Sustainably Spicy
One thing that still remains in my brain from calculus is that the smaller the container, the higher the ratio of container to contents. Once upon a time I could calculate the most cost and weight efficient sized can – who said calculus has no real world applications?
That being said, herb & spice containers jars are low on the sustainability scale. On the other hand, spices can last many years and they often come in lovely shaped jars and cans. I could not bring myself to throw out the darling A&P spice cans, the assortment a wedding shower gift appropriate for starving newlyweds. I am quite thrilled that there are now so many options for re-filling these containers and the choices are usually less expensive, as well.
Healthy sea salts, reusable containers and bulk spices for your sustainable kitchen
Penzey’s (some stores & online) offers 4, 8 and 16 oz bags of their spices with discounts for the larger bags (again less packaging per oz of spice) plastic bags can be recycled at your grocer with other bags; foodies appreciate their quality and wide variety. Whole Foods and some health grocers offer the Spicely line of boxed (totally bio-degradeable paper & cellophane) spices that fit perfectly in your jars ;(they also donate a % of sales to a children’s charity). Ethnic groceries and the international aisles in the supers offer authentic bagged spices at excellent prices.
Sea salt is all we use in our house both because of reduced sodium content and variety of flavors including an option to go local with Pacific sea salt. Celtic Sea Salt was at the San Francisco Green Festival where they offered a special on their salt grinder with purchase of salt.
I’m blessed to live in a climate where I can harvest fresh rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme and bay leaf year round – also blessed that they are hardy as I am not the most attentive gardener.
Wine & Weeds: Weed Barrier Tip
We enjoy our California wines and watch pennies buying by the case. Those nifty cardboard dividers are useful for storing glassware of all sorts but I just found a new use in the garden. In dry climates, such as ours, many of us are transitioning to drought tolerant landscaping with native plants. Still, in order for the individual plants to stand out, we need to discourage weeds. Pulling weeds out of dry soil leaves the roots intact so, instead, we can create a light/weed barrier of cardboard boxes topped with wood mulch. (Weeds won’t grow because they lack light). Still, cardboard is broken where we put in new plants. Watch the video to see how to solve this problem:
You can do a variation with the 4-prong pieces. Break into 2-prong pieces. Fold back one prong on each . Place the center of the inside “V” shape on either side of the plant. Cover with mulch. Voila!
Sustainable Dishwashing Part II: Reduce, ReUse, Recycle Plastics
Nothing gets my anxiety level higher than petro-plastic bags & wraps. Plastic takes hunreds of years to decompose while it does nothing but ensconce a loaf of bread or piece of meat that will be digested in days. Even organic foods comes wrapped in it – ouch. I am trying to let go of that which I cannot yet change so I breathe deeply and re-use and recycle.
Mine is a real and not ideal household. Cooking is not my forte and I buy a fair amount of frozen food rather than let paper wrapped foods go bad; using petro oil bad, killing animals needlessly, worse. Not all family members are as committed to zero waste as I am, so I attempt to keep damages to a minimum, thusly.
If you have identifiable containers or spaces for each, the process becomes easy for you and family members.
Flexible plastics triage (quatrage?).
- A) GROCERY/DRUGSTORE/TAKEOUT bags, BREAD & other hole-less bags of suitable size. Place with dog supplies for dog poop on walk or with cleaning supplies to line trash cans. IKEA sells a handy durable dispenser to attach inside a cabinet door for.
- B) XL/UNUSUAL shaped bags: Keep a few for future storing/protecting/carrying needs. I keep these with large handled paper bags.
- C) ZIP-LOC style bags (purchased or that foods come in): Put in sink for washing. See below for more details
- D) RECYCLE @ GROCERY: Every other flexible PETRO-plastic. More details below.
- E) Is the plastic CRUNCHY & CRINKLY? Chances are good that it is actually a bio-plastic i.e. made of cellophane, corn, etc. See below.
Drying set up for recently washed zipper-style bags
CATEGORY C: Zippered plastic bags. I pay more for the heavy duty kind with good zippers that work more than once; I probably get at least 10 uses out of each bag. Wash with soapy water, cold rinse (germs thrive in warm but not cold water; boiling temps that would kill germs will melt the bags). I have a couple sets of wooden upright plate racks that I keep just for bag drying as well upending them on my knife block when I run out of space. As I wash them I check for leaks and mark leaky bags with an X in permanent marker so I don’t reuse for airtight situations. I put them back in the boxes they came from. I feel comfortable re-using mine for food; others may not. I use the newer looking ones for food, the sadder ones for myriad uses. It feels like a lottery winning when I take in an XL zipper bag from frozen chicken pieces. Great for storing camping supplies or other large items in dirty places such as garages or attics. Keeps dust out of craft supplies.
CATEGORY D I store in the largest plastic bag in the collection. I can recycle at Safeway, Whole Foods and many other markets. They use these to manufacture composite porch wood, bender board, picnic tables and many other products. Included in the category are:
- Rigid frozen food bags (quick-rinse for stuck food)
- Produce bags,
- Air filled bags used as packing material (kids love poking holes to deflate these),
- Category C bags past their prime,
- Dry cleaning bags,
- Shrink wrap from warehouse store purchases
- Almost any kind of soft flexible plastic that comes my way
CATEGORY E: CRUNCH OR CRINKLY. I haven’t been able to find a definitive way to distinguish petro- from bio- plastic, so this is the best I can do if there is no marking on the plastic. These are eventually biodegradeable but probably aren’t appropriate for your compost heap. If you have compostable waste collection with your trash, put it in that container. If not, ask your city government or waste management company to add compostable separation as part of the next contract period. Otherwise, it goes in the regular trash for now 
Shells, Sand & Gardens
Crustacean Exhibit @ NY Museum of Nat'l Science
Grains of sand are as numerous as the stars in the firmament so it would would be a fruitless task to assess the source from which each grain was ground over the eons. Their origins could be from stone, bone, shell or sea detritus worn down by time.
We do know that sand is wonderful for many gardens as both a soil amendment and landscaping aid or element.
Being an inveterate recycler and composter, I was considering the possibilities for shells of the beer-steamed mussels we had just finished enjoying. I had considered offering them on Freecycle to a crafter that might have a creative idea but decided to try to take responsibility for our trash on my own property.
Always starved for inexpensive path and working area materials I’ve added them to the chunky stones and brick where I keep my planting supplies. As they get crunched to pieces, dust flys in and fall leaves crumble between the stones, new dirt is forming. Next year I can pick up the stones and gather that soil from the weed barrier to add to my compost.
To Mother Earth, With Love on St. Valentine’s Day
St. Valentine was a priest in Rome in the 1rst Century CE. “He was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius and subsequently imprisoned, then beaten, stoned and beheaded for trying to convert Claudius, himself. One legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer’s daughter, signing it, “From your Valentine.”
Popular customs “associated with Saint Valentine’s Day had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers’ tokens.”
Forest Ethics suggests that Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to get creative. In the spirit of the holiday, send your loved ones a handmade card out of the very junk mail clogging your mail box.
Making your own valentine is easy. Check out our facts about junk mail page for quick facts to share with your friends, and start cutting up those glossy mailers sitting in your recycle bin. With a pair of scissors and a little glue, you’ll have a valentine in no time.
And don’t forget to tell your valentine to sign the petition at http://www.donotmail.org!
If you have the time, they’d like you send them a picture of your valentine on Facebook, Flickr, or just attach it in an email. (If you send an email, please make sure it’s under 8 mb.)
Resolve to be less “Consumed” in 2009
Despite my rantings about sustainability, I’ve discovered I have a long, long way to go even though I’ve made much progress. One of the best websites to find a good overall look at your personal & family sustainability footprint is Consumer Consequences . After you input your information you have the ability to compare yourself with others in different categories: house, energy, transportation, food, etc. It helped me identify which areas I should make more efforts in the coming year.
I’ve been reading online the NPR special report “Consumed” that was broadcast November 2007 and highly recommend checking it out:
Its goal is to answer the question, “Is the consumer economy sustainable?” in a serious way. They tackle the question in a comprehensive manner, with a lot of breadth but, if you don’t want to be overwhelmed, just choose one or two that most interest you.
A partial list of the featured topics: ecological footprint, landfills and the waste disposal sector, consumer debt, air pollution, freegans, marketing, junk mail, energy independence, the effect of consumer culture on mental and emotional well-being, carbon tax, food miles, fashion obsolescence, the green economy, e-waste, clean tech, globalization, Bhutan’s happiness index.
Interesting things to ponder as we consider resolutions for 2009.
The Compact: Adventures in Simple Living
Several months ago I discovered and, sort of, joined the Compact. A group of environmentally concerned friends in San Francisco made a compact not to purchase any new, non-essential items for a year i.e. a compact lifestyle. They did give themselves a little leeway though to buy underwear, socks, and safety items new. They started a Yahoo! group to refine the rules, record their journeys, give each other tips and support each other.
Joining is not rigid -you are more making a compact with yourself – and is more about reconsidering you personal relationship with “stuff”.I’m now more likely to repair something or borrow something. I usually buy tops secondhand but have a difficult time finding pants that fit so I go straight to the stores I depend on for fit.
Soon so many others discovered the Compact that the original group was helping the world and had little time to help each other. To make it more personal again, geographical Yahoo!group offshoots have started because many shopping sources and ideas for free entertainment tend to be local.
Even teens can be tempted away from the mall and make it their own cause as Marta Marano in Toronto has.
Some other links:
Some local groups: San Francisco/Bay Area
Seattle
Los Angeles
Chicago
New York City
What Would Jesus Buy? asks us to reconsider what Christmas is all about.
The Compact to Live Lightly and Sustainably
Several months ago I discovered and, sort of, joined the Compact. A group of environmentally concerned friends in San Francisco made a compact not to purchase any new, non-essential items for a year i.e. a compact lifestyle. They did give themselves a little leeway though to buy underwear, socks, and safety items new. They started a Yahoo! group to refine the rules, record their journeys, give each other tips and support each other.
Joining is not rigid -you are more making a compact with yourself – and is more about reconsidering you personal relationship with “stuff”.I’m now more likely to repair something or borrow something. I usually buy tops secondhand but have a difficult time finding pants that fit so I go straight to the stores I depend on for fit.
Soon so many others discovered the Compact that the original group was helping the world and had little time to help each other. To make it more personal again, geographical Yahoo!group offshoots have started because many shopping sources and ideas for free entertainment tend to be local.
Some local Compact group links:
San Francisco/Bay Area
Seattle
Los Angeles
Chicago
New York City
Other related links:
GOOD
Not All Buy into Black Friday
What Would Jesus Buy? asks us to reconsider what Christmas is all about.
If you are a fan of thrift stores or would like to find out more about the stores in your area then The Thrift Shopper is for you.
Sustainable Gift Wrapping
Many of you may be doing giftless holidays, but if not, here are many ideas for how to keep the gift-wrapping waste free and fun.
My friend, Tamara, shares some thoughtful traditions:
“Years ago when the girls were younger and their gifts were often odd-sized and bulky, rather than buying those giant plastic draw string bags, I bought some Christmas fabric at the end of the season to make my own. I made several in a variety of sizes that can be used year after year. They are easy to store and come in handy.
The second thing that I did was use the nesting decorated boxes that Costco usually carries at Christmas time (although I didn’t see them this year). I bought a set for each child in a different pattern, plus an additional one for any visiting child. Each Christmas Eve, we un-nest the boxes and set them piled high near each one’s stocking. Christmas morning, they still have the thrill of the surprise (Including which of the twelve boxes will be filled with a gift or a clue as to where to find a gift) and there is far less waste and the boxes are reused each year. When they were little it certainly made “Santa’s” job a lot easier too! Since each girl has a pattern that is hers, and they both still love setting up their respective stacks each year. It has become a cherished tradition along with Advent devotions.
Another way to add to the fun especially when the number of gifts is singular or fewer is to have the boxes passed to one another or the clues for the scavenger hunt to be shared. Hope these thoughts spur someone else to think of a new way to adapt these to suit another generation.”
My sisters have been wrapping creatively for years and I save those wrappings to delight another person. (That’s my mom opening a gift wrapped in re-used materials.) After the holidays, consider designating a place where you can stash potential wrapping materials for the next time you are giving a gift of any sort. This would be a good place to keep those packing peanuts for subsequent mailings.
