Waste not, Want not on Moving Day

White Mt.  We climbed this as the culmination of our
orientation trip.

Note from Rachel:  I actually wrote this post during the last week of August when I was actively moving.  I figured I just needed to throw in a few pictures of the madness and I'd be good to go.  Little did I know, that was easier said than done.  Moving was insane, then I left on the 2nd to help lead an orientation trip for new graduate students...so this post is a bit of a flashback.  Hopefully it will still be helpful to someone!  Further disclaimer:  this post contains only iPhone pictures...mostly of my cat.

It seems like only last year that we moved all our stuff from SoCal, up along the I-5, to the central valley of California.  Oh wait, that really was just last year.  Can it really be that time again?  The painters that came to my apartment Tuesday morning imply that yes, yes it is.  It's moving time!  Transplanting to a new place is always simultaneously exciting and annoying for me.  I love the possibilities.  This year I'll keep my room clean.  This time I'll really put an effort into decoration.  This spring the patio garden will happen!  However, I don't love the hassle.  Will I get my security deposit back?  Where do I put all my stuff while I shampoo the carpets?  Will my cat finally hate me if I make him move again?

Cat drinking my H2O on hot moving day.

Yes, like almost every other thing in this wild life, moving to a new dwelling has pros and cons.  In times of stress and excitement, it's very easy to forget our environmentally minded intentions and err on the side of convenience.  I can honestly say, been there, done that.  However, as someone who has moved 8 times in the past 8 years (one time I moved twice in one year!), I can offer up a few little nuggets of practical advice for keeping your upcoming move as sane and eco-conscious as possible.  The way I see it, there are three big things that make up the process of moving:  packing, discarding unwanted items, and cleaning.  I will address the first two in this post.  In the interest of being candid, I'll say that I don't currently use that many green cleaning supplies.  I'm hoping to make the switch away from the more conventional stuff (and will probably blog about it).  At the moment, I've amassed quite a collection of cleaning solutions/sprays/what-have-you from old roommates, and I'm currently working through the last of that.  Maybe you know the old runner's mantra "Don't try anything new on race day"?  Moving day is my race day and is not the time to try a whole bunch of new stuff.  So, here I'll focus on what to use when packing and how to donate/reuse/recycle those items you might not want to move to your new abode.

EcoNews Round-up: Feb. 4, 2013

I figured it was time again to share some of the science news I've been crunching on this last week or so.  Note, not every story occurred in the last calendar week.  Graduate student here, so I'm usually just a little bit behind the times.

I thought this graphic from the original article bore repeating.
Even scientists love LOL Cats.

First, I'd like to share two stories about a topic that is near and dear to my heart, privilege in the world of science.  This particular conversation about privilege in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering  and mathematics) was started with an article about privilege in the marine sciences and followed up by this insightful article about how access to these fields is sometimes closed to students before they even get to college.  I think the former article does a good job defining privilege and charting out some general territory where it can come into play once you are on your path to a scientific career.  If you are interested in reading about diversity in the sciences, I would suggest Dr. Kate Clancy's blog over at Scientific American or the always amusing Dr. Isis (a pseudonym!) over here.  The latter article, in my opinion, gets much more at the heart of the diversity problem in STEM professions.

My example of my own experience of privilege is always this:  When I was in 3rd grade, or maybe 4th, I was working on some math homework.  It was some sort of word problem, I don't remember the details.  I asked my mother to help me (sign of privilege numbero uno!) and instead of just helping me with that one word problem, she explained to 8/9 year-old me how to set up a simple algebraic equation to get the correct answer.  I recall being really annoyed with her at the time for not directly answering my question, but dang.  I am sure that my current position as a scientist is thanks to a million little interactions like this one.  I am privileged beyond belief, and I thank the authors of these two articles for pointing this out, and pushing scientists to think about these issues!