Save the Planet ~ Live Virtually

Wow, February already? Somehow the days since Christmas have slid by through January in a flurry of activity.

Contrary to being bored while I wait for my visa, I have found the days too short, too many things on my to do list for not enough hours.  What on earth have I been doing with myself, some may wonder, that takes so much time and energy?  And my official answer would be, designing virtual clothes for our online business.

I know the terms "virtual" and "online" are sometimes hard to take seriously.  The limitless potential of the internet, after all, is still in it's formulative stages.  At this time we stand at the cusp of a new age, the rules are still being thought of and for many of us the internet is still a place to check email once a week and not much else.

To others of us, myself included, the internet has quickly settled in to our daily lives and become an integral part.  We bank, shop, date, stay updated, socialize and research all from our keyboards.  I won't even get into porn, that's another arena I'll leave for others to cover.  Suffice to say that to some of us, the internet is the bomb, and without it our day is, well.... bombed.

Recently I've turned to the internet to fill a need that my present day 'afk' world can't.... working.  As I wait in Australia (I've been here 6 months as of today) for my visa to be approved, I found myself in a one room flat with hours to occupy while my other half is at work. 

I'm not naturally a tv watcher, I don't drive here yet and I haven't gotten to know anyone well enough to be friends.  So I turned to a little virtual design business my husband and I had started together last year to keep myself occupied...and woke up an obsession.

Our business, House of SilverJinx, designs products for virtual lifestyles, specifically in the internet world of Second Life.  We make a variety of products for 'the sl lifestyle' and sell them in an online marketplace as well as 'inworld'.  Real people purchase our products, paying us in Second Life currency known as Lindens.  We regularly exchange our Lindens for real life US currency.  So, even though we are designing virtual items, we are reaping real rewards.

When we started our little business it wasn't anything serious.  We had a few items up on the market which we promptly forgot about until we cashed in our earnings.  In around one year, off of a handful of items, we had made over $600.  The wheels started turning in my mind, and I started to wonder what would happen if I worked at this 'game' like a 'real business'? 

So that's where I've been, sitting in our private studio and slaving away over textures, prims and scripts, creating marketing campaigns and setting up inworld shops.  Things are going very well, and surprisingly I'm finding the whole business very satisfying on many levels.  The experience has opened up a new concept of virtual value to me. 

Big businesses like IBM are using Second Life for conferences, colleges are teaching courses...there are television broadcasts, radio stations, music videos, banks, malls, churches, nightclubs, cultures, sub cultures, villages, amusement parks... all in a world that runs on thought and electricity.  My virtual creations will never rot in a landfill or choke wildlife.  It sounds good to me, and I'm hooked.

As far as I'm concerned, save the planet ~ live virtually!

My Eco Hypocrisy Confession - The Last Word

The other day I started watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth out of curiosity.  I have to confess, I didn't finish it. 

Somewhere in the middle of one of the many 'Gore Is Awesome" video montages, I started wondering if he really practiced what he preached. 

Maybe it was all his name dropping and political grandstanding, but somehow he just didn't strike me as an environmental hero.  One final yawn and I turned to google.

Ages ago I remember reading about Al Gore being the energy equivalent of Jabba the Hut, glutting in over consumption while preaching green, so I started there.  Interestingly enough, I find I'm not the only eco hypocrite skipping around the globe. 

• Al Gore recently urged attendees of one of his lectures to use public transport to reduce their carbon footprints, while he himself pulled up in a car which he left running for the duration of his speech.

 

• While flapping his gums in opposition to old growth foresting in the Pacific Northwest, he added a veranda made of old growth redwood and Douglas Fir logs to one of his houses.

• In March 1996, the Denver Water Department was directed to release an extra 96 million gallons of water to make the South Platte River a better backdrop for one of his campaign photos.  It was enough water to supply 300 average families for a year.

• During his 1992 election campaign, a Nashville station released video footage of a dump owned by Al's family.  The dump was filled with tires, aluminum cans, and old oil filters that drained into a nearby river. 

• During Earth Hour, a global sustainably movement, Al Gore forgot to turn off his own dozen or so spotlights that illuminate his driveway and trees.  His 9,000 square foot house also had lights on inside and the glow of television and computer screens shone in the windows.

I could go on, citing his huge electricity usage, opting for fuel sucking jet travel over more eco choices and his collection of mansions, none of which are set up to be considered 'green', but you know how to use google.  See for yourself.  On a funny note, if you type "hypocrite" into google images, Al's on the first page.  The inconvenient truth Al worries about, I imagine, is his own.

The bottom line is that if Americans use up to 10 times the natural resources over any other nation, then Al is the US poster child of consumption.  I think maybe, as far as eco hypocrisy goes, Al Gore gets the last word.

Read the complete Eco Confessions here.
 

My Eco Hypocrisy Confession - In the Drink

An Aussi shower is nothing like an American shower.  In my previous life, I considered any shower less than 20 minutes a short shower.  I figured it was my constitutional right to have long soaks, otherwise when was I supposed to get 'me time'?

Coming to live in a desert was one of the biggest eye openers for me.  Water restrictions are a way of life here, and every drop is managed with care.  Wasters are regarded with the utmost disgust.

I have heard water called "a precious resource" all my life, but I've never experienced how valuable it truly is.  Life on the underside of the world is different than life in the lower forty.  The atmosphere sucks moisture up like an invisible sponge and puddles dry up in the sun within minutes.  In some parts of Australia wasting water isn't just stupid, it's suicide.

Dish Swishing & Other Myths:  The biggest shocker for me, and I know some of you will disagree with this, is that dishes don't need the soap rinsed off to be clean.  We have one sink, so my dish washing routine when I first got here was to fill the one basin with soapy hot water, drain, and refill with fresh to rinse.  Worse, when I was in a hurry I'd just rinse them under a running tap.

I was quickly brought into line and converted from my rampant water wastage and taught to wash dishes in the soapy water, re-swish the dishes and then put the soapy dishes on the rack to dry.  I was highly doubtful at first that this was even sanitary and was convinced that salmonella was imminent, but after three months no one has gotten ill, the dishes aren't spotty and the Cleanliness Police haven't issued me any citations for improper dish swishing.  Not only do I save water, but time as well, often an equally precious resource.

Water saving goes beyond the kitchen sink, tho.  Just about every gutter drain here ends in a collection barrel to use in the garden.  Pure rainwater is saved and drank, and it's delicious.  I've learned that a little dust on the car isn't life threatening, and the whole thing can be washed in as little as 2 cups of left over dishwater, whatever hasn't gone out for the veggie garden already.

All in all, I've learned that water is as precious as life, and often, they are the same.

Read the complete Eco Confessions here.

My Eco Hypocrisy Confession - Laundry Day!

Recently I talked about how moving to Australia changed my environmental attitude.  In America I thought I was doing great, but it turns out I was the eco equivalent of a couch jockey. 

I watched from the sidelines, cursing missed plays and cheering the victories, none of which were mine.  Coming to Australia brought me into the game, and for the next few days I'm discussing the new rules and plays I've learned.  Today is laundry day.

My Clothes Washing Myths:
When it comes to washing laundry, I believed that whites must be shimmering and the only way to accomplish this was by using copious amounts of bleach. I also used a clothes dryer regularly because I felt hanging laundry to dry would take too long and be impractical. I always intended to explore bleach alternatives and hanging laundry to dry someday when I had more time.

My Clothes Washing Truth:
Clothes can be white without bleach. The chlorine in bleach binds with organic material to form organo chlorines, toxic compounds that are toxic and persist in the environment. Instead of using bleach I've used vinegar and baking soda in my light color washes. That, combined with the natural bleaching of the sun, has kept my whites bright enough. The sun also acts as a natural disinfectant, keeping everything spiffy clean and germ free.

As far as hanging clothes being too inconvenient, an interesting factoid about Australia is that I don't know anyone who actually owns a dryer. Everyone hangs their clothes out to dry, and an electric dryer is considered a luxury. My newspaper seller says that he and his wife received one ages ago as a gift, and they "used it a few times when the kids were small." His doctor actually recommended line drying clothes in the sun to take advantage of its anti bacterial properties and prevent rashes.

I've lived without bleach and clothes dryers for over three months now, and haven't had any problems yet. My clothes actually feel crisp and new, and they smell fabulous.

Gallons of chemically enhanced wash water and hours of power saved, and another attitude adjustment for me.  I hope you'll join me tomorrow as I continue my confession of waste.

Read the complete Eco Confessions here.

My Eco Hypocrisy Confession - In the Bag

When I lived in America I considered myself an environmentalist. I bought used when ever I could, I tried not to waste resources and every now and then I walked somewhere instead of drove.

I also read a lot of environmentally conscious books and could spend a good deal of time patting myself on the back about how well I was doing. Then I moved to another country and my feel-good, eco aware self disillusionment went up like a puff of diesel exhaust.

Compared to the Australians I've met, I've been a consumeristic piglet all my life.  I've been reluctant to give up my bleach, clothes dryer and comfy car.  I allowed my laziness to send thousands of plastic shopping bags to the landfill.  When my clothes got worn they went to the back of the closet or back to Goodwill, I didn't really repair anything.  I wasn't here long before I started receiving an eco-attitude adjustment.

I wanted to write a simple blog post about all the changes I've had to make to my personal consumerverse, but there are so many things I've had to learn I've decided to break it up into multiple posts.  With Americans consuming resources 4 times as much as any other country, even if just a few of us dedicate ourselves to positive change, it will make a difference.

I won't lie and say that I made these changes out of my great love for the earth.  Quite frankly, I was forced to.  I would much rather feel good about myself without actually giving anything up, but in retrospect the changes have been so easy. I hope I can encourage some of my friends to do some good that will benefit them as well as everyone else in the world.  So, on to my first attitude adjustment... life sans plastic bags.

My Shopping Bag Myths:
I always thought reusable shopping bags were a good idea, and I actually bought a few at one time that I fully intended to use.  They probably continue to live in the back of some closets somewhere, as of yet unused.  I'd like to say I never used them because I simply forgot to bring them, but the truth is I hated the thought of being an inconvenience while a cashier struggled with my cloth bags, the rest of the line glaring at me as I held things up.

My Shopping Bag Truth:
I've been off plastic shopping bags for three months now, and I really don't miss them.  It turns out that it's pretty easy to grab my tote of reusable cloth bags when I grab my grocery list, and all times I have two spare bags folded up very small in an extra pocket of my purse for unplanned purchases. 

It hasn't been an inconvenience at all, after I got used to it, and at this rate in one year I'll have saved around 240 plastic bags from being landfilled.  If the US government would take a hard stance and ban plastic sacks like the Aussi government did, that would save 73,681,572,000 non biodegradable bags in the landfill per year from the US alone.  What a big difference for what turned out to be a relatively easy lifestyle change.  Best of all, not once have I been glared at by a cashier for my reusable bags.

See you tomorrow where I'll share how I battled bleach addiction and learned to harness passive solar power...

Read the complete Eco Confessions here.