Plastic bathroom

My bathroom practices seem to generate a lot of plastic waste.
So I am attempting to reduce the amount of plastic I throw away.

1) Snore strips
To aid my breathing at night I was sticking plastic strips across the bridge of my nose let more air in. But it meant that there was waste plastic every day. I now use a nasal spray. The spray still has a plastic spray on top of a glass bottle so it is a reduction not an elimination.

2) Cotton tips
I remember that when I was a child they were rolled-up paper with cotton on each end. Now most brands are plastic sticks with cotton on each end. But, good news, the rolled up paper ones are available - only one brand in one size packet and not the jumbo containers of the plastic ones. Still available is available and still pretty cheap.

3) Soap
I have been using liquid wash from a plastic bottle with a pump dispenser. Soap bars are still available but try finding one without palm oil. Palm oil mostly comes from plantations that used to be rainforest. Even Palmolive seems to have mostly palm with little olive. But some research revealed The Australian Olive Oil Soap made without palm oil and no plastic packaging.

4) Shampoo
My beloved has found a that the hairdresser will refill bottles with shampoo and conditioner at a reasonable price. The formula supplier produces a product without palm oil and is committed to ethical/green principals. The brand is Everescents.

5) Next is shaving without a disposable plastic razor. I shave with a safety razor for the first time last night.

Seasonal Music

I enjoy the holiday by avoiding shopping and going to parties with my friends and family. This year I am preparing the music playlist for the family dinner.

I like to put together Xmas songs that are not the usual songs. Bing Crosbys songs for example are played so much that I have banned them. And the Wham song Last Xmas is sung by everyone. So when I go to op shops I look for any unusual Xmas CDs, Sometimes there are one or two songs that are not old carols and are not the common fare.

So far I have about 6 hours worth of unusual Xmas songs gleaned from nineteen different albums. Including:
One of the family album by Graeme Connors
The O.C. Mix 3 Have a very merry Christmukkah  album from the TV series
Christmas with Kamahl
A winter symphony by Sarah Brightman

$ - Unit of measure for Emergency

Extract From The Guardian website:

Emergency = R × U = p × D × τ / T

In a comment article in the journal Nature, Schellnhuber and colleagues explained that to understand the climate emergency we needed to quantify the relationship between risk (R) and urgency (U).

Borrowing from the insurance industry, the scientists define risk (R) as the probability of something happening (p) multiplied by damage (D).

For example, how likely is it that sea levels will rise by a metre and how much damage will that cause.

Urgency (U) is the time it takes you to react to an issue (τ) “divided by the intervention time left to avoid a bad outcome (T)”, they wrote.

Then looking at the units of measure:
      p is a number - no units
      D (Damage) is in dollars
      τ and T are time and cancel each other out.
So an emergency is measured in dollars.

That is something politicians can understand.

Enduring Plastic

Plastic can last a long time.
In 1988 or 1989 when I was renovating a old Queenslander (style of timber house) I bought a tool box from the discount table at the local Mitre 10 hardware store.
I still have it and with a clean it could pass for new. It was made by Cooper Tools and was branded "Home Improvement" from the name of Tim Allens TV show.

My yellow toolbox at thirty years old.

I think it could last forever.

Wash less

Having recently read in Time to eat the dog? that washing clothes reduces their life, I saw the same message on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) website. It also uses resources.
As I am in charge of laundry at our house I will be implementing a policy of selectively airing clothes instead of washing and giving several wearings before washing. Will my beloved notice the change in policy?

Eat the dog!

A book with the analysis on how to live sustainably, with some friendly calculations:
Time to eat the dog? - the real guide to sustainable living by Robert and Brenda Vale- ISBN 978 0 500 28790 3.

The summary for what is under my control:
1) FOOD - eat organic food and eliminate waste food. Eliminate packaging. Grow your own or buy local from open air markets.
2) ENERGY - Use less and eliminate waste. Make short showers. Use cold water in the laundry. For me this would be using the fan not the air conditioner.
3) TRAVEL - Cycle, walk, use public transport, use cars to capacity
4) STUFF - Maintain things, repair things, buy less, buy second-hand, share
5) HOUSING - build smaller, share more (bathrooms and bedrooms), renovate less, use the patio and verandah
6) HOLIDAYS - don't fly.

Smokey highway

I had plans for a caravan holiday but the many bush fires made a leisurely outback caravan holiday inadvisable. Instead we travelled the coastal highway to the big smoke.

I drive a newish (2018) Mazda CX-5 Diesel. I am still learning about its features.
It is a great leap forward from my previous car a 2005 Ford Falcon (LPG). Very impressive on the highway was the control to set a maximum speed limit and a set a distance to any car ahead. Occasionally it looked like a string of cars had this feature with a line of cars going near maximum speed but maintaining good distance inbetween.

The sky was all smoke haze for the whole trip. I monitored the local ABC AM radio to ensure the way ahead was clear. AM radio is fantastic for emergency broadcasts - it is resilient long distance communications infrastructure. It is longer distance than DAB+ or FM and less prone to failure than mobile telephones or internet.

The big smoke was indeed smokey with public health authorities advising all to stay indoors. Radio personalities were mocking those who were seen to be doing exercise outdoors. The days I travelled were not the most intense fire days and still there was a hazy white sky with the sun a fuzzy glow.

Only parts of the bush are burning now. There is lots more that could burn next fire season. Is it possible that extended intense fire seasons will make the areas east of the bush fire zones undesirable or uninhabitable because of the prevailing winds?