I finally did it.

I packed my lunch and brought it to the office. Not in my usual brown bag from Whole Foods, which always ends up smashed in the bottom of my bag, beneath my laptop and shoes, but in a spiffy new container from Light my Fire that, between us, I treated myself to.

Lunch-box empty

Lunch-box full

The lunchbox has remained unchanged for half a century – an ugly metal box with a handle to carry your sandwich back and forth to school. Our customers wanted something different and we listened. The result was a slimmed down three-piece MealKit that could be combined with our MealKit Harness for a new kind of LunchBox. Look for the Light My Fire LunchBox soon at work or at school.

Heck, it even has a spork! I packed a crispy sliced apple (in Reynolds wrap from 100% aluminium), tasty cheese slices, a granola bar from KIND, and an elegant lavender towelette (Disclaimer: not one of these products were given to me; I bought them all.) Plus a tiny bit of chocolate/calcium. I could not crowd a cloth napkin into my crammed work bag, so I folded one square of my Seventh Generation paper towel roll. Today’s menu did not require a spork, so I left that at home.

I’m not sure I hit all the food groups, but I had a pretty tasty picnic at my desk, and I am officially obsessed with my new way of life.

When I got home, I hopped onto Practically Green and read more about Switching to a reusable lunch-box. Such as, “The average child produces 67 pounds of trash from lunch a year, which is over 15,000 pounds per elementary school.” And, “Do be aware that some lunch boxes contain lead or PVC, chemicals that you may want to avoid coming near your child’s food, or yours.”

Yikes! My new lunchbox may look fab, but is it safe?

Phew. Here’s what I discovered at the Light My Fire website:

Dishwasher safe

Floats

Environmentally-friendly PP plastic

As practical in the city as it is in the wild

Micro-wave safe

In short, my kind of lunch-box.

Back to the Practically Green lunch-box action page: Would I like to “Commit” to this action? Yes: click. Presto: 20 points added to my “Stuff” score! Would I like to recommend this action to my friends on Facebook? Sure, why not? Click, post, done.

It feels good, all of this. I had a healthy lunch today, and I launched a positive new practice for the forseeable future. In this unpredictable world of recalls and bedbugs, pesticides and phthalates, that’s quite something. I’d even call it an accomplishment.

If you went to one of the 162 colleges and universities in the fourth annual “Cool Schools” rankings – or if your kids do — you already know that this is a rigorous assessment of the nation’s greenest campuses, from light bulbs to kitchen waste, from campus transport to water reuse. In fact, the Sierra Club’s survey reminds us of our own Practically Green quiz —  only ours is faster to complete, and theirs is geared to academia and not to family life.

“Intercollegiate rivalry is a long and hallowed tradition. That was the operating premise, anyway, behind our fourth annual Coolest Schools survey.” The Sierra Club knows about long and hallowed traditions; the organization was founded in 1892 by environmental giant John Muir.

Sierra magazine’s “Coolest Schools” ranking is open to all four-year undergraduate colleges and universities in the United States. In February 2010, surveys were sent to 900 schools. In addition, an announcement was placed in the February 12, 2010, issue of the Chronicle of Education, encouraging any school that wished to take part to contact Sierra. Schools that requested a survey were provided one and encouraged to submit. One hundred and sixty-two colleges turned in a survey. There was no cost for participation, and no affiliation or relationship between a college and the Sierra Club or its employees, past or present, had any effect on the outcome.

This year’s report includes some notable changes, primarily concerning methodologies, according to Avital Binshtock, the lifestyle editor of Sierra magazine and the editor of the Green Life blog there:

“After three years of hearing complaints from the participating schools, we decided to be totally transparent. For the first time, we published our methodology, our scoring key, our questionnaire, and each particular school’s responses. We even show which schools chose not to participate.”

Ouch! We’re guessing next year’s survey will have more respondents: it’s pretty uncool if your school didn’t even bother to reply.

“Second, we reworked the survey questions. ‘Where do you get your energy sources?’ is most important and comes first. It’s harder to do well on the survey if you rely on fossil fuels, especially coal.”

Avital and her team are, unsurprisingly, no-nonsense on scoring: “No school scored a perfect 100; Green Mountain came closest, with 88.6.”

"Cools Schools" Table of Contents

This link takes you to a landing page for the top 100; the methodology; complete rankings for all 162 schools rated; and several additional fascinating features, such as “Questionable Colleges,” aka “Mixed Greens”.

One of our favorites is “Dream Schedule,” a mashup of best courses and professors from all the respondents. “We scouted college catalogs nationwide to draft a dream team of all-star teachers and sure-hit courses,” Avital wrote. E.g., Michael Pollan teaching  “Green Buildings and Behavior at Stanford University: “To get into this class, you have to write an essay about why campus sustainability is important. Then you get to dig through trash. You also learn how to implement a campus energy plan, analyze waste habits, and draft and deploy conservation messages.”

Avital’s uber-thoughts on the popularity of the Cool Schools:

Young people care deeply about sustainability, and this is a strong guide to colleges that will meet that requirement. More and more, students and parents are looking at green issues when they make this major decision. We know from the Princeton Review that two-thirds of high-school students consider environmental issues when they decide where to apply. Second, we want to help encourage a healthy competition to see who can be the greenest. We can do this with the rankings and the stories of how schools are going green. We picked four students to highlight environmental commitment.  We look at China, we investigate the best, most innovative extracurriculars. So in addition to the rankings, we put lots of stories out there.

Does Avital see eco-awareness growing in her personal life?

Avital with a monkey in Nepal

In the past few years, environmental consciousness has become a lot more mainstream. It’s in the forefront of people’s minds. Turn off water when they’re brushing teeth, we didn’t do that in the 70s. In San Francisco, recycling is pretty automatic. You know where to put what, what’s what. Composting now is where recycling was a few years ago. In the past year a law was passed in San Francisco mandating compost. We had a workshop, we have compost bins in our lunch room. At home? It’s hard in an apartment, but in my apartment building we have one chute for trash and one chute for recycling. I think a compost chute is next. Composting is just now emerging. People are understanding what it is, how to do it, and realizing it’s easier than it seems. It’s not any smellier or messier than your garbage ever was!

We’d be interested to know what Avital and her team might find if they were to survey the Fortune 500, and we told her so. We could almost hear her coy smile over the phone. Stay tuned!

Subscribe to The Green Life blog, join The Sierra Club on Facebook, and follow on Twitter @sierra_magazine. In addition, Avital writes about travel for The Los Angeles Times and on The Huffington Post. Her personal Twitter link: @avitalb .

I’m an Allergy Mom.  Which means I carry epi-pens everywhere, have to be extremely careful about normal kid’s stuff like play dates, birthday parties, school lunches and airplanes, and grocery store shopping is like exploring a new country, especially when Whole Foods keeps changing product manufacturers (GRRR….but that’s a whole different blog topic).

I discovered my son’s allergies after feeding him a small piece of cashew that caused anaphylactic shock (which is bad) when he was 22 months old. Testing showed he had numerous other food and environmental allergies, but the nuts/sesame are the worst.  I had done enough reading to believe that there was no one CLEAR cause of this spike in allergies, but that there IS a real spike.  (The reason we didn’t know very many people with food allergies growing up is that they just weren’t as common).  I had my own theories as to why rates were spiking–but honestly, my focus has been more on what I need to do to keep him healthy and safe and feeling normal.

Then I was introduced a few weeks back to Robyn O’Brien and felt like I’d met a long lost friend.  Like me, Robyn was chugging along as an MBA (although she worked on Wall Street–way hard core), had four kids and then, boom–her youngest developed a severe allergy to egg (turned out all four had allergies).  Like me, Robyn started thinking about how to keep her kids safe, learned a lot, and decided to share what she was learning with other parents, through a website called AllergyKids.com and then a foundation called AllergyKids.

However, Robyn has also done some truly EXTRAORDINARY research and written a book (those financial analyst skills at work) that EVERY mom/soon-to-be mom out there should be interested in.  She worked, hard and in the face of a lot of opposition, to find out WHY all these allergies are occurring.  The results of her investigation, validated by an impressive group of scientists, is a chilling, maddening, but in the end, a totally inspiring book called “The Unhealthy Truth:  How Our Food is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It.”  Robyn’s book has led her to being dubbed “The Erin Brokavich of Food” by none other than The New York Times and here are other notes of acclaim:

“The information that Robyn O’Brien has uncovered in this book is so astonishing and has such powerful implications on the health of our nation’s children, I almost don’t want to believe it. But she backs up everything she says with solid science and reputable resources that I must believe. Robyn’s book is a call to action. The information you are about to read in The Unhealthy Truth will change your life.” -Dr. Bob Sears, author of THE VACCINE BOOK and leading pediatric specialist

“Robyn’s compelling analysis of the corruption of our food supply is a startling revelation of the flaws in our system. While Robyn’s story reveals our failure to protect two of our country’s most valuable assets, our children and our environment, her guiding message of courage, tenacity and hope is a beacon of light in our toxic world.” -Robert F. Kennedy, Jr

“With four small children in tow, Robyn O’Brien is the new example of what a passionate and outraged parent can accomplish. Her book offers access to honest and credible information that is a true reality-check for your kitchen table. Read it, be inspired, shop smarter, and ensure a healthier future for your children and family.” -Christopher Gavigan, CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World

I read Robyn’s book on an airplane and at points, I had what my kids call my “mad tears” stinging my eyes I was so angry.  Her painstaking research, showing a strong correlation between allergies and genetically modified seeds (particularly the soy/nut connection), blew me away.  I can honestly say that I have never really thought a lot about the health impact of genetically modified foods before now. Pesticides?  Yes.  GMO’s?  No so much.

But her research not only showed the clinical research, she showed the funding connections between the organizations that I thought were trying to keep me and my kids safe; pointed out the lack of research that still exists on the impact of genetically engineered foods and people despite concerns raised at their inception; and the fact that the US is DIFFERENT.  Other countries require the use of GMO’s to be disclosed.  The US does not.  Mothers in other countries are told to eat organic during the first 12 weeks. Mothers here? No.  Robyn and I both downed hordes of genetically modified edamame while pregnant; fed our kids “normal” food like chicken dino nuggets and blue yogurt; and had NO idea that we were part of a huge science experiment to find out what happens when the majority of soy and increasingly corn comes from genetically modified seeds— that are designed to handle increasing quantities of pesticides or even worse, kill the insides of insects.  And no, not everyone in this experiment winds up with a food allergy. But a lot more people do now than before the introduction of genetically modified foods. And if the number of kids with allergies in our elementary school is any indication, this experiment sucks.

Robyn doesn’t  focus just on GMO’s, but other additives that I was more aware of like artificial colors and flavors.  The book also reads like a personal memoir with points that made me laugh and with great “How To” advice at the end.  Her approach is similar to Practically Green’s—choose one simple thing to change.  And then do one more thing. For me, my step was to do an inventory of where I thought we were regularly exposed to GMO soy. Robin has more tips on her site and Practically Green has actions devoted to finding artificial colors & flavors, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and sodium benzoate. You can even earn points as you switch out artificially sweetened sodas, buy cereals without artificial colors and flavors, and choose organic or all-natural snack foods.

Robyn, from one allergy mom to another, thank you.  Your courage and dedication is inspiring and a great reminder that moms can, and will, change this world to be better for our kids.

Of all the dreary, sad chores in life, one of the dreariest and saddest must be going through the closets of a loved one who has passed away. We’ve all heard of bereaved children, parents, and spouses who can’t bear to do it. But when it came time for me to clean my parents’ closets, I had no choice: we were selling the house.

And as I realized that there were items here that my kids and I might enjoy wearing, the chore became a bit more fun. I could imagine that Mom and Dad would like the idea of their stuff going out to dinner again, or snuggling in for a rainy-Sunday read.

Mom's Pucci shirt

This was one of the prizes from my mother’s closet: a Pucci blouse of tender cotton. Beautiful colors, right? — and Pucci! I stuffed myself into it, ignoring the fact that my mother was a size four, that my shoulders have deltoids and hers were exquisitely tiny, of an era when women didn’t lift weights.

What to do?

First I consulted my dictionary, which gives three definitions for vintage [vin-tij], adjective: 1) high quality of a past time, 2) being the best of its kind, and 3) old-fashioned or obsolete.

Needing more, I consulted my friends. And this way, over the past few days I’ve collected a treasure trove of advice and stories from some of the most chic women I know, and I want to share it with you. I hope it’s helpful, and I hope to hear yours!

SIZE:

When buying Vintage, make sure it really fits. Some shops will try to sell you that dress that is just a 1/2 size too small. Too small is too small, and alterations are going to show. In Vintage, there will only BE one size, so it’s sad if it is not yours, but be honest.

Don’t think too much about the size on the label. If you like it, try it on.

Don’t count on being able to let a garment out or the hem down, but the opposite direction usually works.

Don’t keep it if you will NEVER be that size again. I don’t mean just shoes. That’s just being mean to yourself. If it’s really great, and you can’t bear to give it away, EBay it.

Or, lend it to someone who is the right size:

I hit the mother lode a few summers back after unearthing a practically perfect Chanel Sailor’s Midi Jacket at a local tag sale for The Boys & Girls Club…. The jacket had aged gracefully, unlike its previous owner, and although a tad tight on me, it looked unbelievably chic on my daughters, who have fought to wear it with jeans or minuscule dresses. It’s back in my closet, with a bit more history attached, hanging next to other vintage favorites destined to land in the next dress-up box for my daughters’ future children…or for me to wear, once I fit into my old favorite jeans. Which ever comes first!

Julie's Tag-Sale Chanel Jacket

CLEANING, TAILORING, AND BAD VIBES:

Clean it, mend it, and wear it like it was new. Vintage doesn’t work as Style if it looks dirty and unloved.

I don’t normally go way back in time, style-wise, but I did just buy a wool jacket from the 1950s at a Buffalo Exchange in San Francisco; changed the buttons and added some decorative ribbon to the lining & now I have a sort of Mad-Men-looking item.

I do worry about buying /inheriting a piece with bad vibes, bad tragic history–at least get it tailored and dry cleaned. Then put it out in the fresh air for the day! This: a memory about how to handle an afghan burka brought to me by my daughter, from Kabul. These historic pieces do come bearing an energy of their own. Vintage is good- but figuring out what’s in it besides fabric and shape, is good too.

BEST BETS: PURSES, JEWELRY, ACCESSORIES:

Had to share this great leopardskin clutch originally belonging to my husband’s grandmother, Emma Sala, who was the Lodi, CA grape harvest queen of 1918 and who is famously depicted on the raisin box in her queenly garb. My sister-in-law, a multi-media artist, gave it to me recently and the gift meant a lot because she has used it in a lot of her noir-ish photographic still lifes posted on-line at her website: CeceliaChapman.com.

Barbara's Leopard Clutch

I gave the clutch a loving restoration and plan to carry it everywhere.  The next picture shows the restored red leather lining. I should note that the clutch has a matching leopard skin belt which has not survived into the 21^st Century as far as I know.  Maybe it is out there somewhere.

Restored lining

If you’re shopping eBay for accessories, put “authentic” into your search term and don’t look for crazy bargains. If you see an Hermes (“Hermes”) bag for $300, that is too good to be true. And, keep a tape measure in your drawer. You can’t tell scale from those teeny photos. Friend of mine bought a gorgeous Tods bronze lizard bag, only to find that it was actually 5″ x 7″, the size of a large index card.

Jewelry can last forever, so it is one of the best items for Vintage wear. If you are lucky enough to inherit jewelry, find ways to wear it! I am honored to have a pin that my husband’s Grandfather gave to my Mother-in-Law. When it was first given to me, I didn’t really wear pins. Were they out of style? Or was I too young? But I DID use the pin as a clasp for twice wrapped pearls. BIG success! Now I also wear it as a pin. I know people who have been left fabulous pieces that they never wore, and who have been brave enough to go to good jewelers to have the pieces redesigned, stones reset… The point of having things is to use them, wear them, so don’t lock it away.

WEDDING DRESSES:

What happened to wearing your mother’s wedding dress? Rosie has expressed zero interest in mine. She has watched a show called “Say Yes to the Dress” and had me watch a bit of an episode as she thought this Kleinfeld’s — some wedding dress store in NYC — might be worth visiting. It’s a wedding dress factory! Pushy women pushing to make the sale and move on to the next victim, in my humble opinion! Wasn’t that a wonderful tradition when we were growing up? I always wanted to wear my mother’s dress — I probably couldn’t have fit into it although I never got the chance.  …. In these times when money is tight and a wedding dress you wear for a 6-hour stint costs anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 or more, wouldn’t it make sense to wear your mother’s dress for practical as well as sentimental reasons?

OTHER GOWNS & EVENING WEAR:

Evening coats, wraps, great silk shirts, sweaters have great vintage potential. 1) They were/are expensive. 2) They mix and match wonderfully with the latest style of skirt/trousers/shoes. 3) They are unique now. I have a Pucci blouse, bought in the post Christmas sale at Saks in 1976. It looks fab. People go crazy when I wear it. I feel like a movie star…. I have one inherited gown, brown chiffon layers, Empire waisted, with two wonderful sort of trailing scarves hemmed with Marabou feathers. These can be draped over either arm like a skinny wrap, or allowed to drift along the floor in my wake, rather like tiny dogs. My Mom may actually have worn this gown to an Inaugural Ball! They don’t make them like this anymore.

VALUE & EXPECTATIONS:

If you are buying and not inheriting, don’t buy just because the price is low. Mentally add a zero; would you still buy it? Do you know what you’ll wear it with? Will you need new shoes, a new weird undergarment with straps going in strange directions? That would be a sign to leave the garment there.

You will not find the staple items of your wardrobe 2d hand. For black pants, that crisp white shirt, the everyday cotton turtleneck, you’ll probably have to pay full price, and new.

MANTRAS:

As you skim a rack of clothes, focus on the fabric. If you come upon a fabric you could contemplate wearing, then and only then tweak the item from the rack.

Vintage is good, but I think even better is, to own less, buy less, keep it longer.

Found treasures are rare, few and far between.

When my father died, he left behind three v-necked cashmere sweaters in his bureau. A few moth holes, yes, ineptly mended, but all from Trimingham’s and all utterly reminiscent of him. My daughters and I each keep one now. Dad was a prolific writer and thinker, and his size, men’s medium, works just fine for us. Now, when I need to write and think, I pull on that sweater. I guess we wear our “Papa” sweaters for comfort, to feel close to him once more. Who cares if this is a sentimental illusion: it works. Some stuff isn’t merely stuff: it’s vintage. And by that I mean, the best of its kind.

P.S. As for Mom’s blouse, I think I’ll keep it hanging up on that hook for a while, where I can look at it whenever I want to.

Third-generation cashmere: Louisa in Dad's sweater

Please note!!

This blog post is part of the must-read monthly Green Moms’ Blog Carnival feature about Clothing: What’s Eco, and What’s Not, hosted by our friends at Big Green Purse @biggreenpurse.

For next steps on donating clothes to a charity or adding to your wardrobe with vintage, visit us at Practically Green!

News Picks:

Ever stress that EVERYTHING is toxic these days? Here at PG we know you want the absolute best for your child in every regard, especially heath. Sometimes, however, learning every little detail about every possible toxin in every possible product can be overwhelming. Here is a great post from our friends over at Healthy Child, Healthy World on how to cope.

Do your soil a favor, use Fall leaves for composting: With Fall officially beginning this week, here’s a seasonal tip for you: try not to rake those leaves away into the windy abyss! Instead, start a compost pile! Not only will your garden thank you for it, you’ll get PG points as well. Throughout the Fall holidays, you can add apple cores, pumpkin rinds, and the like to build up nutrient-rich soil for spring bloom.

Share the Harvest: Speaking of Fall trends, if you’re in the Vermont area and have some free time tomorrow, you should take part in the Shelburne Farms Harvest Festival. The festival will include tons of family fun, local products, entertainment, and even agricultural education for kids! Not in the Vermont area? Don’t fret. Visit Local Harvest to find a farm near you and check out their events calendar. Get PG points for shopping local.

Multi-Media Pick:

The new baby carrots campaign: When we first heard about this “BABY CARROTS, Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food” ad campaign on Twitter, it struck us as a rather odd approach to selling vegetables. This campaign has come into fruition (no pun intended): a high school in Syracuse is getting a vending machine chock full of baby carrots! The carrots come in three different styles of packaging to catch students’ eyes. Unlike the other vending machines in the cafeteria, the baby carrots machine will be on all day, available for snacking. Take a look at this video from CNN’s “eatocracy” on the new program.

New and Cool Pick:

F. Rock Bags featured on NBC: We have told you before about F.Rock, a fabulous company that makes custom men’s bags that are not only gorgeous, but made from 100% reclaimed fabrics and leathers. Their bags were most recently worn by a character on NBC’s new legal drama, “Outlaw” — and F.Rock now makes an iPad Bag. Perfect for all of you busy moms and fellow bloggers on the go!

Mireya Navarro is an environmental reporter and blogger for The New York Times focusing on New York City and its region. In the past week she’s posted two stories, one on dishwasher soaps and the other about pending regulation for eco-friendly dry-cleaning.

Coincidentally, at Practically Green we’ve got actions in both of these areas – e.g., Switch to a green drycleaner, Quit drycleaning my clothes (or never start) – and Switch to all-natural dishwasher detergent. So we called Mia to find out about her personal green journey and to get her sense of how the country is becoming more eco-aware – or not.

I was among the unaware. For Americans, I think the turning point for green messages, when it began to reach a critical mass, was in 2007 with An Inconvenient Truth, when that movie came out and won the Oscar. The Live Earth Concerts happened at about the same time. Then it was more than just the Sierra Club types interested and involved. It became widespread.

In February that year I did a story on green weddings for the Times. I was in LA, assigned to the Sunday Style section, and I was always looking for new trends. I came across this trend for green weddings. I wrote the story and it was really popular. Almost immediately it became the most e-mailed and it stayed up there on that list for a long time. People wrote to me about it, and one of those people was a literary agent. So I wrote the book.

What does Mia think about encouraging green consumer behavior without being pushy/preachy/punitive?

I learned a lot about this from writing my book. A wedding is the perfect vehicle for educating without having an Al Gore type of lecture. These days, people have websites for their weddings. They explain how they’re doing it, and why, and many of them want to be environmentally conscientious. Weddings are a perfect vehicle for that! After all, a wedding is one of the biggest parties we’ll ever throw. It’s incredibly powerful: all the guests are there, a captive audience. Without going out of your way, you can show that a green wedding has delicious food, you have a beautiful dress without spending five thousand dollars on the dress.

Photo: Shelburne Farms, Vermont

What about green in people’s personal lives?

When I toured for my book I told people, take a look at what is it that produces the most carbon, the so-called carbon footprint, and reduce that. Look at transportation and energy use. Look at how you get around! Do everything you can do cut that down. In terms of what’s most important, things people can do: it’s how they move around, and getting an energy audit to be sure they’re not wasting energy — and insulate their homes well! If we all did it, it would make a difference.

I do feel we are living in a transition time. 2007 was not that long ago. There’s a major shift happening right now. The marketplace is responding to consumer needs. There’s a lot of green washing. But what’s happening, that will have impact, is regulation. We won’t have a choice! For an example, I had to replace a faucet in my bathroom sink in my NYC coop recently. I had to use the model that the coop sold. And it was low-flow. At first I noticed the difference. We are all so spoiled! But now I don’t even notice it. My showerhead is next!

Dry cleaning is another example. That’s going to become competitive. The EPA is going to phase out perc. There are a lot of dry cleaners in NYC, and either they’ll have to switch, or they’ll have to go. People eventually will be forced to make greener choices. That gives me hope.

Follow Mia on Green Weddings on Facebook and on Twitter at @greenweddingbk. Click here for the Green Weddings topic at nytimes.com

Sometimes it’s just one tiny little thing that makes my day: a single mincing step forward. Today I decided to post the dirty dozen list on my fridge.

This may not seem like such a big deal. But the dirty dozen is very important. Potentially carcinogenic. It’s those 12 fruits and vegetables that absorb pesticide chemicals best. It’s the ones that benefit you least. It’s what you should buy “organic” even if it costs a little more. Because when you eat or serve the food on the dirty dozen list, you are unwittingly putting dangerous chemicals into you, and into your family and friends. Who would ever want to do that?

The truth is, I already knew about the dirty dozen — I have known about this for months! — but I was keeping this important information to myself. I suspect this is how it works in many households: Most of the time, the mom is the prep chef; grocery shopping and rinsing produce falls to yours truly. Let’s think: If I’m the VP in charge of Food, why don’t I share essential food info with my husband and my kids? Instead of lecturing them, why don’t I put it where I know they’ll read it: ON THE FRIDGE.

So today I went onto the Practically Green site, clicked to the Actions, searched for “dirty dozen” and found three. Here’s the first one:

Review the “dirty dozen” list of fruits and vegetables

Please do your own clicking and reading, of course — but for me, having read this action on Practically Green, I now know more about those dirty pesticides – i.e., I want them nowhere in my body — and I know more on what to do about it. At a minimum, I need to print out the list and post it on our fridge. Now I know where to go to get that done.

There it is, on my fridge! Food you should buy organic on the left, and food that doesn’t matter as much on the right.

Short and sweet!

If you’ve got a short and sweet idea for Practically Green life, please let me know: sarah@practicallygreen.com. Photos, stories, insights and epiphanies most welcome. Thanks.

Shannon Hinderberger, aka Working Mom Goes Green, needs no introduction to regular PG readers. Her blog’s subtitle says it all:

I’m a working mom taking a stand against yucky stuff in my food, cosmetics, etc. and gradually turning my family towards more eco-friendly, natural choices. I’m learning so this is about our journey towards going green. There may be a few stumbles so hopefully you can laugh with me not at me!

She’s a Motherboard member from Bend, Oregon, and we’ve enjoyed swapping ideas and quips since we first discovered each other over the summer. We liked Shannon’s latest post so much we asked if we could reprint it. “Of course!” she replied. (This is another thing we love about her.)

Going green without going broke: Organic edition

I used to think that going organic and eco-friendly would break the bank. Over the past 10 years, I’ve seen the price gap between organic products and non-organic products narrow as the demand has gone up but still the other day I was at Costco and I was having a dilemma with over buying chicken … organic farm raised was double the price over Foster Farms. I went with the organic farm raised but OUCH.

Here are some tips and tricks I’ve learned over the last few years when it comes to buying organic:

1. Join a CSA in the spring and share with another family. My CSA costs $11 a week and it dictates our meals. Sure, we have the pay the price all up front but in the end, I’ve seen my grocery bill go down during those 26 weeks. What we don’t eat, I freeze and pull out during the winter.

2. If you shop the farmer’s market or local natural food store, go at the end of the market or day and the farmers/owners may cut you a deal. I haven’t tried this but a friend reported to me that this is often what she does.

3. Clip coupons! Sign up for Your Green Helper and they will do the work for you. They look at the coupons in the Sunday paper and show you how to combine it with sales happening at the grocery stores and Whole Foods. I shop Whole Foods often and the cashier was shocked at how much I saved.

4. Buy store name or house brand organics. A good majority of the time “plain label” as I call them, are cheaper and often are private labels of big name brands. This is mainly why I haven’t discontinued my Costco membership. One of my favorite items is their oatmeal. It’s organic and doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup and it’s quick to make when I’m on the run in the morning. Throw in some nuts and I’m good until lunch.

5. Buy your meat from a local farmer. I used to buy my meat in bulk at Costco a few times a year and freeze it. One day, I added up the cost of what I spend in bulk meat items at Costco and figured I could save some money by buying local from a rancher in Prineville. I also discovered that the organic ground beef was either raised in the US, Canada, or Australia. Have I done this yet? This is on my list to do soon as I run out of meat and I’m about there.

http://www.map-of-australia.us/relief-map.htm

6. Eat and freeze with the season. The rule of supply and demand drive the prices down. Summer is when I often freeze strawberries, blueberries and peaches to bring out and brighten our tummies during the winter months. I also make my own freezer jam which comes in handy during the winter months.

7. If you have a Trader Joes, stop on in. They have competitively priced produce (just check where it was grown), No rBST in the dairy products and they’re line of products don’t contain GMO, preservatives, MSG or added trans fats. Eco-novice has more on this.

8. Grow one thing. My husband and I have committed to growing something in 2011. We are still deciding but we’re leaning towards squash and pumpkins which go very easily where we live.

Shannon's Harvest, 2011?

Sign up for Shannon’s blog at www.workingmomgoesgreen.com

Find her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Working-Mom-Goes-Green/129891537057844

Follow her on Twitter @shanlee

Both college and professional football seasons have kicked off – with high school not far behind. Football season means tailgating season has also begun; hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and some cold beers. Practically Green will give you a few ways to green your tailgate, and help you make healthier decisions for your family without sacrificing any fun.

Let’s start with the menu – think local and think organic. Applegate Farms offers great organic versions of the classics. Their organic hot dogs are stadium-style so you won’t feel cheated out of the arena experience, and are made of 100% organic beef. Applegate’s organic turkey burgers are another healthy alternative, and they also have original beef burgers. When going for buns – whole grains are best and are tasty too, so your family won’t even miss their white bread counterparts.

Alternate recipe with tomatoes

When choosing sides, it’s best to stay away from mayonnaise-based salads such as macaroni and potato. Try this black bean and corn salad that is only 106 calories per serving, and is great on its own or as a topper for organic tortilla chips. You don’t have to give up pasta salad completely: try this healthy recipe, which is packed with veggies and can act as a main dish with chicken breast, or be made vegetarian by skipping the chicken. The recipe is meant to serve a crowd of 24, but can be pared down for a more intimate tailgate.

Though it’s tempting to bring disposable utensils and plates and toss them before heading in to enjoy the action, it’s more eco-friendly and economical to invest in reusable supplies. We obsess over Preserve Products whose great tableware pack is made out of 100% recycled plastic, is dishwasher-safe, and comes in two chic colors. If you must dispose of your plates and cutlery, there are some better eco options out there than regular paper and plastic, such as Bare by Solo made from 20% post-consumer recycled plastic. They also have a compostable line. This post from Earth 911 has some more great ideas; such as cutting a couple of your old team t-shirts into small squares to use as reusable napkins, and using a solar powered outlet to blast your team’s fight song or favorite tunes.

When thinking beverages, it’s best to skip super-sugary sodas and energy drinks. Drinking locally brewed beer is the greenest, and often the tastiest option, and it will get you ten PG points. You can also get points for skipping sugary soda for fizzy all natural juices and sodas. Don’t forget to recycle! You can bring a bag or bin to put the glass bottles in to bring to a recycling center later — or your stadium might have a recycling program to participate in.

Taking some or all or these simple steps to green your tailgate will make your team’s next touchdown that much sweeter – and help your green conscience in what could otherwise be a very wasteful event. Your family and friends will marvel at your eco-smarts and salivate over your organic and healthy spread. Best of all, it will earn you more PG points!

Today's blog post by Leah Luchetti

Smart shoppers know that some of the best deals happen on group-buying sites such as GroupOn and the Daily Candy. But all this can get confusing. On Sunday the NYTimes.com Bucks blog wrote about the proliferation of new “aggregation sites,” such as 8coupons.com, created to help you cut through the noise. If you’ve visited 8coupons,com, though, you know that it’s a din of fast-food and business-visitor attractions.

What if there were an easy, friendly, local coupon giveaway that focused exclusively on eco-friendly businesses? Michelle Yorn and Lynn Roulo started GreenBoxTop to fill the niche. The San Francisco pair launched GreenBoxTop.com in late August, and they already have plans to expand throughout California and into Colorado.

Michelle Yorn

Lynn Roulo

We look for businesses that are interested in leaving a lighter footprint on the planet-whether through buying organic, recycling and composting, using alternative energy, preventative health measures, or sustainable business practices. We want to support companies that have a commitment to healthier people and a healthier planet. We take a broad interpretation of green-we include sustainable, wellness focused, and eco-friendly businesses.  You’ll find holistic healthcare as well as environmentally conscious deals on our site.

How is the first month going? “It’s been challenging, but in probably the most positive way,” Michelle says, indefatigably entrepreneurial. In their (haha) spare time she and Lynn sat down to create a list of non-profit recommendations. These organizations receive a donation from GreenBoxTop’s profits every month. Launch fave is Environmental Defense Fund (scroll the home page to see why EDF is their choice.)

In our business model, everybody wins—and this is especially true because we are focused on green and sustainable. In other business models, stuff can creep in that’s negative. A prospect might say to me, how do I know the client is going to stick around? How do I now this will mean repeat business for me? I say, I can’t promise you, but the way it works at Green Box Top, people who sign up for our service are people who have committed to a lifestyle. They want to connect to businesses that support their ideals, to companies that are sustainable. We’re thinking together, how do we move forward: not deplete our resources, reuse, lessen our imprint, use less electricity, less consumerism, shop locally, know our own community.

Hanuman Center

GreenBoxTop’s launch deal was 50% off the San Francisco Green Zebra Guide. Subsequent deals include Yoga, Meditation, and Qi Gong: 10 classes for $30 at the Hanuman Center; and a feng shui consultation: “$150 for $75,” says Michelle: “our feng shui expert comes in and feng shuis your house, helps you redesign what you have already.” Another deal: “We offered the services of a professional chef who has a catering business called Three Potato Four. She prepares four organic vegetarian meals for two people, and delivers them to your door: a $90 value for $45.” At this writing, the Green Deal is 44% off 1.5 pounds of fresh Heirloom Organic cooking greens. “It’s a beautiful farm here in Northern California that grows Heirloom variety, Organic, and bio-dynamically grown greens. The deal entices the purchaser to visit the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, on the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco. This is where the coupon can be redeemed. Again, I think this is new due to the fact that no other site has run a deal like this… not one.”

Ferry Plaza Farms' Market, the Embarcadero

Each deal comes with a comprehensive “Green Story” (this week’s includes “six reasons to purchase and eat produce from your local farmers’ market”), details, and descriptions; transactions are processed via PayPal. It costs nothing to run as a GreenBoxTop feature, but the local business must meet Michelle and Lynn’s standards for green:

We take a broad interpretation of “green” and include the following: certified green businesses, restaurants emphasizing organic or vegetarian meals, wellness and holistic health businesses (yoga, dance, acupuncture, etc.), community-minded businesses, environmentally focused businesses, and companies with environmentally sustainable business practices.

Green Box Top takes a percentage of the sale and writes a check to the featured company: “We also work to put together the Green Story angle for the business, helping people understand how it is green to buy the featured deal…. The company receives a new customer list and a quick infusion of cash from the sales!”

It seems pretty fitting that Michelle scored Impressively Green on the Practically Green quiz. Or maybe we should call it Inspiringly Green.

Yeah! I LOVED that when I was done, it told me the next step I should take to do more. I love your website because it tells you what to do! Otherwise it’s easy to become overwhelmed. For the personal greening of my life, after spending time on Practically Green, I have made an additional commitment to buying as few plastic containers as possible. I will be visiting my local bulk store, Green11 and refill EVERYTHING, from dish detergent, soap, cleaning supplies, shampoo and conditioner, so I rarely, if ever, throw away another empty dish-soap container. I don’t care if they say it is recyclable. I want to contribute to the purchase of plastics as little as I can, it’s just not good to buy, make, have or throw away! Thank you Practically Green!!

Follow GreenBoxTop on twitter @greenboxtop and join them on Facebook.

News Picks:

Sierra Club’s Green Life blog recommends a “How Green Are You?” Quiz. Yup, ours! So tickled! “Are you “sorta kinda green” or “wicked green?” Or perhaps somewhere in between? Take the “How Green Are You?” quiz over at Practically Green to find out how committed you actually are to living a healthy, earth-friendly life….”

Vintage Fashion is greenly chic: Although NYC fashion week is wrapped up, and last week we told what’s new, we love this article about what’s old — vintage, that is. No rotting hemline for Morticia Addams on an otherwise brilliant cocktail dress. She specializes in refurbished clothing and will soon have very own show on Planet Green, “Dresscue me.”

Be a farmers’ market professional: We at Practically Green definitely advocate buying local produce, but it is important to know the most effective way of shopping at your local market, to ensure your family gets the tastiest, freshest food. See these six steps for mastering the art of produce shopping, including knowing what’s in season and storing your purchases when you get home.

Multi-Media Pick:

The Inedible Egg: The folks over at Slow Food USA are encouraging everyone to learn from the numerous salmonella outbreaks. Why they are happening? This little video explains the gruesome practices that contributed to the salmonella outbreak, and the light at the end of the tunnel: regulated food safety.

Get PG points for supporting safe local farming efforts here.

New and Cool Pick:

Skin care in our [comfort zone]: Featured in the New York Times, “Sacred Nature” is an all natural skin care line by eco-friendly spa brand [comfort zone]. Their cleansing milk cleans your face without robbing your skin of all of its natural oils. It’s organic, has recycled packaging and reportedly feels luxurious – what an amazingly green way to indulge. Plus, you can get PG points for switching to an all-natural cleanser.

Have you ever wished you could ask a food or cooking question and quickly get a bunch of creative and practical answers from experienced, knowledgeable home chefs? Well, now you can! Food52 is launching their FoodPickle service online and on Twitter @foodpickle. Simply type in your question, include a photo if you like, and voila! Answers come from the Food52 community, a robust and growing cadre of home chefs: at this writing, there are over 15,000 registered users.

Food52 was launched by food journalists Merrill Stubbs and Amanda Hesser and celebrated its first birthday this week. We called Merrill to find out how the past year has gone, and what’s up next.

We had the idea to celebrate great home cooks in a way that was not happening online. We wanted to provide a voice for user-generated recipes from regular at-home cooks. There’s a huge sea change going on in the food movement — to organic, to farmer’s markets. Amanda and I’d been aware of it for a while. People are returning to their kitchens and seeing cooking as pleasure rather than as a duty. Americans are rediscovering the social aspect of eating and cooking together. There’s an explosion in underground restaurants and urban farming. People are quitting their jobs at corporations to start making cheese! It’s great! We wanted to help move all of this forward.

Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs (photo by Sarah Shatz)

Here’s how it works: Every Friday at noon EST, Food52 announces a new food contest. Submit your recipe (see rules here), and it’s considered by Amanda and Merrill. “We’re looking for originality, for a technique that’s cool, or for a combination of ingredients that’s promising. Maybe it’s a good version of something we’ve had before that’s intriguing. And we always ask, Is it going to work! And of course, does this sound yummy? Is this delicious?” Merrill estimates that 15% of the submissions move on to be tested. They then cook the finalists – twice – and the Food52 community votes!

CONTEST WINNER for Your Best Mushroom Soup (Week 16, ending October 3, 2009): “Creamy Mushroom Soup” by MrsWheelbarrow (photo by Sarah Shatz)

Editors’ Picks are the recipes that didn’t win first prize – “sort of an honorary mention,” Merrill says. All of these recipes are searchable in order of “most recent” or “most buzz.”

CONTEST WINNER for Your Best Roast Chicken “Wishbone Roast Chicken with Herb Butter by monkeymom (photo by Sarah Shatz)

Amanda and I are always looking for fresh whole foods. We promote that as much as possible; it’s what we’d naturally choose. There’s no hard list of ingredients we won’t include, but we naturally shy away from processd and unnatural foods. One exception is pecan pie, which has corn syrup. How can you NOT include pecan pie?! People love new or unusual ingredients, like agave, or quinoa. Our community is very focused on healthy eating – just last night on FoodPickle, we had a question about what’s the most environmentally friendly salmon.

The winning recipes being are collected for a book, The Food52 Cookbook, to be published by HarperCollins in Spring 2011 — it’s a two-book deal, so this will become an annual event, we hope. Starting in October, Food52 is also running an annual Tournament of Cookbooks: “The Piglet.” Vote!

So what does Merrill do when she’s not cooking, testing, and dreaming up new contest ideas? Well, she’s a newlywed. And, she’s on the Green committee of her apartment building on Brooklyn, which has community composters and a garden. “We’ve put LED lights in our common area, and we’re starting to put them in our apartment, phasing them in. Every time I change a light bulb now, I think, I don’t have to do that again for a while!”

Follow Amanda and Merrill on Twitter: @amandahesser, @merrillstubbs, and follow Food52: @food52. Join them on Facebook. And if you’d like to learn more about delicious cooking and healthy things you can do in your kitchen, visit Practically Green! We’ve got dozens of eco-friendly, how-to ideas — like cleaning your microwave w/o using chemicals to buying organic fruit and vegetables, to trying all-natural mac ‘n cheese for one week.

Okay, we just couldn’t resist showing you one more Food52 recipe, an Editors’ Pick:

"Stuffed Macaroni and Cheese Pie with Herbed Topping," by vrunka (photo by Sarah Shatz)

Elisabeth Radow is a lawyer and mother in Larchmont, New York, who decided to improve the grocery-shopping situation in her town. “Even going to the supermarket was getting complicated,” she says. Trader Joe’s, Stop-and-Shop, and A&P presented a complex set of problems on a local scale. If Beth could wave a magic wand over all the stores, what would she wish for?

Number one, how they pay attention to electrical function. The age of the store is a factor, but still, sometimes you want to wear your winter coat in there! What if landlords would turn down the air-conditioning? Some supermarket freezers don’t even have doors on them. Lighting is also important, and often it’s harsh. It affects the whole mood of the store — and it affects the whole mood of you! Think about the energy that could be saved.

Second: food selection.  There should be more attention to produce, with an emphasis on locally grown to the extent that’s possible. We asked the managers, when food nears its expiration, what they do with it? Some of the stores are starting to donate to the local food pantry. But we found out that waste is huge – so waste prevention is important. Each store is different. Some of them have bottle recycling, but it’s not always possible to return bottles to a store. The optimal solution, to eliminate any bottles or cans from going to the landfills, would be for the supermarket to accept all bottle returns — and not just those that are covered by the store’s recycling contract with its vendor, as is currently the case.

As President of the Larchmont-Mamaroneck League of Women Voters, near Manhattan, Beth decided to get organized. The League of Women Voters has about 150,000 members in all fifty states. “It’s a non-partisan organization that’s ninety years old. It was created to help women get the vote. It’s been around, and it’s very strong. We don’t take political sides, but we are activist.” She compiled a list of questions that she sent with a letter to the store managers and organized a Supermarket Sweep “on the hottest day of the year.”

Power of Purchase-Questions

Beth and a group of 15 people (most but not all from the League of Women Voters) walked to area supermarkets to ask questions, learn about store practices, and voice requests relating to their purchasing preferences, such as options to purchase local produce. Their efforts were well-received. As a result of the Supermarket Sweep, Beth says she’s now discussing with one of the supermarkets forming a customer advisory committee: “It has required several visits but the store now appears to accept that customer input will provide better choices for the shopper and build store loyalty. A win-win.”

Beth Radow and her son, Geoffrey

I realize it’s a stretch, but it’s not impossible for big change to happen. We can start to turn things around if we cooperate. It’s not going to happen in a day, but it can happen in a decade. It’s our country, and we have to take the steps to solve problems. Not all problems at once, not everything, some tasks the government does, some the corporations do, but regular people can raise the bar. We can buy one less tank of gas a month, or walk more, or buy organic milk, or shift to drinking only shade-grown coffee, or stop eating anything with high-fructose corn syrup in it. After all, we’re leaving the planet to our kids!

If you’re interested in taking a few of the actions that Beth mentions, visit Practically Green! You’ll find advice and how-to’s on everything from upgrading your freezer and fridge to buying organic milk; from driving less to eating more healthy food, including less high-fructose corn syrup.

With school kicking into high gear, setting your child up for success is very important. We know that studies show that students who eat breakfast perform better in school, and PG knows you want your children to eat healthy. Here are some ways you can achieve both, and of course, get PG points.

The Boston Globe's fruit, yogurt, and granola parfait

Stock up on home-made granola. We recommend using organic ingredients, and you can get PG points for this here. The granola is delicious enough on its own, but you can use the granola for a number of breakfast and snack dishes, including a yogurt and granola parfait. All you have to do is layer yogurt, granola, and organic fruit. Have a little more time? Try these fresh-baked pear and granola muffins.

You can also make these famous White House fruit and Oat bars. They’re easy on the go, and a great alternative to pre-packaged granola bars.

For another healthy, make-ahead recipe try mini egg frittatas. They’re portioned perfectly by using a mini cupcake tin, and only take about 20 minutes. You can also experiment adding different ingredients, this recipe has turkey pepperoni and parsley, but you can experiment with onions, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, cheddar cheese, anything you might have in the vegetable drawer! Just pop in the microwave or toaster oven in the morning.

In a time crunch and don’t have anything pre-made? Try these “Super-C Smoothies“, true to their name and contain camu-camu powder, packed with more vitamin C than any plant in the world. Alternatively, you can make this blueberry smoothie for a punch of antioxidants. Use organic fruit in your smoothies, and we will award you handsomely with PG points.

Have a go-to healthy breakfast recipe that never fails? Let us know!

Today's blog post by: Leah Luchetti

Unless you’re a traffic cop, chances are you live and work in a building. And if you’re reading the Practically Green blog, you might be curious about how green a building can be. We’ve got lots of ideas on how to make your own home space more efficient and healthy. How about an entire magazine and website devoted to green building? That’s what Eco-Structure is — but you may not have seen it because it’s geared to professionals: builders, designers, architects, manufacturers.

Katie Weeks

We’ve noticed that there are more and more interesting articles in Eco-Structure lately, and so we spoke with the editor, Katie Weeks, about her approach.

The green stuff has started coming up on a noticeable scale fairly recently, about six years ago, and each year it grows exponentially. There’s lots of innovation going on, interesting people: creative and technical worlds merge. We look for excellence in terms of design and performance. There’s a stigma attached to green building, that it has to look hippyish and alternative. But today, you can have efficiency and gorgeous space in one building.

September, 2010, issue of Eco-Structure

The September issue of Eco-Structure is just coming out as we write this, and Katie graciously provided the link to the digital edition.

The new issue is all about learning environments. We feature a K-12 school in Hawaii, whose renewable-energy lab was funded by an innovative parent. We also have a School of Architecture, at a college in Portland, Oregon: it’s a retro-fit of a 1915 building – very exposed and open — with radiant panels in the ceiling. And we have a public library in Washington, D.C. It’s one of the first new libraries in the overhaul of the D.C. library system: new construction, LEED Silver, and an anchor for the community.

The Learning Environments focus sprang in part from a trip Katie took to the College of the Atlantic, in Bar Harbor, Maine, earlier this year.

I was there for the Delta Project, a three-day Think Tank. It’s an amazing, sustainable campus. There’s a new dorm cluster that’s LEED certified: small little houses, all natural. The student body there is a unique population.

From Katie’s editorial about the trip:

Our focus was the sustainable campus of the future: what would it entail, how could small higher education institutions work both independently and as larger groups to build it, and how would it possibly shape curriculum?…

What struck me most about my time in Maine, however, was the transition in scenery. The contrast in locales is perhaps best represented by this anecdote: On one day of travel, I packed up my things in a high-rise hotel nestled among the swank stores of Michigan Avenue in Chicago and unpacked them several hours later in a two-story, six-bedroom college dormitory, on the woodsy shore of the harbor in Maine, where the showpiece was a compostable toilet. More importantly, however, the change in scale of both events and locales reminded me of the wide and complex range of ways our built environments impact the natural world, whether we’re in a giant metropolis, a wooded outpost on the coast, or an airplane flying high overhead…. I challenge you to take a moment in your own journeys to look at your surroundings with a new perspective. I think you’ll find the view fascinating. I did.

We asked Katie to tell us a bit about the eco-decisions she makes in her daily life:

I live in D.C. I’m personally very conscious of the environment. We have to pay for 5 cents for plastic bags here, so I normally have bags on me. My sister gave them to everyone for Christmas. They’re called Baggu: little pouches. I love them. They come in all these great colors! I got a tip from a friend: she uses different colors for different items: orange for meat, yellow for packaged goods, green for produce.

A smattering of Baggu's color palette!

Follow Eco-Structure via Facebook or on Twitter @ecostructure

Sophia Dembling

We were recently introduced to Sophia Dembling on Facebook. Sophia is a writer on The Huffington Post, among other venues; she also blogs at Flyover America and at her own eponymous site. We asked Sophia to please take the Practically Green Quiz, and she did:

Took your quiz–it’s fun and a great idea with lots of useful information, though I ended up feeling kinda bad ’cause I’m a 1 but can’t afford to do a lot of the things that would green us up. (Replace appliances? Nope. Upgrade toilet? Nope. Faucets? Nope. Windows? Nope…)

She gave us lots of helpful suggestions, and we’re working on them as we speak. Sophia pointed out that it’s difficult to be environmentally friendly when you live in Dallas, Texas:

We do have some recycling. But we also have pollution. We live in our cars. I have a supermarket within walking distance, but the sidewalks aren’t decent. It wouldn’t take much for a car to hit a pedestrian.

For mass transit, we have light rail, but it’s really geared to the commuters. I can take it into town, but then I’m stuck if I want to go someplace that’s not walking distance.

Busses run regularly at rush hour but not in the middle of the day. It’s not like New York where you can get where ever you want, whenever you want.

Light rail has been successful here beyond their wildest dreams, but it’s not adequate to give up cars.

Sophia grew up in Manhattan, and last year she and her brother had to clean out her parents’ apartment. This prompted an article about Stuff, which is a favorite subject at Practically Green: we have zillions of actions on it, from Green my take-out one night to Switch to cloth napkins for a week. Sophia has graciously allowed us to reprint an excerpt from “The Burden of Stuff” here. Enjoy.

The apartment

I am recently home from three weeks in New York City sorting through my late parents’ possessions with my brother.

Wow. I have something to say to all you parents out there: If you have a lot of stuff, as a loving gesture to your children, get rid of some, OK? My parents had a lot of cool stuff but they also had a lot of junk. A lot. See the photo? Multiply it by an eight-room apartment. Where they lived for nearly 45 years.

Books. Books. Books. My dad loved books. “Dark brown books,” my mother called them. Hundreds of them. Some might have been valuable if they had been cared for, but they spent their lives in steam heat, drying out. When I visited last year, Dad gave me a book I’d wanted to read, but when I opened it on the airplane home, it crumbled to dust in my hands.

I know that people who love books love having lots of them. “Too many books? No such thing!” I understand the wealthy feeling a full bookshelf inspires. But friends, hear me now: There is such thing as too many books. Really. They are bulky and heavy and nobody really wants most of them. No, not even libraries. Not if they’re old, brittle, out of date. Sure, I took a few of Dad’s books. Not many, though. Just a few. We threw a lot away. We’re not sure what to do with the hundreds remaining. We organized one roomful, more or less, and then grew exhausted and left the rest, and further decisions, for another day….

I am having nine cartons of stuff and several pieces of furniture shipped home and the apartment is still crammed. I barely made a dent.

Back home, my attitude towards my own stuff has changed. I’m not half the pack rat Dad was, but I still have shoes in my closet that are never worn but with sentimental value, a file drawer full of aborted creative endeavors, bric-a-brac kept for no particular reason. I brought two cartons of books to the library yesterday. I have put some clothing on e-bay. I’m just getting started.

For the full story, please click here. Follow Sophia on Twitter @sophiadembling.

My husband and I agree on many important issues, but he is deeply, darkly suspicious of my BioBags.

We agree that composting is a win-win: good for our garden soil and its produce, good for the local landfill. And, if you play the Practically Green game, you get 50 points for composting. What’s not to like?

After all, the EPA estimates that food residuals account for 11.9 percent of the Municipal Solid Waste stream (or 29.2 million tons) and are the single largest component of MSW generated by weight. Staggering! Schools, conferences, prisons, and supermarkets are among the highest offenders. We don’t want to contribute our leavings to that disgraceful tally. But when Jack objected to my use of BioBags, an ingenious invention that keeps my sleek kitchen compost crock from becoming an oozing stinking slop pail on our kitchen counter, I had to investigate.

Compost crock with BioBag

Gorgeous clean compost crock

I called the customer service at Gardener’s Supply, where I purchased the Bio Bags. In seconds I was on the phone with Janet. I explained the situation as best I could:

My job is to collect the kitchen scraps; Jack’s job is to take them outside to the compost bin. I like to use bio bags, because they cut down on smell and mess. He thinks an unlined container is better. He says his mom never used a bag; he says the bags don’t break down; blah blah; he says the ones he threw into the compost bin five months ago are still sitting there. Shouldn’t they have decomposed by now, he asks me. And, even if they did decompose, Janet, he suspects these bags might be made of plastic that’s harmful to our soil and thus to our future vegetable garden and us. Is it? Could he be right? He thinks we should stop using the bags and go back to the old way: throw scraps into the compost crock and empty it when it’s full, smelly, and/or breeding fruit-flies.

“I really don’t want to go back to the old way, Janet. Can you please settle this?”

“I really don’t want to get in the middle of it,” she replied calmly, but I’ll try to help.”

I could hear gentle tapping on her keyboard at the other end of the phone: “Yes, as I thought: the bags are made of 100% biodegradable cornstarch. They’re totally fine for your garden. But the bags are apparently not breaking down fast enough. You may need to consider the heat in your compost. The more heat and moisture you have in the compost bin, the sooner the bag will break away,” she said.

“Heat?”

“What’s your mix of browns and greens?”  she asked me.

“Huh?”

Janet directed me to “All About Composting,” a superb rundown of how compost happens, including a primer on browns and greens.

From How Compost Happens:

Organic matter is transformed into compost through the work of microorganisms, soil fauna, enzymes and fungi. When making compost, your job is to provide the best possible environment for these beneficial organisms to do their work. If you do so, the decomposition process works very rapidly—sometimes in as little as two weeks! If you don’t provide the optimum environment, decomposition will still happen, but it may take from several months to several years. The trick to making an abundance of compost in a short time is to balance the following four things:

Carbon. Carbon-rich materials are the energy food for microorganisms. You can identify high-carbon plant materials because they are dry, tough, or fibrous, and tan or brown in color. Examples are dry leaves, straw, rotted hay, sawdust, shredded paper, and cornstalks.

Nitrogen. High-nitrogen materials provide the protein-rich components that microorganisms require to grow and multiply. Freshly pulled weeds, fresh grass clippings, over-ripe fruits and vegetables, kitchen scraps and other moist green matter are the sorts of nitrogen-rich materials you’ll probably have on hand. Other high-protein organic matter includes kelp meal, seaweed, manure and animal by-products like blood or bone meal.

Water. Moisture is very important for the composting process. But too much moisture will drown the microorganisms, and too little will dehydrate them. A general rule of thumb is to keep the material in your compost pile as moist as a well-wrung sponge. If you need to add water (unchlorinated is best), insert your garden hose into the middle of the pile in several places, or sprinkle the pile with water next time you turn it. Using an enclosed container or covering your pile with a tarp will make it easier to maintain the right moisture level.

Oxygen. To do their work most efficiently, microorganisms require a lot of oxygen. When your pile is first assembled, there will probably be plenty of air between the layers of materials. But as the microorganisms begin to work, they will start consuming oxygen. Unless you turn or in some way aerate your compost pile, they will run out of oxygen and become sluggish.

Bottom line: Jack and I will be tending our compost better now. Best of all, the bio bags are safe for the time-being.

The best source of information about compost? Easy: any active gardener will have strong opinions on the subject. You can get major points for composting at Practically Green. And, you might want to curl up with one of these books. Especially, this little brief from one of our favorite gardeners, Eliot Coleman.

Let it Rot! Storey Publishing

Starter Vegetable Gardens has lots of compost info

News Picks:

Water Footprint: Find out how much water some of your favorite products use! Did you know that the “Global Water Footprint” for a single apple is about 18 and a half gallons of water? Reduce *your* Water Footprint with these actions.

Fall is coming, is your garden ready? If you’re a gardening newbie and just planted a garden this summer, here are a couple tips to increase your garden’s longevity. The legendary gardening gurus at Rodale have tips on fall garden cleanup that will have you looking like a pro come spring.

The Happy Planet Index: Nic Marks discuses why we should measure success in terms of happiness in this 16-minute TED Talks video, tracking well-being against the amount of resources we use. Though the U.S. does quite well in terms of well-being, it is one of the countries that also uses the most resources. What country should we emulate? You may be surprised!

Multi-Media Pick:

Cafeteria Man: Chef Tony Geraci is on a mission to make-over Baltimore public schools’ cafeteria food. In this 2.5-minute trailer for the movie “Cafeteria Man,” students complain of “mystery meat” and tons of pizza, pizza, pizza. Geraci plans to swap unhealthy mystery food for local produce.

Get PG points for your healthy food actions!

New and Cool Pick:

DIY mini BBQ for Labor Day Weekend: Recycle a container of Altoids Sours into a mini BBQ. All you need besides the tin are some salvaged computer fan guards and a few nuts and bolts. The kids will marvel at making the little cooker, capable of cooking a full sized hot dog or small hamburger patty. The kids will love to use it for some yummy s’mores too! Don’t forget the organic chocolate.

Are you eyeball-deep in back-to-school stuff right now?

Welcome to our world.

Here at Practically Green headquarters, we’re working on a set of back-to-school actions that will make this transition easier and healthier: overall better and fun!

In case you haven’t had a chance to check out Practically Green yet, back-to-school is the perfect entree occasion. Would you like to Carpool to school one day a week? Green your kids’ after-school snack? Use eco-friendly school supplies?

You’ll see right away that each of these positive actions comes with info on why it’s green, and how to do it, when you Switch to a reusable lunchbox, Cover textbooks with a paper bag, or Join an eco-action team at your school. Whatever you decide to do, you can recommend your favorite products, share your stories, and rate your experience.

But that’s not all, because Practically Green is also a game.

Playing is a breeze: When you say Yes, you get points!

To get started, take the Quiz. (It’s one of those tests where you can’t possibly fail and can only benefit.) Get your score. Check off the green actions you’ve already taken, and consider new ones. Earn points. Earn more points! Move up!

If you don’t want to play, that’s fine. You can still enjoy Practically Green. Our goal is to help you take eco-friendly actions in your daily life. Big things, like making your home as energy-efficient as it can be, or creating a healthy and waste-free kitchen (We’ve got 21 ideas on how to accomplish that one, like Switching to Teflon-free cookware, Using recycled paper towels, and Upgrading to an ENERGY-Star dishwasher.)

So, whether you’re ready to investigate trying all-natural toothpaste or obsessed with insulating your roof, Practically Green can help you do it and enjoy the process!