58:00.001-07:00

That's right, my reader friends, I took an item from Kmart yesterday and skipped the checkout altogether.

I can hear you say, "Scandalous!"

Well, actually, it was something that most shoplifters would not think of pilfering.

When I was in the restroom, I took an empty cardboard core from a toilet paper roll and put it in my tote bag. I made no attempt at hiding my ill-gotten item, and brazenly walked past the security person as I exited the store.

Yes folks, I am a Guerilla Recycler.

Car-free Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T09:03:00.001-07:00

My husband and I traveled via Sun Metro (El Paso's public bus transit) to have Thanksgiving dinner with a couple from our Quaker Meeting and their daughter and her partner.

It was a fabulous day for many reasons: delicious home-made vegan food, wonderful company, engaging conversation, beautiful blue-sky day, and free bus rides compliments of Sun Metro. We were even gifted with some fresh fruit and vegetable scraps to add to our compost pile!

All together we had a very enjoyable and relaxing day. I think it was enhanced by not having to deal with the hassle of driving.

Hope everyone has a pleasant and safe long weekend!

Speaking of car-free living...

2010-11-22T14:09:00.001-07:00

Here are two blog posts on the subject. The first was introduced to me by the Rowdy Kittens blog, and the second blog by the first blog. All three blogs are listed on the left-side of my blog. [How many more sentences can I create using "blog" multiple times ;-) ]

Enjoy!

Lessons from a car-free life - Zenhabits blog

Confessions from the car-free life - New Urban Habitat blog

More like car-ultra-lite than car-free

2010-11-20T08:22:00.002-07:00

This week I used the term "car-free" to describe my husband's and my four-week run of riding public transit (Sun Metro and Houston's METRO) and riding Greyhound for a trip to Houston. See, we are not using either of our two vehicles to get to work, meetings, market, library, social events, or other local destinations.

(We do accept rides with others when they are going to the same area to which we wish to travel. But we will not allow people to give us rides that are out of the way of their travels, despite the cheerful generosity of the offerors. If it is too late to take the bus then we will graciously accept such rides and offer compensation.)

Yet we still own two vehicles, one of which is up for sale. The other is our 1997 van which is intended for camping trips and pickups at the hardware store and gardening store. So characterizing our lifestyle as car-free is not completely accurate, but certainly reflects our attitude and goal. A better characterization is "ultra-car-lite."

Why would we even do this, especially given that we live in far northeast El Paso? The answer is three-fold: environment, economics, and enjoyment.

Cars release carbon dioxide (CO2) when gasoline fuel is combusted (particulate when diesel is compressed). CO2 released to the atmosphere by vehicles is a contributing factor to the increasing CO2 concentrations around the globe, resulting in climate change. This change is dramatically affecting the ability of people and their lands to provide for their very basic needs for living. With compassion for these people and hope for reversing increasing CO2 concentrations we are ultra-car-lite.

The economics aspect is easy thanks to Sun Metro. For $10 a week, one can ride any fixed-route bus anywhere they go as often as needed. I don't think you can get around like that so cheaply even in a hybrid vehicle!

You might be surprised to see "enjoyment" listed as the third reason for our ultra-car-lite lifestyle. Indeed there are some minor inconveniences when riding the bus (e.g., extra time needed, the occassional unusual passenger). But we see oppotunity in these. When we ride the bus, we have time to read a book, plan out the day or week, chat, check email and the web on the mobile phone, or watch the people and the scenery. These certainly contribute to enjoyment. But this all would not be possible without the professional drivers getting us to our destinations safely. I enjoy knowing that someone who is well-trained is handling the navigation amongst the hazardous traffic.

Have you cruised with Sun Metro lately? If not, on Thanksgiving Day all rides on Sun Metro busses are FREE!! What a great way to start your car-lite journey!

Thrift store story - part 4

2010-11-09T14:39:00.001-07:00

(This the last post in 4-part series. Click here for part 1.)

In my last post, I gave examples of damage to people and the planet resulting from consumer good manufacturing. It was ended with examples of practically new items found in thrift stores.

One of the things I've wondered is if the presence of thrift stores contributes to our consumerist society. Let me explain.

Not too many years back I was a hard-core discount-store shopper at stores like Ross Dress for Less and Marshall's, and online at sierratradingpost.com and reioutlet.com. I though, "Hey, I'm discount shopping, so that makes it okay."

When something new and cool caught my eye, I wanted it and bought it, even if it was a duplicate of something serviceable that I already owned. I justified purchase of those duplicate items by thinking, "Hey, I can just donate the other (insert name of item) to the (Goodwill, Assistance League, Next to Nuevo, St. Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army) and that will make it all right."

And certainly the donated items helped these worthy organizations by providing no-cost items to generate revenue. But, in the end, I was pandering to the consumerist lifestyle that is dominant in the US, and causing harm to the environment and the people who depend on the environment.

Having become aware of my shopping habits and their impacts, I now try to purchase items only when they are needed. And trust me, it can be tricky deciphering between a need and a want. But I'm glad for thrift stores because they offer serviceable items at a very reasonable price. And they give me the satisfaction of knowing that I am not causing harm to the people and their planet by my purchase.

The End.

Thrift Store Story - part 3

2010-10-26T16:42:00.000-06:00

So, in the last post, I promised an examination of consumption and its effects on people and planet.

As we know, we need raw materials to create goods. The raw materials for our consumer goods can come from unregulated, environmentally-damaging open pit mines with dangerous working conditions (e.g., precious metals for electronics) or unsustainable mono-cultures hacked out of native, biologically diverse vegetation (e.g., palm oil plantations).

When the raw materials are processed, they need to be made into products. Many consumer goods are manufactured in Honduras, Bangladesh, or China, by workers earning low wages for long hours during a six-day work week in ergonomically-demanding jobs (e.g., sewing clothing) with virtually no rights enjoyed by the majority of US workers.

Once the created products make it into our hands, we use them until they break and we throw them away, or we tire of them, and donate them. Many times we donate items that have many years of useful life remaining. Case in point, at local thrift stores I've found an almost brand new pair of Merrell walking shoes, a like-new FiloFax, and a brand-new skirt with its Target discount price stickers still attached!

Okay, I've run out of time, but there is more to the story. Part 4 will be released in November. See you then!

Thrift store story - part 2

2010-10-20T12:49:00.000-06:00

(Click here for part one in case you missed it.)

After two periods of unemployment during 1996, I moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1997, where fortunately there were multiple job openings for someone with my skills and experience. Once I started working in an office enjoying a steady paycheck, I also enjoyed shopping for new clothing and shoes and accessories, just like when I graduated.

Part of this shopping was spurred on (oops, sorry for the Texas pun) by discovering that dressing up was what most San Antonio folks did. This was a change from Central New York where most of us women did not tuck our shirts into our jeans, and we most certainly did not wear belts or iron our jeans so there were creases in the center of the legs. But, when in Rome, do as the Romans--or in this case--the San Antonio-ans do.

Eventually as I made more money, my Coach purse, leather briefcase, and leather Filofax obsessions became legend (much as my cellphone and small electronic gadget addiction, but that is for another post).

It wasn't until about three years ago that I started to become less concerned with being fashionable and more concerned with being thrifty. At the time, I was still employed at my corporate job so it wasn't the lack of money that caused the change. Instead, it was the awareness that I was part of the problem of over-consumption.

Yup, I was single-handedly trying to pump up the American economy by being the best ever consumer I could be. During all those spend-thrift (oxymoron?) times I was completely oblivious to the effects my ways were having on the earth and its inhabitants.

Stay tuned for Part 3 - an examination of consumption and its effect on the planet and peoples. And eventually a new kind of thrift store story!

Thrift store story - Part 1

2010-10-13T14:04:00.002-06:00

When I was in high school, my friend Heidi and I would cruise the local Salvation Army thrift store trying to find funky, one-of-a-kind clothing and accessories a la the New Wave movement (yes, I'm dating myself here). It was all part of us trying to create our individual, non-conformist identities in the otherwise narrowly-defined categories of high school teenager-hood: jocks, pot smokers, nerds, brains, popular people, cheerleaders, and those rejected by the other groups. (The New Wave movement was slow to come to our Central New York cow-farm village high school, so there were no New Wavers just yet.)

Anyhow, we had a fabulous time finding treasurers amongst the moth-ball smelling old lady coats and wacky 60s and 70s blouses. My thrift store browsing continued through high school and college--I was actually pretty proud of my eclectic wardrobe.

Then—voila!—I graduated college and business suits, heels, fancy business card cases, Waterman pens, and leather briefcases became the treasures that I sought. (Oh, and the makeup!! I think I became two pounds heavier after I applied all the requisite makeup—so glad the 80s are over.) I was more into conforming than into being a nonconformist.

This business-conformity continued for quite some time until I found a job as an industrial hygiene technician performing work on US Air Force bases in the US and overseas. We'd work at a base for four to six weeks, then go off to another base for the same amount of time.

For those that haven't lived in military towns (like El Paso), pawn shops and thrift stores abound as many military folks need to turn their belongings into cash or just jettison things before they move on to the next base.

Because I had not much to do after the workday was over in each town where we temporarily resided in hotels, I started visiting the pawn shops and thrift stores as a form of entertainment. I acquired some useful things in pretty good condition, and lots of $3 cassettes of music I really enjoyed. (Cassettes—I know, so old school!)

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Thanks to La Greenga for the shout-out!

2010-10-08T09:37:00.000-06:00

La Greenga, a very talented and industrious GreenGrrl, quoted me AND mentioned my blog in her El Paso Times column titled, "Dealing with my gas guzzler." I am humbled and thrilled! Much gratitude to you, La Greenga, for your continued support of my blogging efforts! And best wishes on your new job--I know you'll be a sensation!

sauteed zuchinni, onions and chickpeas

2010-09-11T21:49:00.002-06:00

with balsamic vinegar, cracked pepper, and salt

now posting on QEWnet

2010-09-10T15:58:00.003-06:00

I've decided to also post my blog entries on Quaker Earthcare Witness QEWnet. This Ning network is full of great ideas and great people that I would like my blog readers to get to know. Not only that, I would like to support QEWnet by posting on it to encourage additional conversations and, perhaps, encourage others to join. To go to my posts on QEWnet, click here. Be sure to click about QEWnet--I'm sure you'll find lots of interesting stuff!

Downsizing the refrigerator footprint--virtual and carbon

2010-09-08T13:17:00.001-06:00

With just the two of us, we found that we were not using the enormous capacity of our 22.3 cubic foot side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. Besides that, it is not Energy Star-rated, has an ice dispenser (wasted electricity) and is frost-free (more wasted electricity).

So, like good consumers concerned to help out the consumer-based economy, we trotted off to the home improvement mega-store and purchased an Energy Star-rated 4.4 cubic foot refrigerator with a freezer compartment.

Lo and behold, all our refrigerator items AND freezer items fit in the new unit! So, we were only using 1/5th of our big refrigerator's capacity yet cooling ALL of it!! What a waste of money AND the natural resources necessary to generate and transmit the electricity for the big fridge!

The EPA Energy Guide that came with the new refrigerator states that it should cost approximately $30 a year in electricity costs to operate the unit. (Happily, this new unit uses the lower limit of electricity compared to other refrigerators in its class.) Less electric means that our refrigerator will require less generation of carbon dioxide to operate it. Of course, CO2 was generated in its manufacture, but the expectation is that the longer we use this new refrigerator, the less overall CO2 will result from keeping our food cold or frozen.

Blogger disconnects home internet--why??

2010-09-03T13:49:00.003-06:00

You may have been wondering why I haven't posted since 08/22 given that today is 09/03. Well, aside from being busy, my husband and I made the decision to pull the plug on our home DSL connection. And now, you may be wondering, "Why ever would you do that?!?"

Well, honestly, it seems that the web--as wonderful of a tool that it is--was becoming a justification for: not reading books, not walking the dogs, not sewing, not going for hikes, not sketching, not working around the house, etc. In other words, unlimited access to the internet was getting in the way of living life.

Adjusting to using the WiFi at the library and using the internet at work (during off-work time) has taken some time, but I think we are starting to get used to planning our internet usage. Thus, more regular posting should ensue.

Have a nice Labor Day holiday weekend!

Save a tree with t.p.

2010-08-21T16:30:00.000-06:00

The wrapper on Seventh Generation toilet paper says, “if every household in the US replaced just one roll of 1000 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 469,000 trees; 1.2 million cubic feet of landfill space, equal to 1,700 full garbage trucks; 169 millon gallons of water, a year’s supply for 1,300 families of four.” Wow, all that for each family using just ONE roll of 100% recycled t.p.! Imagine if you used it all the time how many trees and how much water and landfill space would be saved!

The label goes on to say that the t.p. is made of 100% recycled paper, with a post-consumer recycled content of at least 80%. The single-roll paper wrapper is a minimum 80% pre-consumer recycled--at least it primarily recycled paper of some sort.

Buy some recycled-content toilet paper next time you are grocery shopping. It's not cheaper, but it's better for us and the planet in the long-run.

Pomegranate split. No, its not dessert.

2010-08-14T20:54:00.000-06:00

Our poor tree is clinging to the last of its un-split fruit. According to information from agricultural websites, the fruit-splitting depicted in the photo is due to a fungus, uneven watering, or hot temperatures. Well, I don't see anything that looks like mold. So it must be the very hot temperatures we are having for this time of year, as well as the lack of adequate monsoonal rain out here in far northeast El Paso.Our livelihood does not depend on this crop of pomegranates, but imagine the orchard keepers having to deal with this.

It is very risky to be a grower of food, especially because weather is not controllable. It is even more risky now that global climate change is messing with our weather patterns, causing increases in extreme weather (such as 100 degree and higher temperatures in El Paso for the past five days, including today). How do you grow crops that are dependent on decades of stable weather patterns when you no longer have the benefit of such? Right now in El Paso, we should be in the thick of the monsoon season with 92 degree days and 71 degree nights, on average. Month-to-date precipitation has been 0.07 inches, with an average of 0.73 inches. We are definitely not in a stable weather pattern.

Of course, one month's, or even one season's, weather data does not indicate a continuing problem. But, there is peer-reviewed data that the globe's average temperature has been increasing, and continues to increase. La Greenga has a few informative blog posts about global climate change; this is one of them.

Believe it or not, I will tie this post in with the last post in the series I started a week or so back, "Increased cost of fuel: an argument for car-lite or car-free living." Until then, think about your food, and be grateful.

E-waste? No worries, just ship it off to Africa.

2010-08-13T22:19:00.000-06:00

Please read this article published by the BBC. Then commit to using your electronics until they break, or can no longer be upgraded to extend their usefulness. Then take them to an ethical recycler. God's Earth and people will be a whole lot better for it.

Hybrid Hypocrisy

2010-08-12T18:53:00.000-06:00

Look, BIC has developed the Hybrid Advance, a razor set with a handle and six replaceable blades. When you are done, you throw out the handle because BIC does not sell replacement blades! How cool is that--not!

Why was this product even developed? Are there that many people out there that only need to shave six times during their lifetime??

no recycling available at city event!

2010-08-06T19:25:00.005-06:00

The photo shows the contents of a trash can at City of El Paso's Alfresco Friday event on 08/06/2010. Look at those recycleables destined for the landfill--for shame!!

There were no obvious recycling containers at the 08/06 event, nor at the past two events I've attended in July. And El Paso has a City Council-approved sustainability plan to which all City departments are supposed to adhere.

Our City has a budget shortfall--maybe collecting all the aluminum beer cans from Alfresco Friday would help.

Increased cost of fuel: an argument for car-lite or car-free living - part 3

2010-08-04T23:02:00.003-06:00

Well, now that you have had a chance to do some calculations from part 2 of this blog post series, how about something a little less taxing? And seemingly nothing to do with the increased price of fuel?*

I hope you share my enthusiasm for maps, because we are going to travel over to Google Maps today. When you click on the link, you are taken to a map of the US. Click on Get Directions in the blue border to the left of the map. You will be taken to a new page where you can enter two addresses. Enter your home address in the top space, and in the other an address for your public library, city hall, or favorite farmers' market. After you have done that, click the Get Directions button. Now the map on the right shows the route between your home and the destination.

Above the addresses are symbols that approximate a car, a bus, a person walking, and a bicycle. If you click on the bus, and if your municipality participates, you are given information for the public transit route(s) that will take you to your destination. Or, if you click the person, you will be given walking directions, and the bike, bicycling directions.

It's important for you to heed the safety advice provided by Google when displaying the various options. And remember that there is no substitute for common sense when traveling about.

Now, go ahead and have some fun plotting bicycling, walking, and public transit routes to your favorite places. And, we'll meet back here for Part 4 ~~tomorrow~~ soon! Enjoy!

*I know I'm leading you about, but I will tie it all together in the last post for this series--promise!

Increased cost of fuel: an argument for car-lite or car-free living - part 2

2010-08-03T12:42:00.000-06:00

In yesterday's post we were introduced to the H+T Affordability Index. Essentially, the farther you are from the urban center, the more you spend in fuel. And, those fuel costs have risen dramatically between 2000 and 2008. For instance, in northeast El Paso, Texas where we live, the 2008 cost of fuel was $3,600. or greater for the average household.

As we all know, the cost of fuel is not the only monetary outlay for vehicle owners. There is the cost of oil changes, tires, insurance, registration, inspection, and regular maintenance (e.g., coolant flush, auto. transmission flush, air filter replacement). The American Automobile Association has a fact-filled pamphlet that provides information and detailed calculations you can make to determine your true cost of ownership.

If you aren't up for the higher math of the AAA's detailed calculations, try the clever calculator at the website Bikes At Work. It allows you to input your estimated costs associated with your vehicle(s) and provides you with the monthly cost to own and operate the vehicle(s).

Go ahead and try out the AAA analysis or Bikes At Work calculator. Then I will see you tomorrow for Part 3 of our series.

Increased cost of fuel: an argument for car-lite or car-free living - part 1

2010-08-02T07:09:00.001-06:00

In this morning's El Paso Times is an article about the City Council deciding to use Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology's Housing + Transportation Affordability Index (H+T Affordability Index).

Provided in the article was a link to the searchable map, so, being a statistics junkie, I decided to check it out. Besides the H+T info, it has clickable tabs for greenhouse gas impacts, gas costs impacts, and even a customizable comparison.

What caught my eye the most was the information provided in the gas cost impacts tab that compares gas costs from 2000 and 2008--the difference is dramatic for El Paso! In the area of northeast El Paso where we live, the cost of gasoline per household went from $900 to $1,800 per year in 2000 to $3,600 or greater per year in 2008! Wow, that's double to quadruple the 2000 costs!! (The assumptions made for these calculations are provided at the top of each graphic.)

I will give you time to check out the data for your area of the US and consider the impact of gas costs on your household budget, before we go on to part 2, to be posted tomorrow.

perfectly good furniture dumped on Silvercloud Dr. in NE El Paso! Grrr!

2010-07-31T09:48:00.066-06:00

Matthew saying, "!Y que!"

An open letter to the Dumper:

C'mon, it's obvious you dumped these off a vehicle because the wooden supports under the loveseat broke from the impact. Since you had them on a vehicle, you could have driven the 3.8 miles to the Fairbanks Dr. Goodwill and donated the couch and loveseat. (Here's the google map to prove it.)

View Larger Map

Or, if that is just waaay too much effort for you, you could have advertised them on craigslist.com and made some cash too. Or, listed them on freecycle.com and they'd have been off your hands in a day, or two at the most.

Besides trashing an area, causing a traffic hazard, and conducting an illegal action, you are also being incredibly wasteful! Those pieces of furniture, though not in show room condition, are in good, useable condition. Someone could have used those two pieces of furniture. Now they are destined for the landfill. That's just great--the limited space in our landfills is increasingly filled with usable items, leaving little room for actual trash.

I guess I can't be too hard on you--after all you are likely a product of the consumer culture that prizes consumption and loathes thrift, frugality, resourcefulness, and simplicity. So, listen--get in your truck, drive on over to Silvercloud Dr., load up the furniture, and take it on over to Goodwill. And, I hope this action will lead you to contemplate how you can extract yourself from the destructive values of our current society.

Best of luck,
Pei

take the happy bus

2010-07-27T13:24:00.002-06:00

this sign greets riders at kenwothy/epcc xmtn stop

Tonight's meal at Casa Peihaus

2010-07-26T20:43:00.004-06:00

photo left - kale sauteed in olive oil with sliced green onions then simmered with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar

photo right - chickpeas (garbanzo beans) sauteed in olive oil with chopped yellow and red peppers plus basil and chives from our garden

Another great simple living/minimalist list!

2010-07-25T10:08:00.000-06:00

Over at Zen Habits, Leo Baubuta has created a list of 72 (!) ways to simplify your life. Check out these really fabulous (and many very easy) ideas.

Here's what I recommend: choose ten that really speak to your situation. Then, implement one idea every week or every two weeks until you are done with your list. Repeat the process as many times as needed. I think you will be happy with the results because simple living is living robustly. Best of luck!

Save Money, Live Minimalist

2010-07-24T22:42:00.001-06:00

I thought this post over at Rowdy Kittens listed some super-awesome ideas for minimalist living and maximalist saving. There are some helpful comments too. Check it out for yourself!

Cell phone recycling = cell phone heaven

2010-07-24T08:27:00.001-06:00

In a previous mini-post, I lamented cell phones going into landfills instead of going to recycling programs a/k/a "cell phone heaven." A commenter questioned why cell phones are going into landfills since cell phone service providers offer recycling of old phones. Indeed, there are many venues for cell phone recycling--just go to this US EPA web page. The problem is that consumers actually have to make the effort to drop-off or mail-in the retired cell phone, so this is where the hang-up is (pun intended).

Some interesting stuff:

About 500 million unused cell phones are lurking in dark corners, and it is expected that less than 10% of those will be recycled, according to this site.

This post provides an infographic on the environmental impacts of cellphones--the statistics will amaze and sadden you.

And for a little levity mixed with practicality, the top 10 reasons to give up your cell phone.

if only cellphones went to heaven...

2010-07-20T09:37:00.002-06:00

...and not into landfills. :-(

it is true!

2010-07-14T12:11:00.004-06:00

you can recycle glass at target!!

No Title

2010-07-14T12:08:00.002-06:00

Summertime, and the compost is easy

2010-07-13T12:49:00.005-06:00

If you Google the term compost, you will be flooded with lots of links. Some articles take composting to an exact science, complete with recipes (!). Others have a more relaxed approach.

Here at Casa PeiHaus, we take an extremely relaxed approach to composting--it could almost be called lax. We just dump the food scraps and food waste on the pile, and add used dishwater periodically to compensate for the desert climate. (The dish washing liquid we use is biodegradable so we're okay to do this.)

This weekend the compost pile was turned (the first time this year--see, I told you we are relaxed). The above photo shows the results. In the depths, we discovered beautiful, dark, rich compost material--such joy! And, it was with joy and gusto that the doves went after the variety of creepy crawlies that inhabited those depths. Indeed, it was heartening to see the resultant liveliness of the pile, created from what some might consider trash.

Give composting a try--your garden and your wildlife will thank you.

raised garden bed

2010-07-10T21:41:00.003-06:00

Peppers and melon to the right, and small chives to the left were transplanted over the weekend into the new raised bed made by my industrious husband. The space in the center is for two cherry tomato plants to be acquired in the near future.

chilled tomato cucumber rice salad

2010-07-10T17:19:00.002-06:00

meal for the humid summertime

My guest post on Cheap Like Me--Race and environment: not mutually exclusive

2010-07-06T21:59:00.000-06:00

I was invited to write a guest post for the blog Cheap Like Me, where economy and ecology meet the good life--and indeed it does under the expert blogging by Ms. Cheap. My guest blog post, titled "Race and environment: not mutually exclusive," was posted on 07/02/2010. I wanted to wait a few days to post it on my blog so that Ms. Cheap's blog could benefit from an exclusive posting for a bit.

I invite you to not only read the post, but to comment on it as well. Comments help us learn about each other and see the various aspects of an issue through first-person story. I encourage you to use the comments section for the guest post on Cheap Like Me. I monitor the blog entry on an almost daily basis and look forward to a thoughtful conversation.

Finally, and most importantly, I wish to publicly express my sincere gratitude to Ms. Cheap for trusting in my writing ability, and taking a risk on the subject matter. !Muchas gracias!

Rest in peace, Elise Boulding (07/06/1920 - 06/24/2010)

2010-07-03T11:56:00.001-06:00

Eminent feminist peace scholar and Quaker Elise Boulding recently passed away. Click here to read the New York Times obiturary provinding a nice summary of her life and her life's work.

The petroleum industry made me cry this morning

2010-07-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Read for yourself why.

Living on a Dying Delta

Delegation From Oil-Afflicted Amazon Visits Louisiana Tribes Hit By BP Disaster

Oil found in Gulf crabs raises new food chain fears

recent meals at the PeiHaus

2010-07-02T06:55:00.000-06:00

This is herbed tomato-tofu salad. Ingredients: tofu, tomatoes, onion, herbs from the garden, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, cracked pepper, and salt.

This is sauteed carrots and red peppers with kidney beans. Ingredients: carrots, red peppers, kidney bean, olive oil, herbs from the garden, cracked pepper, and salt.

Car driver takes bus one day a week--read all about it!

2010-06-27T13:35:00.000-06:00

David Burge, an El Paso Times reporter, wrote an article about his experience with using the Sun Metro bus system for his transportation needs one day a week for a year. Read the article here to learn what he has to say. (If you read the comments, ignore the mean-spirited ones--those folks are just jealous of the money savings us bus riders enjoy! ;-)

I can't believe I pay good money to get the heck scared out of me

2010-06-27T11:47:00.000-06:00

Truthout.org has done it again. They have published yet another article that scares the heck out of me. And to think my husband and I continue to donate our hard-earned money to this organization!

You too can experience the fear of corporate-controlled seed (the very source of our food!) by reading this article.

So, after reading the article, are you scared too? Share your fears (and thoughts) in the comments below.

Are you Si-Curious? (simple-living curious, that is)

2010-06-25T20:42:00.000-06:00

If you are curious about the simple living life, click on over to Rowdy Kittens. You'll find there a fabulous compilation of 95 curiosity-fulfilling links on topics ranging from car-lite lifestyle to de-cluttering to spirituality to minimalism, and more!

I'm not an urban planner, but I played one the other night

2010-06-24T22:10:00.000-06:00

So, my blogging buddies elpasonaturally and La Greenga have posted about their experiences at the ongoing Open Design Studio happening here in El Paso as part of PlanElPaso. This is a very exciting opportunity for the El Paso community to provide their input about the future use of the old ASARCO site, and three transportation hubs in the city: Five Points, Remcon Circle, and Oregon Corridor.

Of great interest to me is the bicycle as a legitimate form of transportation, and so I attended the Transportation-Oriented Design (TOD) charette (i.e., participatory design session) held the evening of 06/23/2010 at the Memorial Park Senior Center. I enjoyed the comaraderie at table number 7 with Michelle (City planner), Veronica (County Commissioner) and her son, Carmen and Lee Chapa (residents of Central), Susie (City Representative), David (5 points property owner), and Analisa (State Sen. Shapleigh's office). Our discussions and ideas were gracefully facilitated by Megan (Dover Kohl planner). We dreamed, planned, vision-ed, and built upon one anothers' ideas. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to catch the bus home and did not hear the presentation from the Five Points groups. But, I was very encouraged by the ideas shared, especially the ones pertaining to bike lanes (thanks, Analisa!) and safe pedestrian access (kudos to Carmen and Lee!).

[Extra brownie points go to Analisa for arriving to the charette A) on bike, and B) in a SKIRT! She shared that she regularly commutes to her job via bicycle. What a charmed life!]

However, I thought it rather ironic and sad that we met at a facility that appears to have been designed solely around cars as the means of traveling to the facility. The sidewalk on the east side of Byron Street leading to the senior center has no curb cut; it ends in an 8-inch drop at the driveway entrance. This means that seniors (i.e., the people most likely in need of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accomodations) are forced to step down off the sidewalk AND there are no handrails to provide stability to those a little unsteady on their feet. In the middle of the parking lot here is a sidewalk down the center of a parking row for cars that leads to the senior center, but to reach it the senior needs to step up onto the continuation of the sidewalk after having crossed the driveway entry.

So, there we all were--Sun Metro staff, City staff, planners, consultants, residents--dreaming up ways to make our community better to influence future land use plans and ordinances, and outside the front door was something already in place that needed to be made better for the seniors in our community--somthing as simple as curb cuts.

What's my point? Well, what I wrote in yellow marker on the drawing our table was working on was, "Design to include, not exclude." It's all well and good to dream of restaurants and condominiums, but we need to make sure it includes--and accomodates--everyone, such as seniors traveling by foot (or powered chair) to a facility specifically for them.

Am I off my rocker here? I'd like to hear your comments.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

2010-06-24T22:03:00.000-06:00

Sun Metro (El Paso's public bus service) has on their website a video of a slide show that presents on BRT ideas for El Paso. If you live in El Paso, you'll likely find it interesting. If you don't live in El Paso and do not have BRT in your town, you might find it interesting too, especially the photos of the sleek BRT systems in place elsewhere. The presentation is only a little over seven and one-half minutes long so its perfect for a coffee break at the work computer or while waiting for dinner to finish cooking.

What are your thoughts on this form of transportation, for El Paso or for your town?

Cash Only Living is green...and the cash is too!

2010-06-21T20:38:00.000-06:00

Over on the the left you can see a listing of blogs I follow, one of which is Cash Only Living. As I was reading a recent posting, I was thinking to myself, "Wow, this blogger shows that living debt-free and cash-only is also green!" Ms. Cash Only Living points out environmental as well as other impacts of buying new technology gadgets, which resonates with my concern for the Earth and desire to live simply and sustainably. Go ahead and read the post, and let me know what you think in the comments section below.

An article to feed my petroleum angst

2010-06-13T21:14:00.000-06:00

Truthout published an article today, the subject of which really distresses me--the blatant over-consumption of fossil fuels by the US military. Read it here. (Looks like the military could bring about Peak Oil all on its own if given half a chance.)

Let's ask our elected representatives to significantly reduce the US military's fuel budget so that the Pentagon has to consider the necessity of its fossil-fuel-burining activities more carefully.

(Of course, it would be ideal if a military was less necessary than a significantly expanded Civilian Response Corps.)

Boatload of old posts added!

2010-06-10T19:43:00.001-06:00

I used to have a separate blog titled Bikes in the Borderland (BitB). Recently I decided to add those posts to this blog. After all, bicycling is a one way we can travel on the sustainability path. TheBitB posts are included chronologically by date of original posting so they are peppered throughout the blog. Enjoy!

Chilled Chickpea Salad

2010-06-09T21:08:00.000-06:00

This vegan chilled salad is made with chickpeas, diced tomato, diced red pepper, sliced onions, fresh dill, fresh basil, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, salt, and cracked pepper.

(Sorry, no recipe other than the above listing. When I make food, I rarely measure the ingredients--I just add them until it looks and taste like I want it to.)