Sent in by Erin in Sacramento,
Rosie the Yorkie wants to show off her yelp hankie!
Ride your bike
Part of the reason why I started this project is to get people to start THINKING before they use. Carrying a handkerchief every day is a constant reminder to do better. I know it worked for me. Personally I was on auto pilot for so many years that it was scary how hard it was to stop using paper towels! It takes time to break cycles that we are used to in life. First it was weird not using paper towels or tissues, then it was irritating, then before I knew it I was thinking of other ways I could reduce my impact on this earth. One of those other ways is riding my bike more.
I found a few facts to share on the Solar Energy International website about automobiles - click here for the full list.
Americans use a billion gallons of motor oil a year, 350 million gallons of which end up polluting the environment.
The United States consumes about 17 million barrels of oil per day, of which nearly two-thirds is used for transportation.
With information like this I know I HAVE to change the way I live by driving less and using less in general. So from my previous post you know that last weekend I rode my bike to the Green Festival.
After the event when I removed the pink tag from the bike parking lot there was five dollars off the normal 35 dollar fee for a one year free membership to the San Francisco Bike Coalition! Pretty cool. Plus they watched my bike the whole time I was at the event.
Membership has its benefits, including:
The Urban Bicyclists' Survival Kit complete with: The San Francisco Cyclist/Pedestrian street grade map, transit guides, safety advice, reflectors, cool stickers and more
Discounts at more than 45 local bike shops & merchants, and even 10% off at Rainbow Grocery when you ride your bike there!
One year subscription to the Tube Times delivered to your home or electronically
Free bike trailer rentals
Free admission to our popular Cultural History Bike Tours and invites to attend their fabulous parties
And best of all, by joining the SFBC you'll strengthen the powerful voice of SFBC for safer, saner streets for bicyclists and pedestrians.
www.sfbike.org
415 431 BIKE
Im Still waiting to hear back about my membership and will let you know all about it. I urge you to use your handkerchief all the time but also find other ways to be easier on our planet. If you need suggestions let me know and I will send some your way.
Goodnight and Goodluck
I found a few facts to share on the Solar Energy International website about automobiles - click here for the full list.
Americans use a billion gallons of motor oil a year, 350 million gallons of which end up polluting the environment.
The United States consumes about 17 million barrels of oil per day, of which nearly two-thirds is used for transportation.
With information like this I know I HAVE to change the way I live by driving less and using less in general. So from my previous post you know that last weekend I rode my bike to the Green Festival.
After the event when I removed the pink tag from the bike parking lot there was five dollars off the normal 35 dollar fee for a one year free membership to the San Francisco Bike Coalition! Pretty cool. Plus they watched my bike the whole time I was at the event.
Membership has its benefits, including:
The Urban Bicyclists' Survival Kit complete with: The San Francisco Cyclist/Pedestrian street grade map, transit guides, safety advice, reflectors, cool stickers and more
Discounts at more than 45 local bike shops & merchants, and even 10% off at Rainbow Grocery when you ride your bike there!
One year subscription to the Tube Times delivered to your home or electronically
Free bike trailer rentals
Free admission to our popular Cultural History Bike Tours and invites to attend their fabulous parties
And best of all, by joining the SFBC you'll strengthen the powerful voice of SFBC for safer, saner streets for bicyclists and pedestrians.
www.sfbike.org
415 431 BIKE
Im Still waiting to hear back about my membership and will let you know all about it. I urge you to use your handkerchief all the time but also find other ways to be easier on our planet. If you need suggestions let me know and I will send some your way.
Goodnight and Goodluck
Green Festival San Francisco 2008
I went to the Green Festival last weekend in San Francisco. Bay Area Bicycle Coalition hosted a valet parking for our bikes at the event. I found out that if I did ride my bike I would get 5 dollars off admission! After three hours and more than a hundred booths I did not see one handkerchief product available?! Almost everything at the Green Festival was about green consuming and not reducing consumption or use. I would have liked to see more information available and less products for sale. I saw everything from green caskets to green chocolate. The last thing I wanted to do was buy anything from the Green Festival. Nonetheless I had a great time and was able to talk to a few people about using handkerchiefs instead of paper towels and tissues!
Bathroom Tissue
Its best to get a toilet paper that is 100 % recycled and unbleached. This helps reduce the need for virgin wood pulp which means that less energy is used to process the paper and saves more trees from being cut down.
The Seventh Generation website offers great information about Post Consumer Materials
The Seventh Generation website offers great information about Post Consumer Materials
Hankdkerchief Java Jacket in use
I posted this use before but wanted to show how to tie the handkerchief in a small bow so it stays in place! Here you go!
The Handkerchief Project now has 11 members!
This is a shout out to Warren B in Los Angeles. Thanks for joining the challenge Warren and I look forward to hearing about your hanky journey!
Keep on the lookout!
Keep a look out for stickers on the paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms at CCA! Since I cannot be there to remind people to use less paper towels (especially in the mens room) I thought it would be a good idea to make stickers to notify the user in action! These stickers will do two things, make people aware of their use of paper towels and direct them to the Handkerchief Project blog to get more information.
Bruce Levin and his Handkerchief from Japan
Bruce Levin a professor at CCA says he loves his handkerchief and is never without one! Thanks to one of my classmates named Andri I was notified immediately of a "hanky happening". I ran to the scene and it was CCAs very own Bruce Levin. He says he gets his handkerchiefs in Japan when he is there teaching. He also mentioned that the size of the square is larger and the quality of the cloth is very high. I did some research about handkerchiefs in Japan and found out that it is part of the culture to bring your own handkerchief to dry your hands in public bathrooms. Most establishments do not provide paper towels or forced air dryers. All of the information I found about traveling to Japan put handkerchiefs on their "list not to forget" when visiting. Here is a picture of Bruce and his handkerchief.
Kleercut.net
Tissue Products: Industry overview
Who would have thought that the toilet paper and facial tissue we use every day are created by clearcutting ancient forests like Canada’s Boreal? It’s sad but true that disposable tissue products, used once and then thrown away or flushed down the toilet, contribute to the destruction of forests that have been around for over 10,000 years. The good news is that the tissue product industry is changing; the bad news is that some manufacturers, like Kimberly-Clark, are not. Paper production and consumption worldwide have serious negative impacts. The pulp and paper industry, which includes tissue product manufacturers, is among the world’s largest generators of toxic air, water pollutants and waste products. It is the third largest generator of global warming emissions, and those emissions are projected to increase 100 percent by 2020. It is the world’s largest user of fresh water, and is among the world’s largest users of energy. It destroys natural forests that are essential for clean air and water, the atmosphere’s chemistry, wildlife habitat, indigenous culture, spiritual inspiration and recreation.
click here to link to Kleercut website
Tissue Products: Industry overview
Who would have thought that the toilet paper and facial tissue we use every day are created by clearcutting ancient forests like Canada’s Boreal? It’s sad but true that disposable tissue products, used once and then thrown away or flushed down the toilet, contribute to the destruction of forests that have been around for over 10,000 years. The good news is that the tissue product industry is changing; the bad news is that some manufacturers, like Kimberly-Clark, are not. Paper production and consumption worldwide have serious negative impacts. The pulp and paper industry, which includes tissue product manufacturers, is among the world’s largest generators of toxic air, water pollutants and waste products. It is the third largest generator of global warming emissions, and those emissions are projected to increase 100 percent by 2020. It is the world’s largest user of fresh water, and is among the world’s largest users of energy. It destroys natural forests that are essential for clean air and water, the atmosphere’s chemistry, wildlife habitat, indigenous culture, spiritual inspiration and recreation.
click here to link to Kleercut website
Trees
Paul on things that make you go green says, “The NRDC estimates that if every household in the United States used one less roll of paper towels, we could save 544,000 trees.”
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