Posts Tagged ‘plastic’
A Plastic Nightmare
September 19th, 2009 | 
Author: 
You've got to love New York. It's easy to see why Manhattan residents are so smug. The city is a permanent fixture in our popular culture, whether you love it or not. TV shows from I Love Lucy to Seinfeld to Sex in the City are pretty spot on when showcasing the town's marvels and madness. Pity the fool who goes there and eats at Starbucks or a fast-food outlet. There's so much to explore. True, if you can't find it there, you can't find it anywhere: from $5 hot chocolate (sipping chocolate, excuse me!) to rice pudding stores to Korean fried chicken outlets, eating in NY is a journey in itself. Then there is the shopping: the extravagant boutiques, the riches you can find in its second-hand shops, the chain stores that are 5 floors tall, and the book stores covering every topic imaginable. Did you walk past your favorite designer? Never mind, there's another one of his or her stores a few blocks down.
Posted in art and culture, food and consumer products | 
Tags: New York, plastic, sustainability | 
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The Dry Cleaning Diaries
8/21/09: My better half comes home, with two huge black bags. Body bags? No, dry cleaning bags. Oh right. We saw canvas bags at some street festival earlier this year. Great idea, would it work? Some entrepreneur at morning meeting was giving these out—by the way, the fellow couldn’t answer what these bags were made out of, and I guess his presentation was not the most inspiring. Hmm. There are two. Great idea, because you drop off one, then fill another, and swap one for another at dry cleaning pick up time. (more...)
Posted in air - land - quality of life, food and consumer products |
Tags: dry cleaning, Jaime Nack, perc, plastic |
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Ciudad Verde
Mayors around the world, including San Francisco’s Gavin Newsom, have traveled to a certain city to learn about sustainable development and urban planning. This city has rooftop gardens, is creating more greenbelts and bike paths, and has a “today don’t drive plan” in an effort to reduce traffic and air pollution. I can understand if you’re assuming this is Portland, Stockholm, Vancouver, or Paris. The answer, however, is what some surveys estimate to be the world’s largest metropolis: Mexico City.
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The $3 garment bag
Here’s another one of my favorite quips from the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous:
Saffron: “Mum, it’s the thought that counts.”
Edina Monsoon: “It’s just the thought I’m worried about, darling.”
Edina’s character was afraid of getting some Yardley of London toiletries. I’m scared of a gift we recently received: a $3 garment bag. (more...)
Posted in air - land - quality of life, food and consumer products |
Tags: child labor, consumerism, consumption, plastic, sustainability |
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Holy Croc-a-mole!
Let’s face it: 95% of us have at least one pair of Crocs or at one point we were dying to have a pair. The other 5% of us are liars.
Crocs were all the rage just a few years ago. Once relegated to boaters, professionals like nurses who were on their feet all day, and Japanese business school students, Crocs became the must-have of the season! Some say Britney Spears sparked the madness, but in any event, for $30, most of us could afford this fabulously foamy accessory. (more...)
Posted in air - land - quality of life, food and consumer products |
Tags: Britney Spears, clothing, Crocs, plastic, recycling |
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Paper or plastic? How about neither?
I’m not sure what the official flower of Los Angeles is. But sometimes, when driving down Alvarado or Beverly, I’m convinced that the plastic bag is LA’s official symbol. You see them floating everywhere, fluttering across the street, hanging in trees, flying under cars. And a recent incident my better half experienced underscored how pernicious these little buggers are!
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Posted in air - land - quality of life, food and consumer products |
Tags: organic, plastic, supermarkets, sustainability |
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GayWashing
So yesterday we went to LA Pride in West Hollywood . . . walked around, and naturally my eyes gravitated to a bunch of tents that were pitching “green products.”
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Posted in air - land - quality of life, food and consumer products |
Tags: greenwashing, Los Angeles, plastic, recycling |
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Bottled Water: the enemy
I despise bottled water and avoid it whenever I can. Sometimes you can’t help it—you go to an event or friend’s house, you get offered a bottle, you don’t want to be rude—so I usually end up taking it with me to be sure it gets recycled—and judging by the fact that our recycling bin gets ransacked every Tuesday night, I’m pretty sure it does . . . and sometimes you need bottled water. Some areas of the world have horrific sanitation, and here in LA, we have huge bottles in our earthquake kit. (more...)
Posted in air - land - quality of life, energy, food and consumer products, water |
Tags: bottled water, greenwashing, Los Angeles, petroleum, plastic |
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Green Tips from Abroad # 1: Argentina
I hate plastic. It’s kind of like saying “I hate air” as it’s all around you. I’m the one who will take a plastic fork home, run it through the dishwasher with all the rest of my plates and cookware, and reuse it a few more times out of guilt. Yes, supposedly plastic is recyclable but I’m dubious. (more...)
Posted in International, air - land - quality of life, food and consumer products |
Tags: Argentina, fast food, organic, plastic, produce, recycling, seasonal food, travel |
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