Go Light Rail! Sustainable Transportation!

Ok. So I was talking to my friend at the coffee shop about Seattle’s rail to the airport. He used to live in New York and I used to live in Seoul, South Korea where subway trains are like ….well, in his words “like having running water.” I am so excited to get to ride the rail all the way to the airport from downtown! How exciting! Not only does it cut down on my cost –a shared van costs 25.00 each way. The train is $2.75 each way. It is faster, cleaner, and more fun to ride than a bus. I don’t have to climb into the subway, I just walk on with my luggage in tow. Rock on Seattle. Now if we could get this over the water to the eastside and up to the U district!
Want more info: Check out Sound Transit's Light Rail website.

p-patch trust!

Ok. Just wanted to talk a bit about an advocacy group here in Seattle which buys land to preserve -forever- as urban garden space. This group is called the P-patch Trust. This awesome organization started from the grassroots up. It is an amazing story of how a group of dedicated individuals can come together under a common cause and make a huge difference to the communities around them.
Rock on P-Patch Trust. Separate from the city community garden program also called 'P-patch', the trust's mission is to "acquire, build, preserve, and protect gardens in Seattle's neighboorhoods."

You know, as I learn more about what people can do and do do to protect this planet and all its inhabitants and I am humbled by their/our committment to leave this earth better than when we found it.

My thoughts for a rainy day here in Seattle, Washington.

New Gardening Links!

I've updated my links.
Check them out! The University of Washington has a FARM! , and the students have created their own community garden so that students living in the dorms can grow fresh food! Also, I linked the p-patch trust, an advocacy group for community gardens here in Seattle.
Some other things that are new on the link list:
Sustainable Seattle
Scallops (Sustainable Communities ALL over Puget Sound)
Slow Food (just like it sounds the OPPOSITE of Fast food...)

Energy Alternatives for the Apartment Dweller

Ok. So I want to go solar, but I want to live in an apartment. What is a renter like me supposed to do?
Well...........let me tell ya' we -as a human culture- will come up with everything. Check out this company: VERANDA SOLAR they are creating apartment-sized solar panels! SWEET! It is a load & go design.........sit it on the balcony etc. Here is an announcement article by Alternative Energy Info.

My friend Bernard and I were talking the other day about harnessing the energy of people! What about a cafe that had a bike hooked up to a generator...........30 minutes pays for the latte!
Well......Bernard and I aren't far off from this concept. Check out the "CROWD FARMS" large amounts of people -everyone actually- has electric charge and can create great amounts of electricity. In fact according to the article "sitting on a stool can light 4 LED lights". Go figure, and they don't talk about spinning in circles while you are sitting there.
So lets get going people! LETS LIGHT THE TOWN-literally!

Go Rotary!- Keep the land line!

Photo: Circa 1930. Real Antique. All parts are original -except for the cord going to the wall....which was re-wired in the 70's. (as in 1970's). 80 years and goin' strong!

Ok the other day Yahoo.com had their list for what not to buy............and one of their ideas was of get rid of your home phone. I DO NOT AGREE!

A few months ago, I went on ebay and bought a rotary phone. It takes a few more seconds to dial, and in the mean time I can relax and realize that life is to be lived and absorbed and treasured...............

with a cellphone I feel like I'm tethered to everyone else's calendar. -I refuse to answer it if I'm indisposed, or if I'm talking with a real person. But there is that nagging cultural pull.......to answer it the second it rings......

Take a breath.....buy a rotary phone. Many of them still work! Like this one. This one cost me $29.00. Not only is it a conversation piece.........people don't believe it works and want to play with it! They cost less than new fangled phones that die if you don't charge them .-I've had to replace my 'new' phone 2x. This last time I replaced it with the right product...an antique.

My advice: Realize the importance of things that 'stay'-things that 'last.' Antiques are precious this way. They are around for the long haul. They were made during a time when people realized the importance of the items in their homes and only bought was absolutely necessary.

So go ROTARY people! -And get the real deal....the fakes are popular out there where you push buttons that are in a circle design. You want to make sure yours is the one where you put your finger in the hole to dial the number.

Another nice perk is that I have to hold on the line to get a real person to talk to. The phone robot must know this and links me to a place where I can talk to a human being.

Ah......technology.........give me the good ol' stuff. I like my rotary. It makes me feel like a movie star.

Goodbye for now.

STOP! the JUNK MAIL

Do you get tons of advertisements coming into your mailbox?


What about credit offers (which are dangerous to get if you have a mailbox that could be tampered with)?


STOP THE JUNK MAIL!!

1. SEND IT BACK--When you get something you don't want to get SEND IT BACK. This works best when the material comes in a business reply envelope (Postage will be paid by addressee).

The company has to pay for each piece of mail that is returned to it. I usually cut up the material that has any information about me on it and include a letter with my address, name that says "Please take me off your list. I no longer wish to receive information from 'so and so company' Be sure to sign and date your letter.

2. EMAIL THE AD COMPANY-- Find the company name on the advertising you received. Google it. Find the company and ask to be taken off their list. In Seattle, we get plastered with advertising from Redplum AKA Valassis Inc. I've linked their removal site info here. This takes 5-6 weeks. Most of these companies have coupons and stuff available on their website where you can if you wish print out just the coupons or the coupon codes that you wish.

3. OPT OUT! Take your name off all of the credit card company lists. Call OPT OUT (not to be confused with Opt-in -words they use on the phone--they give you a choice) 1.888.567.8688 or visit the OPT-OUT website. Your request will be honored by the credit reporting services: Transunion, Experian, Inovice, and Equifax.

4. Check out these awesome websites and attempt to do everything they suggest!


Junk Mail: How did they all get my address?

Trash or Treasure? The Price of Junk Mail

PIGS in SPACE!

Photo: Super massive Black Hole/NASA

Ok............ I would much rather check out the Muppet Show than look into where our trash ends up. But, I believe that most of us (myself included) have no real clue, and in order to change things we NEED to KNOW. So I'm going to do a bit of research........

Looks like the little marble surrounded by an ocean of space is looking a bit overrun with TRASH. Estimates suggest that there is over 4 million pounds of the stuff floating around in the atmosphere. They call it space junk. In fact, it is hard to maneuver up there........astronauts have to fly around bits and pieces of rubbish.

We need to rethink the way we do things people. Come on!

If we keep fouling our nest....it is a LONG way to find another one.

THINK. DON'T BUY. REUSE. RE-CREATE. REPAIR.

And remember my mantra/motto when you are at the store...

"Ya' know, I don't really need that."

Breathe deeply and repeat until the urge to spend goes away...

"Ya' know, I don't really need that."

Say NO to STRYO!--Compostable "TO-GO!"

ROCK ON SEATTLE! Last year we instituted a law that says "SAY NO! to Stryro!"

Restaurants have to use compostable products! The forerunners in this whole process for the most part were the active students at the University of Washington in Seattle. They pushed forward with an initiative to get composting and compostable products available on campus. Check out this article from the student newspaper the UW Daily. By July of this year all restaurants in the city of Seattle will have to switch over. Many already have! Seattle's own KOMO 4 News ran a story back in October 2009 about the switch. The most striking info I found was that each and EVERY day a train loaded with over 3 tons of trash heads down to Oregon---it stretches nearly a MILE! EVERY DAY. Lets do the math--365 days x 6,000 lbs=2,190,000 -that is 2 million, one hundred and ninety thousand pounds each year!

How many people live in Seattle? Wikipedia has Seattle at a metro population of 3,344,813 so each and every one of us throws out over a 1/2 lb of waste EACH DAY! That is over 182.5 lbs of trash PER PERSON each YEAR! The Clean Air council double quadruples (how to you say 8x) my estimate at a whopping 4.39 POUNDS/Per person PER day!

OK people that is JUST RIDICULOUS!

I'm SO sorry Oregon! Beautiful Oregon---ya'll probably have enough waste of your own don't you think? What if Seattle had to KEEP all that trash? Geez...............do you think we would think twice about what we do with it?

Lets do Cricket poo!

Ok. I just had to list this on my blog. Exactly how many crickets does it take to produce a 20 pound bag of cricket poo? I don't know but these folks do, check out the Cricketpoo website.

Touted as being organic and 'really good' for gardens, this may be the next new thing! For those entomologists and fisherpeople out there the green revolution may increase the need for cricketpoo. Why let this stuff go to waste for goodness sake.

FYI: Insect poo has a scientific name---it is called frass. So if you really want to impress your friends, neighboors, family, and all those folks you meet on the bus or on the street... you can say you fertilize your garden with cricket frass! Frass has an ability to last a lot longer than one might think. Check out this article from the Bulletin of the Geological Society of Finland, "Finding Insect Frass in Baltic Amber" and Microlab Northwest Photography has a few lovely shots of the stuff.

Garden Furniture

Ok. A while back I detailed how to make garden containers out of furniture, but what about making furniture gardens!!

Check out these great designs for a living bean wall divider and a lettuce table by Judy Hosack at the Re-nest website.

Many thanks to my sister Shannon for info on this!

ROCK ON! I think I'm going to construct one of these to make up for the 80 days of sun we have a year on average here in Seattle.

Photo by Judy Hosack at Flicker.

I-5 Colonade Mountain Biking Path and Dog park!

Rock on Seattle! GREAT WAY TO USE URBAN SPACE!

mountainbiking UNDER the FREEWAY!

Check out I-5 Colonade park under the 1-5 freeway right in the center of Seattle, between Capitol Hill and Eastlake!

Pocket Parks--Eastlake Neighboorhood/Lake Union Seattle

I have to say that I love Seattle and how the city and the people have the ability to find nature in the smallest places. Take the 'pocket-parks'. Small parks, mini-parks, places with just one table, or one bench with a view of the water, or other views of nature--A small place to relax and enjoy. Often these places would have been full of cement, or trash.............more often than not people-the local community-came together to provide a place of silence in a busy world . Great job Seattle.







Terry Pettus Park

Lynn Street Park comes with a great community inspired bench and sign!

Say "Hello" to Itsy-bitsy Roanoke "Mini"Park!

Earth 911~Calling all Earthlings!

Ok................got stuff that you think is dangerous lying around the house:
florescent bulbs,
paint,
batteries.............
CHECK out the Earth 911 website here. Type in your zipcode and hazardous waste pick up is right around the corner in most places. Some places even have a 'waste-mobile' that will come to you if you live away from the city.