One of my guiding principles in trying to become more “green” is to look for reusable options instead of disposable ones. This applies to so many things, but its latest incarnation is in my kitchen sink. For years I happily used disposable sponges to wash my dishes without thinking about it. Then I read about how germs multiply in sponges. A few ways to avoid them were mentioned, like letting them dry out completely between uses (fat chance, as often as ours is used) and microwaving them for two minutes. The idea of using electricity—even an incremental amount—to sanitize a disposable object seemed silly. So I reverted to what my mom has always used: dishcloths.

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This wasn’t without some trepidation. I liked the way sponges felt in my hand (and I never wanted to admit my mom was right about anything). But as a solution, it’s hard to argue with. Dishcloths can be used over and over for years, and they’re always washed at least once a week, when we do laundry. If they’re used to clean up a disgusting spill, they can be switched out immediately. We bought a set of five with a textured side to scrape at stuck-on food, and now we’re hooked.

Our kitten is no longer a kitten. By our vet’s estimate, Ollie was born at the end of last August, so it’s now time for adult cat food.

I’ve never thought much about cat food. As a vegetarian, I feel bad feeding my cats meat, but I know that they actually must have it (unlike dogs). Contrary to popular belief, it’s not because of the taurine and other nutrients. While those are essential, synthetic versions and additives do exist—that’s what’s added to commercial cat foods (and Red Bull). The real issue is that they have a difficult time digesting vegetables and can develop urinary tract problems without enough meat in their diet. While some people claim that you can feed your cat a perfectly healthy vegan diet, I would be very worried about making mine sick. (Especially since Jasmine is already on vet-recommended cat food for kidney problems.)

Ollie tested. Brenda approved.

I’m looking for something that’s the best choice for Ollie’s health and my morals. But it’s very difficult figuring out what that is. There doesn’t seem to be much of a consensus, even for the basic question of wet vs. dry food. (I’m going to ask my vet, but for the moment I’ll stick with dry.) I did find out that most pet food you find in the supermarket is made primarily from meat by-products. That’s just a nice way of saying all the parts we won’t eat: “lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents.” Those aren’t very high-quality protein sources and aren’t as digestible for cats. And they come mostly from animals that are 4D: “dead, dying, diseased, or disabled” when they get to the slaughterhouse, and often abused (videos abound online). Their meat isn’t allowed to be served to humans for health reasons, so it gets put into pet food instead.

(Note: “chicken meal” in an ingredients list is actually okay—or better. It’s made from just flesh and skin, and it’s just 10% water. Regular meat is about 70% water. So as a primary ingredient, “meal” contains no by-products and means more protein.)

So I started by looking for cat food without any meat by-products in it. As a bonus, these generally have a higher protein content, too. There are actually quite a few of them, including some major brands that you’d be surprised by, like Purina Naturals. This is easy enough—just look at the label.

Then I started looking for how the animals slaughtered for the food are treated. There doesn’t seem to be any humane certification for pet food, so I take any such claims on packaging with a grain of salt. For that reason I’d like to go with a company that I trust at least a little, and Newman’s Own has a good track record. (They also fund things like the Hole in the Wall Camp for kids with serious illnesses that an elementary school friend of mine used to go to, so I’m kind of brand-loyal.)

Newman’s Own cat food is 32% protein, with organic chicken and chicken meal as the first two ingredients. Their cage-free chickens are raised by Bell & Evans. I think that’s a compromise that Oliver and I can both be happy with.

In the end, the brands that use higher-quality meat are definitely a lot pricier than the regular brands (three times more to switch from Kitten Chow to Newman’s Own), but I’m told the higher protein content should make Ollie more full, so he’ll eat less of it. (I’ll believe that when I see it; he’s a little scavenger.) And because it’s more easily digestible, that’s supposed to mean less poop for us to scoop. I’m really looking forward to that.

I’m also looking forward to not having to think about this again. That was a lot of research just for cat food!

A conversation with my boss yesterday has convinced me to finally commit to taking the stairs at work. (Thanks, Rob.)

This was easier in our old building. Walking up the carpeted, brick-walled stairwell was a much nicer experience than making small talk with the security guard while waiting for the single elevator. Then, when we moved, not only was the stairwell a depressing institutional concrete, but the door to our floor had a combination lock that the security guard wouldn’t reveal. And there were four elevators; there always seemed to be one waiting in the lobby. So I started walking down, but taking the elevator up. When I found out the combo from one of the Berkleemusic guys, I was already in the habit and had a hard time breaking it. What can I say? I’m lazy.

From an environmental standpoint, it’s not the end of the world. Elevators don’t actually use a crazy amount of energy per person per day. The figures change depending on a lot of different variables (type of elevator, how many floors in the building, how many people are riding with you, etc.), but various calculations have estimated it at 0.012 kWh to 0.3 kWh per day. That’s the equivalent of using your laptop for fifteen minutes (or six hours).

But you wouldn’t leave on a light that you didn’t need just because it didn’t use much power, would you? Actually, I’d liken it to not turning off a light that’s shining in your eyes at night. Sure, it’s not wasting much energy, but if it prevents you from sleeping, it’s worse for you than turning it off. Similarly, taking the elevator prevents me from burning calories, and is therefore worse for me than taking the stairs.

So I’m making the commitment now. If you see me in the elevator, you have permission to give me a hard time about it. Maybe shame can do what good intentions haven’t.

Oh, and if you aren’t willing or able to take the stairs all the time, but still want to save a little energy, here’s some info. Hydraulic elevators are generally found in buildings seven stories or less, and those use a lot more energy going up than coming down. Traction elevators are in taller buildings, and they use a counterweight system, which expends about the same amount of energy either way. However, if the elevator weighs more than the counterweight on the way down, or less going up, gravity helps it along. So to be more efficient you could choose a full elevator going down and an empty one going up.

The worms are snug in their new bin. The tally: 738 worms weighing 9.42 ounces. That includes a lot of baby worms, which is good, because growing worms eat more food than their adult counterparts.

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To harvest the compost, we first emptied the bin into piles. Worms automatically move away from light, so they congregate at the center of each pile. Then you can easily sift through the compost until you get to the ball of worms in the center. Okay, maybe not easily—it took three hours for Jason and I to get through it all. It could have been a lot faster, but we were stopping to pick out every one, rather than tossing them into the new bin en masse.

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After weighing the worms, we added them to the new bin, already filled with newspaper and food scraps. (Thanks for your contribution, Sharon!) We tore the newspaper into strips this time, rather than putting it through a shredder, in the hopes that the larger pieces will discourage the worms from munching on their bedding. Then we wet down the newspaper so the worms could breathe. (Very important.)

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The old compost wasn’t completely broken down yet (and, in fact, had a few pepper sprouts growing in it), so we left a few little worms and some cocoons behind, to finish it up. I feel bad sacrificing them, but I think we’ve rescued more by starting the new bin now.

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There was one casualty. Oliver snapped up a particularly adventurous worm before we could stop him. You should have seen him jump when it moved in his mouth!

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The results are in: our water’s fine. And since it tastes fine, too, no filter’s necessary.

• Lead: Negative
• Bacteria: Negative
• Pesticides: Negative
• Nitrates: .5 ppm (very low)
• Nitrites: 0 ppm
• pH: 10 (very high)
• Hardness: 120 ppm (very high)
• Chlorine: 2 ppm (low)

The bacteria test. Purple=negative. Yellow=positive.

We used a Watersafe kit to test it. In addition to the lead and bacteria tests, the kit included tests for things that I wasn’t really worried about, like pesticides and nitrates/nitrites (not lot of farms around here) and hardness, pH, and chlorine (which really only affect the taste and your pipes).

Nitrates/Nitrites and pH/Hardness/Chlorine. These two tests were a little useless, but fun.

The City of Cambridge mails us water quality reports every year, so the only thing I really wondered about was lead. Since that can come from the pipes in your house, it wouldn’t show up on the city’s report. Probably not a large problem anymore, but it’s good to be sure.

Lead and Pesticides. These two look uncomfortably like pregnancy tests, don’t they?

All in all, I’m glad we tested our water. Now, instead of wasting our money on filters that then get thrown away every few months, we can be comfortable with it as is. And the test only cost $18 (including shipping), less than a three-pack of Brita filters. Maybe I should test our water at work, too….