From Here to There... Plastic is Everywhere

This evening, I voted in OCEANA's Ocean Hero Awards. One of the nominees writes the blog "The Daily Ocean." For 365 non-consecutive days, she's spending 20 minutes picking up trash off her Santa Monica beach. It's only been 110 days and she's already collected over 450 pounds!! (I just imagine if everyone did that... )

While I was checking out her blog... I came across this video of 2 world traveling surfers... who have discovered something....

No matter WHERE they go... no matter HOW REMOTE a place may seem...

Plastic ALWAYS gets there first.

One of the most important things that we can do is to not pretend this doesn't exist. Once we are conscious to it... we can become conscious to ways that we OURSELVES can become a part of the solution and prevent it.

Walk Lightly...

Last week, we checked out the book "A World of Wonders: Geographic Travels in Verse and Rhyme" by J. Patrick Lewis from the library.   It is such a beautiful book... my kids were constantly asking questions and illustrations had them captivated.  Wow... this is sounding like a book review! ;)

There were SO many verses and rhymes that I loved... but this one stuck out to me (especially since we checked out the book on Earth Day.)

Walk Lightly

Make the Earth your companion.

       Walk lightly on it, as other creatures do.

Let the Sky paint her beauty--she is always 

       watching over you.

Learn from the Sea how to face harsh forces.

Let the River remind you that everything will pass.

Let the Lake instruct you in stillness.

Let the Mountain teach you grandeur.

Make the Woodland your house of peace.

Make the Rainforest your house of hope.

Meet the Wetland on twilight ground.

Save some small piece of Grassland for a red kite

       on a windy day.

Watch the Icecaps glisten with crystal majesty.

Hear the Desert whisper hush to eternity.

Let the Town bring you togetherness.

Make the Earth your companion.

        Walk lightly, as other creatures do. 

(Un)Consumption

The other day, I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs: Fake Plastic Fish . If you've never heard of it... lets just say, "Now you know." :) If you've ever wanted to lessen your plastic consumption... and leave a lighter footprint....this is definitely a blog that you should check out!

Last week, she wrote a blog about "Buying Green vs. Being Green." The blog post is long... but she makes many valid points that I completely agree with. **STOP here and read her blog post:)** It's easy to get caught up in purchasing something new because it's touted as being "green" when we either don't really need it because our "non-green" item works just fine or we could and should be purchasing used anyway. OR maybe something we hadn't even thought of: NOT purchasing at all. Think about what she says,

"What we don't buy and consume is probably more important than what we do."

A point that is made in "The Story of Stuff." Overconsumption whether "green" or not... is overconsumption. In order to move past overconsumption, we have to rethink what we buy, why we buy it, and HOW we buy it. Wow... that's a mouthful.

I know the things that I used to buy a lot of and thinking back.... I had to ask myself:

How many pairs of black pants does a girl really need?? How many times am I really going to watch that movie that I just had to buy?? How many toys do my kids really need??

I do this often and I always find that when I rethink (and rethought) things... I don't need 10 different pairs of pants, I don't need to buy movies because I could rent them, and my kids don't need all of the toys that they want (yes, we've even put a limit--it's 1-- on how many gifts family can buy for each of our kids for birthdays and Christmas).

Before we make a purchase we ALWAYS first see if we can buy the item used. Some places that we check are Ebay, Craig's List, consignment shops, and I'd really like to say we go to garage sales... but I just don't move that early in the morning ;) Another one of our favorite resources is Freecycle. Ok... it's not buying... it's better... it's FREE!!) Last year, my husband built a brick patio and walkway with used bricks he gathered from other "Freecyclers":)

Want to go full-fledged into Unconsumption?? Try one of "No Impact Man's" suggestions and don't buy anything new (besides food) for one month. Here's an idea to help "fill the craving to shop."

"Only when we rethink how and what we value — so that we no longer base well-being and quality of life on excess production, consumption, and wasting — will we truly be able to address global warming and other forms of ecological ruin." -- Green Gone Wrong by Heather Rogers (go check it out at your local library ;))

Refuse the Junk

Yesterday, The Plastic Ocean posted this video of Captain Charlie Moore talking about our "plastic footprint." Take a moment to just look at all the plastic around you. As I type... I'm typing on a plastic keyboard, in front of my plastic computer, printer, desk lamp, looking over I see my camera... I'd bet the rug that I'm sitting on has plastics in it. True...some plastics are unavoidable... I LOVE my camera... but for the ones that are avoidable... go ahead and do yourself a favor and listen to Captain Charlie Moore:

"Refuse that plastic junk. I mean, it's just going to break and make you pissed off anyway."

Library & Dinner

Today, we met a friend and her son at the library. It's the second week we've been...and before last week, it had been years since I had been to a library... college to be exact. Yes... for the past 10 years, I was a book store junkie. I was a sucker for the book store "experience." About 6 months ago, I decided that I was going to start going to the library... but didn't until now because I was nervous about taking my kids. All I could imagine was the librarian going "sshhhhhhhh" and then getting kicked out. Luckily, that isn't the case. As my son grabs book after book off the shelves and yells, "Mom! Look at this dinosaur book!!"... I never hear a word from the librarian and have been quickly reminded of how great libraries are... I'm amazed and impressed at the abounding variety of (shared) books and media. Last week, we checked out 3 books. Today, we checked out 8 books!! Of course, all free (for 3 weeks!). Libraries ROCK!!

SO... while we were at the library my friend and I were talking about me recipe testing for The Blissful Chef and what I eat... or rather what I don't eat. She asked, "You don't eat meat... what do you eat for dinner??" A valid question. Of course, I explained... but pictures are SO much better:

For dinner tonight, we ate Orange Seitan (yes, like the famed Orange Chicken from the mall!), Vegetable Lo Mein, and Asian Green Bean Stir-Fry (the green beans are a test recipe for The Blissful Chef... which by the way... were so darn yummy!).

Now I can't give you the recipe for the Asian Green Bean Stir-Fry... BUT... I can give you my recipe for Orange Seitan!!

Orange Seitan

1 lb cubed seitan

flour

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp minced garlic

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes (if you like it hot add more)

1 TBSP rice wine vinegar

water, as needed

1 tsp sesame oil

grated orange zest

*Orange Sauce* (mix all ingredients and set aside)

1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce

1 1/2 TBSP orange juice

7 TBSP brown rice syrup or 5 TBSP brown sugar

5TBSP white vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Directions:

Heat 1-2 TBSP oil in large skillet. Dust the seitan lightly with flour. Add seitan and cook until nicely browned on all sides. Push seitan to the sides add a drop of oil to center of pan and add ginger, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Sauté until fragrant. Add rice wine and stir. Add *Orange Sauce* and bring to a simmer, stirring until well mixed. (Add water if sauce becomes too thick). Stir in sesame oil and add grated orange zest. Serve immediately :)

Connect to the Small World

The other day, several friends had their Facebook statuses as "It's a small world."  I thought... how appropriate.  I had been thinking the same thing for days... for months... for years.  I often think about how many people that we are connected to... not personally... but through knowing another... if we've had an impact on someone we know... then eventually we will have an impact on someone we don't know without even realizing we did it.  I also think about this whole "small world" theme with nature... things that seem worlds apart... really aren't as far apart as they seem...things that seem insignificant... ARE significant.


Today-- on Earth Day-- and everyday.... Here's how you change the world:  

Realize the power of YOU.

You are important... no matter who you are, where you're from, who you know or who you don't know... you have an impact (Yes, "No Impact Man" even you ;))... and YOU can make a difference... wait... you ARE the difference...

We are ALL connected.  From the smallest microorganism to the blue whale... and we all have one thing in common... the Earth.  


 "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." ~ John Muir 

We Make It: Playdough

Often when my sister-in-law writes me... I'm reminded of things that I do and that I should share.  (I have a whole folder saved of her emails to remind myself of all of the things she mentions to me :) )  So recently she told me that she's going to try to make homemade play-doh for her now 1 year old daughter.  Which, of course, got me thinking about how when my oldest turned 2 we bought "Play-Doh" brand play dough.  It was great until he mixed every color together to form a funky shade of brownish gray green... then when my daughter started playing with it... it got too tuff to work with and eventually--even after softening with water-- hardened to a rock like state.

When my daughter started preschool in 2007, they sent home a recipe for homemade playdough that they used at school.  Like I do with most recipes...I sat on it for awhile... then one day... the kids wanted play-doh and I didn't want to go buy any.  I pulled out the recipe:

Homemade Playdough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 cup water
1 tsp oil

beet, spinach, and carrot juice or food coloring

Mix all dry ingredients, then add liquids. Cook over medium heat in a small pan, stirring until dough thickens and becomes one large ball. Place on lightly floured surface and knead the playdough with your hands until it's proper consistency. 

What's in Play-Doh you ask??   It's composed of water, a starch-based binder, a retrogradation inhibitor, salt, lubricant,surfactant, preservative, hardener, humectant, fragrance, and color. A petroleum additive gives the compound a smooth feel, and borax prevents mold from developing. 


^{Of course, there are other benefits to making Playdough over the store bought brands:}

• $$$... the ingredients are inexpensive and the recipe makes a really good amount of playdough.
• Knowing exactly "what" is in the playdough... especially important for little ones that like to eat the stuff ;)
• Make your color of choice... no buying 10 different containers of Play-Doh... all it takes are a couple of drops and Voila! different colors.
• No little plastic containers.  When we bought Play-Doh, the plastic containers and lids weren't recyclable. :(  We now store our homemade playdough by reusing those containers and by repurposing other plastic containers with lids.
• AND.... it lasts so much longer ;)

Get Whipping

Have you ever thought about looking at just the ingredients on packaged foods?  Thought about what a product is marketed as versus what it actually is?

I used to LOVE Cool Whip until I realized that it wasn't what I thought I was getting.  Hmmm... that's a little backwards sounding.  What I thought I was getting was whipped cream... what I was eating was something that isn't even close to the ingredients in whipped cream.  

Here's what's in a tub of Cool Whip:


WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, Polysorbate 60, Sorbitan Monostearate, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR).

A whole lot of goodness packed in one little plastic tub.  Here's the thing... whipped cream is supposed to just be cream that is whipped.  I can't figure out why there are SO many ingredients in prepackaged whipped products.  So, of course, over 7 years ago... when I learned of the ingredients in Cool Whip... I stopped buying it and started making my own because whipped cream does not need all of those funky ingredients to taste good.  In fact, REAL homemade whipped cream tastes so much better than any premade packaged whipped product.

Want to lose the plastic tub (and all that comes with it) and make the real deal BEST Whipped Cream?

1 cup organic and/or local heavy cream

1 TBSP sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix using a hand mixer or whisk by hand until whipped. 

Tips:  

• I, personally, prefer to use my stand mixer and watch the magic happen :)
• Put your bowl and beater(s)/whisk in the freezer about 10-15 minutes before you want to make the whipped cream and it'll whip up super fast.)  
• Pay attention!  Over whip the cream and you'll have butter!!  
• Use homemade whipped cream in any recipe that calls for Cool Whip :)

Ready to try something new and go beyond dairy?  Try Whipped Cashew Cream... it's absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!  Seriously, you'd never know there's NO dairy in it... it's so divine.  Use it just like you would the aforementioned whips :)

Check out this photo of some whipped cashew cream dolloped on top of stewed blackberries (that we picked and froze LAST summer from Lewis Farms!!)... mmmm... a few more months and fresh blackberries!!!

I use the Cashew Cream recipe from "The Conscious Cook" by Tal Ronnen.  

Going Waste-Free Saves (Everything)

A little over a year ago, a reporter came to my home to interview me about our trash... or rather our lack of trash. :)  Everything that he asked me was pretty basic... until he asked me if "being well off made doing everything we do... 'easier'??"  I was completely baffled by the question because by saving resources we save another kind of resource... $$$$.

Think about it.  By reducing and reusing, it's impossible not to save money.

All those disposable products... all of those individually wrapped/boxed convenience products... some may seem cheap... but in the long run they end up being more expensive... not only for our wallets... but for the Earth as well.

Check out these facts that I found on the Kids Konserve website:

Crazy right?!  But here's the thing... that's just children's lunches.   What about the teachers... what about the people who pack a lunch for the office... what about picnics??

Hmmm...  I'm feeling like running some numbers.....

• Bottled water... one plastic single-use bottle of water per day for a year (365 days) at $1.50 per bottle = $547.50* per year!  (And we all know that nobody drinks one bottle of water a day.)
• Reusable water bottle costs anywhere from $12.50 to $22 ... fill that bottle with tap water and.... Shoot...Tap water is practically free it's so cheap. 

Want to see the math yourself?? Check out this Water Calculator :)

On to plastic baggies aka zip-locks or sandwich bags:

• A box of 50 basic zip-lock bags runs around $4 (of course depending on where they're purchased).  Let's say that you use 3 every day for a whole year.  That's 1,095 bags in one year!  And let's be honest... I remember when I used plastic baggies... I went through a lot because I used them for EVERYTHING!  Hmmm... so what does that add up to...well besides a whole lot of waste... around $90* per year for something that's thrown away!!
• Food Cozy 5 for $23.  Use, Wash, Reuse... Repeat.  

Some other common products to check prices are on single serve yogurts vs. tubs of yogurt, cups of fruit vs. fresh, Uncrustables vs. unpackaged made by you PB&J sandwich... the list can go on and on!!

Of course, I pack my kids waste-free lunches for school... but we also pack waste-free for picnics, work lunches, on-the-go snacks and... well, you get the picture.

As the 40th anniversary of Earth Day approaches... make the decision to go "Waste-Free."  There are SO many amazing products out there that make packing Waste-free lunches (and snacks) super easy.  If you're ready to go Waste-Free, check out Kids Konserve.

Reasons why I like Kids Konserve:

• Many of their products are made from recycled materials... including bags made from recycled plastic bottles and containers made from recycled stainless steel!!  (If you're recycling... and you should be... then you should also look for products made from recycled materials to complete the circle of Reduce Reuse Recyle... don't let it end with Recycle :))
• Their products come in convenient kits or products can be purchased separately to make your own personal waste-free kit!!
• Kids Konserve is a company who believes in giving back, their school Waste-Free Challenges give a percentage of every sale back to the school.  Check out their Waste-Free Lunch Challenge.  
• Clean Up Your Act This Earth Day! and Miss Earth Day
• With every order placed in April, you will receive a free 20oz. stainless steel Kids Konserve Bottle (of course, while supplies last ;) )

AND... if that's not enough... just because you've taken the time to read my blog (YAY! You!!)....they've offered a 15% discount code (earth15) valid until April 30 to use at their website!!  Thanks Kids Konserve!!!  

"As Americans we have come to depend on the many convenience products that are available to us, and nowhere is this more evident than in the school lunch room. Most parents pack lunch items in single-use plastic bags, aluminum foil, or wax paper, or they purchase single-serving items that come in their own disposable package. Admittedly, these products are extremely convenient, but what is the environmental cost to a country that relies so heavily on them?"  

-- www.wastefreelunches.org 

*I am not a mathematician ;)  If you see an error... please feel free to do the math :)

Be Different! Be Friends!

Back in January, for MLK Day, my daughter brought this home from school... and I've held onto it because I think... that it's one of the most simple ways to make this world a better place :)

"We have different hair. We have different skin. We wear different clothes. We eat different foods. We like different games. We like different animals. We all are different. We all are friends!"

Stop passing judgment.... Make the world a better place by accepting and embracing our differences.... :)

Need more?? Last week, on my son's 8th birthday... I read this:

How to Make Peace, Brother.