Green Clean

GreenClean in the Tenderloin

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:08:35 -0700

The Tenderloin, San Francisco. Walking through this area one day I ran across this mural on the side of a building. An oversized garden scene speckled with tile root bases is alongside another utopian garden city block makeover scene; visions of how some may want to see this controversial area redeveloped. Trying to find some information about this mural and the redevelopment of this neighborhood, I did not find utopian garden plans, but instead found plenty of heated debate. As the powerhouse developer Shorenstein Company continues their land grab through the distressed Mid-Market area, speculations about the Twitter deal (pulled out?) and the benefits of Payroll Tax Exemption for the corporations being wooed abound. What is good for the neighborhood? What is good for it’s current residents?
Gentrify me I’m curious about the Tenderloin and the Mid-Market area because I live here. I am in one of the new mid-rise buildings in an area of the city I never thought I would live (unless I was living on the streets). Granted, I don’t live in a condo, or a high-rent apartment. I live in a rent-controlled unit. The only reason I, working for myself, can afford to live here is because my rent was protected. I guess you can say that my current comfort is a result of a powerhouse developer, granted my rent control was hardly given out of kindness. I can only hope that the city finds a nice balance between the Twitter types (nothing personal) and the lower income families and seniors and other less cloud type people who are struggling not to get priced out of San Francisco.

I look forward to what the future brings for this neighborhood. Maybe someone has submitted the utopian garden city makeover plan.

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GreenClean: Required Green

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:14:29 -0700

Yet another reason to love San Francisco...
 “In keeping with San Francisco's commitment to the Precautionary Principle, the Board of Supervisors passed legislation in 2005 requiring City staff to buy from an approved list of environmentally preferable, or ‘green’, products.”

Thus starts the home page of SF Approved List, purported to be the one-stop shop for SF City staff, SF Green businesses, as well as for everyone else to buy over 1,000 green products. Ingredient content, recycled content, energy efficiency product reviews and more go into the list, created by the San Francisco Department of Environment.

Required Green
San Francisco city staff are required to buy from the SF Approved List under City ordinances. Green purchasing programs select products and services that have a reduced impact on human health and the environment. Institutional purchasers - federal, state and local governments, along with colleges, universities, and private institutions, as well as private companies - represent huge purchasing power, with state and local governments alone spending more than $400 billion every year; colleges and universities add an additional $300 billion. Leveraging institutional purchasing power towards green products increases market demand, spurs innovation, and increases the availability and affordability of these products for all. San Francisco again leads the way in this approach.

Something for all
The SF Approved List includes many products sold in bulk quantities, but there is a reference section for Homes and Small Businesses with some great suggestions on products for all. Suggestions for the longest lasting rechargeable batteries, the advantages of microfibre cleaning cloths, and green office supplies. Check out the SF Approved List wherever you are.

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GreenClean: Self Clean 1

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:01:01 -0700

The last few months have been so hectic and I had been feeling this constant pressure to be somewhere and do something at all times. Even the thought of posting a blog was a source of stress, adding to that list of “things I have to do”. So this posting may seem off the green cleaning track, but I guarantee you that this is definitely a “green” (environmentally friendly and kind to the earth) topic and it is also most certainly about “cleaning” (clearing out the jumbles of the mind and making space for yourself). You will want to try the simple breathing exercise below for just 3 minutes and see for yourself what a difference some oxygen can make to your brain, to your body and to your sense of well being.

Breath
This may surprise many people, but there are many ways to breathe. The breath that most of us are used to is referred to as “Chest breathing”, where the chest rises and falls as your lungs fill with air and expel air out. This type of breathing is also referred to as “fight or flight” breathing - if someone jumps in front of you brandishing a big knife pointed at you, your adrenaline kicks in and you either dodge the knife and attack back (fight) or you run away (flight). This is also the breathing that we often use if our boss or partner tells us that we aren’t working hard enough or that we are wrong about something. The adrenaline kicks in and we start huffing and puffing, breathing hard and we start reacting to situations.

Diaphragmatic breathing
Belly breathing, or abdominal breathing is where the breath goes deep into the lungs, and the belly fills with air on the inhales; then the belly empties by pulling the navel slowing into the body on the exhale, taking twice the amount of time for the exhale as the inhale. For example, letting the belly fill up, inhale slowly through your nose for four seconds, then try to exhale through your nose slowly, taking about 8 seconds. If you are not sure where you are breathing - belly or chest, try resting one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest. The hand on your chest should not move while the hand on your belly will rise and fall with your breath. This is a very calming and relaxing form of breathing that will have you feeling well oxygenated and peaceful. The drawing in of the navel into your body on the exhales is what turns belly breathing, or abdominal breathing into “diaphragmatic breathing”. With practice, this can become a normal way of breathing.

There are many breathing exercises and types of advanced breath work, “pranayama” (restraint of breath or control of force). Here is a simple one below for you to start with.

Simple Breathing Exercise
For this exercise it is preferable to use the diaphragmatic breathing as described above. Find a quiet place to sit in a chair, or on the floor or lie down. It might help if you set a timer for the amount of time you want to do the exercise - beginners may want to start at 3 minutes, and then slowly work up to 30 minutes, or even an hour. The goal is to simply stay still, breathe and let your mind clear.

Get into position, sitting or lying comfortably. The most important thing is to try to keep your spine straight. If sitting, you may want to put a folded blanket or flat pillow under your sitting bones, to get your hips a bit above your knees. When first trying this exercise, you may want to keep your eyes closed. Slowly inhale through your nose, and then slowly exhale through your nose, taking twice the amount of time as the inhalation. If you inhale for 4 counts, then try to exhale for 8 counts, then repeat. Once you can get into a pattern of breathing in slowly and out slowly, then repeat silently the following on your inhales: “I am breathing in slowly”, taking the full inhale to say the phrase, then silently repeat the following on your exhales: “I am breathing out slowly”. Continue repeating these two phrases in your head on each inhale and exhale.

If your mind wanders, thoughts come in, or your attention strays away, simply acknowledge that your mind has wandered, that thoughts have come in or your attention has strayed, and then resume breathing and repeating the phrases: “I am breathing in slowly”, “I am breathing out slowly”. When the timer has gone off and you are done your simple breathing exercise, get up slowly and enjoy feeling well oxygenated and peaceful! Try doing this at least once a day if possible and your body will thank you.

Future posts will cover more advanced breath work - stay tuned!

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GreenClean Featured: Picher

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:11:50 -0700

Have you ever heard of Picher, Oklahoma? I hadn’t heard of it until I saw a photo article on America’s worst environmental disasters. But let me give you a little background of me before I proceed.

White mountains of Ambler
I am no stranger to environmental disasters. I remember  the white mountains of Ambler, the town where I grew up.  These mountains, about 3 million cubic yards of debris  (enough to fill two Empire State buildings), were piled up  next to the stream that ran through town. Playgrounds,  tennis and basketball courts would grace this terrain over  the years, kids sledding down the mountain sides. Ambler  and the rest of the nation belatedly became aware of the  risks of asbestos, and without the ability to move such  amounts of waste, the EPA covered the mountains with  earth and plants, at a cost of $5 million dollars. I remember  sitting in a college Biological Science course, and somewhere in the midst of a movie about such disaster sites as Love Canal, my lovely hometown of Ambler was featured. The waste is still there, just covered up. Thankfully, there are signs that keep the risk in check, warning us not to “create dust”.

Ever see the movie WALL-E? The lead character has been left behind, humans having ruined the Earth beyond salvation, the entire race chose to abandon the planet. This seems to be what happened on a smaller level in Picher, Oklahoma.

Picher mining
Picher was, at one time, the most productive lead and zinc mining area in the world. In 1967 mining activities ceased - contaminated water from the mines had turned the local creek red and sinkholes were opening up in the mountains of mining waste. The giant toxic piles were used for sledding, climbing and picnicking. Soon the high levels of lead waste in the piles started showing up in the blood levels of residents. Cancer levels skyrocketed, and three quarters of Picher’s elementary students were reading below grade level. While the area was declared a Super Fund site in 1981, most of the residents didn’t leave until 2006 (small concern of the town collapsing into the mines). Too toxic to clean up, the federal government paid people to leave, the post office closed in July, 2009, and the city ceased operations on September 1, 2009.

City ceased operations? Reading about Picher really affected me, for some reason. I wanted to know more about it, and this awful feeling has stuck with me. We can’t just keep fouling up where we live, then pack up and move somewhere else. Where does this end? Oh yeah - WALL-E.

Information from this article came from this photo article on the Mother Nature Network.

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GreenClean Video: Deja Vu?

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:30:39 -0700

“These are not badly colorized reports from the BP oil disaster in the Gulf right now, this is reporting from deja-vu land, from essentially the same disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, but in 1979. The only thing missing back then was worries that a loop current would carry the oil out of the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the coast of Florida. Oh wait...” - Rachel Maddow

How many more of these environmental disasters will it take? Reduce our reliance on oil. Look at corporations differently.

See more images here.

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