Lydia Likes It

Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage

Perhaps because I am one (an old lady), I squealed with delight when I read in the Reasons to be Cheerful newsletter and the Christian Science Monitor newspaper about Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage (OLAUG), an absolutely real group based on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Since 2017, the group -- which accepts only women 65 and older as members -- has removed trash, by hand, from ponds across the Cape. A recent haul yielded wooden planks, silty beer cans, a plastic container lid, a mud-caked fishing rod, a cement block, and a 12-foot segment of aluminum flashing that required the combined efforts of several divers to hoist on the back of a kayak. They also found a blueberry-cheesecake-flavored electronic cigarette. “We didn't even know what it was!" they laughed. "We had to ask a young person.” The dives attract onlookers (and cheerleaders), and provide joy along with a community service. Fabulous!

Refillable cleaning products

Why not make a new year's resolution (it's not too late) to take better care of our planet? Good Filling helps you do your part, by providing an easy way to refill your own containers with dish soap, hand soap, laundry detergent and all-purpose cleaner from on-site sanitization stations (there's one in my building). Products are supplied from eco-friendly companies like Seventh Generation, Puracy and The Unscented Company. You save approximately 20 percent over the retail cost, and you won't be purchasing any single-use plastics. If you can't find a filling station near you, you can order their products from the web site. We've refilled our grocery store dish soap container three times, and we'll keep using it until it wears out.

Seeing in color {green}

Trust a LEED Gold building to feature eco-friendly art in its lobby. The Living Green Wall, which reflects my apartment building's commitment to a sustainable environment, combines jade pothos, philodendron brasil, and neon pothos plants. It offers a range of benefits, including natural air filtration, VOC (volatile organic compounds) removal, stress relief, and assistance in the building's thermal regulation, and it brings the vibrancy of nature inside. 

Fog

Can you see it, the 50-story office building towering over downtown Boston? No? Living in a high-rise apartment in a coastal city, I have learned to love the fog. Some mornings, I wake up to a blanket so thick that I can't see the John Hancock building or the weather beacon, the Charles River or Back Bay or Beacon Hill or Cambridge, or the building next door. When I lived on the ground, I didn't appreciate the fog in quite the same way. Up here, up high, it's a treat.

Billboards, repurposed

In my front hall closet and the trunk of the car, you'll find at least half a dozen bags made from repurposed billboards. Four cooler bags like this one (two are smaller, two larger), and some capacious tote bags, hold a ton of groceries or everything you need for a day at the beach or dinner outside on the deck. Rareform fashions totes, duffels, and a host of smaller accessories out of rescued billboards, keeping them out of landfills, and each is one of a kind. They're water-resistant and easy to clean, and quite sturdy. Sometimes you can guess the product or event that was publicized on the billboard. The Maya Crossbody Tote that holds my art supplies, for example, most definitely started as an advertisement for the TV show Better Call Saul, so I that's what I call the bag. As in, "Is the tape measure in Better Call Saul?" Stock up when there's a sale; these bags make great house gifts.