GreenCouple.com

Humane health care

2008-11-20T02:08:52Z

This afternoon, I found myself at a vet, thinking about the state of our health care system. Maggie and I were there with Kelly, a 5 year old beagle who was hit by a car several weeks ago. This past weekend, we’d agreed to foster her for the local animal shelter so that she could get the personal attention that she needs. Today, Kelly needed to have her bandage changed so we made the appointment and took her in.

Health care has been on my mind quite a bit recently. It’s been in the news today because of Obama’s choice of Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services. On a more personal level, one of my good friends has been wending his way through the health system after having a bad accident on his bike. And now there’s Kelly.

Beagles tend to move through the shelter pretty quickly. They’re small, friendly, and good with kids, which makes them desirable adoptees. Kelly was one of those beagles and was adopted several years ago.

On the 8th, Kelly was brought to the shelter by the police, who’d picked her up with a broken leg after she was hit by a car. Thanks to the microchip that the shelter had implanted on adoption, the shelter was able to contact Kelly’s owners. However, when told that they’d be liable for Kelly’s vet bills, they signed her over to the shelter.

It’s easy to think of her former owners as heartless, but the surgery that Kelly really needs costs two to three thousand dollars. That’s more money than I can easily rustle up. It’s also more money than the shelter can afford.

We were sitting in the vet office this afternoon because, although Kelly needs orthopedic surgery to heal properly, nobody can afford to pay for it. Unless she’s adopted soon by someone who can, Kelly is going to have to heal as best she can and deal with long-term consequences. Without surgery, she’ll probably have bad arthritis and may have to have her leg amputated within 5 years. They’re a bit worried now that she’s had a lot of muscle atrophy, but on the other hand, if Kelly continues to favor that leg the eventual arthritis might not bother her as much.

It’s a sad situation, but what really gets me is that it’s not unique. Not only are there lots of animals out there in similar situations, there are people who are weighing what they know is best against what they can afford.

With a dog, there isn’t any real economic cost to avoiding surgery. A three-legged dog can be just as loving and friendly as a four-legged one. For people the decision to avoid surgery, and save thousands in the short-term, may lead to tens of thousands or more in lost economic activity. Your work possibilities are much more limited when you have crippling arthritis or you’re missing limbs.

Things aren’t much better if you manage to borrow money to pay for the surgery. Medical expenses are one of the top reasons people file for bankruptcy. They can be so expensive that many hospitals will provide assistance even for those making as much as $30,000 a year!

Health insurance is a necessity so that you don’t take the risk of being wiped out financially for years to come. Unfortunately, it’s not only a considerable expense but a confusing proposition. It’s not easy to figure out exactly what is and isn’t covered. What counts as preventative care? What requires a maternity rider?

It’s even worse if you have a Health Savings Account, since that money is checked by the IRS. This means that your coverage is determined not only by your own savings and your insurance company but by what the IRS will allow. Naturally, the IRS doesn’t have any hard-and-fast rules, only guidelines.

Tom Daschle’s appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services indicates to me that Obama is making health care reform a major issue early on. I’ve also heard rumors that health care reform will be tied to economic stimulus measures (which makes sense to me, since it would amount to a reduction of 5-8% in corporate payroll costs). Even if we don’t end up with a universal health system, I’m glad that the topic has been made a priority. Our system right now is just heartbreaking.

And if you’re looking for a pet (dog, cat, rabbit, mouse, or llama), I encourage you to head down to the Bloomington Animal Shelter to see who’s available. Everyone we met was very friendly, staff and pet.

The Power of Poo

2008-11-17T02:10:04Z

I have wanted to write a post on human excrement management for awhile now. I know it’s a rather taboo subject and some folks might be pretty grossed out but my real reluctance is that I wanted to gather more information. However, my brother just sent me a great link to a Time Magazine article asking “Is it Time to Kill Off the Flush Toilet?” (I prefer the title “Is it Time to Flush the Flush Toilet?” but I’m sure it would make every editor cringe.) Apparently, I just missed the World Toilet Summit and Expo, which honestly sounds really fascinating to me and I’m sure I would have found answers to many of my questions and seen models I never could have imagined.

Still, I realize that I know a fair amount about poo and pee. I learned about traditional wastewater treatment plants as part of my environmental engineering training. I worked for awhile designing constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment as an alternative to traditional septic systems, which means I got to learn a lot about both. I have never actually installed a composting toilet but I have used at least seven different models and I did take one class on how to design a particular model. (I can’t remember the name but the creator was hoping that his name too would some day be as famous as “Crapper.”) I have toured a farm that collects cow poo and uses it to create methane for electricity. There are a lot of options out there for dealing with poo.

Back in the day, folks would do their business in chamber pots and then fling it into the street. It was gross, unsanitary, and caused a lot of disease. Flush toilets came around as an awesome alternative - press the magic button and all the waste is carried away through a series of underground pipes! Originally, it all got dumped in the nearest river (”dilution is the solution to pollution”) but nowadays it goes to wastewater treatment plants where the water is partially cleaned before being dumped into the nearest river. I say “partially” because it’s really hard (and expensive) to treat the water to a level where it’s really clean.

Even if wastewater treatment plants were really effective, it’s hard to escape the fact that flush toilets basically take clean water, mix it with human waste, combine it with mostly clean water (greywater) from our sinks and showers, and then send it to a treatment plant that uses a whole lot of energy to clean the water again. We can take a lot of steps to reduce the amount of wastewater generated by installing low flow toilets and diverting greywater for other uses (if your state’s health code allows it) but perhaps it is time to think beyond the flush toilet, as many designers at the Toilet Expo did.

I personally believe that composting toilets are the way to go. Composting is not new technology. The British agronomist Sir Albert Howard worked with farmers in India in the 1930’s to compost human excrement and turn it into a safe form of fertilizer. The key is to get the compost hot enough to kill off the bacteria living in the waste. Nowadays we are paranoid about hygiene and so almost all composting books will tell you to never put feces in a compost pile but there is a lot of documentation out there on how to do it safely. (I still have not read the “Humanure Handbook” but it has an excellent reputation as the Bible of composting toilets.) Composting allows us to truly recycle our bodily waste and make it useful again.

However, the world seems very resistant to composting toilets and I can understand why. There are a lot of taboos around poo and a lot of resistance to trying anything new. Flush toilets are convenient and do a great job taking our waste out of sight and out of mind. Composting toilets require a little more thought and most of them need to be emptied periodically, which is an intimidating thought for most people. I believe this issue could be resolved by having some sort of servicing contract where a maintenance person would take care of that duty on a regularly scheduled basis. Another big hurdle is health code requirements. I understand that health department officials are trying super hard to protect us from disease and are extremely reluctant to allow anything new until it has a proven track record but I wish there were a clear path for getting new technologies approved. I also wish there were better communication between the health departments in different counties and states so people didn’t have to prove the same technology in every county.

This is one of those issues where I feel like I don’t have any good options. It would be illegal for me to install a composting toilet at home or even to reroute the greywater from our sinks and tubs into a constructed wetland. (Indiana law says that all water going down a drain in a house has to be treated as “blackwater” and sent through an approved treatment system.) Some days I dream of being a champion for better poo management, fighting for the right to install composting toilets in every home, becoming an engineering expert on alternative poo management.

Most days I feel like the best I can do is to focus on conserving water and maybe start peeing on my compost pile. Urine is sterile so as long as I don’t scandalize my neighbors I think I could get away with it. Building a composting toilet in the garage seems more risky, although I’m still tempted. Maybe I could start a guerilla movement. We could have awesome t-shirts proclaiming the Power of Poo. Wouldn’t everyone want one?

Two steps forward…

2008-11-14T22:19:20Z

As with most things, going green is a matter of two steps forward, one step back (at least, that’s been true for me). In the past several months, I think I’ve been in a one step back phase. Partly, I’ve been slipping because I’ve been so busy. When I don’t feel like I have time, I’m more likely to take shortcuts. Another big problem was the move itself. Moving broke a lot of my habits and I haven’t made the effort to reestablish them.

Since I last wrote about it, I haven’t ridden my bike any significant distance. I still haven’t made it downtown without a car, despite the bike and the bus stop at the end of the street. It’s been hard to get motivated now that the weather isn’t as nice. We did get a very nice bike bag as a wedding gift, however, so I feel better about taking my laptop along. I haven’t wanted to carry it in a backpack or on a rack where it could more easily fall out or be subjected to the elements, so I’ve been driving.

I’ve also been eating out more and cooking less. The fact that I’ve been busy has contributed, but so has Maggie’s recently busy schedule. When it’s just me for dinner, I’m much less likely to put effort into it. I’ve gained some weight since we moved and I think that’s a lot of it.

It’s a little thing, but I also haven’t been line-drying like I used to. There is a laundry line here, but it’s in the back yard. To get there from the laundry room, you have to walk through six out of the eight rooms in the house! It’s so much easier to just turn around and toss my laundry in the dryer.

The past four months haven’t been a total disaster, though. Not only have we been recycling more than ever, we grabbed stuff that my family was going to throw away (a carpet, styrofoam) and brought it back here to use or recycle (their city won’t accept styrofoam).

We’ve also managed to bring our electrical usage down quite a bit from apartment living, to about 80% of what we were using before. That’s about 70% of what it was when we first moved in, so removing lights, putting in power strips, and using CFLs have really made a difference. It helps that our heat and stove are gas too. So far, that hasn’t saved us any money (the electrical savings have been offset by the basic $12/month we pay for gas connectivity) but I expect it will now that it’s gotten cold.

Maggie has done better as well. She recently got a backyard composter and has been using it consistently. That’s reduced our garbage some (it’s not as persnickety as our worms) and gotten us thinking about soil amendments for planting next year.

Winter is a good time to take stock and evaluate where you are and where you’re going. This his been a crazy year. We bought a house, got married, had the best business year ever, and I’ll (hopefully) get my degree in just another couple months! We also managed to make a lot of progress on our goals, even if I slid back some as the year went on.

Now I’m ready to start thinking about how I’ll do better next year!

Amazon’s packaging

2008-11-12T18:17:54Z

Big corporations take a lot of flack from the environmental movement and for good reason. They’re antithetical to the “act local” movement and generally don’t think global either, apart from those aspects of the globe that affect their profit. On the other hand, large companies can do a lot of good by virtue of their bulk. What better way to get a multinational to do the right thing than to have another multinational push them into it.

Amazon’s recent “Frustration-Free Packaging” initiative is a case in point. Lots of products are sold encased in cardboard and plastic. Worst are the plastic clamshells that are not only impossible to remove, but are dangerous as well. In a retail outlet, there’s some benefit to having packaging that shows off the product. For a mail-order business like Amazon, that just doesn’t make sense.

“Frustration-Free Packaging” is Amazon’s answer. They convinced several manufacturers to pack some of their best-sellers in much simpler (recycleable) cardboard boxes. Of course, Amazon’s primary concern is that the new packaging makes the experience much more enjoyable. Their The Great Unwrap Race video shows that well (and it’s pretty funny, so take a look).

Regardless of their ultimate motive, there are some serious environmental impacts as well. According to Amazon’s open letter, each newly-packaged toy pirate ship uses less materials: 1,612 square inches of cardboard, 178 square inches of plastic, 36 inches of plastic-coated steel wires, and two plastic fasteners. And, of course, none of that will have to be shipped, so there’ll be some space and transportation advantages.

It’s a great idea and I’m glad Amazon is taking the lead. I just wish more of their “frustration-free” products weren’t just plastic junk themselves.

Martha Stewart and Urban Farming

2008-11-10T23:25:43Z

[This is a guest post from our good friend Lindsey about a voting opportunity, in case you've gone into withdrawal since the election.]

In Portland, Laura Masterson of the 47th Avenue Farm is an urban farmer and advocate for local food, food security, and soil management. This year she is on the Multnomah County ballot as a candidate for East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Director, Zone 2. I found out about this from my friends in Portland who enthusiastically voted for her. [She ran uncontested and won handily.]

Well, I just heard that, in addition to running for office, she’s also one of 11 finalists (all female entrepreneurs or activists, it looks like) for something called the Dreamers into Doers Award, which is sponsored by the marthastewart.com website. It’s a $10,000 award. For those of us who don’t live in Multnomah County, this is a way that we too can cast some kind of a vote for Laura and show support for the causes she represents.

You can vote once a day until voting closes on November 18. Unfortunately, voting requires making an account on marthastewart.com, but I imagine some of your readers could spare the five minutes to make an account and vote, or leave a comment of support for her there. Here’s the URL: http://www.marthastewart.com/dreamers

From there, one has to click “meet the finalists”, then click “vote” next to Laura’s name. If not signed in, you’ll be asked to register/sign in at that point.

Thanks!

Lindsey Kuper, Rock Star in Training
http://www.rockstargirl.org

A neighborhood discovery

2008-11-06T02:08:46Z

The house is basically home now, but we’re still discovering unexpected aspects to our new location. It’s odd to be finding things so long after moving, but it seems like we’ve spent more time away from home than here for the past several months. Some things also relate to the changing seasons, like our furnace troubles and the magnificent colors as the sugar maples in the yard changed color.

Since I keep finding new aspects to the house, I shouldn’t be surprised at finding new things about the neighborhood. I haven’t really explored yet, apart from figuring out how to get to the grocery store or to meetings. I haven’t even biked to the library yet, which is a goal I’ve had for a while.

This past weekend, the day after Halloween, Maggie and I went down to Thompson Park for the pumpkin launch (yup, you read that right). I thought that the park was pretty deep in the neighborhood to the south of us, so I hadn’t made it out there yet. It turns out that although it’s about four blocks away as the car drives, much closer than I thought, it’s only about a block walking, which is much closer still!

It’s a nice little park, with basketball and tennis courts, baseball diamonds, a playground, shelters, and a couple of trails. Of course, the highlight when we were there were the pumpkin launchers set up on the field.

For the past several years, Bloomington has had a pumpkin launching contest the weekend after Halloween. There are pumpkin flavored goodies, pumpkin seed spitting contests, and teams of pumpking launchers. For some reason, this was the last year they plan to do it, so Maggie and I decided to take a picnic lunch and enjoy the spectacle. It didn’t hurt that it was 70 degrees out and sunny… a perfect day for throwing pumpkins as far as possible.

There were three entrants: a trebuchet powered by a coordinated team of burly individuals and two PVC cannons that seemed to be powered by springs. The cannons were able to shoot a pumpkin over 200 yards! They did less well with accuracy, however. One shot a pumpkin into the ground only 20 yards in front of it while trying to hit a target 50 yards away.

The trebuchet was only able to loft a pumpkin 90 yards, but consistently got within 10-15 yards of the target. It was also much, much faster to load and shoot. The best part, though, is that because it wasn’t shooting as hard, the pumpkin didn’t go as high, so it was much easier to see. It’s amazing to shoot a pumpkin 200 yards, but it doesn’t look very impressive until it hits the ground.

Overall, we enjoyed an afternoon outside on a sunny day, had a great time watching exploding pumpkins, and found a nice park within walking distance. I’d call that a successful All Saints’ Day.

Mr. and Mrs. Green Couple

2008-11-03T22:10:49Z

We’re ba-ack! Apologies to those of you who have been chafing at the bit for more greencouple action but you’ll be pleased to know that taking a sabbatical has left us full of energy and post ideas. I was pretty amazed how often I had the urge to blog during the month of October, but at the same time it was a tremendous relief to not have the pressure of posting on top of all the little wedding details.

The wedding was fabulous and lovely. Our shoemaking honeymoon was fantastic and we will regale you with multiple shoemaking posts once we edit down our collection of 1,204 photographs. Of shoemaking. I think even with twelve people taking pictures at the wedding we probably only ended up with a few hundred shots but for shoemaking, we were serious about documentation. (I wanted to use the photo Michele took of us that I like to call “Will and Maggie get hulked” but I couldn’t get it to cooperate. Thanks to Lauren for the lovely cake-cutting photo!)

During our sabbatical, we did find a little time to think about the blog and have decided we will now be posting three times a week instead of five, with the hopes of distilling our wit and charm even further to give you the highest quality green inspirations. As you might suspect, we have a bit of a backlog of subject ideas so I hope you can handle a few slightly outdated posts about weddings, shoemaking, and how October is the awesomest month of the year. We will also post some more about the house featuring both updates on our remodel projects (such as “The Magical Properties of Glue, Including How It Mysteriously Surfaces Through Three Coats of Paint”) as well as our latest projects (such as “Maggie’s Neverending Fascination with Peeling Wallpaper”).

So far married life is pretty darn similar to engaged life, which is just fine with me. In the interest of not talking about tomorrow’s election (as I’m sure you have all been exposed to plenty of urgings to vote by now), I will leave you with a question. What is the biggest challenge you face in trying to live green?

Time for a Sabbatical

2008-09-30T00:59:24Z

After much deliberation, Will and I have decided to take a sabbatical from blogging during the month of October. Between the wedding and all that other stuff that has to get done even though we’re working on the wedding, we feel it would be best to take a break and recharge our greencouple engines. We also want to spend a little time planning for our married blogger future. I am interested in cutting back on the number of posts we do in an effort to improve the quality. Will has a vision of creating little “how-to” guides on various topics for anyone who wants to take some of our ideas and implement them at home. (We’ve been doing some of that already but have dreams of making it a little more formal and perhaps eventually crafting a book or guide. Maybe cash in for mega-bucks?)

There’s a chance we’ll pop in for a post or two over the next month if we just can’t hold in our excitement (I just built a cardboard-and-tinfoil solar oven and I’m really eager to try it out!) but we won’t be back officially until November 3rd. Send us happy wedding thoughts and remember to come back and see us right after you switch your clocks in accordance with daylight savings time….

Debates

2008-09-27T03:07:46Z

Pre-wedding picnic and presidential debates for tonight, so no real post. I’m very glad that the candidates brought up energy independence, though!

Eco Cheapo Leftover Kit

2008-09-25T02:13:20Z

One of the downsides of going to conferences is that although the food is free, it’s often not the best quality (even at a conference about food!) and it is almost always served on disposable dishes. I tried to minimize my trash generation this week by reusing napkins and drinking out of a waterbottle but I was super impressed by a fellow conference attendee who brought his own little tupperware container and metal utensils to eat with. (Lunches were served buffet-style so he was able to pass up all the plastic dishes and silverware quite easily.)

It’s something I’ve thought about a lot and Will and I do make an effort to take our own leftover containers to restaurants, especially Bajio, but I’m always looking to do more. I was telling Will the other day that what I really need is a handy little kit to take with me that would include a cloth napkin, reusable silverware, and a leak-proof container (or two) for leftovers. This would also allow me to avoid using plastic silverware or paper napkins at restaurants. The biggest challenge is to make it small enough to be handy. It would also be great to keep it plastic free, although that’s rather a hard one. I’m very intrigued by the wrap-n-mat foldable sandwich holders but they are made with PVC, LDPE, or PEVA which they claim are on the FDA food-safe list but don’t sound especially safe to me.

I told him a couple weeks ago that I think there’s a market out there for someone who can create a product like this that people could carry around to restaurants. I came up with the name “Eco Cheapo Leftover Kit” but Will cringed and suggested I leave the marketing to someone else. I started thinking about names that play off “doggy bag” but it really didn’t get any less cringeworthy.

Do any of you know if there’s already a product like this out there or have aspirations to make one? I’d buy a few, and I’m sure they’d make great gifts.

GreenCouple.com

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