Dirty Kitty Litter Box + Pudge Sulking = Bath

My cat has recently developed this habit when she is sulking: sitting in the semi-dirty kitty litter box.  Talk about gross.  Ergo a bath was necessary.

Now if you've ever given a cat a bath, you know that it can be anywhere between World War III and the cat shutting completely down.  Thankfully Pudge is the shutting down type, at least until the end of the bath when she's finally had enough.

I used Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap, lavender scented because that's what I had.  It's certified fair trade, biodegradable, vegetable based, the packaging is 100% recycled, and certified organic oils were used within the solution.  I made sure to thin it out with water.  Which would insure less time rinsing her out which in turn translates to less stress for the both of us.

Pudge was such a good girl.  She didn't scratch, and hardly growled (although washing her rather large tummy wasn't appreciated).

Once the rinsing process came, she began to lose a bit of her patience.  And once I began to towel-off the water, she immediately had had enough and escaped.  Pudge took her revenge by drying off on my bed. 

I tried to get a decent picture of her but she wouldn't smile for the camera.

Now that she's dry, she's so clean and soft. =^.^=

Moving...not so Green.

I've recently moved apartments, just five blocks away but financially feasible for my remaining year at Northern.  Now I intended to be as green throughout the process as possible, and in the beginning it was good.  I recycled last semester's notes (that I have no intention of looking at ever again), I was packing at a slow pace seeing what all I had and making a mental list of what needed to be donated since it hadn't been used in two years, etc.  Considering I had a little over a week overlap between my two apartments I didn't really see the point in rushing to get everything done.

The downfall of my green efforts began with the remain effects of my former roommate, that moved out two and a half months before myself.  She had left countless of open food containers hidden throughout our kitchen.  Items consisting of flour and cereal and everything in between.  And when I say hidden, I mean hidden; on top of the fridge, behind our food containers, in the freezer, etc.  Any open food was deemed roommate's and was immediately pitched, regardless of whether it seemed okay or not.  Over two months of being open to the elements of our apartment wasn't a chance I or my current roommate was willing to take.

I had never been so disgusted with my former roommate as I had then, at least in the cleanliness department.  It took me forever to clean up  the food remnants on top of our fridge.  And yes, the classic cleaning supplies came out.  The green cleaning supplies just couldn't handle my desire to get my full security deposit back.

The walls were dusted paper towels were exclusively used, and washed but a magic eraser was used.  The windows washed with Lysol all purpose spray.  The floors were scrubbed and vacuumed.  And the grand total was three city trash bags and two boxes of recyclables, and very disintegrated fingernails (furthering my goal of reducing the harsh chemicals used to clean my apartment regularly).  Not bad in comparison to my friend who cleaned out her apartment and had twelve trash bags.

And we got our full security deposit back!

Cleaning the new apartment was much greener.  Almost used exclusively were the Seventh Generation Anti-bacterial wipes, which work amazingly just FYI.  Though the intense cleaning wasn't mandatory for this apartment since it had just been cleaned by the previous tenants so they could get their security deposit back.

Green Island: Earth Friendly Goods

A friend of mine has recently gotten married and is prego.  But because I live in the distant north (at least in comparison to my friend) I couldn't make it to the wedding and I most likely won't be able to make the baby shower either.  I wouldn't be deterred. 

Once my winter semester was finished, I booked it downstate.  A two week break from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (aka the UP), was much needed.  These breaks are usually filled with a lot of traveling and seeing people (the rents, high school friends, etc).

To find presents I traveled to Traverse City, Michigan.  Last fall the I attended the Bioneers conference and they shared a lot of local eco-friendly stores.  In one such store I found presents for both the wedding and the baby.  The Green Island is a cute little store that only sells eco-friendly products.  Products such as: bamboo kitchen utensils, organic bedding, a wide variety of washable/organic fabric diapers, etc.

For the wedding present, I found a set of gorgeous hand carved bamboo salad servers.  They were a really deep rich brown with black handles that which have white accents (the pattern reminds me somewhat of a tame African print).

I had some trouble picking something for the baby.  My experience with children is limited.  (That's putting it mildly.)  I didn't know what kind of things my friend already had, what was still needed, what she thought would be helpful.  The reusable organic diapers seemed like a good idea, they had some really cute patterns but would my friend actually use it?  How big would her munchkin be?  Is it any greener buying a green gift for my friend knowing that they wouldn't be used?

I settled on a creamy white onesie with blue seams (a safe pattern that way there would be some chance of my friend actually using it).   A 3-6 month size outfit that way the munchkin could grow into it.

 I also found some green wrapping paper (that wasn't grocery bag brown) that was created from the energy produced by wind turbines and recycled paper.

Overall I was rather proud of my gifts. I managed to get all of this for approximately $40 with tax. 

If you're interested in the store and its products check it out at: http://www.gogreenisland.com/index.php

I forgot to take pics before giving them, so I'm waiting for pics from my friend.  Hopefully I won't have to wait indefinitely.

Help is near at hand!

I stumbled across an article last week about the coming of stricter guidelines for the environmental claims on products. As of January, the U.S. Government requires a third-party testing/inspection on efficiency of the new products versus regular products.  This is true to all products that bear the Energy Star logo.  Apparently before it was only required for some of the products.

According to the article: consumers and retailers are getting frustrated with the products that claim to be eco-friendly but there isn't any proof to substantiate these claims.

Currently a common problem is companies labeling rayon as bamboo on products.  Rayon (according to www.thefreedictionary.com) is any of several synthetic textile fibers produced by forcing a cellulose solution through fine spinnerets and solidifying the resulting filaments.  Not a very green product, hopefully this issue will be addressed.

Hopefully these guidelines/regulations will make shopping green easier and will remove a lot of grunt work for those who want to live greener.

The End?

It's officially Summer Break, and my nonfiction class that I had created this project for is over.  Now the only question is whether I'm going to continue my project on my own.  I've learned a lot over this project and I don't think that I can just return to living without thinking about how green my life is.  I hope to continue posting green ideas and products.  I haven't finished Gorgeously Green yet so I'll at least post until then.

But for now I need to get to commencement to support my friends who are graduating.

Condoms: Is there a eco-alternative?

Since my last post felt...let's call it "heavy," I thought that I would share an experiment that Dr. Getman of the Chemistry Department here at Northern Michigan University showed my CH 112 class.  He began the lecture with, "Let's say you and I met at a bar and I'm a condom salesman, not your professor.  So I'm taking off my Professor cap and putting on my Condom Salesman cap."

The experiment was two condoms that were filled and tied with 1.5 grams (g) of Ca(CH3CO2)2 and are placed in 100 milliliters (ml) of H2O . One condom is latex, while the other is natural condom made of lamb skin. After letting the condoms stand for 24 hrs, the natural condom is firm & bouncy (please envision a 60ish year old man bouncing this condom on the table in front of an entire class of approximately 200 students); while the latex is soft or "limp" as Dr. Getman adequately described.

Now one must be advised that latex is completely impermeable and the natural condom will be permeable to H2O.  This is differentiation is due to the material used for the condom product itself. The osmotic pressure is what's making the natural condom firm and bouncy because it’s drawing in H2O from the external solution.

Now the purpose of this experiment is to determine if: the natural condom prevent STDs and/or pregnancy?

The H2O solutions that the condoms were submerged in were subjected to a chemical test (I have forgotten this chemical's name, sorry for my lapse in memory).  The chemical (if Ca(CH3CO2)2 was present) would turn the solution white.  The latex condom's solution had no reaction.  The natural condom's solution had a cloud of white flourish as soon as the chemical was applied.

This means that the natural condom will not protect against STDs because virus sizes are approximately 30-700 A in size. Numerous viruses can permeate membranes, and lamb skin is a membrane (just in case someone forgot). Viruses can also simply leak through the pores within the lamb skin.

The condom will protect against pregnancy because sperm is too large to fit through the pores of the lamb skin and does not have the ability to permeate membranes.

Bottom line…use latex if you are unsure of your partner’s (shall we say) health. But if your both healthy and nature lovers go for the natural condom that is unless you're a vegan then latex all the way. Remember safe sex, very important.

This is why I love being a science major because my profs pretend to be condom salesmen in lecture.

Shopaholic Intervention

This is the chapter that I have been dreading from day one: shopping constraints.  What you buy, how often you shop, where the materials come from, how the item potentially to be purchased was made.  Everything that I buy: food, cloths, books, online purchases, jewelery, electronics, etc. is now questionable to how green are the items that I buy.

I'm a college student, meaning that I'm broke.  This daunts me!  Organic food is expensive, Organic clothes (that look cute) are expensive, my Organic make-up cost me a pretty penny but it's all I've been wearing these past few weeks (and Mom helped out), Wal-mart's main source of products are made in China.  Even before I started this project I understood that Made in China = sweatshop.  Now Made in China = put back on the shelf no matter how cute I think it is.

We live in a consumer driven society.  To deny this is like my classmate Kiah saying that she enjoys every minute of missing her breakfast just so that she can have make-up on.

I walk into Target and see the new spring swimsuits and instead of me walking away because I bought two last year (that still fit fine), I look and see if there is one cute enough to tempt me into spending $40 on a new one.  Later I check the book and movie section to see what stories could tempt me away from being a studious student and into the slacker student.  The Papyrus card section is another good time waster at Target; they are handmade, fair trade, and some are made of recycled paper.  They are also expensive, $4 minimum.

Now because I'm a poor college student, it has save me from overspending.  But when I do get cash I feel like it's burning a hole in my pocket.  Suddenly it's like: OH, there's a ring that I've been wanting at the Silver Crow! or OH, I can go out to eat at Thai House because I've got spare cash.  In a strange way, me worrying about my rent check bouncing save me from most of these temptations and keeps me from wanting to further my cash supply.

Going out to eat is an easy way to loose cash fast, and it isn't that eco-friendly: having one meal made especially for you (not a good use of resources) and the resources used aren't always certifiably green (even if they aren't organic, they probably aren't locally harvested either).  Now I'm not saying don't go out to eat, just limit how often you do so.  Going out to eat once a month is perfectly fine, and it also makes the occasion more of a treat.

In my defense about the ring (because I do feel slightly guilty about buying it and now I get to compensate with smaller grocery availability), it was fair trade made in the United States by Native Americans from out west.  It was relatively cheap, considering how many responsible conditions to it's credit and I wear it a lot.  The only negative thing that I could think about the ring is that I don't know where the materials came from and how it was harvested from the earth.

Every item I buy has pros and cons, and really it's up to me to weigh the options and judge how "green" an object is.  This section of Being Gorgeously Green isn't about throwing away all my current clothes to get an entire organic wardrobe, nor is it about throwing away all my food (as few items as they may be) to replace it with locally grow and organic food.  It's about controlling my shopping habits, to put thought into what I'm buying, to think about where I'm buying (thrift shops are perfectly fine, just because it's secondhand doesn't mean that it's not worth a look), and to begin to introduce items that are better for the environment into my life.

P.S. I am also aware that China isn't the only country in the world that has sweatshops, the United States has them too.  We just hide them better.