Wren’s Recent Comments

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  Instant runoff voting

  Third parties will only begin to be considered "votable" by most people when and if we ever have instant runoff voting.  Then instead of people voting for the lesser of two evils, they could vote for their fringe third party choice and then put their lesser of two evils choice as #2.  Then if their #1 choice still didn't make it their second choice didn't lose any votes, and they didn't just hand the white house to the truly evil choice simply by voting their conscience.

  save the world, one click at a time: http://www.thehungersite.com (and link to their other sites while there!) : )

  On What is the Green Party up to, exactly? posted 1 year, 10 months ago 23 Responses

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  Greenwashing

  I would also check out PETA's greenwash website:

  http://www.peta.org/feat/greenwash/grades.html

  Where they grade some eco groups based on their track record regarding animal testing (I used to donate to some of these groups, thinking, "they're helping animals as well as the environment," until I read these reports and discovered otherwise).  NRDC gets an "F" (that's one of the ones I quit donating to).  Meanwhile, Sierra Club got a B- and Greenpeace got a B+.  World WILDLIFE Fund (emphasis mine) also gets an F.  So... I don't know if this is a huge emphasis for you, but it is for me, so I thought I'd throw it out there.

  Also, you could consider donating the money to more than one org (no one mentioned that yet, so I thought I would say that too).

  Have fun, and vast quantities of kudos to your parents (and you, for coming up with the idea in the first place)!! : )On Umbra on green donations posted 1 year, 10 months ago 21 Responses

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  To Sinéad

  Hello:

  Just wanted to let you know that you should click on the "send Umbra" link at the bottom of the original article to ask her your question, rather than leave it as a comment in an unrelated article (I don't know if she reads all the comments or not).  I hope she does answer it, though - I'm curious!  I believe any dioxins made in the recycled-paper process would only happen if said paper was bleached in chlorine; that's why when you buy a brand of recycled paper product like Seventh Generation, it talks about using an alternate bleaching method (or none at all) to avoid making any dioxins.  Just the actual recycling part shouldn't make any dioxins that I'm aware of.  I would hope that if a company is recycling paper, than they expect their customers to be looking for eco-friendly options and would not use chlorine bleach; however, this may just be wishful thinking on my part if the label doesn't say what the paper was bleached with.  Likewise cotton, hemp, banana leaf, etc. could also potentially be bleached with chlorine, so I think the danger of that happening may be equal (unless said tree-free paper comes in its "natural" color, no bleaching at all).  I used to find spiral notebooks made of recycled paper that were not bleached at all, but I haven't seen those since the 90s.

  Anywho... I hope your question gets answered! : )On Umbra on organic mattresses posted 1 year, 10 months ago 7 Responses

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  I asked the manufacturer about the #7 leeching..

  I asked the manufacturer of my #7 bottle of choice about the leeching thing, and they sent me an actual study that basically said that there was no leeching unless it was exposed to a certain degree of heat, or certain chemicals.  That is why the instructions specifically say, don't wash in the dishwasher (hot AND chemicals), don't use chemical soaps, and don't use for hot beverages.  I believe it also said, don't use with acidic juices (as the acid counts as "chemical").  They said otherwise it should be fine.  As far as I know they didn't pay for the study, just pointed to it for this very question so I took it to be legit.  Is anyone else familiar with this study?

  I have a metal water bottle too, but a) it's very small in comparison to my 70-oz. or so #7 bottle; b) it's drinking lid has no vent, so if you close your mouth around it when you drink, you get all sorts of bubbles in your water, and swallowing all those bubbles gives me gas - you can't squeeze it to get the water out, so that leaves removing the cap every time you want a sip; and c) it's... LINED WITH PLASTIC!  That blew my mind when I got it home and discovered that.  So I don't really use that bottle much anymore.

  Maybe I could buy a few of the larger-size metal bottles, but at $25+ a pop, that'd be quite an investment.  I would need multiple bottles due to their diminished size; I literally do go through 8-10 glasses of water just while I'm at work most days, so I would need to carry that much with me as I would be filling from my water filter at home.

  Thinking of it that way, it would be cheaper just to buy another water filter to keep on my desk and use a regular glass all day.

  Why are the metal bottles so friggin' expensive, anyway??  You can buy an entire set of stainless steel silverware for about what one of those bottles costs, and I'm sure that's more metal involved!On Umbra on Camelbaks posted 1 year, 10 months ago 16 Responses

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  Reusing what is already in existence

  I figure, as long as you're not buying it, you should use it until it's no longer usable in some way or another.  You did not buy the coat, in fact, the coat is older than you are, so it's the most eco friendly solution to use it SOMEHOW rather than to throw it out or let it rot in your closet when it could have a use.  The real question is whether it is SOCIALLY or maybe even MORALLY acceptable to wear it, more than ecologically.

  I am a seven-year vegetarian (and yes, that means I won't buy fur or leather, either... if an animal has to die for it, I won't buy it, with the only exception of food for my cat... because cats don't generally do well on veggie diets, and I'm not going to make another animal suffer (my cat) in order to save other animals from suffering.  For cats, it is pretty necessary to eat meat; not so for humans... and yes, I have seen a vegan food for cats, but even that comes with a mess of warnings about how not all cats fare well on it, so I am not going to risk her health trying it) and I still own a few pairs of leather shoes that are yes, more than seven years old (shows how often I wear them, eh?).  I am not going to throw away something that is perfectly good and buy new ones, because that is creating waste both in the tossing of the old ones and the creation/shipping of the new ones.  Plus, I am not rich, and that is economically not smart for my budget, either.  So, I will use them until they are unusable, just like anything else, because the damage was already done by the time I came to this state of consciousness/morals, and to toss-and-buy would create MORE damage.  So I say, if it doesn't bother you to wear it, wear it (I never knew you could reverse a fur coat... that's a good idea).  If it does bother you to wear it, however, and you feel like everyone on the street is leering at you, then use one of the other (useful) ideas, such as donating to an animal rehab center (while some may think it's creepy, the little baby animal that would use the fur doesn't think to itself, "hey, this is the skin of aunt millie" ...it thinks, "warm, soft, familiar.").  You could have a custom button made for the coat if you do decide to wear it that reads something like "This coat is older than I am, and I inherited it. I am using it until it is worn for ecological reasons," or whatever.  Personally I couldn't wear it and would give it to a rehab center, but I can deal with my shoes until they're worn out, so we're all different.  Being an animal rights activist and also an environmentalist doesn't clash for me... I don't go to the extreme of one at the cost of the other.  For instance, a lot of vegan retailers advertise their "cruelty free" VINYL wallets and bags.  I'm sorry, but there are other non-leather alternatives that don't involve VINYL (for the love of Pete).  So I'm not buying their stuff just because it's not derived from dead animal parts.  On the flipside, a natural/organic/eco-friendly retailer that I love offers DOWN bedding, and I'm sorry, but that's just too cruel for me.  I don't care if it's encased in organic cotton and has no chemicals involved in it's production... there are other alternatives to chem-laden bedding that don't involve plucking some poor bird in horrible ways that I have read about and will not relate here.  The point is... it's not all or nothing.

  Oh, and for the person who made the comment about eating the cereal is killing so many wheat and oat plants, instead of cows or whatnot... you are actually killing less wheat and oat and corn and so forth by eating the wheat and oat and corn yourself, rather than the beef.  There is always more corn, etc. involved in the raising of the cow than there is in your bowl of cereal.  There is some statistic that I am too lazy to look up right now that will tell you exactly how many pounds of grain went into making your one pound of meat.  It's always more grain used per pound of meat, because they have to feed the cow/pig/sheep of course, and they eat so much grain over their lifetime.  I never thought about that either until I read it in some veggie book. I do believe that plants are aware (For more on this subject, I highly recommend reading the book "The Secret Life of Plants").  Not only because I am an animist Pagan, but because of the scientific evidence such as that talked about in aforementioned book.  So I'm happy to know that eating the plants by themselves is not only saving the animals, but also many more plants (and after all, we have to eat SOMETHING).  So I try and remember to be grateful to the plants that died/gave a part of themselves for my food.

  Anyway... I hope the original question-asker tells us what her ultimate decision was! : )On Umbra on (inherited) fur coats posted 1 year, 10 months ago 60 Responses