Risa: I found my CFLs that were incandescent shaped at Lowe's. I wish I could find several in a package though, since the packaging really stinks. I'm guessing they package them that way because of the mercury in them; if they get broken then they can contain the mercury in the package?
I liked the Oprah show. I somewhat doubt her sincerety, and it seemed a little commercial to me.... BUT... a LOT of people listen to her. So, I think it's a good thing that more people are made aware of things they can do. I think she missed the mark on buying organic though. I went to her message boards to read what people thought of the show, and the response was almost 100% positive, with many buying CFLs and cloth grocery bags. I got a couple of new ideas there:
- making fruit/veggie store bags out of those bath scrubber scrunchie thingies. All you have to is cut the string in the middle that ties it all together, stretch it out long, cut into pieces and tie one end. You can make them the size you want, they're kinda stretchy, and they're mesh. It's great! Cheap too. Free for me, since I've gotten a few as gifts. Plus, it's a great way to reuse/recycle the little buggers!
- take a bucket to the shower, and catch the prewarm water and use it in plants, add to sink to soak dishes. (I'm not there yet with this one, but I liked the idea).
- if you use fabric softner sheets, wash your lint tray with soap periodically to make the drier more effecient, because the stuff off the sheets builds up in the holes of the trap. OR, switch to a more environmentally brand to begin with. (They were mostly endorsing Shaklee)
The one thing that concerns me, is that if products like SG, and Shaklee start getting too much demand that they can't sustainably meet that demand. Some of the companies will stop producing more if they can't sustainably meet the demands, but others may not. I'm thinking Palm Oil here (awesome forests have been cut down to grow the plant it comes from to sell it commercially). People need to be taught how to be more self sustaining. I missed the 20/20 special on what we do to be greener, but my Mom said it was pretty good. She said they even said we need to be eating locally/seasonally. Canning and going back to the way we used to do things in regards to food. That shocked me.
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