Comments thricejamie has made

  • I'm going to add to the fire for restoring your existing windows and possibly adding storms (where's that option on the poll???).  For the existing windows, if the glazing is falling off, then replace it...quite easy once you get the hang of it! I haven't done the restoration work otherwise since I just live with my painted shut windows for the time being, but there's lots of resources out there for restoring and sealing old windows. End goal: no air leaks. If you don't want to learn to do it yourself, there are many businesses out there that will do it for you. (Chris's above, for example.)

    As far as storms windows, are you in Seattle? If so, you may just not need them in this climate with restored windows. It won't hurt, but if your budget is limited my opinion would be to restore the windows and then wait and see on whether you want to add storms.

    Finally, I'd add that it's worth stopping to think about your windows.  Let's assume that your old house is, say 85 years old, and so are the windows.  They're still doing at least a pretty good job, right? AND they can be restored. Pretty neat!  Compare that to a new window, vinyl/wood/whatever with fancy double panes and all that jazz, and with that technology comes decreased reliability, shorter lifetime, etc., once you think about the fact that the seal on the double pane is eventually going to leak and you're going to get window fogging. What a waste! Reuse, reuse, reuse!!!

    On Should I suck it up and buy vinyl windows? posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago 30 Responses

  • I went and checked out the rankings on the NRDC site a bit more, curious where Tacoma would end up on the mid-sized city rankings.  Now, maybe it's my civic pride getting the best of me, but their ranking of 54th (out of 176) and the specifics of the ranking suggests to me that the NRDC really didn't do a lot of research for this thing.  The one high ranking area for Tacoma is air quaility...which I would have expected it to fare the lowest in.  But then despite respectable bus service and a really nice downtown streetcar, it ranked low for transportation.  Other unexpected low scores came in recycling, energy sources, and water sources, where I think Tacoma could pretty much go head to head with Seattle.  Just by going with what I know, examining this specific scoring calls pretty much the whole ranking into question.  Seems they may have been going off of reputation alone...

    On The 15 most sustainable U.S. cities posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago 28 Responses

  • "Cash-per-ounce"

    The Jason product may win on that count, but I am willing to bet that the shaving soap would win on a "cash-per-shave" basis, not to mention "waste-per-shave".On A dozen men's shaving creams get put to the blade posted 1 year, 6 months ago 13 Responses

  • Wha? No Fish Brewery?

    I realize Tom is on the East Coast, but seeing as Grist is based in Seattle, it would have been nice to see some of the organic beers from Olympia's Fish Brewery included...On A tasting of seven organic beers posted 1 year, 7 months ago 22 Responses

  • Cactus Ed...

    Hard to know what Ed would say about this.  For all of the love he had for the preservation of the American Southwest, he was also a big critic of the influx of Mexican immigrants in the area, legal and otherwise.On Bush administration ignoring environmental laws, building border wall anyway posted 1 year, 8 months ago 27 Responses

  • I miss Burt's Bees toothpaste...

    Burt's Bees Lavendar Mint toothpaste was awesome.  Too bad they discontinued it before you could write this article...On A family-friendly review of six eco-toothpastes posted 1 year, 8 months ago 20 Responses