jenniferhawke.com

UPDATE: apparently the woman removed her blog (thanks for the tip, Jillian). something about reaching national news was a bit too much, i guess.

awesome. just awesome.

i’ll be keeping up with this lady to look for tips and tricks to keep down my bulging student debt. rather sadly, i can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to live on only $1500 a year… can you?

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.

~ Lord Byron: “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”

[taken during Vancouver's garbage strike last summer]

i realize i haven’t posted in the “Living Lightly” category for some months now. my environmental concerns have gone from attempting to reduce my ecological footprint in a metropolitan city to figuring out ways to prevent donkeys and goats from spreading my garbage all over a neighbourhood that is too backcountry to even warrant street names.

i’m sorry i’ve let you down, David Suzuki.

still, in my own special way, i’ve been helping to reduce waste at the local landfill: i have refused to take out the garbage for the last 2 weeks or so. by “garbage” i mean piles of empty Ensure meal replacement cans and by “out” i mean to the rickety wooden frame at the bottom of the lane by my house. the garbage truck is supposed to come by once a week, but i haven’t seen them in awhile. which means the donkeys and goats are having a hay day spreading Q-tips everywhere in their search for something spoiled-yet-edible. cleaning up garbage from you and your neighbours at the crack of dawn might sound like a blast, but with exams, i was just too tired to keep up.

when even our nicely bagged garbage continued to go uncollected, i started to wonder if there was some sort of shortage or strike going on. or maybe the truck had broken down and they were waiting on parts. all over Nevis, tall garbage bins with lids and rocks on top were being knocked over and trash spewed halfway into the main road in a lot of places. i was no longer worried about the potholes on my morning bike ride because they were filled with garbage. swerving around chickens and goats and dogs was another story.

so, i just let the garbage start piling up in my kitchen bin. and squished it down. and sprayed Febreeze on the grapefruit rinds that started to smell. and stopped eating in general so i wouldn’t make any *new* garbage. which left me sort of hungry and with an always-almost-full bin.

this morning, i heard the dogs barking and stood up from the computer too look out the front window. the garbage truck! was here! and they were taking away the bags in our rickety wooden frame! i literally RAN to the kitchen to tie up my saved garbage and was planning to run out in my pajamas yelling “WAIT!”, but i was too late. the giant green truck pulled away and picked up speed even as i was tying the top and pulling the front door open.

my mission over Christmas holidays (now that i have several left-behind student vehicles at my disposal) is to find some giant garbage bins with snap-on LIDS that will fit in the wooden frame. and to buy more Febreeze.

since i haven’t had the opportunity to write much on “living lightly” lately, please go read Graham’s post.

The reason there’s so much waste in the first place is to encourage sterility. When you typically open a package to do a procedure (a lumbar puncture, a central line, etc) you open up a water-resistant plastic kit with waxed-paper lid and find a paper-wrapped package inside, sterile on the inside. Often there’s also a gown inside to wear, as well as a standard size of sterile gloves to put on. You gown up, put on the sterile gloves, and now you can go through the insides of the package, which include: multiple needles, multiple syringes, guidewires, glass bottles with lidocaine in them, a disposalble scalpel, some suture with needle, and some skin-cleaning pads as well. All of this is packaged under sterile conditions, so that very limited bacteria will be present when you’re doing the procedure, to prevent the patient from getting an infection due to the procedure.

what’s a hospital (or individual doctor) to do?!

unfortunately, the response seems to put the responsibility on other industries. if everyone else does a better job of cleaning up, then the healthcare industry can continue making their sterile mess.

the other solution involves just not getting sick. so do your part for the environment and take care of yourself!

“Passing through unconscious states.
When I awoke I was on the highway.”
~ Death Cab for Cutie

Jonathan is so awesome. he let me take his car all the way to Saskatchewan even though i haven’t been behind a wheel for over 5 weeks. i haven’t even been in a country where they drive on the right side of the road. i’m a huge fan of highway driving and it really felt good to be on the open road.  on my way to pick up Maddy.

my brain is a jumble. driving has always been an ideal time for me to sort out unresolved thoughts and emotions. but my time in Zambia is remaining an enigma. every time i start thinking about it, my mind recoils as if from a hot stove. so i’ve backed off to let the stove cool down a little more. i listened to old favourite music and 17 chapters of an audiobook.

as i paid the Coquihalla toll, i realized Jonathan’s Mazda 3 is the 6th vehicle i have driven in at least a dozen road trips from Vancouver to southern Saskatchewan in the 8 years since i moved to the west coast. the first trip was in a friend’s brand new Pontiac Grand Am. all of my belongings made the relocation move in a 1984 VW Jetta. i borrowed both a Corolla and a Jeep from my good friend Rob. then, of course, the beloved 1987 Nissan truck. and finally, the Mazda.

i’ve had a few breakdowns and more than my fair share of windshield chips and cracks. in fact, i would say my windshield karma is definitely out of whack. i drove my Nissan truck with a crack along the bottom for almost the entire time i owned it. i replaced the windshield in Rob’s Jeep when i got back from the long haul route to Dease Lake two years ago. and it looks like i’ll be buying Jonathan a windshield for his birthday in a couple of weeks. : //

safe to say, Highway 1 East-to-5 North-back-to-1 East is a pretty familiar route to me. i love driving it in the summer and sharing the road with packs of cyclists and long haul touring motorbikes. unfortunately, in the summer you also have to share the road with huge RVs and camper trailers.

today’s drive was sunny, dry, warm, fast, and simply gorgeous. i love rolling from the smelly Chilliwack valley into the jagged peaks that get sharper and higher over the hours. suddenly there are summit and elevation sign posts all over the place. then you’re past Golden and into 15 kilometers of windy curves with SLOW warnings, hugging the shoulder to make room for wide semi trailers. hours drop like minutes and the sharp triangles are behind you. you’re looking at hills rolling into repetitive suburban developments. then, Calgary.

everything after Calgary is always a blur to me. the horizon stays flat in every direction, stretching into the curve of the Earth. the repetition is meditative and there is more sky than land in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. if you’re lucky, you might be treated to a lightning storm show in the distance, seen for miles even if you’re not getting rained on yet.

in my younger days, i’ve done the 20-odd hour haul in one complete fully caffeinated stretch. tonight i’m crashing in a Ramada Inn in Medicine Hat, less than 5 hours from my final destination. i can’t wait to see Maddy tomorrow. i have a feeling she’ll be sad to leave summer camp with my mom behind. : (

i wonder… since the price of a WestJet plane ticket is comparable to the number of tanks of gas it takes to get out here and back, which is more environmentally damaging?

after considering my available options somewhat thoroughly, i decided to offset the CO2 produced by my flights to Zambia and Nevis with TerraPass.

for just over $60US, i purchased a mixture of Renewable Energy Certificates (33.3%) and Carbon Credit Offsets (66.7%) to offset a total of 15,000lbs of CO2. TerraPass has flight offsets from 6,000 miles ($9.95) to 1,000,000 miles ($1499.95).

confronted with a couple of occasions requiring gifts in the next month, i also purchased carbon offset packages for friends on the road and at home. i realize it sounds like i’m on a bit of an “environmental kick” lately. i can only guess it’s a combination of enjoying the freedom of purging crap (in order to make my luggage lighter for school next year) and a genuine increase in awareness of the state of our planet and exactly what we can do.

i hope the people that receive those gifts won’t be annoyed that i decided not to add to their collection of “stuff”.

as a follow-up to this post, i decided to take on my own challenge and keep track of the things i threw away all day yesterday.

1) coffee grinds and filter
without a compost pile, i can’t do much with the coffee grounds. filters are apparently compost-friendly as well, but i am looking into a reusable cone filter that will fit into my one-cup drip system.

2) swiffer sweeper pad
i have been using one a day lately because i like the way dog hair clings to it (instead of just being swept into the air like with normal brooms). but unless i can figure out a way to rinse and reuse them, i’ll have to go back to the broom.

3) small pile of dog hair
cleaned out from the dustbuster filter. again, this is apparently compost-friendly even though it will take longer to break down. until i get a compost pile, my only non-garbage option is to save it and spin it into yarn for mittens or something.

4) two bags of dog doo
these i did NOT keep in my day-of-garbage bag. both poo bags were made of corn (completely biodegradable) and went into the nearest alley/park bin on our walks. unfortunately, even if the bag breaks down, there seems to be a lot involved in safely composting dog doo.

5) meat trays and plastic wrapping
sloppy joes for lunch! yum! unfortunately, the extra lean ground beef packaging is not very eco-friendly. i brought my own cloth grocery bag and declined the extra plastic bag they usually wrap meat in before putting with other groceries. not sure how sanitary that is, but i was only going a few blocks and didn’t have any veggies or open food in the bag. anyone have ideas of what to do with the styrofoam meat tray? er, besides “reuse” ideas like funky crafts?

6) sloppy joe seasoning packet
foil inside = not recyclable. sloppy joes tends to be a once-a-year craving for me, but i do like to use other seasoning packets that come in equally eco-unfriendly packaging.

7) twist tie
used to label bin number for bulk buns. if i would have been thinking, i could have put the buns in a (recyclable!) paper bag and wrote the number right on the front. i almost never buy baked goods (not eating a lot of wheat these days), so this was another rare occasion.

8) edamame (soybean) shells
another one for the future compost pile.

9) kit kat wrapper
again, the foil makes it unfriendly. if i wanted to go completely garbage-free someday, would i be able to give these up? uh, no. unfortunately, i have no alternate solution except maybe petitions to Nestlé…

10) fabric dryer sheet
used to de-magnetize the dog hair from sheets and clothing. i suppose i should really invest in some sort of a dryer ball.

11) a couple of q-tips
i use the kind with the paper stick, but am not sure if they’re recyclable with or without the cotton bud ends. i’m sure a quick google search would clear that right up for me… !

12) apple sticker and core
core would obviously go in a compost. the sticker? small, but still garbage.

waste that didn’t make it into the garbage
- cardboard box and paper invoice from a couple of books from Chapters that arrived in the mail today.
- paper bag and invoice from Ciprofloxacin prescription pick-up.
- can from tomato paste used in sloppy joes.
- V8 juice container.

i find it interesting that the things i “consumed” yesterday that were the most unhealthy (red meat, chocolate bar) were also the most eco-unfriendly. the healthiest things had either very little or no packaging at all. however, i did use/eat some things that came in larger quantities than single use: toiletry bottles (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc) frozen edamame bag, cereal box & liner, rice milk tetra pack, etc. all of those things will have to be thrown out or recylced someday.

one great alternative to food packaging seems to be buying in bulk. i think i really need to research great (local! organic!) bulk grocery stores in vancouver.

but what about when i leave the country next fall?

a couple of months ago, i heard an interview on CBC’s Freestyle program (if i’m ever listening to the radio, it’s almost always CBC in a vehicle or KCRW online) with a woman who was attempting to go garbage-free.

yes, zero garbage. i have mentioned here before that i try to be conscious of recyclables and will go out of my way when possible to reduce my landfill output, but this freaking blew my mind. can you imagine not producing any garbage for a month?

better yet, could you even do it for a day?

i later learned that the woman was Sarah McGaughey and her partner is Kyle Glover. their website is here and has been added to my blogroll. they completed an entire month without garbage at the end February 2007. their lesson:

“We still care about reducing garbage and we make about one small bag every three weeks. We found being completely garbage free in todays society wasn’t always the best choice ecologically, so now that we have completed our goal,we are trying to live with the smallest eco footprint possible in all aspects of life.”

i have decided i must try this. unfortunately, we don’t have a compost pile, so i’m not sure what to do with food scraps. and what about dental floss? band-aids? tampons? the liner in my cereal box? prescription medication bottles? and these are just the things i am confronted with in my morning ritual. i’m sure a million other questions would pop up as soon as i become aware of the stuff i’m consuming just to throw away.

consuming just to throw away. no wonder our planet is in trouble.

to me, being eco-friendly is sort of like improving your eating habits: instead of striving for perfection (NEVER eat a cookie again??), focus on the awareness. simply acknowledging the things you put in your mouth (or your trashbin) can make a huge difference. it is this awareness that changes lifestyles and habits. not strict rules and regulations.

i would challenge you to consciously note every single thing you throw in the garbage today. better yet, keep a bag by your desk and SAVE everything you would have contributed to your local landfill. look at the bag at the end of the day. take a picture of it. then multiply that by 7 days in the week… 30 days in the month…

365 days in the year(!!)…

this is not a garbage dump. or a landfill.

in fact, for many of us that use it on a daily basis and live nearby, this large piece of undeveloped land behind the exhibition centre is like our backyard. and it saddens us when people dump their junk here.

in this pile were a couple of snow sleds. we have also noticed fridges, furniture, and a whole lot of other crap.

why is “out of sight” the same as “out of mind” to so many people?

it looks like my sister is going to be moving out of the house around the same time as i am. she is unhappy with the flight school here and has decided to transfer to Regina. with both of us gone, my mom doesn’t have much reason to stay in Prince George. all of our family is in Saskatchewan and i wouldn’t blame her for going back there – even if it* is ridiculously hot and flat and boring and in desperate need of a few trees.

and so, with all three of us leaving this HUGE house in the near future, my sister and i can’t bear to think of leaving my mom to pack up all her stuff alone. yesterday we decided to tackle the garage. yuck.

i hauled an entire (overflowing!) truckload of clothes, furniture, and crap to our local thrift store in the early afternoon. my mom had a car full of recyclables, including several garbage bags of bottles donated to a gas station drive for a local boys’ wrestling team.

boy, did we purge. it felt so good.

in the same spirit, much of the rest of my afternoon was spent further refining the personal crap i just can’t bear to part with. and so, i give you the girly and the geeky:

i have been packing for a good month (at least) and i’m sure a lot of people thought i was starting ridiculously early. i guess it’s obvious now that i need a lot of time because i like to take my time. the only way i can appease the subconscious gods of What Am I Forgetting? is with many, many nights of sound sleep.

my goal was originally to narrow everything to two suitcases – which is what i definitely call “living lightly”.  since i will now be taking my arc’teryx trekking pack to africa, i have another 75 litres of packing goodness.  which is an extra bit of breathing room.

i other news, i haven’t run for three days due to a deep twang in my left thigh. it seems to be beyond all stretches and is terribly annoying. :/

————
*i’m only disparaging southern Sask here. there are plenty of trees in Saskatoon and the northern part of the province is incredibly beautiful.