It’s Earth Day today
Glace Bay museum preserving past and future.
The Old Town Hall is a historic museum that preserves the past and protects the future.
And it is a green facility, according to Elke Ibrahim, vice chair of the Glace Bay Heritage Museum Society and an environmental activist, who pointed out that today is Earth Day.
Ibrahim said four environmentally friendly products — vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice and vegetable oil — are all that’s needed to keep the museum and homes clean.
“Most commercial cleaners are hazardous to our environment, they have excess packaging and are very expensive,” she said. “At the museum we scrub our sinks with baking soda and we clean our toilets with baking soda.”
Ibrahim said they clean trophies on display by boiling water and adding baking soda and using a small piece of foil.
“That foil and baking soda suck up all the tarnish from silver and gets it clean. Toothpaste could also be used.”
Ibrahim said baking soda and boiling water are used to unplug toilets in the Old Town Hall.
“It always clears the drain.” She said vinegar with a little oil makes a great polish for wood.
“If you want it to smell nice you add a little lemon juice. It’s natural and not harmful to the environment.”
She said they also never use plastic or Styrofoam cups, only china.
“We don’t have anything disposable in our Old Town Hall. We have forks and knives and spoons I get at the flea market. We reuse them and there’s no garbage whatsoever.”
Ibrahim said when first acquiring the Old Town Hall they didn’t throw anything away.
“People came and took away the old cabinets and curtains and reused them. We hardly put anything in the garbage as that’s not what we do.”
She said anytime they need props for a display they go to the flea market or Valu Village.
“We’ve found old hats, old dishes and bowls,” she said. “At Valu Village you can get everything for your picnic — plates, knives and forks — you don’t need any plastic at all. This is all stuff used before, no energy or water was used to make it new.”
Ibrahim has put together a document on how shopping habits affect the environment. She intends to give the document to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality council in hopes that they will promote environmentally friendly living.
Ibrahim said in Ontario homeowners have bins for plastic, paper and cardboard.
“They have three bins in front of every house. You don’t have to buy plastic bags there. We have to get away from plastic, it’s poison and it’s an oil product.”
She said last year during a town cleanup it was incredible the plastic coffee lids they came across in a small area.
“We stopped counting at 500.
Plastic stays around forever and ever. It just breaks down into millions of little pieces and poisons our soil.”