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Is Green Consumerism Part of the Problem?

By Jacinta Bowler

With climate change an ever-looming anxiety, whole industries have sprung up dedicated to help alleviate the stress. Tote bags. Metal straws. Existing companies are trying their best too: clothing retailer Zara has announced that 100 percent of the fabrics it uses will be sustainable by 2025 while Apple has said it has plans to eventually stop mining.

All of this looks great on the surface, but it doesn’t help the underlying issue: We are still buying way too much stuff.

Woman buying eco-friendly products in a supermarket. Martin Leigh / Oxford Scientific / Getty Images

Australia — as a rich, developed nation — buys a huge amount of product. In 2016, Australian households spent AUD$666 billion on general living costs, including AUD$20.4 billion on clothes and fashion alone.

The UN Alliance has estimated that the average consumer is buying 60 percent more clothes than 15 years ago, but those clothes are only kept for half the time. This is mirrored in a number of other industries including electronics — we are buying more, and using it less. And at the end of these products’ life, most of this isn’t recycled or reused — instead it ends up in landfill, and we dig up more resources to create more products.

So, how do we lower our resource footprint? And will doing so crash the whole economy?

Dr Ed Morgan, a policy and environmental researcher at Griffith University, explained to me over email that it’s possible, if hard, to imagine a sustainable society, because it means a shift of lifestyle and economic systems, which we are currently so stuck in we can’t imagine any alternatives. ‘But no one in a monarchy could imagine being in a democracy!’

The first step is buying less stuff, and what we do buy needs to be used many times. Think a well-used mug instead of a disposable coffee cup.

The second step is significantly harder. Experts call for the creation of a circular economy. This is a system where everything we make and use can be reused, repaired, remade, and recycled. No products are ‘new’ so much as remade from other products. This would heavily reduce waste, and use significantly less resources to produce these ‘new’ products.

To do this, our phones, clothes, and even our buildings would be designed to be easily repairable and recyclable at the end of their life.

Despite all the talk of sustainable fashion, electronics, and products, we are still far away from making this a reality. Our products are made to have a short lifespan. Every year there’s a new model of phone, and even one that is a few years old is seemingly obsolete. The rare earth metals inside them are ending up in the trash instead of being reused or remade.

Despite companies like Apple saying otherwise, once the latest product is broken (or we’ve moved onto the next thing), it’s still likely destined for the rubbish heap.

And on top of that, according to geologist Oliver Taherzadeh and environmental researcher Benedict Probst, the idea of ‘green growth’ is a red herring. They argue that green consumption is still consumption, and while we can make a small difference as individuals, the big difference will be through government regulation.

Businesses — even those pushing more ‘sustainable’ products — have no incentive to sell less, and therefore are always inherently part of the problem.

So unfortunately, as good as a metal straw or reusable cup might look, it’s part of the problem unless it’s encouraging us to buy less, and reuse, repair, and recycle the products we currently have.

Jacinta Bowler is a science journalist and fact checker living in Melbourne.

This story originally appeared in Eureka Street. It was republished by EcoWatch in its partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 350 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.

You can find incredible things at a Thrift Store!

If you shop often at your area thrift stores, you will be amazed at the weird & wonderful things you find. Sometimes you may ask yourself “What is it? What’s it do? What’s it for?”

Often things end up in the thrift stores not because there is something wrong with them – but because they are no longer wanted or needed, and they are too big to continue to store at home.

Allow yourself an occasional impulse buy, but at the same time, shop wisely – Can I really use this? Do I have the space for it?

Here are some examples of the fabulous finds our intrepid shopper has found in thrift stores.

This toy piano and toy crane were in great condition and made a child very happy.

Towson U pompom gloves, Bird duplex, 1950’s juke box, Dachshund planter/ring caddy.

(Above) Penguin ice bucket , electric drum set. (Below) Whirl Ball arcade game, giant teddy bear.

This is a puppy foot massager – perfect for that tween who has everything.

Happy Shopping …and don’t forget- When you’re done, RE-DONATE!

Recovery Work

By McKay Jenkins

On the late July day that President Trump called my hometown a “rat and rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live,” I found myself dumping 200 pounds of compost into a vegetable garden across the street from a Baltimore methadone clinic. The compost had been cooking in my backyard for almost a year and included a dozen large Hefty bags of leaves from our silver maple and black cherry trees and all the watermelon rinds, avocado skins, and broccoli stems my family of four had eaten over the last 12 months.

The finished compost was a beautiful thing, full of vast colonies of red wriggler worms that had been turning in a green metal barrel beneath the sour cherry tree in our backyard. Every ounce of organic matter that had fallen onto our one-eighth of an acre or been tossed from our kitchen had been transformed into a rich, integrated growth medium whose diverse, biochemical interactions would help transform depleted soil into a potent source of community nourishment.

Even more beautiful were the garden beds where we turned the compost. Planted on an abandoned lot, the gardens were situated across the street from the Glenwood Life Counseling Center, an addiction clinic in northeast Baltimore. The neighborhood was a “food desert” in more ways than one: there were no supermarkets in the area, so people had no access to fresh produce; and there were very few native plants, so songbirds and butterflies no longer came around looking for a meal. But on the day I arrived, children scrambled on a new swing set, in what the neighborhood was now referring to as “the park.” Raised vegetable beds were bursting with bright yellow cherry tomatoes. Native black-eyed Susan, coneflowers, and butterfly weed formed a tapestry of yellow, purple, and orange, mobbed by monarch and tiger swallowtail butterflies. The garden absorbed rain that once cascaded off the abandoned lot and joined storm water and trash in the Chesapeake Bay.

Continue reading here.

Wild by Design – Here’s how to garden for all your neighbors, domesticated and otherwise

By Nancy Lawson

Years ago, a colleague was relaxing in his backyard when he heard a noise. Upon investigation, he discovered a stranger heading through an open window and toward his couch. It wasn’t a traditional home invasion, though. The squatter had taken one look at the property and assumed it was unoccupied: Why else, he reasoned, would the yard be so “overgrown” with wild plants?

This was not the scenario I’d envisioned when my workmate first asked for wildlife gardening advice. While offering ideas and plants from my habitat, I’d assured him he’d see butterflies and other animals taking up residence. It never occurred to me that his efforts would also encourage fellow humans to climb through his windows.

The problem was that the new gardener had implemented only half my suggestions, putting his plants directly into the old lawn that sloped to a busy sidewalk. He didn’t feel like bothering with part 2, which would have involved digging out the turf around his plantings or smothering it with newspaper and mulch. Instead, he let that old lawn grow high. The result was not the layered native plant garden I had imagined but a smattering of wildflowers engulfed in out-of-place fescues and invasives gone to seed. (Adding to the abandoned-home effect was an ascetic and nearly opposite approach indoors, where all walls, tables and shelves were bare.)

Though the front-yard planting was partly intentional, it didn’t look that way to other people. Without “cues to care”—a phrase coined by landscape architect Joan Iverson Nassauer to describe visual hints of human stewardship—the property resembled an abandoned lot or roadside ditch. While I find such free-range, self-willed patches beautiful because of their high value to wildlife, most suburbanites accustomed to mowed-down yards and sterile office parks see them as aberrant.

(Read the complete article on how to create a beautiful native planting in your yard here.)

Five changes I’ve made because of climate change

By Patty Mochel

The scientific data we’ve been getting from the news media reached a pivotal point in the past year – our climate is changing, the natural world is changing and soon we will see consequences of extreme weather events in our own communities. My friends at Green Towson Alliance have talked a lot about what the scientific data is telling us – that many people will suffer as a result of climate change. While we are working to make bigger, positive changes to mitigate climate change – such as planting as many canopy, shade trees as possible in our Towson and Baltimore County neighborhoods– I felt a sense of urgency after the Climate Strike in September. I felt I must make immediate changes in my own habits.

The first change I made was picking up plastic. For a year now, I have been looking for and picking up what I call “fish chokers” – bits of plastic that, when washed into a stream, river and eventually the Chesapeake Bay and ocean – appear to be food to a fish or other marine animal. We’ve all read heartbreaking stories about animals who have been found to be full of plastic that they accidentally swallowed. So I always look for these bits of plastic when I go to my neighborhood YMCA to work out. I usually find them in the parking lot surface, near the curb where they have been accidentally dropped. Now I try to find five fish chokers every time single I am out walking. The very sad thing is that I often find bags worth of plastic junk.

My second change was to go through my kitchen cabinets to find my old recyclable coffee cup that someone gave to me for Christmas many years ago. I remember to put it in the car so my Sunday morning Starbucks coffee is not in a paper cup (which is NOT recyclable because it is lined with plastic!)

Next, I began to refuse to use any plastic bags of any type. Some time ago, I was at the grocery store and saw a clerk emptying the plastic bag recycling bin that stands outside the store. I asked him, “Do those bags really get recycled?” and he replied, “No.” He told me that someone always puts a plastic bag with food in it into the bin – and that once there’s an old sandwich or whatever in the bin, they have to throw out all of the plastic bags because they have been contaminated. Now when I do my weekly shopping, I do not use plastic bags, and I ask the checkout person to not put anything in a plastic bag.

At the grocery store, I try to choose foods that come in recyclable glass, metal, or cardboard. I can usually find what I am looking for in a cardboard box that has no plastic. My family likes applesauce, and now I purchase apple sauce in a large glass container, and freeze portions for my family for future meals.

Farmer’s Market quiche ready to go in the oven.

Finally, I decided to make one more weekly meatless meal. I am a vegetarian, and my meat-eating husband and son are good-humored about eating vegetarian meals a few times a week. Instead of alternating days that I served meat for dinner, I added one more vegetarian meal a week.

These are small changes, and within a few weeks they had become habitual. What changes are you and your family making?

Beeswax wraps as an alternative to plastic wrap

By Phoebe Evans Letocha

This past year, I vowed to try to find ways to reduce my use of single use plastic. I had already switched from plastic baggies to paper snack bags, so as I finished off a role of plastic wrap in December, I searched for a plastic free alternative to wrap my cheese and use to cover leftovers. A quick search on Pinterest led me to Beeswax wraps.

Beeswax wraps are an alternative to plastic wrap. They are made with a piece of cotton fabric, cut to desired size, beeswax, pine resin, and jojoba oil, melted to saturate the cloth. I bake mine on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in a 300 degree oven. The same method can be used to rejuvenate old ones so you remelt and evenly distribute the wax. The wax repels moisture, the pine resin helps give it a tacky feel, and the jojoba oil has anti-microbial properties. They are great for wrapping cheese, covering bowls, and wrapping baked goods. I don’t use them for anything with meat. Wash with cold water and soapy sponge, and let them air dry.

This is a great way to recycle fabric scraps and add some fun color to your kitchen. Dark fabrics tend to look better than light ones when they take on the yellow tint of the beeswax. The ingredients are easy to find online. If you make them in batches, you can make a variety of sizes for yourself and some to share as gifts with friends and family.

Here is a useful description on how to make them.

https://yumuniverse.com/beeswax-tree-resin-wraps-vegan-option/

For those who are not crafty, Traders Joe’s sells beeswax wraps and bags.

Commercial beeswax wraps available at Trader Joe’s.

You can also find them online at Etsy, Amazon, and other retailers.

Thrifting for the Holidays and Special Occasions

You can find very special things for the special times in your life in thrift stores.

Halloween

Thrift stores have long been a great source for Halloween costumes- Bell bottoms and disco platforms from the 70’s are a great example of used items you might find. Since thrift stores have come to realize that folks who generally don’t shop there do show up this time of year, many have started to stock new costumes, masks, decorations, etc. (Shop early for the best selection.)

christmas

You can find everything you’d look for in a full-price store at a thrift shop, including decorations, dishware, wrapping paper and gift cards.

weddings, proms, and formal occasions

Most stores stock a limited selection of wedding dresses, prom dresses, and other formal wear.

Many of these items have been worn only once.

Plan ahead and shop early – and often … to find the perfect outfit for your special occasion.

And when you’re done…DONATE your items to a thrift shop!

Click here for tips on how to shop at a thrift store.

Climate change: stop talking and start doing

By Laura Bankey

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report to the United Nations last week confirming what we at the National Aquarium and so many others in our field already know: Our planet is changing in ways that will soon be irreversible and we must take significant, immediate steps to combat the harmful effects of climate change.

The findings in A Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate are not a worst-case-scenario warning of what might happen if we must someday contend with humankind’s untenable reliance on fossil fuels; they are a detailed compilation of the sweeping, intense effects climate change has had on our ocean planet. The IPCC’s report was compiled from 6,981 independent studies and verified by a consortium of 100 leading climate scientists from countries around the world, including our own. It cites perceptible sea level rise, flooding, dangerously erratic weather, habitat loss and species extinction as current effects of climate change sure to intensify without intervention. The science supporting the scope and severity of the problem is clear, and we have been handed a global consensus on how to best intervene on behalf of our own future.

Radebaugh Park in Towson enters second stage of construction

Grading work at Radebaugh Park in Towson is complete, and construction of park amenities will begin soon, according to an update from the Green Towson Alliance.

The work so far involved removing industrial materials like concrete and piping, as the site was once home to greenhouses used by Radebaugh Florists, grading the land into two tiers, and laying down topsoil and grass, said Dr. Carol Newill, a retired physician and one of the co-founders of GTA.

“There was a lot of industrial material. In fact, the site was almost completely impervious to rain,” Newill said.

Now, the parkland has an upper terrace nearest its entrance on Maryland Avenue in the Aigburth Manor neighborhood and a slope down to a lower terrace in the southeast corner of the park, nearest the area where some greenhouses and planting remains. Some parts of the park only recently have been seeded, so grass has not yet grown over the entire 3.76-acre tract.

The next phase of work is constructing an asphalt walking path that loops around the park, adding benches, installing signage and trash cans, planting trees and putting in other park amenities, Newill said.

The path already has been laid from the sidewalk along Maryland Avenue to the interior of the park, but stops beyond the park’s entrance. The asphalt trail will be 5 feet wide and ADA-compliant, according to a rendering shared by County Councilman David Marks, who represents the Towson area.

“This will be quite an amenity for that part of Towson,” Marks said.

Baltimore County purchased the land from the Radebaugh family in 2016 for $1.1 million. Marks said working on the Radebaugh Park project is one of his proudest accomplishments during his council tenure.

Sean Naron, a spokesman for Baltimore County, said the first phase of construction cost about $734,000 and was funded through Program Open Space — Local, capital grant funding from the state and county funds. The state-run Program Open Space provides funding and technical assistance for local jurisdictions to acquire and preserve land and outdoor recreation areas for public use.

The final budget for the second phase, Naron said, is still being developed, though then-state Del. Stephen Lafferty and Sen. Chris West, R-District 42, worked during the 2019 legislative session to secure a $100,000 state capital grant for the project.

The park currently is just a field of grass and brush, but there are plans for tree plantings. The Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability is planting shade trees in the park as part of the county’s stormwater runoff mitigation programs. A timeline for the county tree plantings was not immediately available.

And Boy Scout Troop 729 is scheduled to plant trees, bushes and flowers along the south side of the park’s entrance later in the fall. Nathan Letocha, 15, is leading the planting as his Eagle Scout project.

“I think we need more green space in our communities and suburban areas,” said Nathan, who lives in Stoneleigh and attends nearby Towson High School.

Nathan, who is trying to raise about $2,000 for the planting project, said he had garnered about $1,075 as of Oct. 9. The Green Towson Alliance has secured a $500 grant from Constellation Energy for plantings, too.

Nathan said part of why he chose to do tree plantings for his project was because it will be long lasting, not something that could be painted over or would need renovation in the near future.

“I feel like trees are something that I could maybe show to my children one day,” he said.

Weather delays

When county officials broke ground on the park in August 2018, it was supposed to be completed by December 2018. The Green Towson Alliance now says, though, that the second phase — the planting of trees and installation of amenities — will likely not be completed until the end of next fall, when shade trees are added.

A number of factors contributed to delays in construction, Newill said. Heavy rain last year slowed grading work, which in turn meant it would take longer until topsoil could be placed and grass planted.

Then, drought conditions this summer hindered the growth of the freshly planted grass, she said.

But, Newill said, people can certainly enter the park now. The plan is to have the asphalt path completed by April and “then it will be really easy for people to get in.” The benches and other amenities will come after the path, she said.

Renderings of the park project show a boardwalk that connects the southwest corner of the property to Aigburth Road. Newill said she would love to see the boardwalk installed, but was not confident that it would be within budget. The boardwalk possibly could be added later, after initial construction, she said.

Joe Radebaugh, who represents the third generation of the family to be working and running the florist shop, said he was “kind of disappointed” that the park hasn’t been constructed faster. Officials moved quickly to demolish the greenhouses and other buildings on the property that the family sold to the county, but then the pace of the work slowed, Radebaugh said.

The 70-year-old said his biggest concern, though, was keeping the neighbors happy by making sure they were comfortable with whatever development occurred on the plot of land.

The entrance to the park off Maryland Avenue is marked by the start of the asphalt walking path that will connect to the rest of the path once constructed, and, at least for now, a large sign bearing the details of the construction project. There is a large, wood-and-metal gate on the north side of the narrow entryway, placed by the county to prevent people from driving into the park while maintaining access for county maintenance vehicles.

Newill called the gate “industrial,” “ungainly,” and “out of place.” She said it did not fit with the park or surrounding neighborhood. Because county maintenance vehicles would park on that side of the entrance path, Newill said she and others have been told they cannot plant trees in that area.

Naron said that Baltimore County Property Management, the department managing the project, “has agreed to address concerns raised and is factoring them into planning and design.”

Despite any shortcomings at this point, Newill said she thinks the park is a great project for the area. It preserves open space in a dense part of Towson and gives people another option when they’re looking for a place to take a walk or play.

“I’m really happy, I think it’s terrific,” Newill said, though she added, “We just have that gate.”

Thrifting – The Ultimate In Recyling

Thrifting is a great way to minimize waste, save money, and help save the planet.

It is estimated that Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person a year.
Thrifting can also be considered a sport.
How can I get the best stuff for the fewest dollars? Anyone can dash into Nordstrom’s and pick up pants in three colors with the help of the ever-present salesclerk.
Thrifting takes time, attention to detail, imagination, and perseverance. With any luck, you too might win a “Thrifting Trophy” like a pair of Manolo Blahniks or a Coach bag!

Here are a few tips to get you started.

Google “Thrift stores near me” to find store locations, hours, and sale days.

Consider which day is best to visit the thrift shops.

Most thrift stores have days where certain item categories are discounted- senior day, shopper loyalty day, last Saturday of the month. (The downside: parking and shopping carts will probably be in short supply.)

A little preparation leads to success.

Before you go, make a list of things you need (and bring it with you.) The list will guide your shopping trip, focus your time/efforts. If size matters, (e.g. furniture, curtains, frames) measure before you go and bring a measuring tape to the store. Measure clothes that fit spread out flat- shoulder seam to shoulder seam, waist, hips, pant and sleeve length. Use those measurements to “prescreen” clothes; if the measurements match, then try them on.
Tuck a small folded nylon shopping bag into your purse/pants. This helps spare our waterways of plastic waste. (Savers & Value Village no longer provide plastic bags, but will sell you a paper bag.)
Bring a small package of wet wipes to check whether a stain on a garment will come out, whether a shoe scuff, flaw on a piece of furniture can be removed.

Check for signage as you enter the store.

These signs will tell you what’s on sale that day/week (often designated by a tag barb color on clothes, a letter after the price on other items- e.g. 8B = $8 and reduced when blue is the color that’s on sale.)
Most thrift stores are very well organized- by item category, size, and even color. That said, other shoppers may find a good item and squirrel it away in the wrong section or wedge it in an obscure cubby-hole so they can pick it up later.

Think ahead!

Find a great outfit for an upcoming trip or your friend’s wedding in two months.

Don’t be surprised to find new items with tags.

Target donates clearance items/unsold merchandise to some Goodwills for a tax write-off. You may also find new items that individuals donate- often unwanted gifts or items too late to return.
Bric-a-brac, housewares and souvenirs often show no signs of wear.

Allow yourself an occasional impulse buy.
If you find something great at a great price, buy it- it will likely be gone by your next visit. These two wire statues (6) -Big Ben and the Chrysler Bldg in NYC -were purchased for $1.99 each and retail for $49!

And finally, when you no longer need your purchase,
re-donate the item to a thrift shop!

Upcoming Topics: Tips for thrifting for holidays and special occasions; Finding unique and unusual items at a thrift store; Finding great shoes, handbags and luggage at a thrift store; What to look for when buying furniture and linens at a thrift store.