Second Runway

Before I forget - tomorrow night, all you Twin Cityites should go to Second Runway at Goodwill/Easter Seals (553 Fairview Ave N in St. Paul). Designers re-create items purchased at local Goodwill stores.

Eco Bacon

What's up with bacon, my Minnesota friends? Is it the weather?

Max Sparber from MNSpeak, Stephanie March from Foodie File, Conner McCall from Conner's Blog, and of course, Emily from Because Emily Says So are all into the bacon. Even Doniree had a bacon-wrapped pear salad from Town Talk Diner. (Not to mention MICHAEL J. NELSON of MST3K, who has signed over his life to eating a month of nothing but bacon.)

Not wanting to be left out as a vegetarian, I thought I'd shoot my own uh.. veggie bacon food porn!

Mmmm... ok, granted this looks like crap even to me. Its main ingredients are egg whites, soybean oil, textured soy protein, and modified corn starch. It's not even that good for you. Sigh.

Some day, my friends, I will participate in this baconophilia with you in my own veggie way (just not 'till they engineer a better substitute). For now, I'll stick to BLTs without the fake B. Sometimes, it is not easier being green!

Facebook Uses 3 kWh per Capita Per Day

Yesterday was Facebook's 6th anniversary. Steve Tuttle and I are quitting.

I had a brief return after calling it quits in December - but have finally decided to pull the plug for good. I think.
simple yet effective graphic from rmansfield

Disturbingly enough, Facebook has a carbon footprint big enough to compete with large cities. Engineer Doug Beaver estimates per capita daily energy use at 3 kWh, with most energy used to power servers handling photos.

That's like me running a hairdryer for 3 hours every day. Assuming I use Facebook every day of every year, that's about 1000 kWh per year.

So I quit, not just for energy efficiency - but for my own time efficiency too!

Eco Sighting: Lifetime Saint Paul

So my gym is in a recycled building - in a few floors of what used to be the downtown University Club.

One of the quirks of this setup is that we gymgoers sweat through our aerobic workouts in an old ballroom beneath chandeliers serious enough to make even the Phantom of the Opera nervous.

There are 16 chandeliers, each with 20 candelabra bulbs.

Everyone is familiar with candelabra bulbs:

image from wilsonlighting.com

Well today in the University Club lobby, I noticed that the everyday incandescent candelabra bulbs had been replaced by - gasp! - energy efficient CFL candelabra bulbs!

image from TreeHugger.com

Whoever is retrofitting the building hasn't made it into their tenant's aerobic ballroom yet, but I have high hopes.

On Throwing Things Away

Now that my week without trash is up, it's time for me to figure out how to get rid of some of the things I've been waiting to dispose.

image from appliancedisposal.org

1. Window air conditioner. We moved into an apartment with central air in August.

We tried posting the window unit on Craigslist and Twin Cities Free Market - all to no avail, even in August, when we were first trying to get rid of it. I realize it's an impossible sell when it's a high of 5 degrees outside...

The gentleman at Goodwill about died when he saw us try to unload it from the back of my car. I still remember his face as he said, "NO, NO!" They must have a policy against taking appliances.

We tried the Ramsey County Household Hazardous Waste disposal site, which said it won't accept it because it's an appliance.

Where are we supposed to get rid of the darn thing the right way? We're going to try to call our waste hauler, or our next step is to pay a place like J.R.'s an arm and a leg to take it away. Policy problem, anyone?

If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate your advice.

2. Can of PAM. Aerosol! ...meaning it goes to the household hazardous waste disposal site so as not to deplete the ozone.

3. Broken CFL. I am going to enjoy not having this little bit of mercury and glass rattling around in my cabinet anymore.