September 2009 Archives

Upcycling is recycling's cool, adventurous cousin. If recycling wears vintage Levi's and grows its hair long, upcycling wears a beret and has a sporty urban haircut.

More technically, upcycling is the process of converting one thing into something of greater value.  For example, transforming bottle caps into earrings or pallets into lawn furniture. It's reinvention.

Let's take a look at some inspirations from our Etsy friends:







































1: Fur Coat "UpCycling," street art by Neonzoon, Berlin

2: SnuggyLuggage Upcycled Vintage Suitcase Pet Bed
by mamarose10, $60

3. YAVA Glass - Recycled Boylan's Soda Bottle Glasses
by yavaglass, $30

4. Pink Blossom - Upcycled Fabric Earrings
by lolitasummer, $16

5. 8 Ball - Circuit Pendant
beadworkbyamanda, $20

6. "Spanish Lessons" Recycled Negatives Earrings
by tomatedepingles, $22

Are you an upcycler? What do you upcycle? 

Kashless is excited to announce that we'll be participating in the Sustainable Ballard Festival, September 26 - 27th. 

According to the Sustainable Ballard website, "The Sustainable Ballard Festival is a community fair and the culmination of all of our hard work - a showcase for the activities and initiatives our neighbors have engaged in throughout the year. The 2009 Festival will feature live music, how-to workshops, fun & educational activities, local and sustainable businesses and much more! Please browse our festival pages for information on volunteering, sponsoring, and festival speakers and schedules as they develop."

Some of the Kashless Krew will be holding the fort down at booth number FOUR all day Saturday and Sunday so come visit! You won't want to miss it, because we're going to be giving away loads of FREE STUFF at our booth, dancing to the music (we're right behind the main music stage) and handing out high fives like WHAT!? 

(The Festival will be located in Ballard Commons Park and in the Ballard Public Library. Intersection of 22nd Ave NW and NW 57th Street. In Downtown Ballard.)

See you there!

Sometimes it's easy being green.

 

Sure, being sustainable may not be all fun and games (shorter showers? Such hardship!) but some green practices are easy and fun to adopt.  

 

Without further ado, 5 fun ways to get a little greener:

 

  1)      Shop vintage

Vintage clothing, furniture, and household items are more than just green. They're also unique, funky, and fun to look for. A day of vintage shopping is always fun, and you're

sure to find some real gems. Seriously, one of my favorite pieces of clothing (a vintage Dolce and Gabbana pencil skirt, in case you were wondering) was found in a heap of vintage skirts in a basement resale shop - and I got it for a song.

 

2)      Go digital

Bookworms rejoice: ebooks are awesome and eco-friendly. Even if you don't have a snazzy Kindle of your own, your local library has ebooks these days, too. You can download and read them instantly - with no late fees and no trip to the library.

 

3)      Get crafty

The sky is the limit when it comes to repurposing. Almost everything can be "upcycled" and given a new lease on life. If you can dream it, you can make it. Look around your house for ideas. My mother, a glass artist, has an entire line of recycled wine bottles. She shapes them into tumblers, slumps them into cheese boards, melts them into bowls, or turns them into mosaics. Get creative!

 

4)      Grow it yourself

Gardening at home is as green as it gets. No chemicals, no transportation costs, no nonsense. Just good old fashioned vegetables! It's fun to see your love and care blossoming. If you're garden-shy or low on space, try growing herbs in your window sill. It's nice to have something truly green and growing - and delicious, too.

 

5)      Take a stroll

Walking or biking to work saves on gas and cuts your stress. Sure, it may take a little longer to get there, but life's about the journey, isn't it? By walking or biking to work, you'll get in some exercise and get to know your town. You may find things you never would have seen if you were bottled up in your car racing from place to place. Make it an adventure - but take your time.

 

Now, let us hear it! What are your favorite fun ways to go green?

In college, I took a course on consumer patterns. People with PHDs have applied their nimble brains to figuring out how, what, and why we buy. They've mostly answered the first two questions, but no one knows exactly why we buy all the stuff we buy.

 

As for the "how" of shopping, we all know from experience that there are people who shop for the object and people who shop for the experience.

 

But among those who like to shop, there are three sub-categories:

Group 1: People who like to shop in tidy, linear places (think Gap)

Group 2: People who like the "treasure hunt" of thrift shopping

Group 3: People who are forced to shop thriftily but would rather not

 

Let's assume that most Kashless users fall into group 2. Don't deny it - I've seen the server logs. I know that you don't use the search function. You're browsing through page after page of listings looking for something cool.

 

One of the UK's top resale shops, Oxfam, tried to organize its jumble of used goodies into the linear layout used in first-run shops like Gap or Macy's. They found that everyone hated it and stopped shopping there. Those of us in Group 2 don't want you to hand us anything. We want to find it. We're looking for a little bit of ourselves, lost in the confusing listings or the bizarrely organized piles.

 

So now we know how we buy. We also know what we're buying - unique, used, secondhand items that have some history.

 

Is this also why we buy? Are we shopping around for a little bit of identity? Are we thrifting out way to a clearer sense of self?

 

I think so. My secondhand, thrift-store things say a lot more about me than my department store purchases. This is what good thrifting is all about: being yourself, being sustainable, and having fun.

Are you there, readers? It's us, Kashless.org. And we have some questions for you! Who doesn't love questions? Come on, admit it - you love filling in quirky questionnaires about your favorite ice cream flavor and book titles just as much as we do.

 

So today we want to ask you this:

if you've gotten something off Kashless.org, what is it?

What do you like about it?

What don't you like about it?

How was the experience different than buying new or used items?

And just for fun, if you could get one free thing off Kashless.org, what would it be?

 

We want to hear about your experiences!