Earth Hour, March 27th, 2010

Earth Hour is coming up soon on March 27th at 8:30pm, your local time, spread the word and lets show them the real impact!

https://www.myearthhour.org/home

Cutting down on Plastic bags

So in my effort to stop using plastic bags, it occurred to me that using plastic ziploc bags is probably just as bad. So I have been focusing on how to cut this down. First I tried reuse, now some of you may be better at cleaning these than me, but I felt like they where never clean and looked disgusting. Even if I felt they where clean they only seemed to last 2-3 uses. So plan B. I started evaluating what I was using them for. It came down to food to take to work and baked goods to take to parties and such and I'd use them to hold my cheese after I opened a package. So the cheese was the first one and that was pretty easy I got a shallow plastic container and put the cheese in that then put that in the fridge... Easy. Second, was the food I take to work, again cheese, some fruit, etc. This seemed easy once I thought about it as well, just use the reusable plastic or our mason jars for these items. I take my weeks worth of cheese on Monday and have found that a couple of my round containers fit my cut up fruit perfectly. Lastly, was the baked goods, I am still fully working this one out, as I don't really have reusable containers that are big enough to take 4 dozen cookies... Overall, though I just try to stop and think when I reach in the drawer for a plastic bag, that usually stops me because I have found that the bags are really nothing more than a convenience and now that I don't use them I don't really miss them.

Eat Wild

I stumbled across this site while looking for a birthday gift and wanted to pass it along. As we find out more and more about how bad our food industry actually is this type of site will soon become invaluable. Enjoy.

http://www.eatwild.com/index.html

Food, Inc

If you haven't seen this movie you really should. It is a real eye opener! I had an idea of how bad our food industry was, from the mass feed lots to Monsanto, but not to this extent. It was a real eye opener and a must see. A really well done film.

Paper versus Plastic? Neither, of course!

As most of my followers know, I have been tracking how many bags I'm saving by using my reusable bags when shopping. For those that don't, catch up here: Down with Shopping Bags! Recently, I have learned some interesting facts. I volunteer at the Shedd Aquarium and recently worked an Eco-social they had, where I learned that the resources to make a paper bag including wood, energy and water far out way the recourses required to make a plastic bag! I was astounded that it takes over a gallon of water per bag! Yes, a GALLON, per bag!! So this made me want to find out more, because when I accidentally forgot my reusable bags, which is rare but does happen, I wanted to know what to use. One study I read noted that it takes 70% more energy to make a paper bag versus a plastic one! (Website sited) It also takes 91% less energy according to the EPA to recycle a plastic bag versus a paper! There are definitely pros and cons to either... THIS is a good one illustrating why plastic is better and unfortunately I couldn't find one that was very pro paper at all, must just said neither...

So which one do you choose? There is no simple answer but here is my opinion:

Reusable Bags: This is obviously our first choice, chose one that is recyclable or biodegradable at the end of its life though, watch out for the freebie ones.

After that I opt for:

Paper: because I have a compost during warm months and I never have enough "browns", other reasons would be if you need a weed block for your garden or have another use for paper bags like school books, roasting peppers, gift wrapping, etc.

Plastic: if you don't have any of the above needs for paper and promise to return them to the store for recycling then plastic is really your best option. Bringing it back for recycling is key here, so that it doesn't end up in the ocean or a landfill, and yes your bag from Chicago CAN end up in the Ocean...

Holiday Green Guide (Coupons)

As the nation gears up for black Friday, I thought this little coupon book might help steer some of us away from all the toys made and shipped from China and the like, and focus on the gifts we can buy that might help us further our goals in being kind to the environment. There are a number of great companies in there so feel free to peruse as it is free until December 31st.

http://www.holidaygreenguide.com/

Drop the Plastic Bag on Facebook

I was just sent this cause on Facebook and since I have a running blog on my experiences of trying to drop my plastic bag habit I thought I'd share it. Come join the cause.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/11443