Here we go again

Well, I haven't been very productive today. I've gotten some laundry done, and a couple of boxes flattened (and we did get rid of the sofa yesterday). But mostly, I've just been glued to the computer watching the train wreck in slow motion that is Gustav. We still haven't heard from friends, but I am assuming that none of the folks we're close to are stubborn enough to stay. Folks, remember to post somewhere online that you made it out okay! And remind your friends. I can't even begin to wonder what the world will look like down in LA tomorrow and this next week. I see some colleges are currently stating they'll be open for business next week. I don't think so.

Mmmm, summer

I love this point of summer, when friends' gardens get out of hand and the zucchini start to take over the world. Then, sometimes, I get a call: " Would you like to come help pick X?" Um, yeah! So after work today, I got to pick fresh peas, and also got some zukes and salad, too. I had such a yummy dinner! Plus it got me outside a bit after a pretty hectic day. Life is alright.

Yay

I am very pleased that this has been turned around.

And, now,
"New Solar Energy Applications Will Continue to Be Accepted by BLM"

Because that? was just the stupidest thing I had heard in a long, long time.

I want!

A solar/gas hybrid with pedals!!!

Melting...

In which I am an eco-weenie.

I had hopes of not putting in the AC window unit until, say, late July. But it's ho-ot. We sweltered yesterday, and gave in this morning. We both have too much work on our desks to lose another day to fanning ourselves lethargically on the porch. And fitful sleep.

The cat is hiding under the bed. I think I freaked her out with the cleaning of the air-conditioner, which involved her arch-nemesis, the vacuum cleaner. But, I also think she is pouting about the windows all being closed again, so soon. She was actually sitting in the sunniest window yesterday, in between the curtain we had pulled and the glass. Sorry, little one!

And, I'll probably drive to work again, most of the week. I *have* biked a few times without reporting it here, but not enough to merit any good eco-karma, really.

Do you think I can get some points for not flying anywhere this summer?

Ugh.

Flipper

Okay, so that was kind of conversation killer. Sorry! If you have ideas, you can always bring it up later, or, hey, maybe I will.

To make it up to you, here's a feel-good story about a dolphin who saved a couple of whales from beaching in New Zealand. He just came right up, and helped them find their way back out to sea! It made me shiver to read it. Very cool.

MIT's cool solar house

So here is a short blog action post about the environment:
As you know, I've been geeking out, following the Solar Decathlon (see links below) this week and last. MIT's team has made a house that is specifically designed for weather typical of the Northeast. So, yes, that's an entirely solar house that runs through the snowy winter, for those of you who think it isn't possible.

To meet decathlon requirements, the house must be "powered exclusively by the sun.... attractive and easy to live in. They must maintain a comfortable temperature, provide attractive and adequate lighting, power household appliances for cooking and cleaning, power home electronics, and provide hot water. These houses must also power an electric vehicle to meet household transportation needs." Sounds pretty good to me.

Here is the MIT team site, with CAD models.
Here is the page with photo tours of the final build of each of the teams.
Here's the link to current scores and standings, which update frequently. (MIT's not doing so well as of this posting, but hey, that was an ambitious project.)
Here's the page for video tours. They're pretty short, yet took a while to download for me, so I'm going back to reading specs and checking out the pretty pictures.

I wish they held this competition every year, instead of every two! And I wish they would give me one of the houses to live in and blog about! They're so cute!

Offsetting Books

Huh.
Boy, we would be seriously in debt if we did this.

Solar Decathlon is this week!

Check it out. Most of the house exteriors are up and solar panels are getting installed. There are new pictures every day. There are also webcam views that hint at some pretty cool architecture: look at the first house on the right in the webcam shot facing the Washington memorial. Can't wait to see what it looks like finished!
/squee

Bike Log

Biked three days to work this week. Stayed home one day, but ordered pizza, since too sick to shop/cook. So I won't count that fourth day. So we did better this week than the previous two.

Tag saled this a.m. Problem is, once something is junk to me, it pretty much is by everyone else's definition, too. Made enough to pay for the pizza we had earlier in the week. But, we haven't made much progress in decluttering, although our catsitter for last weekend reflected that the place seemed cleaner than it had in a while. If only it were still as clean now as it was then! Guests are coming tomorrow, and I still don't really have much energy to put into spiffying up the place. Sitting out in the sun at the tag sale was about my speed for today.

LP did get the trash out this morning, and did some dishes, but it's still pretty grim here. If only my mental level of acceptable clean matched what we are willing to do on a regular basis. Unfortunately, some of my mom's mad cleaning skills rubbed off on me, at least enough for me to feel ashamed when people actually see how we live. Not enough to really do the weekly cleaning to avoid that feeling, though. Sad.

Have been enjoying a book discussion on CHE recently, and now have a short list of books to look for next time at library. Am looking forward to having some leisure reading time this fall.

Cyber Car Trials in UK

How cool is this?
"A driverless car which is controlled by computer and uses lasers to avoid obstacles is being demonstrated in a Northamptonshire town.

Daventry is investigating ways to increase the use of public transport and reduce reliance on cars.

The town council believes the Cybercars, which are called by pressing a button on the route and go direct to their destination, could be the answer."

Also, have a look at this site if you are interested in supporting renewable energy and changing your lifestyle to prove it.

" Begin by learning about our four key action areas. Then use our MyWatts^TM Renewables Estimator to evaluate your own renewable energy potential. Finally, take action by changing behavior and adopting renewable energy technology."

Lastly, if you blog, think about how you might contribute to Blog Action Day on October 15.
"On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future."

Spread the word!

Sunday cat blogging

Hi. I have an important question. Sorry, no fun pictures. We are trying to be green, as you may have guessed with my recent posts on biking and car use. We also have cats. Two for now, maybe outsourcing one soonish. I just cleaned out the litter boxes. We have resolved to try to do this more often (we often make this resolution).

In any case, here's the deal: currently we use plastic bags from the market, but sometimes recently we get low on these, as we are trying to bring our own reusable bags. Someone recently suggested on CAP that folks use smaller bags from grocery purchases for this: bags from bread or other products, not the bag you put groceries in at the checkout. I like this idea, and I think it will work for us as we do unfortunately buy a number of processed foods that come in a plastic bag of one sort or another. And, it seems to me that if we clean the litter boxes more often, the size of the bags is less of an issue.

We have friends who use something like a diaper genie for cats to control odors once the box has been scooped. This seems like a great idea for apartment living, and hey, even in a house, who wants the place to smell like cat? But it doesn't seem very green. Currently our back porch is the stinky poop warehouse where scooped, bagged litter waits for the biweekly trash pick up. ew. So, we are going to try bagging the prizes and putting them in a big plastic container while they wait. But, I am still looking for a better way: less stinky, and greener. We currently use Arm and Hammer, which comes in a big, heavy weight cardboard box. We have tried greener litter, and the cats don't like it, plus the odor control is an issue, even with frequent scooping.

a) Is there a litter that is similar to Arm & Hammer Multi Cat, but that comes in a paper bag?
b) What do you know about other options for cat waste? I like the idea of the cat learning to use the toilet, but I've heard that in some states (CA?) this is illegal, for environmental reasons. What are those reasons? Is it better to go this route and thereby avoid the good/bad litter debate? Or would we just be polluting the sewage system by doing this?

Seems to me that training the cat to use the toilet would help us avoid having to use the plastic bags at all, help with the odor problem, help with the never-ending resolution to keep the boxes nicer for the cats. But. I don't want to be the person putting something toxic into the system, if it won't work with current sewage treatment methods....