You still have a few days left to win a super cute reusable kids bag!

Peggy looked at the dangers of PVC this week:

• Dangers of PVC
• Fleurville Bags: PVC-free & Chic
• Dryer Balls of PVC

60 Eco-Friendly Ways to Celebrate Spring

We learned about the new Celsias Show – Eco News & Fun by Podcast.

Make Your Own Natural, Colorful Dyes

We discussed Tree Hugging Lunatics

Tap Project: Help Kids When You Eat Out This Week

Donate to Environmental Working Group with One Click

We hugged a terribly cute little pika.

Homemade Non-Toxic Finger Paints

Peggy told us about an awesome eco book and her hyper cool Mork & Mindy belt.

This Saturday I looked at trees! We had a tree quiz (can you get the answers right?), tiny tree branches you can munch on, and great places to see trees.

With Easter hopping up (ha), it was sort of a low-key week around here, but still nice. We look forward to having you here this upcoming week. Also, in April we’ll be running a 20 day count-down to Earth Day – starting April 1st and many other cool bloggers from b5media will participating – you won’t want to miss it.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Beartooth Loop: Beartooth has been called the “most beautiful highway in America” and I’m prone to agree. After Humboldt, the area of Beartooth is likely one of my favorite spots on the planet. It runs from Yellowstone Park’s northeast entrance, across the Beartooth Mountain Range in Montana and Wyoming – so you can stand in both states at once. Beartooth is the highest elevation highway (10,947 feet) in the Northern Rockies, and it’s stunning.

I took a million pictures, but sadly, I don’t take great photos. Here’s one shot. We were about halfway up the mountain. The trees look like they go on forever when you’re really there.

We drove from Red Lodge, Montana to Yellowstone over Beartooth and it was amazing. The thing that got me is that it looks like you’re going up a steep mountain from the Red Lodge side. So you assume the top will be sort of small – or I did anyhow. Then you get to the top and it’s so vast. It’s like a whole other world.

This is a shot from the top, when we were at the Montana and Wyoming divide. I did not expect such diversity once we hit the top, but there were fields of wildflowers, tons of trees, these crystal blue areas of water, and much more.

To see some pictures of Beartooth, from people who know how to handle a camera, visit here. Also just a note- I’d skip Yellowstone. There are some cool things about it, but overall Yellowstone upset me. There are too many people, people messing with animals, and it was just sort of like nature taken over by lodges and people. It had a few decent points, but I wouldn’t go back.

Humboldt county – shocking that I said Humboldt right. You haven’t really seen trees until you get out in one of the many Northern California forests and hike around. Everyone’s heard of the giant redwoods, but seeing them is an entirely different ballgame. You feel very small and yet amazed at the same time. The best thing about seeing the trees in Humboldt, is that you can go to one of those areas with lots of tourists, but there are also plenty of spaces where no one else is.

The cool thing about Humboldt trees is that trees are used in different ways. My son loves hiking in the redwood forests but his favorite tree area in Humboldt is at the Sequoia Park, seen below.

I think that San Francisco is another great place to see trees. There are plenty of places in the city that feature trees and tons of day trips that also feature trees. It’s a nice mix of city + nature in certain areas. My favorite urban area to see tree tops in the San Fran area is Berkeley. If you head up to the gardens behind the University, there are views of San Francisco through the trees that are stunning, especially if you can catch it on a non-cloudy day.

I tried to take a picture:

That drop off corner is the bay – I could see more, but this picture is a sad representation. Although, what I do love is the mix of trees, plus the fact that it’s so dense from above that it looks like a carpet.

Other great places to see trees:

Ashland, Oregon – go in the fall, it’s so beautiful. There’s the best mix of large trees, quaint town, and classic homes. Actually most places in Oregon you can see lots of trees. Depending on where in OR you are, the variety of landscape and trees can really differ. Crater Lake is really cool, because besides trees you can also see the amazing lake.

I also like Stillwater, Minnesota, which is sort of a little town sticking up through the trees. The trees are cool, not as cool as other places, but the thing I like about it, is that they mixed the city in with the landscape, they didn’t remove the landscape. The best view is actually from Wisconsin – which is across from Stillwater.

Where are some of your favorite places with trees?

[Sequoia Park photo by Don Leonard: Courtesy Humboldt County CVB, redwoods.info.]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Congestion pricing:

In the comments of my post, The Problem With Cars yesterday, Susan noted that congestion pricing is a good solution. It is, so let’s start there. Congestion pricing is basically charging people more money to drive in certain areas during heavy traffic rush hours. Those certain areas can be bridges, tunnels, major roads, etc. Of course this has been met with opposition by motorists. Actually this topic could be an entire post (or many posts all on it’s own). For now I’ll direct you to a few resources.

Susan noted this resource – which is a good post about the costs involved with driving. There’s a nice graph too.

One nice and easy article about congestion pricing can be read at Transportation Alternatives. It’s a good article if you’re new to the topic because it really spells out the situation. It’s a good intro.

Stay in one place:

You can’t stay in one place all the time, but if you’re serious about saving on emissions and helping the planet, then commuting is something you should avoid. Not just commuting to work either; commuting means to the store, mall, play activities, and more.

Now obviously this method of reducing our dependency on cars has some major downsides. You need to plan ahead. You need to live in a place that’s close to work, stores, and other activities, which is not always easy or even possible. On the flip-side it’s not impossible either.

Here are two situations – mine actually.

Living in Humboldt: Life in Humboldt was much better driving wise. We lived in a small town within about five miles of the following – grocery stores, the library, farmers market, beach, co-op, drug store, restaurants, parks, the zoo, and more. Basically it took me about three to five minutes to get just about anywhere. We would drive further to get to the redwood forests to hike. Since we were barely driving anywhere, this worked out though. And really the forests were only about 15-30 minutes away depending on where you’d go.

Living in Washington: Life in Washington is not as sweet driving wise. We don’t live anywhere near a co-op or even a natural food store – both are at least 30 minutes drive-time. The zoo is a good 30-40 minutes away. Mainly that’s because you have to drive on one of the most congested highways in Oregon to get there. It takes us 30 minutes to get to the children’s museum, and the sort of places we like (forest, beaches, etc.) are anywhere from an hour to three hours away. We do live across the street from a park, a community garden, and a grocery store is about five minutes away.

The major downer of living here is that we have to plan all of our trips. For example, we can’t leave the zoo between the hours of 2:30pm and 6:30pm or we’d be stuck in traffic for two hours. My best friend lives literally eight miles away, but it can take an hour to get there due to traffic.

The best way to cut down on everyday driving is to plan before you move. Choose a house near everything; work, play, etc. More extreme, try to choose a town that has less traffic. This doesn’t mean you have to live in some 300 member Humboldt town either. Albuquerque, NM, for instance, has far less traffic than Portland, OR. San Francisco has more than Salt Lake… so compare areas if you’re considering a big move, and of course if your job allows for it.

Combine trips:

Say your job absolutely must be in a big traffic ridden city, or maybe you just prefer city life. The next best thing you can do is combine trips. One study I read shows that people tend to make an excess of car trips each day – in some cases up to 13 trips a day. That’s insane. Make a list and stick to it. Hit the grocery store, co-op. drug store, and dry cleaners, in one swift swoop. Don’t backtrack; drive in a logical order. As mentioned above, if you can only drive when there’s less traffic.

Change your schedule:

One thing I’ve seen people do is try to get a different work schedule. Say, maybe 10am-6 or 7pm, in order to miss rush hour traffic. If you have the right sort of job you can ask to do some of your work from home as well. Obviously the same goes for classes. Don’t plan your child’s gymnastic class for 5:30 pm; you’re just asking for traffic problems.

Later, part 2 of car solutions.

Now, do you think it’s worth it to live in a smaller town to drive less – or are you a big city sort of person? How can you cut down on city driving?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Honestly, cars are the original reason I moved to Humboldt six years ago. Portland, Oregon was becoming insane with traffic. Humboldt was a nice change – I don’t think the term ‘traffic jam’ exists there.

I did move back to the Northwest because my family is there. But now the traffic is even worse. If you go out between 7am-10am or 3pm-7pm you’re guaranteed to be stuck sitting in traffic, sometimes for up to two hours. Guess when I don’t go out and about? One study showed that people living in L.A collectively spend about 100,000 hours a day in traffic jams – that’s insane.

Can you relate?

It’s not just the stress caused by traffic that’s a problem either. A recent study points out that, “Worldwide, upward of 20,000 air-pollution-related deaths per year per degree Celsius may be due to greenhouse gas.” The EPA ranks transportation as the second largest contributor to greenhouse gases. While the Clean Air Task Force reports that health research shows that “Diesel exhaust shortens the lives of 70,000 Americans each year,” which includes 3,000 lung cancer U.S. deaths a year.

Heath issues based on inactivity is another concern. People sitting in cars are not usually as healthy as people walking or biking. People are getting larger, eating on the run because there’s no time. Our kids see us do this and it becomes the norm to them. Sitting in cars, wasting time; it’s terrible.

Further reading:

No Escape From Diesel Exhaust: How to Reduce Commuter Exposure

Facts about Fine Particle Air Pollution

Well, that was cheery. Next post – solutions (I promise not so much the downer post).

What are some problems you have with cars? Or do you think cars are no problem at all? Let me know.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

If you have bin issues or just need to keep your recyclables in a place where everyone can see them then one great idea is to find some recycling storage that not only works well but looks nice too.

Design Within Reach has these great bags that can hold your recycling and they look nice enough that they could even sit in a mudroom or other inside your house area — or you know, just pretty up the garage. Personally I keep my recyclables in the house because frankly, the garage is cold at night and far away (yes I’m lazy sometimes). So, these would be so much better looking than my old brown wrinkled up bags.

You get a set of four bags for just $22 — a steal. The perks noted by Design Within Reach include:

• Hold recyclables or use as reusable shopping bags or garden totes.
• “Made of industrial-strength tarpaulin a heavy double-warp fabric that is plastic-coated the bags are waterproof and can be quickly washed out in the sink or outside with a garden hose.”
• Color coding for easy and quick recycling.
• One bag could function as a compost holder.
• “Velcro tabs enable the bags to be ganged together in a row; handles make for easy carrying.”
• “Four interchangeable printed labels are included for use in the plastic window on the front of each bag.”
• Also, the dimensions of the bags make them an easy fit in tight areas of your home.

I’ve been thinking about getting these for some time now. I do in fact tell everyone I know about them which is a sign I should just get some. They’re such a good deal that there are really no excuses not to.

See more about the bags (or order some) right here.  

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Also if you’re worried that your photo taking skills aren’t up to par don’t be. Look at the kind of pictures I take:

This is Cedar at around age two in one of the Redwood forests in Humboldt.

Notice that I myself cannot take pictures very well. Flash anyone? In fact the poor child’s face appears to be glowing. Which attests to the fact that I also cannot successfully manipulate photos on my computer. He was having a great time though. Soon after this he found a big old stick and climbed around on that fallen tree you see behind him.

This next photo is where Cedar thought he was part of the fish family. He’s not.

This is at the the Samoa Peninsula — the beach in front of our house in Humboldt. Mostly he liked to slide in the sand but on this day he got to the beach and took off running towards the ocean like a crazy person and JUMPED in. (He was under two years old). After we freaked and fished him out he rolled around in the sand so it wasn’t very pretty. But fun!

As he got older he learned not to full force jump into the freezing ocean (it’s not Southern California; it’s 60-65 in Humboldt year round so the ocean is cold).

He did take up a fun activity where he’d pick up sand and stuff it in his face. Which may be better than sugar?

For now this is all I have which means you need to email me pictures of your fine tree hugging family in the great outdoors! Much like, in fact exactly like Hilary did. Go nature kids!

Post from: Tree Hugging Family