PLASTIC ! POISONOUS!

When I read Royte's chapter on e-waste and how poisonous that was, it scared the hell out of me. I acted first and had to get my two, very old desk-top computers out of my basement and I knew that poison was off my way. Little did I know what her next chapter held. On reading about plastics and learning that plastics are poisonous, my heart missed a bit. What! poisonous! I am surrounded by plastic all over my house. Plastic plates and spoons, plastic dishes to keep my left overs, plastic bags, and other plastic bathroom items. I was not sure if I was ready to trash all those items and I even did not know where to get replacement for them. Just learning that they are not good for our health and our environment was important, but it also did send chills down my spine. Did anybody else think the same? I am eager to finish her book but now am approaching every remaining chapter with caution as I expect her to talk of something that may be really bad to use, yet I may be using it everyday. Anyway, it is better to learn it than have someone benefit with my dollars in exchange for my health.

Newspaper Bags

I just thought I would share with the class something I learned recently. For those of you who receive the South Bend Tribune, you can collect those plastic bags and give them back to your carrier. Apparently, the carriers are required to pay for those bags out of their pocket so they would appreciate having the bags back. That way, the bags get reused.

toilet paper fixation continuance...

Well, I had to give a persuasive speech (for speech class). I did mine about toilet paper. Well, okay, the "dangers" of virgin papermaking and the benefits of recycling, centered around a toilet paper theme. What can I say, Royte really inspired me; I never imagined I would develop a passion for bathroom tissue.

So, anyway, my speech got selected (23 out of 450) to be presented on speech night!!!! So, I get to "redo" the speech in front of a much larger audience. I asked my speech prof how many people would be there, she shrugged and said the room holds 250. (YIKES) and if I make it to finals (it's a competition) that's 2x the audience! I'm one part excited, 5 parts terrified, and 10 parts grateful I get to pass on this very important information I've been given.

The speech is Monday the 16th btw 4-6 in the recital hall (NS 158) if any of y'all wanna come by and hear the whole spiel.

Hooah!

Melis'

What's For Dinner

As you know, I will be hosting a dinner to honor folks who have worked closely with me to help make BagFest a success. This is what we're having for dinner:

Pasta Primivera

Mozzerella Chicken

Mixed Vegetable

Salad

Garlic Bread

Tirimisu

Iced Tea & Water

Mmm...mmm...sounds good to me! And I have other treats in-store for you, so you really don't want to miss out on this festive occassion!!

So, if you've been invited, but haven't RSVP'ed, please email by Friday. You may bring a guest with you, so please let me know if you're coming solo or with a guest.

If you've already RSVP'ed, and you're one of my students, please take note: The first 7 students who email me will have reserved seats to dine with Elizabeth Royte. So you better respond soon, before it's too late!

Guest Blogger: Bruce Spitzer

Folks,

Today we have the pleasure of having Bruce Spitzer, professor of Instructional Technology in the Department of Education, submit his shopping story to the blog. Thanks for sharing your story with us, Bruce! :0) M

Bruce writes:

With the upcoming Bag Fest and a renewed interest in using permanent shopping bags, I wanted to share with you my most recent shopping experience at the Martin's grocery store on S.R. 23 in South Bend.

My wife and I have used canvas and net shopping bags for some time now, and it's habit that they are in the back seat of the car. So naturally, I took them in with me shopping last Saturday morning. This was our monthly "big buy" where we stock up on many items we use throughout the month such as canned goods, dry goods, and such.

After an hour of shopping, I had a loaded basket and headed to the check-out. I placed my 3 canvas bags and one net bag on the counter (and received my 12 cent credit!) and asked the bagger to "fill them up; no plastic please."

Believe it or not, $200 worth of groceries, canned goods, fresh vegetables, and dairy products fit in those 4 bags! Of course, I didn't bag the roll of paper towels, the large, packaged frozen salmon, and Martin's provided a reuseable cardboard 6-pack carrier for my 4 bottles of wine (which this time around also held a bottle of olive oil).

Not a single plastic bag left Martin's that day because of me and that means not a single additional bag in the landfill this week because of me.

It can be done: $200 worth of groceries in 3 canvas and 1 net bag!

Regards,
Bruce Spitzer
IUSB Faculty

Manitoba in Canada bans plastic bags

Check out this link http://news.channels.aol.ca/news/article.adp?id=20070403095909990006

On this site you can even vote whether or not you think plastic shopping bags should be banned.

The BioBag

This past weekend, I did some grocery shopping at the Garden Patch, which is a health-food store located on Edison Rd. I purchased my first 4-pack of 100% recycled toilet paper (thank you Melissa, for the inspiration!), and I was in the process of looking for biodegradable kitchen bags.

The shopkeeper noticed; he asked, "is there anything I can help you find?" I asked him if they carried those kitchen bags. "No," he said, "I think it costs too much for us to carry at the moment because there isn't a demand for that product."

"Not yet," I countered hopefully. He smiled in agreement.

Ok, so I'm a psychologist, clearly not an economist or businesswoman. So what is it going to take to create a demand for this product? Am I the only person in South Bend who is interested in purchasing biodegradeable trash bags?

Hardly. I'm really not that special.

So I was thinking of trying an experiment. The question is: How long will it take for retailers, such as the Garden Patch, to start carrying this product? One month? Two? Three? A year?

And here's a related question: How does a "demand" begin? With repeated requests by one person or several people?

This is the product I want to buy: They're called BioBags, and they're kitchen bags not made from polyethylene (i.e., oil), but made from corn.

Well, I'm going to keep asking for this product, just to see if, statistically speaking, I can reject the null hypothesis--that is, repeatedly asking for BioBags will not result in the store carrying this product.

If you're interested in testing this hypothesis, I think that will help in stirring-up a "demand."

Here's the Garden Patch's phone number: (574) 255-3151 and here's their address: 228 W. Edison Rd.

Cloth Nappies? From New Zealand

In a moment of distraction, I encountered this video on YouTube. Maybe some parents out there would find this interesting. (Turns out, Royte begins Ch.10 with the diaper issue!)

:0) M

COASTERS FOR SALE!!!

Last Thursday morning, clients from Marshall Starke Development center came to IUSB to learn how to make coasters out of plastic grocery bags. Two of the clients had already attended one of the coaster-making activities two weeks before, but they were still excited about doing it again. The other two clients asked if they could come because they had previously seen the coasters the other clients had made and wanted to make them, too. I was told that several other clients wanted to come but were already scheduled for an activity that day. Perhaps they will get an opportunity next time. I couldn’t believe how fast the time went with them. And they were most appreciative to be taught how to make the coasters. The thing I found most interesting during my time with them was their ease and independence; they just plunged right into the activity without getting discouraged. The clients would love to come back, so if there is anyone that would like to work with Marshall Starke Thursday or Friday, please let me know.

One last thing: We had a supporter the other week interested in buying the coasters as a donation for the festival. The clients have offered to sell their 6 coasters for the donations to go towards the bag festival. So if there are any interested buyers out there, let us know!! It would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrea

Water Bottles

I want to share with my classmates my Royte reading response for the chapter Satan's Resin. I just found that this chapter really hit home with me and perhaps it will for you, too?

In 2003, Americans consumed 13 billion liters of bottled water! Unfortunately, I know that I am part of this statistic. Several months ago, I wrote a list of things I could live without to save money. Bottled water was one of them. Every week I was spending close to $6.00 on bottled water. Roughly that would total close to $290.00 annually. Seeing these figures down on paper really put things in perspective for me. Why did I actually drink bottled water?

For me, I grew up on it. Truthfully, I have never been very concerned about the impurities in our water. However, spending close to $300.00 a year on drinking water was a bit ridiculous. There was one substitute that I could think of and that was buying a Brita water filter. So I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and found a pitcher that would fit very nicely inside my refrigerator. Along with that I bought a filter that would need to be changed every 3 months for $19.00. Being a bargain shopper this seemed very logical to me to stop buying bottles of water. If I kept using this pitcher of water, I could save close to $200.00! Honestly, at the time I was only concerned with the money issue. However, this chapter put light on the fact that I am not contributing to the astounding statistic anymore. No longer are my water bottles being burned or buried.

At the end of the day, it’s comforting knowing that I have helped save our environment and quite frankly, I didn’t even go out of way to do it. This just seems like something that everyone would be capable of doing.