[narcissism, vanity, exhibitionism, ambition, vanity, vanity, vanity]

6.7.08

Greener Electricity

We just switched to renewable electricity. Wind!

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posted by Diane @ 3:42 PM  0 reports from other planets links to this post

27.6.08

Envirolet

Link saved for another day: Envirolet waterless composting toilets. Cheaper than a septic system, environmentally friendly, and apparently easy to install.

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posted by Diane @ 9:41 AM  0 reports from other planets links to this post

Good thing my blood pressure's 90/60.

Once a week, I get an eco-bag full of vegetables from a farm in East Greenwich. The veggies are local, fresh, organic, and they don't require a jumbo jet's worth of fuel to get to Providence. But I have no control over what's in the bag or how much. This is a problem when I've got, say, a bagful of spinach, a pile of dandelion greens, 25 radishes and a handful of sugar snap peas. Sometimes, the farm distributes recipes, which helps with the cooking dilemma. But mostly I'm on my own. So I've devised some flavor rubrics and a method: chop, slice or otherwise transform the vegetables into bite-size pieces and throw them in a pan with some hot olive oil and...

Salt, lemon, pepper.
Salt, garlic, basil.
Salt, cilantro, cumin, turmeric, coriander.
Salt, salt, salt.

I could toss the result with pasta or rice (maybe add a chopped tomato). Or put it all in the food processor and have tapenade. A can of beans could be added in either case, for more protein. Or grilled chicken. The point is to get a method together that will result in reliably good, easy-to-make meals even when the farm sends an unusual vegetable ...

To be perfectly honest, the radishes make me a little crazy. I have no idea what to do with them.

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posted by Diane @ 8:59 AM  3 reports from other planets links to this post

18.6.08

Making Protein Even More Expensive

Supposedly because people in so-called developing nations are eating more meat, but perhaps also because fuel has become so expensive, fertilizer has become a very, very hot commodity. Sigh.

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posted by Diane @ 3:28 PM  0 reports from other planets links to this post

12.6.08

The Alice Ball House in New Canaan

Recently the NYT carried a story about the plans afoot to demolish a historic mid-century house designed by Philip Johnson in New Canaan, CT. Even the local preservationist, who is generally unhappy with the idea of demolition, can't quite think his way out of the McMansion mindset.

"This is a space that has to be experienced directly," said Gregory Farmer, a preservationist at the Connecticut trust, which lists the Ball house as one of the state’s most threatened treasures, "a space that’s experienced at a very personal level rather than something that’s very impressive to someone passing by on the street. Driving by, it looks like nothing."

Driving by? It looks like nothing? See, this is the problem. These people don't live in actual neighborhoods. They live in houses on roads. And "curb appeal" refers to the impression you get as you zoom past each house in your SUV. Grr.

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posted by Diane @ 1:27 PM  0 reports from other planets links to this post

20.12.07

Hmm

Price of a barrel of oil in May, 1998: $15
Price of a barrel of oil in December, 2008: $91

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posted by Diane @ 6:13 AM  0 reports from other planets links to this post

19.12.07

Santa's Elves are Migrant Workers

...and the North Pole is really the Pearl River Delta.

In 2002, Li Chunmei died after working sixteen-hour shifts on the Bainan Toy Factory's assembly line to meet the demand for Christmas toys. Hers is not an isolated case; deaths like hers have become so common that even Chinese journalists have dared to coin a word for them: guolaosi, or death from overwork.

Eric Clark, in The Real Toy Story devotes a chapter to Chinese toy factory labor ("Santa's Sweatshops").

See also The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. Important. Thanks, GG!

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posted by Diane @ 6:25 AM  0 reports from other planets links to this post

Aesthetic of the Mended

In the interest of keeping stuff out of the landfill, I've been trying for some years now to stretch the useful lifetimes of our belongings by repairing things rather than replacing them.

Repairs are time-consuming and sometimes cash-costly, too. My cobbler wanted (and got) $45 to replace the heels and soles of my six-year-old boots. You can buy new (cheap) boots for just a little more.

Jane's clothes routinely fall apart. I suspect most kids' clothing manufacturers assume kids will outgrow their stuff faster than it will disintegrate and they set their production standards accordingly.

Thing is, with all this mending and repairing, we look a little ... mended and repaired. I think, actually, that this is okay. Matt has "work clothes" that look fine. And my work doesn't require me to look like Jackie O.

But I have a new appreciation for my grandmother's insistence on taking obsessive care of one's things. "Keep it nice," she always said. Because fifty years ago, it was Wrong to Throw Things Away if you hadn't worn the hell out of it. Not a bad way to go, if you ask me - but it takes some doing. Including the mental work of resisting the social push for new looking things.

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posted by Diane @ 5:49 AM  0 reports from other planets links to this post