{"id":170,"date":"2008-04-22T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-22T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2008\/04\/22\/random-bullets-of-eco-smugness\/"},"modified":"2008-04-22T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-22T02:00:00","slug":"random-bullets-of-eco-smugness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2008\/04\/22\/random-bullets-of-eco-smugness\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Bullets of Eco Smugness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Mr E Man and I spent a couple of hours at a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epicexpo.com\/\">sustainable living expo <\/a>yesterday. It was my first time at a non-scientific <span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">tradeshow<\/span>, and Mr E Man&#8217;s first <span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">tradeshow<\/span> ever (unless you count the time he tagged along on a work trip and helped my colleague and me to assemble our booth after we&#8217;d all been on a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.keiths.ca\/k_brewery\/k_brewery_index.htm\">brewery tour<\/a>, complete with men in kilts). <\/div>\n<div> <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>The expo was great, definitely worth the $9 entry fee. We spent the first hour seeking out specific vendors, then I browsed through all kinds of organic bamboo clothing and spa product stalls, while Mr E Man visited the construction and vehicle sections. (Gender stereotypes are alive and well! Although I did have a good look at the Prius). <\/div>\n<div> <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div><strong>Free samples we ate and drank<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Organic soup<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Organic beer<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Organic juice (various)<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Organic fair trade coffee, complete with organic cane sugar<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">Tetrapak<\/span> wine (French and Aussie)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Free samples we took home<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Recycled pens<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Recycled paper<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Hand-cranked battery-free flashlights<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Lush mini bath bombs<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Sustainable seafood guides<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Things I bought<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Laundry detergent sachets made of organic <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sapindus\"><span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">soapnuts<\/span><\/a> (EXPENSIVE, but smell quite nice and seemed to work OK last night)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Things we will definitely implement<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">Tetrapak<\/span> wines (great for camping! I usually try to drink local wines, but there are times when there&#8217;s no acceptable substitute for an Aussie Shiraz or New Zealand <span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">Sauvignon<\/span> <span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">Blanc<\/span>. Apparently you can ship 26 1L <span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">tetrapaks<\/span> from Australia for the same carbon footprint as one 75 <span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">cL<\/span> bottle of wine, if you consider shipment from the container manufacturer to the vineyard as well as from the vineyard to market)<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Organic beer (it&#8217;s local(<span class=\"blsp-spelling-error\">ish<\/span>) and yummy)<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Using the seafood guide when ordering sushi<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>An electric moped for me (but should I get one of the max 32 kph models that don&#8217;t require a license \/ registration \/ insurance, or wait until I (theoretically) pass my Canadian driving test and get something with a bit more oomph?)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Things we need to think about a bit more<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Solar powered water heating (when we can afford it. Mr E Man is also interested in geothermal, but the reps were super busy and we didn&#8217;t get to talk to them. I&#8217;d be concerned about the cost and the potential for earthquake damage)<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>A hybrid as our next car (the current one is running well and there&#8217;s no real reason to switch just yet. Plus it might be a good idea to wait a few years and see where the market goes, re: hybrid \/ full electric \/ hydrogen)<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Voting for the Green Party (for me. If all goes to plan I&#8217;ll be eligible to vote in the next election. All will depend on how close the race between the main parties is in our riding. In principle I&#8217;m happy to give the Greens my vote as it helps to raise their profile and public funding eligibility, but not if it means splitting the left wing vote and letting the Tories in again)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Random Bullets of Other Crap<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I managed to pull off <a href=\"http:\/\/digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com\/2008\/04\/friday-limericks-expelled.html\">a rhyme <\/a>on Friday that even Cuttlefish couldn&#8217;t work into a limerick. I&#8217;m so proud<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/network.nature.com\/blogs\/user\/ennis\/2008\/04\/21\/feeding-the-hand-that-feeds-you\">Musings on charitable donations by researchers <\/a>on my other blog. I&#8217;m much better at generating controversy over there than I am here, where everyone keeps agreeing with me. Not that I&#8217;m going to complain too much about that!<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Saba rolled over in an ecstasy of belly rubbing and purring and fell off the sofa TWICE this weekend. Do I need to be worried? Her coordination seems fine otherwise <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mr E Man and I spent a couple of hours at a sustainable living expo yesterday. It was my first time at a non-scientific tradeshow, and Mr E Man&#8217;s first tradeshow ever (unless you count the time he tagged along &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2008\/04\/22\/random-bullets-of-eco-smugness\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,47,51,53,43,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drunkenness","category-environment","category-food-glorious-food","category-furry-friends","category-politics","category-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}