WASTE alert- Amazon's new Dash button

What does Amazon's latest buy-everything-within-reach method look like?

These little buttons are the Lorax's worst dream realized. Plastic, a battery and a wifi connection to facilitate one single action-reordering one product. What about when they stop working? How many people will take the time to recycle them properly? (Answer: no one because good recycling programs are based on *enough volume* of a given product that has *enough value* to actually be recycled...so, yeah, no....) Not to mention that recycling is not really all it's cracked up to be, anyway, even if you *could* recycle these puppies! Which you can't.

People are up in arms about the K-cups? Dash buttons are far worse, in my opinion. At least with the K-cups, I can make the argument that they *might* be saving coffee from being wasted, which, when looked at from a lifecycle view, is actually a really good thing. But these little buttons made of multiple materials? Nope. I can't think of any redeeming quality, as far as the planet and its limited resources are concerned.

To me, these represent everything that is wrong with consumerism, laziness and our addiction to convenience. I just can't think of a single nice thing to say about these.

How often are you buying detergent? You might be
using more than you need. In fact, if you see this
and think to yourself: "You know, I could really
use that." you are almost certainly using more detergent
than you need to. Which means you could be saving money
by cutting back a bit. #JustSayin'...

Ok, maybe one thing. Someone has already figured out a way to hack these little babies to help track data on his little baby. That's kind of cool. But, that's all I got.

PurJuly 2015

Train of thought: My arms are flabby...must look into one of those 30 day arm challenges...those are sorta fun...*Google Image arm challenge*....Suns Out, Guns Out, that looks like just what I need...What's this? Conquer the Clutter? I've been wanting to do that, too....40 bags in 40 days, huh?...well, I don't really follow Lent, obviously....but, I could revive the PurJuly Challenge. I've been thinking about doing it anyway....*Posts on FB asking if anyone is interested*....whoa! There's a ton of interest....*Thinks about it for the next 24 hours solid*

So, that's how PurJuly was revived! I tried the PurJuly Challenge awhile ago, (Whoa...just figured out it was 4 years ago...) but didn't really stick with it. What I did do was pretty awesome, though. So, without further ado, here is the PurJuly Challenge for 2015:

1. For every day of July, you must *make an effort* to spend 30 minutes tidying, sorting, organizing, etc *1* spot in your house. If you'd like, fill out your name in the PurJuly area planning doc and start filling in your 31 spots.
2. That's about it for rules. I know that guilt is a poor motivator and since that's not really how I roll, I want this to work for you. Think about a goal that you've set for yourself in the past. What "rules" did you put on yourself to get there? Use those. We're all different and have different motivators. For some, it's competition (that's so NOT me...) Whatever works for you-use it!
3. If you want to take pictures and send them through to me, that would be awesome. You could also be awesome and fill out data on your purged items using this tracking form. Or not. Whatever works.

If you are going to be posting pictures for the PurJuly Challenge, please tag them with #PurJuly so we can create a tagboard later on. The pics on this post are some of the terrible areas that I'm posting so that I will be forced to see this through.... Scary!

If you need a little motivation, I'll be posting various blogs and resources throughout the challenge, but for now, check out this one that one of my good friends and colleagues, Erin, posted when I was asking on FB if anyone was interested in this.

Scary? Hell, yes. Needed? Again, hell, yes. Do I think I'll actually stick with this and post every day in July? Probably not. Do I care? Not really. It's the thought (and effort-however imperfect) that count. Come be imperfect with me? (and perhaps a tiny bit tidier/less stressed/calmer?)

An epidemic of disposables on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Why does it have to be a plastic water bottle?  

I'm a geek. I've talked about it many times on this blog before. I love me some scifi. I've watched just about every major science fiction show you could name. Moreover, I really love me some Joss Whedon. I'm a Joss fangirl, I guess you could say. Heck, 3 of my dogs have been named after Firefly characters. He's done no wrong, for me. Until now. 

Now, I know it's probably not fair to pick on Joss for the epidemic of plastic water bottle portrayal on ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Man, that's a bitch to type....) However, it really is an epidemic. Check it out: 

Thirsty after a long workout with your ridiculously handsome "SO"? (that's supervising officer, not significant other) I get that you need a little drink of water, but perhaps next time you can take a cue from another super hero show and use a reusable water bottle? 

Perhaps the most interesting thing, though? When the show wants to show a serious "moment" and get out the good stuff, do they serve it in disposable cups? Of course not. 18 year old booze deserves (and gets) something a little more classy: 

Hey, SHIELD writers, props people, director (I'm talking to you, Joss!) I can get you some reusable water bottles for your show and they're even made here in the United States. Really. Just please stop portraying plastic water bottles as perfectly acceptable and normal, because they really do some damage. Sincerely, -The Reuser

Grimm Consumption Series #2

Bike commuter on the show Grimm

I was really pleased to notice this little moment in the show. In Episode 9, Juliette is heading home from work(?) and instead of showing her driving, they decided to show her riding her bike:

Bike commuting is very authentic to Portland.
In fact, it was named America's Best Bike City
last year by Bicycling Magazine 

Notice her super cute red coat? I'll mention that again
in a second. 

If you're gonna ride, you should wear
a helmet, so kudos again to the show for modeling
positive behavior!

Here, we see Juliette set down her backpack (durable!)
and get another glimpse of that pretty red coat.

I'm pointing out the coat because Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) wears it in a ton of scenes/in quite a few episodes. Again, it's realistic/authentic (It rains a lot here-feels like 11.5/12 months out of the year.) It's also sustainable consumption-she doesn't have a different coat on every time we see her on-screen (ala Sex and the City.)

Have you seen any examples of good/not so great consumption in your favorite shows?

Grimm consumption series 1

Sustainable consumption Wins and Losses on the TV show, Grimm

I recently have become interested in consumption examples in TV shows and movies. Grimm is filmed near my home, so I thought I should probably take a look. (We had always meant to watch the show anyway, but I, traditionally, have a hard time with "scary" shows (I have nightmares) and we missed some of the episodes when it first aired, so we never watched it.) I really enjoyed the first season-it's fun to see places and references you know. Now, I'm totally hooked!

This is the first in a series of posts that looks at some of the highs and lows, consumption-wise on the show.

I didn't have to wait long to find something to comment on. These screen shots are from the second episode in the series. Juliette brings home some food-take out and Voodoo Donuts. Unfortunately, the take-out is in a plastic sack. I'm curious to see if they'll use plastic disposable bags again this season, seeing as Portland has banned them. Let's hope not! (And if they do, perhaps they need me to come on set and help out with some more sustainable consumption choices for the props?)

Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) brings home take-out
and Voodoo Donuts for Nick  (David Giuntoli)

She sets down the bag.
The useful life of the average plastic bag
is estimated to be less than an hour. 

Already forgotten? At least there's Voodoo Donuts!
AND donut boxes compost, so there's that...

If the TV show needs some reusable bags that are authentic to the Portland area, I can certainly hook them up. Stay tuned for some more glimpses of sustainable (and not-so-much) consumption from the show.