In Morocco

Alrighty, sadly, I recently switched jobs and am now living in Morocco. My hope is to comment on green living here in Rabat and throughout the country. We’ll see how far that goes. Otherwise, this might turn into a “Thoughts on Morocco” blog.

In any case, there are many Peace Corps volunteers around Moroccoa and I’m sure they could provide interesting insight- so we’ll see if I can draw any of them in.

Happy November,

greenMoroccoGirl

 

A Boring But Easy Way to Help: Cloth Napkins

I’ve been forgetting that my main aim with this blog was to help others live a more green life. Instead I’ve been going off on random tangents that are related but not necessarily helpful…Beltwoods was lovely-but I’m not sure that a rush of visitors to that swath of virgin forestland would do the woodpeckers much good-unless you’re a millionaire who after seeing it, was inspired enough to go buy a parcel of land to protect.

In any case, there are a couple things I’ve been doing in my daily life to keep my footprint to a minimum. As many of my colleagues do, I keep a Nalgene/aluminum bottle at work to prevent the usage of disposable plastic cups and I keep a sponge and bottle of dish detergent in my cubicle along with some dishes so as not to rely on the paper/Styrofoam dishes when heating up my lunches. However, I recently realized that I use a ton of napkins-mostly because I’m a bit of a klutz and also because I’m chronically worried that I’ll go to a meeting with a glob of food stuck on my face. So I recently grabbed a couple cheap and ugly handkerchiefs and even accidentally ‘borrowed’ a real cloth napkin from a restaurant and I keep them in my desk at work (for the creative types out there- you can even make your own personalized napkins with old clothes that you no longer wear or from cool fabrics at textile stores). When lunch time arrives, I place a napkin over my lap and eat like the civilized lady I am. With three or four cloth napkins at my disposal- I take them home every two weeks or so to give them a wash and it’s not an inconvenience at all; the main trick is to remember!

And look- it’s just about time for lunch.

-greenDCgirl

 

Beltwoods…

Man oh man. I’ve been so busy lately I never had the chance to post about my visit to Beltwoods- a tiny swath of virgin forest in Maryland that’s not too far from DC (30 minute drive?).

Anywho- I will say I had a blast observing all the mayapples scattered underneath the trees and I saw my first red-headed woodpecker.

I won’t be able to give this experience justice today- but here are some pictures to share:

Enjoy!

-greenDCgirl

 

My Fave Blog: No Impact Man

Out of all the green blogs out there, this one is by far my favorite- mainly because this person is displaying- for the world, but especially for NYCers – how EXACTLY to go green- and how extreme you can get.

“The problem: 350.

One great solution: 350.org.

350. I should write it 350 times. We should all write it 350 times. Everyone on the earth should get out a pen, write down the number 350, and send it to their head of state. 350 times.

Now let me explain.

For the next two or three years, the nations of the world are supposed to be negotiating a successor treaty to the Kyoto Accord, the current international treaty on reducing the emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. In December 2009, heads of state will converge in Copenhagen to sign a new treaty that would forge a new international agreement on how we, as a planet, can limit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to a level that would keep us safe from global warming’s worst effects.

What is that level? How much carbon dioxide can our planet safely withstand?

350. As in parts per million (ppm).”

To read more, go to: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/.

And I promise to stop being lazy and post a blog myself soon- pictures of Beltwoods in Maryland coming up!

Cheers,

greenDCgirl

 

Shoutouts to C-Bus and an Artsy Architect

Thanks to all those Columbus-ites that sent all their comments and further restaurant recommendations – I can’t wait to visit again! You guys are awesome! I hope you all get to visit D.C. soon – I have many many recommendations for you all.

Also – a big thank you to Nick who photoshopped my pictures of the D.C. metro so that it would fit my vision. Big hug.

-greenDCgirl

 

Hybrid Taxis for the District

Why does New York City, LA and Boston all have hybrid taxi companies- but the District does not? I would love to be rich enough to be able to get this off the ground- but alas, I do not have enough capital. Any takers out there?

I thought we were the politically active, forward-moving bunch. Here’s to hoping.

-greenDCgirl

 

Original Inspiration

My original inspiration for this blog began in a small city wayyy south of the Mason-Dixon line in Corpus Christi, TX. My parents own two small sushi restaurants down there and almost every summer, when I came home from college I helped out as a waitress. After watching construction for a green building commence at my undergrad alma mater, Mount Holyoke – paired with my growing understanding of resource conflicts around East and Southeast Asia (my BA studies), I couldn’t help but feel guilty at the way my family was doing business. Throwing away countless pairs of chopsticks after just a few dips in soy sauce just didn’t feel right, especially with the knowledge that forests across Asia and Latin America were being ravaged for modern convenience.

So slowly but surely, my sister and I began greening my parents’ restaurant. First, we tackled the low-hanging fruit: regular chopsticks replaced the disposable ones; cloth napkins replaced paper ones; and of course, recycling. Then we tackled issues specific to our restaurant: we turned our sushi menu into a laminated one that people could mark with a dry-erase marker so that we could reuse it over and over; we started using green cleaning supplies when we could; and we started monitoring our water usage. There are still a number of things that my parents are planning to do – but we have also inserted some new language into our menus in the hopes of educating our customers about these small but significant changes. Though we didn’t want to seem preachy, we actually had to begin this educational component because people started stealing our chopsticks! Purchasing attractive non-disposable chopsticks was expensive – but to have people begin pilfering them was making my case less and less attractive to my parents. My sister has since taken over greening our families small business- and if people are interested – I can post additional updates here.When I moved to D.C. and told my roommate about ‘greening’ our sushi restaurant- she insisted I think more large-scale. A great deal of brainstorming and grand ideas were finally streamlined into something more manageable and hands-on: a blog about green living options available to us here in the District. I hope you all find this site super useful!

-greenDCgirl