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I have some stuff you may want to re-use for sale on eBay right now. :] Who needs new, and this stuff is way cheaper than their used counterparts on eBay, Craigslist, etc!
Who wants a turntable? Click Here!
Gemini TT-01 MKII Belt Drive Turntable
…or that Gemini Model TT-01 Turntable Weight Arm Balance you’ve been looking for. It’s right here!
Gemini Model TT-01 Turntable Weight Arm Balance
…or a Gemini universal headshell you didn’t get for Christmas? The link
Gemini TT-01 MKII Headshell
You heard right, I’m also selling a Gemini Anit-Static Slipmat! Yes way!
Gemini Slipmat
I heard Gemini Solid Aluminum Platter With Finger Easy Glide Grooves are the new rage!!! Get yours here! Get your rage here!
Gemini Solid Aluminum Platter With Finger Easy Glide Grooves
Gemini’s feet, nice. Feet here
Gemini Turntable Feet
Clinque Lipstick??? Wow! Lip love here
Clinique Lipsticks
Check it out!!!! What do you have to lose?
-Cara
Hello Be Nice Super Fans!!!
We at Be Nice are sending out some Holiday love and Occupy Wall Street knowledge on this beautiful fall day in New York.
We want all people of the world to know Be Nice is not a part of the 1%. o_o Don’t worry when it does happen we will bring the 99% with us! That’s guaranteed 100% freshness, something Be Nice has been giving their supporters since the start.
If you would like to get involved with Occupy Wall Street or just want some 411, here is their official website, occupywallstreet.org, their Facebook page, and their Twitter page. Knowledge is power.
Just a reminder for those that may not be in the know, each Be Nice shirt is printed with water based ink on Alternative Apparel, super soft, organic cotton shirts. All printing is done by hand in our Brooklyn studio. Each shirt is a one of a kind masterpiece.
Be original with Be Nice.
-Cara
P.S. – Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook to get awesome info faster or follow Be Nice’s super important tweets here. :]
These Two
I am not going repeat what I already wrote here. A quick synopsis, starting August 1st, 2010 I will publish a picture I take that day everyday for a year (well to be exact I will do this everyday until July 31st, 2011). This is the 127th of those photographs. Also, there is a Flickr collection called “The Awesome Leftovers” where I put the daily shots (if any) that didn’t make the cut.
Denise, Sammy and I hanging out at the Shake Shake and Barnes and Noble, keeping it real. Here are some extras, Day 127 – Books Are Cool.
-Cara
Who Stars Chic
That’s right Be Nice is launching yet another amazing design, Who Stars, by me. :] I love owls. I have been slightly obsessed with them, super heroes and the stars at night forever, which is how this shirt came together. The question remains who is this owl in disguise? What is the story behind the mask? Stay tuned to find out more.
What a great time for Who Stars to debut in the midst of three gift giving holidays. You’re welcome! Pick yourself up one here, http://ubenice.com/shirts/girls-guys/who-stars and sign up for the newsletter to find out more on this awesome owl. You can also like Be Nice on the book of face here.
Spread the love.
-Cara
Homosapien Friendly
I am not going repeat what I already wrote here. A quick synopsis, starting August 1st, 2010 I will publish a picture I take that day everyday for a year (well to be exact I will do this everyday until July 31st, 2011). This is the 57th of those photographs. Also, there is a Flickr collection called “The Awesome Leftovers” where I put the daily shots (if any) that didn’t make the cut.
Today’s photo of the day is an obvious bit of self promotion for Be Nice, my organic cotton, hand printed, unique designs t-shirt business. I printed up two new designs for Be Nice this last weekend. One being Homosapien Friendly, a design by Marine Boudeau, which is today’s picture of the day. The second new addition to Be Nice’s repertoire is Who Stars, a design by me, Cara Reynolds. There are also the two slightly altered-for-the-better tees, Binary Queer and Wind Turbines. To check out all these new additions go to Day 57 – Be Nice.
You may pre-order the new designs if you so desire. :] Please send an e-mail to info[at]ubenice[dot]com for this special promotion before they are released on the site to all. Be Nice shirts are only $25. Send the email and we’ll get the ball rolling on delivering your new, soft, hand printed, organic cotton, super fly tee to you asap.
Much love.
-Cara
I stumbled across this site VeganVanguard.com which brought to my attention that some beers are not vegetarian/vegan. Turns out certain beers are filtered using products derived from animals. For example, isinglass (one of the oldest sources of gelatin) is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly as a as a fining agent for wine and beer. Then there is also other types of gelatin used for the clarification of wine and beer derived from the collagen inside animals’ skin and bones. Say what?
VeganVanguard.com compiled a list that you should go check out. They have the “yeas and neighs and awaiting replies” list for your perusal. If you don’t see your brew here and want to know more, contact the manufacture and ask.
Three non-vegan beers listed were:
- Barley Creek Brewing Company
- Website: http://www.barleycreek.com
Concerns: This breweries specialty beers are fined using isinglass. Some of their specialty beers also contain animal products in the ingredients. All other types of beer from this brewery are fined using gelatin. Farmer uses the spent grain as feed.
Correspondance: 11/06/03
1. Are there any animal products or byproducts (honey, etc) contained in any of your beers?
“Yes (a few of our specialty brews)”
2. Are there any animal products or byproducts (isinglass, gelatin, etc) used in the manufacture (such as in the filtering or fining process) of your products? While materials used in fining do not end up in the final product, strict vegans have an aversion to the use of animal products in situations as such.
“Yes (Isinglass for cask conditioned brews & Clear Fine, a gelatin for the others)”
3. What does your company do with the waste grain after it is used?
“Farmer gets the spent grain after a brew and uses it as feed. We feel it is better than filling up land fills with it.”
- Bayhawk Ales
- Website: http://www.bayhawkales.com
Concerns: This brewery’s products are filtered using animal products some of the time. However, their Stout and Hefe Weizen beer are unfiltered and therefore considered vegan. Aside from being filtered with animal products, Honey Blonde Ale contains honey which some vegans choose to avoid.
Correspondance: 5/26/03
“85% of the time our beers are not fined with animal products. We have two beers that are never filtered, Stout and Hefe Weizen. To the best of my knowledge, no animal products ever come in contact with these two beers. We do employ Honey in our Honey Blonde Ale. Regarding our spent grain, this has always been a source of great concern to me. Unfortunately at this point in time, we have to dispose of it with the regular garbage.”
- Lucky Labrador Brew Pub (Portland, Oregon)
- Website: http://www.luckylab.com
Concerns: Only the beer “Organic Golden” is vegan. Spent grain is used as livestock feed by a local farmer.
Correspondance: 6/13/03
“We have one vegan beer, Organic Golden, that is 100% organic (no finings). However, we recently heard that processed Carbon Dioxide has minute traces of non-organic substances. We have not confirmed this though. Do you know? Our grain is picked up by a cattle farmer and an organic farmer.”
You can see more of their list here.
In my search for cute, funny old school beer ads I found this other site Barnivore, a vegan wine, beer and liquor guide. I wanted to make sure Schlitz Beer was vegan before I used their ad in this entry. They are. :] This site is more extensive, check it out.
Cheers.
-Cara
I have been super obsessed with trash lately. I think about it with every piece of garbage I throw out. Most of the thoughts I have revolve around, could I have I recycled that, if not, why? I feel that everything we make should be able to be recycled and if you can’t recycle it, don’t make it. Let me also emphasize that means if you can recycle it without releasing deadly toxins into the air, water or land.
I am no saint, I don’t want to have to clean my yogurt container, aluminum foil, plastic everything ever really. I do it, but I do not enjoy the process. I think it has to do with America and its not very user friendly local recycling processes. There is no national recycling marketing machine out there educating us on what we can and can not recycle throughout our lives. We are not given the tools, for example, recycling bins clearly labeled on what should be contained within them. It is not second nature and could be quite easily. I learned many things about fire prevention from Smokey the Bear. The Ad Council is a powerful tool to get some recycling PSAs out there.
Another thing is there are no real negative consequences for people who are not recycling, nor are there positive ones for people who do. We all enjoy a little positive reinforcement now and again. There are laws in America against littering in public places, but not for littering in define places. That seems ignorant. We should not be able to litter anywhere. Landfills are a disaster.
I did a little research on garbage decomposition to get myself more motivated. Here is what I came up with.
Glass…most forms of glass will never decompose or biodegrade ever. There is this glass, Obsidian, that dates back to the Cretaceous (Latin for “chalky”) geologic period and system from circa 145.5 ± 4 to 65.5 ± 0.3 million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the Cenozoic era. For those who don’t want to do the math, that means about 36 million to 65 million year old glass. That’s crazy, some poor dinosaur foot cutting glass. I said it. :]
The good thing about glass is how simple it is to recycle. Virgin glass is primarily made of sand, lime and soda. A glass manufacturer’s boiler must run at about 2192 degrees Fahrenheit (1200 degrees Celsius) to melt the sand, soda, and lime into glass. Making glass from recycled glass uses 32% less energy than making virgin glass because it melts at a much lower temperature. This process is to shatter the glass into small fragments called “cullet”. You then melt that down to make new glass. Products made from recycled glass save on the extraction of raw materials and produce approximately 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than virgin glass. Point, recycle your glass don’t just throw it out.
I think I’ll stop with glass for today, maybe we’ll catch up with plastic bottles and bags at a later date.
Recycle, Reuse.
-Cara
I know all my stalkers like to know when they can catch a glance of me from a safe distance of 20 to 30 feet, well tomorrow is your lucky day! Marine and I will be selling our cute, handmade, organic, soft shirts at The Market NYC for the first time. This all courtesy of our green little company, “be nice“. If you would like to learn more about it, you can on the “be nice” blog!
Hope to see some non-crazy peeps there as well.
:]
-Cara
‘be nice” my sweet store co-made with Marine Boudeau is having its first sale. We’re offering fresh deals on original, handmade, organic tees. This is the last of our first collection…one day they will be worth millions!!! :]
Get them while you still can.
I said it!
Cara Reynolds
Co-Founder Of Be Nice
Nerds Are Cool
I remember back in the good old days of this blog I’d do a lot of eco-shopping entries. I’ve since been trying to shave down what I already have. I have always been a pack rat and love to buy stuff. If it wasn’t for the fact that each time I move I am more lazy than obsessed with hording stuff, I’d be one of those guys, you know on Clean Sweep or Cops. See lazy sometimes is good. I donate stuff to the Salvation Army, or those clothes boxes sprinkled throughout NYC, or drag stuff to swap meets in Queens, or bring them to my job and leave them on a counter outside my office, eBay, etc… Someone, somewhere wants my stuff.
I do have a point to all this. I now find I need to do some shopping for a new backpack. I may document this journey further, but for now I just wanted to share some resources I am using to research said bag. By the way, for those interested, my perfect bag would be an eco, fair trade, non sweatshop, sustainable, long lasting, locally made, recycled, durable, solar energy source, super fresh, comfortable, user friendly, big when it needs to be back pack. I am sure I am missing other specs, but you get my point.
For company ratings on social and environmental issues, see Co-op America’s sweatshops.org. The Fair Trade Federation also lists companies committed to “fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide.” If they meet these guidelines I have completed part one of this journey.
OK, let me get started, my backpack is almost in pieces.
-Cara
Here’s a little blurb about what’s going on with my organic, handmade t-shirt company I run with Ms. Marine Boudeau.
Good times.
-Cara
Join us at Pridefest this year in the West Village:
Hudson St. between Abingdon Sq. & West 14th St
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
11:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Come check out our handmade, organic, super fresh t-shirt collections, hang out, take pictures and buy plenty of shirts for you, your peeps, lovers, family…
Sign-up for our newsletter to receive any Pridefest updates and possibly discover many other amazing and interesting things.
To learn more about this super gay weekend visit NYC Pride.
Cara & Marine
Founders of Be Nice
I have put together a schedule of what is in season or well at least the harvest times of fruits and veggies I like in the New York/Northeastern area last night. It is always good to buy local and helpful to know when you can.
Enjoy.
-Cara
Here is a collection of pictures from my first trip to France (the one in Europe). Marine (who is French from France not Canada) and I traveled together. We were in Praz-De-Lys for 7 days (March 7th to the morning of the 14th), then spent two days in Paris (March 14th and 15th). A shout out to Marine’s mother Suzanne for hooking us up with her superb Air France connection, making it possible for us to travel in a more bourgeoise fashion than usual.
We traveled from New York City (our home) to the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, then off to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport, next a bus to Taninges, then a cab to Praz-De-Lys, France. It took over 24 hours to complete the trip (March 6th).
We slept most of Saturday and Sunday we truly began our snowy, winter wonderland trip in the French Alps. A week later, we flew to Paris to spend our last two days in France. It was awesome. :]
Here is the link again of this amazingly fresh vacation.
-Cara
Living in NYC, it is strange to wrap my mind around all that nature and chimpanzees swinging around everywhere. I think any of those jobs would be cool. The coffee sniffing, the chimpanzees studying and the farming, but maybe not on such a large scale. I’m more of a fire escape gardener than coffee farmer.
I love organic coffee, chimpanzees and fair trade!!!
-Cara
It has been forever and a day since I wrote a green shopping review. I have been getting a little too political and musical lately. I need to bring this blog back to its roots. :] Let’s start with this super fresh bag by Green Chic Bag Co.
Natalie Bag
Green Chic Bag Company was kind enough to send me one of their bags, the Natalie to be precise. First off, I enjoy the softness of the bag’s stylish exterior fabric. It has a really nice feel that you just need to experience to understand. The interior lining of the bag is waterproof, dark and smooth. I posses multitudes of bags I take shopping, and this is my favorite size-wise. I especially like the depth of it. The straps are very sturdy. I have filled it up a couple times and it is no worse for wear.
I also adore the logo…
Cute Logo
My only issue with the bag is if I have a big sweater and heavy jacket I can’t really throw the bag over my shoulder. When it gets really cold here I may not use it as much, but come the three other seasons, it is my first choice.
It really is a fabulous bag.
-Cara
January 1st, 2009, NYC, NY
It’s the New Year (shout-out to 2009) and Marine and I were searching for what’s next. On the 1st of this New Year we ended up at La Palapa Cocina Mexicana in the East Village, eating really fresh Mexican food with some fantastical margaritas (good times). It is in this magical place that we came up with a plan. Our plan is to become real life educated consumers (time frame one year), in our own way. What that means is whatever we buy we need to know before we buy:
1. Location of business in regards to our Spanish Harlem apartment (we just learned yesterday that our neighborhood’s nickname is SpaHa. I really don’t like the way SpaHa rolls off my tongue).
2. Who owns the company
3. Company’s philosophy
4. Are they green? How so?
5. How the employees are treated
6. Where does the company get their inventory
7. Price
8. Product review (by the people and the industry)
9. Company review (by the people and the industry)
Exceptions
1. Medical Prescriptions
2. Cigarettes
3. We Know, you don’t need to know everything
4. Eating out, Delivery, and Pick-Up
5. Rent
6. Bills like ConEd, Phone, Mobile, Web Hosting, etc.
Exceptions does not mean we do whatever we want. It is just places where we indulge somewhat, it is a freedom of sorts. Who knows where this year will lead us, but I know for myself if I try to control all my elements I fail. I need to have some leeway to breath.
Today is the 3rd of January and here is the list of things we have purchased under this new regime.
1. New York Cake and Baking Distributor, 56 West 22nd Street, NYC, NY – $8.99, tax – $0.75, total – $9.74 -Fox Run Kitchens – French Bread Pan – Made in China, Fox Run Craftsmen Ivyland, PA 18974, Concord, ON L4K 3V4, tinplate – Cara
2. Poland Spring Natural Spring Water, 700mL, Poland Spring Water Company, Division of Nestle Waters, North America Inc. , Greenwich, CT 06830, Mood Building Vendor, 225 W. 37th Street, NYC, NY 10018, $2.00, #1 PETE plastic bottle, blue flip top – Marine
3. Mood Fabrics, 225 W. 37th Street, NYC, NY 10018, $100 gift card – Cara
4. Supercuts [Regis Corporation], 460 3rd Ave, NYC, NY 10016, $19 hair cut, $5 tip – Marine (It was Marine’s first time going to a Supercuts. She had said she was going to go there before the 1st of January to experience the true American less than $20 haircut. It is something everyone should experience once.)
As you can see we haven’t done so well…so far… Keep in mind this is a learning experiment. :] We bought bottled water on the 2nd of January and I didn’t even realized we had failed until today. Marine and her SuperCuts haircut… What you have to keep in mind is we have stopped ourselves from buying multitudes of things from the 1st to today, to take the time to research. For real… I will be tracking our progress here to make myself (and maybe Marine) more accountable. I know at least one person in my family reads this on occasion… :]
Keep it real.
-Cara
——————————————
UPDATE [February 24th, 2009] – OK, I need to reassess this project as it was way more difficult than I thought. I am definitely more conscientious about what I buy, but that leave me little time to log it all. I will cover cool finds here and if it becomes easier, or I become more motivated I will track my consuming for more than one day. :]
I live slightly under a rock not having a TV with satellite, cable or any local stations broadcasting from it. Imagine my surprise when I came across Bagley’s Best products, by Ed Begley Jr. of course. I loved “Living with Ed“, when I had a TV, so much so it was one of the first blog entries I wrote about back in the day.
Bagley’s Best was started when a man named John Watts bumped into Ed Begley Jr. in Real Food Daily. It was this occurrence that created an eco Paul Newman like business, where most of the company’s profits got to charities, environmental causes and non-profits.
Live the life.
-Cara
This design is printed with white eco-friendly ink on a galaxy organic American Apparel t-shirt. It was designed by Marine.
Modern Transportation is a futuristic water-powered car. The design is inspired from a rain drop.
You can buy it now at ubenice.com.
Do it.
-Cara
I think it is interesting that it is snowing tonight on the day Marine wrote this blog entry, and wore her Be Nice, “Pretty Snow” shirt. Don’t you?
:]
–Cara
This design is printed with green eco-friendly ink on a natural organic American Apparel t-shirt. It was designed by Marine.
“I’m Local, talking to me will not increase your carbon footprint”. I think it is a little funny. This shirt is specifically recommended for single beings.
You can get it online at ubenice.com.
This design is printed by hand with green eco-friendly ink on a natural organic American Apparel t-shirt. It was designed by me, Cara.
“Certifiably Organic” is a shirt made for people like me who are certifiable when it comes to eating, wearing, producing all things organic. If you are crazy like me about organic, then this is the perfect shirt for you! :]
You can find “Certifiably Organic” online at ubenice.com.
Be nice.
-Cara
This design is printed with green eco-friendly ink on a natural organic American Apparel t-shirt. It was designed by me, Cara.
“benice” is the name of our be nice mascot. We aren’t really sure what benice is, but we do know that benice is fresh and just wants people to be nice and do good.
You can find benice at ubenice.com.
-Cara
Marine and I started be nice, a handmade, original design eco-friendly ink screen print on fresh organic cotton t-shirt business like a week ago.
I decided to post about some of the designs over the next few days here, as I really love the designs we’ve created and the love we put into not only the shirts, but the whole project. Here is “My Robot”.
This design is printed with yellow eco-friendly ink on a black organic American Apparel t-shirt. It was designed by me, Cara.
“My Robot” is cool. She wants to hang out and discuss super nerdy stuff and the future.
You can find her online at ubenice.com.
-Cara
The occupation of Iraq will cost $3 trillion, America’s most expensive conflict since WWII.
This site, http://3trillion.org/, is about you having 3 trillion dollars and what you can do for yourself or the world with it. You are taken to a global shopping spree, you browse their on-line store, fill up your cart, click the checkout button, and send virtual gifts to others. I was surprise how it was hard for me to get 3 trillion dollars worth of stuff. If these numbers are correct this site is a great educational tool. It makes things seem less unknown, even if the numbers are approximations. I think anyone can add stuff so…it is still fun. A tip don’t go over the 3 trillion dollar total as it has a bug and clears your whole cart. I learned that the hard way… :[
Spread the word.
-Cara
Non-Electric Water Distiller
Above is a non-electric water distiller that uses almost any heat source to distill pure water anywhere, anytime. Look, I am not saying you need one, just letting people know what one of their water distilling, non-electric options are.
The tap water is heated to boiling point so the impurities are separated from the water, and the water then becomes steam. This is then condensed back into pure liquid form. The impurities remain as residue and are removed leaving 100% pure, pH balanced water. That my friends is how distilling water is done.
For $369 you can buy the one pictured above at Real Goods Dot Com. According to their site the water distiller is, “…a high output stove top water distiller that operates on a variety of heat sources for daily and emergency use. Distillate capacity, based on a 2,600W electric burner: 3.2 qt. in 1.2 hours; up to 16 gal. per day. Stainless steel with no moving parts or fan; digital timer with alarm, 12″H x 12″ Diameter. 9 lbs. Three-year limited warranty. China/USA”.
Distilled water is literally water that has been boiled, evaporated and condensed – leaving all chemicals, toxins and waste behind and creating pure, clean water. Distillation will remove bacteria, viruses, cysts, heavy metals, radionuclides, organics, inorganics, and particulates. However, it does not remove substances that have boiling points at a lower temperature than water. Some of these substances are oils, petroleum, alcohol and similar substances, which in most cases don’t mix with water. Also, remember that substances removed from water remain in the boiler, so you’ll need to clean it up every once in awhile.
Zack Scott, makes a great video demonstrating how to make a mini solar water distiller.
I wonder if we’ll have any hot days left this year to try.
Hmmm…I might think of a way to build a real distiller. I may need to move to a tropical island to turn up the heat. You never know when you may need to distill mucky water in the middle of nowhere. Now at least you have an idea what to do.
Survivor!
-Cara
I haven’t had that much inspiration lately, so I was really glad when I came up with today’s entry. It is a challenge I issue to myself and anyone else reading this. The challenge is to use cloth napkins instead of paper. According to Seventh Generation’s website “If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 250 count package of virgin fiber napkins with 100% recycled ones, we could save:
- 1 million trees
- 2.7 million cubic feet of landfill space equal to over 4,000 full garbage trucks
- 380 million gallons of water, a year’s supply for 2,900 families of four
- and avoid 64,000 pounds of pollution!”
What do you really need? Enough napkins for a week for two people (14) and additional ones for company and in case you may need two in one day (9), a total of twenty-three (23).
Here is a super simple way to make some napkins. You’ll need:
- fabric (people recommend quilting cottons) cut into squares around 12–18 inches wide
- a sewing machine
- scissors
- thread
Here are the steps to make these napkins:
- First, press in double 1/4-inch hems (fabric folded over 1/4-inch is a hem) on two opposite sides, and sew them with a straight stitch.
- Press in the remaining two sides 1/4-inch and sew.
That is it! Seems super easy. I will update this entry with pictures once I find some cute fabric.
Cool.
-Cara
With that said…
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth via e-mail, a gift from me to you.
You’re Welcome. :]
-Cara
I am on vacation and have not been writing many blog entries lately and need to catch up, so lets start with what we can do about dry-cell battery disposal/recycling.
First lets cover what dry-cell batteries are, they include alkaline and carbon zinc (9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA), mercuric-oxide (button, some cylindrical and rectangular), silver-oxide and zinc-air (button), and lithium (9-volt, C, AA, coin, button, rechargeable).
There are two types of batteries:
1. Primary — those that can not be reused
2. Secondary also known as “rechargeable” — those that can be reused.
Primary batteries include alkaline/manganese, carbon-zinc, mercuric-oxide, zinc-air, silver-oxide, and other types of button batteries. Secondary batteries (rechargeable) include lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, and potentially nickel-hydrogen.
Next, lets talk about some potential problems or hazards with throwing away your batteries in your household garbage.
- When burned, they pollute the lakes and streams as heavy metals vaporize into the air.
- Heavy metals leaking from old batteries into the Earth.
- Exposing the environment to more lead and acid.
- Containing strong corrosive acids.
- May cause burns to your eyes and skin.
In landfills, heavy metals have the potential to leak slowly into Earth’s soil, groundwater or surface water. Dry cell batteries contribute about 88 percent of the total mercury and 50 percent of the cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. In the past, batteries accounted for nearly half of the mercury used in the United States and over half of the mercury and cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.
Here are some tips to reduce battery waste, starting with prevention, which create less potentially hazardous waste from seeping into our Earth.
- First, whenever possible, buy hand operated, solar powered, kinetic powered, water powered, wind powered, potato powered :] items that function without batteries. If that is not an option, I feel as though plug operated is better for the environment than buying heavy metal laden batteries.
- If you need batteries buy rechargeable batteries, but remember that they also contain heavy metals such as nickel-cadmium, so it is still a problem, but less of one than non-rechargeable batteries.
- Look for the batteries that contain less mercury and heavy metals than others.
- Lastly, if batteries are your only option, before buying more check to see if you already have some at home.
We must keep in mind, that yes, rechargeable batteries result in a longer life span and use of fewer batteries. However, rechargeable batteries still contain heavy metals such as nickel-cadmium. The use of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries can reduce the number of batteries entering the waste stream, but may increase the amount of heavy metals entering unless they are more effectively recycled. As of 1992, the percentage of cadmium in nickel-cadmium batteries was higher than the percentage of mercury in alkaline batteries, so substitution might only replace one heavy metal for another, and rechargeable batteries do use energy resources in recharging. When disposing of rechargeable batteries, recycle. [Source: ESHO]
Here is a great link to Call-2-Recycle, whom I wrote about in my fourth TDAAIT entry, back in January! All you need to do is put in your zip code and they will tell you where to take your recyclable batteries (and old cell phones).
If you did not find a place through Call-2-Recycle for your rechargeable batteries, you can always bring them to any of these locations to recycle:
In the US: Alltel, Batteries Plus, Best Buy, Black & Decker, Cingular Wireless, The Home Depot, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Orchard Supply, Porter Cable Service Center, RadioShack, Remington Product Company, Sears, Staples, Target, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless, and Wal-Mart.
If you are in Canada: Battery Plus, Bell Mobility, Canadian Tire, FIDO/Microcell, Future Shop, The Home Depot, Home Hardware, London Drugs, Makita Factory Service Centers, Personal Edge/Centre du Rasoir, RadioShack Canada, Revy, Sasktel, Sears, The Sony Store, Telus Mobility and Zellers.
There are not a lot of places that recycle non-rechargeable (typically “alkaline batteries”) that I could find. The best bet is to go to Earth 911 and put in their search feature, “alkaline batteries” and the zip code where you live. I know in NYC we have places for New York residents (only) to take alkaline batteries, maybe you do to!!!
One day I hope we no longer need batteries.
:]
-Cara
I am selling some stuff on Half.com. Recycling it back into the world…some books, CDs, video games and DVDs. Get ’em while they’re hot.
It’s green.
-Cara
I am going through bookmarks from an old hard drive I brought back to life a few weeks ago. This is not the first entry influenced by said hard drive. It is turning out to be a great resource.
This lovely gem I just found is Julian Lwin of LwinDesign’s site. He has great stuff like this BioBench and…
…this re-claimed HOPE laundry liquid bottles, low energy florescent tube lamp.
Cool.
-Cara
On Saturday’s I am the site manager at a farmer’s market in Manhattan. I really like the job. You meet cool people and are around great food. Anyway, here are some picture’s I took at the market on July 19th of this year. There was a chef’s demo going on that day.
Eat local.
-Cara
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth 
What Did You Say?