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Q. Dear Umbra,

My husband and I make monthly trips to Target for family staples -- vacuum bags, dental floss, laundry detergent, etc. I loathe Target. Is there a good excuse, such as "it's better for the environment," to get such things sent to us from Amazon.com?

Heather
Arlington, Mass.

A. Dearest Heather,

Here we are, teetering on the brink of the annual holiday shopping frenzy. This year, Americans are expected to spend more than $586 billion, and retailers will make 20 to 40 percent of their annual sales. So your question is timely, though I assume you did not intend it as such. Unless of course you’re planning to give dental floss to your nearest and dearest.

Kudos to you and your husband for doing two smart things: You shop together, thus avoiding the wasteful Solo Car Trip, and you venture forth monthly for household supplies, instead of darting to the store as the floss runs out or the vacuum cleaner overflows. Bundling passengers and errands is efficient, and a good way to reduce your impact.

Would shopping online be even better? Yes. No. Maybe. The jury was out when I wrote about online shopping a few years ago (twice!), and it seems the jury has found a really good sandwich shop. This, it turns out, is a tough call.

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Q. Dear Umbra,

I am a waste reduction specialist and recently got a call from a local university sorority house mother. She asked if I had a video that would "convince these girls that they should care about recycling!" I told her I did not know of that magic video -- it is usually a personal commitment or peer pressure that make people change behavior, coupled with convenience. I offered to come speak to the scoffers myself, but if there is a whizbang video out there that turns a waster into a recycler I would like to know about it.

Muriel W.
Chapel Hill, N.C.

A. Dearest Muriel,

Here I was, merrily thinking we needn’t worry about convincing The Young People to recycle. After all, recycling has become a regular part of life in most American households over the past few decades, a.k.a. a college student’s lifetime. I thought the challenge was getting people to care about things like climate change and economic models, not getting them to toss their beer cans into the right bin.

Of course, there are studies that suggest millennials recycle less and care less about the environment than previous generations. And it does appear that many fraternities and sororities are behind the green curve. I spoke with Leith Sharp, a higher-ed sustainability consultant based at Harvard, who says that’s primarily because of the autonomy social houses enjoy. With operations and events run separately from the college or university mothership, it can be hard to get an effective recycling system up and running.

That’s not to say it can’t be done. In fact, many schools have launched programs intended to “green the Greeks” within the last year or two, including UC-Berkeley, Tufts, Penn, UVA, and the University of Georgia. Perhaps those examples will provide some inspiration for your harried house mother.

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Q. Dear Umbra,

Is there anything new and notable going on in the world of green product labels?

Yours,
Umbra F.
Seattle, Wash.

A. Dearest Umbra,

What a good question! Funny, I was just thinking about this very topic.

There are in fact two big things going on in the wild world of product labels: The gummint has issued its first new guidelines for eco-terms in more than a decade, and California voters are embroiled in a meaty debate on whether to label food that contains GMOs.

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Q. Dear Umbra,

My landlord has installed new green washing machines and recommends that we use only Ares laundry detergent powder. Is this a green product? Can you recommend a substitute detergent (Ares seems to be available only in bulk)?

Charles D.
Cambridge, Mass.

A. Dearest Charles,

You didn’t actually specify which Cambridge you are from, but I took the liberty of adding “Mass.,” since it seems the likeliest place to find a) landlords who proactively install green washing machines and b) letter-writers who don’t feel it necessary to specify which Cambridge they are from.

Before we get to your detergent dilemma, I want to praise that landlord of yours for taking such a sensible step. She or he has recognized that water-efficient, energy-efficient machines will save money -- which could, in turn, help keep your rent down. Now that the machines are in place, this person is protecting a new investment by asking tenants to be thoughtful about which detergent they use.

I don’t think the recommended detergent brand is your only choice, but if the machines are high-efficiency (HE) models, you do need a detergent that’s HE-compatible. I get a version of this question fairly often: “Do I really have to use special soap in my new super-efficient washing machine (or dishwasher)?” The answer is yes.

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Q. Dear Umbra,

Have there been any studies done on the nutrient value of food that has been cooked via microwave, oven, or stovetop? For example: broccoli? Someone said microwaves destroy 90 percent of the nutrients in the food, versus steaming on the top of the stove where the loss is only 10 percent. We have been going back to basic, non-processed food that we grow ourselves. I usually only use the microwave to defrost or reheat ... but am I reducing the food value?

The Farmer’s Wife
Cotati, Calif.

A. Dearest FW,

It looks like Cotati is in the midst of an interesting downtown revitalization debate. This has nothing to do with your vegetables, but it has a lot to do with the nutrient value of your daily life. I like to see cities thinking hard about how and where they grow.

I also like to see people thinking hard about how and what they eat -- so a tip of the asparagus to you, my dear, for shifting your diet away from processed foods. I hope it is giving you more daily energy and leaving more money in your pocket, just as it should.

The fact is that cooking vegetables will lead to some amount of nutrient loss, no matter the method. This is why people are fans of raw food and its crunchtastic health benefits. But obviously some vegetables do not lend themselves to this approach (raw rutabaga, yum!). So let’s look at your options.

Three main factors affect nutrient loss during cooking: temperature, time, and -- this is the big one -- water.

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Q. Dear Umbra,

With mainstream TV having become America's most important message-deliverer, what characters are carrying the sustainability message best to watchers? Any correlation between character behavior and networks, producers, or writers?

Conan S.
Ann Arbor, Mich.

A. Dearest Conan,

Come again? I thought I was America’s most important message-deliverer. Forgive me, I need a moment here. And maybe some smelling salts.

OK, I’m fully revived. You know what’s interesting about TV? The number of American households with televisions has actually dropped in the last two years, as has the amount of TV-watching we do. I’m pretty sure, however, this just means people are watching shows on their iPads and such, not choosing to frolic among the flowers instead.

So your assertion stands. And yes, the major networks dabble in various shades of green.

Q. Dear Umbra,

Lately I’ve begun to wonder about those stand-up-by-themselves, foam rubber bras that we women seem to have become addicted to because they provide some modesty (or much needed augmentation) for our spandex blend clothes. Is this stuff (said bras and our spandex-laden wardrobes) going to sit around un-degraded in landfills until after the Second Coming, or is it breaking down into substances that will turn as yet unborn children into 10-toed salamanders?

Should we be just saying no to the fashion industry?

Purrl Gurrl
Seattle, Wash.

Photo by Shutterstock.

A. Dearest Purrl,

We should always say no to the mainstream fashion industry, shouldn’t we? It doesn't have our ecological or economic interests at heart.

Q. Dear Umbra,

What do I do with a million unwanted stuffed animals? My kids have amassed a monstrous menagerie of “stuffies,” as they call them. During a recent move, my wife and I managed to stealth away about a quarter of the 125 creatures. But now what? Goodwill doesn’t take stuffed animals. I hate to throw them away, but for the sake of my own sanity and local health codes, they have to go. To quote a Bear of Very Little Brain, “Oh, help!”

Greg
Seattle, Wash.

Photo by Shutterstock.

A. Dearest Greg,

Before we dig into the seamy underbelly of stuffed animal disposal, I must point out that the key to reducing waste is reducing consumption in the first place -- though I’m sure you didn’t buy each of the 125 stuffies littering your home. I remember presenting a small stuffed souvenir to a young family member whose mother looked at me, aghast: “I thought you, of all people, would understand.” Cuddly creatures do have a way of piling up -- in our homes and in our landfills.

In fact, it’s astonishing how much stuff kids have (if you haven’t seen these remarkable photos of kids with their possessions, take a peek). Americans spent $22 billion on toys and games [PDF] in 2010. Now I’m no scrooge, but imagine what else we could do with $22 billion. Let’s all be thoughtful about what we buy.

But back to your question. Your furry friends are, in recycling parlance, textiles. Americans tossed an estimated 13.1 million tons of textiles in 2010, according to the EPA. Roughly 15 percent of that was recycled -- no great shakes compared to the 63 percent recycling rate of paper, but according to the good folks at the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Assocation (SMART), textile recycling is gaining steam.

“All clothing and textiles are recyclable as long as they are clean and dry,” says Paul Bailey, SMART spokesperson. “Even items that are ripped or torn, stained, or missing buttons.” (You hear that, Corduroy?)

So here are my ideas for your bears:

Q. Hello Umbra,

Through years of bicycle riding, I’ve never been able to pinpoint the exact reason why bicycle tires suck so badly. One fills a car tire with air maybe once or twice a year (really just checking the overall pressure), but a bike tire, it seems, has to be topped off over and over. Why are bike tires so lousy at their intended job of holding air under pressure?

John B.
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Photo by Shutterstock.

A. Dearest John,

Do you view topping off your tires as burden or pleasure? Because I will admit, I enjoy the ritual of checking the air pressure, marveling at how low it has gotten, assuming my best Groucho stance to operate the floor pump, wondering if I’ll expend all my strength before the ride has even begun, then taking off on nice taut tires. It makes me feel vaguely well prepared and vaguely mechanically inclined, two characteristics that are not among my foremost qualities.

Q. Dear Umbra,

I just adopted a small dog with special needs. Because of her health problems, she cannot be walked regularly and thus has come to rely on wee-wee pads to relieve herself at home. But throwing them out and replacing them every day (even the ones made of recycled materials) seems wasteful and breaks my heart every time. Can you suggest a more sustainable solution?

Sammy
New York, N.Y.

Cheer up, pup! There are ways to respect nature when nature calls. (Photo by Shutterstock.)

A. Dearest Sammy,

Until your question arrived, I had not given much thought to the “wee-wee pad” issue. My personal experience with the world of wee-wee pads is (thankfully) limited, so I hope your fellow dog owners will chime in here.

The way I see it, this problem is akin to the diaper debate: Should you use disposables, which add heaps of non-biodegradable, plasticky waste to our landfills, or reusables, which require heaps of water and energy to clean? In fact, with 4 million babies born each year in America and about the same number of puppies, we have ourselves a startling parallel. Factor in dogs with special needs and others left indoors to do their business for various reasons, and we might be looking at a full-on wee-wee crisis.

In the past, I’ve assured parents of humans that the disposable vs. reusable choice doesn’t ultimately matter -- each has its pros and cons. Too often, what the diaper debate really does is distract us from thinking about bigger issues like overpopulation and food production. That goes double for Fido.