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I'm bored, so a long poll
It seems like this board has really slowed down in recent months. Boo! So here's a non-clicky poll:
What are some non-GL/heathly living things are you still doing?
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out?
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)?Any advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these?
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning?
Here's mine:
What are some non-GL/healthy living things are you still doing?
1. Anti-perspirant. I sweat like a hog. Even when I do wear AP, I have to use dress shields with certain fabrics/colors. If I didn't wear AP, I'd be sitting at my desk in my air conditioned office with sweat stains down to my waist and all the way around my chest. When I telecommute I wear Tom's deoderant, but that doesn't cut it for leaving the house.
2. Magic Erasers. I mostly don't use commercial cleaners, but soap scum is just too tough for me. I can get it off with a dish soap mixtures, but it kills my shoulders, and my Dr. has told me to go easy on my shoulders because of a rotator cuff injury. Asking DH to do it is just a non-starter 
It wouldn't be done properly, and it would be a huge PITA fight every single time.
3. Flying. I hate the fact that I fly to see my family at Christmas. I've looked at Greyhound, but it would be several days without a shower I think, and I just don't have enough vacay from work. A train would take longer than the bus, and would cost twice as much as flying. We've eliminated pretty much all of our flight travel except for this one and some business travel. My family also comes to see me two or three times a year, which I love (but hate). I wish we could live closer. Or that we had high-speed trains.
4. Polyurethane/paint. We do a lot of wood working, and the oil-based polys are just more durable. We've used shellac and lacquer in some of our historical restoration projects, and I'm not even sure about what sorts of emissions we'd need to worry about on those. Behr paint now says is low VOC, so maybe we're OK there. I just air out the room for a while and don't worry about it too much.
5. Swiffer mop for my kitchen. But my mom is making me some washable Swiffer pads for Christmas!! Yea! I saw them on Etsy, but they were too much $$.
6. Canned tomatoes. BPA. I know. But I love straight sauce and puree, without spices, etc. as bases for my own stuff. I can find marinara, etc. in glass jars, but not straight sauce/puree. I've tried growing my own, but tomato yields in the Bay area can be spotty at best (we barely got above 65 this summer and I have a small plot anyway) and the farmer's markets never seem to have good saucing/canning tomatoes. They all make really runny sauce unless you cook them forever. I've tried so many times to find alternatives, but always end up back at Costco buying puree for pizza sauce by the gallon. I tell myself that the lining to sauce ratio is smaller on the big cans 
7. Clothing. I'm sure I could be making more responsible choices for clothing. I'm mostly a Target/Ann Taylor shopper, which means probably irresponsibly grown cotton, lots of petro products, lots of shipping and child labor. I don't buy many clothes, and I always try to get as much use out of fabrics as possible, from wearing them until they are holey, donating and/or repurposing the fabrics as rags, bags, etc., but I haven't done the leg-work of figuring out if are other improvements I could make on the purchasing side.
8. Cushy TP. I hate scratchy paper. Family cloth doesn't really gross me out that much (especially if I was just using it for #1), I'm just not excited about it. I like cushy TP.
9. BCP. I'm pretty sure all those hormones going through my system and into our water supply aren't great. We used condoms for a while, but they're not exactly EF either, and there are some health benefits to BCP (I have ovarian cancer in my family). I guess DH could get a vasectomy. But I'm sort of wary of bringing it up. I could also get an IUD, but I'm scared of it, and it says you shouldn't use a cup with it, so that would seem to cancel out the EF benefits by sending me back to pads/tampons.
10. Dog. I've read that the environmental impact of pets is pretty bad. Considering he's a meat-eating machine, I can see how that's probabaly true. We buy the good dog foods, which probably means even more of an impact, since he's not eating just waste products from our food chain (which is gross).
11. Coke. I can't stop. I do buy sugar (not HFCS) coke, and I try to limit myself to 2-3 a week, but I've been trying to stop with some successful periods for 15 years. I've tried soda stream, bubbly water, mentally abusing myself, enlisting DH's help, etc. Nothing works.
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out?
Anti-perspirant, Flying, Canned Tomatoes, Coke
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)?
Magic Erasers, Polyurethane/paint, Clothing, Cushy TP, BCP, Dog
Any advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these?
N/A
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning?
N/A. I'm hoping I'll pick up something new to work on here since I'm pretty much at a standstill on the stuff I know about. We already compost, recycle, use Diva cup, use mostly homemade cleaners, use cast iron cookware only, have glass storage for food, walk/bike/public transit to work, shop at the farmer's market, buy orangic produce/beef/dairy, eat vegetarian 90% of the time and don't breed.
Re: I'm bored, so a long poll
What are some non-GL/heathly living things are you still doing?
1. Anti-perspirant. In the winter I do natural deoderant, but in the summer I sweat too much to be socially acceptable.
2. Toothpaste with fluoride. I haven't researched the fluoride thing and when I've used natural toothpastes I just haven't felt like my teeth were as clean.
3. Travel. I don't actually travel that much, but I'd like to and if someone offered me a trip to Asia tomorrow I'd take it. Seeing the world is important to me despite the environmental impact.
4.Not eating seasonally/locally in the winter. Some things (berries, tomatoes) I definitely don't eat out of season because they are awful, but I can't figure out how to get enough veggies in the winter without eating nonseasonally.
You mentioned pets, but I sort of refuse to consider my dog "non-green". Obviously pets have an environmental impact, but so do we. Also my dog was a rescue so he already existed (as opposed to being bred to sell).
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out?
Local/seasonal eating, possibly anti-perspirant (I don't think I smell terrible or anything, but pit stains seem to not be "allowed" in public).
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)?
Toothpaste (maybe, I just don't have enough info on this one), travel.
Any advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these?
Have you tried the Pomi boxed tomatoes? They are TetraPak (I'm not 100% sure that's better). Not sure on the soda. My husband and I used to drink a lot, but we cut back and back and basically now drink none. I had a Coke a few months back and it felt like my stomach was going to explode because I wasn't used it it.
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning?
Hmm...I mostly do all of the normal GL things. I do have reusable bulk bags that we bought from Etsy and they always get positive comments from people at the grocery store.
Neat! I'm glad you participated in my insanely long poll
I bet seasonal eating is hard in a cold climate. I guess you'd pretty much have to eat meat-only during winter? Gross. I guess you could have a root cellar for some types of veggies or can some? But I definitely couldn't do without fresh spinach for months at a time. We're spoiled in the Bay area. My farmers' market is stuffed full year-round. It's about to be citrus season. I agree on the toothpaste. I can't get worked up over that one either.
I'll look into the tomatoes, thanks!
What are some non-GL/heathly living things are you still doing?
My work. I'm a scientist, and everything is made from plastic, and has to be thrown out, not recycled. Sometimes glassware is reusable, but you can never be sure it's sterile. I probably throw away 5 lbs of plastic waste a day.
Deodorant. I love the smell of the one I use, and since I don't use anything else with scents (detergents, soaps, etc), I let this one slide.
I get the newspaper. I recycle it, but still, it's not the most green practice, especially when you can access most of it online.
I don't compost as much as I should, especially now that it's winter. Most of my food waste goes into the trash.
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out?
I'm working on the no shampoo thing. I shampoo my hair probably once a week, and use baking soda the rest of the time, but it's not getting my hair as clean as I'd like it to be. I think I just need to change proportions of stuff. I'm not ready to give this one up!
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)?Buying everything organic. I know its awful for the environment to use pesticides and fertilizer, but it's a killer on the wallet. We just bought a house, so in the spring we're going to plant veggies which will help. Travel. My husband and I live four hours apart, so we drive 8 hours every weekend. I'm not willing to give that up.Any advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these?
I don't use it, but have you guys thought about using a sponge instead of the diva cup or eco friendly tampons?
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning?
I make my own laundry detergent. It saves a ton of money, and is scentless and dyeless. I think it works just as well!
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out? Composting due to being in a condo.
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)? Personal hygeien stuff - I work out a lot.Any advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these? I have not read a lot of previous posts but I wish people would just recycle.
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning? I've started reusing plastic sandwhich bags. I;m sure others are doing it but my husband thinks it's gross.
Aw man, I wish you'd give the Diva a shot. It's 1,000,000,000 times better than pads or tampons for working out. I don't encourage you becuase it's green, I encourage you because it really is better in every way possible
And this coming from someone who was skeptical and had a terrible first month or two with it.
I think they have little electric composters maybe?? My sister has one in her garage. Though not great to use electricity, I guess. That's a toughie.
ETA: I think this is what my sister has: http://www.naturemill.com/. I'm not sure how the benefit of composting stacks up against the energy usage. Could be a terrible idea, I dunno.
Neither DH nor I are comfortable with it. He's really not OK with it. I'd be willing to try I guess. But we're absolutely certain we don't want children, and there seem to be too many NFP fail stories. And I like that BCP seems to reduce my risk of ovarian cancer. So it's sort of a combo of not liking alternatives+liking some of the benefits of BCP.
Do you have non-paper towels? I have a huge stack of them that my mother made out of diaper fabric. They are sitting on the counter where we used to keep the paper towels, and the transition was sooo easy. They look exactly like paper towels, so DH hasn't had any issue with them.
And just buy the Diva cup already!!!
Clorox wipes for the toliet after we have visitors, aka... nephews! I can't stand the thought of sitting in their pee!
AP, I can't get on board with pitstains down to my waste, I sweat like a hog!
Canned beans, I make my owns a couple times a month, but it i so much easier to open a can rather than cook all day!
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out?
diva cup, still trying to figure out how I could work out cleaning this up at the office
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)?
Organic produce, I only buy what is on the "dirty list" as mandatory organic items, I just can't afford it otherwise. (well, my csa has helped, but I still buy bananas and other stuff they don't deliver from the store).
Any advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these?
I recommend looking at free online resources to help with your garden planning! Some of the items should be started from seed soon, so that you can transplant after the frosts are done!
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning?
Well, I just installed a full-solar system on our shop! It was definitely an investment, but my pg&e bill was $1.63 last month! So excited to see the savings this summer!
I'm a Diva-cup pusher in this post, but that's exactly what's so great about it for me. I don't have to deal with it at all at the office. 12 hours of not thinking about my period at all. No leaks, no messy string, no dry insertion/removal at the beginning/end, sleeping in past the 8hr. window. Heaven. I guess some people are away from home more than 12 hours a day, so that's not true for everyone, but it's good for me. I clean it once in the shower at 6:15 am (NBD), then once when I get home in the evening. I feel like I really have to think about it once a day, since the shower is so easy. I cannot say enough good things about it.
That is one heck of a PG&E bill. I just DIYed some wood storm windows for our old-fashioned windows, and took ours from $135ish every winter month to $100ish this winter. I'm pretty happy about that. But that's our gas, so I don't think solar would help much there. And the gas is only $20/month in summer. Our power bill never exceeds $15, so it's hard to justify spending a great deal of money to reduce it. It would probably make a lot more sense if we needed air conditioning in the Bay Area, but we don't.
What are some non-GL/heathly living things are you still doing?
DH uses a lot of PT. I?ve gotten him to switch over when he helps me clean, but for hand washing, quick wipe-ups, etc, he insists on using paper towels and it drives me mad!
Pads/tampons
Dishwasher detergents
DD1 uses a plastic sippy cup. She is addicted to the dumb thing and won?t even sleep w/out it. I immediately started DD2 on a stainless cup, but can?t get DD1 to switch. Well, I?m sure I *could* but it would be hell and I?m not ready to fight about it.
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out?
I really want to start making my own dishwasher detergent. I start reading about it and then read how bad borax is for health and worry about my girls and feel overwhelmed about all the choices?which is silly because regular detergent is probably way worse for them.
Diva cup. I bought one about a year ago but have yet to use it.
Composting in the winter. Can I just continue to add to it even though it?s 10* out?
Not using bleach in the master bathroom/shower. We get mold/mildew w/in a week if I don?t use bleach. I just don?t have the time to scrub every other day.
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)?
Traveling..my parents/brothers live across country and I?m not willing to give up visiting them. One good thing is that since we?ve had kids, I now only go once a year, vs. 4xs a year before.
The size of our home. I know it?s so not Green, but for the time being, we?re happy where we are and not about to change that. Mainly, it is DH?s dream home and I don?t want to take that from him?eventually, we will move. Probably once the kids are out of the house.
Any advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these?
I?m still pretty new at this and learn a lot from this board?the only advice I can think of is about condo-composting? DH?s cousin has a worm compost bin in their condo and it doesn?t smell at all and works great. Something to look into J
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning?
no so latest and greatest, but I haven?t seen anyone mention making your own cleaning products. That?s basically all I use now.
What are some non-GL/heathly living things are you still doing? reusable shopping bags, composting, eating organic/local, cloth napkins/no paper products, CSA, gardening
Which ones would you like to get on board with, but you just can't figure it out? vermiculture
Which ones do you just not want to get on board with (happy with existing system/item, lack of time, lack of resources, mental block, too much planning, don't think it's important, etc.)? eco-friendly dishwasher detergent- nothing seems to get the dishes clean except the bad stuffAny advice on ways to make something work for a previous poster or convincing us we should want to do one of these? For those who can't commit to all organic- look into local CSAs and farmers markets- they can be very cost effective!
What are some of the latest and greatest GL habits you've come up with that no one is mentioning? not any thing new but meal planning has greatly reduced our amount of waste