Zero Waste report #2 - The Terrible Cold!! - Zero Waste Style!

Well, I wanted to give weekly reports like the lovely Chez Green family over at Myzerowaste have 'em, but last week couldn't think of anything to 'report'! hm!

Basically, I haven't been doing any new experiments! - although I think I MAY have found a potential useful use for one of the strangest 'leftovers' in the bathroom! lol!! /will post about it one of these days.../

My Dad can't be trusted upon to buy cheese 'the zero waste' way, so now Mum and I will try to do it whenever we can..

Also, I had a terrible cold (brought on by the damn incinerators, I think!! just reading about them makes me - ooh!!) Or the too many Amazon-books that I tried to cram all into my head. And Beppe Grillo totally scared me!! (I had nightmares of nanoparticelli coming in through the window from the next-door factory!!)
Or it was the donuts, and a few not-so-healthy days before that. (Carnival was here!) Or, my Sis brought it home. As we both got it at the same time.

My Sis took the Coldrex anti-cold med. I was tempted, very tempted.
But I looked at the box and thought, 'Is this zero waste?' uhm, not.
I couldn't help but feel guilty at the thought of having to throw away the pill cases. Also, when I read 'caffeine' - the stuff usually made me jiffy, even when not messed up!!

So, instead I took my trusty old Louise Hay into my hands, and looked for her words of wisdom. Of course she was spot on, as pretty much always.

"Your thinking has become narrow. Wish to run away. Leave me alone." LOL!! SO TRUE!!
So instead, the right mantra is to be: "I'm always completely safe. Love surrounds me and protects me. All is well." Hm!

When I actually focused on the lovely communities going the zero waste way (instead of trying to figure out the evil ways of the incinerators or if they are really so maybe-green as some say they are) it helped heaps too!!

Basically that's probably what Louise Hay has been saying all along: focus on the solution and not on the problem! Hm!

So, the good news: my gorgeous cousin has now signed up for an eco course at the Uni (after receiving a loong pep talk from me last weekend, lol!) - I wish those courses were just part of every curriculum, unfortunately they are completely optional mostly - but the good thing it's her assistant professor's favorite course!!

Some friends and acquaintances were vaguely interested too.. (or at least didn't run away screaming, as I had feared! though one has avoided me for more than 2 weeks on account of feeling guilty for the many non-eco diapers they throw away! she has a lovely baby boy!!)

There is a thin line between inspiration and completely terrifying someone (at times) and I'm not always sure of it!! lol (seems like Beppe Grillo may still have some problems with this too!:)
So, I am still looking for ways how to tell people about this without completely scaring them or making them go on the defensive or thinking I completely lost it! lol

My Mum is now interested to try washing her hair with the soap nuts too, as I told her how some people on the online forums are delighted with them & even have more hair volume this way!

I also suggested that cloth diapers might be recommended to a local 'mothers' home' (for mummies that need to get away for a while & stay in a place before going on their own.. they might be excited about cloth diapers there too & start using them on their own later on too? It would also be more cost-effective for the home..) We'll see what comes of this, but it's another 'seed' planted.. :)

Some Moms here in Slovenia seem quite happy with them, although there are many different varieties, and it also depends on the baby, as all are different..
Personally, I think if we could survive & prosper in cloth diapers (Mom said she washed every 2 or 3 days then too) babies today could too.. (especially as more modern varieties are around) My cousin's baby (that's another cousin!) couldn't stop wetting her pants (at 3 years old) until the doctor advised taking away the disposable diapers!!

Of course, another thing was tested this week: my resolution to stay with cloth cleenex!!
In fact, I must tell you I wasn't sure if I'd last myself.. but was immensely cheered up by the lovely cloth handkerchiefs with lovely little flowers and such! (They rock!) Only used up maybe 5 altogether, and still keeping 1 or 2 around 'just in case'...
They're a nice childhood memory as we always used them, as far as I remember.. before the paper hanky frenzy.. (I do admit a few tissues of - recycled! - toilet paper too, lol!)

Other than that, nothing much to report. I wish I were 'perfect', living the zero waste lifestyle already.. but it's a (sometimes slow) learning process.. I do wish more people here in Slovenia were 'on board'.. (still didn't dare talk to my neighbours! ough - & Of course I didn't want to give them any germs either!! Although I don't believe in this 'germs' stuff much, it much more depends on one's immune system.. but if the immune system is already low, well.. just heard one neighbour is still ill, mostly due to soda pop, his wife says - I said 'better not have any in the house then,' but his wife 'loves 'em soo much' too!! OoO - and then quickly changed the subject! hm! It's difficult to change habits, yeah, sometimes.. Still, I think health comes first.)

The number of allergies and illnesses here scares me too.. Not everyone is so lucky to get better with Louise Hay & cloth hankies alone.. (& some herbal tea & juicing of beetroot+carrot+apple - yum!)
And instead of campaigning heavily for healthy air - people just go buy drugs or ionizers (I was heavily tempted last week! still am!) & succomb to advertisements telling them to stay in and use drugs, ugh!!
I do think HEALTHY AIR is more important!! :)

Hopefully other people will start realizing it too.. Some already have.

I LOVE NAKED Amazon!! :)

Well, I have a terrible truth to confess: even though I try to get books in the local library, or the retro store/s - I just ordered and received a HUGE order from Amazon!

(Of course, I only dared to do so, after Mrs Green and other green sites approved my choice.)

I also read extensively on Amazon itself, including Amazon.de which I ultimately ordered from (cause I could get an extra book for the same price due to their much better postage pricing for new-EU states & 'the rest of the world'!)
(I hate it that amazon.uk puts us into the same category as, uhm, Uzbekistan or Zimbabwe, although the distances are quite different!!)
And it is terrible discrimination we're not able to buy things used on the Marketplace!! (surely the whole EU and US market would collapse if the new members of EU could shop for used things too?)

Well, I was still expecting the delivery with lots of despair & trepidation!
Would it be horrible and full of shrink-wrap plastics? Would every book be individually sealed in a completely useless plastic bag? (like many books here in Slovenia are!)

I ordered on February 9th, the first batch was dispatched on the 12th - & gotten on February 14th! YAY! AMAZON LOVES ME!!

I slightly despaired cause the site told me the 2nd batch (which I actually needed/wanted more) would come from 3rd-21st march! (I forgot not all books were 'in stock' at .de, as they were at .uk - 2 were 'ready to ship in 12 to 14 days')
I was wondering if I had done the right thing... /Maybe the Universe was punishing me for buying so many new books? - yes, there was some guilt involved! I actually wanted to buy the books last August already, but then didn't dare to../ (or maybe buying from co.uk would be better?) - But this Saturday, on Feb 21st, all the books arrived, so I was very happy!!

Unfortunately have forgotten the excellent idea of Mrs Green to sell the books on once she's finished with them... Mine are somewhat dog-eared already, some of them! (which only means they are EXTREMELY useful, and they will be of much use! Couldn't get them here in Slovenia, so I had to get them from abroad!)

I did remember to use the paperclips for the not-so-useful bits and books (so they can ideally be resold or donated to a library easier)!

Description: They were in a plain cardboard box (like promised), with only some cellotape :(, books were totally NAKED :) YAY!!, there was a dispatch-paper with a plastic-window-thingie part (is that recyclable too?), and in the big box some unrequested heavily-printed glossy flyers/coupons - I thought 'How pretty!' - but as I'm unlikely to order monthly German DVD service or business cards, or go on a cruise, these are pretty useless to me! and rather excessive - one would think they track customer addresses and at least send you what you might use?)

Other Nitpicks: I know TRANSPORT (from so far away) is not environmentally friendly.. The books were not available as e-books, and also, you need energy for reading e-books, and can't lounge with them on a sofa so comfortably.. so, hm? I do wish Amazon included some data on emmissions-footprint etc, so I could calculate the footprint of each book (or the lot) from individual stores - I might even go with another store if it proved to be eco-friendlier!
I've already asked them to reveal data & make less emissions, maybe you can too?

I do wonder about any previous wrapping-of-pallets-into-plastic too... (I hope that plastic gets to be reused or recycled at least!)
Also, the books do not say if they are TCF - Totally Chlorine-Free, & thus dioxin-free, so I'm guessing they're not! (I wish all books were!)
Some seem to have some recycled content & some not, though none mention this specifically - it would be GREAT to know!

They are really great books though, and I'm sure I will be using most of them for quite a while! (Unfortunately for some of them, I seemed to have learnt most stuff online already!:) /am still wondering if it's environmentally friendly to return them, or resell, or not?/

am also a bit bedazzled by it all, not sure which one to start proper first!! :)
/I've skimmed the lot of them briefly, I feel my head is HUUGE!!;)/ But I LOVE books!! Especially NAKED books!!

This whole thing did make me wonder though: if Amazon can ship me NAKED books from Germany - and they look great! WHY do Slovenian firms insist on individual-packinging every one of them into plastic?! It beats me!!

Maybe need to demand NAKED books in Slovenia too?!