Love my Luna

Way Number 31-Use Green Products

I thought about this last month during my period. I had read about reusable washable pads and tampons and had thought about them, but had always put off buying them. I thought that making the switch would be hard. But in keeping with my 51 ways effort, I thought I'd give them a try.

I was surprised that they were actually very pleasant and easy to wear. I had ordered a dark pad with two black liners. The way the Luna system works is that there is a pad which snaps onto your underwear and then there are two small pieces of ric rack (cotton strips) which hold the changeable pads in place. I used the first liner and soaked it with my soiled under ware from the day before. I rinsed them out and put the pad and liners into an lingerie bag and toted them off to the laundry mat with everything else. I finished washing them this afternoon and they came out as good as new.

I'm officially now a Luna convert! See their website here: Lunapads

51 Ways to Leave Your Carbon

....or rather, lower your carbon. The April 9, 2007 issue of TIME magazine featured "The Global Warming Survival Guide" which featured 51 ways that individuals can lower their carbon footprint.

I volunteer myself as a human human Guinea pig and in the next few months I'll be working the 51 ways. A "carbon" diet, if you will. It'll be like Oprah's Fit Club, only you know not annoying. E-mail me on the 51 ways if you have any suggestions or questions.

Here are the 51 ways (in brief):

1."Turn food into fuel" (biofuels)
2."Get blueprints for a green house" (passive efficiency)
3. "Change your lightbulbs" (conventional to LED lighting)
4."Light up your city" (using LEDs in public installations-such as street lights)
5. "Pay the Carbon Tax" (public policy-carbon caps vs. carbon tax on individuals)
6."Ditch the McMansion" (Smaller houses, greater efficiency)
7. "Hang up a clothesline"
8. "Give new life to your old fleece" (reuse/recycle clothing)
9. "Build a Skycraper" (new advances in green commercial construction)
10. "Turn up the Geothermal Heat" (finding and using new technologies to harness clean energy)
11. "Take another look at vintage clothes" (reuse/recycle clothing)
12. "Capture the carbon" (carbon sequestration)
13. "Let employees work close to home" (telecommuting)
14. "Ride the Bus" (public transport)
15. "move to a high rise" (low sprawl)
16. "pay your bills on-line" (paper reduction)
17. " Open a window" (lower cooling use)
18. " Ask the experts for an energy audit of your home" (energy efficiency)
19. "Buy green power at home or away" (finding and using new technologies to harness clean energy)
20. " Check the label" (energy efficiency)
21. "Cozy up your water heater" (energy efficiency)
22. "Skip the Steak" (emissions reduction)
23. "Copy California" (public policy)
24. "Just say no to plastic" (plastic reduction)
25. "Support your local farmer"(emissions reduction)
26. "Plant a bamboo fence"
27. "Straighten up a fly right" (public policy)
28. "Have a green wedding" (emissions reduction)
29. "Remove the Tie" (lower cooling use)
30. "Shut off your computer" (energy efficiency)
31. "Wear green eye shadow" (consuming environmentally friendly goods)
32. "Kill the lights at quitting time" (energy efficiency)
33. "Rearrange the heavens" (public policy)
34. "Rake in the Fall Colors" (emissions reduction)
35. "End the paper chase" (paper reduction)
36. "Play the market" (emissions trading)
37. "Think outside the packaging" (paper/plastic reduction)
38. "Trade Carbon for Capital" (public policy)
39. "Make your garden grow" (waste reduction)
40. "Get a Carbon budget" (public policy, emissions reduction)
41. "Fill'er up with passengers" (emissions reduction)
42. "Pay for your carbon sins" (carbon offsets)
43. "Move to London's new green zone" (emissions reduction)
44. "Check your tires" (emissions reduction)
45. "Make one right turn after another" (emissions reduction)
46. "Plant a tree in the tropics"
47. "If you must burn coal, do it right" (emissions reduction)
48."Drive green on the scenic route" (emissions reduction)
49. "Set a higher standard" (public policy)
50. "Be aggressive about passive" (energy efficiency)
51. " Consume less, share more, live simply" (waste reduction)