Monthly Archives: March 2009

The Eco Easter basket

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Jen| 7 Comments
By Recycla
Easter is just 12 days away.  For those of you Eco Warriors with junior Eco Warriors in your house, Recycla has some tips for making this your most eco Easter ever.
To start with with, if you replace your child’s Easter basket every year, you should start by investing in just one basket that will be reused every year.  Getting a new basket (or bucket or other container) is incredibly wasteful.  Do both Planet Earth and your wallet a favor and buy just one that will last for several years.
And don’t stuff that basket full of fake plastic grass!!!  Use shredded paper, raffia, or fabric.  Or, just skip the padding entirely, as it just takes up valuable real estate that could be better filled with goodies.
craftdyeeggsnaturally-main_full

When you dye your eggs, skip the dye kits and instead do it using natural ingredients.  For instructions, click here.  (Recycla’s family does not dye eggs at all — they’ve always hated the waste of perfectly good eggs — so she cannot vouch for the accuracy of these directions.)

As for the goodies that the Easter Bunny brings, Recycla is not a big fan of baskets that are filled solely with chocolate and candy.  gt02aprmsl_basket_lInstead, the Easter Bunny puts some candy in Recycla’s daughters’ baskets and then adds a few other little gifts.
This year, the Easter Bunny will be putting the following into Recycla’s daughters’ Easter baskets:
  • a new book
  • Fandexes — one on the Wonders of the World for the older girl and one on artists for the younger girl
  • Ugly Doll keychains — cachet on the elementary school playground comes from having cool accessories attached to one’s backpack
  • colored pencils, stickers, and a few other small craft supplies

In the past, the Easter Bunny has also brought fun socks, flower seeds, water bottles, and other assorted non-disposable items.  The Easter Bunny usually shops at Etsy, eco stores, and other local businesses.  Note that none of this stuff is cheap plastic crapola that will end up in landfills within a few weeks.  The Easter Bunny who visits Recycla’s house is a VERY eco bunny who hops lightly on Planet Earth.

And then there’s the good stuff  — the candy.

Recycla is going to very honest now and confess that the Easter Bunny does not put organic chocolate and jelly beans in the girls’ baskets.  Yes, there will be a few Fair Trade organic chocolate items, but mostly the Easter Bunny will bring conventional candy because there are certain items that Recycla’s daughters expect in their Easter baskets and skipping the Jelly Bellies would mean tears on Easter morning.   That said, Recycla has noticed that her local organic grocery store carries more Easter candy than in the past and the offerings look pretty darn yummy.

plasticFinally, how many of you buy those plastic eggs to fill with treats every year?  Whether or not you use them is your personal choice; however, if they do appear in your children’s baskets, don’t throw them away when Easter is over!  Instead, store them with your nice-quality Easter baskets until next year when you’ll reuse them.  And, when the time comes that the Easter Bunny stops visiting your house, you can always pass the eggs on to someone who can use them.

Those are Recycla’s tips for making this your most eco Easter ever.  What other ideas do you have?

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Posted in eco holidays

Just Drink Water. Or Juice.

Posted on March 30, 2009 by melissawest| 4 Comments

The other day while at her favorite “Healthy Foods Store,” Enviro-Girl threw a couple new products in her cart.  One was bred of necessity–her middle son was whining complaining of thirst and while she didn’t like the idea of buying him an overpriced bottle of water (having none in her van–but she remembered to bring her own shopping bags, so cut her a break), she tried to placate him with juice.  If she’s going to spend money on a drink in a bottle, at least it should provide the benefits of Vitamin C and a full serving of fruit, right?

Middle son didn’t want the juice either.  Enviro-Girl spied a package of Wateroos.  “Juice flavored water!  Let’s try it!”  Middle son looked skeptical, but Enviro-Girl twisted his arm overruled his skepticism by ignoring it and tossed the 6-pack of Wateroos into the cart. They were fruit flavored water–flavored with all natural ingredients (no added sugar or juice, only fruit flavors and purified water).  Maybe it would be a nice change from regular water or juice boxes in their packed lunches, right?

After checking out, they drove home and Middle jabbed the straw into his Wateroo.  “Yuck!  This tastes awful.”

This, coming from the same child who thinks Chuck E. Cheese makes a great pizza.  Unconvinced of his palate’s capacity to appreciate good tastes, Enviro-Girl took a sip.

The kid was right.  Purified water tinged with the distinct mediciney faux berry taste used in children’s cough syrup.  Seriously awful stuff.   It tasted chemical and plastic, NOT like any berries Enviro-Girl had ever encountered in nature.  But Enviro-Girl had just drank coffee, so perhaps her taste buds were off.  She’s been known to have a similar reaction to orange juice just after brushing her teeth.  They  went home, ate, and Enviro-Girl took another taste of the Wateroo with a clean palate.  God-freaking-awful. She dumped it out and tossed the container into the trash.

Later that day Youngest son begged for a Wateroo.  Curious to see what he would think, Enviro-Girl handed him a fresh one.

“Yuck.  This tastes yucky.”

Three out of five people at Enviro-Girl’s house won’t touch these drinks with a ten-foot pole.  It pained her to toss the lot (she paid $3.39 for the six pack!), but her kids love to drink tap water and real fruit juice.  For the parent concerned about giving their kid more water and less fruit juice to drink, Enviro-Girl has this advice:  water down regular juice and don’t drink the Wateroos.

wtr_hme_sip_smarter_titleEnviro-Girl sez sip smarter and skip the Wateroos.

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Carl Hiaasen: Eco Warrior

Posted on March 27, 2009 by melissawest| 5 Comments

371412901The pen is mightier than the sword–and it is with that very weapon that Eco Warrior Carl Hiaasen takes on all things outrageous and criminal.  From his home state of Florida, Carl Hiaasen has been writing a regular column for the Miami Herald (a tidbit Enviro-Girl never knew until she researched further for this post–here she only thought he was a wicked awesome novelist).   In these comumns he has chastized, beleagured and brought to light all nature of offenses, particularly those environmental.

13760647Dolphins, manatees, swampland and urban sprawl are just a few of the topics he has unflinchingly brought under the microscope of his writing–the loud (and sometimes it seems, lone) voice in a Florida wilderness overpopulated with tourists, developers, politicians and snowbirds.

But his novels, that’s where Enviro-Girl fell in love with Carl Hiaasen.  Filled with fringe characters, inspired plotlines, satrical and downright silly storytelling and fast-paced action, his books appeal to any gender and nearly any age of reader.  Enviro-Girl recommends Sick Puppy, Skinny Dip, Nature Girl, Tourist Season and Double Whammy, for adults.  But for every reader, young AND old, Carl Hiaasen has crafted three outstanding books laced with environmental consciousness AND good humor.  Flush, Scat, and Hoot remain favorite books of the younger set, Enviro-Girl’s nieces have read and re-read them several times.  He’s a writer working for the fun of it–telling a terrific story, making up memorable characters everyone wants to read more about.

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Take this Eco Challenge, readers.  Check out Hoot or Flush this weekend and share it with your kids.  Read it yourself.  And give thanks that Florida has given us a person with so much outrage about the environment but still maintains his good humor enought to invite people in to read more about it.  A zealot?  Yes, but Carl Hiaasen is the good kind, not turning people off but instead tuning people in.

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Posted in books

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Reminder

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Jen| Leave a comment

earthhour1

Tomorrow is Earth Hour 2009.  Go dark for the good of Planet Earth!

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Fast Fact: Turn it down

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Jen| Leave a comment

Turn down your water heater thermostat; 120 degrees is usually sufficient and will use much less energy than hotter temperatures.

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Posted in 3 Rs, fast facts, house stuff

Quick Link: 4 steps to eating local

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Jen| Leave a comment

Check out this post on four steps to eating locally.

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Posted in food, issues, quick link

Rag bag

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Jen| 3 Comments

By Recycla

ptWhen you spill something,  what do you usually reach for to clean up the mess?  If you answered “paper towels” then you are among the majority of people who do the same.

And, when you clean, what do you use?  Some sort of disposable cleaning cloths or, again, paper towels?

What if, the next time you reached for a paper towel, instead you reached for a cotton rag?  Why?  Because every time you don’t use a disposable paper product, you’re taking a step toward saving Planet Earth.  And, like toilet paper, Americans’ use of paper towels far outstrips any other country on the planet.

Don’t waste your money or this planet’s resources on something so needlessly wasteful.

But what can you use instead of paper towels or some other paper product?

colorcottonsweatshirtragssRags.

Made from old t-shirts or other clothing that would otherwise go into a landfill, rags are far more ec0-friendly than paper towels.  They don’t produce waste because they are endlessly reusable. Best of all, they’re free.  The next time you’re about to throw out a t-shirt because it is somehow ruined, don’t.  Instead just cut it up and use it whenever you would need a paper towel.

In the past year, Recycla’s family has shifted away from using paper towels and single-use cleaning cloths (such as Clorox wipes) and made a conscious effort to use cloth rags instead.  She still has paper towels in her kitchen, but they’re tucked away under the sink and only rarely used.  Instead, when one of her children inevitably spills a cup of milk, they reach into a handy drawer and pull out rags to mop up the mess.  And, when Recycla cleans house, she uses rags instead of paper towels.  And, contrary to what you might think, these extra rags don’t add much to the family’s laundry load, so the water used to wash them is negligible.

Everyone in Recycla’s household lives in cotton t-shirts and whenever one gets too ratty to be worn anymore, she cuts it into 12″ x 12″ squares and tosses the pieces either into her handy kitchen drawer or one of her cleaning caddies.  She would do the same with old socks, but her daughters like to use those for sock puppets.  Cutting up a t-shirt takes about two minutes and is FREE.

Think about how easy this is.  And, the next time you reach for a paper towel, don’t.

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Posted in 3 Rs, clothes, house stuff, living green on a budget

Go dark!

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Jen| 4 Comments

By Recycla

earthhourAre you ready to go dark?

This Saturday is Earth Hour 2009.

Earth Hour is World Wildlife Fund’s global initiative where individuals, businesses, and governments turn off their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change.  Earth Hour is a symbolic event designed to engage people from all walks of life in the climate change discussion to send a strong message to our political leaders that we want them to take meaningful action on climate change.

How do you participate in Earth Hour? It’s easy:  All you have to do is turn off all of your non-essential lighting on March 28th at 8:30p.m.  That’s it!  Just like New Year’s Eve, Earth Hour will travel from time zone to time zone for 24 hours starting in New Zealand.

operahouse.jpgTwo years ago, the people of Sydney, Australia (2.2 million people) turned off their lights for one hour. More than 2,100 businesses switched off too. As a result, Sydney’s energy consumption was reduced by 10.2%. Even the Opera House turned off its famous lights, temporarily changing the Sydney Harbor’s beautiful skyline (see the two photos on the right). What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world.

This year, more than 540 cities and towns in more than 60 countries are committed to the cause.

torontoToronto — Earth Hour 2008

Earth Hour is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

As this idea catches the attention (and more importantly, participation) of more and more cities around the world, just imagine what Earth would look like from space during that hour.

If you get a chance, visit the Earth Hour website. There’s a lot to learn there, not just about Earth Hour, but about how you can make changes every day. You know, those things that the Eco Women keep urging you to do.

Tell the Eco Women:  Will you participate in Earth Hour?

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Posted in Uncategorized

love it or hate it, yogurt is good for you

Posted on March 23, 2009 by melissawest| 6 Comments

Fermented dairy doesn’t exactly sound like a good thing–but yogurt is an excellent source of calcium, iodine, B2, B12, B5, zinc, potassium, protein and phosphorus.  It also contains live bacteria that help fortify your immune system and prevent yeast infections in women.  Additionally, yogurt help protect against ulcers, reduce the risks of colorectal cancer and prevent bad breath according to The World’s Healthiest Foods.

There’s a huge variety of yogurt and “yogurt” available at your local supermarket–most of what’s sold is more nutritious than ice cream or pudding, but a lot of brands don’t give you all the nutritional benefits of yogurt.  Things to consider when choosing a yogurt include whether it has active cultures, the sweeteners used, the fat content, and the calcium count.  There’s a LOT of information to consider when reading a yogurt label, what is best for one person’s diet (low in fat) is not necessarily what’s best for another’s diet (high in calcium).  Based on extensive research, Enviro-Girl concludes some of the best overall yogurt brands include:

Dannon

Stonyfield Farm

Greek Gods (super thick Greek-style yogurt)

Brown Cow Farm

Horizon

Alta Dena

Astro (found in Canada)

Wallaby

Cascade Fresh

Trader Joe’s Organic

Some of the worst “yogurt” on the market include SnackWell, Columbo, Jell-O, Light n’ Lively, and Yoplait.

At the end of the day, however, Enviro-Girl is all about TASTE.  She likes her Stonyfield vanilla yogurt with some fresh berries mixed in–dessert in a dish that makes her feel virtuous and content!  What yogurt do you stock in your fridge, reader?

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Posted in food

Of farms and local food

Posted on March 20, 2009 by melissawest| 3 Comments

By Enviro Girl

In Wisconsin a new website will help grocery stores stock locally produced food.  On GrocersBuyLocal.com, grocers can indicate their interest in buying meat, dairy, vegetables and such and farmers and other food producers can contact the store buyers through contact information provided on the site.

Grocers who buy local keep more money in their local economies and they help preserve local farmland.  They also sell fresher food with more accountability attached.  Enviro-Girl was interested to see which area grocery stores sell locally produced food — and while she knows the one her family shops at sells a lot of local dairy and produce, she was surprised to see it wasn’t listed on the website — she’s certain that will be remedied soon.

Enviro-Girl encourages Eco-Warriors in ALL states to investigate this idea.  It cost Wisconsin $28,000 and already the Buy Local movement has gained $2 for every $1 spent — this website is yet another tool to connect supply and demand for locally grown food.

In other encouraging news, a press release yesterday stated that today Michelle Obama will start digging up a patch of White House lawn to plant a 1,100 square-foot vegetable garden (the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt’s WWII Victory Garden).   The hope is to provide food for their family and formal dinners, but more importantly, educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables.  Students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington will help plant and harvest the food — and the entire family will help weed it, even the President.

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Posted in food, gardening, websites & blogs

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