Last time I looked at CFL recycling around here, the only options were either very far away or occasional hazardous waste roundups at places that you can drive into but not easily walk into. It bothers me how many things like that are not easy to do without a car. Yet, I bet my overall footprint is far lower because I don't drive. Lack of simple, all the way through.
Do you know people who could drive you to HHW sites or CFL recycling sites for proper disposal?
We tend to keep batteries until we have enough to take them to Grassroots (local store that, among other things, collects dead batteries to dispose of them properly).
Brain seems to be on hiatus. I meant to continue the battery line of thinking and develop it into: maybe you could set aside things that need to go to HHW for a mass disposal instead of constantly asking others to drive you around. And they could do the same.
Or, if you have things that need to go to HHW but acquire them on a ridiculously infrequent basis (which would be ideal!), then you could ditch the idea of stock piling batteries and burnt/broken CFLs, paint cans, etc. and ask helpful friend with car to drive you to the disposal site as soon as these sorts of items are acquired.
I tend not to ask people to drive me places or to take things for me that require driving, as I feel my choice not to drive is also my burden and shouldn't be the burden of my friends when avoidable. (That and, I really don't have many local friends.) For now it's not a big problem as we don't use many batteries and our CFLs will likely last quite a while, I'm hoping that by the time it becomes an issue disposal centers will be more common and accessible.
I am slightly shamed to admit that I base my clothing purchases on a) what looks good on me and b) what color something is. I end up buying most of my clothing from Target (mostly because it is easy to shop there and I happen to like their clothing a lot and it's cheap). I LOVE LOVE LOVE Indian styled clothes, too and own a fair amount of it... much of it bought from Indian clothing stores. Tends to fall apart easily, tho (the thread they use is not so good).
Mending should be easy enough (except for the gorgeous embroidery that tends to decorate such items). I'm really grateful for the Indian-owned and operated stores around TO -- not just in Little India, either. There's a great little store on Bloor in the Annex that has lots of clothing. And once I get down to a more-reasonable-for-me size and am looking to purchase new items of clothing, I definitely want to stop by there and pick up a thing or three.
Most people, including myself, don't really think about where their clothing comes from or who had to do what to get it where it is so that you can buy it.
I don't really think there should be shame involved in not taking things into consideration -- our lives are so busy and so complicated that it's impossible to think of *everything*. The shame comes in when people just want to stick their head in the sand and ignore the troubles out there that they *are* aware of, instead of making any sort of effort to change things for the better.
oh, I can vilify them, all right, but they're certainly not the only problem. And the factory workers who get downsized in the land of opportunity DO have access to welfare and food banks, etc., whereas the sweatshop folk in other countries don't even really have that much.
We just got ours today, actually! We ended up getting them from reusablebags.com and we didn't even have to pay duty on the package! So now L has her pretty SIGG and I have my giganto 40oz Klean Kanteen.
I just looked at TTV and noticed an absolute absence of any textiles beyond a few scarves and handbags... weird...
They might be inclined to help you in locating fair trade cotton/silk etc vendors though in the GTA - esp. if its not a competitor...
I have the big 40oz one too. I almost got a funky Sigg one that would have fit my side bag better, but it was more expensive and held less water; still novelty was high - since its designed in the style of the 1940's Swiss army canteen (and I have a Finnish army side bag).
This spring introduced the first (that I know of) fair trade cotton collection among Finnish clothes design- of course it´s a bit Spartan as of yet but that´s a beginning all the same. What I´d dearly love would be the option of buying fair trade cotton per metre, so that I could sew my own stuff instead of being dependent on whatever someone in the trade sees fit to design. Mmm, that would be grand.
... a little research: apparently you can also get fair trade towels. :D
This is what I was referring to in the previous comment- unfortunately the link is in Finnish only (but you know Finnish, right? :D), I don´t know why they didn´t translate it- or include more pics. Hmph.
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We tend to keep batteries until we have enough to take them to Grassroots (local store that, among other things, collects dead batteries to dispose of them properly).
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Or, if you have things that need to go to HHW but acquire them on a ridiculously infrequent basis (which would be ideal!), then you could ditch the idea of stock piling batteries and burnt/broken CFLs, paint cans, etc. and ask helpful friend with car to drive you to the disposal site as soon as these sorts of items are acquired.
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I am slightly shamed to admit that I base my clothing purchases on a) what looks good on me and b) what color something is. I end up buying most of my clothing from Target (mostly because it is easy to shop there and I happen to like their clothing a lot and it's cheap). I LOVE LOVE LOVE Indian styled clothes, too and own a fair amount of it... much of it bought from Indian clothing stores. Tends to fall apart easily, tho (the thread they use is not so good).
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Most people, including myself, don't really think about where their clothing comes from or who had to do what to get it where it is so that you can buy it.
I don't really think there should be shame involved in not taking things into consideration -- our lives are so busy and so complicated that it's impossible to think of *everything*. The shame comes in when people just want to stick their head in the sand and ignore the troubles out there that they *are* aware of, instead of making any sort of effort to change things for the better.
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"You could also rally for fair trade cotton, though I have no idea how to even begin down that path."
I'm really surprised its not out there as an option already - talk to Ten Thousand Villages maybe?
Oh, and just so you know there are Klean Kanteen bottles available again.
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I just looked at TTV and noticed an absolute absence of any textiles beyond a few scarves and handbags... weird...
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I have the big 40oz one too. I almost got a funky Sigg one that would have fit my side bag better, but it was more expensive and held less water; still novelty was high - since its designed in the style of the 1940's Swiss army canteen (and I have a Finnish army side bag).
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This is what I was referring to in the previous comment- unfortunately the link is in Finnish only (but you know Finnish, right? :D), I don´t know why they didn´t translate it- or include more pics. Hmph.
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And yeah, fair trade bolts of cotton fabric *swoon*
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