I’ve long meant to try Freecycle, a forum set up to facilitate people’s giving things away rather than discarding them. Great idea, and as I move offices and change rooms at home I finally signed up for the western Mass group. Our old slow but working computers are far more popular than I ever dreamed, but I’m hoping the big old office desks will go!

Two lessons:
–There is a site called Freecycle.com (dot com not dot org) that tries to pull traffic
–People use sob stories to get free things that they then sell on eBay–I’m now cynical about the notes about “my dear old granddad who’s writing a book,” after being warned by the forum moderator to let him manage the computer giveaway

I’m trying this to get a new refrigerator now: “I’d love to find a home fridge in reasonable condition, left-opening preferred, to replace my leaking contributor to global warming (it’s ancient and you do *not* want it!). I have two smaller fridges I would be happy to exchange: one a dorm-size and the other about twice that big. I have some other things–office furniture, and perennial plants–that might also appeal to you. I’m in Great Barrington. Thanks.” A good experiment, for me and for the planet.

I happened to pick up a copy of Audubon magazine over the weekend. I admit that I’d thought of it as rather dull, a publication for retirees with too many pets and obsessed about animal protection above all other environmental concerns. But I was wrong. It was full of beautifully written articles about a wide range of ecological issues, with a strong science and ecology focus which fits well with my current work on sustainability. I happened to read an essay about fog that was so good I called my daughter Rachel to read a bit to her.

There were some fascinating little asides, too, that weren’t the usual obvious or trivial tips. One referred to research about the environmental effects of divorce, and another explained that human hair is the very best material for cleaning up oil spills–in a completely ecological process, or cycle. The hair is made into mats that mop up the oil, and the oil-soaked mats can in turn be composted. Salons are asked to donate hair to the program. I’ve already written the two salons I use to suggest this, and I hope you’ll do the same.

And here’s a PDF of the research about divorce.

I’ve never been big on product recommendations, not because I don’t like some products a lot but because I know I’m no expert on organic baby food or toilet paper. I tend more towards broad principles, because they’re easier to remember. Choose small things. Choose light things (concentrated products without much water, for example). But when I find myself going back to the same small northern California company to stock up on soap, for what must be 10 years now, it does seem time to recommend them. Especially since they are, in every way they can think of, a green company. They are called Simmons Naturals, and here’s what they say about their soaps:

Using the finest Handcrafted Soaps made from natural ingredients, Simmons soaps are handcrafted with care using the traditional cold process method. Carefully cured to perfection, then individually wrapped by hand in beautiful, ecological, handmade Thai papers and labeled with recycled paper, printed with soy-based inks.

We start with the finest natural oils of olive, palm, and coconut for our basic recipe. Organically grown herbs, grains, and pure botanical essences are added to make each variety unique. And we monitor each batch to ensure what we make and sell is the best.

I know that if I run out of their aloe vera with kelp soap (”The best of land and sea. Citrus scented complexion bar with skin softening kelp. Moisturizing.”), I find myself longing for it!

I can’t tell you how many times I have read this statement, about “How to Clean Windows with Vinegar”: “If cleaning with vinegar left streaks on your windows, it wasn’t the fault of the vinegar, it was a residue left from commercial products.” I may even have made this statement in one of my own books. It’s nonsense, I’m sorry to say, one of those blithe green clean facts written by people who are simply repeating a convenient untruth - one that might be true sometimes, but certainly doesn’t explain the fact that vinegar has its limitations! Since the biggest green cleaning expert I know of told me once that she never ever cleaned her house herself (she had a cleaning person now and then, I think, but there wasn’t much evidence of anyone doing any cleaning), I count this kind of thing with tips like those in a UK book of some years back called 1001 Ways to Save the Planet, which Penguin should be embarrassed to have published. Here’s my favorite: “Write small so you use less paper.” I quickly became a skeptic about the idea that vinegar and baking soda could do anything and everything (though in fact they are terrific for some purposes), and even more of a skeptic about the people turning out green copy. Maybe that’s why I don’t write much about cleaning: I can’t say that it occupies a lot of my time at the moment!

Honey isn’t just an alternative spermicide (see “honey cap” post) but is being experimented with as a way to deal with superbugs in hospitals, according to “Sticky solution: Honey may help in the battle against superbugs,” an article that appeared in the Economist last year:

Research in Australia and New Zealand suggests that honey heals because it attacks bacteria in several different ways at once. Because honey is composed of saturated sugars, it sucks up water, depriving bacteria of the liquid they need to survive and multiply. As bees make honey they secrete glucoseoxidase, an enzyme that releases the bleach hydrogen peroxide when it comes into contact with wound liquids. The low-level but frequent release of this chemical ensures regular anti-bacterial washes of the wound.

Although honey is not about to usurp antibiotics, Dr Simon thinks it should be brought back into conventional medicine—and not only to sugar the pill.

I use straw bales for insulation against the back of my house and then mulch with the damp, dark straw in the spring, but in a quest for mesclun seed, which I think I can still plant, I found an amazing account of gardening in and on straw bales–two seasons of vegetables on a very much raised bed. Not for city gardeners, but what a fascinating thing to try.

I have no right to be holier than thou and have never claimed to be a perfect when it comes to household matters, but I was a bit shocked by this story comparing Al Gore’s home to George W. Bush’s house in Texas. The excellent Urban Legends site, Scopes.com, says it’s true: http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp.

A friend told me not long ago that she wanted me to help her give her apartment an eco-makeover and especially, first thing, to advise her on what kind of cleaning products she should be buying. I felt like I punctured her enthusiasm a little when I said it didn’t matter all that much, because what really matters is how much we use. My simple proposal, based on the premise that if something is really easy to do it’s much more likely to become a habit, is that we should just use less.

Just that, using less of every product we buy, will make a bigger difference than switching to different detergents or floor cleaners. An unscientific estimate, based on observation of the people I know and on how I (someone who is supposedly ultraconscious about these things and also quite frugal) use products, is that we could reduce consumption by 25-50% without any effect on results. Think of the dramatic reduction that would make in water and air pollution caused by cleaning products.

I tested this with personal care products recently - which I’m sure we overuse in the same way – on a four-week trip to China. My usual travel containers are fine for a week, but four weeks? I did get something bigger for shampoo, but otherwise figured I’d try to get by, and pick up replacements if I had to. It was amazing, though, to see how knowing I had to make things last made a difference. I did not buy a single replacement, and even arrived home with a little left in some containers. And I wasn’t deprived: I was just using enough and no more.

I’m in China now and amongst other things planning a new Chinese environmental book. I’ve made some great new contacts and found out about important projects like Green Choice Beijing.

Every hotel has an environmental notice, with English translations that are varied and often amusing, and the need for environmental action is starting to reach public consciousness. This is exciting, because China is developing fast. Air pollution is quite evident, for one thing, and the use of water and energy is growing. I heard of an initiative to set air-conditioners at 26 degrees, which is one of those great, simple rules of thumb that we could adopt easily, too.