I am happy to report that Matt and I made the switch to glass for our portable water bottles (goodbye, Nalgene!).

We shopped around Whole Foods to find suitable bottles. We thought about applesauce jars, but those were only 25 ounces (as opposed to our 32-ounce Nalgenes). I found the perfect grape juice jar, and Matt found a cocktail mixer bottle, which had a narrow spout, similar to his Nalgene.

My friend, Claire, is a fellow teacher and she expressed concern about the breakability of glass in a classroom environment.

As a Montessori teacher, we have glass all over the classroom (even in the infant/toddler classrooms) because it cultivates carefulness. … Read More

I’ve been really, really trying to emphasize the first “R” of the three-R’s in the arrow, but I had to break down and buy a new book–Go Green: How to Build an Earth-Friendly Community. It’s super-reader friendly and full of next steps.

Among them:

1. Get an energy audit done on our house to reveal all the hidden ways we’re wasting energy and to help us prioritize our next steps.
2. Replace all our incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs (I think we’ve done this for the most part, but I’m not sure).
3. Look into getting a tankless water heater.
4. Plug everything into power strips that can be turned off

Nalgene bottles are under attack.

Alas.

The bad news is that the bad plastic is also in eyeglasses (sucks for me), baby bottles, and even dental sealants (sucks for me again).

But, honestly, what did we expect? The more we process and produce things, adding ingredients that help us make a more durable and sellable product, the more we screw ourselves over.

The unintended consequences of our actions are so difficult to predict. And even when they are predictable, the immediate promise of profit overshadows prudence.

A huge part of the responsibility is on us as consumers. We have to look at convenient products through wary eyes. And then … Read More