Why just confine face masks to humans? Ahh, the things we take for granted. Doesn’t this just say it all?

Meet Chloe. She and I are without a doubt ardent walkers. It’s one of our favorite things to do. And soon, like some 13,000 others with dogs I am told, I am going to move us into our recently renovated downtown (they are trying to make it like Denver’s downtown, but they have a ways to go). So, it got me to thinking about emissions. Where I am currently, it’s a non-issue. We can walk around mask free. The air is fairly clear here. Will it be worse in the heart of a city, as it is in other parts of this country, like L.A., and the world?

Speaking of which, my daugther is still in Beijing, soon to wrap up her semester abroad. We have been skyping each other with some regularity so she fills me in, thankfully, and sometimes not so thankfully. Recently when we were talking (I can see her on video as well) while they were on spring break in the Yunnan Province, I saw her take a swig of a cigarette, much to my chagrin. I’ve known she began the habit while in school, but she never smoked around me (I’m a long time ex-smoker). When I bemoaned the fact, she said they were in a clean air zone and it was obligatory for her to maintain an unhealthy air environment so as not to shock her system when she got back. Then she, as is her habit as well, laid a little trivia on me: the people who work outside, like the traffic controllers or traffic cops, are known to have a significantly lower life span than others in Beijing because of how polluted the air is over there. She then couldn’t help but wonder how Beijing was actually going to host the Olympics…..the city just didn’t have what it took to do so. That all the people coming from all over the world would never be able to adjust to how the Chinese really lived…..Beijing is not exactly the Westernized version of a big city, as Shanghai is.

I know the visiting athletes will be wearing masks during the games. My one friend whose husband is a professor at Washington University (she is one of their research scientists) tend to travel all over, mostly because of their work, and she insisted they not go when invited by a colleague to come over to do some work in Beijing. Initially they were excited about the prospect but soon decided against it (mainly she) because she was concerned for her husband’s health….he’s had several open heart surgeries and she just didn’t want to be over there in the event something went wrong.

Then today I read that China is now considered the biggest polluter in the world and I quote, “April 16, 2008 — China has already surpassed the United States as the world’s largest carbon polluter, the authors of a California study report.

‘Our best forecast has China’s CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions correctly surpassing the United States in 2006 rather than 2020 as previously anticipated,’ said the study by researchers at the University of California………

The spike in air pollution by China has largely cancelled out efforts by other countries’ attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, the authors said.

The researchers predicted that by 2010, ‘there will be an increase of 600 million metric tons of carbon emissions in China over the country’s levels in 2000.’

That growth would ‘dramatically overshadow the 116 million metric tons of carbon emissions reductions pledged by all the developed countries in the Kyoto Protocol,’ the report said.” More on the report at Discovery News.

That’s just too ironic for words. You wouldn’t believe what I go through on a daily basis to live a more sustainable life (well you probably would). Like others I am making changes to reduce my carbon footprint in life as well as my business. I take public transportation now; and this is in a city NOT well laid out for public transportation. I’ve given up buying as well as drinking bottled water (by the way, that is something that CAN’T be done in China. You HAVE to drink bottled water there by threat of death!). Trendcites (rhymes with bites) is the newsletter my agency, kimbro, produces and we are going to all CD’s or online. No printed newsletters. Plus the loft I am considering moving into downtown is heated by electric and not gas; that’s more about saving money though than reducing my carbon footprint.

But that’s a whole other story trying to figure out the trade-off’s. Such as whether to buy local food or organic brought in…apparently there’s more reduction by consuming a quarter less of the average 240 calories the average American eats of red meat a day and eating chicken or fish or fruits, vegetables and grains instead. More greenhouse gas emissions are caused from how certain foods are produced than how food is transported. So, yes, chew on that one for awhile (but make sure it’s a toothpick and not red meat you are chewing on, no not a toothpick–that’s wood, thus chopping down a tree was involved, not a straw, that’s plastic….how about gum? only if it’s sugarless, though known to aggravate IBS in some, okay, chew on that hypothetically) and go here for that story.

And, now I hear with all of our moving our production offshore, any energy savings done is for nought cause China’s not doing anything. Ahhh, progress, there you go rearing your ugly head again. (the image is of a package of two gas masks provided to me from a kind man/vendor who had a booth at the International Housewares Show, www.bluestarmask.com, in case you need some for your next trip to China or if you’re moving into the heart of a downtown polluted city).

So instead, maybe I should do like Thoreau and just move to a cabin in Maine, go off the grid for awhile, like for the next 10 years then come back and see if we made any real sustainable progress. From what I’m reading, I won’t be as alone as Thoreau was.

For more on how you can reduce your carbon footprint and the trade-offs, visit “>HowStuffWorks: How Carbon Footprints Work.

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Midwest Living “Future Thinker” trend room

If you read my post on the Meredith Corporations trend rooms for the National Kitchen and Bath Show, then you also saw images from these rooms corresponding to the stages women go through during the course of their lifetime.

To clarify my own thoughts on the Idea Center, while these may not be the most exotic kitchens or even contemporary kitchens, say for instance like what Trendir features in their online publication, for what is happening in most of America I think Meredith Corporation and their designers and trade publication editors got it right….for the most part this is the way Americans do live and they do experience each one of these stages.

I did like how they (Midwest Living) emphasized the baby boomers choice aging in place and theirs is oddly enough the most modern of the rooms represented (left and above image).

Even if style-wise I may not have agreed with everything they did, there were two overriding trends to take note of and that is the built-in dining table (or even built-ins in general) and the office/mudroom/laundry room additions off the kitchen or in a galleyway. It does make the kitchen a more practical place to function from with all of these extras, built in or easily accessible from the kitchen. It leaves less shelving to purchase from the home centers, but more baskets or accessories to purchase to support the built in. A representative of the Meredith Corporations brand magazines said that customizable storage solutions were one of the most sought after additions to housing these days, particularly in the kitchen and bath.

When it came to sustainable solutions, the Better Homes and Gardens room tended to focus on this aspect more so than the other magazine titles. It wasn’t that other lifestyle stages weren’t interested in sustainable solutions, it is just that it was a particular focus of that title publication and their designer. In fact, Better Homes and Gardens has a completely green home that is traveling throughout the United States….to 15 different cities. More information will be coming about that tour, with the dates and places it can be seen. At the show, this Organizer-In-Chief lifestyle room had many sustainable ideas built into the fabric of everyday life, such as a compostable bin built into the cabinet beneath the counter, and access to it from the countertop as opposed to opening up a cabinet door or putting scraps into the disposal. There were several methods of recycling built in to make it more convenient to recycle as well as flooring by Armstrong that was a lineoleum made up of recycled wood chips, cork and linseed oil. Further, that lovely circle pattern behind the cooktop is actually recycled glass from beer and wine bottles. Bamboo had been worked into the counters at various places for cutting.

In the Kitchen and Bath Trends room, I really liked the cheeriness of the room with the yellow curtains and lighter blue seating mixed with yellow walls along with paring beigey double sinks and lighter cabinets with walnut or espresso cabinets. Looks like we are breaking a few rules here, a kind of anything goes design ethic.

But the real noticeable difference from years past would be how upscale the young savvy professional his and hers bathroom was. They’ve spared no expense here. Close-ups of this room reveals a customized tiled wall, his and her shower stalls, his and her dressing areas, built in shelving in the bathroom…just a flurry of customized touches that speak to how someone thinks this demographic is the one spending the big bucks!

his bathroom/shower

built-in towel warming drawer

As it was explained to me, the magazine responsible for representing this room, Traditional Home, has the most upscale demographic of all their publications represented and in terms of age that could span decades, and isn’t just confined to the late 20’s early 30’s female (who, as was represented as a lifestyle stage Young Savvy Professional, is single and either living with someone or about to be married), and in general luxury was heavily featured throughout the show. This of course follows suit with what many of the international labels are doing….going for the luxury markets, those that still have the expendable income during these difficult economic times.

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To get this out quickly, I wanted to link you to this article from the New York Times on the plastics dilemna, “Adored, Deplored, and Ubiquitous.”
I like the premise because it recognizes how fundamental plastic is to our day in day out life, so what’s a person to do? but offers solutions and hope even if it comes with an initial increase in the price tag.

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