Green Chi Cafe » Café Confessions

A Favorite Corner of My House

Annie — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 02:27:36 +0000

I fell in love with deep soaking tubs surrounded by windows on a trip to Maine. We stayed at a friend’s house who had one and the setup made the top of my wish list. I was fortunate to be able to renovate a dark, old-fashioned bathroom a few years later, putting wrap-around windows around a deep soaking tub.

The room is my in-house spa, a place of genuine rest and relaxation. In the winter I can be soaking in the tub watching a blizzard through the windows. In summer just watching the clouds from the tub can be meditative.

I read the other day that everyone needs to have a place in their home where they can create, feeling free to make a mess as they do so. I thought that this was inspiring advice.

I’d add that everyone needs a place in their home where they can make their own in-house spa, a place for genuine rest and relaxation. Just knowing it is there, if there is a need, is a calming thing. Reassuring.

Composting Insight – Eco-Win

Annie — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:16:10 +0000

It has been especially during the harvest food times that I’ve looked out my window at my good, round, tumbler-type composter with guilt. It feels terrible to throw all the tips of carrots and corn husks into the trash, but I always felt a resistance because of simple patterns. I had a small bucket in the kitchen for the compost but I am sensitive to mold and would want to empty it every 1 1/2 days at least, which stopped me in my tracks from composting because I often wouldn’t take the time to go “all the way” to the composter. Eco-Fail. This summer I came up with a stop-gap that fits my patterns, which is to have a bigger covered bucket for compost on my front porch. Every day or so I take my kitchen compost, put it in the bucket on the porch, and once that is full (once a week or so), I take that to tumbler. Eco-Win.

- Anonymous

green dorm signup

Annie — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:00:06 +0000

Earthquakes and Volcanoes-Global Warming Connection Eco-Fail

Annie — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:32:06 +0000

Global warming’s link to volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, etc. – The Royal Society of Scientists. Eco-Fail.

Mom’s Teflon Habit – Eco-Fail

Annie — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:52:14 +0000

Eco-Fail: My housemate has a Teflon-coated fry pan and spatula. She unpacked them before her twelve-year-old daughter came over, and cooked their dinner using them.

Eco-Win: Stainless steel, glass, iron, or porcelain coated (enamel, but not speckled enamel)

China’s Giant, High-Pressure Fragrance Sprays — Eco-Fail!

Annie — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:26:12 +0000

Overflowing landfills in Beijing, China will try to stem public outrage at the odor by installing huge “deodorant guns” to blast the area with (toxic and synthetic, certainly) fragrances. The landfills are growing at 8 percent a year and can’t keep up with the trash pouring in from its growing population Eco-Fail!

Rice Wine a la Endangered Species – Eco-Fail

Annie — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:20:42 +0000

I am soon to go to Hanoi and was reading about the city in preparation. Why is rice wine so popular in Hanoi you might ask? And why do mostly men drink it? Because the wisdom is that it is acts as a natural Viagra. There is widespread practice of infusing the rice wine with endangered animal parts to further enhance virility. Like what endagered species? Tiger penises and dead cobras, for example. Eco-Fail! (Anybody thought of giving out Viagra for free to protect endangered species?)

–Annie

Recycling Lies Eco-Fail

Annie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:39:13 +0000

My friend has a girlfriend that he desperately wants to impress. One day when she was over at his house she asked where the recycling was so she could toss out her soda can; he told her just to throw it in the garbage and that it all got sorted out later. Eco-fail!

–Anonymous

Good Kitchen Shopping Choices – Eco-Win!

Annie — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:33:18 +0000

I am currently in the process of furnishing a new apartment and get to buy my own kitchen utensils for the first time after years of trying (with little success) to get my parents to buy eco-friendly products. I just bought my own first glass Tupperware! It filled me with an inexplicable joy that I’m sure buying Tupperware does not usually give, but I was happy to know my first choices were good for me, and for the earth. Eco Win!

–Anonymous

Tenacious Teflon Eco-Fail

Annie — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:10:36 +0000

Off to buy a good saute pan, I was in Home Goods today, and while browsing around I was astonished and completely dismayed to see that 95 percent of the cookware had Teflon coating! What are these manufacturers thinking? Teflon, or polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs), are endocrine disrupters that can cause fertility problems, learning disabilities, cancer, and may even increase your cholesterol. Eco-Fail!

–Annie