The 1 Minute Painting in Space

It’s Friday and I think we could all use a little break.

Nice…

-Cara

Buy It Friday!

Lindsay Smith CEO and President Dan Joyce VP Sales and Marketing

The first thing we will talk about is not something you would necessarily buy for yourself, but more for a public space. It is rubber sidewalks.

Rubbersidewalks are high-density paving tiles made with recycled California tire crumbed rubber combined with polyurethane binder and colorant, then molded with heat under compression. This produces a strong and durable part that meets all requirements of sidewalk-worthiness, including stable grade, non-vibration in compliance with ADA requirements, and high coefficient of friction for non-skid both dry and wet. Rubbersidewalks are available in various sizes and colors, and are reversible. Known life per face is minimum eight years. Actual life per face is not known but is expected to exceed 12 years.

Here are some reasons to use then,

• Diverted over 1 million tires from landfills

• Saved over 2,000 trees in cities’ urban forests

• Removed 78,000 pounds of CO2 each year

• Captured over 4 million gallons of water each year

What a cool idea…

Next, yes it is another bag, but these two ladies have a slightly different spin. Here is what they have to say about themselve,

We are proud to say that BaggyShirts is a sustainable enterprise, in that we:

• Purchase recycled men’s shirts obtained from warehouses of surplus goods collected from charitable organizations – no petroleum-based materials.

• Use the entire shirt – absolutely no waste.

• Prevent clothing and tens of thousands of paper and plastic bags from going to the landfill each year.

• Employ local artisans to fabricate bags at home, slashing carbon emissions by 80% to 90%. No overseas manufacturing.

• Pay our fabricators a livable wage that is above average for the industry.

• Operate with the least possible amount of negative environmental impact – we ship Internet orders in recycled and recyclable materials.

• Donate a portion of our proceeds to organizations that work to stop global warming.

The cool thing is they were inspired to start this business after watching, An Inconvenient Truth! Sounds familar.

Last but not least, this is a shout out to Marine, as these recycled glasses are made from the bottom halves of Bordeaux bottles that were “rescued” on the way to the landfill. A beautifully etched branch design is accompanied by the phrase ‘Protect Our Earth’ in four languages: English, Spanish (Proteja Nuestra Tierra), Afrikaans/South African (Bewaar Ons A Arde) and French (Proteqez Notre Terre). They look beautiful.

Well, these were good ones. I hope you liked them as well.

Enjoy.

-Cara

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Reason 91 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:

When food-safety inspectors in New York City make the rounds, they often come upon merchants selling just about anything: the meat of armadillos, iquanas, primates, turtles, frogs, and even rats. Some of the meat comes from endangered animals. Other cuts, if not intrinsically illegal, fail to derive from licensed inspected facilities and so put consumers at risk. The sellers of such contraband (most is imported) tend to be ignorant of U.S. laws, sometimes conveniently so. They don’t seem to comprehend the dangers to which they expose their customers and even the city as they raise the risk of outbreak. Over one recent 21-month period, a single inspector shuttered 138 city stores.

Not So Green Sins

Since Friday was my 100th post, we missed the weekly shopping entry, so thank you Monday, for picking up Friday’s slack.

Sometimes I commit sins against green. It is true I still sin. One example of said sinning is my desire to dry the counters with clean, pristine, white, recycled [:)] paper towels. I have a sponge for the counters, but it always seems to get dirty so fast, that I can’t bear to “clean” anything with it. Thus, the paper towel dilemma.

I decided to research this issue of mine and find a solution. Here is what I will try, the European Sponge Cloth. I think it might be a winner. I will let you know, and if anyone reading this has tried it, please review as I am curious.

Second sin…composting. I’ve done tons of research on composting…for whatever reasons, I will not get into now. Nevertheless, with all I know of what makes what type of compost, and what to do to keep out the bugs, how to make it not smell, plenty of room on my fire escape, food byproducts everyday, plants that need to be re-potted and fed…I still don’t compost. What I will do is buy these BioBags [100% biodegradable and 100% compostable bags and films made from the material, Mater-Bi. All of our products contain GMO free starch, biodegradable polymer and other renewable resources. No polyethylene is used in the production process. BioBag products meet ASTM D6400 specifications and California SB 1749 requirements.] and line this old wooden wine box

and compost away. Again, I’ll let you know…

And last but not least, to begin to make up for all the paper and whatever else I have done, I will give to The Arbor Day Foundation’s, Rain Forest Rescue Program.

I like having “to-do” lists.

-Cara

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Reason 66 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
The meat industry doesn’t treat the causes of its problems, only the symptoms. When it imprisons massive numbers of animals in cramped stress-inducing cages, it provides the perfect breeding ground for deadly bacteria, which later infect the meat. Technologies to kill meat pathogens are now very big business. We have acidic-solution carcass misting, alkaline-solution sprays, steam/vacuum technology, high-temperature carcass washes, steam pasteurization, and chlorine applications, etc., ad nauseam. Some bug-fighting methods, such as food irradiation and sprays of antidotal viruses and probiotic bacteria, pose risks in themselves. And in the end, the meat still isn’t safe