Baby Steps

Environmental issues are on most everyone’s mind now. There are hundreds of things we can all do to contribute to the massive effort of reducing our carbon foot print. But if you are like me, it all seems a bit overwhelming.

It seems that everything we do contributes to damage to the earth in one way or another. I believe that most of us really do want to make changes. I think many of us feel that the little things we do can’t make enough of a difference to make the effort worthwhile. A few of us truly don’t care.

Little things really do add up. And it is a good thing, because the things we can do which make the biggest impact (such as buying a hybrid or wiring the house for solar power) are the most expensive. I think that most average folks just can’t afford to do that, especially with the way the economy seems to be going.

In a perfect world, we would all build green houses, live a few blocks away from work and grow our own vegetables.

Switching to green takes time, work and practice. As Kermit once said, “It’s not easy being green”…Reducing our carbon foot print takes more than investing thousands of dollars into the latest green technologies. It is a way of life. We all have habits we need to reform and to teach our children. We can all make an impact, one step at a time.

Today’s tip: The most popular step in “being green” is to recycle. But don’t limit recycling to the kitchen. The next time you clean out that closet, think about how you can recycle your old, unwanted items. Join a freecycle list, or donate to charity. Also, keep an eye out for Bonded Logic, rumor has it, that they will be opening drop off centers to turn your old blue jeans into housing insulation!

Cleaning antique furniture

A couple of weeks ago, I held a garage sale. One item I decided to part with was an acoustic guitar which I haven't played since high school. A friend of mine came by and offered to trade this cedar trunk for my old guitar.

What a good deal! I traded a closet space hog in exchange for more storage space! I've decided to use it to house our Legos.

What I am wondering now, is what is the best way to clean it?

I should know the answer to this already, seeing as how I literally grew up in a wood shop. But most of my experience deals with building with wood, not preserving antiques.

I love all of the wear and tear on this piece. I know it is old, because of the manufacturer's tag in the lid, but I have no idea how to tell how old. Another thing I like about this, is that the legs match an antique dresser I have. The down side, is that instead of smelling like cedar, it smells like mothballs!

I initially cleaned the lid with a little water and Murphy's Oil Soap. It did a decent job, but it seems to have spots where grease has collected on it. Much like the hood over your stove collects grease, and balls up sometimes when you clean it.

I worked on the front of it for a while, where there seems to be plenty of grease effect. Perhaps it isn't grease, that's just how it behaves. This picture isn't the greatest, but you can sort of see the difference between the right and left halves, the right being the clean side and whitish haze left of center being the "grease" effect.

Anyone have any suggestions to bring this to life? I don't want to sand it and make it look brand new...I like the personality in it. But I'd like to properly clean it. What would bring out the natural color best? Tongue oil? And what about getting rid of that mothball smell?

Thanks,
Until next time,
The Good Monster

The War On...What???

We’ve waged war in Europe, Korea, Viet Nam and Iraq. We’ve claimed war on drugs, illiteracy, cancer and terror…Whose idea was it to wage a “war on global warming”?

When I saw the latest edition of Time magazine in the store today, it got under my skin. Normally, I think Time is a great magazine. I particularly liked a recent story they did on the Dalai Lama. But this edition’s cover depicts the Marines who raised an American flag on Iwo Jima in WWII. Except, they are raising a tree, not a flag.

Am I the only one insulted by this?

The United States is the world’s leading contributor to green house gasses, with China soon surpassing us. We’ve dragged our feet in reducing our carbon foot print until now, when people are finally seeing evidence they can’t argue with. Now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and being environmentally conscious isn’t just for granolas anymore. It is the latest fad, and people seem to be “keeping up with the Jones’” in a new, greener way.

Don’t get me wrong, no matter what anyone’s motivation is, as long as folks are doing what they can to reduce their carbon footprint, it is a good thing. Provided it sticks and we don’t forget about it once the newest trend comes along.

But calling it a “war on global warming” is incredibly irritating. A war generally means “us” against “them”. The “war on terror” was only slightly irritating, only because no one knew how to wage such a war and the lines were not clearly drawn in the sand. The phrase “war in Iraq” makes sense, no matter your political standing on the matter. But global warming is a scientific phenomenon and makes just as much sense as waging a “war on evaporation” in a time of drought.

Not to mention, as I brushed upon earlier, this whole thing is our own fault. It can’t all be blamed on SUV owners, either. Like it or not, it is a direct result of consumerism and the driving forces behind our own jobs and homes. We like our big houses, electric clothes dryers, and driving as far as we want. We forget to turn out lights when we leave a room, buy cheap crap made in China, and hop in the car for that midnight run to the grocery store to calm that urge for fudge brownie ice cream.

So waging a war on global warming is in actuality waging a war on ourselves, on our very own bad habits. It is a war on consumerism, the driving force of our economy. It isn’t some bad guy out there we have to beat down- it is the self, and our friends and family…our society.

Calling it a war on whatever makes it out to be some monster in the closet. The least we can do is not give it a lame, over used slogan that sounds like we are placing the blame on someone else.

Interesting...

Here's something interesting on CNN about a study showing that humans nearly went extinct 70,000 years ago!