Digging through the trash

I was out exploring with my Dad today, and he took me to one of his favorite spots: an old trash dump! He's quite the treasure hunter!

It was amazing looking at what had been chucked. We weren't sure about the exact age of the site, but we're guessing it was not used after the 1950s, and we really have no idea when it started being used.

The most common items there were bottles, in every shape, size, and color. There were also a lot of pieces of broken dishes, a lot of shoe parts, many rusting out metal pots, buckets, cans, and even an old Model T Ford chassis, with the license plate still attached. Things were still recognizable, but were definitely well on their way to decay and decomposition. Nothing was bagged up. I guess garbage bags weren't invented back then.

I was thinking about all the plastic in our lives, and what one of our trash dumps might look like in a hundred years. I fear that it won't be evident whether our trash was left a year earlier or a century earlier. I worry that nothing in our landfills will be slowly returning back into the earth, but will be sitting there perfectly preserved as if in an Egyptian tomb.

It reminded me all over again just why it's so important to be cognizant of what materials the products I buy are made from. Sure it's great if I can recycle a plastic milk bottle when I'm done with it, but if a glass version is available, wouldn't I rather have that? Serving utensils in my kitchen will eventually break. When this happens, don't I want to worry about how to dispose of a piece of wood rather than plastic, even if that plastic has another use before it's finally thrown away? I know I'm not the first one to think about this issue, but sometimes we need our own experiences to make things hit home for us. Looking at a pile of somebody's relatively sustainable garbage made me realize that although I've cut my trash output drastically, what trash I do create isn't going anywhere anytime soon. That's not the kind of legacy I'm hoping to leave.

Sea Salt Scrub (in under 5 minutes, for under $5)

I've been wanting to write about some homemade health and beauty products for a while now, but the thing is, I like to actually try stuff before I write about it. And the problem is, I'm a bit of a hoarder. And, well, ok, I'll confess: when we moved to California (over a year ago), we were moving from a state with no sales tax. And what's more, we had a moving company, all paid for, to move whatever stuff we had. So, I headed over to Costco and stocked up. Like a crazy lady. I must have bought at least 100 rolls of toilet paper. Enough dishwasher tablets to stock a busy restaurant. So much lotion that the woman at the checkout probably thought I was filming another Silence of the Lambs movie.

Point is, I haven't needed a lot of cosmetic products since we've moved (and there's a lot that I still don't need - I predict that at current rates of consumption, I'll have celebrated my first and possibly second wedding anniversary before I need to buy more deoderant).

Finally, though, yesterday, I found a need for a product I didn't have stashed away! We were all out of exfoliating scrubs of any kind. I saw my chance and jumped on it, whipping up this batch of sea salt scrub super quickly - and cheaply.

Here are the directions:

Take 1 Cup of sea salt, and mix with 1/2 Cup of grapeseed oil (heads up on this one, I thought it came in a green bottle - nope, the oil itself is green! Which is a little odd, but now you know what to expect). Add 5 drops or so of essential oil (I used lemongrass). Mix it all together really well.

To use, just rub into skin, and rinse off (don't use on open cuts - that'll really hurt). It exfoliates and moisturizes! Also, I haven't tried it with this particular scrub, but I was at a spa with a friend recently and they used a salt scrub to clean her rings and make them all shiny and new looking.

And the best part is, I know there are no little plastic particles hiding out in there waiting to make their way down my drain and into the oceans. The packaging is reduced, because I'm buying stuff I'd either buy anyway, like the salt, or buying in larger quantities than if I purchased a scrub from a salon (to make 5 or 6 batches of this, I'll have one salt container and one grapeseed oil bottle to recycle, rather than 5 or 6 scrub bottles to recycle). The final cool thing is that the ingredients cost me about $22 - but I have enough left over to make a few more batches of this stuff, and the essential oil, which was the most expensive at $10.50, will last for many many batches. Plus I can use the grapeseed oil and the salt for cooking as well. I'm certain this is cheaper than buying a salt scrub at a spa, and I'm also certain it works just as well. Even if it is the color of pistachio icecream.

I highly recommend...

these organic cotton produce bags from Organic Needle - I'd been trying to reuse my plastic bags as much as possible in order to reduce overall waste, but when stuff would go mushy and moldy sometimes (even if just a little bit of lettuce slime) it became really hard to get them clean, they didn't dry properly, etc. I'll use up the ones I still have kicking around before saying goodbye for good, but these cotton bags are just lovely! I used them for fresh produce as well as dried beans from the bulk bins, and I couldn't be happier, plus I got to support a small business owner. The large ones were also great to put my empty milk bottles in when I biked to the store. It kept them from banging together in my backpack. Check them out!

Tin cans are made of plastic????

Since my decision to become a flexitarian a while back, I've been cooking slightly differently. We're still eating fish and seafood, but no more meat purchased for cooking at home. I’m so grossed out by what I read in Fast Food Nation that I frankly have no desire to buy, touch, cook, or eat meat anytime soon anyway.

The result, for the most part, has been great. I’ve made delicious eggplant parmesan, a spicy vegetarian chili, and this week, some wonderful tacos.

Part of the challenge for me has not been simply not eating meat, but what to eat in its place. I really don’t like tofu, or any of those other soy fake meat products. They hurt my stomach, for one thing. I never feel good after eating that stuff. Ever. Maybe I have some sort of intolerance, who knows? I also don’t care for the textures, or for the most part, the tastes. Beyond that, they just don’t seem like real food to me. I know lots of people really enjoy them, but for me, it’s just not a good option.

So I wanted tacos this week. Obviously ground meat was out. I considered fish, but didn’t really want the battery stuff with all the oil and fat involved. There’s fake taco meat out there (I think it’s called Smart Round or something), but that’s one of the worst on my stomach, so no way. That basically left beans – which is totally fine, except for now I’ve been reading about how cans may actually pose a danger to us because of the plastic (?!) lining, which contains potentially hazardous levels of BPA. BPA is the chemical you’ve probably heard of that can leach into your drinking water if you use plastic bottles. Bad news folks…it can also apparently leach into your food from tin cans! What’s really scary is that according to one site, one of the food items that is almost always guaranteed to contain BPA in the can linings? Baby formula. Scary isn’t it? See this article for more on BPA. It sort of makes me think that any health benefits of eating organic canned foods are probably cancelled out.

So anyway, I didn’t have any canned refried beans for making tacos, and I didn’t really want to go out and buy any after all I’ve been reading. I’ve also been trying to buy less canned food and more bulk items for environmental reasons - less packaging, less energy to transport, less waste. Cooked beans actually freeze pretty well, and although they take a while to cook, it’s easy to do large batches all at the same time.

Assorted varieties of beans account for probably 2/3 of the canned items I use. I’m a bit of a food snob, so I refuse to eat canned mushrooms, peas, carrots, etc. I do occasionally buy canned beets to throw in salads. I’ve been trying to get away from that, but this one is more of a pain. It takes what seems like forever to cook them, and it really heats up the house. The end result is a fair bit better, but I’m concerned about the energy costs of doing it this way. More research would be needed.

The other items that I eat canned are artichoke hearts, corn, and tomatoes. I’m not sure that there are any easy solutions other than a radical change in what I cook. I go through a fair amount of artichoke hearts in a year. I froze some from my CSA this spring, but it won’t be enough to get me through the year. Tomatoes will be the same issue. I use probably a can a week in sauces, soups, curries, etc. Unfortunately, according to Organic Grace, there is virtually no brand guaranteed to be BPA free. I’ll keep looking – does anybody know of any guaranteed BPA free brands out there? I know glass is a reasonable alternative for items that aren't sold in bulk. Although the lid may contain BPA as well, if the jars are stored upright, the lid shouldn't actually be touching the food, and it's a much smaller area than the entire container.

In the meantime, I’ll be avoiding canned items as much as possible. For my tacos (which were Delicious!) I made the following, super easy refried bean substitute:

1 C. (approx.) cooked chick peas
½ onion, chopped
1 T. (approx.) chopped fresh cilantro
½ t. red chili powder
½ t. cumin powder
½ t. coriander powder
½ t. salt
Olive oil for sautéing

Saute onions until just starting to get soft. Add beans, heat until warm. Add spices except fresh cilantro. Mix, and mash the peas a bit using a fork. Add water about 1 T at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add fresh cilantro just before serving.

This was barely enough for the two of us, they were that good! Next time I’m going to try making a double batch and freezing some for an even easier meal when I’m pressed for time.

I had previously tried making my own tortillas as well, but that was less of a success, so this time I just stuck with a pack of the pre-made from Whole Foods. One cooking adventure at a time!

Would you rather...

Eliminate hunger and disease, or be able to bring lasting world peace? OK, this is just a mental exercise, but it hopefully makes you think (and the rules of the game say you're not allowed to say "both"). I had a page-a-day calendar like this one year, and I find myself going through “would you rather” scenarios almost daily lately.

Would I rather…drive to the store and buy canning supplies to can the three bunches of asparagus about to rot in my fridge, or save the car trip, not spend any money or purchase anything, and toss the veggies?

Would I rather…buy a can of spray paint to re-finish the pink wooden chest I got for free, and use it as a tv stand, or buy environmentally friendly paint, convince myself that I’d do the additional work of sanding before painting, but run the likely risk that I’d never get around to actually doing the project and end up purchasing a new piece of furniture?

Would I rather…buy the organic bananas at Whole Foods that have plastic wrapped around the top, or the conventional bananas with no extra wrapping?

Would I rather…get my milk in a plastic bottle at the store that I can walk to, or drive to the store that is too far away to walk to, but has milk in reusable glass bottles?

The point is that this stuff isn’t always easy, and the right choice isn’t always a no-brainer. Sure, there are some things that are obvious…would I rather get junk mail that I can recycle or get none? Obviously, I’d rather get none. Most choices, however, once we’ve figured out the easy stuff, are not so clear, and require a careful analysis of what we think might be best for the planet, our wallets, and our lifestyles.

I hate throwing away food, so I bought the canning supplies. The packaging was minimal and recyclable, and I’ll be able to get many uses out of each of the jars. I also bought the spray paint. Probably not a great choice, but I hate painting projects and knew I would never actually get around to using the eco-friendly paint, so I made the choice that worked for me. Sometimes we’ll find a third option, like with the bananas…I did without, and bought pears and apples instead. The milk is a draw for me: if it’s the only thing I need, I walk, but if I’m out doing errands anyway, I’ll go to the store with the glass bottles.

I know these aren’t probably all the right choices, from a strict waste or carbon analysis, but just like my decision to go flexitarian, they’re choices that I can work into my lifestyle without making me feel so overwhelmed that I throw up my hands and say “forget all this” – because for me, the wrong choice is the one that I can’t maintain.

Coffee

Coffee
Originally uploaded by dyobmit

Lately, I've been thinking about picnics. Those nice baskets that have the reusable plates, cups, and napkins. Why shouldn't we bring a "picnic basket" with us whenever we are eating away from home? I have made an effort recently to be sure to pack my bag as if I'm going off into the woods for a meal. I realized that I've become way too reliant on the idea that if I stop for a drink or a snack, I'll be provided with (usually disposable) everything I need - napkins, paper towels, plastic utensils, straws, the list goes on.

I'd been carrying my own coffee cup for a while now. That one was relatively easy, provided I remembered to take it out of my bag and wash it before it started smelling really bad. Recently, however, I've noticed that even with my own mug, getting a cup of coffee generates a lot of waste - there's the sugar packets, the stirrers, and sometimes even the little plastic tubs the milk comes in.

Here's how I'm dealing with it: I have an old pepper tin that I've filled with sugar. That way, if the shop only has packets and no large shaker, I don't have to create the paper waste.

Just in case the box pops open, I've been keeping it inside a small cottage cheese container I had laying around...it doubles as a take out container if I need one. Even though we have a great recycling program here, we can't recycle styrofoam if it has food grease soaked into it - and take out containers made of styrofoam always wind up with grease soaked in.

If a coffee shop only has milk or cream in small plastic cups with the foil lids, I go for extra sugar and drink it black.

I've started carrying a spoon that fell victim to our garbage disposal in my bag. I won't be sad if I accidentally forget it somewhere, since it looks pretty beaten up already, and now I don't have to wonder what kind of tree the wooden stirrers are made out of or feel bad about the plastic waste created by using that little stick for less than 10 seconds.

I've also started throwing a couple cloth napkins in the bottom of my bag. I use them to wipe the spoon that I stir the coffee with, and to wipe my hands if I use a public restroom.

According to this source, one third of all trash in the US comes from packaging. Throw away paper cups are one of those forms of packaging...and they aren't free. Shop owners recognize this, and many offer discounts for using your own mug. Making less trash saves me money. That's hard to find fault with.

You can check out this handy Coffee Waste Calculator to estimate just how much waste you're creating each year if you use the disposable paper cups...even if you're like me and drink a coffee only once a week or so, less is always more when it comes to trash.

H2...oh!

water bottles
Originally uploaded by habitatgirl

Water is the most basic of all beverages. It doesn’t need any prep, it doesn’t contain any calories, and we need it to survive. Our bodies are made up of two thirds water. So when I imbibe some, I’m doing something good, right?

But, as my wise mom has been asking herself, what’s up with all these bottles? Why have crowds of us become convinced that we shouldn’t drink the tap water?

There are some places in the world where it is unsafe to drink what comes out of the faucet. I certainly do not live in one of those places. My water is just fine. It tastes a little funny to me sometimes, but I think it’s at least partly because I’m expecting it to not be as delicious as that prettily packaged, well marketed stuff that I pay a whole lot more for. Let me remind myself once again, that just because there’s a picture of a mountain lake does not mean that’s where the water comes from. It could just as well be municipal water from anywhere on the planet.

The cost of transporting the water from the bottling plant to the store is tremendous. Then there’s the waste. The caps are often not recyclable at all, and the “recycling” of plastic bottles is really better described as “downcycling” – it’s not the same as recycling a glass bottle, which can be made into another glass bottle. Plastic degrades as it is recycled, and therefore a plastic bottle cannot be used to make a new plastic bottle…that requires new plastic. That's assuming that the bottles even get recycled in the first place, which most aren't according to this article from MSN. Plus there’s a label on each bottle, and the cardboard tray that the bottles sit in together, and the plastic wrapped around all of that…all this for something we can get by turning the kitchen faucet!

Most of us have heard something about plastics being not so great for our health either. Read more here if you want to get all the nasty details about the possible health problems resulting from excess plastic use.

Let’s not forget to look at the financial side of all of this. California is one of the three states that requires a deposit on plastic bottles. I always recycle, but using my curbside bin, not by returning them to the store. So I pay 5 cents extra for every bottle of water I buy. According to one source, the average American drinks 210 half liter bottles of water each year - that's $10.50 just in deposits! As far as the cost of the water itself, the stuff from the tap is significantly cheaper than the stuff I used to buy in the store. So much cheaper that it is basically free in comparison. What’s not cheaper is the bottle to carry it around in.

Alternatives to plastic water bottles are limited. I suppose I could carry around a glass jar that I reuse, but that seems potentially dangerous and messy. The other option I’ve found is aluminum bottles. Sigg is currently the accessory du jour for those who are hip to the problems of plastics, but the company has actually been around for over 100 years. The bottles are pricey, but they should last virtually forever, according to information on their website. Plus there’s the sort of invaluable health benefit of 0% leaching of chemicals from the bottle to your drinks. I like the fact that you can buy a replacement cap if you break or lose yours, and not have to replace the entire bottle. They’ve also not neglected to appeal to our desire for pretty packaging and have a huge variety of designs to choose from (you can even mix and match the caps and the bottles!). When buy nothing month is up, I’m going to think about this one here.

The one concern I have to research a bit more here is the cleaning tablets and brush that you are encouraged to buy (more packaging; plus, what goes in to those cleaning tablets?). It seems from the sites FAQs that this extra purchase is probably not necessary.

So another rule is born...no more plastic water bottles!