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I'm stil working on my 100 mile diet. I'm not going all out, but it has definitely forced me to think about the foods I'm buying and where they come from. And with me, trying is the name of the game. I'm not one of those cold turkey people. I can't just stop doing something and drastically change things. I'll end up reverting back to my old ways at the slightest set back.
Because of this, I'm rather upset at the tone of two recent posts at The Huffington Post. Kathy Freston has made a pointed argument that the best thing you can do for the environment is be a vegetarian. And while I don't disagree with her conclusion, she's left a lot out that makes many omnivores take offense (as you can tell by the comments). Basically, she makes it out to be all or nothing. Vegetarian or omnivore. But I am all about shades of grey. And along with taking steps to eat less meat, I think taking baby steps toward any thing can be a better course than just cold turkey.
And this brings me around to the point of my post. I believe in baby steps in all aspects of life, especially regarding things that may be difficult or tedious. And for many, giving up meat is both. So instead of going all out there are smaller steps you can make that will have a positive effect, but won't be so difficult. This is not going to be a list of things everyone has to do. But this is a list of things I've done to be more green.
1. Meat free lunches.
I'm not a vegetarian but I am very conscious of what I eat. And an easy meal to swap meat out of is lunch. I've had pasta, casseroles, sandwiches, fondue, and all sorts of other things. Mostly though, I just eat the things I already like, that just happen to be vegetarian.
2. Bringing lunch to work
Along with being cheaper and healthier for you, bringing your own lunch also produces less waste. Instead of going through the drive through for a burger, fries, and a drink you can bring your own food and not have to throw away the bags, cups, or napkins. Not only that, but staying at work and not driving to the fast food place will save your gas.
3. Bringing my own utensils and napkins
I received a really nice table cloth and cloth napkins from an old friend of mine. The napkins are just plain white cotton but I've started packing them with my lunch. This way I have less to throw away from my lunch, and I get to feel a little more upscale with my nice napkin. And for the utensils, it's more because I push down hard with my utensils when I use them, and I HATE it when the plastic ones break. By bringing my nice metal ones, I'm saving myself potential frustration.
4. Ditching paper towels
I have a bunch of hand towels from a gym I used to be a member of. They're not very soft, so they were not very good for wiping sweat off your face, but they wash up beautifully and do really well to wipe up messes. I've basically gotten rid of paper towels and use these instead. I have enough of them that I can use them once (or twice) and throw them in the laundry.
5. Lowering the thermostat in the winter
I am going to be really honest here and say that I over use my AC. I have done so ever since I first lived in AC 4 years ago. To make up for it, I keep the thermostat as low as I can bear it in the winter and walk around in sweatshirts and sweatpants all winter long.
6. Wash clothes in cold water
Washing clothes in cold water saves energy which in turn saves you money. They also now make detergent that works best in cold water. I've found however that my regular detergent works just fine on all my clothes using cold water.
7. Cloth grocery bags
It took me a surprisingly long time to get around to using cloth grocery bags, but I'm not sure why. Once I started using them, I couldn't imagine going back. Not only do they hold more without ripping, they're easier for me to carry. On top of that, the ones I use are made from recycled plastic bags and they are also recyclable.
8. Not drinking bottled water
I've invested in two water pitchers with built in filters and they have been great investments. I get the great taste of bottled water without the plastic.
9. Reusing glasses
At home I drink mostly water or juice. To cut down on the number of dishes I have to do, if I've only had water in my glass I'll reuse it. I save water because I have to wash fewer dishes and saving water, saves money, and of course is green. :-)
When I was a baby, my mom and dad packed up their things along with me and my sister and bought a tiny farm in southeast Ohio. They caught the very tail end of the Back to the Land Movement and moving down to that farm was their way to get off the grid and be self sufficient. They had their own cows and chickens. They grew their own vegetables. And for a while lived without any electricity. They have since moved back to a city (albiet a very small one) because giving up as much as they did was too hard. They still have a small garden and live frugally, but they've giving up a lot of the things they did on that farm. Now, I have no interest whatsoever in living on a farm. I love the city too much. But the irony is not lost on either of my parents for my interest in organic, local foods, crafting and domestic activities, and doing things by hand instead of buying things.
One of the things that they focused on not because of choice, but because of necessity was eating local, seasonal food. My mom did a lot of her own canning and even after she moved to the city still would occasionally make big batches of tomato sauce. I had been researching local pick your own farms for next summer and decided picking foods and then canning them could be a lot of fun. My mom has since promised me her hot water canner and I have really gotten excited about learning to can foods. While researching canning, I came upon the 100 mile diet. I don't think I can totally do it, but it is really interesting.
The 100 mile diet is a movement that is slowly gaining members throughout the world. It runs along side (and sometimes in conjunction with) the Slow Food Movement. When following the 100 mile diet one eats only food grown within 100 miles. 100milediet.org chronicles Alisa Smith and James Mackinnon, from British Columbia, Canada, and one year of living on the 100 mile diet. The rules they followed were strict. No food was eaten that wasn't grown within 100 miles. And they talked often about how long it took to get into the groove of finding good local foods, and how in the beginning they ate a lot of potatoes. Other groups that follow the 100 mile diet aren't so strict, including the Locavores who have the following rules regarding their diet. I think these rules are a lot easier to follow than the very strict 100 mile diet and makes it easy for everyone to do.
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic. This is one of the most readily available alternatives in the market and making this choice protects the environment and your body from harsh chemicals and hormones.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm. When faced with Kraft or Cabot cheeses, Cabot, a dairy co-op in Vermont, is the better choice. Supporting family farms helps to keep food processing decisions out of the hands of corporate conglomeration.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business. Basics like coffee and bread make buying local difficult. Try a local coffee shop or bakery to keep your food dollar close to home.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Terroir, which means 'taste of the Earth'. Purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in and support the agriculture that produces your favorite non-local foods such as Brie cheese from Brie, France or parmesan cheese from Parma, Italy.
I think I'm going to try doing this by following the Locavores rules. I can't start right now because I am currently on vacation in Arizona. But starting with my next grocery shopping trip I am going to do my best to follow those rules. This is probably going to mean a lot more shopping at places like Whole Foods instead of the local Giant Eagle but it is worth a shot. I am not simply going to throw out the food I already have either. I'm going to make sure to eat everything that I still have available. Eating local isn't doing anyone any good if I'm wasting all the other food I have.
Wish me luck!
2007 is finally here. And what better time to start nurturing new habits than at the beginning of the new year? No, I'm not talking about making New Year's resolutions. I don't believe in them. But, I do believe in trying new things, and constantly striving to be a better person.
Newsweek was generous enough to provide a list of ten easy ways to go green this year. There are a million other EASY things to add to this list, but these are all things everyone can do that doesn't require access to green stores like Whole Foods.
Environment: Easy to Be Green
By Joan RaymondNewsweekJan. 8, 2007 issue - You don't have to ditch leather or sell your car to help the environment. We've gathered 10 simple tips for living greener in 2007. Hey, it's a lot easier than losing those 15 pounds.
1. Feed the Bees Pesticides, pollution and habitat destruction are taking a toll on the birds and insects that pollinate about 80 percent of the world's food supply (or about one out of every three bites of food we eat), says Rose Getch of the National Gardening Association. To lend a helping hand, plant a pollinator garden. Yellow, blue and purple flowers will attract bees, while red and orange will attract hummingbirds. For more information, go to kidsgardening.com.
2. Clean Up, Naturally Household chemicals contribute to both in-door and outdoor pollution. This year, use more natural cleaners like the Greening the Cleaning line at imusranchfoods.com. Or make your own using vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice. For some great tips on green cleaning, go to eartheasy.com.
3. Ditch Your Junk Not only is junk mail annoying, it kills trees. Do yourself—and the forests—a favor by getting off the mailing lists of companies you don't support. You can contact the firms yourself, or check out subscription services like greendimes.com or 41pounds.org that promise to lighten your junk-mail load. For more information: thegreenguide.com.
4. Air Your Laundry Make like Grandma and line-dry your clothes once in a while. It not only saves money, but also decreases your yearly carbon- dioxide emissions. Likewise, run your washer on cold whenever possible—and use it only when it's full.
5. Recycle Your Gadgets Don't clog landfills with old electronics. If you're dumping a computer, manufacturers like Dell (dell.com), HP (hp.com) and Apple (apple.com) offer recycling options. Or consider donating. The National Cristina Foundation (cristina.org) will hook up your old PC or Mac with a nonprofit organization. Drop off your old cell phone at your local Staples store as part of a Sierra Club recycling effort (sierraclub.org/cellphones/). To find a drop-off center for rechargeable batteries and cell phones, check out the nonprofit Call2Recycle program at rbrc.org. Take advantage of community resources like hazardous-waste pickup or e-waste recycling events.
6. Cut the Lights Trade your old incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones, says Jenny Powers of the Natural Resources Defense Council. They use about 70 percent less energy than regular bulbs and last 10 times longer. For help in picking the best bulb for your needs, go to energystar.gov. Also, plug all your major electronics into a power strip, suggests eco-lifestyle expert Danny Seo, author of "Simply Green Giving" ($19.95; HarperCollins). Appliances and e-gadgets use electricity even when turned off, but flicking the switch on the power strip when you leave the house effectively unplugs them. Finally, check with your local utility company to see if it offers a "green power" option for its customers. Though that might cost slightly more, it's one way of supporting renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power. The U.S. Department of Energy provides comprehensive "green power" info at eere.energy.gov/green power.
7. Eat Your Veggies Have a meatless Monday. According to the Cambridge, Mass., environmental-advocacy group the Union of Concerned Scientists, meat production is energy-inefficient, sucking up a lot of natural resources. In fact, it takes about 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. "You don't have to be a vegetarian—just take a break once or twice a week," says group president Kevin Knobloch. "If everyone tried to do something that simple, it could have a huge environmental effect." And when you're shopping for that food, think local. It's more fuel-efficient (your food didn't have to travel thousands of miles to get to your table), and you're boosting the local economy. Use the search engine at localharvest.org to find farms, markets and other food sources in your area. And, of course, bring a reusable cloth bag to the market so you don't have to take the plastic ones.
8. Save a Tree According to the folks at stop globalwarming.org, the paper industry is the third largest contributor to global warming. If every U.S. household replaced one toilet-paper roll with a roll made from recycled paper, 424,000 trees would be saved. If every household in the United States bought recycled napkins instead of virgin-fiber napkins, we could save a million trees. If the thought of recycled paper doesn't do it for you, plant a tree. According to the National Arbor Day Foundation, the net cooling effect of one healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. You can go to arborday.org to find out which trees will do well in your ZIP code. If you don't have any room to plant, hundreds of eco-organizations have tree-planting projects. All you have to do is donate money.
9. Turn On the Tap Instead of spending big bucks on bottled water, drink the stuff that comes from your faucet. The reason? "It takes a lot of oil to make and ship those bottles, and once they're empty, most wind up in landfills or as litter," says Jen Boulden, cofounder of the online environmental community idealbite.com. If you're squeamish (Americans really do have some of the best tap water in the world), buy a water filter. For comparisons, go to waterfiltercomparisons.net.
10. Find an Eco-Date There was the metrosexual. Then the retrosexual. Now there's the ecosexual. So if one of your goals is to find that special, ecofriendly someone in 2007, check out social-networking communities like Vegan Passions (veganpassions.com), Earth Wise Singles (ewsingles.com), Green Singles (greensingles.com) or Green Passions (green-passions.com). Because two recyclers are better than one.
I have gone along the path of trying to give up pop for a couple of years now. I'll go great for a couple of weeks or a couple of months and then out of nowhere without even really thinking about it, I'll have a Coke. And from then on I start drinking a lot more until I'm back up to a couple a day. I found this list via the naturalliving community on LiveJournal. It's a great list, and very eye opening. Maybe it will keep me from drinking pop.
Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high.
They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.
In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.
*FYI: The Coke itself is not the enemy, here. It’s the dynamic combo of massive sugar doses combined with caffeine and phosphoric acid. Things which are found in almost all soda.
Found via Alas, A Blog.
The Center for Economic Policy and Research has put forth a paper Are Shorter Work Hours Good for the Environment? (pdf) that states that if the workers here in the US worked fewer hours, comparable to the hours of workers in most of Europe, we could save energy and decrease global warming. They conversely conclude that it countries in Europe that currently work fewer hours than the average worker in the US, that increase could lead to an increase in more energy use and an increase in global warming.
Along with hitting on the points that simply being at work compared to being at home uses more energy, they also point out the fact that many people who work longer hours tend to use time saving, but not energy saving, methods which correlate to more energy usage as well. For example, if someone works long hours they are less likely to line dry their clothes than if they had more free time to do so. Instead using a clothes dryer. Also, if someone does not have the time to paint their own house because they are busy with work, they are more likely to pay someone else to do it. And that worker will have to find transportation to and from the house in order to paint it while the original person is also going to and from work.
It is by no means an exhaustive study. But it is very intuitive and worth the read.
Page Neal started up the Baltimore Free Store Baltimore, Maryland in 2004 as a way to really "Think Globally, Act Locally". What started as a very small operation has turned into a large investment on her part, and a huge contribution to the city of Baltimore. She takes donations and leftover items from places like the Salvation Army and sets up a "store" in different sections of the city where she and other volunteers give away the items for free.
She describes the work that she's done and the reaction the community has had to her free store at SuperNaturale. She explains how her work with the free store is not only about giving away free stuff, but it is also about bringing the community together and showing people that they do not always have to depend on stores for the things they need.
It's an excellent read, and I highly recommend it.
I had received a Borders gift card for Christmas that I have been really excited about using. I love books and never feel like I have enough. I decided today that I would finally redeem it. When I went to borders.com I realized that it redirected to Amazon.com which I was really excited about! You can buy used books on Amazon.com! Unfortunately after reading the fine print on the card, I realized that no I couldn't actually buy used books. So I figured since I have to buy new books, I'd better buy good books that I'll use.
After searching for a bit I came up with two. The first was The Bell Blue Book of Canning and Preserving. I have always wanted to learn how to can foods. And from all the reviews I had read about it this book, it's supposed to be the best canning book out there. Columbus has a ton of pick your own produce farms around so I thought picking fruit and canning it might be a nice way to spend the summer. And I thought that getting the book long before the summer, and learning how to can before I had lots of things I wanted to can, might be a good idea.
The other book I bought was one I've been lusting over for a long time. It's called 30 Colorful Quilts and Patchwork Projects by Denise Schmidt. I have been a big fan of Denise Schmidt since I started quilting, and I love her ideas. She tends to stay away from scrappy quilts, and I love that. I hate scrappy quilts! Since I've started making quilts to give as gifts, I thought I'd give ones that I like as well as well as ones the people I'm giving them to will like. It's hard to make a quilt you think is ugly!
So, be better than me and buy used books. But for those times that you can't, buy useFUL books. :-)
And on a happy note, Kevin brought home some pomegranates. And we had snacks!
I have been throwing around the idea of starting a new blog specifically for posting about environmental ideas and tips to living more simply. Since the new year is coming up very soon, I thought right now would be a great time to do it.
I hope that by keeping this blog I'll learn more about myself and not only how to do more with less, but how to be happier with less. I have so many things that I want to post about, and hope to do so soon. Some of those ideas include composting, canning, crafting, sewing, gardening, and so much more. And if I try something new, I'll do my best to document it for you because I know everyone loves pictures.
If you're here, let me know!
