Repurposing Old Blinds

Our neighbours are renovating their basement suite and taking all sorts of things to the landfill. One day, we saw them loading some old window blinds into their van. "Wait!" shouted my partner, "are those window blinds??"

Yep, they were... those old flimsy thin metal blinds that are so annoying. What the heck could we possibly want with them? Well... reduce... reuse... repurpose!

We had visited one of the community gardens in the spring for their plant sale. They produce a LOT of flower and veggie seedlings and all of those little pots need plant tags. What do they use? Old metal window blinds! Yep, they cup them into 4-6" pieces, and then stick the plant labels (printed out) on the blinds. They work perfectly!

Ever since then... we've been on the hunt for old window blinds. And we found them next door! We happily carted two sets of window blinds back to our place where they lay on the ground for several weeks. 

We only need one set as it will make tonnes and tonnes of plant tags for us. The other set... we thought we could take it to the community garden, because they are always looking for more window blinds.

After getting in the way of lawn mowing several times, I decided to just sit down and cut up our set of old blinds. They are so thin that a pair of sturdy scissors worked just fine.

The one set of blinds made hundreds of plant tags, more than enough to keep us going for quite a while!

And they work great in the little pots that we have planted up for sale. Right now, we are using a wax pencil on the tags but I think a Sharpie would work as well. 

This system works way better than going to Home Depot and buying some cheapo plastic plant tags. I love it when we find something that works so well! And when the plant tags reach the end of their days, we can take them to metal recycling and not throw them away. Win-win-win.

Think of the Postivies

I'm sitting in McDonald's again this morning (6:30 am) after a few weeks of relapsing back to Starbucks. I know, I know... change is hard. I wrote about that a while back and it's so true. Even after writing that I was breaking up with Starbucks... there I was... back in it's familiar space. This morning though... I thought... "no"... just do it!

I walked in the door at McDonald's and figured out how to place an order on their big display screens. Another new thing. Now, it came in a disposable cup... so I'm going to have to figure out if they do reusable mugs. I'd probably have to order at the counter but... the first order has been completed. I can't articulate what a big hurdle that was for me... maybe not huge... but big enough that every morning I just thought "I'll just go to Starbucks". So it was probably more like a speed-bump hurdle but... it doesn't take much to derail the best laid plans! Oh... and get this... McDonald's has "table service"!? You can place your order, give them your table number and then sit down while they bring it to you! Go figure!

This morning, there is a different crowd hanging out at McDonald's. These are the guys heading off to work, a lot of them middle-aged. There is one table of old guys chatting away. It's not that different from Starbucks actually... where there's a similar gaggle of middle-aged construction guys that hang out. But I guess... the difference is, I'm on a first-name basis with some of them. And here... it's all new and different and strange.

Now McDonald's has a fairly limited tea selection but... the price is ridiculous. At Starbucks, it now costs $3.90 for a small tea. Here... I can get a senior's tea (smaller) for $1.42. And even a small tea would still be less than half the cost of a Starbucks tea. Soooo... sitting here... I am thinking of the positives...

Walkable/Bikeable

The McDonald's is an easy 30 minute walk from home. I can do that. And it's maybe an 8 minute bike ride. Also very doable. And I'll get the bonus of exercise. What's not to love about that? I could also bike to Starbucks but it's probably more like a 15 minute bike ride and that just somehow seems a bit of a bigger hurdle. 

Cheaper

This is a no-brainer. If I get a Starbucks tea every day (more or less)... that's... let's just round up... $4/day = $120/month.

Whereas at McDonald's... it's $1.50/day or $45/day. What could I do with an extra $75/month? A heck of a lot more than over-priced tea!

Reliable Wifi

Sometimes, at Starbucks, connecting to the wifi is a real hassle. You have to login every single time, even if you check off the little box that says connect automatically. And sometimes the wifi just doesn't work well.

Whereas, here at McDonald's, I was here once and connected to the wifi. This morning, I didn't have to do anything, the laptop connected automatically to the wifi and I was off and running. Gotta love that!

Quiet Music

Sometimes, at Starbucks, the baristas have the music cranked and are rocking their favourite playlists. Which is fine when no one is in the store but... when there are customers... it gets to be a bit much. Part of the problem is that the speakers are in the front corners of the store, far from the baristas, so in order to hear the music over the noise of the espresso machines and coffee grinders, they crank it. 

Here at McDonald's, they have ceiling speakers and even though I am basically sitting under one of them, the music is very chill - Lionel Richie, Phil Collins... Not exactly cool coffee shop jazz but... it's not hideous.

Errand-Friendly

The two Starbucks that I visit the most tend to have errand options nearby. The farthest one has Superstore, Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, etc. Hard to beat that for errand- friendly but... can McDonald's compete with the others?

• Starbucks 1 - grocery store, big thrift store, drug store/post office
• Starbucks 2 - dollar store, bulk food store
• Starbucks 3 - grocery store, library, drug store/post office
• McDonalds - grocery store, drug store/post office, vet, hair cut, several thrift stores

So, it does compare quite favourably. 

Scales Tipping in Favour of McDonald's?

It's kind of hard to argue with all of those pros... isn't it? Especially against a tiny list of cons. They are a multi-national conglomerate behemoth? So is Starbucks. It feels unfamiliar and strange. Yep... that's how life works. Life is change. Life is growth. I used to love Starbucks hot chocolates and that was the draw back in 2010. No other hot chocolate (Timmies for example) could compare. But tea? Tea is pretty generic. I'm not a tea connoisseur by any means.

At this point, it's the shear force of habit that keeps me going to Starbucks... and familiarity. But I can do this, right? I am stronger than those well-worn paths in my synapses! Small steps. 

Reusable Mugs for Cheap

Yep. I'm at Starbucks gain. Don't ask me about McDonald's! Today, I rode my bike though, so that's a check-mark in the plus column! And yes, the disposable cup is a definite check in the minus column. Especially since I got a refill on my tea and have now used TWO disposable cups!

Ugh... When I packed my bike backpack this morning, I thought about taking a reusable mug but... it wasn't washed and... well... that was just that little bit of extra energy that I didn't have. Plus... it adds weight to the backpack so I talked myself out of bringing it.

Which isn't the best thing. My bike ride here (plus!) is effectively cancelled in terms of its eco benefit because of my two (and counting) disposable cups. 

Ideally, I'd have a whole slew of reusable mugs/tumblers that I could bring with me to Starbucks. And it's true... we do have several, but at least 2 are stashed in the car as back-up mugs there!! And the rest of them are cheapo plastic ones.

I've been reading a bit about the dangers of plastic and hot things. Were not supposed to microwave food in plastic containers cause the heat releases bad stuff from the plastic. And soooo... when I think of my hot tea in a plastic tumbler/mug... I get the heebie-jeebies now.

Now... there are reusable mugs/tumblers that are metal on the inside. It's just a matter of finding one.

And yes... I could probably buy one at Starbucks... for $$$$ but that's not me. I kept my eyes open at Value Village for weeks and bought a metal-lined tumbler months ago!

It is even a Starbucks one!! It's perfect. A grande size (medium size) with a metal interior. It's even lighter than the plastic ones.

It's just that... it wasn't washed this morning. I need to get better at talking myself into the minimal amount of energy it would take to just rinse out the thing and toss it into my backpack!

And, I do have to admit... I was quite happy when I found this one. It was less than $4 and it cost $25 new! Can't go wrong with that price.

I don't know who buys new mugs at Starbucks but... I thank you for this one!

And... I suppose... I could ask the baristas to give me my tea in a "for here" ceramic mug. I mean... really... the inside of the disposable cups are lined with plastic too (heebie-jeebies!!). Maybe I should try it... I just know from past experience that my hot chocolates would always get cold much faster in the ceramic mugs. But... with the tea and uber hot water that they use... maybe a ceramic mug is actually a benefit!! I will make an effort... I will... seriously.

Would You Eat Cultivated Meat?

What the heck is cultivated meat?! The Future Food? Imagine meat that has no pathogens - no salmonella, no e coli. Imagine meat that is grown without animals existing in obscenely cruel conditions. Imagine a meat that has a lower carbon footprint. Imagine a meat with no growth hormones.

Churchill imagined it in 1931...

Fifty years hence, we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken
in order to eat the breast or wing,
by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”

Far-sighted man was Churchill. He just had the timing wrong...

Cultivated meat is also known as cultured meat, cell-based meat, artificial meat, and designer meat. It's here. Whether it catches on is the next question. 

Cultivated meat, is meat that is grown in a laboratory... well... actually... more like a brewery. Animal cells (let's say chicken) are taken and grown with amino acids in massive bioreactors (like a brewery vat). When the meat is ready, it comes out looking like minced meat and is then shaped and formed into chunks of "meat". The cells that are used can be from any part of the animal, even feathers.

But... I can hear you now... does it taste and feel like meat? Or is it going to taste like one of those regurgitated McNuggets? Generally... taste testers admit that it does taste and feel like real meat. The meat balls can be a bit "denser" than regular meat balls. But the flavour is bang on - "full and savoury".

There are huge environmental benefits to this form of ethical meat. But there are some caveats. These processing plants... or meat breweries... use a large amount of energy. As long as they are using renewable energy sources - hydroelectric or solar or wind - then the carbon footprint is much lower than your massive chicken factory/barn. But... if they are using fossil-fuel generated electricity... they have a bigger carbon footprint than traditional meat.

And right now... the serum in which the cells are grown is FBS - Fetal Bovine Serum. And yes, a calf fetus gave up its nascent life to contribute its life blood to "slaughter-free" cultivated meat. Bit of an oxymoron there.

Will this actually become a mainstream "thing". And how much does it cost?

The FDA just approved (23 June 2023) the sale of cultivated meat in the USA (CNN article). So it is here. And if you live in the states, you could potentially find "lab grown" meat on your alternative grocery store shelves.

As for the costs... the first lab grown steak cost $300,000 to make. But costs have come down since then. The first of anything is always going to be expensive. After that, economies of scale "should" bring prices down. Remember... the first computer cost $$$$$ and now... few hundred bucks.

But there are some serious questions about how cultivated meat can be scaled to be affordable. Right now... a kilogram of lab grown meat costs about $20,000. That would make for an expensive burger. And trying to get it down to the range of $17/lb or $40/kg... well... there's the kicker.

There would need to be some huge technological advancements and a shift in resources for this to be viable on the large scale. But maybe... as climate change pushes us forwards... we'll make those choices. Or maybe cultivated meat will just be a exclusive experience for the uber-rich.

Remember Thomas Watson, the president of IBM? In 1943, he famously said "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

So... who knows what the future brings. I'd like to remain on the optimistic side. Cultivated meat would solve so many issues... as long as it doesn't create more problems.

And then there is the burning question... would YOU eat cultivated meat? Would consumers actually want this stuff? I know I would eat it. In moderation of course. 

More Reading

The Counter - Article about the huge problems facing cultivated meat - 9 Sept 2021
The Scientist - Removing the Animals from lab-grown Meat - 9 May 2023

Carbon Rationing in the Future?

The Future?

Last month, I wrote a post about our carbon footprint and how we need to do better. All of us. And I raised the possibility of one solution being carbon rationing. It seems a radical concept, but is it?

Right now, we have carbon taxes, a controversial subject that affects some of us more than others. In BC, our gasoline prices are quite high because we have a high carbon tax. In Alberta, gasoline prices are much lower because they don't have a significant carbon tax. A carbon tax is also not ideal because it disproportionately affects the poor more than the wealthy. When you have money to burn... a carbon tax on gasoline doesn't impact you as much as it would someone who is on a tight budget.

Carbon rationing on the other hand would affect everyone the same. And no, there would be no carbon trading allowed. Because carbon trading, again, affects the poor more than the wealthy.

UK WW2 Ration Book

When I tossed the idea of carbon rationing out there... I was basing that more on my knowledge of rationing in the UK during the Second World War. People received a ration book and you had a set amount of sugar, meat, milk, clothing, etc that you could purchase. It was a pretty basic system with a paper ration book and little detachable squares that you would hand to the merchant as you purchased your ration of sugar. German had the same thing.

This system was accepted by most of the populace because it affected everyone equally. Everyone, rich or poor, was in the same boat. You didn't get a bigger ration if you were wealthy. You got the same ration of meat as the next person. 

I did a bit more research into this idea and... it's a thing. It's actually been trialed in Finland and Australia! Imagine opening an app on your phone each morning and checking your carbon footprint. And seeing how each and every trip in your car impacts your carbon budget. And no... there is no "carbon credit card" where you buy now and pay later. Although maybe there will be "lay away"... where you save your carbon allowance for a big trip? Interesting ideas...

The idea of carbon rationing has been around for a while. In 2006, David Miliband, then UK Environment Secretary, suggested it as a way to engage the average person in addressing climate change. But a subsequent investigation by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) reported that a scheme to track everyone’s carbon use was too costly, unproven and lacked public support. DEFRA concluded that carbon rationing was “an idea currently ahead of its time”. 

That was almost 20 years ago... perhaps it's time has come? Or maybe it's a carbon tracking scheme.... where you track how much carbon you are emitting. Because, honestly... we really have no idea how much carbon a trip to the grocery store "costs". But what if we did? What if we could then make smarter choices?

Carbon rationing would be a pretty draconian measure... but those times might come. And with technology's leaps and bounds... it might be a lot easier to track than a paper booklet. What if, on your store receipt... you could see the carbon cost of that whole chicken that you bought from the grocery store? What if it was all tracked automatically? I know, I know... Big Brother is watching. I hate to tell you this... but they are already watching.

What if carbon rationing is the only way that we can save our children and grandchildren from a desolate future of runaway climate change? Would you make that sacrifice for your children? Our grandparents made that sacrifice during the Second World War. What makes us think that we are exempt or immune from something similar? To save the planet. And our future.

Because right now... we are all in a HUGE carbon debt. All of us. And there is no way to declare carbon bankruptcy. The consequences aren't simply... oops... you lose your house and now you get no credit cards for 7 years. Our carbon debt has global implications.

Move aside Bitcoin... maybe the future is Carboncoin. And if it is... we should all start practicing how to track our spending and balance our budget with our own personal finances... It's somewhere to start.

More Reading

BBC - Can rationing carbon help fight climate change? - 2020
New Republic - The Climate Case for Carbon Rationing - 2023
Nature - Personal Carbon Allowances Revisited - 2021
Resilience - The Best Climate Policy You’ve Probably Never Heard Of - 2022
Globe & Mail - The Climate Crisis is like a world war - so let's talk about rationing - 2019

How do you Bookend Your Day?

I'm in the middle of a disheveled week. There's a workshop sucking up 4 hours of my morning which is basically the whole morning - from 7 am to 11 am. The afternoon sucks up more time related to the workshop... with the end result that I'm spending 6-7 hours of my day working on this contract. Normally... I do maybe 1-2 hours a day. Hence the dishevelment of this week!

Given all that is going on, I am handling it remarkably well. And that's not must me thinking that... that's my partner commenting on it as well! Despite the fact that my usual morning routine is a bit out the window... I'm not blogging, journaling is hit or miss, and let's not even talk about my morning walk... However, I am managing to keep some of the key pieces in place - like meditation, cat cuddling (very important) and a healthy breakfast.

And in the evenings, I am still doing my journaling and reading a book. Still finishing eating by 6:00 (ish) and limiting my time on the computer screens... even though I still have to do a final sweep of workshop related stuff at 8 pm. 

All in all... not doing too badly. As we were talking, it came to me that... as long as my morning and evening routines are remaining fairly intact, the rest of the day flows not too badly. Yes, there are ups and downs and disruptions but... I'm handling it better than I have in the past. It's like my morning and evening routines are bookends to my days.

Some days... I probably wouldn't miss a bookend, or even both of them... because the day is like a bunch of hardcovers... they can stand up on their own for a while. Day after day... likely not. But for just this day... I can manage without a bookend.

Other days however... I'm trying to corral a bunch of floppy softcovers and... geez... without both bookends, the day just ends up falling apart. Pull those bookends away and it's a right-old mess!

The thing is... I really don't know what the day is going to look like, so it's important for me to tend my bookends. I need to pay attention to my morning routine... and if I can't go for a walk, at least I could puzzle for a bit instead. I can make these little adjustments and still find time for me, even in a hectic morning. What I'm realizing is that I can seize those small moments and actually get a fair bit done. This morning... I didn't journal or blog... but I did work on another personal writing project, and that felt really good.

I also can't neglect my evening routines. Even though the day is done... the evening routine gives me a chance to decompress... to journal a bit and debrief. To play a game with my partner (and lose!). To read a book, even just a few pages. All of this calms me and prepares me for the next day. It allows me to clear the space so that I'm not carrying unresolved stuff into the next day.

What I'm also realizing is that my morning bookend has a bunch of moving parts. Depending on the day of the week, I might do weights... or I might go for a walk. Or I might work on one of these blogs. Or maybe I'll work on my other writing project. Perhaps I'll go for a walk... or save that for later. It's much easier on me when I have a set routine... first do this, then do this, then do this. That's part of what makes habit stacking so effective. I'm finding it harder with all of these mobile options. It's very easy for me to forget some key parts, especially if I start off the day doing something different... like working on a puzzle first thing. I really need to focus to connect with... what to do next.

A flexible routine is an oxymoron to me... routine is something set and solid. It's not flexible. And for something to be flexible... that implies that there is a lot of room for variability... totally not routine! So I am having to wrap my head around the idea of marrying these two contrary concepts into a united whole. Is there such an offspring?? I guess I might need to alter my vision of routine... perhaps it is not "rigid" or "structured"?

Or perhaps... rather than seeing my morning routine as a solid block... I need to see it as series of smaller pieces, that can be combined into different shapes. Kind of like Lego blocks. Some pieces are non-negotiable... like stretching and meditating... and journaling... but other than that, I can grab different pieces and combine as I choose... in the timeline that I choose.

Maybe... I will have to mull this over a bit more. In the meantime... I will work on hanging onto my daily bookends! They are small steps... but without them, my days would be a bit of a mess!

Your Recycle Bin is Easily Contaminated

Recycling... we all try so hard, but it is a huge challenge. I sometimes tell guests that they need a PhD in recycling to figure out our system. Some things can be placed in the blue bin, but some have to go to the depot. All cans and plastic tubs need to be washed to avoid food contaminating the paper in the bin. Pizza boxes... which look like they could go in the blue bin, really need to go in the green bin because of all the green stains on the cardboard. And on it goes.

We have a large basket in the cupboard under the sink that collects all of our recyclables. Once a week, I take it out to the blue bin and do a final once-over. There is always something that has snuck into the recyclables that doesn't belong there... a glass bottle, a pill bubble pack (mix of foil and plastic - not recylable) or a kleenex box with the plastic bit.

Our city is cracking down on blue bin contamination. They are sending scouts out ahead of the trucks now and checking blue bins. And woe to the household that has banned items in their blue bin. They might get a warning... and then after a few of those... something more serious might happen. Not sure what that is yet... but I'm sure we'll hear about it. Friends of ours have had two warnings already. Now... they recently moved into a house from an apartment so they are new to the whole blue bin thing. But they are getting a crash course!

Anyhow... I thought I would go over some of the obvious things that contaminate our paper recylables... A really good rule of thumb is this... if it's made of two different components (paper and plastic) it is NOT recyclable.

Tissue Boxes

This is an easy one. See that plastic window... it's gotta come out. And it doesn't take much to just reach into the box and tease the plastic away from the box. Depending on your jurisdiction, that plastic might even by recyclable... but with the filmy plastic stuff... not as part of the paper stuff.

I always flatten out the kleenex boxes as well, otherwise our basket under the kitchen sink gets full super fast.

It just takes a moment or two to tear out the plastic window and then flatten the box.

Pasta Boxes

And then we have pasta boxes... the ones with the little plastic windows so that you can see what type of pasta is in the box.

Not sure why we need that little plastic window... a picture of the pasta would be perfectly fine too! In fact... in the UK... in 2020... Barilla got rid of the little plastic window! They realized they didn't need it...

That was 3 years ago... not sure why that little innovation hasn't trickled across the Atlantic but... our pasta boxes still have plastic windows.

And guesss what... yep, you need to take the little plastic window out when you toss the box into the blue bin. And these ones are much harder to get out than the kleenex box. I often have to rip out the entire cardboard bit that the window is stuck to. So annoying. Time to ban those little plastic windows!

Christmas Cards

But they're paper, right? They should be easily recyclable? Well... it depends on what they are made of. Remember... things made of two different materials... especially plastic-y things... generally not recyclable. 

I hate to tell you this but there is no paper in the world that looks like shine-y gold or silver. All of that stuff is some sort of foil... probably nylon foil. And glitter/sparkles are definitely not paper.

Sooo if your Christmas card is pure, boring paper with no glitz or glam... it's probably recyclable. But if it's got sparkles or shiny bits... nope. I tend to rip the front off of these cards and toss that bit while recycling the back bit.

Store Receipts

Back in the day... we used to get short little paper receipts from stores, like tiny ones. One of the thrift stores in town still has a receipt like that. And it's actually "paper".

But most stores use thermo-paper and those receipts are super long with all sorts of information on them. But here's the thing... they are all coated (mostly) with BPA (Bisphenol A), a nasty industrial chemical that is super bad for human health. If you did put your receipts into the blue bin... the BPA would contaminate the rest of the paper... and might end up in tissues. We don't want that. Soooo... store receipts are NOT recyclable.

But what do you do with them? Throw them in the trash. If you're concerned about info on the receipts... then shred them and toss them.

Envelope Windows

I remember reading once that you could leave those little plastic address windows on envelopes when you recycle them. That still seems to be the case, probably because those little windows aren't super attached to the paper. It is relatively easy to heat the paper and have the adhesive dissolve. But if you want to go for it... tear out those plastic windows!

See... the rule of thumb about not recycling two different materials doesn't apply everywhere! Sigh.

Padded Envelopes

Some padded envelopes are obvious... they are plastic on the outside and have plastic padding (bubble wrap). Other padded envelopes are less obvious. They look like paper on the outside and inside... but have a layer of plastic bubble wrap hidden from view. You'll know they have plastic guts though because they are light... and make a plastic sound when you squish them and bend them. The other option is a padded envelope that is stuffed with paper products. They are usually a bit heavier and... for lack of a better word... feel lumpy. There are also some new ones that have a layer of honey-comb cardboard or corrugated cardboard as padding. Those are obviously great!

For recycling... pure plastic padded envelopes... can be recycled in our jurisdiction if they go into the flexible plastic stream and get dropped off a the depot. Pure paper padded envelopes can go into the blue bin. The mixed material envelope... with paper and bubble wrap... not recyclable. Goes in the garbage.

So annoying... Not sure why we need padded envelopes that can't be recycled... Do they "look" nicer than one-material envelopes?

Take-out Cups

These are a bane on the landscape. Timmies coffee cups. McDonald's drink cups. Starbucks latte cups. 7-11 slurpie cups. So many convenience cups. All of them lined with a thin film of plastic. What to do with them? Blue bin? Green bin?

They actually go into the blue bin, at least in our jurisdiction. As long as they are rinsed so they don't contaminate everything else in the blue bin.

Now that is all "in theory". I found this link which laid it all out quite nicely. The coffee cups are sorted out and then baled up and sent to a paper mill. There, they are shredded and then sent into a "hydropulper" which separates the different layers. Great! In theory...

The Cost of Contaminated Recycling

There was a recent news article on CBC which uncovered huge problems with our recycling system. You see... India receives tonnes of paper recyclables from Canada, which is not ideal to start with (huge carbon footprint shipping all that stuff overseas). But on top of that... the "pure paper" bales are contaminated with all sorts of things - like coffee cups and milk cartons and other plastics. 

And that's not the only time this has happened... Malaysia... the Philippines... All of them are miffed at Canada for sending contaminated containers containing "recyclables" which end up containing basically... garbage. Things like soiled adult diapers. That's just wrong.

Now, we aren't responsible for what gets baled and sent to India. Are we? Well, we aren't making up the bales but... what we put in our blue bin is the starting point. It all starts with us. Small steps... remember.

What to do with Dead Batteries?

What do you do with your dead (or dying) batteries? I'm talking anything from AAA to 9 volt to Lithium-Ion to laptops to watches to car batteries. The average household has 80-100 batteries within its walls. Batteries are everywhere around us. Filled with metals and chemicals, some toxic, some not so much. But what do we do with them at the end of their life? Do they just go in the garbage?

Batteries in the Garbage

In some jurisdictions, batteries are frozen, crushed and then tossed in the landfill. Despite containing valuable metals, it's just not cost-effective to pick most batteries apart for these jurisdictions. At least not yet.

But this tossing of batteries is very short-sighted. Batteries will corrode and leak toxic elements into the groundwater, things like cadmium, silver, lead, mercury and nickel. This is obviously NOT a good idea - contaminated soil and groundwater is a long-term problem.

Car Batteries

Filled with lead and acid, these batteries need special handling. Your friendly neighbourhood car repair shop may take these free of charge especially if you are buying a new battery from them. Most transfer stations, landfills, and some recycling centres will also take car batteries.

But then what? Do they actually get "recycled" or just deactivated and dumped? Well... it's actually kind of fascinating... You can watch this YouTube video if you're super interested! But basically... they get all crunched up and then stuff gets sifted out...

• 99% of the lead in car batteries is recovered during the smelting process and is recycled or sold as a commodity
• 100% of the sulphuric acid is recovered and either recycled, sold as a commodity or neutralized for disposal.
• Plastics (the housing of the battery) - recycled and sold as a commodity

There is no need to have a garden shed or garage you (or your aged male relative) stockpiles dead car batteries. They are much easier to dispose of nowadays. Same with car tires. No need to dump these out in the bush. That's just wrong.

Recycling Household Batteries

There are scads of places that accept used household batteries, everything from Staples to Home Depot. But what actually happens with the recycled batteries? Is this just a "feel-good" way of tossing them into a landfill?

Nope... more on that later... but for now... here's a list of places that accept old household batteries. And, in case you're wondering... batteries do NOT go into your blue bin. Just don't. You're basically tossing them in the garbage.

So... here in BC... you can recycle household batteries at places like:

• Home Depot
• Home Hardware
• London Drugs
• Staples
• Canadian Tire
• Rona
• Best Buy
• Recycling Depots - where you also bring styrofoam, plastic bags, used paint, etc.

But then what? You dump them in the bin at the recycling depot or at Staples and... where do they go?

Call2Recycle Canada

All of the battery recycling in BC is under the umbrella of Call2Recycle Canada. They are the ones who come and collect the batteries from participating retailers and process them. Want to know where a recycling collection point is for your area? Just type in your postal code on the Call2Recycle site and you'll get a list of places.

So what actually happens to your batteries? Well, they are sent to a recycling centre where they are sorted according to size and type. After that, they are sent to processing centres.

Nickel-based batteries, for example are sent to Sudbury. Depending on the battery type, they are then either melted, or ground into powder. The melting process allows the metals to be extracted. The single-use alkaline batteries are the ones ground into powder allowing the recovery of steel, nickel zinc, manganese and potassium. (Check out this YouTube video if you want to see the process.)

After that... the metals and/or materials are reused in different ways. The Call2Recycle site outlines the whole process and what happens to each type of battery.

I was a bit surprised when I saw that alkaline batteries are recycled into sunscreen and concrete aggregate! What the heck? Turns out the batteries contain zinc... and we all know that zinc goes into sunscreen. Whew.

Take-Away

The bottom line is... all batteries can be recycled. Don't throw any of them into the trash. Take them to a recycling centre/depot where they can be safely processed and converted into other products. No one else is going to do this for us. It's up to us to take that little bit of extra time and extract batteries from used devices (toys, watches, mobile phones, laptops, flashlights, remotes) and recycle them responsibly. We can do this. 

Going with the Flow instead of Struggling Upstream

Do you ever have one of those days where things just go wrong, over and over again? No matter what you do... particularly if you're in a rush or have something urgent on your plate... the universe just does NOT cooperate. Yep... I'm having one of those days.

I'm sitting in Starbucks and trying to get some work done on my laptop. It worked fine yesterday and now today...

• the browser is freezing - not responding
• the internet is not connecting
• I tried another browser but that didn't work either
• I killed all the browsers and tried again
• Windows is running an update in the background (memory hog)
• the second browser returned a bug report that it wanted to send to Mozilla (memory hog)
• I tried my phone instead of Starbucks wifi - still clogged
• Norton (which really needs to be uninstalled) is slowing everything even more

Almost an hour later... I have nothing to show for more time here except a deeper furrow on my brow. I did bring a journal and wrote a bit of my frustration away but... sometimes I think the message from the universe is... slow down... go with the flow... be patient. None of which is something I really want to hear right now!!

I want to get some work done, darnit!!! Ugh... but sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Because, honestly, struggling upstream against all of these computer delays is simply not good for me. And I am really not a great... go-with-the-flow type of gal. Unless, of course... the flow is going my way and then I'm zooming along quite happily.

It's when the universe has different plans from my own... and our plans are in direct opposition... that things go sideways. I think I should be doing X and the universe is making that very challenging! But perhaps the real message is... I shouldn't be doing X... but rather the exact opposite of X which is... Y?
But I don't want to do Y!!! I want to do X!! ... pouting face... Which is fine. I can be like that... but it's raising my blood pressure and making me frustrated and I'm getting mad with myself for not letting the computer do it's stupid updates overnight and... and... and... it's not pretty. So. Can I just take a deep breath and... allow the situation to just be the way it is. Can I just sit here and take another deep breath and murmur... "it's all ok". 

If I could do that, I think a lot of stress in my life would just slip away. Because... while I hate to admit it... this morning was very busy and I came to Starbucks in the early afternoon to take a breather and regroup and... slow down. Maybe the universe is wiser than I am. Or listens better than I do. Even though I come here looking to regroup after a tedious 5 hours spent on the computer... I immediately go back on the computer, ostensibly to write this blog... but it's still more of the rush-rush attitude. Deep breath.

OK... you wheedled it out of me... if truth really be told... I want a chocolate brownie!! And I don't have enough $$ in my Starbucks app and I need to load more $$ using the web app if I want to do a mobile order. Which I do... otherwise I have to get up and leave my computer behind (and out of sight) while I go to the cashier and put more money in the app and order it that way.

There... fine... I said it. And... the Starbucks we app is not opening!!! Argh!!! But I just figured out that I can do it on the phone app so I did. So there! Hmph.

But I think the lesson still stands. Sometimes we need to slow down, take a deep breath, stop... and just let the water flow around us. Rather than going against the flow... go with the flow... instead of muttering imprecations against the computer... I could have pulled out the greeting cards that I keep in my backpack for just such an eventuality and written a few cards. That way the computer can slog through whatever updates it needs to do without me interrupting it every few seconds with a new request, thereby prolonging the agony. One day... I will learn this lesson.

The Siren Call of Sugar and Processed Carbs

Every one in a while, I'm not sure why... we go through a bit of a junk food spell. One, or both of us, will cave and crave chocolate.. or sugar... or processed carbs.

Maybe it's because of a "bad" day... or an emotional day... or a hard day or... a good day! Maybe we got a lot done on the house or in the garden and... at the end of the day... we just want something to "reward" ourselves.

I am not sure why that reward has to be sugar but it is deeply ingrained into both of our psyches. Perhaps it's a leftover from childhood... "if you're good, you can have an ice cream". Although it's not ice cream we crave!!

For me... my kryptonite is Ritter sport chocolate bars. If I'm going to have chocolate, don't just give me some generic plain Eat-more (although that will do in a pinch). No, I wand the crème de la crème of chocolates (at least that are stocked in our local grocery store).

And my kryptonite comes in two yummy flavours... Praline... and dark chocolate with hazelnuts. And yes, I heard about the news article that dark chocolate can have high lead and cadmium. Charming. Anyhow... I vacillate between these two chocolates...

I wish I could say that I cold just eat one row of the bar and be done but... no... one row turns into two rows... turns into 3 rows and... well... at that point, you might as well finish it off!!

I'm not sure if the makers of Ritter Sport, with the efficient grid-like pattern of squares, thought that a person could stop with just one square of chocolate... because that is not my experience!!

And yes, I do know that chocolate and processed/refined sugars are bad for me. I know they increase inflammation. I know all these things and yet... there are days where I just want...chocolate.

Oh... and then... there are the salty treats too... let's not leave those out. For me... it is Hawkins Cheezies. None of that Cheetohs crap. No... Hawkins Cheezies are where it's at. They are soooo good... as long as they are cool. There is nothing worse than a warm Cheezie... ick! So crunchy... so cheesy... soooo... just... badly good!

When I spent a year living in the USA, my friends would send me care packages with bags of Cheezies because... gasp... the entire USA does not KNOW what they are missing!! They don't have Cheezies... scandalous, I know. But our big secret! Oh... and they don't have All-Dressed chips either... go figure.

Anyhow... the Cheezies... and then... Ms. Vickie's Sweet Chili and Sour Cream chips... They too are soooo good. And so bad.

While my tastebuds love the salty treats, the inside of my mouth just can't handle it anymore. The sharp edges and the salt just trigger inflammation in there so fast. And so I can only have a few of these before my mouth calls it quits.

I wish my mouth would do that with sugar too. Although... lately, I have noticed that my tongue does not like loads of sugar - like a whole Ritter Sport bar - particularly the praline flavour. It gets irritated and upset with me.

Perhaps it is good to have an internal regulator like that... although I would have to actually listen to my body instead of just munching steadily through a bag of cheezies and a chocolate bar.

Listening to my body is not something I do all that well. It craves water and I ignore it. It dislikes sugar... and I ignore it.

I think that needs to stop. My body and I are a team... so it's best for us to work together. I've been starting by being more attentive to water cravings... so that is one small step.

But when the junk food craving hits... it might be the time to really touch base with my body and see if that craving isn't a cry for something else.

Falling Off the Routine Bandwagon

I was off in Vancouver for a few days and my well-honed routine went out the window... no meditation or stretching in the morning was the first to go. I did journaling on one day and then it fell apart on the second day. My plan to walk 10,000 steps each day also didn't happen. My evening journal page also evaporated. Sigh.

That's the thing when you travel. You are out of your familiar milieu... you are away from your well-worn routine and... it's hard, really hard to keep things going. I try... but it's all different. It's like I need a different routine for a different environment, which probably makes sense but is something for which I didn't plan or prepare!!

It would take a it of effort given that I am staying at my sister's house and working on their timetable. They aren't up early and it's not a house in which I could cook my breakfast without disturbing someone's slumbers. At least not at 5:30 in the morning... Even as I'm tying this at 7:05 am... I realize I didn't take my Synthroid this morning! Ugh...

I'm not sure what a routine would look like when I'm traveling. And it seems like a lot of work to come up with a plan that I only need every once in a while, and only for a few days at at time. I know that when I get home today, I will slip back into my familiar routine and all will be well.

Perhaps if I was going on a longer trip... then it might make sense to devote some time and thought to what a morning routine might look like.

The one thing that has worked on this trip is... I get up early and I walk to the nearby Starbucks and sit there for several hours. Yesterday, I did do my morning journaling there, and I wrote one of these blogs. So that all worked. But this morning... I am heading back on the ferry, so the bus disrupted the flow of my early morning pattern. Even though I'm at a Starbucks near the ferry terminal, the journaling has taken a back seat. Although... kudos to me, I am writing a blog!

What I really needed on both days, however, was some food to take with me. Because I get hungry in the morning, and if I'm sitting at Starbucks for 3 hours... the siren call of the chocolate brownie becomes too much to resist. And while sometimes my sister has packable food options... not this time. So it would require me to go to the grocery store and get a few things to tide me over. Which all seems like too much effort for a 2 day visit. And so I cut corners and shave a few things off my routine.

Perhaps that is what is required... just cutting myself some slack when my habit doesn't follow its usual groove... or doesn't transfer well to another environment. It's just for a couple of days... and I can get back in the flow tomorrow. More or less... I hope!

In the meantime... what might a new habit ritual look like while staying at my sister's place? Just so I'm well-prepared for next time!

• get out of bed and take my synthroid
• get dressed and go upstairs for bathroom stuff
• do my 5 min meditation/stretching in the family room
• grab & go snack for Starbucks (the fridge usually has fruit & nuts - prep the night before)
• walk to Starbucks
• journal 2 pages
• write a blog
• and other stuff!

I know myself... and if I have it written down and mapped out in my head, then I've reduced the friction of some of these. I have thought through where I can do my morning stretches and meditation. Because if I haven't figured it out beforehand... it's not going to happen as I stand and wonder... where should I do it? Bedroom? Family room?

It's these small steps in planning and preparation that I hope will make a difference for next time!

Thrifty Sandal Shopping

I am not a shoe person. Me and Imelda Marcos are on opposite ends of the spectrum. While some people have multiple sandals... that's not me... I have one pair of sandals. I know... I'm weird. I had a pair of Columbia sandals years ago that I loved. They had a leather footbed that was super comfy. But then they died... and I found these Columbia sandals at Value Village 5 years ago!! Cool!! $12 for a pair of sandals. Excellent!

Old Columbia Sandals

Sad Sandals

Except... these sandals are now on their last legs. When we were in Mexico in December, the bottom was flapping off the front of them. Luckily my brother-in-law had a little tube of Crazy Glue, so I was able to patch them up. I mean... I only had the one pair of sandals soooo... a death in the sandal department would have been a disaster!

Except now... as we enter the summer season in earnest... the rest of the bottom is coming off in earnest (except the front where it was glued). I could glue them again but... some of those side bits that hold the straps in place have come loose as well. It's time to bid farewell to this pair and look for something new.

Dying Columbia Sandals

Brand New Sandals

I went on a bit of a meander through Atmosphere, the local sporting goods/camping goods/hiking footwear store. They have sandals galore but... $150 for a pair of sandals?? Seriously??? I meandered right back out of the store. Maybe if I was going to go and hike the Camino or go on another trip to southeast Asia.... But for just trotting around town and going to the beach? Nope... not paying that much for a pair of sandals.

Used Sandals

Soooo... every time I go to Value Village, I poke around the shoe aisles and have a look. I'm on the hunt for a very particular type of sandal... a hiking sandal with nothing between the toes. Not a Teva... fairly sturdy. For weeks, I struck out. I'd see a likely candidate but then it wouldn't feel comfortable, or it was too flimsy or too worn out or... whatever...

And then.... a few weeks ago... I saw them... ***cue the chorus of angels singing***

New Sandals!

There they were!!! I tried them on... they were comfy. They had adjustable straps. They were in good shape. They were... $6.99... SOLD! Start the car!!!

Now... the sandals I normally wear are men's hiking sandals and these are women's sandals.... so they are a bit... daintier than the men's version but... you know what... for $6.99, I can't go wrong. And yes... I took some isopropyl alcohol to the foot bed and gave it a bit of a wipe... 

And no... I have no idea what brand these are... oh well!

Benefits of Used Sandals

I know some people are a bit... ewwwwww... when it comes to second-hand footwear but... seriously... what's not to love.

• it keeps something that still has life, out of the landfill
• you save money ($$$$)
• they are already broken in!
• less demand for new means less pollution in manufacturing new

I like all of those benefits. And maybe I'll buy a new pair of sandals one day... but for right now, these are perfectly fine. And if my feet don't like them... heck, it's only $6.99.

The only real downside is... you gotta wait for the right pair of sandals to come to you at Value Village. You can't just walk into a thrift store and expect to find perfect pair of sandals waiting for you. Although that does sometimes happen. Nope, this requires patience and commitment... which isn't a bad thing.

Frugal Thrifty Spendthrift Cheapskate?

I do wonder sometimes if I'm too much of a cheapskate... spendthrift... skinflint... tightwad...

Although... I have no trouble going to Atmosphere and buying myself a new pair of Merrell hiking boots when the old ones die. I live in my hiking boots so I am not going to skimp on my foot happiness there. Sooo... it's not that I don't spend money. I just want to spend money on the stuff that matters.

And for me... a pair of sandals aren't that big a deal unless... like I said earlier... I'm going to be living in them while traversing southeast Asia. That's when they matter... and that's when I'd splurge on a pair.

But for just schlepping around, here at home... a second-hand, gently-used, thrifted pair of sandals are perfectly fine.

And even better... I can wear these sandals with my hiking socks and rock the West Coast Socks'n'Sandals look!!! A West Coast Fashionista... that's me!

Should I Get an E-Bike?

"Should I get an e-bike?"

This question has been bopping around my head for several years now. Everyday, I watch a neighbour power up our hill, pedaling slowly on his e-bike. I know it's an e-bike because I've pedaled up this same hill and wheezed and plodded and ground along in first gear. Pedaling up the hill is not as easy as the e-bike makes it look.

I have a regular bike. Which, as of this writing... I still haven't taken down to the bike shop to get its tune-up. By this time of year... I would have done that already. But it always seem a less important task than everything else on my list.

And I wonder... if I had an e-bike... would I take it out more? Would I pedal off to Starbucks in the mornings instead of taking the car? How much would that affect our carbon footprint? Would I ride it enough to justify the costs? What if it got stolen?

All of this soul-searching has been triggered by a radio ad which said that the provincial government was offering up to a $1400 rebate on e-bikes that cost at least $2000. Ooohhh... that is almost too good to pass up. The rebate scales down based on your net income but... still...

In previous years, you could only get an e-bike rebate if you brought in your car through the scrap-it program. That seems to be gone... and now you can just get an e-bike rebate without turfing your car. So it is appealing. 

Pros

I think of all the benefits...

• I could go farther than I can on a regular bike
• The hills won't affect me like they do on a regular bike
• It will get me out and about more (theoretically)
• I could even pop down to the grocery store for odds and ends without feeling guilty about using the car
• I could even ride it in the spring and fall when it's inclement weather (neighbour dude does...)
• Good for my health!

Cons

And the negatives...

• How do you maintain an ebike? I have no idea...
• What if the bike seat is just as uncomfortable as my regular bike?
• Where to park it? The garden shed?
• How to charge it? Run an extension cord from the house to the shed?
• How to protect it? Will it be thievable?

I see that the negatives are mostly a list of questions. With a fair degree of uncertainty. That is what holds me back - all of these unknowns. I could find the answers to these questions fairly easily. Friends of ours on Gabriola Island have e-bikes and love them... They will have answers to a lot of these questions.

Regular Bike?

Or... do I just stick with my regular bike? Just bite the bullet and get it tuned up and get a saddle fitting? Presuming that the bike shop does that. Or just do little mini-bike rides until sore bum bones get used to the bike saddle.

Ack. Sometimes I wonder at my indecision. It's annoying! Just choose! Make a damn decision and go for it!

And just an FYI... e-bikes in the local shops are running at around $5000. Eek!!!

Ok... enough wiffle-waffling... I am going to take my regular bike down to the bike shop this afternoon. They are open until 6 pm... so I can walk it down in 30 min and walk back without it. I don't know if it fits into the back of the car but... whatever. I can walk down.

While I'm there, I'll see about the bike saddle and whether they do saddle fittings and figure out if my saddle works for me or if I should buy a new one. Heck... they might look at my bike which is... ooohhh... 30 years old... and decide it really needs to be replaced. WTH... will handle that when it comes to that moment. 

Do you have an e-bike?? How does it work for you???

Change is Hard

Last week I grumped about Starbucks and how I am so tired of the price increases, the reduction in amenities (comfy chairs gone) and the lousy rewards program that just cut reward star value in half.

After much muttering... I decided to try... McDonald's. It's supposed to open at 5:30 am... although the nearest McDonald's has some low reviews because of the hours not being accurate.

Rather than showing up at 5:30 am and finding the doors locked... I decided to try it one afternoon. I finished running some errands and walked in the door.

It's different than Starbucks... has more of a Tim Horton's feel. Bright... hard... sterile. I mean... it's not that different from Starbucks which also has hard surfaces... hard floors, hard tables... hard seats. But in Starbucks, the lighting is subdued and it gives it a nice moody ambience, warm and inviting. Here at McDonald's it's just a bit too... I don't know... cold.

But... there's always a but... they have a TONNE of electrical outlets, basically one by every table. And they have a lot of tables too. They even have some soft bench seating with tables (and electrical outlets).

I grabbed a table near the window and sat down... I can hear people chatting at the next table but there is a bit of a screen between us, which is nice.

The wifi was easy to connect to and is a solid 173 Mbps which s fast.

There are a lot of older people passing through here... which is fine. McDonald's food is cheap! I didn't order anything though... not a tea, not anything. Which might be a bit of a cheat but... I am trying it out.

Nobody's going to throw me out and... well... we'll see how it goes.

Right now... I don't like it. It's different than Starbucks and... well... I don't like it. I know that change is hard but knowing that doesn't make it any easier. I have gotten very comfortable at Starbucks. And making the move to McDonald's is going to take some doing. Are there things I could love about this place? Maybe... it's a good location. It's walkable from home. It's across the street from the local grocery store where I often come to pick up odds and ends. It has fast wifi. It has lots of electrical outlets. The music isn't super loud.

I mean really... when you look at it... the pros outweigh the cons by a long shot... at least in the number of them. Way more pros than cons. But the con (ambience) is a big one. Or is it?

I am going to have to try this out for a while and see how it goes. Small steps remember... just one small step.