August 11th, 2011
Something for everyone!
Kids and families. Children’s corner at 18th Avenue. Kids’ parade at 11 am. Meet at 15th Avenue to join the parade.
Shopping. Over 150 vendors lining Alberta Street between NE 10th and 13th Avenues, 11 am to 7 pm.
Dancing & Music. Three stages at NE 30th, 21st and 11th Avenues
Celebrating! In the beer garden at NE 11th where you can sample fine local brews.
At The One Stop Sustainability Shop – free lavender! Buy a han
ky, add delicious smelling lavender, tie with raffia, put in a special drawer. When the lavender smell is gone, shake the lavender into your garden, wash the hanky and use. Easy and sustainable!
June 28th, 2011
We just started a free lending library. We have many books on a variety of different sustainable subjects! Come in and check one out today!!
June 26th, 2011
Yellow Shelf Launch Celebration and Facial Kit party
Wednesday, June 29
7-8:30pm
Come join us at the One Stop Sustainability Shop (1468 NE Alberta Street) on Wednesday, June 29 from 7-8:30pm to celebrate the debut of our first full size Yellow Shelf. The Yellow Shelf Project is plastic-free and zero waste made easy! Everything on the shelf is sold in bulk or in returnable containers that will be reused by our local producers. Drop by to say hi—snacks will be provided! We will also be demonstrating how to make your own facial kits for yourself, gifts or an activity to do with friends. The workshop is free, but you can take a kit home for just the cost of the supplies. If you are interested in the facial kit workshop, please RSVP by Tuesday to su-wen[at]createplenty.org. Space for the workshop is limited to 15.
June 15th, 2011
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Wednesday, June 22 · 6:30pm – 9:30pm The 11th Hour – A documentary
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The One Stop Sustainability Shop 1468 NE Alberta Street
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Please join us! We will be kicking off our new monthly Eco-Movie Night! Enjoy a free movie, cookies and discussion afterwards. This month’s movie is The 11th Hour, created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.
The following is a description from wikipedia:
“With contributions from over 50 politicians, scientists, and environmental activists, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, physicist Stephen Hawking, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, and journalist Paul Hawken, the film documents the grave problems facing the planet’s life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans’ habitats are all addressed. The film’s premise is that the future of humanity is in jeopardy.”
“The film proposes potential solutions to these problems by calling for restorative action by the reshaping and rethinking of global human activity through technology, social responsibility and conservation.”
Hope to see you there!
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June 14th, 2011
Stuff-ication is Coming to TOSSS tomorrow night!!!
Jane Green, founder of A Clear Place, will give a workshop tomorrow, June 15th, 6:30 to 8:30 to help you free yourself of too much STUFF. A few of the signs you are suffering from stuff-ication:
- a garage so full you can’t walk through it or get your car in any more
- a basement crammed with boxes and things you haven’t used in years
- more than one junk drawer
Jane runs workshops at local libraries for the city and state on how to clean out and clear up your life; buy less and share more.
Her workshop will consist of two parts: 1.) an education component and 2.) making your own home freshening products from lavender, sweet grass oil or mint.
There is a $10 charge. If you would like to attend and haven’t pre-registered call us at the store and we’ll get you in the class. 503-241-5404
June 3rd, 2011
My old truck survived yet another trip down to Eugene to pick up large dog beds made sustainably by St. Vincent de Paul. Besides being a great price, $60 for a large dog bed, the dog beds are a good template for sustainable products. The beds are made from recycled mattresses — you know, the kind that no one knows what to do with – can’t sell them, Goodwill doesn’t want them, too good to throw away – and what a terrible addition to a landfill, anyway. SVDP (St. Vincent de Paul) has a big machine which takes the mattress apart. The wood slats are recycled as well as the metal springs. The good covers are resewn to make dog (or cat) beds. Mattress covers that are not in good shape are bundled up and shipped to California to be used under carpets as carpet padding. Foam from the mattress is used to shape the dog bed; then new cotton batting which is excess material from a company that would normally landfill it is used to pad the dog bed. An outer cover is sewn from upholstry fabric obtained from an RV company that went bankrupt. Voila! A lovely sustainable, usable, affordable dog bed is made. Approximately 12 people who would otherwise not have jobs are employed at SVDP’s warehouse, as well as six seamstresses who make the dog bed covers.
St. Vincent de Paul in Eugene saves approximately 2,000 mattresses from the landfill per month. Their facility in California saves about 10,000 mattresses from being landfilled per month. That’s a lot of mattresses kept out of landfills! And a lot of happy dogs! Cats, too! Have a look at Kiki cat, also known as Kiki Pest, my cat, lounging on her bed on my porch. 
May 29th, 2011
INDOW WINDOWS WINS AWARD
Indow Window inserts which help keep older homes warmer in winter, cooler in summer and always quieter, while preserving the integrity of old windows, was named the Innovative Product of the Year by the Sustainable Business Magazine. Indow Windows which was launched as a business in December of 2010, has completed over 100 successful installations in the Portland area. Besides helping with thermal regulation, sound is a major reason to install the inserts during the summer months.
The One Stop Sustainability Shop is an authorized dealer of Indow Window inserts. We have a demonstration window insert in our shop so customers can see how this new technology works. Come into our shop, check out the demonstration window and see if this cutting edge technology would make your home more comfortable. If you’re interested in finding out how much the inserts would cost, just e-mail us the dimensions of the windows you want inserts for and we’ll send you back an estimate. Indow Windows are a product of local ingenuity and made here in Portland! Support your local economy!
May 24th, 2011
These fantastic DIY cheese kits from Urban Cheese Crafters just arrived today! Make your own Mozzarella, Ricotta, Goat Cheese or make them all! They come with everything you need to make cheese except the milk.
May 21st, 2011
Stop by our booth at the Kenton Street Fair this Sunday!! You can enter to win a very large gift basket full of sustainable goodies! It will be a day full of music, food, local crafts and fun. For more information go to:
The Kenton Street Fair will be held Sunday, May 22, 2011, 11am to 7pm in the heart of the downtown Kenton commercial district on N. Denver Avenue between N. Schofield & N. Willis.
May 18th, 2011
One year after the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, the company is posting first-quarter profits of almost $5.5 billion. The other four big oil companies, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Shell had amazingly massive profits in the 1st quarter of 2011 of $26.8 billion due to high oil prices – a 50% increase over last year. Exxon alone experienced a 70% increase in 1st quarter profits over 2010, earning 10.7 billion. Mind you, this is only one quarter of the year — not for the whole year!!! Crude oil has jumped in price from $85 a barrel in January to $112 at present, increasing the price of gasoline 22%. Check out this link for all the figures: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/04/pump_pain.html
President Obama’s 2011 budget proposes to eliminate nine different tax expenditures that primarily benefit oil and gas companies. Cutting these special tax deductions, preferences and credits would save the US government about $45 billion over the next ten years. Check out this page: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/05/oil_company_subsidies.html
However, it looks like it’s going to be tax breaks and subsidies as usual. Yesterday, 5/17, Republicans in the Senate blocked an attempt to repeal tax subsidies for the five oil companies mentioned above which given their stupendous profits in the first three months of 2011 did not need any subsidies. Although the majority of the Senate voted to end the tax breaks and special deals to oil companies 52-48, the procedural motion needed 60 votes to pass. How could any senator have voted to extend tax breaks to oil companies which obviously need not need them? Well, the 48 senators who sided with big oil received over $24 million dollars in contributions from the exact same oil companies, while the 52 who voted to end the subsidies received an average of $5.4 million in contributions. See the article from the Daily Grist: http://www.grist.org/oil/2011-05-17-senate-republicans-filibuster-to-protect-oil-industry-subsidies
What can you do? COMPLAIN to your elected officials and even to ones you didn’t elect! Get in touch with the US Senate and let them know how you feel: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=OR
May 7th, 2011
Some people may not know, but TOSSS is owned and run by my mother (Barbara) and myself (Jessica). I would like to say HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to the best mom in the world!! Also here are some cool gift ideas for mom:
Only the best cast iron cookware for mom……
Mom can expand her garden with a raised bed kit!!!
Locally made soap that smells like roses will make mom feel great…..
Mom will love how warm and soft our Pendleton Eco-Wise blankets are……..
Mom can dry a lot of stuff on our mega huge drying rack!!
These will keep moms tootsies warm…..
Mom will love these cards made by local artists on 100% recycled paper with soy based inks.
April 9th, 2011
April Promotion!!
Spend $50 or more at TOSSS and you will receive a free countertop compost pail! The pails are worth $16, so that’s a deal!
April 8th, 2011
I recently read the book Radical Homemakers, by Shannon Hayes. Look for the book review in the May newsletter!! In the book, Hayes highlights a passage from Affluenza, by De Graaf, Wann, and Naylor. In 1923 a promoter speaks to a group of businessmen about sales and states the following:
“Sell them their dreams…Sell them what they long for and hoped for and almost despaired of having. Sell them hats by splashing sunlight across them. Sell them dreams-dreams of country clubs and proms and visions of what might happen if only. After all, people don’t buy things to have things. They buy hope-hope of what your merchandise will do for them. Sell them this hope and you won’t have to worry about selling them goods.”
I don’t want my dreams and hopes to be sold to me and I certainly don’t want them to come from big corporations!! I want my purchases to support a strong local economy, to foster community and strengthen the health of the environement.
On a lighter note check out Sara Haskins making fun of commercials here!!
March 25th, 2011
This is the fourth year for The Better Living Show, Portland’s sustainable home and garden exposition for eco-conscious consumers. 1:00 pm kicks off an afternoon and evening of seminars focused on an environmentally friendly lifestyle. The free seminars range from Basic Vegetable Gardening to Green Investing and Living with Backyard Chickens. Seminars continue through Saturday and Sunday. A special point of interest is NW Natural’s 1,100 square-foot Blue Home which showcases sustainable innovations such as a tankless hot water heater, a 95% efficient furnace and an energy recovery ventilator. The Blue Home also features thermal window inserts, a gray water recycling station, a solar thermal water heater, polar blanket wall insulation, a combined heat and power unit as well as earth-friendly landscaping. The house is designed to showcase what a highly efficient house looks like. It’s meant to give audiences ideas whether they are looking to buy a new house or to remodel an existing dwelling. The main stage will host a variety of events including movies, musical acts and a daily eco-fashion show. If you haven’t already seen it, be sure to catch Bag It a highly entertaining documentary about the ubiquitous and environmentally detrimental plastic bag. Bag It shows at 5:00 pm on Friday. If you’re at The Better Living Show, please stop by The One Stop Sustainability Shop (Booth 508) and sign up for our Worm Factory worm bin raffle (and free red wigglers) or to win an entirely organic wool travel pillow made by Wisdom of Wool. Also, check out some new, sustainably made products we’ve acquired for TOSSS. Don’t forget to stop and say hi and enjoy the show.
March 20th, 2011
We just received some exciting new book titles that are now for sale in the store. Preparedness Now!: An Emergency Survival Guide, by Anton Edwards is one that could’t be more timely. The tragic series of events in Japan has inspired me to put it next on my reading list. The book covers everything from self defense, shelter, food, evacuation protocols, infectious disease and extreme weather to radiological events. The author provides checklists, step by step instructions and a plethora of resources. The book is currently in stock for $16.95.
