A Not-so-amazing Amazing Idea

Do you ever have those days when you have an amazing idea? Then you realize that the idea wasn't that great, but you're still really proud of it?

I have been trying to reduce my plastic consumption. It's nothing drastic, but I am trying to pay attention to what kinds of products I'm purchasing. Packaging is an issue, but so is buying so many of the products that are out there from toothbrushes to toasters. One thing that's easy to do is stop using plastic grocery bags, which I have done. The next logical step in that process is also to stop using the plastic bags that stores provide for putting produce in.

Deciding that it's okay for your tomatoes, apples, and oranges to roll around in your cart takes a little bit of getting used to. And what about things like broccoli? I got some little mesh bags that have a drawstring at the top for putting in produce. I find that I only need a couple and when they're full, I can let my apples roll around a little bit. So far this plan is working nicely. The only "problem" I've run into is what to do with the lettuce. That flimsy plastic bag seems to keep it so clean and fresh and keeps the rest of my groceries dry. (The misters always seem to go off right before or during my lettuce picking experience.)

Photo Credit

When I get home, I like to wash and chop up the lettuce first thing and mix it all back in the plastic bag so when it comes time to making salads to take the work the next day, I just have to reach in and pull out a handful. But I'm trying to use less plastic, so this plan is no longer viable. Solution? I had two half-full bags of tortilla chips. I dumped one into the other, rinsed out the bag and let it air dry. By the time I got back from the store and prepared all of the lettuce, the bag was clean, dry, and ready to go. It still smelled a bit salty, but what can you do?

Now I have a tortilla-chip bag full of chopped lettuce. When my friends open the fridge they laugh and think it's a little silly, but I'll tell you what, my lettuce has never stayed crispier!

Tip: Throw in a paper towel with the lettuce before wrapping it all up in the bag. This keeps the lettuce crispy and rust free by soaking up extra moisture in the bag. Then, clean something up with it when you're done with the lettuce, or save it for the next batch.

Tortilla Chip Photo

A Little Ute Pride

Many of you readers know that I was in the University of Utah marching band. I was in it for 4 years and went on some amazing trips. I got to go to the Fiesta Bowl when the Utes were the first "BCS Busters," went to three more bowl games after that, and went on countless trips in between for both the football team and the men's and women's basketball teams. I also met a lot of amazing people and made some of the best friends I will ever have...It also paid for a lot of school. :)

This year proved to be another great year for the Utes with the Sugar Bowl and then soon after that the Ute Marching Band was invited to play in President Obama's Inauguration parade. The Marching Utes were the last band on the route, and though it would have been a wonderful opportunity to be there, I really enjoyed watching my friends be part of the pomp and circumstance of that day.




Oh, and lest we forget, way to go UTES in beating "the school down south" in overtime last night. GO UTES!

Winter Inversion Blues

Here in good ol' Salt Lake City, as well as other surrounding valleys in Northern Utah, we have been suffering from an inversion for a while now. I have received Red Air Quality alerts from the Department of Environmental Quality for the past seven days in a row. The air is soupy, and you can smell the muck and pollution in the air.

Photo Courtesy of Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News

The air quality system is based on red, yellow, and green burn days. Green means wood burning is allowed, yellow means a voluntary no burn, and a red light means no burning at all. You are also asked to drive as little as possible during yellow and red air quality days because cars contribute significantly to the area's air pollution. The health implications of Red Air Quality days are also significant. Health advisories go out saying that "sensitive people with respiratory disease or heart disease, the elderly, and children should avoid heavy or prolonged exertion. Everyone else should reduce heavy or prolonged exertion."

Does this sound really bad to anyone else? There are several areas in the state of Utah (Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, and Cache counties being some of them) that do not meet the current federal health standards for fine particulate (PM2.5) pollution, but it doesn't take a scientist with fancy recording tools to know that the air outside is unhealthy. Just take a look out your window, or go outside: it's pretty difficult to not notice the smell of the smoggy air. So what exactly is an inversion?

Several factors contribute to what are known as "surface inversions." Lower angles of sunlight that are present in the winter time do not heat up the earth's surface as well as they do in the summer. When the sun goes down, the air that is closest to the ground gets cooler than the air that is higher above the ground (which is opposite of normal air flows and weather conditions because generally the higher into the atmosphere air goes the colder it becomes, hence the name "inversion"). Since air is a poor conductor of heat, the air that is closer to the ground stays colder during the day time as the air that is further away warms with the rising of the sun. Also, since cold air is heavier than warm air, it stays down in the valley and the warm air floats on top, acting as a lid to the cold air. Then, in a valley that is surrounded my mountains like many of the valleys in Utah, air flow is prevented by the mountains and the hot air "lid" which traps not only cold air but also the pollutants that we emit.

Photo Credit

Right now, an atmospheric high pressure is parked right over many of the Western states, including Utah. As long as this atmospheric high pressure is around, storms are thrust around the high pressure. Storms are useful for pushing out inversions as the air flow and wind that they bring with them disrupt the inversion and clean out the valley of the cold/warm air dichotomy as well as the trapped pollutants.

Surface inversions cannot be prevented, however the pollution that is trapped in them can be, or at least greatly reduced. Carpooling with coworkers, combining trips, avoiding unnecessary driving, and maintaining you vehicle are easy ways in which to reduce the pollution that is caused by cars, a major contributor to inversion pollution. For other ideas on how to improve air quality in both your car and other ways, check out the Utah DAQ webpage.

A Small, Unrelated Rant for this Amazing Day

In the midst of this historic day I find myself in the midst of overwhelming frustration. I took the day off from work for two reasons. (Originally, I was going to be working from home, but as events have unfolded the work has just not been done.) The first was that my car's check engine light is on so I am at my parents house where the trusted family mechanic is just down the street to fix my car today. My registration is due this month so it's important to get this fixed. His shop is a busy one and though I called a week ago about my car, today was the first day he could fit it in.

The second reason I am home from work today is that it is Inauguration Day. I do not own a television, nor do I have internet at my house, so I am spending the day at the 'rents watching the inauguration festivities and waiting for my car to get better. What an amazing day! Besides President Obama's inauguration speech, I think my favorite part was John Williams' Air and Simple Gifts performed by musical giants Yo-Yo Ma, cello, Itzak Pearlman, violin, Gabriela Montello, piano, and Anthony McGill on clarinet. I hope you all caught it.

Now, I am awaiting the start of the inauguration parade. I am a proud former member of the University of Utah Marching Band which was invited to march in parade. I hear they are third from the last and the parade is an hour or so behind. That's what CNN says anyway. So while I am sometimes patiently and sometimes very impatiently waiting to see if I can find my friends in the band for the parade (complete with herald trumpets, which only brought out for these special occasions and I myself have only seen them once during the Fiesta Bowl parade in 2004), I get a call from my mechanic.

It's the O2 sensor. Okay, no big deal. The part costs about $85, plus labor. It's a little lower than I was expecting, so I'm happy.

Still waiting for the parade to start. Another call from the mechanic. Maybe my car is done already! No. The mechanic tells me I don't want to hear from him right now. I don't want to hear from him right now because my model of Honda Civic doesn't use the regular, standard Honda O2 sensor. It uses a different one that has an extra wire that costs $449.

What!?! My mechanic tells me that he's sorry. He says he can just reset the computer and try and get the check engine light to go off. If I can drive it for about 35 miles and the engine light is still off it might pass the registration tests. But he doesn't think the light will stay off. I am thinking that this is something that needs to be fixed anyway. I am thinking about how O2 sensors work and that it's not only important for my car and it's own fuel economy, but it's also important for the environment. In Japan, cars must have new O2 sensors every two years to make sure they are getting the best fuel economy and the cleanest emissions possible. My mechanic tells me over the phone, as I'm weighing my options, that it is recommended that all cars get new O2 sensors every 60,000 miles, but no one does because they're so expensive.

Well, I'm chalking this one down as an expense that is both economical and ecological right now. I could have my mechanic turn the light off, hope it stays off for my emissions test, and then wait until next year to get a new O2 sensor. In the mean time, the fuel I would be wasting without an effective oxygen-to-fuel manager and the harm that causes to the environment...well I don't know what the exact numbers are, but just getting the darn thing fixed will probably be worth it in the long run.

But at least the parade has started now. President Obama's high school band from Hawaii is marching by right now. I'm sure those kids are ecstatic to be there today. The Ute Marching Band is supposed to be third from the last. Until then, I will enjoy what the rest of the nation provides for the parade.

Jumping on the Simplicity Bandwagon

With all of the efforts that seem to be going on around me of people taking their lives back-to-basics, I'm making some changes of my own. Inspired by Andree's "buy nothing new" resolution, the start of the Voluntary Simplicity class I'm participating in, as well as the book I'm currently reading, Not Buying It by Judith Levine, I have decided to forgo getting the internet in my home.

Photo Credit

I moved into a new studio apartment not more than a month ago. My previous 2 residences have all had free internet available. After going for a year and half without having to pay for internet service, I am reluctant to sign up with any company that is going to make me shell out $30 to $50 for something I've been able to take for granted for so long. Now that I've been in my new apartment for several weeks without any internet access, I find myself getting back to doing the things I really love to do. I've read two books in the last two weeks, gotten caught up on my ever-long to-do list, spent some quality time with my guitar almost every day, exercised regularly, enjoyed the company of close friends spontaneously getting together, and have cooked several excellent meals while listening to my favorite music.

In light of all this merriment of enjoying the things that really make me happy, I am going to try going without the internet. I still have plenty of ways to access the things that require my online attention such as paying bills, my banking information, email accounts, and all other various online "needs" by staying a little late after work, using my lunch break wisely, or by heading down to the local coffee shop. It's easy to fall into the habit of coming home, dead-dog-tired, and logging on to email, Facebook, and the ever expanding realms of Hulu to watch all of my favorite TV shows (I don't have a television either, and haven't for a couple of years now), or even blogging after work. Then before you know it, it's practically time for bed to start the whole mundane process all over again. Well, I've had enough of that.

So this is my experiment. In this time of fast-paced technology, can I take a step back and lead a simpler life of not being plugged in to Goolge constantly to satisfy my want for impulse information? Can I realize the importance of taking the time to call my mom for cooking tips and recipes, rather than searching for them online? Can I relax and enjoy the fact that I'm not constantly available on whatever chat program of your choice? That's what my cell phone is for, isn't it? I think so. I've already begun to realize the benefits of the disconnected life and am savoring it.

I don't have a set goal; maybe I should. Three months? That sounds good. Done. We'll see how I feel in April.

Something New to Read

For Christmas, my aunt visited her local used book store and picked up my gift there. I'm just starting this new-to-me book, and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's called Not Buying It by Judith Levine.

It's all about this woman (who happens to be a writer, so it's easy on the reader) who decides she and her life-partner, Paul, have had it with the consumer driven society that we've built around ourselves. So, in 2004, she and Paul go a year without shopping. So far, it's been thought-provoking. It's written like a journal, with entries every so often about what they are missing and what they are learning about what it is like to break away from the expectations we have about ourselves and the stresses of the consumer market. I've only read the first two chapters, but so far I'm very intrigued as the rules start to unfold as to what "not buying it" means to this couple and how their journey will present itself.

My coworker, Andree', is doing her own sort of "not buying it" experiment where she can't buy anything new except for essentials and things that get used up. (Things like food, obviously, and like changing the oil in her car: something that must be done to maintain the car and is used up. You can't buy used motor oil!) And she is excited to read this one as well. It has been fun comparing the two missions of "not buying it."

Mostly, I'm excited about this book and I wanted to share. I'll let you know how it goes from here!

Urban Agriculture

It seems that sustainability and providing for yourself is catching on. The University of Utah is offering an "Urban Agriculture" series through their Life-Long Learning community education classes. I just got a flier in the mail about it over the weekend, and the classes look pretty fun and educational.

The flier states "with so many tangible benefits, Urban Agriculture is experience a huge increase in popularity. By growing and cultivating your own food, you can save money, help the environment, foster better health and nutrition, develop another source of income, ensure food security, and even boost your community social life." Urban Agriculture certainly has many benefits to enrich many facets of your life. I'm just excited that such a large institution like the U of U has embraced the Urban Agriculture mindset by highlighting these classes in their own sub-section.

Some of the classes offered include Bee Keeping, Coops de Ville: How to Raise Backyard Chickens, Fabulous Fruit Trees, Vegetable Gardening Basics, Sell Your Produce, Eating Local, and Grow Your Own Herbs. All of these sound like fun to me, but I think I'm going to check out the how to "Grow Your Own Herbs" class due my current rental condition (i.e. lack of yard space to garden) as a good place to start my next step of the sustainable, health and nutrition, life-enriching journey. So if you live in the Salt Lake area and these sound fun, check it out.

Photo Credit

If you can PLUG it in...Put it In!

Salt Lake City is hosting an electronic waste recycling event (e-waste) this Saturday! If you have electronics sitting around the house, don't throw them out! GRX is the recycler for the event and they are accepting all electronics. This service is free to all Salt Lake City residents. (Other residents may be charged a recycling fee.)

This event is being held on:

Saturday, January 10th
10:00 am - 2:00 pm

In the parking lot on 1300 South and West Temple (across from Franklin Covey Field)

For more information on e-waste recycling, please visit www.grxrecycles.com or if you have any questions about this event, contact Bridget Stuchly at bridget.stuchly@slcgov.com or call (801) 535-6438.