Disposable Dog Refuse Bags ( eco-friendly poop bags )

This is tough, as I need to put all pride aside to even talk about today's topic - biodegradable poop bags.
My family used to have us save our plastic shopping bags for later use as dog refuse bags. In the beginning I proudly stockpiled them and sent them home as a packing cushion for gifts, etc., and when we'd visit, the unveiling of the plastic bag stash was always an exciting family moment (on par with procuring "quality" cardboard boxes for an upcoming move). The whole thing from start to finish was quite a humourous process, really - there was even an entire procedure for inspecting them for holes, because of course, there's truly nothing on earth worse than a hole-ridden poop bag.

Although I was admitedly concerned about where these bags would wind up once filled and disposed of, I convinced myself that I needed to get a grip, and that some things just can't be avoided. This was a necessary evil. You have to pick it up, and you have to put it somewhere...and not everything can be eco-friendly. But why not? I began to consider if there weren't companies out there that made biodegradable dog refuse bags...that would be the solution - and why couldn't that work? Indeed, there are, and indeed, they do.
I found the eco-products site (so fun for a conscientious consumer). This site names earth-friendly products, so that you can search for them elsewhere. The site poopbags.com is the site via which purchases can be made starting at $12.45 for a month's worth and up to $59.98 for an entire year's worth of biodegradable poop bags that decompose within 10-45 days. Amazing.

Walgreens Update & News about Trader Joe's

Walgreens' Customer Service seemed oblivious about their past Safe Medicine Disposal Days and suggested that perhaps this is a local event. Indeed, it seems that these such events are not nationwide and take place in shore communities if suggested by the local residents. Will keep searching and will suggest this to our local drugstores - please do the same.

Also, Trader Joe's has a delightful policy of entering you into their biweekly raffle for a $25 gift certificate if you bring your own canvas/recycled bags. Kudos to Trader Joe's. In addition they do carry fair trade coffee. Will have to investigate them further - would love it if they were as good as they sound.

Safe Medicine Disposal

I perused the medicine cabinet today and realized that many of the prescriptions and over the counter medicines in there had expired. I found myself in a quandry because the containers are recyclable, but there's no way that I would simply toss loose medicine into the trash - and endanger anyone who might come in contact with it - in an effort to recycle. We're in a coastal community, so I also feared that the outdated medications might make there way into the runoff waters that flow into the ocean. I searched online and found that the federal government and Environmental Protection Agency suggest taking the medication out of the container and wrapping it in something unwanted such as coffee grounds or kitty litter.
If you are in California you may use this site to determine your next county Safe Disposal Day.
Also, the nationwide chain pharmacy Walgreens used to offer safe disposal days, but I have not yet gotten a response as to whether these are still offered. Will update when I am certain.

Backtracking...More on Anthropologie

Let me backtrack for a moment - it was a few months ago that I first became irked by Anthropologie, actually. I received their catalogue for the first time and was struck first of course by their prices, but secondly by the sheer number of waify women floating around exotic looking stones doorways, working ever so hard to look like they just threw something on. I devised that they were wandering through the streets of...Greece? Portugal? Italy? France? Mexico? There are clues thrown left and right suggestive all many different countries -- they are strategically vague -- the crafters of the catalogue wanting merely to be suggestive of somewhere "foreign". (Please note in my words the disgust towards this narrow-minded attitude.) In the backgound in one of the shots there are older gentlemen, supposedly locals of the mystery land of exoticism, playing chess as the waifs sip iced tea, perhaps, at the bar in wreckless bangle bracelets and jauntily ruched leather bags. This image seemed odd to me, yet I leafed on.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks. The image that paralized me was one of a slender blonde in a white embroidered sundress relaxing at yet another apparently local establishment in this foreign mystery land. The juxtaposition between this woman and the one behind the counter was alarming. (I will include the photo for your horror.) I wondered why the woman behind the counter couldn't also be sporting some beautifully hand-embroidered item. Were there no "talented Andean women" to craft for her, too, or just for the straight-mouthed waif?

This page quickly made its way to my scanner and then to my office door - to which I affixed a post-it with the question "Neo-Colonialism?" All who saw it admitted astonishment. What year is this, anyway? Yet still, my naive soul wanted to give the folks at Antropologie the benefit of the doubt - perhaps I am too sensitive, perhaps I am overreacting. I will hold my fire.

Flashforward to June, when the next catalogue arrives...and you know the story from here. I am no longer uncertain. Anthropologie will be the first of my banned stores. I will seek evidence to substantiate in the coming weeks.

Which brings me to the point of organization. This Blog will be more of a bleb (blog-web? wog? A more solid name is certainly desired - I prefer the "Arsenal of information" of the Blog's description), really - a website of resources, yet with personal goals, obstacles, ponderings, and requests for help and ideas. The very top will be used for the final verdict on companies and will always be backed by evidence. (That said, if you have evidence to refute a verdict, please bring it to my attention, I will update accordingly.) The box below the verdict will be used for companies that will soon be investigated - this box will ebb an dflow according to new information. The sides will be replete of useful resources and also personal goals that my loved ones and I have met. And of course, this page will be easy on the eyes. I am a slave to aesthetics and will do my utmost to keep things clear and to the point. I will embed and link with great fervor, but will attempt not to destroy the flow of the page. I want this to be a source of easy to manage info - backed under the surface by substantial evidence - and therefore a blog that is trusted, respected, and enjoyed.

I will be taking some time to organize, of course, please bear with me while the foundation is lain.

My decision to start a conscientious consumer blog

In the midst of 50 million things, I have decided to take up this project. The purpose of this blog will be:
*to research companies in an effort to determine which are worthy of being supported monetarily through my purchases
*to set goals to heightened responsibilty of purchases
*to become a more informed consumer
*to track my progress towards goals
*to serve as inspiration for myself and others with shared interests in preserving the planet and respecting life through educated purchasing power
*to generate ideas of how these goals can be accomplished
*to serve as a base of tools - to whom should letters be sent - maybe provide direct links to companies, perhaps even provide demo letters in word format?

The straw that broke the camel's back for me was the latest Anthropologie Catalogue of June 2007 that features $298.00 handmade tapestries (andean arpilleras). This art form has a rich history of communal narrative and of sociopolitical protest. They have been used for decades in the Andes of South America as a means of expression, throughout Perú and Chile especially, and have served as a form of political protest (and were considered contraband) in times of dictatorship and violent repression. They may now be found sandwiched between measuring spoons and floral sundresses on page 35.
Arpilleras are hardly something that belong in a neocolonialist price-gouging chain store such as Anthropologie. The description mentions the talented Andean women...I wonder what their proceeds were for each of these "no two alike" handmade items - could each "talented andean woman" have received anything close to $298.00 a piece? I would love to believe that they have been appropriately compensated...but I somehow doubt it. My husband found me in tears with the catalogue loosely gripped in my hands. That's it, I said. Now it's personal.

I resolved to investigate, to organize, and to act.

I thank you for reading my thoughts - and, armed with intelligence, good intentions, and canvas shopping bags, I hope that we can aid each other in our quest to become conscientious consumers.