EcoActivista

Let Your City Kids Taste Farm Life

2011-09-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

We've all heard the sad stories about when an adult asks a city (or suburban, for that matter) kid, "Where does our food come from?", and the child answers, "From the store." What do yours say when you ask them? Mine four year old answered, "I don't know. Here?" (we were at a restaurant when I asked). Well, whether yours are well educated on the subject of farm to fork or don't know the difference between a farm and a food store, chances are they have never had the chance to milk a goat...but now they can!

Angelic Organics is my favorite farm ever because they have been supplying our seasonal vegetables since before my children were ever a thought. They also have a wonderful non-profit on the farm called the Angelic Organics Learning Center (AOLC) who has some really amazing and completely affordable children's programming. Located in Caledonia, IL, AOLC is just under 2 hours away from Chicago. Just close enough for a day trip. Their next event for ages 3-5, Preschoolers! Fresh Food From the Farm is coming up on Sept 9th and includes picking "fresh carrots, gathering eggs from the chickens and trying their hand at milking a goat!" can also try hardboiled eggs from the farm and make a salad snack straight from the field. Now not many preschoolers I know like to eat salad, but most do like to try things that they have a hand in making, and in this case not only will they make it, but they likely get to harvest it and see the ingredients while they are still connected to the soil. How cool is that? I'll bet that increases the chances of their eating salad, right? Your children will learn and expand their palette without even realizing it's happening.

To see a farm in action is an amazingly rich learning experience. For children and people of all ages who have ever wondered how food gets to their plates, nothing is as awe-inspiring as seeing rows upon rows of carrots, lettuces, kale, radishes, etc. This is the food that should be feeding America. It makes me so proud to eat the produce that comes straight from a farm here in IL. It tastes so fresh, flavorful and delicious! So register to take your kids up to Caledonia and visit AOLC this weekend (space is limited), or click here to see if there's another event that better fits your calendar.

(This photo to the right is of hundreds of onion seedlings on a flatbed trailer at AO. The farm now offers extra seedlings free to shareholders on a first-come, first- served basis.)

Still Not Sold on Organics?

2011-08-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Since I've started this blog, many people have asked me about my choice to buy organic. Whether in relation to meat, dairy, veggies, and especially grains, I hear "but buying organic is more expensive..." or "I feel like hormone free is more important than organic" or "I can't even tell the difference between conventional and organic". I used to say these things too.

To the first, I think most people could afford to buy organic for at least a portion of their grocery list. It's just a matter of priorities. Years ago people would have (and did...and some still do) say they could not afford to buy pre-sliced/shredded cheese vs. a block to cut or shred at home. Or too expensive to buy soup that can just be heated in the microwave and drank from the cup it came in vs. making it at home on the stove. Or that they couldn't afford cable, or cell phones, or Starbucks. You get my point.

To the second most heard "argument", I would say if you feel that way you should watch Food Inc. Or at least read the link below siting the Organic Consumer Association's top 10 reasons to buy organic. I'm pretty sure they cover the myriad important reasons to go organic other than just to avoid hormones. If avoiding the hormones in dairy and meat products is your main agenda, think of it like this - buying hormone-free milk costs a little more than conventional milk and reaches your goal, but spending just a little more to buy the organic milk also assures you that your milk contains no antibiotics, pesticide residue, no GMO's, etc.

The third statement can be answered two ways depending on my mood. The nice answer is to explain my experience with my CSA, Angelic Organics and my meat share through Cedar Valley Farms. The vegetables I get from AO beat the grocery store (even organic) counterpart hands down every time. I think that the taste of produce has more to do with how fresh it is and when it was picked than whether or not it is organic. Our meat is great from our MS too, and I think that has to do with the fact that the animals are allowed to graze and peck rather than being force-fed corn products all day long. Let me know if you ever want to set up a taste test! And if I'm feeling annoyed at the end of a day I might just say, "If you can't tell the difference, then you should buy organic just to get/give all the other benefits!"

And don't get me wrong. I don't buy 100% organic. But I do when I can and where I feel it makes the most difference. So if you still aren't sure why eating/buying organic is important and worth it, read this article by Ronnie Cummins. It is a pretty detailed and educated view on the 10 best reasons why you should vote with your dollars and buy organic!

Beyond Frankenfoods and Toxics: OCA's Ten Reasons to Buy Organic

Eco, Ovo, Fun!

2011-07-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

If you've ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show, you know it's a feast for the senses. Amazing performances, fantastical costumes, and theatrical music. And now Cirque du Soleil has come to Chicago once again with a new show called Ovo.

Ovo means "egg" in Portuguese and the show features the world of insects living under the radar as we humans go about our business. Cirque says this about Ovo, "The show plunges the audience into the hidden universe alive at our feet; an ecosystem teeming with life and unseen beings - insects that work, eat, crawl, flutter, feast, fight and court among each other in an ongoing explosion of energy and movement." The cast of Ovo is made up of 53 performing artists from 13 countries, comprising jugglers, contortionists, acrobats and more. The story is about a lonely Ladybug who is excited by the possibilities of change when a Foreigner arrives with an egg.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum teamed up with Cirque du Soleil for a free mini-performance recently and it was super fun! The Firefly awed the crowd of children and adults with his diabolos, as he spun and juggled as many as 4 at a time, never missing a beat! The Nature Museum's entrance offered the perfect performance space with it's vaulted ceiling which allowed the diabolos to fly high into the air. The Firefly, Ladybug and Master Flipo were all there to mingle with the audience afterward in full costume. It was really cool to see them up close, giving high fives, fist bumps and waves to the kids. Master Flipo even interacted with my son making a lovely "zurburt" sound when we poked his tummy... The Nature Museum also had several cool insects, bugs and arachnid on display where the audience could get a close-up view. My son particularly liked the walking stick!

Here are the characters in their awesome costumes and makeup.

Ladybug saying "hello" to some little cuties.

Firefly ready to give my little man a high five.

Master Flipo miming, "poke me!"

And then my son and some of the other children got to feel his "feelers" as he bent over to show them his costume up close.

I have not seen the show yet, but my husband and I are planning to get tickets and take the children. They say that some parts are loud and others are dark, but parents are the best judge of what their children can handle, in my opinion. For instance, my daughter is 2 and she loved watching from a distance, but she was not interested in talking to or touching the characters and clung to me as her older bro happily interacted with them.

Overall, I thought the theme of Ovo was a great one for kids. They bring a story to life while touching on topics like the complexity of ecosystems, respecting all creatures great and small, and love & friendship. Sounds like a cool experience to me! I'll update this post if we are able to get tix and go to the show! If you want to experience it for yourself, here is a link to the Ovo site.

Recycled Castle Craft!

2011-07-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

For my daughter's recent 2nd birthday party, we decided to keep it small. We invited only a few friends and planned it for when the "big kids" would be busy elsewhere so the little ones would have some nice relaxing tea-party action without being bowled over by the lego construction fleet. A small party meant less stress, less preparation and fewer spills...but it also meant less cake.

Baking a big cake seemed a bit like overkill for a party with 4 little 2 year old girls, so I decided to bake cupcakes. But even if I included one for each mom too, 8 cupcakes sitting on a plate seemed kind of lame. Well, since I wasn't running ragged the night before getting 'everything' ready, I decided to try to make the idea that had been forming in my head over the last few weeks materialize. As I set about with paper, tape and a bunch of recyclables on my living room floor, my husband asked, "what are you doing?", to which I replied as if it were the most obvious thing, "ummm, making a castle!". Well, when all was said and done, here's how it turned out.

Voila!

To make one of your own, you can modify and embellish as you see fit, but this was my low-key method:

Raid the recycling bin and collect...

Paper towel and toilet paper tubes, which are the perfect size for supporting cupcakes!

Tissue boxes. I used the cube shaped ones, but either kind of even a combination will work.

Paper. I used construction paper since I wanted a color-block look, but you could use any paper that goes with your theme. Wrapping paper would be perfect too.

Make the flags and windows.

Cut as many little tissue paper or foil triangles as you have cupcakes and tape the narrow side to one end of a toothpick. It's OK if they are a bit wrinkled since that adds to the effect!

You can also cut out little squares or arch-shaped pieces of paper and glue or tape them to the towers and boxes as small windows.

Start assembling.

I covered the tubes and tissue boxes with the paper and taped the seams. Next I arranged them on a large tray until I liked how they looked, and then used the tape again to tape the tubes to the boxes and a little more tape to affix them to the tray.

Add your cupcakes!

I frosted the cupcakes and then just sat them on the top of each tube. But after trying to add sprinkles to the cupcakes while in place, I recommend you place them after frosting and decorating them! I also learned it's best to put the castle where you'd like to display it before adding the cupcakes to the castle. Then all that's left to do is add your candles and sing the Birthday Song...and eat!

And here's my little princess happy as can be with her cupcake castle. :)

Scrambled Eggs: Report Spotlights "Systemic" Abuses in Organic Egg Production

2010-10-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here's another report on how the label on your "organic" eggs means no more than that the chickens that laid them were fed organic feed. The way these big-ag businesses treat living chickens like a blatant commodity and disregard our health and safety is just unbelievable. The little pictures of barns and silos on the packages are misleading visuals since the vast majority of eggs (conventional and organic) are all laid by hens stuffed wall to wall, and in some cases floor to ceiling, in industrial henhouses. These dark, overcrowded buildings with air that reeks of ammonia, floors that are covered with feces, and next to no access to the outdoors (a stipulation for organic labeling that these big egg companies skirt, taking advantage of the semantics instead of adhering to the values and idea of ORGANIC) are the norm.

Scrambled Eggs: Report Spotlights "Systemic" Abuses in Organic Egg Production

I can attest to the fact that the eggs I receive from my "meat share" CSA (Cedar Valley Farms) are far superior to the "organic, omega-3, free-range" eggs I buy at the grocery in between deliveries. The yolks are a much more vibrant yellow-orange, the whites are more viscous, they cook up fluffier, and in general taste better! I'm always reminded of this when I crack the first "mainstream organic" egg from the carton and see the pallor of it's light-yellow yolk and the watery white spread way out onto the pan. "Oh," I think to myself, "these aren't from the farm." Well, they aren't from a farm that lets the birds walk around pecking at insects and seeds on the grass and soil in the sun. That's for sure.

Yet another reminder of why it's important to buy eggs at from a CSA or at your local farmers' market! These eggs taste better, are actually fresh and they come from hens that live like hens are supposed to. In the process you're supporting your local economy, keeping family farms in business, keeping your family healthy and well-fed, and you're voting with your dollars. And every dollar counts.

Joining the Army

2010-09-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Chances are you or someone you know has had breast cancer. Chances are, you have worn a pink ribbon, donated money, participated in a walk or otherwise supported breast cancer research. Dr.s and experts have been searching for a cure for decades and though treatment has come a long way, the stats are still grim. Currently, 1 in 8 women can expect to get breast cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 35 will die from it.

But at a recent event I attended, my ears perked up when I heard a about a hopeful new perspective: looking for the cause, not just the cure. That makes so much sense, right? The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation has teamed up with Avon to form the Army of Women, and in their quest to sign up 1 million women to volunteer for research studies, they say this, "Breast cancer has been around for decades, but it does not have to be our future. We can be the generation that eliminates breast cancer by identifying what causes this disease and stopping it before it starts. Sign up for your sister, mother, daughter, granddaughter, best friend, and the woman you met last week."

I signed up right when I got home. There's really no reason not to, right? I know plenty of women who have battled with this disease. The mother of one of my closest friends passed away after a long battle with breast cancer so this cause is close to my heart. Her memory is still alive and well...but I feel I owe it to her, to my friend, to myself, my daughter and women everywhere to do what I can to help eradicate breast cancer.

So far I have not qualified for any of the studies, but I'm looking forward to being able to participate at some point. It might be just a survey, or it might be a full-blown actual physical study. You can view all the open studies here to see if you fit the profiles and would like to participate in any of them. That's the wonderful thing about the Army of Women - you are in the driver's seat so you don't have to do anything you don't want to. You can participate at your discretion whenever you fit the guidelines of a study. The Army of Women is looking for women all women 18 and over to help fill and complete these studies! So if you are over 18 (and yes, even men can join the Army of Women! Ha!) join here and maybe you can do your part to help find the cause!

Shopping and Cooking, Chef-Style!

2010-06-20T07:39:00.001-07:00

Every week, many of us grocery shop and then come home and over the next few days or so, cook or otherwise prepare and eat the food we bought. Nothing out of the ordinary there. But last week I did just that and it was great fun with a delicious outcome and lots learned in the process. What was different? Well, I did it all with fabulous zero-waste chef and food guru, Greg Christian.

Christian is well known in the culinary world for his pioneering initiative in sustainability as it pertains to food. He is a nationally recognized for developing the Organic School Project whose focus is to get healthy food choices into schools and help educate children on related topics. I'm personally very interested in the OSP, and you should be too! Greg also ran a zero-waste catering company for several years and is now doing consulting work for restaurants who want to learn how to practice sustainability or move toward zero-waste goals.

Zero-waste means that Zullo's, where Greg is currently consulting, doesn't have garbage service. They don't throw anything away. Everything is either cooked, composted, recycled, or otherwise reused. Imagine the impact on our landfills and out world if we all followed these practices! Other than being very careful about their inputs (not buying things with any or excess packaging for starters) they use re-purposed containers to hold re-useable items like rubberbands. It seems so obvious once you see it yourself, but it's really quite ingenious.

What was originally planned to be a trip to Zullo's kitchen to watch him cook, turned into a shopping trip to buy our ingredients on Wednesday and then making a wonderful soup for my family under his direction on Friday. We headed out to Chicago's famed Green City Market Wednesday morning to get our veggies, and as we walked through the grass, Greg invited me to try something new. Instead of having a list in mind and shopping with that agenda, he said you can learn how to ask what it is you need. Not what you want, or what a certain recipe calls for, but to just look and relax and see if anything jumps out at you. You might even want to hold it to see how it feels. It's the way that he shops and knowing what people need is a gift that he has, but Greg says you can hone that sense and your body and mind will benefit from it.

So I walked around looking at beautiful stacks of colorful, fresh organic produce with that in mind. I'm sure I don't have this gift, or have not yet discovered it if it's there, but what jumped out at me first were these unbelievably sweet, sparkling-red, juicy strawberries. They were so ready to eat their heady aroma hit me before I even reached the table! They were grown by Dave at Leaning Shed Farm, and he was a joy to talk with and get to know. Greg got some too, and boy did my whole family gobble them up...so was that something we needed? hmmm, guess so!

Along the way, Greg introduced me to several of the farmers and friends working the market booths. It was fun to talk to them and hear their stories...of surviving the latest tornado, retiring from a 9-5 gig just to work even longer hours doing what they love, and how they have found such benefit from connecting with the earth and eating such fresh fare. Here's a little video clip of our wheat grass shots being juiced (Thanks again, Greg!). What a great way to start a day. Pow!

At the same farm booth where we got our wheat grass, some dark purple leaves seemed to be calling my name. Maybe I needed them? What were they? Amaranth, I was told. They looked interesting and after we stood with them for a few seconds, Greg got an idea...why not make some soup with the amaranth for my family? How cool! Yes, let's do that! So I bought some amaranth, 2 kinds of young onions, baby swiss chard and some rainbow chard. Add to that black beans Greg gets from a fantastic farm and my chicken broth, and we had the makings of the tasty soup Greg would teach me to make on Friday morning...more on that later.

Our time at Green City Market ended at Zullo's tent, where I ate the most delicious lamb hand pie. It just melted in my mouth, and the pastry was light and tasty. They also offer up pizzas and focaccia, perfect for a hearty snack or a light lunch, and easy to walk around with. And of course good for any time of day, you must try their Zeppole - Zullo's version of apple cider doughnuts that simply are amazing. Served in a paper and newspaper cone, they are easy to pop into your mouth as you walk the market (and then you can recycle the cone!). Maybe a little TOO easy! Yum! You can find the up-to-date list of Zullo's markets here. My family likes to frequent them at the Logan Square Farmer's Mkt. Definitely check them out!

Fast forward 2 days...I met Greg at Zullo's kitchen super early
(as in, I was there at the early time that I usually unwillingly roll out of bed to tend to one of my small children. These guys don't sleep in!) and ready to work. I was set up at the sink and I washed all my produce and laid it out to await instruction. Doesn't that look beautiful? The dark purple leaves at the top right are the amaranth. Onions (white and "red") on the left and the rainbow and swiss chard on the right. Greg showed me how to cut and chop my bounty as we warmed up the chicken broth with the black beans. The cooking experience included a knife sharpening lesson and lots of info from how to make marinara to how to dry herbs, and the time flew by. I went home with enough delicious soup to feed my family 2 dinners and still had some left over for a lunch!. Here it is served up at home with some crusty homemade olive oil bread. I highly recommend you try it! The flavors are surprisingly complex for being made with such simple ingredients, and it's chock-full of healthy vitamins and minerals. I'll activate this link when my in-depth article covering as much of Greg's knowledge as I could absorb is published on Chicagonista.com, including the recipe for our soup: "Black Bean Soup with Stuff"! Don't forget to check it out (it will probably run by the end of the month). You can substitute ingredients depending on what you find at the market, and depending on what you feel YOU NEED. Now get cookin'!

Recharge Your Batteries and Enter Your Best Photo!

2010-06-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

Energizer has teamed up with National Geographic to host the third annual Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest, and they want you to enter! All you need to do is sort through your best pictures and enter them here for a chance to get your photo published in the Dec issue of National Geographic. And get this: the grand prize is a National Geographic Expeditions trip for two to Greece! How cool is that?

The six categories are animals/wildlife, nature, people/cultures, travel, weather and action/energy, so keep that in mind while picking your favs. Pictures will be judged by renowned photographer Jim Richardson on how well they capture the essence of the theme (25%), their impact and creativity (50%), and composition/technical quality (25%). But don't be intimidated, last year one of the category winners was shot with a regular digital still camera! So go ahead and send in your most adorable shot of Fido in the park, your most awe-inspiring vacations pic, or the one of your children you love so much that you actually had it printed and framed (because if you're anything like me, that only happens if the photo is really special!). So you might have TONS of pictures to look through now. Or maybe you will be heading out to take some spectacular shots to enter. Either way, get going! You must enter before midnight the night of June 30th, so no procrastinating!

But the fun doesn't end there. As a special perk for my readers, I will be picking 3 lucky followers to EACH receive TWO 4-packs of Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries! (And Energizer was kind enough to give me some to try as well - Thanks, Energizer!) Energizer's Ultimate Lithium batteries are an eco-friendly alternative to regular alkaline batteries in several ways. First off, they last way longer (up to 8 times as long!), so they create less waste. Second, they are made using lithium (duh!), which is the lightest known metal. This is important because most of the concern surrounding the environment is caused by heavy metal pollution and accumulation. Lithium is also a very "active" metal, so it can deliver a great deal of power while using less material and at the same time is 1/3 the weight of a "regular" alkaline battery. Two more attributes are that its construction is leak resistant, which is very important to the environment, and it has a storage life of 15 years so it won't lose its juice just sitting around waiting for its turn. All of these qualities make the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries a great choice for your digital camera or other high-tech device (or for your kid's favorite battery-operated toy...that is if you want it to "keep on going").

Sign up to follow the EcoActivista blog and then leave a comment below telling me your favorite color, and I'll enter you in my random drawing. It's that easy! You don't even have to necessarily enter the photo contest, but you should...what the heck, right? I know you want a free trip to Greece too!

What Are Your Kids Eating?

2010-06-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of buzz recently in regard to school lunches. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution series highlighted the issue in one town and its region (Huntington, WV), but what's the story at your kid's school? Do you know? Do you care?

My son is only 3, and he's all set to start attending public preschool here in Chicago this Fall. I am counting myself lucky so far that his 2.5 hrs of class per day will not include a school lunch. The school he'll be attending is progressive in many ways, but as far as I know, they still serve the same type of crap for lunch that most schools in the States are re-heating. So, I figure I have 2 years to incite some real change before my child lines up with his friends to get his servings of surplus processed meat, fruit-flvored gelatin, and chocolate milk...where should I start!?

If you are not aware of the big issues surrounding school lunches, here's a guest post from a great blog on the topic.

Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project The woman who writes the main blog, Mrs. Q, is an Illinois school teacher who has taken it upon herself to eat the school lunch every day and report on the contents and her experience to draw attention to the big problems and issues. Namely, they are: over processed foods, lack of fresh or properly cooked fruits and vegetables, an overabundance of packaging and waste, massive amounts of sugar, and general poor overall quality. She's even having blood tests done 6 months apart, so I'm really interested to see how the results come back... These lunch options directly reflect much of the convenience food that's on the grocery shelves today, so you have to figure many of the kids are eating this way all the time and many (maybe even most?) parents don't see a problem. But kids these days are in trouble. Obesity reigns, diabetes is an epidemic, and I suspect many other health problems are a direct result of all the preservatives and chemicals that are in the food America feeds its children.

I wonder if there's any way to start a city-wide "food revolution" of our own, or if I should just start with my own child's school and take baby steps. This will more than likely turn into something I'll need to devote quite a bit of my own time and energy to in order to see real results in 2 years, but I know deep in my heart it will be worth the effort. I have worked hard here at home to nourish my children as best I can from making their babyfood, feeding them organic dairy, grains, meat and produce whenever possible, and offering them a wide variety of tastes and textures. If you ask my kid what color bread/noodles/rice is, he'll say "brown", and I'd love to keep it that way. He can recognize herbs by smell and by sight and knows how to strip a sprig of thyme. It's pretty funny that my son is virtually a self-made vegetarian and the three things I've always had trouble getting him to eat in almost any form have been meat, eggs, and potatoes (the un-vegetable). Yes, even fries! He'll eat sweet potato fries, and now once in a while I've seen him munch a couple of regular fries down if someone puts them on his plate, but for the first 2.5 years of his life, he wouldn't even try one (not that I was trying very hard to change that!). A friend got him to bite into one at a restaurant once and he spit it out! Hahaha. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure that if offered chicken nuggets, nachos, hot dogs and pizzas on a regular basis, both my children would easily succumb to the new diet and happily munch away on the garbage next to their friends. But that's the whole problem and the bottom line is that that's not OK with me. Especially not 5 days a week!

So the deadline looms ahead of me and I'm starting to gather resources and gear up for this hurdle...but I'll wait until the 2010-2011 school year begins before I call the principal's office and ask for a meeting, and permission to spend a day in the cafeteria.

I welcome any ideas and comments!

Photo by bookgrl

Cloth vs. Disposable...it's NOT a tie!

2010-05-17T19:23:00.001-07:00

Recently, in the wake of the Procter & Gamble media storm surrounding their new version of Pampers Dry Max diapers, the disposable diaper giant has been claiming that disposables are not worse overall than cloth diapers. Hmmm, really? They posted a Facts vs. Myths page that tries to sell this idea, but I'm not buying it. When reading results from skewed and biased "studies", it's really easy to believe something that sounds unbelievable...when you want to. Parents don't want to think about how much their diapering decisions are impacting the earth, filling our landfills and that they might be affecting the future health of their children. They want to do what's best, but sometimes that conflicts with what they have time for or think they can deal with. But I implore you if you are a parent of a child in diapers to read this and be patient with me as I plead my case. (if you want to skip reading about my whole cloth diapering experience, just skip to the bottom where I list the pros and cons or visit the Real Diaper Association)

When I first became a mother, I planned to cloth diaper, but I was scared that it would be more work, and the outlay of $$$ at the get-go seemed daunting. What if I bought a type of cloth diaper that I didn't like? It's not like you can just return them... And what if I couldn't handle it and gave up? The perfect solution seemed to be a diaper service, so I signed up. It turned out that I was an overstressed, under-rested new mother with a baby that seemed to cry all the time. Dealing with the cloth diapering service included forgetting to leave the diapers out for the service pickup on the right day, gagging at the stink that came from the pail when I had to toss dipes in near the end of the week, and forgetting to pay the new bill from the service that never seemed to send me a tangible reminder that it was coming due. It was all a bit more than I had bargained for and those little Swaddlers that came home with us from the hospital seemed SO much easier! By the time my son was 3 or 4 months old, I was over it. I figured I had given it a try and it just "wasn't for me". That's how I let myself off the hook, but every time I walked a stinky, heavy bag full of disposable diapers to the trash chute over the next 2 years, I felt a twinge of guilt, as I think many parents do. Yes, it's hard to pretend that you don't know exactly where all those bags are headed. And how long they'll be there, and how many other ones are heading there the same day, all over the world. How sad. Is this really the legacy I wanted to leave my baby?

The biggest problem for me was that all the other facets of my life were getting "greener and greener". So apart from the normal, "oh, I feel kind of bad that I'm throwing all these diapers away all the time..." guilt, I also had this part of my life and routine that seemed more and more incongruous as time went by. If I thought throwing away thin little paper napkins at each meal was such a big deal, why did I keep buying (and tossing) all these bulky, chemical-laden disposable diapers? I know why. Because I thought disposables were easier and I din't think I could handle it.

So, when I was pregnant with my second child, I started talking to some of the other moms I knew who cloth diapered at home. This seemed to make sense since we'd buy the diapers once, and then just RE-USE them. The only things we'd have to continue to buy would be detergent, and possibly wipes (but you can even use cloth wipes made of great fabrics like bamboo and flannel and just wash them with your diapers!). With a second baby on the horizon, the $$ savings was a draw. My husband estimated that instead of buying premium diapers for 2+ years, we would spend $2000 less by buying cloth diapers. That was a big selling point! We also went to a cloth diapering info session at BeByBaby, a local baby shop, and got to see all the different types of cloth diapers in person. Seeing how they were used, how they felt, and learning the pros and cons was really helpful and clinched the decision for us. That day, we bought a few cute covers, these cool little things called Snappis, and our pail and liner, as well as our special detergent (we bought Charlie's Soap), and were excited to get started when our baby entered the scene...

When she was born, we did use the disposables from the hospital, and didn't turn down the gifts of disposables from family and friends...but we knew that when they started to run out, we'd start up with the cloth. I think it might be smart, especially for new parents, to give yourself a couple weeks to just get used to the chaos of having an infant before jumping in to cloth diapering with both feet. When we started in earnest, my first impression was a bit of surprise at how easy it was! After a few more weeks, I bought some assorted types and brands of cloth diapers from an acquaintance so I could try them out before buying a whole stash of anything. Our experience was that the prefolds with covers worked best up until about 12 lbs, and then the pocket diapers seemed to become our favorites. Now we use a combination of 13 Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius pocket diapers with a couple prefold backups. I do 2 or 3 extra loads of laundry/week, which isn't a big deal since most moms feel like they do lots of laundry anyway, and since nothing gets wrinkled if I don't "fold" it right away, it's pretty low maintenance as far as laundry goes. The routine is easy, and we are not throwing any diapers away on a regular basis!! Now I feel so good about keeping our carbon footprint small, refraining from adding more diapers to the landfills and keeping chemicals off of our baby's skin. Plus, she looks adorable in a dress or tee shirt and a cloth dipe!

Here are the real comparisons from my viewpoint.

First and foremost, there is way more waste involved in the manufacture, constant shipping, and disposal of disposable diapers. Even if creating, packing, and shipping created the same amt of waste for a cloth diaper as for a disposable (it doesn't), you'd have to multiply the number for the disposables by THOUSANDS for each baby, whereas the cloth dipe is only made, packaged and shipped ONCE.
Some say the water used to clean cloth diapers tips the scales back to the center. It doesn't! It is estimated to take 2.3 times more water to make a new disposable diaper than to wash a cloth one...and that does not take the new HE washers into account. It is also estimated that the amount of water used to wash a load of diapers is equal to the amount of water that would be used to flush your toilet 5 times. So cloth diapering actually saves water over potty training! Ha!
Cloth diapers are not more difficult to use. They have come a LONG way since the rubber pants over safety-pinned cloth. The "pocket-style" diapers we use in our family are so easy I don't even have to show babysitters how to use them. There are styles with alpix (hook and loop) closures or snaps, and both work great. Even when we do use regular cloth diapers, called prefolds (what my family thinks of as burp cloths), we use these cool Snappis to hold the cloth together...SO much easier, faster and more safe than pins!
When you are out and about, it does seem easier to use a disposable that you can just toss. But I have found it's not more difficult to just put the used cloth dipe in a bag (I still just reuse produce bags from the grocery, but you can get these really pretty "wet bags"...) and then into the pail when you get home. Sometimes that's even proven easier than trying to find a garbage can!
Like I mentioned my my personal story, Cloth Diapers actually SAVE you money over time. Pretty easy to win this one over disposables since I now feel like my baby's diapers are virtually free. Here is a link to a great, local, mom-owned company that has starter kits that make it really easily affordable to get started.
Wetness that doesn't breathe causes diaper rash, and (most) cloth diapers are breathable. Disposables are not. Plus, they use all kind of questionable chemicals that have been cited to cause terrible rashes and blisters on some babies. Some of these chemicals are also known hormone disrupters and carcinogens. Do you want that next to your baby's butt?
Cloth diapers are CUTE! They come in all kinds of colors and patterns and beat silly characters any day. Hands down.
And last but not least on my list, is the fact that we need to ditch products that depend on petroleum for their manufacture. The major catastrophe happening in the Gulf of Mexico right now is directly related to our dependence on oil. We need to make some major changes, and getting rid of our abnormal dependance on disposable diapers is a big step in the right direction.

For more statistical information on Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables, please visit the Real Diaper Association.

Oprah Store...who knew?

2010-05-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a tea this week at the Oprah Store. Yes, the Oprah Store. I have talked since to several people who didn't know that it existed. Did you? I knew, but only because a friend's boyfriend was the merchandising designer (or something like that?!) when they built the store a few years ago, and I also remember an episode where Oprah had all these models come out showing off the newly designed merch that the store would sell. But even when I went to my first taping last summer, both my friend Erin and I were SO pregnant that there was no waddling over to the store after the show wrapped!

So, this was my first venture inside, and it was...really great! Aesthetically, the space is open and airy, but also homey and cozy at the same time. It has tons of natural, passive lighting (what better to shop with!), exposed brick, and soaring ceilings. There are comfy seating areas if you need a rest or to just relax for a minute, and lots of color in the displays all around the store.They have baby section too, with several organic cotton offerings in sweet pale hues, as well as funny bibs that say "O Yum", and "O Yuck". Maybe due to the changing seasons, there are TONS of sales throughout the store, and if you enter coupon code OStoreTea2010 you can enjoy FREE shipping for any online purchases today and tomorrow (5/6 & 5/7). Check it out for some last min Mother's Day giving! (Shhh...I got my mom her gift there this year!)

Oprah wasn't at the Tea, but her renown chef, Art Smith was! He was there signing copies of his cookbooks and I was luck enough to get a signed copy of Kitchen Life, Real Food for Real Families - Even Yours! Art was really sweet and funny and it was a treat to meet a celeb chef who didn't seem like he minded chatting. He told us about his healthy heating and exercise regimen that has helped him to shed 90 lbs! And how beautiful Padma Lakshmi's new baby is. We dished Top Chef, on which he is a judge for the upcoming season and I can't wait to try out some of his recipes with my budding 3 year old top chef! I love that Art's cookbooks seem to revolve around the theme of bringing the family back together at the dinner table, a value that we share here at our house.

Talbott Teas and Karyn's Cooked/Raw, provided the refreshments. The bread pudding I had from Karyn's was delish. Ooey-gooey and tasted like it was heading straight for my boo-tay, but Karyn assured me it was actually healthy! I tasted Talbott's Chocolate Strawberry Temptation tea, and it was neither overly sweet or "fake" tasting. The bit of caffeine helped get me by without my little cat nap that day, and it felt absolutely luxurious to sip the tasty tea while chatting with all the other hip bloggers. What a fun time!

So remember that the next time you need a special gift for your fav Oprah Fan, a little something to say thank you to a teacher, or just a fun day shopping in Chicago, check out the Oprah Store! It is shopping local, after all. ;-)

Where am I Going with Green?

2010-05-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that lately I have felt a bit overwhelmed by all my green-leanings and activist agendas. There are SO many topics within these categories that I believe in and want to further or participate in, but as a mom of a 3 year old son and a 10 month old daughter, I just don't have the time! Now, it's true that there is room in my life for some re-prioritizing...maybe I could write letters to editors or call my representatives while my kids nap instead of napping myself, or I could work on planning community events after they go to bed instead of watching LOST or 24 with my husband...but I feel like I need that down time to stay sane and I am a better mom for it.

Last night I went out with a bunch of my fellow stay-at-home-mom friends, and we talked briefly about when we might go back to work, and if we did, what would we do? Some said they'd go back to their old professions, or go back to school to learn a new vocation. But 2 of us thought me might use our talents and interests as our guide. For me this means that when both of my children start school (or maybe even start going to school full-day, but that's about 4 years off! argh!), I would love to find some sort of paying gig that allows me to further an eco-consious cause. But which one?! I guess it might come down to who is hiring and who would hire ME, but in my mind, I imagine this dream job to be something that saves the world while teaching kids how to do it. But which direction will I head in search for such a job? Food and eating seems to be on my brain a lot lately... Greening school lunches? Hopefully that will come a long way in the next 4 years, but that would be rewarding. Especially after watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Working for or with my local food co-op? Teaching moms (or anyone) how to shop smart for organics and plan and cook their menus? Several of my friends have shown interest in wanting to learn how to do those things...even greening homes for people or helping the city put together a green-condo program! Maybe working for the cloth diaper movement (I love cloth diapers more now than I ever thought I would! A topic for another post)? Or working for a local branch of an eco-non-profit like Environment Illinois or One Sky (I wonder if either of those would pay)? These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg, but things that bounce around in my head on a regular basis.

Since my whole eco-consiousness took root and grew upon my becoming a parent, it wold only make sense that this has become more than a passing interest for me. Much like I love my children more and more as time goes by, I have become more and more "green" too. For their sake as well as mine! It has become a passion. The more I learn, the more I change, and the metamorphosis continues...so when I "finish" my stint as a stay-at-home-mama, it only feels natural that I keep moving in that direction.

And BTW, click on the link above to Jamie Oliver's site and SIGN THE PETITION to get healthy foods into kids school lunches! And then get involved at your local school, whether you have children or not!

Photo credit - Alyssa Miserendino

A Local Breakfast! Opting Out.

2010-02-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a breakfast my husband made for us this past November. He was/we were proud that the the whole meal was organic, local, and delicious! We had just started getting a meat share from a local CSA and this was our first meal made with the organic, grass-fed bacon. Can I just say, um, "YUM"? There was a definite difference in taste between this and store-bought bacon, and in such a taste-test, the bacon from Cedar Valley Farms would be the clear winner. The hash was made from sweet potatoes, onions and thyme, all fresh, organic and local as well from our produce CSA, Angelic Organics. And then the egg...which was amazing...was courtesy of a good friend of ours. She lives less than 2 miles from us, and so do her organically-fed, free range chickens! Besides offering my son endless entertainment, these chickens lay 4 eggs a day and this time we were lucky enough to be the recipients. Creamy, rich and delicious, this over-easy egg was awesome!

I wish we could eat like this 100% of the time! If that were the case, we would be able to completely "opt-out" of the mass-produced food system in this country. We grew a bunch of produce on our balcony this year, I've started baking a lot of our own bread, and never buy cake mix anymore. In addition to our 2 csa's (meat and produce), I shop at the local co-op and the farmers' market, went berry picking this summer and froze the bounty. But I do still feel the need to grocery shop at places like Trader Joe's, and in a pinch, you might find me looking for the organic stuff at Jewel. Part of this is for convenience, and another is lower prices. But wherever we can afford to, we are opting out more and more these days. After watching documentaries like King Corn, Food Inc. and reading books like The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, I just can't bring myself to eat many of the things I never gave much thought to before. Let alone serve them to my family. Deciding to make what we put on the table for ourselves and our kids as local, organic, and unprocessed as possible just makes sense. I guess it's true that ignorance is bliss, but in the case of food, ignorance can lead to obesity, type II diabetes, heart disease, and more. And I'm not even talking about how the mass-produced food in the US harms us socially, economically, or envionmentally. (I'll save that food for thought for another post - or 10!) If you have haven't seen these films yet and have the time or interest, put them on your Netflix queue. And hopefully they will change the way you view food and the supermarket aisles. Then you'll be on your way to eating totally local meals once in a while too (and if you already do, great job!!).

Why we need to support the Cap & Trade bill...

2010-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Please take a few minutes to watch this short and clear video that explains why we should call/email our legislators and tell them to support the environmental cap & trade bill...and let's hope it gets passed, for our sake as well as the next generations'!

The Facts of Cap-and-Trade from Clean Energy Works on Vimeo.

The Dill Pickle Food Co-op...Thinking About How We Shop

2009-12-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Recently, the Dill Pickle Food Coop opened within walking distance of our home. I have been eagerly awaiting the co-op coming to fruition for over a year, and shopped there twice in the first week!

photo Jason Guthartz

What is a food co-op? It's a member-owned non-profit grocery store, where many of the jobs are preformed by member volunteers. This one happens to also focus on shelving products and produce that are local, sustainable, organic or a combination of these. Simply awesome. The prices are still comparable to the big corporate stores since the new co-op doesn't have the same buying power yet, but the difference is that the money you spend at Dill Pickle all flows right back into the local economy...to the farms and local companies that grow, raise or produce the offerings, as well as to the local people and businesses contracted to do probable jobs such as bookkeeping, web design, or accounting. No big CEO is getting fat on the big profits here, and little to nothing is touched by China. The fact that produce is not coming from Chile or Argentina also means that the food is more fresh, better tasting and leaves a far smaller carbon footprint on our earth. Generally speaking, I like the fact that the people that run the store are my neighbors and peers. There's something to be said for the feeling of community that a co-op provides. A feeling that's sorely lacking in most of our daily lives and shopping experiences!

The Dill Pickle is a small storefront operation, but within this small space, not much seems to be missing from the shelves. They offer fresh organic produce, organic meats, eggs and dairy, brand name boxed goods like Annie's Cheddar Bunnies and EnviroKidz Cereals.

photo Jason Guthartz

Along the right aisle they have a large selection of loose leaf teas and coffees (heavenly!) that you can buy in bulk, as well as an unbelievable bulk section with rices, lentils, beans, spices and more. Solely because of this, I have made 2 risotto dishes in the past 2 weeks. I just can't walk past the bulk rice without craving some arborio!

If you live in the vicinity of Logan Square, please make a stop at Dill Pickle to pick up some groceries and check it out. Or better yet, become a member and support the local effort to "opt-out" of the mass-produced food chain. It's good for you, the local community, and the earth!

What Have I Been Up To?

2009-10-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have been busy lately! Other than the "normal" business of my life that includes playdates, kids' checkups, museums, libraries, etc., I have been spending the past 5 Saturdays doing something new...being trained to be a Leader for the Chicago Conservation Corps (C3)! Luckily I have a wonderful husband who was willing to stay home with our kids for each of my class days, for which I was gone from 9 - 2ish. And this last training day was for some special field trips and a pot luck, so I was gone even longer - from 8:30 - 4! Because he knows this is so important to me, and because he believes in what I will be doing to make our lives better/healthier (and to save the planet!), he not only steps it up as the Daddy on Duty, but he encourages me in these endeavors. (Thanks, A!)

C3 is a division of Chicago's Department of Environment (DOE), and is a volunteer based group of community leaders doing projects to build awareness and make changes in their communities which positively effect the environment. These projects can be large or small, and take place all over the city. The training courses run twice a year, in the Spring and the Fall, and my class had over 30 leaders-in-training. Check out our picture that was taken on our last day of trainign as we visited the North Park Village Nature Center. (I'm near the top right wearing a hat and a hood..it was freezing outside!!) It was so cool to meet these other like-minded individuals and to hear what they plan to do for their first project. Since we are all volunteers, we fit into a certain type of personality profile of people that want to help, want to give of themselves, and believe in working for changes and for the "greater good" rather than just for financial compensation.

Since I've started the C3 courses, several of my friends have asked me, "Why do you want another thing to do? Especially if you're not getting paid?" This is a valid question I suppose, and if there were pay offered, I'd certainly take it! But for me, I see it as a grand opportunity. The projects that I am going to propose as a C3 Leader are things that I have wanted to accomplish for a long time now. But instead of trying to tackle them all alone, I now have this great support system to help guide me, keep me on track, provide a budget, and I've been taught how to involve others to work alongside me. That's what I've needed all along, so for me, I feel like I have been paid! Before C3, I felt overwhelmed, frustrated and disappointed that I would not be able to accomplish my "green" goals by myself...but now I am so energized and excited to get started, and really feel like I can and will accomplish my project goals, and in the process build a team of others who feel just like me! How cool is that?

My meduim range goal is to make eco-friendly changes throughout my condo building from educating and informing the residents all the way to someday installing a green roof and solar panels. C3 has taught me to start small but think big, so my first C3 project will be to hold an informative "Green Cleaning Party" for my neighbors to teach them how to make their own non-toxic cleaning solutions and increase the air quality of their homes and our building at large. I will also hold a weatherization workshop, and hopefully by the end of the year, or January at the latest, I will host a Vermiculture workshop featuring the Urban Worm Girls where we will even give away the readied worm bin to a luck homeowner!

My other future projects for the building include recycling improvements and information, changing out our light bulbs to CFL's (those that aren't already switched), getting our building engineer to switch to the eco-friendly cleaners, etc., and eventually making the big changes and investments on the roof. These changes will not only make our building more earth friendly, but they will save us $ by being more energy efficient, improve our quality of life, conserve resources, and hopefully infect others with the "green bug" so that they might spread some of these changes to their workplace or their friends and families. But my long range goal is to "work myself into a job"...so that maybe when my little ones are both going to school I can get a job doing this type of thing for other buildings, or maybe even training others how to do it on behalf of the DOE!

If you live in Chicago and this article is inspiring to you, check out the C3 website to see how you can take action. If you don't live in this lovely city, check to see if there are any ways you can help your own city or town make changes toward sustainability. Chances are there are others like you that might be willing to join forces to make a big impact!

One speaker shared this quote with us during class, and it really made an impact on me, because this is just how I feel:

"Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question 'Is it safe?'

Expediency asks the question 'Is it politic?'

and Vanity comes along and asks the question 'Is it popular?'

But then Conscience asks the question, 'Is it RIGHT?'

And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is RIGHT."

-Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Exchange your SIGGs!!

2009-09-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

By now you have probably heard about how SIGG's bottle linings (produced prior to Aug 08) contain the dreaded BPA. I was shocked when I heard, and felt a little betrayed since I thought use of the substance was banned in the EU, where SIGG bottles are manufactured. My son has been drinking from his faithfully since his first birthday, and I used mine through both pregnancies, have given them as gifts to both children and adults, and have encouraged others to buy them as well.

Well, before you freak out (or continue to freak out), know that SIGG stands behind the research that concludes these linings do NOT leach the BPA into your beverages. This makes me feel a little better, especially since I have never put anything into ours other than water, but I'm still not totally convinced. I don't want any BPA in my world...leaching or non-leaching.

So if you are like me, here are some options. First, determine whether your SIGG bottle was made with the old formula, or the new EcoCare liner. When you bought it is not necessarily an indicator because older bottles are intermingled on the shelves with the new ones. Here is a good picture of how to tell which kind of liner your bottles have. If your bottles have the coppery-colored old liner (the one made with BPA), you can either bring it in to where you bought it to exchange it for a new bottle with the EcoCare lining (Whole Foods assured me they will make the exchanges), or you can send it back to SIGG with a provided shipping label. Here is the link for the instructions from the SIGG site.

If you don't even want to deal with SIGG anymore (boo hoo, they are my favorite!) some other retailers are offering deals. Here is one that offers 30% off their stainless steel bottle options when you send in your SIGG to be recycled. They also offer 20% off these bottles even if you don't have an old SIGG to turn in! Pretty cool.

Whatever route you decide to go, please keep drinking from safe, reusable bottles and join me in the boycott of bottled water! Take your cool, pretty bottle with you everywhere so you never need to buy silly plastic water bottles (that cost a relative fortune and damage our planet in many ways)...and if a friend offers one to you at their house, you can pull your bottle out of you purse and say, "No thanks...have you seen my cute new BPA-free SIGG?"

Detox Your Kid's World (or at least some of it!)

2009-08-28T15:29:00.001-07:00

I recently read an article in Chicago Baby about making your child's room/space green and non-toxic. The leaching toxins that lurk in your childrens' rooms as well as elsewhere in the house are touched on in the article. These include the flame retardants in crib bedding and PJs, VOC's in carpets, paints and flooring, phthalates in lotions and sunscreens, BPA in plastic toys and baby bottles, and formaldehyde in particle board furniture. This is a lot to take in! It was generally a good article and raised some important points, but as I read it, there were some things that nagged at me...and I think we as parents can do even better, and make these decisions for even more reasons. Here are a few:

Instead of just getting rid of the toys made in China, request that family and friends not buy more for your child, and definitely stop buying them yourself! Not only are these toys at the highest risk for containing lead and other toxins, but ask yourself how much you really want to support China's economy right now. Another important consideration is the pollution created when making "cheap, toxic toys" and then the zillion carbon miles used to ship all of these items to the US and to all the big box stores (another type of economy that my husband and I would rather not support). Instead, if you buy toys for your child or as gifts for other kids, research companies and consider toys like the wooden "Zimbos" pictured here. Blue Orange Games manufactures Zimbos and has stringent safety tests for their products. They also plant 2 trees for each 1 used to make their products.
The article also suggests reducing the number of toys that need batteries due to the toxins that they contain. I agree and would go even one step further to say even though batteries can be recycled, this and new battery production also add to the big carbon footprint. In addition, though not a toxin issue, experts say open ended toys like blocks or a puppet are better at helping your child develop important skills rather than the battery operated toys that just do the same things in response to pushing buttons.
Since most nurseries are updated or redecorated within a few years, this gives parents the perfect opportunity to choose non-toxic and sustainable options the next time around. Looking for "green" carpet and flooring options can be easier than you think, and every year more companies are coming up with new colors and better practices. You can even get low VOC paint from Home Depot these days! For our son's new room, we opted to use cork flooring, recycled drywall, sustainably forested wood baseboards, no-VOC paint from Green Depot (formerly Greenmaker Supply), and now we are looking into safer bedding options that will not leach the flame retardant chems into his little lungs all night. If an organic mattress is out of your price range (and I think it's out of mine!), look for organic mattress pads or covers that help block the chems and are much less expensive. This is also thought by some to prevent SIDS.
Other than just avoiding lotions, creams sunscreens, etc. with phthalates, there are a slew of other chemicals to avoid in personal care as well. Check out this site that clearly lists the top harmful things to avoid. This is important because the skin absorbs everything we put on it, and it's our body's largest organ! The list might rule out just about everything in your bathroom cabinet right now, but instead of feeling overwhelmed, just look for brands that are all-natural or organic as you run out of your current stash. Soon you will e be rid of all the bad stuff. We use a lot of Method products here since they are safe, accessible, and use natural extracts for their fragrances. Plus, their diaper cream works great!
As far as flame retardants in baby's and kid's jammies, that can be easily avoided by dressing them in close-fitting all cotton PJs. You can even go the extra step and buy organic cotton, but even the regular cotton ones can be found basically everywhere. Some have warnings on the tags that state they should fit snugly since they are not coated with the anti-flammable chems. Avoid the ones that are polyester at all costs since in addition to leaching the toxins into your little one's skin and respiratory system, they don't breathe and are surely not as comfortable for your babe. They may look and feel cozier, but think about how much you'd like to sleep in something that's 100% polyester!

From my perspective, the idea is not to have to spend a ton of money and revamp or "green" your entire household in a month. For my family, this has been a gradual process of making small changes, and I've found that one thing leads to another. If you just take it one step at a time, and make a conscious choice each time you need to make a purchase, you will not only be making your home more safe and comfortable, but you'll be voting with your dollars on what you believe in.

Pay Attention to the Numbers...

2009-08-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Have you ever paid attention to the little stickers on the produce at the grocery store? Until recently, like over the past year, I never gave them much notice. Then one day I was shopping for produce at Stanley's, a woman was almost having a panic attack that they had some apples labeled as organic but their stickers started with a "4". Whaaaa?

So, wondering what she was talking about but not wanting to egg her on or engage her in conversation (since she was clearly already over the edge!), I silently started noting the numbers on the stickers. Sure enough, all the organic stuff had numbers that started with a "9", and the conventionally grown items started with the "4" that had gotten her so upset. Stanley's had obviously made a mistake, but they are famous in Chicago for their great deals on produce...organic as well as conventionally grown. How blindly I had been shopping all this time, just believing whatever the sign and price said and ignoring those smart little stickers! The stickers often tell you where the produce was grown as well, in case you are interested in trying to eat locally. (Becoming a "locavore" is challenging, but also has huge health, economic, and environmental benefits)

I started paying more attention at all the stores, wondering if anything else I was paying the organic premium for was mis-labled, and I noticed something else...some stuff started with a mysterious number 8. What did that mean? I did a little research and found a very concise answer at this site. Oh no! Genetically modified? Ewww! I definitely wanted to choose the numbers that started with a "9" over the ones that started with the "4" if I could afford to do so, but now I wanted to avoid the stickers that started with an "8" like the plague!

OK, so now that I (and you) know what the numbers mean, making informed decisions is easy, or at least easier. I want as much of my produce to either come from my CSA (community supported agriculture) crop share or my little balcony garden (both are local AND organic!) is great, but when I buy fruit and veggies for myself and my family at the grocery store I want to see a little sticker's number starting with an "9"! But as far as the number 8 is concerned, I urge you all to try and avoid that one even more vigilantly that the conventional produce. Not only was it probably still grown with pesticides, herbicides, and other harmful stuff, but it is also not as nature intended. These "frankenfoods" might cause humans health problems down the road, but in the present they are doing damage to our land and our ecosystems for sure. Google GMO's to read both sides of the argument. Since our government is leaning toward support of GMO's (read: big business) and many consumers are fighting against them, there's plenty out there to explore on the topic.

If you are interested in learning more about the differences between conventional, organic, and genetically modified foods, as well as how our food in this country is produced, I strongly recommend "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. It's not at all "preachy" and is very eye-opening and informative. Also, there's a new movie out called "Food, Inc." about our industrialized food system and its effects on the environment, our health, worker's rights and the economy. I haven't seen it yet, since it's hard to get out of the house without my 2 month old at this point, but I plan to catch it at soon as possible! If any of you have seen it, feel free to post a review in the comment section.

Pacific Garbage Patch...Follow-Up Video

2009-06-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Check out this little 6.5min short about a Gorilla and some eco kids that find out about the garbage swirl and work together to do something about it. This one is fun for the kiddos!

Greener Vacay's

2009-05-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Since our new baby is going to be born in the next few weeks, my husband and I decided that we'd better take advantage of my parent's offer to let our son have a sleep-over at their place. This way we could have a night to relax, go out to dinner alone, maybe even see a movie and stay overnight at a nearby hotel. A little "stay-cation" to use the newly coined term for taking a vacation without really leaving your general area.

We decided to stay at a Springhill Suites hotel in Schaumburg, and I made our reservations online tonight. What I didn't expect was to see an option to "Green your hotel stay. Offset your carbon footprint and help preserve the Amazon Rainforest". Hmm, I thought, I wonder how expensive that will be. But being into the whole "eco" thing like I am, I clicked on the link to "Learn more and Donate now!". Turns out it's cheap! Marriott's family of hotels (of which SpringHill Suites is a part of) did a carbon footprint study that revealed $1 will offset one room's occupancy for one night. There is a $10 min for this tax-deductible contribution, so I figured I'll also be offsetting 9 other rooms that night, or we can look at it as that we've offset the last 9 nights of hotel stays, or even the next 9 going forward! Any way you look at it, it's a win-win. We get to help the environment (more specifically, the Amazon Rainforests and reduce our carbon footprint), feel like do-gooders, and take a small tax deduction. And all for less money than the tax we are paying on the hotel stay!

So the next time you make a reservation at a hotel, see if you can donate to make your stay carbon-neutral! Or you could go one more step and make options like this factor into your decision regarding where to stay in the first place...or even better, plan your destination around a stay at a "green" hotel! Here are some to check out: Washington Hotel, Hotel Metro, or check out the "Green Hotels" members in many states across the US. Happy vacationing, and here's to our planet!

A New Way to Eat Your Veggies

2009-05-28T05:58:00.001-07:00

This article was written about my friend John Logli and his business partners who started their own CSA near Rockford last year. How cool that they won the green business award! If you live in the Rockford area, check out their site and sign up to receive their fresh organic produce and eggs!

A New Way to Eat Your Veggies

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Worms Work in our House...

2009-05-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

So we've been a little busy around here lately! Last week I hosted a Worms & Wine party with the Urban Worm Girl, and it was such fun. I have been wanting to start composting in the city for a long time now, but didn't know where to start...

When I was a kid, I remember my family had a compost pile out in the corner of our yard where we would throw coffee grounds, banana peels, eggshells, veggie scraps, fruit cores, rinds, etc. My dad would throw lawn clippings on the pile too, and apparently my parents used the compost for our garden and planting beds (I was not a part of the "using" process, or if I was, I don't remember...). Most of my memories about the compost pile are of avoiding it while climbing over the fence because it smelled horrible.

Although this type of composting is great in many ways, it requires some attention to keeping the mixture's composition in balance and you need to mix and turn the pile regularly. Plus, you need outdoor space, which I have precious little of. There are also composting tumblers you can buy to help with mixing this type of decomposition composting, and if you are going this route, they are definitely worth looking into. But I didn't want to use one of these on my balcony either, and I didn't like how outdoor composting in Chicago limits you to the warmer seasons, and in the Winter you would be back to tossing all your food scraps.

So, in researching online, I learned that you can compost indoors with the help of WORMS! All the sites said this method would NOT smell (which I was somewhat skeptical of), but I decided to learn more. I started making more and more friends while living in the city who were like-minded and had also heard of "vermiculture" (composting with worms), and some who had tried it or were doing it successfully! I learned that it doesn't smell because the worms are eating the scraps before they really decompose. Also, all the food is covered by the worm's bedding to protect it from air exposure, make the worms feel like they are underground, and keep bugs from finding it. This was really interesting to me, but I still had a few issues: Where could I put these worms in my place? Where would I get the worms from? Was I ready to do this? Could I convince my husband to get on board and agree to worms in our house?

I admit, the idea of having worms living in your house might sound really weird at first, but I got over it when I weighed all the positive effects it would have on our lives and our Earth. First, after we began recycling in earnest around here, we noticed how much of what still went into our garbage can was food waste. This bothered me for 2 reasons - first, it took a long time to fill the can, and all that organic garbage started to smell before it looked ready to go out, second, I felt like sending all those food scraps to the landfill was a sad waste of matter that could be broken down and go back into the soil, enriching it for future food to grow. Vermiculture offered a major solution to both of these issues, and would also produce natural fertilizer for our balcony's new veggie garden this summer. The process also yields a liquid, commonly referred to as "worm tea" or "liquid gold", that can be diluted to half-strength with water and then used as a fertilizer for our houseplants. And all of this is organic and safe...instead of some scary chemicals that I would have to call poison control over if AJ touched and then put his hand in his mouth.

Then this year, Urban Worm Girl was featured in the Chicago Tribune, and 4 people saved the article for me. I was like, "Ok, it's time to get this going! No more procrastinating!" So I emailed (Stephanie, the Urban Worm Girl) and set up a date for my worm bin demo. I decided to make a party of it, and sent out an evite to many family and friends, thinking a couple might be interested. I called it Worms & Wine, a name borrowed from a vermiculture event at A Cooler Planet, one of my favorite stores, and proceeded to buy organic and biodynamic for the party from Red & White. Red & White is a new wine store on Milwaukee Ave., and the guy working there was very helpful in helping me pick out the bottles, as well as helping me to stay within my budget. The party went really well, and AJ had a blast as well. We had over 15 people come out, and I know that at least one of them has already gotten a bin from Stephanie and started composting as well! I'll be covering the event in and upcoming Chicagonista article, so watch for it there for the lowdown...

So, here's the process going on at our house...first, we chop our scraps up into more manageable peices. This picture shows some fruit scraps like cantaloupe rinds and seeds (which have since sprouted in the bin! I mixed them back into the bedding, so we'll see if the worms will eat them before becoming cantaloupe farmers themselves!), banana peels and strawberry tops. Since we started with a pound (or roughly 1000) worms, it will take them a couple months to keep up with our scrap production, so we have been keeping the overflow in a tupperware container in the fridge. I guess that the older scraps become softer (more ripe?) and are even easier for the worms to eat, so that should help them to process it all. I can't wait until they get to the point where they can eat all of our desirable scraps! (I say "desirable" because the worms should not be fed meat, dairy, spicy foods, or food containing oil, butter, etc. Like AJ learned in his Curious George episode on compost, "no mayoniase!") The next shot is of the inside of the bin. Most of what you can see is the cardboard and newspaper that make up the bedding. If you can click on and open the picture, you might be able to see one worm on a pice of cardboard in the lower right-hand corner of the bin, but since they don't like light, they quickly burrow down into the bedding when I open the lid. As time goes by and the worms eat more food scraps and more of their bedding, the look inside the bin should change over to mostly just looking like rich soil. I think this is supposed to take a couple of months.

Then we will add a new tray to the tower with new bedding and scraps, and the worms will migrate up into it, leaving the composted casting fertilizer behind. This is what we will put onto the soil in our garden outside, and share with friends if we harvest more than what we can use. The last shot to the left is the worm's new home sitting happily undisturbed (for the most part, AJ has gotten used to it there already and largely leaves it alone except when it's time to feed and say "hi" to the worms...) under out stairs.

I hope this will reinforce in AJ our belief that all creatures big and small are important in God's green earth. We all have a purpose, as well as a responsibility to treat the world and its inhabitants (including ourselves!) with respect and love. He already is a big fan of the worms, and when we start to use the compost and the "tea", and then harvest the vegetables from the garden, we will be showing him how all these things work together to nourish one another. We eat the food, the worms eat the scraps, the worms fertilize the plants, and the plants make more food! Here's to the worm's role in that cycle!

Water Consciousness...

2009-05-06T11:34:00.001-07:00

Water. I use it and drink it every day. I just turn on my faucet and it comes out, I flush my toilet and it fills back up, I run my dishwasher and washing machine without even thinking about it. It's so easy to take it for granted, isn't it? In the past few years, our family has learned a lot and made the switch from common purchases like Cascade Dishwashing Liquid, Tide, and Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner to Method brand's Smarty Dish, 3x concentrated laundry detergent, and Lil'Bowl Blue. The Method products are non-toxic, biodegradable, and contain no phosphates. They also actually get my dishes, clothing and bathrooms clean, without draining or flushing harmful substances back into our water supply. Ecover also makes a dishwashing tab that really gets your dishes clean without the phosphates. The phosphates are actually illegal to USE in Chicago, even though they're all over the grocery shelves...hmmm.

(...and not to go on a total tangent/rant here, but in researching this post, I remembered that I am kind of appalled at these. I know cleaning your toilet is not the most fun job, but for goodness sake, do they have to make MORE crap to toss into our landfills - or maybe I should say our oceans? Try to think like your grandmother...buy one thing you can keep cleaning and re-using. This disposable mentality is getting us into real trouble, people!!)

We definitely need to pay attention to what we're flushing down the drain, because it does show up again later...it doesn't just go "away" and it cannot all be removed during the processing that water goes through. Same thing with the medications and prescriptions that you might be flushing after their expiration. Look for a drop off site for these since many communities have certain places or dates that you can drop them off to be properly disposed of. Chicago has this program now, which is pretty cool.

But this is not enough. I recently saw the Oprah show on Earth Day where she had an expert on (I think it was Jacques Causteau's son?) told us about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I had no idea, but this is a huge swirl of actual garbage that has collected in the Pacific. There is apparently at least one in every ocean, but this one, twice the size of TX and 90 ft deep in some places, is the largest. The worst part is that since we are all connected, this garbage is coming back to haunt us in many scary ways. One is in our food supply. The animals and fish that are affected by all this plastic are caught in fishermen's nets and end up on our plates, and in their flesh that we consume are high levels of plastic toxins like BPA and phthalates. These chemicals are cumulative...so if a small fish eats the plastic, and then is eaten by a larger fish (who is also eating the plastic) and so on, by the time the largest fish lands on our plate it can have high levels of of toxins that we happy consume over a candle-lit dinner. And little pieces of garbage is only the beginning. There are huge things like refrigerators, tires, microwaves, etc. out there too! How sad. How gross! And I won't even get into the sad stories about the fish, birds and turtles that die or are severely handicapped due to living in these great garbage swirls...

The effect is that we as consumers really need to start paying attention! If you aren't already, start to ask yourself if you want this ziptop bag, old toy, toothbrush, etc. to end up in the landfill or the ocean. Since the answer is likely to be "no, but what am I supposed to do with it then?" we need to face the fact that our choices in lifestyle and purchases may need adjusting. Buy in bulk when you can. Buy things that come in containers you can re-use, or re-fill (but not those toilet scrubbers!!). Bring your reusable bags to the store every time you shop. Make more things at home from scratch! That might eliminate several problems at once. Some may think me crazy, but I am seriously thinking about taking my dusty breadmaker off the shelf and baking my own sandwich bread. Then I won't have to fill my freezer with one of the only corn-syrup-free breads in the aisle I like when it's on sale, and I won't have to worry about all of the plastic bags they come in floating away in the ocean next year either. I know it's super hard to not make ANY garbage (though one of my friends somehow manages it!!) but with careful consideration and a little more effort, we can make much less "garbage" and severely reduce our footprint on this earth and its oceans. You can always start small...like buying a reusable container for your kid's sandwiches instead of a plastic bag. I actually use a plastic bread-shaped box right now, but I have my eye on these Snack Taxi's, available locally in Chicago at A Cooler Planet.

This past weekend, my husband, son and I met up with my sister and her family at the Brookfield Zoo for their Planet Earth celebration.
We and the kids had a lot of fun, and learned even more about water at one of the booths. I signed up and took the H2Oath (part of why I'm writing this post!) that has to do with preserving or increasing water quality, reducing water consumption, and how to advocate and get involved with water conservation. You can find lots of helpful links at the Chicagoland Zoological Society's site, and sign up to take the oath too! This is a great thing to teach your kids about as well, and they make it fun with a little water-drop character named Agua. And if you get a water bill, working as a family to conserve your water usage at home will actually save you money, too! Now who doesn't like that?

The Tipping Point

2009-04-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so this video is more on the alarmist side than I usually like, but I do think it's worth watching for 2 reasons: many people have never even heard of the tipping point, and there are too many people in this world (and especially here in the US!) that still think climate change is no big deal. Luckily there are lots of scientists out there that think we still have time to clean up our act and make sure the earth is a worthwhile place for our future children and grandchildren to live in. Watch the video and then you can decide whether to share it or not...

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.">Tipping Point

Shaping the Next Generation

2009-04-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

As Earth Day fast approaches, I keep thinking about how, as a mother, I can instill in my 2 yr old son why the day is special. But I also want him to know that in our daily life we need to show respect to the earth and our bodies just as we would show another person. Ideas that come to mind usually involve some sort of "plant a tree" idea, but when I got this email, it made me really start to think...how can I get MY children to think like this at age 20? or even before? Read on and click on the link to watch the short but effective You Tube video.

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old.

The contest was Titled "u @ 50", by the AARP

This video won second place. When they showed it , everyone in the

Room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.

So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

Earth Day Plans...

2009-04-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

Earth Day is next week on April 22nd...do you have any special plans yet? I am waiting to see what the weather holds on the actual day, but this weekend and next we plan to take part in some of the many activities going on in and around the city. There have been numerous lists published lately, both on-line and in-print (Ideal Bite, Chicago Wilderness, the Reader, the Tribune, etc.) so there's no shortage of places to find Earth Day-related ideas, but I thought I'd compile some of the FREE events (other than Green Fest, which charges an entry fee) for you here too! I am going to try to be at one or both of the events on the 25th, as well as the Green Fest in May. Today when I was at Green Maker (a great eco-friendly home improvement store) they had flyers for 2 for 1 entry to Green Fest. Pretty cool!

Happy Earth Day, Everyone!

April 18th Weekend:

Grant Park Earth Day Celebration

April 18-19, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Volunteers can help mulch the trees and bushes of Grant Park’s Hutchinson Field (Balbo and Columbus), sprucing up the centerpiece of Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago just in time for centennial celebrations.

Chicago Parks Earth Day Park Cleanups

It's too late to register if you didn't already, but you can still stick some gardening gloves in your back pocket and head over to one of the many registered parks to lend a hand. Click here to see if a park near you is listed and needs some help!

When: Sat., April 18, 9 a.m.
Phone: 312-857-2757

Volunteers can mulch, plant seedlings, and clean up debris and trash. Sign up at Friends of the Parks’ Web site (fotp.org).

Hazardous Waste Drop Off

When: Sat., April 18, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Phone: 312-744-7606

Spring cleaners can dispose of toxic, corrosive, and flammable waste, including household chemicals, lead- and oil-based paint, gas cans (trade for an eco-friendly one), gas-powered lawn mowers (trade for a $100 rebate on a push or electric mower), computers, cell phones, and old medications. Latex paint and working TVs will not be accepted. You can also pick up a free CFL bulb and buy a discounted compost bin ($35) or rain barrel ($45).

Where: U.S. Cellular Field

333 W. 35th
- 312-674-1000
Irish Earth Day Festival
When: Sat., April 18, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
773-282-7035
This festival, the first of its kind at the Irish American Heritage Center, will showcase businesses and nonprofits promoting sustainability; there’ll also be activities for kids and live music.
APRIL 20th:

Green Roof Open House
When: Mon., April 20, 5-7 p.m.
Phone: 312-263-9129
Where: Metropolis Condominiums
8 W. Monroe
(312) 263-9129The Metropolis Condominium Association hosts a free open house to show off their recently installed green roof, which uses vegetation to absorb and filter water runoff. Association members will be on hand to answer questions, and light refreshments will be served. The invited guest list includes, rather ambitiously, the mayor and governor.
EARTH DAY - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22nd
The Nature Conservancy: Spring Outside! Nature Walk
7:30 a.m., Lurie Garden, Millenium Park, Chicago
Experience a nature walk downtown before you start the work day! Register for this special opportunity to join Jo Seagren, a member of The Nature Conservancy and an amateur naturalist, as she guides a group through Millennium Park on a bird and plant appreciation walk. Meet in front of Cloud Gate ("The Bean"). Registration is required; please RSVP to 312-580-2357.

April 25th Weekend:

Gardening Small Urban Spaces
When: Sat April 25th, 1 - 3pm
Phone: 312.746.9642
Shedd Aquarium horticulture manager Christine Nye gives a presentation on maximizing the productivity of small patches of land, covering square foot gardening and ornamental displays.
Chicago Center for Green Technology
445 N. Sacramento
312-746-9642

Green and Growing Urban Gardening Fair
When: Sat April 25th, 10am - 3pm
Phone: 773.251.7515
Tips and tricks for getting a garden started in the city, plus free food and pole bean seed packets. Demonstrations cover square foot gardening, composting, and rot pots.

Garfield Park Conservatory
300 N. Central Park
312.922.2322

Chicago Green Fest

Sat., May 16, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sun., May 17, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
312-595-5184

This comprehensive festival plans to showcase hundreds of local and national green businesses amid a range of activities and an exhaustive list of over 150 speakers. Activities will include workshops, films, yoga classes, and children's programs; organic beer and wine will be available. Scheduled speakers include local ex-radical Bill Ayers, columnist Jim Hightower, and controversial conceptual artist Damali Ayo. $15, $10 students, bike riders, and union members

Earth Hour 2009: Before and Afters

2009-04-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

Did you participate in Earth Hour last month? I hope so! The response was overwhelming around the world and hopefully the effort will help lawmakers and politicians see that saving energy, clean fuel sources, etc. are important issues to their constituents.

Make sure to check out these cool before and after shots of major cities during Earth Hour 2009!

Spring is for Changes

2009-04-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

I was in Florida visiting with family last week and the sunny weather has really put me in a "Spring-y" mood. Now even though the Chicago weather still seems a little chilly and a lot cloudy, I am looking forward to working on my new balcony garden, going for walks around the 'hood and dying Easter eggs!

Well, we normally buy brown free-range or organic eggs, and I really don't feel l

ike going out to buy special eggs just to dye, but can you really dye brown eggs? Won't they be ugly? Apparently, no! I found this great site that gives you recipes for dying brown eggs pretty shades of red, blue and an orange-yellow, and the best part is that you can make the dyes while making dinner instead of buying yet another pack or Paas. (not that Paas is expensive or inconvenient, since you can get it pretty much anywhere, but I am just happy not to have to toss or recycle MORE packaging. We have enough of that around here already!) Here is another web page that has instructions for using onion skins to dye the eggs! I love that idea since it basically makes use of something I would otherwise just toss. And here is one more site that has good ideas for natural dyes that would probably work really well on white eggs.

I think my son is going to like dying eggs for the first time this year, and maybe he will start to associate this Easter tradition with the start of Spring, just like I do! Maybe as he gets older, he'll think it's cool that we can use food to dye eggs. If you have older children, the

y might even be able to think of more ideas and you could work on the dying as more of a science project than an art project!

As the season changes, many people clean out part of their lives that are often neglected...refrigerators, baseboards, under the beds, etc. Why not focus some energy on your bathroom and vanity cabinets? There might be tons of scary chemicals there that you regularly put right on your and your family's skin...which is, after all, your largest organ.

There are several organizations who are working hard right now on our behalf to win a battle with cosmetics and baby care companies over transparency and ridding their potions of harmful ingredients (which they somehow seem able to do when selling their products overseas...hmm). Hopefully this will help take some of the burden off of us as consumers, because shouldn't we just be able to assume everything that's for sale is safe to use? But until then, here's a good place to start:

This is a link to a great site called the Good Guide where you can see how what you buy/eat is rated when things like Health Performance, General Nutrition, Additives/Preservatives, Artificial Colors of Concern & Certifications are taken into consideration. They also rate products/companies based on Environmental Performance, Toxic Waste production/handling, Global Warming, Energy & Water Management as well as social aspects like Social Performance, Philanthropy, Labor & Human Rights, etc. They don't have all the brands or products that I use yet, but they do have a fairly comprehensive listing and encourage your to contact them with other products you use. So check it out for yourself and see where the companies that you are giving your money to rank in the areas that matter to you...and hopefully all of the categories matter to you!

2009-03-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already heard, Earth Hour 2009 is fast approaching. The running counter on the web site shows that at this moment the event will begin just shy of 6 days from now. (Earth Hour will take place on March 28th, 09, from 8:30 - 9:30pm local time) This will be the third year of Earth Hour since Sydney Australia went lights-out in 2007, capturing the attention of the world. 2008 the event went global and was a huge success. Last year over 36 million turned off their lights to participate...but it's not just about lights.

In our place we turned off all forms of electricity other than our refrigerator, and went the prime time hour without TV, music or the laptop. We went to the rooftop of our building and watched the skyline to see if we would be able to see the city go dark, but it was cold and when our clocks said the hour had begun, we became impatient and headed back in. Later though, we did see pictures of how many buildings and businesses did participate, and the satellite shots were amazing! There is also a video on the site that shows the whole story with lots of great real-time footage of the lights going out. It's really awe-inspiring to see a global movement like this is support of making changes to reverse climate change.

Click here to see the light and dark pictures of recognizable areas downtown and along the mag mile from 2008. The most dramatic before and after shots to me were the images of the entire Tribune Tower and the ferris wheel shot at Navy Pier, as well as the marquis' of the Oriental and Chicago Theaters.

I'm not going to be in Chicago for Earth Hour this year, but I'll be working to get my grandpa to help by letting us turn off his lights and TV in Florida. Maybe I'll suggest a candlelit game of cards out on the screened-in porch? But you can all sign up at the site and participate too! If you have not done so already, follow the link, sign yourself up, and then urge your family, friends, coworkers and businesses to do the same. This is one way to illustrate how big a difference we can make as individuals when we all work together!

Doug Fine Lecture Recap

2009-02-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

The Doug Fine lecture this past Friday at the Chicago Cultural Center was outstanding! Despite my bad dreams that only 8 people would show up, the chairs filled up (I think there were about 85 in attendance!) and the audience was as lively as the speaker. Doug really inspired and motivated the crowd and we laughed along with him as he told us about his mishaps and successes in going Carbon Neutral. Many of my friends and contacts who attended have sent me updates about how they are looking into what changes they can make after being fired-up at this event. These changes range from starting herb gardens in window boxes to raising chickens in the city and even buying a Diesel car to have converted to run on vegetable oil! Wonderful stuff!

As for myself, I had read Farewell My Subaru many months ago and remember being catapulted to a new level of "green-consciousness" afterward...but now after hearing the lecture and chatting with all these other inspired people, I'm experiencing another burst of eco-motivation! I was talking to my husband about how maybe we could plant some vegetables on our balcony this year, and he said, "Why even do flowers? What about all vegetables?" Awesome! So I am planning to grow all edible plants in my planters and boxes this year, like lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, and a bunch of different herbs (and then if there's room, maybe an annual or two). I am even considering hanging tomato plants like this one since the tomato leaves are toxic to my little one whose curiosity might get the best of him!

We are also planning to start composting in our condo with worms (vermiculture) so that we make less waste and have some great fertilizer for our new "garden".
I'm thinking of hosting a Worms and Wine party after being inspired by an article in the paper, so check out an invitation in a future post when I get the date set. What could be more fun than sipping organic wine while learning how to get worms to eat your kitchen scraps?

One more change we've made is to run our heater a LOT less. I used to just have it set at 70 for most of the morning, let it go down a few degrees while we were usually out during the day, and then it was back to 70 from afternoon until bedtime. Well, now it's usually OFF! We live on the 4th floor of a 4 story condo building, so we do get some heat that rises up from our neighbors, so it never seems to get below 67 during the daytime, and if so, then I'll just turn it on until it warms back up. Of course I have been wearing more sweaters and keeping my socks on, but that's no problem when I saw how much $$ we saved on our gas bill!!

So, what changes have you made lately? Do you have any interesting ones in the works? I'd love to hear about them, no matter how small, and I'm sure they might inspire another reader as well, so feel free to post a comment to share your ideas.

What to do with the Christmas Cards...

2009-02-24T13:06:00.000-08:00

A great mom/family-centric site (chicagonista.com) that I write for here in Chicago did a special little video on green projects this past Christmas. I finally got around to doing one of them this past month and it turned out great!

The premise of the project is to answer the question of what to do with all those cute picture cards that your friends and family send each year. You feel bad throwing them away (by recycling them, of course), but why, and where should you keep them? One source revealed to me that she files them away each year and knows exactly where they all are...but when I asked her if she ever looks at them, she sheepishly admitted she does not. So then what's the point? Space in my loft is always at a premium, so I require a really good reason before I can justify keeping anything.

So here's the answer that worked for me. Make a picture wreath! I cut out all of the cuties with a decorative scissors into random leaf shapes, making sure not to always have the faces oriented the same way on the leaf. Then I cut out a ring, about 10" in diameter, from a cereal box headed for the recycling bin. I glued the leaves to the ring, trying to make sure no ones little mug was obliterated, wrote 2008 on the back, and voila! My 2008 Christmas Card Wreath was done!

I think next year when the wreath comes out again as a decoration, I might hot glue some jingle bells onto it. In future years, other embellishment ideas might include finishing the bottom section with the decorative fronts of traditional cards so no one would be covered up by adding a bow, or maybe we could glue on tiny pinecones gathered on a walk. I really liked this idea and I hope as the years go by and our wreath collection grows, my family and I find it fun to look at how our friends grow and change over the years.

Doug Fine at the Chicago Cultural Center!

2009-02-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

Come join me at the Chicago Cultural Center on Feb 20th to hear Doug Fine's hilarious yet informative talk and slide show on how to live a sustainable, "off-the-grid" lifestyle while keeping your "Western lifestyle" intact!

I am so excited that Doug will be coming in to do this speaking engagement for us this month, and I hope you can come! In the meantime, check out his great read, Farewell My Subaru (which I got from the library, but since he'll be selling the book at the event, I might be able to get my own copy!), and his web site.

Here's what Doug has to say about the event:

FAREWELL, MY SUBARU: With Humor Rather Than Fear, Author and U.S. National Public Radio Adventurer Doug Fine Shows How Anyone Can Become (Nearly) Petroleum-Free In One Year:

As I travel around the world, talking to audiences about how anyone can get petroleum out of his or her life without giving up any Digital Age comforts (not even car!), I’m often surprised by how difficult folks (and corporations) imagine their transition to sustainable living (and business) would be. Many believe that in some magical future we, as busy modern humans, will develop the technology to live comfortably and in a sustainable manner.

In my 90-minute slide show and talk based on Farewell, My Subaru, I use humor (including my many initial mistakes), rather than fear, to show audiences how anyone can move seamlessly to sustainability, through solar power, vegetable oil-powered autos and a sustainable diet. The message in this live event, as in the book, is, "If this guy can do it, anyone can." After all, when I started, coyotes attacked my chickens, my solar panels nearly electrocuted me, and my vegetable oil exhaust gave me a bad case of the munchies. And yet here I am, a year down the road, with upwards of 90% of fossil fuels out of my life. And I've given up none of my appliances, including washing machine, laptop, and, possibly most important of all, booming stereo sub-woofers.

As I've been doing around the world at institutions ranging from the National Geographic Society to Merrill Lynch, this event, with slides, hysterical story-telling and readingws from Farewell, My Subaru, shows how a regular guy can actually get oil-free, today. All without giving up his “Western lifestyle” or getting eaten by a mountain lion. I simply made it sustainable, without any special skills at the start. This very funny, inspiring and informative talk is followed by an interactive Q&A, as audiences are almost always inspired to ask questions about how they might get started on a carbon-neutral lifestyle, whether at the personal or corporate level. This event is no staid reading. Think "Green Stand-up" rather than a boring or scary melting-ice-sheet talk. Because we all realize that a major societal retrofit geared to sustainability is crucial for the future of the species.

Farewell, My Subaru has been covered everywhere from the New York Times to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (info: www.dougfine.com). Doug Fine's continuing blog of carbon-neutral misadventures, at www.dougfine.com, also has a short film about the book, and samples of Fine's NPR work and print journalism from five continents.

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