How green am I?

OK, another post inspired by Fleshisgrass. This time more triumphant than last, I hope. Though almost definitely much more smug. But with a dash of embarrassment, and humility; we have a baby, for goodness sake; we ain't that green.

We do, however:

Compost municipally, therefore composting much more than we could domestically. I really don't throw any organic matter - save for baby excretions and chalk and woodpulp nappies - in the bin. They'll take everything but animal bones, and we don't have those in the house.

Use washable nappies. And second-hand ones, at that. (OK, not all of them were second hand, but give a girl a break).

Flush all our baby's excrement down the loo. People don't know it's illegal to put poops in landfill. That's not why I don't. But we plop the poop from the disposables we use at night time as well as the washables we use all day down the loo. It's bad enough we're chucking a 'biodegradable' nappy a day into a place it can't degrade, without sticking the effluent in there too.

Buy ecover laundry liquid and washing up liquid in bulk, and re-fill. It's more expensive (yup), but I'm just that bloody selfless. We have tried the cheaper of the reuseable washing balls on the market, but they may have given me a minor skin irritation. To my shame, I have bought soap nuts, but for that reason, I'm a bit scared to use them.

Re-use bags, like, all the time. I have one of Flesh's unbeloved 'fey' onyabags, a parachute nylon shopper that folds up tiny and clips onto your bag-bag, and we routinely use the bags for life for our big shops and any placky bags we come across as bin bags.

Turn our noses right up at nappy sacks. Heavens above. Is there nothing we stupid breeders won't buy as baby necessities? Well, (shock!) chez nous, we don't wrap our nappies! Unless we need a change when we're out, when mummy always has a stash of bread bags or supermarket veg bags or newspaper supplement bags. Or just puts the dirty nappy (shock!) unwrapped in the bottom of the buggy. Heaven forfend.

Use a Sigg bottle; like Flesh, because it won't photodegrade and saves the money, plastic, energy and pollution associated with the bottled water I would otherwise consume by the gallon, out and about.

Re-use and recycle aluminium foil. Obsessively.

Wash and re-use plastic freezer bags. Obsessively.

Make the baby's food in bulk and freeze in portions.

Strive to throw as little food away as possible.

Buy as few new clothes as I can bear. In 2008 I think I bought: one pair of maternity trousers (taking the total to two), 3 nursing bras (different sizes, as my boobs scaled down), two summer cardigans, two pairs of jeans, one summer top, a winter jumper and 2 winter cardigans, one work shirt. On top of that I bought a pair of canvas shoes, Terry bought me some winter boots, and Babs bought me some replacement slippers (she was sick on mine and I went without for 6 months) for Christmas. This is a short list compared to some, yet it does make me feel guilty.

Dress the baby almost exclusively in hand-me-downs and second-hand clothes; buy organic cotton when I do buy brand new.

OK, pillory me. I could try harder. Nothing on here is particularly ground-breaking, or inconvenient. Furthermore, I have neglected to mention the bad things I do, like occasionally driving to the supermarket, and heating all the rooms in the house most times the heating comes on. I could override Terry and get curtains for the two rooms without, and keep more heat in that way. I could remember to always turn off the laptop at the wall (d'oh).

I'm going to think of the things I could do better, and try and do them better. I need to curb my shopping habit and my generally acquisitive nature. I will get back to you.

eBay trust and safety

Someone stole my eBay listing!

They stole my photo, and my text, and used them to sell their own item. Rude, dishonest, and a breach (mm-hmm) of eBay's trust and safety policies.

(It was a pretty hot listing).

I emailed them, and told them:

You've stolen my photo and my text!
This has to be a breach of eBay rules.
And even if it's not, it's rude.
My text is MY intellectual property and I think you're being dishonest using it.

(I hid my email address. I'm always a bit scared of challenging like this. I let my last eBay dispute disappear, mostly out of discomfort and cowardice).

After an hour or so, I hadn't managed to speak to Terry to voice my indignation, and their non-response just made me more indignant, so I reported it to eBay. Sure enough, they have a specific report mechanism for it, so clearly it happens, though eBay are more understanding than me, and add platitudes about people not realising that stuff on the web is not theirs for the taking.

This morning eBay have duly taken action - though what action, they told me, is a secret. Hmm: just a minor bit of detective work shows me they've removed the original listing, but there can have been no greater penalty. They have allowed the item to be re-listed with a bad photo and just a small bit of my text. I was tempted to email him/her again to tell them it's *still* my text, even if 7/8ths of it has been removed, but Terry said I should let it lie. I don't know - the member has a 100% positive feedback score of 204, which does nothing to reflect their breach. Maybe there's a three strikes type rule.... Or maybe it's just a minor point - more important being the transaction and the quality of the goods being as described. It vexes me, though.

That listing was hot. And it was mine.