DAY 31_TEFLON (THE PETROLEUM IN YOUR PAN)

14 September 2010

Teflon (the non-stick coating in pans) has been a subject of some controversy in our house lately ;)-being a petroleum product, I think it deserves some attention here....

I'll use this nice introduction from www.wisegeek.com/what-is-teflon.htm:

"Teflon as been a familiar name for decades.  Invented at DuPont's Jackson Laboratory in 1938, Teflon is actually a substance called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is considered to be the most slippery substance that exists.  Its nonstick properties have transcended the kitchen, and is widely used in other areas including aerospace, communications, electronics, industrial processes, and architecture. Teflon changed the plastics industry forever, and DuPont has received numerous awards and recognitions for its contribution to the field of man made polymers.

Its likely that just about every home in America has Teflon somewhere.  As a carpet protector, it repels liquids so that nasty spills on carpet can be wiped up clean without leaving a stain.  The same technology can also protect the fabric on furniture.  It is also used as an automotive lubricant, and even protects bulbs from shattering. 

There are numerous industrial uses for Teflon as well, in areas such as semiconductor, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturing, and industrial bakeware.  Eyeglass wearers may even have Teflon on their eyeglass lenses.  In the area of personal care, it is used as a fingernail protector, and even in a line of haircare products.  Teflon is applied to pots and pans in a multi-step process that helps ensure that the material stays stuck to the surface.  The first applied layer includes a sticky molecule that helps adhere the non-stick Teflon to the surface, this is followed by an application of non-stick surface only, and the final coating is a combination of non-stick Teflon with other hardeners."

There are varying opinions about the safety of Teflon for the environment and communities located near manufacturing plants:

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asserts that DuPont has purposely withheld health hazardous information regarding Teflon since the early 1908's.  Petroflouronanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used to produce Teflon, has been appearing in blood samples of people world wide.  DuPont, slapped with approximately 300 million dollars in fines, has agreed to pay a 108 million dollar lawsuit brought about by residents near one of its company plants as elevated levles of PFOA's have been found in surrounding drinking water supplies. "
(http://whatscookingamerica.net/LindaPosch/ToxicCookware.htm)

While causing environmental air/water quality problems is one things, its daily use is another...All plastics are in their most stable state when they are solids.  While they off-gas a small amount as solids, once they are heated they begin off gassing quite a bit more.  A new car smell is actually the plastic elements and other chemicals (in seating fabric etc...)that are being off-gassed as they sit in the hot sun in an unventilated place (closed car).  The same is true with Teflon cooking pans. 

There is signicifant evidence that the fumes are toxic enough to kill birds:

"In cases of "Teflon toxicosis," as the bird poisonings are called, the lungs of exposed birds hemorrhage and fill with fluid, leading to suffocation.  DuPont acknowledges that the fumes can also sicken people, a condition called "polymer fume fever." DuPont has never studied the incidence of the fever among users of the billions of non-sick pots and pans sold around the world.  Neither has the company studied the long-term effects from the sickness, or the extent to which Teflon exposures lead to human illnesses believed erroneously to be the common flu.  The government has not assessed the safety of non-stick cookware.  According to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food safety scientists. "You won't find a regulation anywhere on the books that specifically addresses cookwares," although the FDA approved Teflon for contact with food in 1960 based on a food frying study that found higher levels of Teflon chemicals in hamburger cooked on heat-aged and old pans.  At the time, FDA judged these levels to be of little health significance.

Of the 6.9 million bird-owning households in the US that claim an estimated 19 million pet birds, many don't know that Teflon poses an acute hazard to birds.  Most non-stick cookware carries no warming label.  DuPont publicly acknowledges that Teflon can kill birds, but the company-produced public service brochure on bird safety discusses the hazards of ceiling fans, mirrors, toilet, and cats before mentioning the danger of Teflon fumes.

As a result of the new data showing that non-stick surfaces reach toxic temperature in a matter of minutes, EWG has petitioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to require that cookware and heated appliances bearing non-stick coatings must carry a label warming of the acute hazard the coating poses to pet birds.  Additionally, EQG recommends that bird owners completely avoid cookware and heated appliances with non-stick coatings.  Alternative cookware includes glass, stainless steel and cast iron, neither of which off-gases persistent pollutants that kill birds."

While there are conflicting opinions about the temperature at which the Teflon fumes begins to become toxic: Wikipedia sources say 260 C degrees is when it begins to deteriorate and at 350 C it decomposes.  Other sources say the Teflon begins to off-gas at lower temperatures.  It is likely that these numbers are determined by what is a 'safe' level of toxins to be in the air without have negative side effects.

No matter what the true off-gassing answer is, the point remains that Teflon is a toxic chemical, and not something that should be on objects that are INTENTIONALLY heated-cooking pans.

Lastly in ALL studies done on Teflon which I have encountered, it is stated that Teflon is safe when 'properly used'.  How to 'properly use' your pan is either not included or in the fine print.  Deeper research (and personal experience) reveals that Teflon is quite destructible.  It is not intended to be coming off the pans, and when it does, it becomes an even greater hazard than inhaling possible toxic fumes.  EATING Teflon flakes isn't exactly something you want to do. 

"One of the major disadvantages of using Teflon cookware is that it must be treated very carefully or the non-stick coating can be marred or destroyed.  Teflon pans should never be used with metal utensils.  If you tend to cut meat or vegetables directly in the pan, steer away from using Teflon!" (http://tuberose.com/Teflon.html.)

Basically, if you own Teflon pans, do not:
_scrape the food off the pan
_cut the food on the pan
_store the pan anywhere it can be scratched in any way (stacking pots)
_leave the pan in the sink where other dishes (silverware) can scratch it

Ultimately, with other options of pan materials available to us (cast iron, ceramic, stainless steel and aluminum), why risk possible health problems for a little added (non-stick) convenience?

I have been forced to abandon a multitude of habits and methods of doing things during the course of this project that I consider to be more convenient: turning on tap water, turning on a light, taking a long shower, buying personal care products from anywhere in the world that last for years, getting in a car, picking up pre-made food in boxes...While only some of these habits DIRECTLY negatively affect our health and lives, many indirectly do as they effect the environment in which we live.  Finding alternatives for these ways of life is often difficult, however, finding other methods for at least the habits which are direct risks to our health seems like a good starting point.

Petroleum use has certainly increased the 'convenience' of our daily lives, but at what cost?  At the risk of sounding preachy, it has been an amazing experience up to this point to slow down and spend time doing some of the everyday tasks that I normally rushed through.  Doing laundry, taking a long time to make dinner (because it takes a long time to make everything from scratch :P), and commuitng by bike are all tasks which, on one had eat time out of my day, and on the other hand allow me to appreciate and understand where many of the things I originally took for granted are coming from, and the energy it takes to accomplish these tasks for my 'convenience'.

As my chair, Tom Fisher puts it, we need to redefine what the word 'scarcity' and 'abundance' really mean in our society.  What is it that we value and brings us happiness in our lives?  Is our current definition of 'abundance' representative of the way we really want to be living?

DAY 30_LAUNDRY DAY

13 September 2010

Laundry day!  Definitely time.

I'm saving 3 gallons of water every day (of my 15 gallons total) to use for cleaning at the end of the week (2.3 gallons a day for laundry=15 gallons end of week) and (.7 gallons/day for a 5 gallon bucket shower heated in the sun).  Here's how I do it:

(1) dump in 1/4 cup of laundry detergent

(2) boil a gallon of water (about 0.625 kWh) and dump into 5 gallon pail with 3 more gallons of room-temp water (dumping over detergent makes it foamy)

(3) add clothes

(4) let soak for an hour

(5) stomp on clothes.  stomp until all clothes are flattened in the bucket then move them around again and re stomp (water is still warm after an hour so its kinda nice)

(6) mash up clothes with hands (this is actually an awesome stress reliever if you really get into it)

(7) dump wash water (if I had used homemade detergent I could probably use this for plants....not there yet) Also, its actually quite gratifying to see all the dirty water going down the drain, it is dirtier than you would think being that we never see how dirty our wash water actually is, makes you feel like you really accomplished something)

(8) refill with room temp water and mash the clothes again, a lot. This gets all the soap out

(9) refill one more time and dump (total of three fills is about 15 gallons)

(10) hang clothes in the tub on a line.  The clothes will be really wet (not like when you take them out of the washer and they've gone through a spin cycle) so they need to be wrung out and put in a place they can drip for a while. 

I did a little research on a typical washing machine cycle so that I could compare it with my bucket method.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/ the average washing machine uses 41 gallons per load.  Higher efficiency washing machines bring this number down to under 28 but that is still quite a bit of water.  When I was doing bucket laundry I started thinking about what a washing machine does and how I could substitute myself for one.  Basically, the washing machine fills the tub up with water and agitate it with the center agitator for a while.   After that, it drains all the water out by spinning it into the side holes and refills to rinse the clothes, and spins again.  While I'm not a washing machine, I think my clothes mashing did a pretty good job of cleaning in general, and it was all using my own energy for washing, a total of 0.625 kWh (heating water).

According to http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html

hot/warm cycle uses 4.5 kWh/load
warm/warm cycle uses 3.5 kWh/load
hot/cold cycle uses 2.8 kWh/load
warm/cold cycle uses 1.9 kWh/load
cold/cold cycle uses 0.3 kWh/load

I'm assuming these numbers are taking into account the energy needed to heat the water and that is why they are different, I'll be metering my washing machine next time one of my roommates is washing...

DAY 29_SORTING WASTE

12 September 2010

With almost a month of the project down, I sorted through the waste I have accumulated over the last 4 weeks to see what patterns there were and what waste types I can try to eliminate. 

There really isn't  any 'random' garbage, all of the things I've accumulated can be put in categories more or less:

_twist-ties (from wrapping greens and other vegetables together)
_milk top plastic rings (even though the containers/caps are reusable there is still this small waste)
_bottle caps
_sunflower oil bottles/plastic tops
_beer/wine bottles
_plastic packaging (from books ordered online and empty soil bags)
_paper waste (junk mail, office paper waste)

Even though the majority of this waste (at least size and weight) is recyclable, I cannot recycle during this project because, that too, uses petroleum to fuel recycling trucks.  Both recycling and waste trucks have the lowest gas-mileage numbers of almost any vehicles made, around 3-4 mpg ($20 per gallon).  They are really big, heavy, and carry lots of stuff.  So while recycling, yes, is better, it still isn't great.  Finding ways to eliminate waste altogether is a much better way to deal with the issue.

Ways I have found so far to decrease and eliminate waste are:

1_Buy in bulk: almost ANYTHING can be found in bulk at food co-ops and more and more at regular grocery stores.  Buying bulk is cheaper because you aren't paying for any packaging, and it is almost guaranteed to be fresher.  "Once you buy bulk you will never go back", (Marcos Lopez-Carlson at the Wedge Co-op))
2_Bring reusable containers for all your bulk shopping and produce shopping.  This eliminates the need for all those small plastic bags which cannot even be used as garbage container bags.
3_Compost: Either indoors with worms (if you live in a small space with no yard) or outside in a backyard bin.  Composting eliminates organics which turn to sludge in landfills and are unable to decompose, it also can be sold once finished to gardeners.  Many cities (or neighborhoods) are starting compost collection pickups.  With worms, however, compost hardly accumulates, so your organic waste literally become a non-accumulating cycle.)  Compost also allows our house to take out the trash less often because our trash doesn't smell, and it fills up less quickly. 
4_Give preference to products which come in returnable/reusable containers.  I haven't found many of these so far, but in Minneapolis you can get milk in returnables from Cedar Summit.  Find breweries that allow you to buy returnable growlers (Great Waters, Town Hall and Flat Earth in Minneapolis) thanks laurie :)
5_Opt out of junk mail (http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm)
6_Reuse whatever waste you can (reuse glass jars for filling bulk foods, as planters...) I save all rubber bands that come on greens for later use.
7_Shred newspaper for composting (soy wax can be safely composted) and use as worm bedding.

Virajita mentioned to me today that there are actually different amounts charged for various sizes of garbage cans, and her family was able to switch their large garbage cart for a smaller one.  I had no idea Minneapolis did this (or any US city for that matter) and I'm guessing a lot of others don't know about it.  If you live in a situation where you have your own garbage cans, contact Hennepin County to get a smaller bin!

"The number of carts and recycling bins at your service address are what the previous owner needed for their weekly services. You will continue to have these for your weekly garbage and recycling use, but if you wish to increase or decrease the number of garbage carts or recycling bins you have, please contact our office at (612) 673-2917" (Hennepin County website)

.When looking at the Minneapolis Solid Waste website (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/solid-waste/garbage.asp
) it only mentions that there are large or small carts.  This seems like something that Hennepin County could promote as an environmental benefit as well as a way to reduce their own workload and need for trucks/fuel.  Virajita had noticed that they never filled their cart up and called to see about getting a smaller one, they switched it out and the cost is reduced slightly.  Waste (like energy and water costs) are not reflective of true cost.  As petroleum becomes more and more expensive, we will likely see an increased cost for garbage pick up and restrictions for how much can be dumped from each resident.  Until that happens, however, people will likely continue to create waste, unconscious of some of the simple ways they could change their own behaviors to reduce and even eliminate it.

Because it has been almost impossible to not create ANY waste, the little waste I am collecting will be saved until the end of the project.  It isn't a problem to save because there is no organic waste (all being composted) so everything is empty bottles and plastic/paper of some kind. According to the Hennepin County website: "None of your garbage goes into a landfill. City of Minneapolis garbage goes to the Hennepin Energy Resource Co. (HERC).Located in downtown Minneapolis, the HERC facility uses mass burn technology to convert 365,000 tons of garbage a year into electricity that is sold to Xcel Energy, Inc."  While there are benefits to burning waste (like creating energy) there are also major hazards. 

The documentary film, Blue Vinyl illustrates some of these hazards very clearly.  While the focus of the film is on vinyl waste, the topic is an accumulation of plastic waste which-once created-has almost NO safe means of disposal.  It will not biodegrade, you can't bury it without risks of toxins leaching into the soil, you don't want it to end up in your water supply and you can't safely burn most of it without releasing some of the most deadly toxins known to this earth.  Plastic is a huge waste accumulation problem because it is so durable, but burning it really isn't a good option either. 

As much as possible I would like to find ways to eliminate the kinds of waste that I am still accumulating, or find other useful purposes for it.   Ultimately, everything I collect during the 100 days I will personally deliver by bicycle to the HERC facility :) I bet they'll love that.

DAY 28_TRANSPLANTS + MINI FRIDGE

11 September 2010

I moved all the vegetable seedlings that made it into 1 gallon pots today.  So far in pots I have growing: 3 bell peppers, 1 jalapeno, 1 lemon balm (with 2 sprouts), 1 basil, 1 storage bin of cilantro (3 sprouts).  I'm also beginning to realize that the soil depth that I have available in the seed flats (only about an 1.5" isn't going to be enough for the microgreens.  The recommended depth is 3-5" and I think once the plants get bigger they won't be able to hold themselves up with only an inch of root depth. I transplanted the half of the flat that was collard greens into some storage bins I had.  I'm not sure how well they will do transplanted because they were planted so densely that moving them was kind of difficult (as you can see in the picture) I also started another storage bin (about 6"x6"x1') of new collards to germinate so I'll have a continuous supply of greens as I eat them. 

I also measured the electricity usage of my mini fridge today.  I plugged the Kill-A-Watt meter in for 24 hours to get a reading of one day of use.  It came out to using 22.63 watts/hr, over 24 hours using 0.543 kWh/day.  The big fridge uses 68.1 watts/hr (1.68kWh/day).  This means that the mini fridge is using less than a third of the energy of the big one!  I was surprised about this because I didn't think those little fridges were very energy-efficient, but I'm able to save 1.087 kWh/day now using it.  The problem is that I have to be more picky about what gets refrigerated now that I have significantly less space.  Apples, pears, yeast, onions and peppers are no longer refrigerated.  Instead I have to leave room for the things that absolutely need refrigeration; milk, butter, sunflower oil, eggs, cheese, maple syrup, leftovers.  I think we generally over-refrigerate food.  While most things will last longer being refrigerated, some foods actually do better without refrigeration.  I've started leaving all greens and herbs in glasses of water on the counter instead of putting them in the fridge and they seem to last longer. 

DAY 27_DAILY COMMUTE

10 September 2010

My daily commute is getting longer now that I am taking classes on the St. Paul campus. Three days a week I have classes on both campuses now. I live in Uptown Minneapolis so the first leg of biking is straight to the St. Paul campus (7.6 miles). This takes me about 45 minutes, I take the Greenway, cross the Midtown Greenway bridge over Hiawatha, go up some really ridiculous hills through Prospect Park and then connect to the Bus/bike transitway to the campus. The second leg is down the transitway to the East Bank University of Minnesota campus (4 miles, 15 min). Home is a 6 mile, 25 min ride down the Hiawatha bike trail to the Midtown Greenway again. This is a 17.6 mile 1 hour 25 min commute. Today, however I have a 6 hour gap between classes and went home to have dinner, thus extending my bike time to 2 hours and 15 min and 29.6 miles. Lotta biking.

We are really lucky to have great bike paths throughout the city.  The Midtown Greenway is in an old train-bed and runs under a series of street-level bridges.  It even has its own on and off ramps which connect it to the streets above.  Minneapolis has been ranked as the best biking city in the country by Bicycling Magazine, (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/20100406BestBikeCity.asp)  as well as the #2 biking city in the nation by the US Census Bureau (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/MinneapolisClosesGap.asp)  We have 43 miles of streets with dedicated bicycle lanes and 84 miles of off street bicycle paths. (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/)

 
Downtown bike lanes that run down Hennepin and 1st Ave are painted green and are between parked cars (on left) and the sidewalk (on right) making them safer with the buffer of parked cars on one side.   Minneapolis's public transportation organization, Metrotransit, also has several programs to help people commuting by bike.  The 'Guaranteed Ride Home' program allows bike commuters to sign up and recieve 2 free cab fare (up to $25) or bus passes every 6 months.  They are mailed to you when you enroll.  http://www.metrotransit.org/guaranteed-ride-home.aspx
 

* hiawatha bridge picture from mitchster.com

DAY 26_PETROLEUM-BASED PRODUCT INGREDIENTS

9 September 2010

I've started researching ingredients in cosmetics, soaps, lotions and other beauty products to find where petroleum-based synthetic ingredients are.  In the same way that preservatives have allowed for foods to come from all over the world, the same is true with bath/body products.  While we have the advantage of our lotions and soaps lasting a year or more and coming from far corners of the world, the downfall is that many of these ingredients are toxic and cause cancers as well as accumulating in the environment and eventually ending up in our drinking water.  Many of these products are deemed "safe" for our use because they are in small quantities and aren't to be used on broken skin.  However, despite the apparent safety of toxic ingredients, the fact remains that our skin is only 1/200th of an inch thick, the largest organ in our body, a porous surface, and whatever you put on your skin CAN get into your bloodstream. When you think about it that way, whether "safe" or not, I wouldn't put anything on my skin that I wouldn't eat.  What is confusing about determining what ingredients are petroleum-based is that almost everything is classified as an "organic compound".  While I would like to assume that if something is listed as an organic compound it isn't petroleum based,  petroleum itself is really an organic compound.  Petroleum is referred to as "ancient sunlight" in Thom Hartmann's book The Last Days of Ancient Sunlight.  It was formed by decomposing plant matter which was trapped inside the earth's crust for millions of years.  While we consider it an unnatural compound now, it is really ancient decomposed plants...

"An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. Compounds that are prepared by reaction of other compounds are referred to as "synthetic". They may be either compounds that already are found in plants or animals (semi synthetic compounds), or those that do not occur naturally. Natural compounds refer to those that are produced by plants or animals. Many of these are still extracted from natural sources because they would be far too expensive to be produced artificially. Examples include most sugars, some alkaloids and terpenoids, certain nutrients such as vitamin B12, and in general, those natural products with large or stereoisometrically complicated molecules present in reasonable concentrations in living organisms. Most polymers (a category which includes all plastics and rubbers), are organic compounds" (Wikipedia). 

In the same way, 'synthetic' doesn't necessarily mean petroleum-based. So I'm struggling to find out how to trace these compounds back far enough to understand how they are made,  this is a process that has catalyzed into an all-day research endeavour just trying to find out what the ingredients on the back of my face wash mean.  I realized pretty quickly how long this process could take and am going to go over just the ingredients in one product first.  While many ingredients have similar names, they are often VERY different compounds. I have starred ingredients that I know are petroleum-derived, others may be, but I haven't confirmed...

For anyone not aware, ingredients listed on the back of all products (food and beauty products) are listed in order of quantity in the product.  The first ingredients have the highest percentage in the products and the last ones may only have a small percentage of the product.  A few resources I have been using to find out what these ingredients mean are:

The Cosmetic Database http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

Truth in Aging website http://truthinaging.com/

So, on to the face wash... the ingredients listed on the back are: 

Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser:
water, glycerin, lauryl glucoside, decyl glucoside, Cocamidopropyl  betaine, glycereth-7, ammonium laureth sulfate, sodium cocoyl sacrosinate, glycol stearate, cocamide MEA, PEG-120 methyl glucose dialeate, tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM hydantoin, fragrance (1270-94)

glycerin - a naturally occurring ingredient (also synthetically made) that balances the water levels in skin to facilitate moisture

lauryl glucoside/decyl glucoside-a surfactant (lower the surface tension of a liquid, allowing easier spreading, and lowering of the interfacial tension between two liquids, or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as: detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants.(wikipedia))

*cocamidopropyl bentine-Antistatic Agent; Hair Conditioning Agent; Skin-Conditioning Agent - Miscellaneous;Surfactant - Cleansing Agent; Surfactant - Foam Booster; Viscosity Increasing Agent - Aqueous; FOAM BOOSTING; VISCOSITY CONTROLLING

glycereth-7 - Skin-Conditioning Agent - Humectant; Viscosity Decreasing Agent, organic compound

*PEG 120 methyl glucose dialeate - Polyethelene Glycol  (number following indicates the molecular weight) and the "methly glucose dialeate" means it is chemically attached.  Polyethylene is the most common form of plastic, and when combined with glycol, it becomes a thick and sticky liquid.  "In cosmetics, PEGs function in three ways: as emollients (which help soften and lubricate the skin), as emulsifiers (which help water-based and oil-based ingredients mix properly), and as vehicles that help deliver other ingredients deeper into the skin." (http://truthinaging.com/face/what-is-it-pegs)  Although fairly safe if not used on broken skin, because PEG's help other ingredients penetrate into the skin, if there are dangerous other ingredients in the product, the PEG will help those penetrate into the bloodstream. 

Tetrasodium EDTA - EDTA stands for 'Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid'. Yeah, woah.  It is a water softener and preservative.  A persistent organic pollutant, “Widespread use of EDTA and its slow removal under many environmental conditions has led to its status as the most abundant anthropogenic compound in many European surface waters … and has emerged as a persistent organic pollutant” (Wikipedia).

DMDM hydantoin - a preservative that contains formeldayde. Primarily found in shampoos, conditioners, makeup bases and foundations. 

fragrance 1270-94 - synthetic fragrance

So there you have it, as you can see, there are all kinds of preservatives and additives in this face lotion (and beauty products in general) which allow it to have a long shelf life, which allows it to be made anywhere in the world and shipped, packaged, shipped, stored and shipped again to a store where it can sit on the shelf until someone buys it to be stored in their own home for a year or longer.  Products like this are dependant upon oil for many phases of transportation, as well as energy intensive manufacturing of chemical additives, and lastly, petroleum is actually in many of the ingredients themselves. 

Many of the ingredients are included to help cleansers foam and create the right kind of consistency for spreading.  Even products which are considered more "natural" and leave out some of the unnecessary chemical additives still contain a number of preservatives that allow it to be shipped around the country and stored for long periods of time. 

So how do we wash our faces in a no-oil world? Or wear deodorant? Or lotion our hands? Or clean ourselves? The kinds of products that would be available without oil would likely be sourced locally because they would have minimal or no preservatives and would have a short shelf life (a few weeks to a few months). They wouldn't have any toxins, cancer-causing ingredients found in most products which help them foam up or preserve them. We would likely make more of our own products due to the short shelf life and convenience of it. I've started making my own products from recipes found in Casey Kellar's book, Natural Alternatives for You and Your Home.


To compare, my body wash has 8 ingredients (water, saponified organic coconut and organic olive oils, organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, citric acid (a natural preservative), vitamin E, vegetable glycerin and tea tree essential oil) compared to the 23 ingredients on the St. Ives body wash I used to use. The deodorant I made has 3 ingredients (aloe, baking soda and essential oil) compared to 15 on Michum deodorant.

DAY 25_CAT vs PLANT

8 September, 2010

My new roommate Abby has a cat.  This cat's name is Quill.  Quill is a gray little bundle of fluff with a huge, fluffy, gorgeous tail.  Quill is a wonderful little cat, kind of quirky, but what cat isn't.  I feel like Quill and I had a pretty good relationship going until yesterday...when I walked into the dining room to find her LAYING in my greens seed flat!  Quill!  What are you doing?  Dirt isn't a bed! Its dirty!  Man.

The greens were pretty flattened and she had dug around in them a little bit, but I managed to pull them together pretty well, and they are starting to pop back up again.  The situation, however, is that Quill knows she isn't supposed to be on the grow table and goes up there when we aren't looking.  I've walked in the room a number of times to see just the flash of her jumping off of the table before I can see her. 

I don't know what it is about cats in plants, but they seem to love to be in them.  While, with houseplants this is ok as long as they aren't eating them, with vegetables/greens I am going to eat it is a different story.  First of all, this is my FOOD, I'm basically hoping these greens will grow because they are my only option for eating greens once they stop growing locally (pretty soon).  Secondly, unlike root vegetables, the part that is growing above ground is what I'm going to be eating so having cat's laying in them is kinda gross. I'm feeling really protective about these greens...

Anyway, Abby and I have decided that we can block off the part of the house that the grow table is in during the part of the day we are all gone, when we are around, Quill knows to stay off.  Sorry Quill, but you've lost free-roaming privileges. 

Its interesting to think about the challenges of having pets and growing food inside. If people start doing this more and more (as they may have to to make up for a short growing season here and a need to eat locally without petroleum-based transportation) the area for growing will have to be designed in a way that animals won't be able to mess with it.

On another note, with school starting I'm now spending the majority of each day in studio and class and (after starving for a few days because I didn't bring food I could eat) am realizing that I need to start bringing local, organic food that doesn't have to be refrigerated or microwaved for lunches.  This morning I made some tortillas which I can dip in pesto (for lunch) or maple syrup (for snack) in.  These tortillas are more like Indian naan because they are a little bit thicker and doughier than actual tortillas.  Really good, super simple, and I can really use them for a lot of different things; with sugar and butter they are a yummy dessert, they can be used for cold-wraps (with sprouts and other vegetables), used for little pizzas, or just with spreads. 

2 Cups flour

1/4 Cup sunflower oil

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 Cup hot water

a little honey or maple syrup

Mix, add flour as needed to create soft ball.

Knead until smooth.

Let sit for 30 minutes.

Break in half, then half again, then thirds. Makes 12 tortillas.

Roll out until thin on a floured surface.

Cook on medium heat, both sides, ready when turns from wet to dry

I need to leave time in the morning to make whatever I'm going to bring everyday, so I usually get up around 6:00 (I was getting up with the sunrise at 6:30) to make food for the day). I've also been bringing fruits, nuts and bread, but the tortillas with some kind of dip satisfies a craving for good-tasting sugared or seasoned food :)  thanks for showing me abby!

I should also mention that it has been getting REALLY cold.  It is usually around 50 degrees when I am getting up in the morning, and the heat hasn't kicked on in our house yet because most of the day it is warm enough.  The morning is the coldest part of the day, though, and  while it would be nice to have heat, I'm glad I am not having to factor that into my electricity/energy budget yet....there will probably be some big changes/sacrifices when that happens.  This is another paradox of energy because as it gets colder, there is more of a need for energy to create heat; in our food, in the spaces we inhabit, heating water, storing food (refrigeration)...but I will have less of an energy budget because these things will all be competing for energy.   All the things I would have done before the project to keep warm are already starting to come to mind; electric blanket, drinking LOTS of warm liquids, crank the heat, space heaters, warm foods, hot showers. Starting with a cold bucket shower in the morning I have a hard time warming up the rest of the day (warm up a little biking around).  I usually am wearing a sweater/jacket all the time, even indoors.   In order to conserve the energy/heat I am using to make tea in the morning (because it is SO cold after showering) I put it in this amazing thermos I have which keeps it warm ALL day, great job thermos.  This way I can bring hot liquids with me without having to use more energy to constantly be heating them.  I think warming up a gallon of water in the morning may need to become a priority...