A Life Less Ordinary

Drinking Water

by Irene

Everywhere we go here in the Dominican Republic we ask for bottled water, and if we get a glass of ice, we don't pour the water into it. The hotel has a little sign in the restrooms which indicates you shouldn't drink the water, and when you ask for 'water' at a restaurant or anywhere (ie the supplier we were visiting) there is no doubt they will bring us bottled water.

Why can I drink water out of my tap for "free" (nothing is free - someone is maintaining the massive distribution logistics of the water) in San Francisco, but can't in the Dominican Republic, developing countries, and even in some places in the US? Why do I typically spend close to $0.00 for drinking water per day in SF whereas here I "spend" (well, expense) about $3-$4/day (assuming $1 per water bottle, which I don't think is even the price of a water bottle anymore)?

I don't have the answer, and I know it would be a complex one -- for example, I haven't studied Dominican Republic's geography/geology, watersheds, or policies surrounding water management. I also don't know whether people here do drink tap water, but being a 'guest' and from a 'big company' we are not offered tap water as a sign of respect (and knowledge that our bowel systems can't handle any pathogens we aren't typically exposed to on our own). But why is that? Why is "success" or "prestige" measured by being able to afford to provide us with bottled water, rather than being able to afford to provide worry-free drink water from the tap?

Obviously, you and I live in areas where the tap water is especially good because it is snow-melt, and this is unique in the US and Europe. Not everyone's tap water will taste as good as ours, but at least it should be contaminant-free. But is access to safe drinking water the responsability of the government? Should it be a top-priority to fix the problem for governments where this is not the case? I think yes.

Instead, bottled water companies come in, make significant investments in factories that process locally withdrawn water through reverse osmosis or whatever necessary chemical/biological treatment, put it into plastic bottles and sells it to the local people and abroad. But why isn't the government of this place doing that instead, so that access to clean drinking water is available out of people's taps in their homes? What were people doing before Coca Cola came in and started bottling their water? The people who are dying from cholera and other water-born infectious diseases are still dying, because they're not the ones who are buying Dasani. In fact, its THOSE peopel who should be buying bottled water, not us here in the United States, but I imagine they can't afford it/have access to it.

It is clear that big companies - sure including mine though disclaimer I do believe we have been one of the most ethical - moved to developing countries during globalization in the 80s and 90s and were able to get away with a lot more stuff than they could have in the United States or Europe, which already had complex and rigorous environmental laws  including the Clean Water Act, for example. By coming to places like the DR, China, India, Vietnam, Mexico -- it was possible to start pumping out and then discharging out whatever they wanted to. There was no government to say "no you can't do that' and in fact, I'm sure the governments were often happy to have them come in and start manufacturing because it brought jobs and knowledge.

I'm not saying that if multinational companies didn't come into remote places in the world and start manufacturing there, that those places would have figured out everything and would have been better off. We don't know that. I'm saying it is difficult for these places to back track now when the infrastructure to extract water from the good water sources are tapped into by water-bottling companies, and it will be hard for governments to gain that space back .

So this goes back to the original question - who should be responsible for providing clean water to people: is it companies or government? It is case specific?  Why are companies so much better at this than governments? Is water a typical commodity, so rules of economics apply? There are places in the United States where people's water sources have been contaminated due to fracking (getting natural gas deep underground). These people don't turn on their taps, showers, laundry machines: they buy their water from Wal-Marts or other water distributors. Doesn't that seem bizarre to you? Doesn't it seem like we are a bit removed about how important water is in our daily lives, and it is difficult for us to imagine what it would be like without it?

By Irene

Back in Berkeley I had favorite spots I liked to go to for all sorts of things - from coffee shops to art supplies and a favorite sushi place. They were mostly all within walking distance or easily accessible via bike/public transportation.

Back in the valley, I'm getting used to driving a lot and walking less. I can see how gyms came into existence. There's really no opportunity to walk around here, so you have to do SOMETHING to keep fit. Everything is far and it's really hot (I'm getting used to the different temperature too). I'm currently sitting at Coral Tree Cafe. There are lots of tables and free internet and big cupcakes (there's also lunch, looks good). There are business people and moms with kids and younger folks like me doing who knows what on computers. I'm drinking a vanilla latte. I know I'm getting unbearably old when I can't finish an ice cream and when a vanilla latte is too sweet (I can't finish this thing....).

I'm finishing up CACS work by sending all the contacts/information/summit/random stuff I've gathered throughout the year that should help the co-chairs next year. It's incredibly boring to organize what you've already done. But, it must be done!! I wish the co-chair before me did it for me, so I persevere.

I signed up to take my LEED exam to become an Accredited Professional in Existing Buildings. I'm speaking at a conference on June 21st about the custodial outreach project I dreamt up and is actually happening (of course, now that I'm leaving!) Also, you would get a kick out of this: I'll be writing on another blog about my summer Fellowship experience (i.e. the Energy Dashboard and other sustainability-related items in England) with another UC Berkeley student who will be writing from Tokyo. Suggestions for a blog spot welcome. I think we're looking into wordpress (I feel like I'm cheating on typepad by writing this here..........)

Lastly, the oil spill in the Gulf is intense, I should follow it more closely, really. I feel environmentalists are often really smug about something, I don't know what or why, but like they/we (I guess I'm one too though I like to think not the annoying type) walk around with some sort of holier-than-thou-I-know-something-you-don't air about them. I swear, if some huge man-caused disaster happens that causes a bunch of damage, I can just see environmentalists crossing their arms and saying "I told you so" in that extremely useless sort of way. Anyhow,  I started saying this because there are some striking pictures of the oil spill's affect on wild life. Check it out: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/assignment-35/?hp

Leaving climate change (and its unwieldy baggage) out of the picture for a moment here, our dependence on oil should really sorta erm.....start to diminish. Not because there are pelicans that can't fly because their feathers are stuck together by oil clumps (although I'm sure it will be used as a  visual for years to come), but because there is something scary about having only ONE source of energy on which our entire economy relies on. Oil is like water -- imagine someone were to turn either of those resources "OFF." Where would you get your food? Ok, you'll be able to walk/drive to a grocery store, but where will Trader Joe's get its food from? It's unfortunate that decreasing dependence on oil is so closely tied to the Democratic party. It'd be really cool for there to be a Republican president who wants to address this issue and bridge the divide. More public transportation, fewer cars, energy efficient and smaller cars, new infrastructure. First we need to make it possible for people to move around without driving a car by themselves through new infrastructure and technology. Then we need to create incentives for people to use it, and then we need to tax or create other disincentives from driving. It IS a national security issue. And it's just not smart. It's risky to put all your eggs in one basket. I'm not saying we need to be fueled solely by nuclear or wind or solar..........but having a healthy mix of energy sources and thinking differently about how we use energy in the first place just AREN'T SUCH CRAZY IDEAS. I'm not saying our quality of life needs to diminish (hah! that'd be an impossible political message to sell), BUT we SHOULD make it a no-brainer to make what I think are the "right" decisions. Like..............it should be cheaper and more convenient to NOT drive by yourself to work everyday (again: you have to have alternative ways to do everything just as conveniently). It should be cheaper to buy normal food (a loaf of bread, meat, milk, vegetables) and NOT go to McDonald's everyday. Water should be cheaper than Coca Cola (I mean.....right?). It should be easier to recycle your aluminum can than to throw it away. We really shouldn't need gyms.............a "building" where you can walk.......

I'm not saying every person needs to think about protecting the environment (though that would be nice) -- there are people who get paid to do that over at the EPA. But it should just make more economic sense to do that sort of stuff........and only then will things change. Super markets got it right: start charging for paper/plastic bags. And MAGICALLY people start bringing their own bags. Guilt-tripping or making people make "moral" decisions isn't the right way to go. It should just be the easy, convenient, more economic thing to do. 

This concludes my out-of-the-blue rant.

It's always the small things

1. We got a composting bin today! I'm excited. I've already composted pencil shavings, snap pea ends, and a paper towel! We don't have a pail yet (they're coming soon) so we're using a pot for now. But actually, the pot might work better than the pail we get. We shall see.

2. Loose tea that you put into an individual metal tea strainer things - the one that I got myself when we were in Victoria for Dad's birthday last year! And the tea smells so good! Except I put it into a coffee mug because obviously we don't have any clean dishes, so I'm drinking tea that smells like coffee. Sorta disappointing, but what am I gonna do? Get up and pour it out? Sistah puh-lease. 

3. Socks that go up to my knees. Enough said. It's cold here too! (not down in the 20s though....sheesh that's brutal).

4. Trader Joe's is open 8am-10pm for some reason now. I went grocery shopping for the first time since  Thanksgiving....and there is FOOD waiting for me to eat when I choose to. Yum.

5. 3 o'clock class got canceled today. A-mazing.

6. Took a really hot shower with the heater on. Also amazing. 

7. Did I MENTION we have COMPOSTING now?!?! I'm so stoked. I'm SO stoked. Oh wow. I was so jealous that you could compost in your new apartment, but now I can toooooooooooo.

This is the most mundane post ever. But it really is the small things that make the difference between a good and a bad day.

Perspective

I assumed that at Berkeley I would get a better understanding of my world. And I have. It just happens to be an extremely tilted view of the world. To my disappointment, I was not taught to think critically between (truly) opposing arguments from academics absolutely on the opposite side of a spectrum. Yes, we had to refute why one type of academic was more right vs. another same type of academic – but we were swimming in the same pond, not comparing different ponds.

Big ideas I think I was taught throughout my stay at Berkeley include:

1.    Big Business is bad. Local is good. Organic.

2.    Globalization is bad

3.    Genetically Modified Organisms are bad (unless you work in the science department, in which case they’re good)

4.    America  is responsible for the destruction of everything and therefore it is our responsibility to help the developing/third/”south”/non-industrialized world.

5.    Climate change is real

6.    Everyone is biased (except us – we are giving you the whole picture!)

7.    Privately sponsored research is bad

8.    Republicans are evil (sorry Helen)

 

I think people in other departments might have learned different things: this is only a representation of my experiences (both in class and out).

 

And – here’s the thing. I agree and disagree to some degree with the claims above. Yes. Climate change is happening. Big businesses (like Ikea) push other types of producers out of markets they used to inhabit, small, high quality specialty stores more an exception rather than the norm. A lot of Berkeley students think that. But guess where we get our furniture? From Ikea. Because it’s cheap. And guess what we do after we move with that ridiculously cheap furniture? We dump it.

 

I’m more a democrat than I am a republican. I am also an environmentalist. I can’t help it – I get angry when people use plastic water bottles and then throw them away. How can you throw away a plastic bottle? What is that plastic bottle going to do in a landfill? Nothing. It’s a complete waste of resources that could have otherwise gone on to be made into something else (like carpet, fleeces, books, etc). Lots of people are environmentalists but don't proclaim to be.

 

But I also know that I don’t know the whole story of any of the stories 1-8 listed above. I know that there are valid points that people from all sides of the spectrum can bring up and I wouldn’t know how to counter most of them. The point is to get a holistic grasp of the issues. And, apparently, you can’t really get that at a university either. You have to do it on your own time, reading newspapers, and books, and listening to people on the radio with whom you totally disagree. And then formulate a well thought out argument articulating why you’re right and everyone else is wrong. But..neither side can simply disengage. Every view point our professors give us has a counter argument from someone somewhere. Why don’t we read those articles?

Most importantly, we Berkeley students need to be open minded and learn to think critically. Nothing makes me more upset than close minded self proclaimed open minded Berkeley students.

Trash, Compost, Recycling

By Irene

You know nothing makes me happier than talking about trash. Pictures/diagrams to come with better internet.

1.       An ideal bin to compost in is a bin which has a very secure lid. Compost shouldn’t smell, but alas, you want to avoid any accidental unpleasantness. A friend of mine has a wonderful trash can – it is a circular metallic one, with a lid which you can open with your foot.  The nice thing about not having to lift the lid with your hands is that you’re often going to be scrapping food off of your plate, and this way you don’t have to touch anything.  It might be a bit too big for your needs (my friend lives with three other girls), so you might want to just get a smaller bin which you can put on your kitchen counter, but then make sure that though the lid is super secure, it’s also easy to take it off! Otherwise you’ll find yourself putting stuff in the trash, just ‘cause it’s easier!

2.       Items that you can compost: I’m just going to assume that your collection services are like ours in Berkeley and collect ALL compostable materials – but, really, you should check. If your composting services are like ours, you can put just about anything into the bin:

a.       Napkins, egg cartons, newspaper

b.      Food scraps (banana peels, egg shells, meat fat, old lettuce, etc)

c.       Anything with a wax covering can go in, like half and half cartons. However, if there is a plastic screw top (like for OJ or milk) then you need to recycle that (if your collecting services accept those types of items)

d.      Pizza boxes: should be composted, not recycled

e.      Other paper items like paper plates or paper cups (sometimes paper cups have a wax lining, you can compost those. Pay attention when you’re buying paper one-use items to what type of covering they have, because sometimes it’s plastic covering, and you can’t compost that).

f.        Compostable-ware: more and more items like silverware and to-go cups are compostable.  To-go coffee cups from places like Starbucks/Peets are compostable even if it doesn’t say so on the cup– the lids are NOT compostable unless they specifically say so.

g. Plastic wrapping around food: (ie if you purchase cucumbers from Trader Joe's) needs to be thrown away. The little trays on which meat usually comes from  should be thrown away as well, because it's usually styrofoam.

h. The stuff you bring back from a restaurant: the food can be composted, but not the container in which you brought it back in, unless it's paper (ie the Chinese food to-go boxes can usually be composted).

Plastic bags: The bane of everyone’s existence. You should check to see if you can put plastic bags into your regular recycling, where you put your other plastic stuff. Often times, you can’t. In which case, A LOT of grocery stores have plastic bag drop-off sites. I’m not sure if Trader Joe’s does, you can ask there and some other local grocery store.  Bringing re-usable bags to the grocery store whenever possible: it’s inevitable that you’ll have plastic bags – I like to reuse them as much as possible if I have them, and then drop them off at my local Safeway.

As for recycling: again, it depends what your recycling facility can and cannot do.  This really varies from city to city.  It’s good to rinse out the sour cream container or pasta sauce jar before putting it into the recycling. And it goes both ways: it reduces the smell that comes from your recycling bin and might keep it cleaner longer, and it reduces the amount of work on the other end.

Easy ways to remember stuff: if it’s not plastic, it can usually go into the compost. Remembering what types of plastic you can put into your recycling is a bit trickier. If you’re not sure, it’s better to be safe and put it into the trash.  I don’t have internet currently, but a simple search that I just did can help you figure out what you can recycle: http://www.sustainablecapitolhill.org/seattle-recycling-resources.html

By the way, recycling is confusing. I’ve spent many meetings discussing with people what they can and can’t recycle. It’s confusing because we all come from different places, and those places have different recycling facilities. I bet Seattle has one of the most advanced recycling facilities, so you can probably recycle just about all of your plastics. All plastics have a triangle somewhere on them with a number inside the triangle. Don’t be fooled though – just because something has a triangle on it doesn’t mean it can be recycled.

Composting in Capitol Hill

by Helen

I'm procrastinating packing my kitchen so I figured I'd talk about how excited I am about composting at the new place in Capitol Hill.  I have a lot of respect for your passion about limiting the landfills on this earth, but to be honest, I'm not quite sure what happens to things I compost and recycle.  I know that's probably a dumb question, but better late then never I suppose.

  So maybe you can tell me in the next week or two about best practices for composting, the basics for people who start out doing it. 

Here are the questions I have: 

what is an ideal container to compost in
what are the items that can go in
what do you do with plastic bags
what are absolute no nos for composting and recycling
is there an easy way to remember what goes where and what signs to check for on food containers
do i have to wash stuff before recycling it?

So the ABCs of home sustainability for a busy person is what I am looking for.