reduce my environmental footprint

There will probably be a half dozen women who read this and think I’m talking out of my ass. “Who needs shaving cream?” they’ll think to themselves, “I just shave with water – duh.” Well ladies, I’m here to tell you that there are some of us fine skinned femmes out here who have to have something between the blade and our leg or we pay for it – big time.

I have a few issues with women’s shaving cream. The first being that it costs a butt ton for not much – $6-7 for how much?! The second that it comes in a variety of packaging that is not so hot for reducing ones environmental/waste footprint. There are the ubiquitous cans full of PCP’s and miscellaneous other crap – not to mention the fabulous tubes full of gels that are made of non-biodegradeable plastics.

I’ve been toying with the idea of quiting this game of incredibly expensive packaging for a while now, but I had no idea what to use in place of it. If I shave with water or soap, I come away with giant streaks of unpleasant razorburns, so just quitting it is not an acceptable answer.

Then thunder struck and the proverbial lightbulb lit. Beloved got me a copy of Julie and Julia for Christmas, and in it the author mentioned using her husband’s neglected shaving soap in a pinch. Brilliance! I thought.

The use of shaving soap requires four implements a razor, the soap, a shaving brush, and a mug that is wide enough for the soap and shallow enough for the brush. I already had two of these items – so I quested to the store for some shaving soap and a brush. To my delight, I found a Burma_{Shave brush with one of their famous couplets on the box for $4.50. Appropriately, the couplet was, “The stores are full of shaving aids – but all you need is this and blades.” A box of Williams Shaving Soap was $0.93 – though I saw it Sunday at the market for $0.83.}

So the time came for the great test. Would this work? Would it be insanely labourious? Who knew? but at $0.93 for probably about a month of shaving I was game.

I would like to advise that you use only the most piping hot water your sink can produce for this. In goes the soap – after one shave it seals it’s self to the bottom of your mug, so there’s less clatter after the first time. I add some hot hot water – just enough to get the soap wet, and start wisking like the devil. It took about a minute for thick, creamy soap to come up from the mug. Daubing it on with the brush it’s thick and cool – the water cools down fast. And the shave? Heavenly. It took me far less time to do my legs, with exactly the same results I would have gotten from any far more over priced method of shaving.

Having done it a couple times now, I think one cake of soap will last far more than a month, and since it only has a box as far as litter goes, I’m a lot more happy with it than with anything else I’ve used to date as far as footprint goes.

Enjoy your cans and tubes girls – I’ll keep my BurmaShave around a while.

I gave up new cd’s officially for new years. However, I have amassed quite a collection over the years, most of which I don’t listen to. Lala allows people to trade their cds for a dollar a trade, and twenty cents of that goes back to the artist. I am adding nothing to the waste cycle in this manner.

Today’s errands run a bit differently than they normally would.

I’m getting my vacation film developed. I want to ask if I can just get a photo CD, so all that gets printed are the ones I want.

I’m making a laptop sleeve out of used bluejeans and t-shirts instead of buying an overpriced one made out of synthetic materials in a third world country.

I’m patching my jeans instead of buying new ones, and I’m using fabric scraps instead of iron-on patches coated in chemicals.

I’m taking my green buying book to the grocery store.

I’m parking in the back of the parking lot.

I’m hoping small strategies can make a difference. Hoping that I can lead by example. Hoping that my small efforts make some little iota of the earth a little better.

http://www.amoslee.com/home.php

I love Amos Lee. This morning I decided to buy his album. I go to Borders and read while my laundry is going, and I was going to just purchase it, but then I decided to buy it from Amazon in mp3 format. It reduces the waste involved in my music. I’m going to try and go all electronic with all my new music from here on out.

Keep in mind – the plastic in a CD jewel case cannot be recycled. After you pitch it it goes to a landfill.

I’ve become hooked on a couple new magazines, Blueprint- A Martha Stewart publication, and ReadyMade Magazine. Both of them offer ideas of ways to reduce your waste, and the ill effects you have on the environment and vice versa.

I feel challenged to get some of the projects required to set up my new home done, without running to the Home Depot yet again. I’m doing work on things on my own, which is empowering and satisfying, and I’m working on things with others, which helps me in a different way.

I live in a city now. My resources have quadrupled. Who am I to not use them?

I have been working on this for a while now. I am working on a garden to reduce trips to the store, and all the ills of corporate farming. I am doing it organically so that I do not pollute more.

Today I combined bottles of a cleaner – somehow I ended up with two, and I am saving the second bottle to hold a home-made environmentally friendly cleaner.