We found some old paint cans when we were helping clean my parents’ house in January, and after painting both our living room and bedroom, we’ve now got a bunch of cans to get rid of. But we can’t just toss them. It turns out that paint can be considered hazardous waste.

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Oil-based paint should always be taken to local hazardous waste disposal days. Latex paint—which I think most indoor paint is—can be dried out and put in the trash with the lid off. (Cambridge doesn’t recycle the paint cans.) An inch or less will dry out by itself with the cover off; more should be mixed with clay clumping kitty litter or poured out into a shallow container to dry.

This worked fine with our nearly empty cans. But I ran into a problem with my parents’ old paint. It was at least 15 years old and had separated during that time. The paint on bottom had already dried out; the oil on top never did, even when we poured it out and left it for days. I think we’re going to have to take that to Cambridge’s next hazardous waste disposal day on April 24.

I wonder if my parents’ paint would have been in such bad shape if it had been stored properly. We store our cans upside down so air can’t get to the paint. Hopefully it’ll still be good to use if we need it later.

If you’re going to buy sex toys anyway, why not donate to our favorite environmental blog in the process? (And, no, I didn’t mean mine…)

Yup, that’s right—I finally bit the bullet and bought a bike. I was planning on renting a couple more times to get used to it before buying one to ride to work every day, but my friend Janelle convinced me that I could get one cheap enough that spending more money on renting didn’t make much sense. She had actually just bought the same model we rented (the KHS Manhattan Green), and told me that it had a reputation as a sturdy bike with good components that’s cheaper than you’d expect.

Isn't she beautiful?

It’s not a high-end bike, but I think if it were I’d be really paranoid about it getting stolen. If it looks like a rental, all the better. A homeless guy  heckling me on Saturday actually shouted, “Give me a ride on your bike!” And then . . .  “Aw, it’s a rental. Nevermind.”

It’s a 3-speed commuter bike, so it sits more upright than a 10-speed or mountain bike. It has coaster brakes, which I love, as well as a front hand brake. And a bell! I’m adding a front basket tonight, because my purse really got in the way today. For those of you who have bikes, do you like front baskets or back ones better? Or panniers?

Ling at Cambridge Bicycle was super helpful. I felt like an idiot knowing absolutely nothing about bikes—or even how my helmet should fit—but she talked me through it all really patiently and cheerily. And I get free maintenance for a year. Ling said we should come in once in about a month, then again at the end of the summer, and once more next spring. She also said we should inflate our tires (for free at the store) once a week and grease the chain each time it rains. Really? That seems like a lot of work to me. Do you guys put this much maintenance into it?

I’ve done the run to work twice now, once on a Saturday and once today. Thanks to Google Maps’ bicycle feature, which showed me a shortcut that bypasses the rotary, it hasn’t been as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. I am a little white-knuckled on the Mass. Ave. bridge, especially when buses drift over the line into the bicycle lane. Boylston and Newbury streets are a little busy, too, with lots of pedestrians and double parkers who block the way. But oddly enough it’s actually been other bicyclists who have been the most difficult to deal with. One stayed in my peripheral vision all the way across the bridge, irritated that he couldn’t pass me. Another whizzed past to make a right turn, cutting me off. I’ve always been irritated at aggressive bicyclists, but I thought they’d be nicer if I myself was on a bike, even if my pace was more like a grandmother’s Sunday drive. But I guess jerks are just jerks, whether they’re riding a bike, driving a car, or jaywalking.

From the Farm Sanctuary: “The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (HR 4733) would prohibit the government from purchasing any animal products from animals raised in veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages—three systems that deny animals on farms enough room to even stand up, turn around or lie down.” Follow the link above to call or email your representatives about it.

I find the first two links here especially interesting because the environmental blogosphere seems to be filled with either the tech-obsessed or mommy bloggers.

• Say It Loud: I’m Childfree and I’m Proud – Grist. Me, too! (Er, I mean, ME, TOO!)
• My Family Needs Rich Social Spaces to Be Happy – Grist. A response to the childfree article. I kind of agree: I would love to live in a closer community, or even a cohousing arrangement. On the other hand, I specifically left the closer community that I grew up in because I found it stifling. I suppose it’s all about choice.
• Make Money Off Your E-Waste – Mother Nature Network. Links to an electronics recycling superguide from PC Magazine. Really useful.
• How to Recycle…Everything – Care2. A toll-free hotline (and website) hooking people up with local recycling centers. (Thanks, Isabel!)
• The Spring Purge: Triclosan – Mother Nature Network. Just to reiterate: antibacterial soaps are bad.
• Is Silocone Cookware Safe? – The Good Human. In a word, yes. I find this post unnecessarily alarmist.
• Fuel Efficiency Standards to Change in 2012…Finally – The Good Human. They really hadn’t changed since 1985? Crazy.
• Pavement Is a Culprit in Flooding – Boston Globe. “River flows near densely paved areas in Massachusetts were almost 10 times as high as those near less paved areas.”
• What to Do with Imperfect Produce – The Greenest Dollar. Apparently you’re not supposed to store potatoes and onions together. Oops.
• Is Induction Cooking Ready to Go Mainstream? – New York Times. This is so cool! I’d never heard of it before!
• Consider the Oyster – Slate. A vegan argues against kneejerk inflexibility. It’s still not gong to make me eat oysters (ick!).
• Cyclists Urging Safety Measures After Fatal Crash – Boston Globe. I’m thinking about riding a bike to work, and this scares me!

Also, check out the Nature Conservancy’s Earth Day website for tips on what we can do to help preserve the oceans (thanks, Midori!). And, as always, if you find something interesting, send it my way.