Great article on Mother Earth News
Posted: April 16, 2009 Filed under: Food and it's Impact on Our Health, Going Green; How and Why... 1 CommentI came across this article in the archives of MotherEarthNews (another favorite web site!).. It says perfectly what motivates me to conserve, make do, recycle…and long to homestead….
You — yes, you! — can learn the skills you need to be more self-sufficient. Here’s how one modern homesteader discovered the joys of a self-reliant life.
A good place to start thinking about self-reliant living is in your own kitchen. Where does the food you eat come from, and could you produce more of it right in your own backyard?
When you start to comprehend something as basic as how food gets to your plate, you start thinking about how other items find their way to you, too — things such as clothing, electronics and especially energy. The bloodshed and national security threats caused by depending on foreign oil were loud and clear on the daily news. The scary thing was that I was completely dependent on fossil fuels, and so was everyone I knew. My gas-heated apartment, my groceries from the supermarket, my station wagon parked outside — everything was part of the system. And if the system broke, I was going to be hungry, cold and immobile. So I threw my hands in the air. I was done with Wal-Mart and Wonder bread. I wanted something real. I wanted a lifestyle that was no longer a part of the problem, or at the very least was constantly striving to be less involved in it. I wanted a more sustainable life.
Read the whole article here
No impact man blog published an article of mine yesterday!
Posted: April 16, 2009 Filed under: Going Green; How and Why... Leave a comment
I am soooo excited! One of my all time favorite bloggers, Colin Beavan, published an article from my blog! His blog, NoImpactMan.com, is a blog that I follow religiously. I have always been a a serious environmentalist, way before it was cool the first time around..and I am talking back in 1972 when I decided to use cloth diapers instead of that new product (Pampers) everyone else was sooo excited about. I still chose to use a clothesline with the first 4 kids diapers (until I moved to a neighborhood (yuck!) that forbid clotheslines.
Colin’s’ blog made me realize there was a LOT more I could be doing. Hence, the list he published….
April 14, 2009
Thirty-one tips for reducing your impact while saving money
I was reading through comments here on the blog last night and I found this great list of tips by reader Millie Barnes, who writes a blog about health and gardening called Optimum Nutrition. Her tips were just too comprehensive to let them languish in the comments. So here they are (I don’t even mind including the plug for her products). Thanks Millie!
My Level of Living Green
by Millie Barnes
1) Air dry all laundry–had to put a lock on the dryer cord to convince my daughters I was serious–they have learned to plan ahead! I wash all laundry in cold water, always wash full loads, and use a drying rack inside if it is raining. It’s good for the earth and great for your skin, a free humidifier in the house. Which also makes it feel a few degrees warmer in winter, and cooler in summer. I use soapnuts for laundry. http://www.zamuta.com/
2) Buy all organic.
3) Buy all organic non-toxic beauty care products and make-up. I make my own skin care cleanser and moisturizers. I make my own soap. My beauty products can be purchased at http://ezchef.net/spacuisine/
4) Use baking soda and vinegar for cleaning the bathroom. I use Ms. Meyer Clean Day for dishes, Citri-Clean for counters and general purpose cleaning. I use a loofah for scrubbing dishes (I am growing my own right now so I won’t have to buy them anymore!) My sister is making scrubbies by crocheting them, we will offer these for sale soon!
5) Take cloth bags to store for groceries and all other purchases. Take muslin bags I made to grocery store for produce.
6) Recycle, re-use, make my own and have stopped buying anything I don’t really need.
7) Don’t use paper towels, never have. Used cloth diapers for all 5 kids.
8) Don’t buy stuff in plastic, I try to buy all glass. Store all food in glass. Re-use glass jars. I mostly buy real food (meat, produce) try to not buy anything that needs a label, so no packaging.
9) Have been using recycled toilet paper for years but am considering switching to cloth at home. (don’t freak, we all used that same choice when we used cloth diapers and wash clothes on our baby’s tushes!)
10) Make my own gluten free granola, make my own mayonnaise, salad dressings, spice blends.
11) I use a compost toilet, no toilet paper (think cloth baby wash clothes).
13) Bokashi (a way to deal with indoor kitchen scraps with NO odor and yields compost WAY faster). I have been using the Bokashi method of dealing with kitchen waste for about 3 weeks now…I love it!
14) Use very low flow shower heads. Ace Hardware has a 1.5 GPM with a shut-off valve.
15) Use all CF light bulbs…and use them as little as possible. I have one evening a week that I use no lights..on Shabbat! Dinner by candlelight!
16) Use grey water from shower (I keep a 3 gallon bucket in shower and use it throughout the day to flush the toilet, take what’s left to the flower beds.
17) Use water from rinsing dishes to water flower beds.
18) Use a broom on all my wooden floors instead of using vacuum cleaner.
19) Run as few errands as possible, car pool and combine trips.
20) Use micro-cloths to clean with, even on glass you do not need cleaning products!
21) NEVER buy bottled water. I bought a Kleen Kanteen for each person in the family, we refill and take with us. I’ve had mine over a year.
22) Go paperless or CD-less as much as possible. I provide my clients with emails of my book, but still put cookbook software on CD.
23) Unplug all appliances not being used. Yes, that cell phone charger and TV are using power when you aren’t using them! I use power strips to keep them plugged in, turn them off at night, or when I’m gone all day.
24) Use only a hurricane lamp when we sit outside at night. It gives enough light to read by…but is perfect turned low …for just hanging out. Very romantic, too!
25) Use candlelight at dinner, not just on Shabbat!
26) I have an outdoor solar heated shower that I built.
27) I put in a raised bed garden, square foot garden I have green leaf lettuce in a grow box, cherry and big sweet tomatoes, basil, thyme. I have sweet potatoes growing, beets (mmmm, beet greens), onions, Swiss chard, purple flowering kale, nasturtiums, broccoli, cucumbers, peppers, red potatoes, a banana tree. Inside I am growing cucumbers and strawberries hydroponically.
28) I use a non-disposable razor, an old-fashioned stainless steel, very high quality razor that uses double edged blades. It was 24.00 from ClassicShaving.com. The blades are 10 for 5.99, and they are double edged! They give the closest, smoothest shave you can imagine! No disposable blade can compare.
29) Wash dishes with 2 dish pans in the sink, one for hot soapy water, one with warm rinse water. Do glasses first, pause a moment to let the soapy water drip off, then move to rinse water. Stop when rinse water is almost full and rinse quickly. Repeat with silver, plates, then pots and utensils. All with 2 dishpans full of water. Then I pour the soapy water, with all that organic matter, onto my plants in the garden. It helps repel pests and loosens the soil. And good for the biceps when you carry it outdoors.
30)
I water my garden with buckets from the rain barrels that are under the eaves of my garage. 10 feet from my garden. The front flower garden gets watered entirely from the dish water.
30) I work out at home, no expensive gym memberships that I never used anyway. I save all the expense of membership, and gas and time driving. I have a set of weights, two exercise balls, a yoga mat and a chin-up bar.
If you would like to go to his site and read the comments or follow his site (an get motivated!!)- No Impact Man- Millie Barnes’ article.
7 Foods Banned in Europe Still Available in the U.S.
Posted: April 7, 2009 Filed under: Food and it's Impact on Our Health, Going Green; How and Why... Leave a commentby Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 04. 2.09
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Image credit: Getty Images
How many times do you hear people say: “Well, it must be safe because the government allows it?” But can you rely on that? Maybe a look as some of the foods and food practices which are permitted in the U.S. and banned in Europe could shed light on how governments judge safety in the food chain.
Genetically Modified Foods
Although the E.U. is continuously coming under attack for policies banning GM foods, the community is highly suspicious of genetically modified foods, and the agro-industrial pressures that drive their use. The problem with GM
foods is that there is simply not sufficient research and understanding to inform good public policy. In spite of widespread GM use without apparent negative impacts in other countries, the recent public reaction to trans-fats are reason enough to support a precautionary principle for the food supply chain.
Pesticides in Your Food
The E.U. has acted against the worst pesticides typically found as residuals in the food chain. A ban on 22 pesticides was passed at the E.U. level, and is pending approval by the Member States. Critics claim the ban with raise prices and may harm malaria control, but advocates of the ban say action must be taken against the pesticides which are known to cause harm to health and nevertheless consistently found in studies of food consumption.
Image credit: Getty Images
Bovine Growth Hormone
This drug, known as rBGH for short, is not allowed in Europe. In contrast, U.S. citizens struggle even for laws that allow hormone-free labelling so that consumers have a choice. This should be an easy black-and-white decision for all regulators and any corporation that is really concerned about sustainability: give consumers the information. We deserve control over our food choice.
Image credit: Getty Images
Chlorinated Chickens
Amid cries that eating American chickens would degrade European citizens to the status of guinea pigs, the E.U. continued a ban on chickens washed in chlorine. The ban effectively prevents all import of chickens from the U.S. into Europe. If chicken chlorination is “totally absurd” and “outrageous” for Europeans, what does that mean for Americans?
Food Contact Chemicals
Phthalates and Bisphenols in plastic are really beneficial. They help manufacturers create plastic products with the softness and moldability needed to fulfill consumer needs. But when the food contact additives are found in the food and liquids contained by those plastics, trouble starts. Both the U.S. and Europe stringently regulate food contact use of chemicals. However, the standard of approval is different. In Europe, the precautionary principle requires that the suppliers of chemicals prove their additives safe, or they will be banned. Of course, although the E.U. has banned phthalates in toys, both phthalates and bisphenol-A remain approved for food contact uses — subject to strict regulations on their use.
Image via: Cargill
Stevia, the natural sweetener
The U.S. recently approved this “natural” sweetener as a food additive. Previously, it was sold in the U.S. under the less stringent dietary supplement laws. It has been embraced in Japan for over three decades, but E.U. bans still stand — pointing to potential disturbances in fertility and other negative health impacts. But the sweetener is credited with potentially positive health effects too. Is this a case where consumer choice should prevail?
Image credit: Getty Images
Planned Ban: Food Dyes
Many food dyes previously recognized as safe are suspected of contributing to attention deficit disorder. Action is afoot as the UK evaluates a ban on synthetic food colors. Regulation in the E.U. often starts through the leadership of one Member State, which pushes the concepts up to Brussels after a proof-of-concept pilot phase. Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, and Red 3 are among the food colors associated with hyperactivity.
Note from Millie- Of course reading labels is crucial to knowing what is in your food. Eat only organic grass fed beef, organic free range chickens, breast feed instead of bottle feed. Let your food manufacturers know how you feel. Go to your grocery store managers and let them know what you want!
Bottled water isn’t the answer
Posted: April 6, 2009 Filed under: Going Green; How and Why... 2 Comments
Another great post from No Impact Man
On Monday, the Associated Press released a report on the discovery of trace amounts of various types of pharmaceuticals in drinking water around the country.
I got invited to discuss the subject on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show (go here if you’d like to listen). The conversation quickly turned to bottled water as a possible solution, which it is not.
Here’s why bottled water doesn’t help, according to Food and Water Watch:
- 40% of the bottled water sold in the United States is tap water anyway.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires hundreds of tests each month on municipal water supplies, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water, requires only one test a week on bottled water.
- Only 40% of bottled water–that which is sold across state lines–is regulated by the FDA in the first place.
- Plastic bottles in the United States require some 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture each year–enough to power 100,000 cars.
- 86% of plastic bottles in the United States never get recycled.
- Tap water costs about a penny a gallon and bottled waters costs up to $10 a gallon.
- Chemicals that leach from plastic water bottles may affect our health.
- If people abandon the use of municipal drinking water, then there will be no political will to ensure that we invest the necessary resources in the water infrastructure.
- The United States has some of the best drinking water in the world and we must keep it that way.
The real answer, at least for me, is to:
- Continue drinking tap water. You can contact your local water utility to ask for a copy of your area’s Annual Water Quality Report (the EPA keeps many of them here).
- Choose a filter, if necessary, with the help of these Food and Water Watch guidelines.
- Most importantly, ask Congress to provide the funds to keep our water safe.
- Support Food and Water Watch’s campaign to create a national Clean Water Trust Fund (similar to the trust fund used to pay for our highways) by clicking here.
Read Food and Water Watch’s new report on bottled water here.
Read their argument for a Clean Water Trust Fund here.
Image courtesy of Food and Water Watch.
This is From No Impact Man
Posted: April 6, 2009 Filed under: Going Green; How and Why... Leave a comment42 ways to not make trash
In the last, for a while, of the LV GRN posts about how to bring No Impact measures to your own life, I’ve decided to list 42 ways we adopted to avoid making trash. If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll have seen these before. But I thought the newer readers might like to take a look. The list is in no particular order:
- No soda in cans (which means we’re probably less likely to get cancer from aspartame).
- No water in plastic bottles (which means we get to keep our endocrines undisrupted).
- No coffee in disposable cups (which means we don’t suffer from the morning sluggishness that comes from overnight caffeine withdrawal).
- No throwaway plastic razors and blade cartridges (I’m staging the straightedge razor comeback).
- Using non-disposable feminine-hygiene products that aren’t bad for women and are good for the planet.
- No Indian food in throwaway takeout tubs.
- No Italian food in plastic throwaway tubs.
- No Chinese food in plastic throwaway tubs.
- Taking our own reusable containers to takeout joints (except that now we’re eating local so this tip is out for us).
- Admitting that we sometimes miss Indian, Italian and Chinese takeout.
- Hopping on the scale and celebrating the loss of my 20-pound spare tire since I stopped eating bucketsful of Indian, Italian and Chinese takeout.
- Buying milk in returnable, reusable glass bottles.
- Shopping for honey and pickled veggies and other goods in jars only from merchants who will take back the jars and reuse them.
- Returning egg and berry cartons to the vendors at the farmers’ market for reuse.
- Using neither paper nor plastic bags and bringing our own reusable bags when grocery shopping.
- Canceling our magazine and newspaper subscriptions and reading online.
- Putting an end to the junk mail tree killing.
- Carrying my ultra-cool reusable cup and water bottle (which is a glass jar I diverted from the landfill and got for free).
- Carrying reusable cloths for everything from blowing my nose to drying my hands to wrapping up a purchased bagel.
- Wiping my hands on my pants instead of using a paper towel when I forget my cloth.
- Politely asking restaurant servers to take away paper and plastic napkins, placemats, straws, cups and single-serving containers.
- Explaining to servers with a big smile that I am on a make-no-garbage kick.
- Leaving servers a big tip for dealing with my obsessive-compulsive, make-no-garbage nonsense, since they can’t take the big smile to the bank.
- Pretending McDonalds and Burger King and all their paper and plastic wrappers just don’t exist.
- Buying no candy bars, gum, lollypops or ice cream (not even Ben and Jerry’s peanut butter cup) that is individually packaged.
- Making my own household cleaners to avoid all the throwaway plastic bottles.
- Using baking soda from a recyclable container to brush my teeth.
- Using baking soda for a deodorant to avoid the plastic containers that deodorant typically comes in (cheap and works well).
- Using baking soda for shampoo to avoid plastic shampoo bottles.
- Using the plastic bags that other people’s newspapers are delivered in to pick up Frankie the dog’s poop.
- Keeping a worm bin to compost our food scraps into nourishment that can be returned to the earth instead of toxins that seep from the landfills.
- Switching to real—meaning cloth—diapers which Isabella, before she was potty-trained, liked much better.
- Not buying anything disposable.
- Not buying anything in packaging (and count the money we save because that means pretty much buy nothing unless it’s second hand).
- Shopping for food only from the bulk bins and from the local farmer’s market where food is unpackaged and fresh.
- Forgetting about prepackaged, processed food of any description.
- Being happy that the result is that we get to eat food instead of chemicals.
- Giving our second-hand clothes away to Housing Works or other charities.
- Offering products we no longer need on Freecycle instead of throwing them away.
- Collecting used paper from other people’s trash and using the other side.
- Using old clothes for rags around the apartment instead of paper towels.
- Talking with humor about what we’re doing because making a little less trash is a concrete first step everyone can take that leads to more and more environmental consciousness.
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Posted by Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man at 03:00 AM in Green living, Living Green, Waste not, want not | Permalink | Comments (43) | TrackBack (0)
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Victory Gardens: War on Waste
Posted: February 9, 2009 Filed under: Gardening, Going Green; How and Why... 1 CommentFrom Treehugger;
by Bonnie Alter, London on 05.30.08
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It’s not quite war time, although sometimes it feels like it… Endless articles on the “credit crunch”, cutbacks and soaring food prices are putting a chill in the air. During WW2 the British were digging Victory gardens in squares and public parks across the country. They were growing their own food in very tight compact spaces as a response to food shortages due to the wartime restrictions on food imports. Wartime principles of eating seasonal food grown locally and organically have a message for us now.
In the heart of historic St. James’s Park, the Dig for Victory allotment garden has been created to bring back the flavour of those times and encourage people to embrace the idea of growing your own. For the second year running, a small allotment garden has been created in the spirit of those from the war. Included is an Anderson Shelter (pictured), a bomb shelter made of prefab. metal sheets and secured with bags of sand. Zucchinis are growing around and over it as camouflage. The beds are raised to allow for deep rooting. Companion planting was encouraged–different plants side by side can repel insects or attract them. The approach was quite organic, although the intent was to produce crops with the highest nutritional value.
The plots made use of discarded household items. Egg cartons and toilet paper rolls could be used as planters and old window frames made good cold frames. Net curtains provide protection from birds and hot sun by deflecting rays away from the plants.
By 1945, 1.5 million allotments were being cultivated in the UK, supplying 10 per cent of food needs. To supply meat, communities were encouraged to rear their own livestock with the opportunity to join a pig or rabbit club. Rationing forced people to cook with leftovers.
There were recycling campaigns to encourage people to collect paper to be recycled into containers for shells, cartridge packs, log books and military maps. Garbage cans were placed at the ends of streets for householders to deposit unwanted food to be used to feed pigs. Rags, bottles and bones were collected, too – meat bones were used for making explosives. Metal was recycled to build tanks and planes and for munitions.
According to historians from the Churchill Museum: “Clothes rationing was introduced in June 1941 due to a shortage of imported fabric and the need for cloth for uniforms, parachutes and hospital bedding. Reuse and recycling tips included reproofing raincoats by rubbing beeswax over the inside, then ironing.
Leather looks as good as new when treated with sour milk rubbed in with cloth. Old shoes could be revived by rubbing them with banana skin – the perfect accessory for a “new” skirt made out of men’s old trousers.”
Recycling was born of necessity. With the changing world that we live in, it looks like it is going to become a necessity again. :: The Independent Via :: Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
Bokashi Composting
Posted: December 27, 2008 Filed under: Gardening, Going Green; How and Why... 2 CommentsAbout 6 months ago I discovered EM- Efficient Microbes. Commonly called Bokashi Composting. It is an easy way to use table scraps for composting without the hassle of odor or fruit flies. Time from food scraps to compost, ready to go in my garden soil,is only a month!
Here is an introduction- EM for Bokashi Composting
Where to purchase EM- EMTrading or SCDWorld
Video- How to Make it Yourself- Making Bokashi
Where to buy Bran- Natural Grocers
My garden is growing wonderfully! I was able to build raised beds in just 4 months of intense composting. Working at a health food store for 4 months helped; I brought huge bags of lettuce home about once a week, along with other kitchen scraps, mixed with potting soil from Ace Hardware, Bone Meal, red worm casings and lots of moisture. I started composting in July, by October I was planting. I am now eating sweet potatoes, red potatoes, beet greens garlic, flowering kale from my backyard. The peppers didn’t survive the cold snaps (I am in Jacksonville, FL)
Bubble Wrap Window Insulation
Posted: December 23, 2008 Filed under: Going Green; How and Why... Leave a comment
The Renewable Energy site for Do-It-Yourselfers
Bubble Wrap Window Insulation
I’ve used bubble wrap on windows for one two years now, and I’m amazed how quick and easy it is. I originally put it up on my huge sun room window that heated the whole living room in summer 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. It helped immediately, slashing my air conditioning bill in half. When winter came, I put it in all the windows, except the few that get sun all day, warming the house. In the bedrooms it is behind shades, giving two layers of insulation. You can use it with or without regular or insulating window shades. It takes a few minutes a window.
This is a simple technique for insulating windows with bubble wrap packing material. Bubble wrap is often used to insulate greenhouse windows in the winter, but it also seems to work fine for also works for windows of irregular shape, which can be difficult to find insulating shades for.
Build It Solar– and lots of other ideas for conserving energy and saving you a lot of money.
My Favorite Coffee Site- Sweet Maria’s!
Posted: December 22, 2008 Filed under: Going Green; How and Why... Leave a commentCoffee is a passion of mine. I set out a few years ago to discover what kind of coffee I really loved, and why. I found a small roaster who would give me advice, let me taste and I slowly started learning what I liked; Sumatran, Ethiopian, Costa Rican, some South American coffee. Then this year I embarked on how. How to make Espresso, Turkish, Cuban. Equipment, filters, .. I eliminated some I didn’t enjoy at all; paper filters, drip coffee machines. I had a brief love affair with a Cemex. Very clean cup, not enough body. Cooled too quickly, I had to get it into a carafe FAST, but still didn’t stay at that magical 150 degrees exactly I love so much. I tried the French Press; fuller body, but I hated the sediment. Plus the cooling down too quick was still a problem in spite of the tea cozy I made for it. Sigh.
Then I came across the Sweet Maria’s site. At first I was looking for info on a Stove Top Espresso Maker (actually a Moka pot). Then I started reading about how to make it, the science of it. Which led to a 4 month immersion in all things coffee. I discovered a lot of things. I LOVE single cup coffee. Coffee roasted within 2 days of grinding it myself made all the difference in the world. Green coffee, even organic, costs half the price of roasted coffee. And you can roast it yourself, easily, in a air popcorn popper.
So, I buy green beans from Sweet Maria’s. I roast my own beans, twice a week. I make Turkish coffee every morning from freshly ground beans. I love a double espresso in the mid to late afternoon. I love making it when friends or my kids come over. I love single cup Cuban coffee. I use a hemp filter, or a Swiss Gold filter, sometimes both.
Check out Sweet Maria’s for everything coffee…and a coffee education if you want.
Sweet Maria’s would like to be your information source and green coffee supplier for your home coffee roasting adventures. Home roasting is easy! It only takes 5 to 15 minutes and your reward is the freshest coffee around. It requires no fancy equipment and green coffee from Sweet Maria’s is half the price of good roasted coffee from a retailer. We have a huge selection of green coffees, each carefully cupped and rated for quality.
We are more than just another on-line shopping cart, we are a virtual coffee university. Simply put, we really like what we do …
My Favorite coffee mug
Posted: December 22, 2008 Filed under: Going Green; How and Why... Leave a commentElement
This new design Combines a stainless steel base with a car coffee holder profile and a Fine crafted stoneware body. The slightly retro Element Comfortably holds thirteen ounces with a nice wide handle. The patented silicon top has no taste or odor and pops into a groove on the sidewall of the mug. This so you can Drink from stoneware, everyone’s first choice. The top prevents splash and keeps the heat in. Chose your color for the top Made For the finest coffee on the road & in style.
I own and LOVE this mug! It keeps coffee or tea really warm, even with the lid off. Nothing imparts an oder into the silicone lid. I can’t stand the taste from a plastic travel mug, even when it is made of stainless, the smell does not come out of that lid even after one use. And the soapy taste doesn’t either. I have used this mug for 3 months now and i LOVE it! No plastic, yeah! Millie
Meal Delivery Service by Millie Barnes 