More Hip Than Hippie - Getting to know your Drain!
This episode you hear about our New Year's Eve Celebrations. We resolve to make some changes for the New Year, read some listener emails and another essential oil of the week. And we are going to help you get to know your drain.

The Beer of the Week: Eye of the Hawk from the Mendocino Brewing Company.

Val made her Trouffles: Val got this recipe from Martha Stewart (ok from her website), and added a few touches of her own.
Simple Chocolate Truffles
Makes 3 dozen
Keep these truffles chilled until ready to eat.
1 pound bittersweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
Best-quality cocoa powder, for rolling
1. Chop chocolate finely using a serrated knife, and place in a large heat-proof bowl.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring cream to a boil over medium-high heat; pour directly over chopped chocolate. Allow to sit 10 minutes; use a rubber spatula to gently stir chocolate and cream until combined. Allow to sit at room temperature until just thickened, about 15 minutes.
3. Pour ganache mixture into a shallow glass dish. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until mixture is very cold and set but still pliable, about 30 minutes.
4. Using a small spoon, scoop out ganache into 1-inch nuggets; place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill for 10 minutes. Use fingertips to mold truffles into round shapes. Roll in cocoa powder to coat; chill in an airtight container until ready to serve.
***Val also added 2 tablespoons of Raspberry brandy and place one fresh raspberry in the center (frozen work too, but are a bit more messy)

This Weeks Finds

• Inovations for 2006 - from USA Weekend. "The solar-powered backpack Backpacks were once for campers, then for students, and now they have become increasingly popular with commuters. To help you keep your cellphone and other gadgets charged, several companies offer backpacks with built-in solar panels. Two of the best reviewed: Voltaic "Solar Bags" and Reware's "Juice Bag." Prices for the backpacks start at about $200. Find them online at voltaicsystems.com or rewarestore.com and at select stores nationwide. "
• Emissions Neutral Vehicles - While ENV's are often expensive and hard to find, a new bike that is due out later this year may change all that - click here to learn more.
• Stop Receiving Junk Mail - We found this one on about.com (eh?). Help preserve the environment and keep your sanity. One tip - go to Optoutprescreen.com or junkbusters.com A few more resources to check out are www.newdream.org or Direct Marketing Association.
• A new Magazine for you to check out - Green Light Magazine (Digitally Produced).
• In Plenty - Paper thick walls - Discarded phone books and old newspapers were used to build a building - check it out at Eve's Garden Organic Bed & Breakfast and Ecology Resource Center.

Getting to know your Drain!
Introduce Yourself
It is highly unlikely that you have formally introduced yourself to your drains, and while we’re not asking you to go that far, we hope you will take this opportunity to learn a little bit more about where your drain leads and where the things you send down it may end up. Everything we put down the drain can have an effect on our personal environment – including cleaning products. It can affect the water we drink, and enjoy for recreation. Household chemicals, if improperly used or discarded can leach into the soil or filter into neighboring waters.

 

Where Does Your Drain Lead?
The answer to where your drain leads can be slightly different depending on what kind of drain we are talking about. So let’s start there. I would like you to meet your household drain. This drain can lead one of two places. It can lead to the sewer or to a septic tank depending on the system you have in your house.

The Sewer
If your drain leads to the sewer, you may think that you don’t have to worry about what goes down your drain, but nothing is further from the truth. Many of the chemicals we use in our homes are toxic. The toxic chemicals are not only dangerous to the health of your family when you use them in your home, but also can contaminate the water supply when they are dumped down the drain. You may think that they get diluted enough when they are dumped not to cause a problem, but that may not be the case. In some cases small amounts of hazardous materials that you can find around your home can ruin one million gallons of water. Many of the municipal water treatment plants rely on bacteria or other organisms to decompose the waste, but some of the toxins can pass through unchanged, leaving the water polluted. The bacteria they are counting on to purify the water may also be killed, and rendered ineffective. If that doesn’t happen, it can also damage the pipes that carry the water, corroding them, which may cause them to release fumes. Sewage treatment plants are designed to treat sewage, not hazardous chemicals, so flushing them down the toilet isn’t the answer either.

The Septic System
If your drain leads to a septic system, you may know that the concept behind them is that the waste water is put into a tank that is buried underground. Some of the products are decomposed, and the remaining wastewater goes into a drain field to continue to breakdown. When there are toxins dumped or spilled into the drains, it can cause the bacteria that help in the process to die, and thus the process may no longer work properly, and surface waters may become contaminated. This can cause a lot of problems ranging from smell to contaminated yards to spoiled ground water.

The Storm Drain
A third kind of drain is a storm drain. These are the drains along the side of the road that do not lead to the sewer. They collect water from outside our homes and carry it untreated to the waterways. They lead directly to streams, rivers and lakes. Some people dump their left over products into these drains thinking it is a safe way to rid their home of the unwanted chemicals. They are intended for flood control, not for dumping. When we wash our cars or change our oil, any run off may be going directly into our lakes and streams. This makes knowledge of the products we use essential to the preservation of our water supplies.

So what can you do to protect your waterways?

• It is important to know what kind of products you have in your house. When you purchase chemicals for use in your home you may want to check out the level of warning that accompanies that product. POISON means highly toxic; DANGER means extremely flammable, corrosive, or highly toxic; and WARNING or CAUTION means less toxic.
• Select less toxic alternatives to conventional cleaners, drain openers, and other products. Try to use non-toxic substitutes whenever possible.
• Check with local government how to dispose of Household Hazardous Waste, or take them to a local hazardous waste collection center.
• Share left over cleaning supplies with others, or use them up.
• Decrease Erosion.
• Plant plants.
• Ask you lawn service what kind of chemicals they use.

It may seem that the amount of toxic products that you use may not have an affect on the water you use, but putting that with the chemicals of all of your neighbors, it can really add up to a big problem. There is no question that without clean water, the earth would be uninhabitable. We take for granted the water that we use everyday. Many of us may think about saving water through water conservation, but it is as important to save our water from the chemicals we are using in our homes.

Any tips or ideas - email us at hip@greenfeet.com

Essential Oil of the Week: Vetiver
Botanical Name: Vetiveria zizanioides
Vetiver, one of Val's all time favorites, is a tall, tufted, perennial, scented grass with a straight stem, long narrow leaves and an abundant complex lacework of underground white rootlets.
The essential oil is obtained through steam distillation from the roots and rootlets which are washed, chopped, dried and soaked.
It's dark brown, olive or amber looking with a smokey, earthy, dirt smell that provides a grounding effect. It reminds Val of the smell after a fresh summer rain.
Uses:
Inhaled directly from the bottle or from a cotton ball that has had 2-3 drops applied. May also be used in an aromatherapy diffuser for a calming effect.
Add a few drops per ounce of carrier oil and use as a massage oil for arthritis, aches and pains.
Add approximately 4 - 6 drops (remember: less is more) to your bath to relax and de-stress
Explore the internet for recipes suitable for your ailment.

Ready Made Magazines - Book How to make almost Everything - A Do-it Yourself Primer. If you try any ideas from this book or the magazine, please email us pictures!

Listener Emails

• Doug - Concerned that we would discontinue if we went with going to satelite radio.
• Bob - What don't they like about the theme song? Also Says many more supportive things. He is great!
• Janesdaddy (aka Chris)- Says "NO Don't do it", and don't change the theme song. He love us just the way we are.
• Dennis - Hippie New Year - Says More Hip Than Hippie is his favorite Podcast! He writes Children's books, and will be turning his focus toward sustainability. Wanted to know of publishers who use good products to make their books. His books are available at Raventreebooks.com or his blog (Note from Jill - Interesting Blog - Definately check it out). Some Books Dori and Val have read to their children with an environmental slant is The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and Old Turtle.
• Luanne - I really enjoy your podcast, but the theme song grates on my nerves. If you plan to attract a wider audience, and your show really could, that song won't help.
  I don't subscribe to satellite radio and have no reason to, but it sounds like a good move for you. Just don't drop the podcast.
  Kudos for promoting the non-use of antibacterial products. Anything strong enough to kill most bacteria ( and if you really need an anti-bacterial product, you want it to kill all "bad" germs, which also kills beneficial germs, duh) has to be toxic enough to harm nearly every other living thing. Scary.
• Pepper's Mamma - Enjoying the show - Doesn't have recycling in her part of Boise. She went online and saw her local waste management and saw they did have a limited program, and she will start using that soon.
• Chuck - Hello lovely ladies, First let me just say how much I love the show. You make going green much more fun than I ever thought it would be. And as 2006 is my big new years resolution for going green, I'm glad I found your show a few months ago. I live in British Columbia (the canuck equivilant of california) there just aren't a huge number of organic/natural resources. Online ordering is of course a huge saving grace, but shipping costs and packaging are always a concern; am I better off to let things pile up and do a big order, or get it as I need it? Loving the essential oils you're bringing us ... Any thoughts to doing a green vehicle show/segment? Alternatives to just buying new tires/cleaning products right off the shelf, as a thought. Lastly, wondering what you think of juicing and the machines that go along with it. Please please keep up the show, its my all time favourite and I'm more excited about seeing a new show than I am about that first jolt of caffeine in the morning. You girls rock!
  Thanks again, ya hosers,
  Chuck
  PS - the show notes are great... gotta give jill some love for that! EH!