The Seven Year Pen

When I was in 6th grade, there was a kid named Matt who always tipped back on his chair and chewed pens.  And as sure as the sun will rise, that pen always exploded in his mouth. He would always be leaving class to head to the boys room to clean up the blue mess left behind on his face.


I can only imagine how happy Bic or Papermate was by this act of constantly having to replace his exploded pen.


And I can only imagine the disappointment of Mother Earth that another pen was headed to the landfill.


Now that I'm married, I face a similar problem.  A husband who is a writer who keeps a pen/pen cap in his mouth and leaves mangled pieces of plastic all over the apartment.


But honestly, how often do we even think of these things?  It's a pen.  It's meant to have a short life.  And it's so small, how could it possibly matter if it ends up in the landfill?


But it does matter.


On average, Americans throw away 1,600,000,000 pens every year!


Did you just pull that pen out of your mouth?  I did.


But now there is a solution.  The Seven Year pen!


My friend recently introduced me to this gem of a pen and I'm in love with the idea.  I won't need to buy another pen till I'm...well...let's not go there.


I dare Matt to try and chew this pen...that would be a lot of ink to clean off his face!


And no pen caps...even better!  I won't be picking up mangled pieces of dead pen carcus. And think of the money you'll save.


You can get your Seven Year Pen on the Seltzer website.  I was very excited to see that Seltzer was carrying these pens as they have a lot of other cool, eco-friendly stationary stuff.  I love this site and I hope you will too!


Happy writing!

An Apple A Day

Last night when I heard the news that Steve Jobs passed away, I became overwhelmed with sadness.  With all that is going on with Occupy Wall Street, it's rather strange that I would feel this way over a CEO of a large corporation.


But to me, Apple is more like family than big business.


My sophomore year of college I purchased my very first MacIntosh.  It was 1988 and I was one of only a few girls in my sorority house to have a computer.


If it's possible to love a machine, I was in love with my Mac.  Everyone loved her and she affectionately became known as "Polly."

Her unique font, user-friendly system and ultra-cool design made you want to run over and turn her on.


She came home with me on college breaks and eventually moved with me to Washington.


And then she became older.  She slowed down and eventually became obsolete.


There wasn't a love connection with my next computer.  A regular PC that didn't respond to me in the way Polly did.


But eventually, another Mac came back into my life.  The iMac. A beautiful, white, spaceship style that fit into our family like an old friend.

By this time, Apple products were also producing a small carbon footprint, improving their product's environmental performance by "designing them to use less material, ship with smaller packaging, be free of toxic substances used by others, and be as energy efficient and recyclable as possible."  It was a dream come true.


With that in mind, our Mac family began to grow with the addition of QTMcGee, my laptop, and Larue, my iPhone.


This blog was born on a Mac and continues to reproduce on one.  Apple products made a huge impact on my life and John's.  Movies, scripts, blogs and books have all been written and produced on our Macs.


We are forever indebted to Steve Jobs and his vision that helped our visions become realities.


My deepst sympathies to his family. Our thoughts...and Macs...are with you.

RAPpers Delight

Right now, the biggest thing to hit the beach since Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon is rap.

No...I'm not talking about The Sugar Hill Gang grabbing surfboards or Grandmaster Flash taking the white lines highway to Santa Monica Pier.  I'm talking about RAP - the Rise Above Plastics movement.


Plastics threaten not only our planet but our oceans and marine life.  Thousands of marine life die each year from either ingesting plastics or getting tangled in them.  So The Surfrider Foundation went on a mission to "reduce the impacts of plastics in the marine environment by raising awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution and by advocating for a reduction of single-use plastics and the recycling of all plastics."


Are you re-thinking taking a drink from that plastic water bottle in your hand right now?


It's time to put down that bottle and grab your ceramic beer stein.


Yes...I said beer stein!  Because...

October is RAPTOBERFEST!!

Raptoberfest will be giving you tips all month long on how you can lessen your plastic footprint.


But first, let's kick off Raptoberfest right!  Remember that beer stein I told you to get.  Do you have it?  Good.  But WAIT!  Don't fill it with beer (yet).  I'm starting to tease you, aren't I?


Take the stein to your favorite beach or park this Saturday for the One Foot At A Time plastic clean-up.  The goal is to pick up one square foot of plastic and then get creative. Click here to choose your template, print it out and create something wonderful from the plastics you've collected!  There will be prizes for the best piece of plastic art.


Check back because I'll be posting my masterpiece.  And then I'll properly dispose of it in the recycling bin.


OK...Now you can fill up your stein.  And perform rap songs.  Rise Above Plastic songs, that is.


See I am Wonder Mere
And I'd like to say hello


To the bag, to the cap, the toy and the straw
To the bottle and jello
But first
I gotta ban ban
The plastics from the beach
Say up jump the ocean
To the banned banned plastics


Take stock
You don't stop
Rock the clean-up that will make your planet rock


"Recycler's Delight"

Back to Green School Shopping 101

I love back-to-school shopping!  Notebooks, folders, backpacks…it makes me want to be back in a small wooden desk smelling worksheets fresh off the ditto machine.  Of course, the ditto ink smell was probably the toxic equivalent of an elementary school BP oil spill.

Growing up, back-to-school shopping was a ritual.  We piled in the car and headed off to Bradlees and Caldor to get our supplies.  I can still remember my first Snoopy loose-leaf binder and my blue Trapper Keeper.  Come to think of it, I sniffed those too.


While my school supplies were more than likely filled with BPA and toxic substances, today’s school supplies are much eco-friendlier.  Kids have choices now.  And since our kids are going to be making decisions and running the world sooner than we think, this is the perfect time to step in and teach them which supplies are the right ones to sniff!


School supply shopping does not have to be a complicated word problem.  Instead, it can be a simpler multiple choice.


Here’s a little mnemonic device to shop SMART this back to school season:


Solar calculators and chargers are best.  Harness the sunshine!

Make your child’s lunch using healthy, local and organic foods and pack it all up in a reusable lunch bag!

A reusable water bottle is key to keeping your child hydrated and away from sugary soft drinks.

Recycled products are best!  Look for backpacks, notebooks, pens and other supplies made out of recycled materials.

Thrift store shopping for new clothes.  Today’s thrift stores carry items that still have tags on them!  Don’t be afraid to venture in and take a look.

Your choices and actions will be picked up on by your kids.  Make sure you score an A+ for your kids…and the earth!

(The Ultimate Green Store is a great place to complete your one-stop shopping for "green" school supplies!)

Tales From The Shark Side

After years of being inundated with shark movies, Shark Week and being told how to save someone from a shark attack, now we are learning how to save sharks from humans.


Sharks have been swimming the world’s oceans for 400 million years.  They have survived mass extinction events but are now endangered because of us.  Sharks may be popular villains, but they are a vital part of the world’s ocean ecosystems.


Last weekend, I was volunteering for Oceana, which had a booth at Nautica’s New York City Triathlon in Central Park.


Oceana is a non-profit ocean conservation and advocacy organization created ten years ago by several foundations.  It merged with Ted Danson’s American Oceans Campaign to become the largest such group working hard to prevent collapse of fish populations, stop ocean pollution, protect sea turtles from extinction and other important causes.


At the Triathlon their focus was their Shark Campaign.  Oceana is pushing for shark finning bans, reduced shark bycatch (sharks caught in nets) and other forms of protection through policy, science and legal work.


Our goal was to accumulate 500 signatures to send to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to help save sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.


We moved through the park like . . . sharks.  While we didn't attack anyone, we did keep moving, hungry for signatures, offering bracelets of support to those that signed our petition.


Soon it looked like I was gonna need a bigger clipboard.  I was being harpooned with one strange rejection after another.


One woman asked when the sharks had arrived in Mexico.  Um, I guess we weren’t clear we were talking about the Gulf of Mexico .


Others gave the simple “No…I’m good.”


“Yeah, but the sharks aren’t!” I wanted to say.


“I’m with the Ocean Conservancy, but no.”


Huh?


“Sharks!  Not while I’m swimming,” one girl exclaimed.  “Dolphins, yes.  Whales, yes. Sharks, no way!”


They say the same about you, I thought.


One man started off sensible and then said that we should round up all the people who catch sharks and shoot them instead.  No thanks, Chief Brody.

My favorite response was “Call Spielberg.”  I just might, considering how much Jaws – which is one of my favorite movies – has hurt the image of sharks.

As Hooper said to Mayor Vaughn in Jaws: “I think you're going to ignore this particular problem, until it swims up and bites you on the ass!”

Despite everything, we made our goal of 500 signatures.  We didn’t bite anyone, but we did swim up to them.  To truly protect these important creatures, we are going to need an even bigger clipboard.

Big Brother After Shark

Like many Americans, I was obsessed with Shark Week last week.  My TV had not left the Discovery Channel, except for side trips to Showtime for Big Brother After Dark.


Last week, the Big Brother house was also affected by Shark Week, as the “Have Nots” were subjected to sardines and seaweed. 

While the contestants in the BB house are called “House Guests,” every time you set foot in the ocean, you’re a “house guest” of the sharks.  Thankfully, most of the time we’re welcome.  But should a hungry, confused Great White become “Head of Household, ” there could be a slight chance of being “evicted.”


In 2010 there were approximately 60 shark attacks, most of which did not end in death. If you consider the hundreds of people at your local beach on the hottest summer day and multiply that by the thousands of beaches worldwide, that number is pretty miniscule...especically since humans kill more than 70 million sharks worldwide every year.


While sharks may be one of the most-feared animals, they are an important part of our eco-system. In their role at the top of the food chain, they keep other fish populations healthy. They are powerful yet provide balance (like BB’s Jeff and Jordan).


These beautiful, majestic creatures are actually the ones in danger of being evicted.


Shark finning, trawler nets, high mercury levels and extinction are just some of the challenges facing sharks.


But you can help.  You have the "Power of Veto" and can take these sharks off the chopping block!


Oceana and Shark Savers are doing amazing work to help save sharks.  Visit their websites to find out how you can make a difference.  Sign a petition, know where your seafood comes from and stay away from shark fin soup (Big Brother’s Slop would be a better choice).


Taking these small steps can make a huge difference for these amazing creatures of the deep.  Sharks need us to build an alliance with them, so they can make it to the end.


Nothing comes between me and my sharks!

Journey to the Center of the Green Earth

I have been busy cleaning out my apartment.  It was definitely time to purge, so for a while there, there was literally nowhere to sit while I had bags, clothes, and a myriad of other crap lying over every flat surface.


Ironically, I threw very little in the trash and recycling bin.  Most things had another home to go to.


Once I had sorted the good, the bad and the ugly, I loaded up my granny cart (or, as John and I lovingly refer to it, "the cart that paid for itself" since it's saved us on many an occasion) with all sorts of stuff and began my way down the six flights of stairs and around the neighborhood unloading my stuff.


Here is my journey of how I kept things out of the landfill:


1. C-Town.  This was my favorite drop-off. 

I had been collecting our glass milk bottles to re-use for iced tea and impromptu vases. However, I'd collected so many (17 to be exact) that I no longer had room. It was time for them to head off into recycling-ville.


But as I lifted the lid off my recycling can, John shouted, "Wait!"


Apparently, we'd paid a deposit on those bottles and he wanted to return them to the store. 

I argued a bit with him asking if $.05 was worth the trip.

As it turns out, it was one time I was happy to be wrong as the deposit was not $.05 but rather $1.50!  I collected over $25 for my 17 bottles!  I stood in front of the cashier with a look that clearly frightened her. "Are you sure this is right?" I asked.  She assured me it was. 

 I continued happily on my way with "the cart that paid for itself" and made my way to the next stop.


2. Ventura.  Not the boulevard or the city.  The apartment building.  It's where the Wearable Collections box is.


Wearable Collections is a company I discovered in the NYC area that collects old clothes, bags, and shoes. The things that are in good condition are given to people in need. The stuff that is torn, ripped and headed for the landfill is turned into new fibers to make new things. The in-between stuff is made into rags.

 3. Goodwill.  I did have some household items that were ready for a new home.

4. The Animal Shelter.  Here is where I drop off old towels, sheets, and t-shirts. They are used to line the cages of the dogs and cats.  They are always at a shortage for this type of stuff and much appreciate the donation.

5. Aveda.  I was not shopping but rather dropping off all of the bottle caps I had collected. Well over 100 of them!

Since bottle caps can't be recycled, I collect them at home and at work and turn them over to Aveda who turns them into their bottles.  And sometimes, if you get a really nice salesperson, they'll give you a hand massage or a free sample of hand lotion as a thank you!


6. UPS.  My final stop was the UPS Store where I dropped off all those horrendous styrofoam peanuts I'd been saving from packages at work.  Those were the worst since they seem to fly around and get stuck everywhere.  I was happy to unload those.

I returned home and finished my delivery day by posting some stuff on eBay which turned out to be somewhat lucrative this time around!


The entire process probably took less than 45 minutes and was well worth it.  Not only did I keep a lot of things out of the landfill, but others will benefit from it.


So tell me...what can you keep out of the landfill this week?