This post may contain more information than you wanted to know about me.  Consider yourself warned.

As you may remember, I've talked about the Preserve razor, Beth's (Fake Plastic Fish) suggestion to try a safety razor, and my time-consuming first attempt at buying a safety razor off of e-Bay.  The safety razor seemed like a lot of work, and a little eco-weirdo, but I liked the old-timey-ness of it and frankly I thought it might be kind of sexy to use a safety razor for legs.  So I kept at it, and found one on e-Bay that some guy had used a couple of times and decided it was too much work.  He threw in some blades, soap, and a badger brush, so the whole shebang was pretty much a steal.  (Plus,  it was a "buy it now" option, which soothed my impatience.)  Anyway.  Girls, LISTEN UP (and dudes too): this is the best thing ever.  Ever. 

Have I ever considered drag on my skin?  Not really.  But this shave tells me that I should have.  The safety razor shave is so clean and comfortable, I never want to go back to crappy plastic blades.  Have I cut myself?  Nope, not once.  (It's called a safety razor.)  Razor burn?  No way.  The delicate underarm and bikini regions?  No prob if you take it slow.  I've gotten rid of some perma-burn that I didn't even know I had...it's probably been plaguing my pits for the last 15 years! 

Do it now!  This guide gives a lot of great info about what razors to buy, how to clean them, what blades/soaps/brushes to use, etc.  (It actually gives waaaaaaaay too much information, and the boys-club tone is really aggravating, but it's a great place to start.  Hopefully some funnier and more industrious eco-blogger chick will start up a ladies' shaving forum - I'll gladly comment.)  I bought an HD Merkur Classic b/c it has a longer handle and it's what people seemed to recommend.  I've been alternating between regular bar soap and some fancy shaving cream in a tube (using the badger brush) when I can luxuriate a little - they both work fine.  The first time you try you'll need to take a little time, just to get the feel of it.  The dude on the shaving site recommends shaving with the growth of the hair on the first pass; I don't really think this is necessary for legs unless you're really hairy or nervous about it.

So here we have this amazing gourmet shaving experience, which will actually turn out to be cheaper in the long run and better for the environment.  Hooray!  As for the straight razor, the option that produces no waste at all (I guess you just sharpen the blade?), I'm thinking it's a little too nuts for the legs.  Maybe I'll try it when my DE (double-edged) razor amortizes to nearly zero?  That'll take a while.

Finally, I promised months ago that I'd follow up on my Keeper experience.  (The Keeper is an enviro-alternative for tampons.)  I wish I was as excited about it as the safety razor, but...I can't give it a two thumbs up (yet?).  For one, the Keeper comes in two sizes, B for "before childbirth" and A for "after childbirth" - can we circulate a petition for T for "tiny"?  The size thing makes installation and de-installation a little harrowing, but once everything's all set, no worries for the rest of the day.   I recently found an online forum for all things eco-menstrual, so I'm thinking I'll try to work up the courage to spend some time reading the brave girls' advice and give the Keeper a few more tries.

Please help me come up with some ideas for a thoughtful reader and loyal friend, head of the "Wellness Committe" at her 50-person office.  Some additional infos that might help: they have 8 or so departments, and it's not a super-corporate environment.  Something weird that might matter for this project: they don't get any natural light in their basement space.  Let's get to it!

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Hi there,

...the Wellness committee has been charged with presenting recommendations to the department heads about how they can operate in a greener fashion.

I’m really excited about this.

Can you make any recommendations or suggest any resources for this project?

Swap-O-Rama-Rama: I am so excited to participate in this gigantic DIY fashion event!  The mama of all clothing swaps, this one features workshops and sewing machines and a fashion show in addition to pounds and pounds of treasure, yours for the taking for $10 and a bag of clean clothes.  I've been following this event for a couple of years now and I am really looking forward to checking it out!  Here's a link to Life Less Plastic's description of her experience in Chicago.  Sunday, April 27 - 2pm to 7pm, at the NYU Kimmel Building, Washington Square South.

Missed the last NYC Dept. of Sanitation e-waste event?  Head down to Tekserve, where you can drop off your unwanted electronics Saturday (10-4), Sunday (10-4), and Monday (4-7).   They'll enter you to win nifty Apple products and you can get $25 off a new computer purchased in the next 30 days.  Love that Tekserve!  Even if you don't have e-waste at the moment, support the independent Apple specialists who do a lot for the NYC community in the arts, the environment, and education.  119 W. 23rd.

Two or three posts ago, I wrote how silly it is to go out and get a fancy new container for water to replace plastic bottles.  Serves me right for sounding so smug: not a week later I found myself buying a brand-new water container!  

My boss had a birthday; I had no gift ideas.  Inter-office gifts are so tricky but still I wanted to do a little something...I was despairing...and then it hit me!  Several months back Boss came back from a lunch appointment with a Ball jar.  The barbeque they ordered came with lemonade in jars - a fun little gimmick and then he had a reusable quart container for tea and water in the office.  It served him great for months, until he dropped it on the kitchen floor.  I think he mourned the thing for a whole week. 

I was so proud of myself for remembering the jar!  He loved it, it wasn't expensive but still thoughtful, useful around the office, etc. etc.  That it is more earth-friendly is just an extra-special bonus for me (I'm pretty sure he prefers glass because it tastes and smells better).  I went online - I was now looking to get this thing ASAP, and finding things like Ball jars on short notice in NYC is really, really difficult (believe it or not).  I soon discovered that I couldn't buy one or even two new jars online.  I had to buy twelve!  Used jars?  No problem - eBay people sell tons of them one at a time.  But I felt like I couldn't get the big boss a used jar for his birthday.  Someday perhaps it will be acceptable but not this week. 

Forgo the perfect birthday present because the manufacture and shipping of twelve brand-new jars seems so wasteful?   I figured his one jar would keep lots of plastic cups and bottles out of the trash, and the example for the company would be extremely valuable, whatever his motivations for using the jar are.  The container is distinctive and memorable, and he was taking it to both internal meetings and meetings with visitors - maybe many more cups and bottles would stay out of the landfill because of his "message."  

He was delighted by the gift.  Maybe I'll learn how to do some canning. 

Hey all,

Please take a second to write your congressperson about Bush's proposed 40% CUT in funding for Amtrak in 2009.  Huh?  Did he miss the news?  The whole global warming, environmental thing?  The rising costs of oil?  The ugliness and pollution that cars bring?  Oh yeah, he lives on some other planet or something.  This is a copy of the letter I wrote, courtesy of Susan Och and the National Association of Railroad Passengers.  Took about 10 minutes to find my congressman, customize, proofread, and send.  I can't tell when they'll vote on it this year, but it looks like they've gotten to it in May or June in past years.  Thanks!

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Dear Congressman Rangel:  

President Bush has only requested $800 million for Amtrak in his Fiscal 2009 budget. Please work to reject this 40% cut and fully fund Amtrak. America needs passenger rail now more than ever as gas prices rise, airlines shut down, and climate change gets closer to the crisis point.

Rail is an efficient, low carbon way to travel. In Europe and Asia, they are investing in high tech trains that can travel over 250 MPH. The US should at least maintain a 20th century level train system, and consider catching up with the rest of the world.

I also urge your support for the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, S. 294. The bill provides real, meaningful reform for Amtrak and a federal-state partnership for capital investments, which is enjoyed by the other modes of transportation. Please urge House leadership to pass companion legislation.

As you know, these issues are particularly critical to the citizens of New York State, a large portion of whom do not maintain personal vehicles.  In addition to the day-to-day uses of the rail lines, train rides can provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience for cross country-travel: my parents just enjoyed our beautiful country by rail from San Diego to Seattle to Montana.  They are looking forward to exploring the state of New York in the same way.  Please continue to make this possible for future travelers.
Thank you very much for your leadership.

Sincerely,
Megan Metcalf

NYC folks, you have one more week to check out two great shows that address issues of sustainability with humor, verve, criticism, and great beauty.

Eyebeam's Feedback assembles an impressive array of projects engaged with sustainability and the environment in a big, dim, laboratory-like setting.  Tech- and concept-heavy, the exhibits require some time to interact with explanatory texts and complicated diagrams.  Artists, scientists, and designers explore themes like political engagement (an elegant call bank that connects directly with local and state politicians) and waste management (a piece called DrinkPeeDrinkDrinkPee - a little self-explanatory).  I liked how the show itself expresses awareness about its conditions, lowering the lights to conserve energy and providing workshops, events, and additional resources to enable continued participation by visitors.  Eyebeam, at 540 W. 21st, is open to the public Tuesday - Saturday, 12:00-6:00pm. Admission is free with a suggested donation.  They are having a closing party next Saturday 19 April at 3pm.  

On the next block, Adrian Piper's stunning Everything provides an abstract companion that kicks you squarely in the gut.  The phrase "Everything will be taken away" appears in nearly every piece: over a mirror, the Bill of Rights, a gravestone-shaped hole in the gallery wall, the newspaper story of a gruesome kidnapping and rape, the photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, Malcolm X, and others, and a garbage can full of trash.  Her promise is both sinister and liberating, challenging us to consider the costs of freedom and asking if the erosion of freedom is something we have the power to halt. 

What does this have to do with the environment?  Moving clockwise from the door, the last piece -- the garbage can -- asks if human detritus can be taken away, who takes it away, how it gets taken away.  It is a pointed critique about race and class, as most of Piper's work is, and echoes Van Jones' sentiments about how our disposable society considers humans disposable, too.  Finally, the image points out that garbage of all kinds can be eliminated by choice or by force.  These meanings radiated back through all of the work as I scanned the show again, and linked for me even more profoundly the relationship between politics, culture, and the environment.  The gallery, Elizabeth Dee at 545 West 20th, is also open 10-6, Tuesday through Friday.

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I know that some people who read my blog don't live in New York, so I'll provide these eco-art links as some payoff for reading the above rhapsodies:

This girl has been drawing everything she buys for the last couple of years.  I wonder if she buys fewer things knowing that she'll be drawing it?

Chris Jordan's giant photos in Running the Numbers contain lots of little things and big political messages.

Much has been said about the most visible of "green" lifestyle changes, the water bottle, and I thought I'd add my two cents.  I bought about five bottles of water in 2007; if I had to guess, I'd say I bought ten the year before.  Specifically, I thought people at my art opening last July might want to drink water (they preferred the whiskey), and I was pretty much forced into buying a bottle at a crowded take-away place when I asked for a cup of tap water.  Three of these purchased bottles are still in my fridge, unopened.  I started Fix with approximately twenty taking up space on the top shelf: the plastic devils have a way of showing up and hanging around.  It seems like I'm always being handed one on the street, drinking only half at a meeting -- not to mention the several provided every airplane flight.  I take 'em home, drink the contents, fill 'em up with tap water, and repeat.  Over and over, with some washes in there.  When they get funky, I put them in the recycle.  So I think it's really funny when long eco-blog conversations get started about the benefits of one trendy refillable over another.  I read a good one on Brave New Leaf a few weeks ago.  Sure, my bottles will eventually run out - I do refuse them quite often - and then I'll have to choose between the Sigg (pictured), the Klean Kanteen, or the tried-and-true but now vilified Nalgene.  Before I buy one of those, though, I'll give No Impact Man's solution a try: a glass jar with a lid.  Got plenty of those hanging around.

Got plenty of bags for shopping hanging around, too. Paper bags, bodega bags, plastic bags -- they have babies when I'm not looking, I swear.  The cloth ones are a little less promiscuous, but I still have a ton of them: free totes from benefits, worn messenger bags and backpacks from college, a gigantic beach bag I got as a gift.  I can't imagine actually buying a special bag for shopping, when I have so many taking up precious inches in my apartment.  The plastic bags are the best: they take up virtually no space in the bag I'm already carrying for the day and I can reuse them over and over again.  When they get worn out, I demote them to bags for garbage or compost, but this takes a long time.  I guess my point is, though I'm grateful for how reusable bottles and bags have become visible symbols of personal environmental "action," they are still consumables.  It will take us so long to make our way through the manufactured things already in circulation, I don't see a whole lot of logic in pouring precious resources (oil) into things we already have.                

When Fix ended and I started buying stuff again, I approached consuming with a new perspective.  The research I did during Fix made it clear how resource-intensive new things are, and I still believe that buying less stuff, via repairing old things, buying used, borrowing, renting, or simply deciding you don't need something, is one of the most environmentally friendly lifestyle changes one can make.   At the same time, I've had a little more money to upgrade the products I surround myself with to ones that are made better and I can repair with more success; I also feel it's my responsibility to buy things that are made more sustainably because I can, hopefully proving the viability of these models and therefore lowering the price in the long run.  (With the current economy, who knows if this will ever happen...)

Recently I embarked on buying a new razor.  I wasn't entirely happy with the Preserve razor I purchased at a premium last year, so I thought I might follow a fellow eco-blogger's advice to try a safety razor.  She bought hers used on e-Bay. (This may seem gross but there are sites devoted to teaching you how to clean it and replace the blade so it's safe for shaving today.)  I thought this was a good idea, preferring the used option for most things these days - books, clothes, paper, etc.  I spent a good hour researching the recommended kinds and then another hour researching where to get them online.  e-Bay had a model that seemed right, a year old, at 2/3 the price of a new razor.  I bid, and another zealous buyer had set a price higher than mine, so the price kept going up and up.  At a certain point, the used price started to seem ridiculous - the same as a new one!  I know a new razor costs more to produce than a used one; at the same time, the e-Bay razor will have been packaged and shipped at least twice.   Plus, I'd have to buy a special soap to clean it, which will have its own packaging and shipping.  Finally, the idea is that I will use this razor for the rest of my life but is this really true?  What if it's a total hassle?  I will have purchased a razor and blades for a substantial amount of money and resources...I suppose I could always sell it again on e-Bay...

The point of all of this is that I've spent now at least two and a half hours on this razor, which seems like a lot of time to spend on a product.  I'd rather spend two and a half hours researching a trip to Greece, or - more to the point - my time might be better spent on the phone with 311 about the recycling (again), volunteering at a soup kitchen or local tutoring center, or writing my congresspeople, city councilmembers, and state senators about the NYC e-waste and congestion pricing bills.   In short, some of this "environmental action" feels a little like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  All this energy could be spent in more eco-productive ways.   And I still don't have a new razor. 

I'll leave you with another example, one that feels a little less futile than the razor but illustrates why I think a lot of people just shut their brains off about this stuff.  I was in the store buying mints.  They didn't have the kind I usually buy, so I tried to evaluate the rest of the options.  There were a bunch made by huge companies, rolls wrapped in foil, i.e.: not a lot of packaging per mint.  There was another organic kind in a metal tin; at the time, I figured the tin could probably be recycled with the metal, and at the very least re-used for something like paper clips or buttons or something.  So I bought those, at a considerable cost.  But later, as I pull mints from the tin, I think to myself, "I already have a little box for paper clips and buttons."  And when I move, I'll probably come across the empty mint tin and think, "I'm not gonnna drag this thing to another state!"  And then I'll throw it out - I'm sure the NYC recycling people only recycle metal in the shape of a can.    

A coupla little things for this week:

My friend, an occupational therapist, has designed a lifestyle modification course for USC faculty and students with the environment as a focus.  She sent me this article, which explains how she's teaching people how to choose the lesser of environmental evils - or the better of goods - like when to pick local produce over organic, for example.  If you had 8 tips to share with the most earth-unfriendly people you know, what would they be? 

I went to a concert this week that was produced with Reverb, a company that is "greening" concert tours by offsetting carbon footprints, offering eco-literature, and promoting recycling.  (Is there anything that can't be greened these days?)  Their 2008 list looks a little sparse - maybe you can get the word out in one of the fan clubs you belong to...?  Do you think Reverb's trouble is worth the effort?

Finally, if you haven't yet heeded my command to read Kunstler's Long Emergency (ahem), now you can watch the movie, A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash.  It's not Kunstler's movie, but it's got the same themes and warnings.  Compelling watching, with great archival footage -- and it sparked a good debate between friends about whether freaking people out is a useful strategy for eliciting the change we need.  This movie makes the argument that if more people knew what we are up against in the coming years, more corporations and governements would be working day and night to find real solutions.  Share it with at least 10 friends.

I thought you might find this email exchange amusing...

-----Original Message-----
From: megan metcalf
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 2:07 PM
To: Building Management
Subject: Garbage/Recycling: E. 117th

Hi, Manager -

I'm wondering if there's a problem with the garbage at E. 117th? It looks like it hasn't been taken out in weeks: there is a pile to the side of the building that is several bags high and several bags deep. Not only is it disturbing, it makes the stairwell smell and I'm sure it's not helping with the rats and roaches. I hope this will be taken care of right away - I thought the garbage is picked up Monday; I hope we won't have to wait until Thursday.

Also, I thought I'd paste what I found on the DSNY website about recycling here:

"Buildings with ten or more apartments that receive four or more Notices of Violation within a six-month period will be fined $500 for each bag that violates recycling regulations, up to a maximum of 20 bags within a 24-hour period. This translates to a maximum fine of $10,000 per day."

I know New York's recycling rules have been confusing in recent years - I'm sure you're working on getting a functional recycling system together for our building as soon as possible.

Thank you!!
Megan Metcalf

Manager <Manager@dawnaydayusa.com> wrote:

Let me also try to explain how the recycling system works. In order for a system to work everyone has to participate in the system. As you probably notice there may not be any signs posted. That's because each time they are someone tears them down. Also even if the signs remain tenants are not cooperating with recycling anyway. Recycling doesn't just start when you throw the garbage out it starts in your apartment when you separate your garbage before you bring it downstairs.

Now whether or not signs are posted or actual cans are displayed it still does not prevent anyone from bringing down their plastic and bottles in the light blue clear bags. Nor does it stop tenants from tying up old magazines or books before they throw them out. Tenants have to also do their share as well as management.

I do believe that we are presently awaiting the appropriate cans for the correct disposal of everything. Now once they have arrived and everything is set up let's see the tenant participation.

Date:    Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:09:57 -0800 (PST)
From:    "megan metcalf"
Subject:    RE: Garbage/Recycling: E. 117th
To:    "Manager" <Manager@dawnaydayusa.com>

No problem!  I've been separating my recycling and taking it on the subway to work, where they recycle.  It sometimes gets heavy, though, and they are not so happy with this arrangement.  I don't have enough on my own to fill up a clear or blue bag.

I'm so glad to hear about the new cans - I'm sure you're also planning on making the garbage area to the side of the building cleaner and safer, which is probably why people don't go down there.  It isn't well lit, there are bugs and rats around, and people not from the building sometimes hang out down there.  I'm sure you're aware that my upstairs neighbor was held up at gunpoint in the lobby two weeks ago.

Thanks again for all of your help!
Megan Metcalf

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Nope, I haven't heard anything since...and, nope, no recycling bins have shown up either.  The trash was thankfully thrown away the same day I sent the email - not sure what was going on with that.

New York: easy to love, easy to hate - still here after 10 years!