How to stop the flood of election junk mail?

Anywhere on Earth, whether it is a Local Council, State, Federal or Presidential election, your mailbox will groan under the weight of materials aimed at winning your vote. It may be the digital age, but it seems that a piece of paper in your letterbox is still considered the most efficient way of getting a message across.

While an informed electorate is crucial to the democratic process, there appears to be huge over-sending of junk mail for political purposes – and no clear way on how to solve this. What’s worse, the content of most of the political flyers is simply mudslinging about their opponents with little to no substance. Is anyone else reminded of children in the playground?

How can you help stop this unnecessary waste of resources? Imagine the strain on our environment and the large volume of greenhouse gases generated from all the trees cut down, printing, electricity and transport of the materials. Grab a cup of tea or your water bottle and let’s get down to it.

We know in Australia that material deemed to be political, educational, religious and charitable is exempt from “No Junk Mail” signed letterboxes according to standards conducted by the Australian Catalogue Association. So there is no way to stop it being deposited in your postbox along with the other junk mail catalogues enticing you to buy all sorts of stuff you don’t really need. It is likely the same in other countries.

Step 1. Incorrectly addressed political mail
Much of your mail may be addressed to past occupants of the house. You need to “return this to sender” with the note “no longer at this address”.

Step 2. Contact each political party or politician that is mailing you
There is no central database so you will need to call the office of each individual sender and ask to be removed from their mailing list. Remember to be polite! You catch more bees with honey than vinegar.

Step 3. National Standard to stop political junk mail
Write a letter to the Electoral Commission asking them to implement a National Standard to limit the volume of pieces each political party is allowed to put in each household’s letterbox.

Step 4. Polling day
Don’t forget to recycle any materials you are given on the day – often the Greens Party has a box at the booths for such materials on polling day!

Written by Tracey Bailey, Director of Biome Eco Stores in Brisbane, specialists in water bottles and eco friendly, reusable choices for your home, body and lifestyle.

Movies, Books, Politicians the Water Bottle is Under Siege

Bear a plastic water bottle to your own demise; the wave of widespread view is coming back down away from you. From high rating documentaries, to papers and campaigns, the hot news in our lives is the terror around bottled water and the waste of resources that the industry generates.

The processing, moving and disposal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles eats up large amounts of water alongside energy, and produces large measures of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the new documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig states “1500 water bottles end up in landfill every second – that’s 30 million water bottles a day! We wanted to show people just how much waste is generated by bottled water.” The crew behind Tapped are promoting the movie with an across-America roadshow, collecting money from citizens to take down their water bottle abuse and swapping their used plastic water bottle in exchange for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.

Another such film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. Created by Annie Leonard of the critically acclaimed ‘The Story of Stuff’, this short film shows the strategy that is behind swaying Americans into consuming more than hundreds of millions of bottles of water each week, as opposed to a few cents cost for tapwater. Look up the short film on You Tube.

Through her book ‘Bottlemania’, writer Elizabeth Royte investigates one of the most massive marketing coups of our century and gives a super environmental wakeup call. She explores the problems we must come to understand. Who appropriates the drinking water? What can happen when a bottled-water business seizes your town’s drinking water? Is the water coming out of the tap entirely safe? What is really the environmental footprint of making, transportation and disposal of one plastic water bottle?

Politicians from around the international community are beginning to understand that they need to start the campaign – notably when the meetings at which they serve are major consumers of bottled water. How often do we witness a politician in a political debate sipping from a water bottle. It is probable that they might be able to use a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, said “Cities and states are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on bottled water, and that’s not to mention what’s spent to deal with all the plastic bottles that are thrown out.”

In July 2009, the NSW rural town of Bundanoon became the first group from Australia to cease the retail of bottled water. At least 60 places in the States and a handful in Canada and the UK have stopped the spending of taxpayer money on bottled water.

It is doubtless that this problem will be on the agenda during World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the globe’s most time-sensitive water-related issues.

Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.

Water Bottles Need to be Clean to be Safe: How to Clean Your Water Bottle

You are doing the right thing for the planet by filling up at home and carrying a reusable water bottle and you’ve chosen a safe, non-toxic bottle-but if it’s not kept clean then it may not be healthy.

Whether your drink bottle is a stainless steel bottle, SIGG bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming in the bottle.

Wash your drink bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off every day where possible.

Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean water bottle with Distilled White Vinegar and let it soak for 24 hours. Then rinse with warm water mixed with one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), rinse out and let dry. Spots inside the bottle that look like “corrosion” are most likely a mineral deposit.

Fill your bottle with filtered water wherever possible. It tastes so much better, but also because water contains different minerals in every area this may affect what happens inside your bottle.

Do not allow liquids such as fruit juice to ferment inside the bottle.

With all reusable water bottles you can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and a specially-designed SIGG bottle cleaning brush, or simply a baby bottle brush. Only ever use a soft brush on aluminium bottles with lining like SIGG so as not to damage the lining. Stainless steel water bottles like Klean Kanteen and Nathan can handle a hard brush.

While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, it is recommended to not put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher powders are caustic, so they will eat into the metal of your bottle and damage the exterior pattern. Bottle tops should also not be put in the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.

Never freeze metal bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside. Water does not always expand in a predictable direction! Freezing plastic water bottles is also not advisable because it may cause the plastic to breakdown and toxins to leach. It is fine to place your bottle in the refrigerator.

Tips on cleaning your water bottle brought to you by Biome Eco Stores Australia.