Milk Jug Hot Caps
By Catherine Haug, Feb 3, 2018; image right, from Gardening Hacks article (1)
I happened upon an interesting blog article: 19 Gardening Hacks to Become a Pro Gardener (1). Several of the hacks involve repurposing household items that would otherwise be trash/compost. Here’s a list of the 19; check out the article for more detail on each. (more…)
By Catherine Haug, Jan 18, 2014
(photo of plastic pop bottles, right, from npr.org (3))
This month (Jan 30, 2014), Citizens for a Better Flathead and Waste Not Project are hosting a movie night/panel discussion on recycling more in the Flathead (see Event Notice: Movie Night on Recycling More in the Flathead, Jan 30. 2014). Attendees are encouraged to bring questions and solution ideas to the panel, and a documentary film: Unwasted: The Future of Business on Planet Earth, available on YouTube (1) may give you some ideas to bring to the event, or inspire you to action in your community. The film was produced in 2011 by Seattle-based, green facility maintenance firm Sage Environmental Services2 in partnership with PorterWorks,3 a sustainable solutions company.
High on the list of things that are difficult to recycle here are plastics. We can currently recycle milk jugs and plastic pop bottles, but that’s about it.Yet plastics pose a great threat to the future of our planet.
From Dr. Mercola’s article on this film and topic (2): (more…)
Deconstruction candidates
by Catherine Haug, April 27, 2013
(Photo, right, of original structure on Cat’s property)
Deconstruction to reuse or repurpose building materials has long been an interest of mine. My childhood home – the same home in which I am currently living – was built, in part, from reused materials.
by Catherine Haug, March 24, 2013
Dedicate 20 minutes of your valuable time to watch this documentary with your family. I know I’m ‘preaching to the choir,’ as our ESP community is very aware of the problems of our throw-away society. But this short film really brings it home, and I urge you to share this with others who are not as aware.
You can view it here >> Snag Films: Trashed.
Or scroll down to the embedded video player.
NOTE: the film takes 2 short breaks for a Pillsbury ad…
Next month – April 22- is Earthday; this year’s theme is the Face of Climate Change. Our overwhelming burden of trash has a lot to do with climate change, as a major portion of our everyday trash is plastic, and the manufacture of plastic is a major contributor to atmospheric pollution that fuels the greenhouse effect.
by Catherine Haug, February 9, 2013
Ever since I learned how to make plastic in college organic chemistry class; ever since Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin was advised , “One word:…Plastics” in The Graduate, I’ve been cautious about my use of, and exposure to plastic. It hasn’t been easy. Plastics are everywhere, and very beguiling.
They are in our carpets and rugs; our toothbrushes; shopping bags; food storage containers and wrap; food; blankets, sheets, and towels; purses, wallets, backpacks, lunch boxes; grocery bags; milk jugs, pop bottles, liquor bottles; dishes and drinking glasses; eyewear; wigs; yard tools, lawn mowers, leaf blowers; automobiles; shoes and boots; clothing and decorator fabric; furniture; building materials; water and sewer pipes; appliances; wall paint; picnic supplies; children’s toys; bicycles; sewing machines and supplies; thread, yarn, string, rope; electrical wiring; playground equipment; landscaping materials. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
It seems we cannot do without them. But……life as we know it cannot last much longer, with them. They pollute our oceans; kill our seafood and disrupt the sea food chain. They pollute our groundwater and the soil that grows our foods. They disrupt our hormones – especially in the womb – so that many children will grow up to be sterile. They affect gene expression.
Plastics require a lot of energy – fossil fuel energy – to be made from precious petroleum or foods like corn and soy. There is only so much fossil fuels on the planet, and plastics are chewing up more than half of our annual fuel consumption, when you consider the raw materials and fuels to make them, fuels to transport them, fuels to haul them to the dump and bury them there.
View the free 90-minute film on YouTube: Addicted To Plastic- Documentary.
Then read on for some suggestions to minimize our use of plastics. And send me your reuse/repurpose plastic ideas for publication on this website. (more…)
by Catherine Haug, November 6, 2012 [Cat’s note, 1/27/13: I just realized I’d not published this summary; my apologies!]
The Daily InterLake had a good article about our presenter, Sean Guerrero, in its Nov. 3, 2012 issue, which I have copied in its entirety below. It pretty much covers what Sean discussed at his presentation. However, those who didn’t come, missed his telling of many stories about his interaction with the Hollywood people who commissioned his art. Sean is an entertaining story teller!
See One man’s junk is artist Sean Guerrero’s treasure in the Daily InterLake, Saturday Nov 3, 2012. Text copied below (in case the DIL deletes the article from its internet site). (more…)