Granolas.

The day that I went to the screening of The Clean Bin Project, I had the opportunity to speak with Jen before the screening began.  We talked about the blog, the movie and some of the things that we both did, and some that one or the other of us hadn't been doing, or had never even thought of.  As I was explaining the possibility that I might start making my own deodorant, Jen looked at me and said, "You ARE a granola!  But you don't look like one."  This was a tremendous compliment, but to understand why, I should give you some background information on what it means (to me) to be a granola.

When I was in high school, I went through the first of my granola phases when I stopped doing anything with my hair, became vegetarian, stopped shaving and was frequently caught washing my hair with a bar of soap.  Oh, I also spent much of my time acquiring second hand clothes, and not nice-fitting, remotely flattering ones.  One day I was hanging around with a friend from California, who had another friend from his hometown visiting, and my friend asked his friend, "Doesn't she remind you of one of the dirty hippies from home?"  I asked for clarification and he said, "Our hometown is full of granola-crunching hippies."  So the expression was borne.  I am not 100% sure that most people would refer to another person as a granola, but I do find that if I refer to someone as one, people tend to get what I mean.

The Clean Bin Project - Part II

I am very pleased to say that I attended a screening this evening of The Clean Bin Project, a subject of a previous blog entry a couple days ago.  I must say, it was fantastic.  The Clean Bin Project is a movie based on a year long competition between two Vancouverites to see which of them could generate the least landfill-destined waste over the course of a year.  They are not hippies, or anarchists or communists or anything at all out of the norm. They are just average people that wanted to try and see how little garbage they could generate.  And they made a very good movie about it.

I had watched the trailer on the website and the movie was very much like a feature length version of that preview.  The only difference was that the movie actually contained a significant amount of interview and commentary from outside sources that really supplemented the subject matter.  The photographer that photographed the Albatrosses on Midway Island that I mentioned in the landfill post provided an interview, as did the Mayor of Port Coquitlam and a resident of North Vancouver that lives in a zero-waste building.  The interviews definitely contributed to the movie, not that it was lacking without them, but they provided a more convenient vehicle to package the heavier statistics and more somber messages.  The parts of the movie documenting Jen and Grant's year were actually really funny.  The movie was well-edited and put together, more focused on what we all really can do than guilting us into feeling like there is more that we should be doing.

I definitely suggest that you all go out and see this movie.  As a matter of fact, I suggest you grab ten of your closest family members and friends and you all take an evening, either now at a screening, or maybe later when it officially opens (if you would like to check and see if there is a screening coming to where you live, click here) and go see it together.  And then discuss it.  See if your circle of friends and family might be interested in making just a couple changes that have a significant impact.  The movie itself is full of ideas of things you really can do that will make a difference.  If you're lucky enough to be somewhere that is having a screening, you should go just to see their bins (yes, they bring them with them).  I tried to convince them that they should give it to a museum or something if the movie really takes off, because then it isn't really garbage anymore.

The Clean Bin Project - Part 1

When I look back at the causes and contributors towards my attitude and enthusiasm about doing my part to help the environment, there are many events that stand out in my mind.  I expect that quite a few of them will come up in my postings on this blog, because the nature of this blog is very much driven by what my own experiences have been and sharing them with others in the hope that maybe others can make use of them somehow.

One of the biggest contributors to my desire to start a blog and share in this particular manner arose upon hearing about The Clean Bin Project.  The Clean Bin Project is a movie and related blog, which follow the lives of three Vancouverites as they spend a year not consuming (and trying to produce zero landfill waste).  I've watched the trailer that is available on their website and it gave me a lot of ideas for things that I could do better (that's where the idea of using Ziplock containers when buying food came from).  The reason that I am posting about this now is that there are going to be upcoming screenings of the movie in the Lower Mainland (I am assuming that they will be free but I can't say for certain), this week and in the coming months (check out the schedule here), and also in Squamish, Bellingham, WA, and Edmonton, between now and the official release sometime in the summer.  The website and blog are a terrific resource, if you are unable to attend a screening but want to know more.

If any of you manage to go to the screenings, please let me know in the Comments what you thought.  I will be going on Friday night to the Maple Ridge screening and will most likely do a follow up post about it.