Showing posts with label environmental friendliness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental friendliness. Show all posts
6/2/10
Organic Coupon Roundup
I haven't done an organic coupon round up in a while, so I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about some great organic coupons that are floating around the internet these days. There are some really great ones, from $1.00 off any Muir Glen product (which could get you some really cheap tomato sauce or salsa!) to a variety of Organic Valley coupons and tons of Seventh Generation coupons, there really are a lot out there right now that can be paired up with prices to get some hot deals!
I'm not going to list them all here, because I found this organic round up on the blog Your Green Helper, so I wanted to give credit where it is deserved and put out the link. So here you go - Organic Coupon Roundup. Enjoy the coupons, and come back and let me know about any great deals you find!
Work On It Wednesday - Plastics
This week, we're working on cutting plastics out of our lives. This is a huge one for me, as I know all the negative drawbacks to plastics, but I still feel compelled to use them at times (they can be so convenient and handy!) Regardless of their convenience issue, the negatives far outweigh the positives, and thus I am going to be making a conscious effort to really eradicate plastics from my life.
Plastics are far too abundance in the every day life of most Americans. From baby bottles to electronics, they permeate our lives, and cause some unseen damage that is just now coming to the forefront of the news. Time Magazine recently had an article about the Perils of Plastics that mentioned that "the dose makes the poison" an old saying that has defined the ways that chemicals are handled. The idea is that even if the chemicals that are present in our lives are bad for us, the dose in them will be so minimal that it really won't cause any harm. That's all fine and dandy, except that these chemicals are everywhere nowadays. So though you may never get a huge dose of one chemical from plastics, the buildup from other sources combine to have a large dose than would be considered safe.
Some of the chemicals that we especially need to worry about in plastics are Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, which have both been found to disrupt the endocrine system and cause issues ranging from hyperactivity to fertility problems including reduced sperm count and corruption of eggs. Children are especially sensitive to chemicals found in plastics, as their bodies are still developing and their hormonal systems are in formation. These are found in modern day plastics, and BPA has been especially found to breakdown and leach into the food in circumstances where the plastics are washed are heated. In fact, the Center for Disease Control has found BPA in the urine of 93% of people sampled in the US over the age of 6 - an alarmingly high figure.
The good news is plastic, unlike some other things like artificial sweeteners, are easy to point out. They are everywhere in our houses - plastic baggies, storage containers, shower curtains, and even wrapping up our vegetables in the refrigerator. Although I don't know that it would possible to completely and totally eliminate plastic, you can eliminate it in the ways that have the most impact - in cooking and in the foods that you eat. Here are a few tips to get your started on reducing your BPA and phthalate exposure.
- Never microwave anything in plastic containers. Even the vegetables that are "steamer" veggies that are supposed to be nuked in their bag, take them out and place them in a glass dish. They will still steam (I've tried it) and you will remove the situation where you are cooking them in plastics.
- Buy items in glass jars instead of cans - sometimes things like tomato sauces come in both glass and can, and you should always opt for glass. Cans are lined with substances that can leach BPA into your food, and more acidic items like tomato sauces are more likely to leach. If you must buy canned items, pick them ones with the farthest expiration date, as those are likely to have packaged more recently, and BPA leaches over time (which the more recently packaged items would have had less of).
- Look for the #7 recycling products. These include the ones that are made of polycarbonate, which is the plastic that you should avoid the most if you are not avoiding it everywhere. #7 plastics are often hard, transparent plastics used in things like children's sippy cups, water bottles, food storage, and baby bottles (ie all the things that really don't need to be exposed to BPA leaching).
- Look for children's toys that are BPA free. Often times you can find ones that are marked as such, but you can also explore alternative toys such as wooden toys that are not using plastics at all (this would be my preference, personally).
- Use glass storage containers. They are more and more affordable, and pyrex makes some that work great. Good rule of thumb - don't store food in plastics.
- Bring your own bags to the grocery store - stores are more and more rewarding consumers who do this by giving them a .05 credit for each bag they bring. This will more than pay for the bags themselves over time, and I find that my reusable bags are so much more durable and easier to handle than plastic bags. I actually love using reusable bags, so although it takes some effort to remember to bring them to the store, it certainly isn't a sacrifice for me to use them!
- Drink tap water. Bottled water is a waste of money, and costs dearly in environmental waste. Not only that, but most bottled waters are in plastic bottles! You can save the environment, your pocket book, and your health by not drinking bottled water!
I hope this gives you some helpful tips on getting started removing the plastics from your life. Although plastics are easy to spot, they are so abundant in our everyday use that ridding our lives of them completely is quite a step. Don't get discouraged - Work On It Wednesday is all about baby steps. If you can't (or don't want to) replace items at this time, then just work on replacing them with non-plastics when they wear out. Don't be overwhelmed by the process. Every step that you take is a step in the right direction, and here at Just Add Lauren we're all about the process and doing what you can.
What steps do you plan on making this week? Where are you planning on starting in getting rid of your plastics? Have you already gotten rid of plastics, and if so, what tips do you have for other readers? Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences!
5/18/10
Try It Out Tuesday Introduction
Over the course of the next few months, we're going to be adding a series to the blog called "Try It Out Tuesday," which, along with Work On It Wednesday is all about adding new things to your life and trying out new steps to take to work towards a healthier you.
I will have a post each Tuesday with some information on a food (or food group) that I am going to be trying to work on adding into my diet for the week. This could range from things as broad as dairy products (which would actually be a real struggle for me) or as specifically as something like pomegranates (how the heck do you eat them?!)
Whereas Work On It Wednesday is about all sorts of things in life - stress management, fitness, nutrition, time management, etc., Try It Out Tuesday is going to focus solely on food (yuuum!) and incorporating new foods or food groups to my overall diet.
Personally, I am really working towards cleaning up my diet and focusing on getting the most nutrient rich foods that I possibly can while still staying in a healthy calorie range for my height and age. I'm not a total believer in the idea of eating super fat items like lard, so I would consider this a fairly moderate nutritional make over - although as you all know from my ideas on the definitions of healthy, I do aim to eventually be more open to more "fattening" foods). But for now, you can just call me Middle Of The Road Lauren. ☺ Regardless, I am a firm believer in baby steps and making small changes towards greater good, so I am working toward implementing more nutritious foods in my diet, and really trying out new food options, particularly since summer is just around the corner and there should be a plethora of available choices!
I would love for you to join me in Try It Out Tuesday. I want to hear about the changes you've made to your diet, whether you think they have had any effect on you, the changes you are still wanting to make, etc. How are you incorporating Try It Out Tuesday into your diet?
5/12/10
Work On It Wednesday
(I, for one, am working on getting new graphics...please bear with me!)
Well, I think you (meaning I) can. So each Wednesday, I am going to make that a point - to make a conscious effort to change just one thing about my life or work towards a goal. Whether that be nutritional, environmental, fitness related, or just lifestyle in general, there are many parts of my life that could use improving, so I am going to work on it step by step. I am a very goal oriented person, and I function better when I set out with a specific idea of what I want to do in my mind, so I think that by setting those small stepping stone goals, I can work towards where I really want to be in my life. I discussed in my post about the definitions of healthy, I think life is all about making baby steps towards our ultimate goal. There are few people that can set a goal and then achieve it within days (or weeks, or whatever). And personally, the times that I have set goals and in one great leap achieved them, it meant that I was not setting myself high enough standards. So this series is going to be the opposite - my ultimate goal is to live in a completely green, healthy, environmental friendly, organic way. Certainly, I am not there yet (see the gluttonous pile of Redi-Whip I put on my Angel Food Cake), but I am working towards that goal with baby steps, and it is a journey.
I would love for you to join me on this journey. Part of what I envisioned for Just Add Lauren is a blog where we can come together and share our paths towards a healthier (and thus happier) lifestyle. I want your feedback, your changes, your comments, everything! Let me know what you are doing to improve your life, and I will likewise share what I am doing to improve mine!
5/10/10
The Case for Grass Fed Beef
Eatwild.com is a great resources if you are looking for more information about a variety of health/organic living related subjects. Most recently I came across their articles about Grass Fed meat, and the argument as to why we should support the grass fed movement.
If you are just beginning to explore the idea of grass fed meat, the site has a great overview of grass fed basics. It is a great place to start to learn about the benefits to both you and the animals.
The site has a pretty in depth argument for the health benefits of grass fed meat, including the idea that it is lower in fat and calories, higher in vitamin E, and has a better balance of Omega 3/Omega 6.
Finally, and my favorite tool, EatWild has a great map that lets you look for all the pasture based farms in your area. It has a map of the US, and then you can click on your state. From there it will list all the farms in your state, or you can click on the link at the top that will say "Visit our Eatwild your state map" - if you click on this link, it will take you to a map of your state will all the farms mapped on it. You can zoom in to your area, and find the farms nearest to you! I love this tool, since you don't have to worry about mapquesting every small town that you see listed on a farm address to see how far away from it you are!
Do you have any great websites that you would like to share? I would love to hear about them!
5/5/10
Factory Farming and Sustainability
Apparently, this past fall, the University of Wisconsin - Madison chose "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan as their first "Go Big Read" selection for their university wide reading list. Of course with Wisconsin being farming country, the book sparked controversy and debate, to which the school responded by hosting Michael Pollan in a lecture session, and also holding a round table discussion involving a few different sides of the whole issue. I'll go into more detail on Michael Pollan's speech in an upcoming post, but for now I wanted to focus in on what the alternative farmer had to say.
Participating in the roundtable discussion was a man by the name of John Vrieze of Vrieze Farms, Inc. As much as I love Michael Pollan, I was actually far more interested based on the roundtable discussions on what Vrieze had to say. He seems to be a sort of middle ground - a large farm with great output, but controlled by a farmer who is very interested in the industrial ramifications and sustainability of his farm. He appears to be an intermediary between an organic, small farmer and the large CAFOs, and I think he brings up a vital part of the discussion we should all be having - perhaps there is a middle ground between local, sustainable, organic produce, and the large CAFOs of production such as Food, Inc, which present the information in a way that makes it appear that large scale farming efforts have lost a complete sense of humanity.
Vrieze talks extensively in the sound-bite of climate concerns, and he believes that the economies of scale that he employes actually help to reduce the carbon emissions in production. He claims that conventionally raised cows product about 10 pounds of carbon emissions per gallon of milk produces, but using his methods he has reduced that emission to 2-3 pounds of carbon per gallon of milk.
He uses genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in his farming methods, and praises the fact that with the introduction of GMOs he is able to discontinue the use of insecticides, and he has also completely stopped buying chemical fertilizers.
Vrieze talks extensively in the sound-bite of climate concerns, and he believes that the economies of scale that he employes actually help to reduce the carbon emissions in production. He claims that conventionally raised cows product about 10 pounds of carbon emissions per gallon of milk produces, but using his methods he has reduced that emission to 2-3 pounds of carbon per gallon of milk.
He uses genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in his farming methods, and praises the fact that with the introduction of GMOs he is able to discontinue the use of insecticides, and he has also completely stopped buying chemical fertilizers.
The biggest thing that stood out to me about Vrieze's talk was that he was intensely concerned with reducing waste and becoming more energy independent. He has worked on creating renewable energy products from the waste on his farm, and has learned how to make natural gas out of cow manure using anaerobic digestions. He has also dabbled in raising algae on manure as a replacement for the diesel fuel that he uses on his farm currently. The idea is that he could raise the algae on the cow manure that he has, and would be able to extract the oil from the algae (which is high in omega 3s) and put it back into the dairy product, so that the farm has a complete circle of production.
Vrieze claims that because of the size of his farm, he has been able to do his own research and development in experiments on his own farm. If he had a smaller amount of cows, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to do these relatively smaller scale experiments, and he wouldn't have had the opportunity to develop these ideas and realize some of his goals, such as creating the energy and resources that his farm does.
You can listen to Vrieze's sound clip here.
Vrieze claims that because of the size of his farm, he has been able to do his own research and development in experiments on his own farm. If he had a smaller amount of cows, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to do these relatively smaller scale experiments, and he wouldn't have had the opportunity to develop these ideas and realize some of his goals, such as creating the energy and resources that his farm does.
You can listen to Vrieze's sound clip here.
There was also a much shorter sound bite by Michael Pollan, which didn't bring up an Earth shatteringly new ideas, but shared an important concept that I wanted to touch on. He speaks mostly in the round table discussion of the polarization of the issue - the idea that we would believe that all farms should be local, organic farms, or in contrast that all farms should be large concentrated feed lot kind of situations. In response, he brought up the idea that we really should be more diverse than that - the problems with industries tend to come when "all our eggs are in one basket" as he says. He believes that not only are monocultures in the field a problem, for the variety of reasons that he goes into in his books, but also monoculture in our marketplace is equally as detrimental. We need to balance the good aspects of efficiency in farming with the good aspects of resiliency. When all of our focus is directed towards one way of production (like large farms), our whole production can be easily shocked by one aspect changing (he brings up the increase in oil prices, which very much affected the cost/production of large farms). His main point is that we need to have a variety of ways that we produce things, which helps to balance the market and maintain efficiency and consistency.
You can listen to Pollan's sound clip here.
I found Vrieze's farming methods quite interesting, and I do have a lot of respect for the fact that he is able to meld his large production sized farm with the ideas typically represented by smaller farmers - sustainability, energy independence, etc. However, I do not believe that Vrieze is the norm - I think there are many factory sized productions that are not concerned with the environmental impact of what they are doing. I think he brings a new perspective that does fall somewhere in between the extreme version of sustainability practiced by farmers such as Joel Salatin, and the other side of the extreme with no thoughts on health or sustainability practiced by many large farms.
What are your thoughts on the whole thing? Do you feel that Vrieze represents a middle ground? Does it matter? In the end, though he approaches it with more sustainability and awareness than some, he is still using massive amounts of fossil fuels for his production, as well as growing GMOs on his farm. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? I would love to hear your feedback!
I found Vrieze's farming methods quite interesting, and I do have a lot of respect for the fact that he is able to meld his large production sized farm with the ideas typically represented by smaller farmers - sustainability, energy independence, etc. However, I do not believe that Vrieze is the norm - I think there are many factory sized productions that are not concerned with the environmental impact of what they are doing. I think he brings a new perspective that does fall somewhere in between the extreme version of sustainability practiced by farmers such as Joel Salatin, and the other side of the extreme with no thoughts on health or sustainability practiced by many large farms.
What are your thoughts on the whole thing? Do you feel that Vrieze represents a middle ground? Does it matter? In the end, though he approaches it with more sustainability and awareness than some, he is still using massive amounts of fossil fuels for his production, as well as growing GMOs on his farm. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? I would love to hear your feedback!
5/3/10
Dirty Dozen Produce List
Here is the list that they came up with for the "dirtiest" conventionally grown fruits and vegetables:
1) Celery
2) Peaches
3) Strawberries
4) Apples
5) Blueberries
6) Nectarines
7) Bell Peppers
8) Spinach
9) Kale
10) Cherries
11) Potatoes
12) Imported Grapes
And the "cleanest" fruits and veggies (the ones with the smallest amounts of measurable pesticide residue):
1) Onions
2) Avocado
3) Sweet Corn
4) Pineapple
5) Mangos
6) Sweet Peas
7) Asparagus
8) Kiwi
9) Cabbage
10)Eggplant
11) Cantaloupe
12) Watermelon
13) Grapefruit
14) Sweet Potato
15) Honeydew Melon
As you can see, a reoccurring theme in the cleanest veggies are ones that have a thick, hard skin that in inedible (think watermelon). Thus, the chemicals are not as present on the parts of the fruit that you are eating, because the skin protects the insides. In contrast, many of the "dirtiest" plants are ones that have a thin, edible skin like berries and grapes. Since they lack the protection of the thicker skin, and you are eating the whole fruit, they are more likely to have higher pesticide levels.
So the moral of the story is that if you are tight on budget (and who isn't these days?), but you are trying to eat in the healthiest and cleanest way possible, your dollar would be best served going towards a dirtier plant when you are choosing to buy organically, and you can save the money and buy conventionally when you are buying the "cleaner" plants.
For more information on the dirty dozen and clean 15, check out Food News Shoppers Guide
4/19/10
Women with a Tiny Carbon Footprint
While I find Ms Pick's story fascinating, I also think that the lifestyle that she's adopted would be very isolating. Can you imagine never being able to go and meet friends for lunch (can't drive a car, can't eat cooked food) or spending your days doing the laundry by hand? I don't even like doing the laundry now, and it takes hardly any effort with my washing machine! Obviously Ms Pick is someone who is secure in her decision to give up the conveniences of the modern world, but I wouldn't be able to hack it. I do think, however, that it is extremely admirable that someone would take on as much responsibility for their role in polluting the environment as Ms Pick does, and it inspires me to try and take on just a little bit more for my role, which is clearly a lot larger than Ms Pick's.
4/12/10
Green Living
What I think I'm doing pretty well with
*I try to eat organically when I can - as I've (maybe?) mentioned before, we shop at the Commissary for the most part for groceries, and although they have improved immensely even just in the past two years in terms of the organics that they carry, they still don't have the selection of say, Whole Foods (or the prices either, thank goodness).
*I recycle. Thankfully we have a pretty good city service that comes to pick up the recycling once a week and I don't even have to sort it. I've definitely noticed a reduction in our trash. This week we only had one bag of trash for the whole week. Our recycling bin, however, is overflowing.
*I keep my heat turned down. I lived through the Colorado winter with my heat set at 60 and going down to 58 during the night. Part of it is because of energy consciousness, part of it is because I am cheap. We have gas heat, and even with it being set at 60, there were months that our bill was over $150. I'm glad winter is over, and we don't have air conditioning, so the summer is a much cheaper time for us! :)
* We try to eat in season - this is a great tip for energy consciousness and also for cost effectiveness. For example, last week I bought strawberries for $1/lb. A few months ago, those same strawberries were $5/lb. It isn't really strawberry season in Colorado yet, but they are traveling less far to get to my mouth than they were in December. More on that in my "what I need to work on" category.
* I drive a Prius - well, actually now my husband drives her, since we live 25 minutes away from his work, and I work from home.
What I Need to Work On
*Although we have a Prius, our other car is a Jeep that gets 15 miles to the gallon. It's not really my fault, as my husband bought it before we were together, but I want to throw up every time I put gas into it, which is about every 5 seconds.
*I don't do a great job of eating locally. I've heard that Colorado has more organic farming acres than any state in the US, but I swear you wouldn't know it in my town. Although I think that my town is probably the anomaly for the state, I don't really have great access to local farms or farmer's markets. I have to drive about an hour for a really great farmer's markets (although I'm going to give my local ones another shot this summer), and I'm not sure if driving an hour to go to the farmers market really counts as being energy efficient...although in the Prius it might!
*I really like to work out on the treadmill. I've heard that the treadmill is the most energy sucking of all the gym equipment. I can't really help myself. I just really like it. I'm going to try to work out outside a little more, once it's not so frigid.
*We eat a lot of smaller portioned items. I've recently started buying larger portions of fruit and meat, but we still have individually packaged yogurt, applesauce, etc. I pack my husband's lunch everyday for work (so maybe that balances out the small packaging?) so it is easier to have individual servings. However, I pack his lunch in tupperware every day, so we aren't using baggies that are getting thrown away. Maybe this one is a wash.
Things I Want To Try Out
*Making more homemade items. I've already started making homemade breads, and I batch cook some to freeze things before the produce goes bad, but I would really like to venture into the world of homemade yogurt, condiments, etc. Maybe if I get really gutsy I might try laundry detergent, but I have allergies with detergents, so that's up in the air.
*I am going to try the olive oil moisturizing thing. It really sounds like an interesting idea to me, and I do worry about putting on all this lotion (it is very dry in CO) with chemicals and fragrances and everything else, and then it just seeps into my skin. Olive oil has its praises sung all the time, so I'd like to try it out and see what kind of results I get with my skin.
*I'm buying more things secondhand. I've long been a lover of used books on Amazon, but now we're even trying to take it a step further and just get books from the library (free and green!) I also recently bought some clothes from the Salvation Army, although I've been told before that if you really can afford to buy from other places, you shouldn't take the things from people who really need them. Not sure how I feel about that. I am really looking forward to garage sale season though, since I want to get some new things for my house. I am going for a cottage look, and really love having kind of a funky (not TOO funky though) and unconventional style, but I am the worst decorator you have ever met in your life, so it is a constant challenge for me.
Well, that's all for now. Has this made you think of anything you could do better? What about the things you are already doing. So many of the things that we've made an effort to change have really not been major changes, and were so easy to make (like using tupperware instead of ziploc bags for lunches). I would love to hear more suggestions about what changes you made that you feel like are making a small difference, one person at a time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
