Superbowl Sunday promises to be a spectacular event this year. Practically Green offers 20 ideas worth a total of 360 points to make your Tailgate Party greener and more fun!
Giants vs. Patriots: Superbowl XLVI (nfl.com)
While the real action is on the field, think of the following as your very own game; the more actions you take, the more points you earn. Enlist your friends to do the same and get a friendly competition going. If we all take some of the actions below, we’re in for a great season where we’re all winners. Go Team Green!
We admit it! Obsessed with SustyParty’s compostable plates and bowls. Order in your team’s colors & toss into the compost without even scraping the food off!
Go Waste Free
Pack your own reusable plates, water bottles, glassware, and utensils: 20 points!
BYO cloth napkins or PeopleTowels: 20 points!
Or use recycled paper napkins and you’ll still get 10 points.
People Towels: We think Coach Belichick would go for the heart tree! Coach Coughlin: "Dream Green"?
Drink And Eat Sustainably
Fill your (reusable) bowl with organic or at least more natural chips and snacks, snag 10 points.
Drink wisely – celebrate touchdowns with organic and/or local beer (10 points), hydrate with filtered tap water in a reusable bottle (10 points), and stay awake and warm with organic coffee (20 points). You winos want to look for eco-friendly wine (20 points). Jack your score by 10 more points when you recycle the corks — and add a big 50 when you recycle the bottles!
Whew! Is it half time yet? If you’ve done ALL of those actions, you’ve got 180 POINTS already!
More:
Fire up your grill with eco-friendlier briquettes (10 points) and cook up some sustainably raised meat (another whopping 50 points!) and/or organic veggies (50 more!). Who knew eating guacamole could be SO extra-green?
Southwestern Layered Bean Dip: one of a zillion drooly ideas on EatingWell's special Superbowl recipe collection
If you’re a sausage fan, definitely throw some of Applegate Farms’ organic hot dogs (10 points) on the grill. Do you have a solar-powered grill/oven? Our friends Corey and Lynn of Celebrate Green swear by them — they’ve got another 20 points each!
Applegate Farms cheezy bacon organic hotdog: Yes, please!
Clean Consciously
Before you chow down, clean your hands with a natural hand sanitizer or hand soap and score another 10 points.
When the game is over, recycle everything in sight. We already mentioned bottles; beer cans count for another 20 points!
Wipe up spills and degrease the grill with a natural all-purpose cleaner for 10 points, not to mention reduced air pollution.
That’s a total of 360 points! Sounds like a nice round number to us. How’d you do? If you’ve got more ways to Green up Superbowl Sunday, please post them or drop us a line. (Hmmm, maybe Practically Green should give points for suggesting new actions?)
Not everyone can win a fancy Superbowl ring, but we can ALL be Practically Green!
Vegetarians, vegans, and pescatarians have the day off. But those of us who love eating meat from time to time are invited to Buy Meat that is Raised Using Sustainable Farming Methods: and boost your score by 50 points! (Vegetarians already have 200 points! And weekday vegetarians have 100 points! See dozens of Food actions here.) Leading up to Superbowl Sunday, we’re looking forward to buffalo wing platters, chili bowls, and an alternative boeuf bourgignon along with everyone. Today’s action encourages you to be picky about the meat in those tasty recipes: Buy Meat Raised Using Sustainable Farming Methods.
By the way, Practically Green’s actions are written by our editorial director Alexandra Zissu, the author of The Butcher’s Guide to Well-Raised Meat (among other books), so rest assured this is prime tenderloin info.
The word sustainable is widely used in natural food circles. Unlike USDA organic, it isn’t government defined or third party certified. It signifies a lot: healthy farming practices that don’t harm the environment, humane animal treatment, support of farming communities, fair wages and treatment for laborers. But in order to know what is truly meant by sustainable, and if you can trust it, you need to know your producers. Since sustainable meat is local meat, it’s pretty easy to ask questions of your farmer. Good subjects to raise include farming practices (i.e. if they’re using pesticides and fertilizers for the animal’s feed), drug use (i.e. are they administering hormones and non-therapeutic antibiotics to their animals), and general questions about how the animals spend their days. Just because something is local doesn’t mean it is automatically sustainable.
There are many benefits to meat from sustainably raised local animals: it’s usually safer and better for you and the environment, and its transportation footprint can be considerably less than its factory-farmed and mass distributed counterparts.
Smart shortcut: buy Applegate Farms meat products... totally know where each product came from (as in what farm, what town)... and enter their recipe contests on Facebook!
The biggest challenge related to buying sustainably raised meat is finding the good stuff. The process of figuring out what is truly sustainable and where you can buy it can take some time. But it’s very worthwhile. And well-raised meat is becoming increasingly available as consumer demand grows—in butcher shops, farmers’ markets, CSA-style meat shares directly from farms, natural food stores, and even in some supermarkets.
Get your grill on with healthy burger recipes at EatingWell.com!
Browse the recommended links to locate farms near you that are producing sustainably raised meat.
- Bookmark This Site: EatWild.com
- Grist: USDA Inspector General–Meat Supply Routinely Tainted With Harmful Residues
- Sustainable Table: Serving Up Healthy Food Choices
- Practically Green Book Pick: The Butcher’s Guide To Well Raised Meat
- Bookmark This Site: Farm Fresh Directory
- PracticallyGreen.com: Meat Advice To Live By–Alexandra Zissu Introduces Her New Book, “The Butcher’s Guide To Well-Raised Meat”
- Environmental Working Group: 2011 Meat Eaters Guide to Climate Change + Health
Reduce Takeout Meals to Once a Week or less
You’ve been working hard, you’re too tired to cook, it’s so easy to dial up a pizza or shrimp pad thai. We know. We love takeout too. It’s probably not a great idea for counting calories, and it’s not so economical either, but it is terribly convenient to have someone else make dinner — and deliver it, too. You don’t have to lift a finger! We know… but this action may encourage you to think twice before placing your next takeout order.
The National Restaurant Association states nearly a third of adults say takeout food is essential to the way they live. And a survey by the Institute of Food Technologists shows that while 75 percent of Americans eat dinner at home, half of those meals are fast food, delivery, or takeout. Fewer than a third cook dinner from scratch.
Shrimp pad thai recipe from Food52's "9 Takeout Classics, Done at Home"
Reducing how often you rely on takeout is a good green idea. It’s the rare restaurant delivering takeout made from carefully sourced ingredients—local, organic, free of hormones, antibiotics, and pesticide residues, and trans fats. When you make your own food, you control what’s in it. This is healthiest for you, your farmers, and the earth we all share.
Planning a Superbowl Tailgate? Whip up these Jalapeño Poppers from EatingWell!
Then there’s the waste. According to CleanAir.org, the U.S. population tosses out enough paper bags, plastic cups, forks, and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. Many (often nonrenewable) resources go into making these, we use them for mere moments, and then they clog our landfills for hundreds of years. And questionable chemicals in these one-use items get into your dinner; some of the grease-repellant coatings used in pizza boxes contain PFOA, a likely human carcinogen.
Make your own meals instead of ordering takeout. If you prefer not to daily, try for once a week, then build up. Bonus: you’ll save money.
Imagine your 4-star takeout served from this spiffy stainless-steel To-Go ware... buy from Reuseit.com
To cook, you must grocery shop. Check out farmers’ markets and natural food stores near you. Make large batches so you can have takeout-esque leftovers to reheat the following evening.
When you DO order takeout, why not look for someplace that loves to use fresh local ingredients, like Dave's Fresh Pasta in Somerville, MA
Choose Safe Seafood. Back in the day if you craved seafood, the conundrum was: salmon or tuna? Now it’s: wild vs. farmed, is it sustainably caught, and crucially—is it safe? How much mercury (a neurotoxin) and PCBs (chemicals deemed probably carcinogenic by the EPA that persist despite being banned in 1978) do you want to serve for dinner?
Salmon from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
The bad news: our waterways serve as a sewer system for our environmentally destructive behavior–chemical runoff, factory dumping, plastic waste, garbage, settled air particle pollution, and even what we pour down household drains contaminate fish and aquatic life. Some hormone disrupting chemicals have even managed to feminize wild male fish; they’re able to grow eggs.
Give your sushi choices a grilling at blueocean.org!
The good news: there’s no need to give up on lobster rolls! There are still safe, environmentally ok, and tasty choices to be had. The best is wild, sustainably caught, low contaminated, and local (if your waterways aren’t too polluted). Farmed fish is trickier; it may be fed hormones, antibiotics, feed containing animal byproducts, and flesh-coloring dyes.
There is presently no USDA organic certification for seafood. Consulting a safe seafood guide is a must. The best of these blend sustainability and overfishing concerns with government seafood safety advisories. Remember: the pregnant and the young are most vulnerable.
Avoid imported fish from China and countries known to have contaminated waters and unsustainable fishing methods. Check country of origin labels.
Shop where you know and trust your fishmonger. Buying off a boat is ideal. For supermarket counters, consult Greenpeace’s helpful yearly scorecard.
Check the Greenpeace Supermarket Scorecard: easy!
From the Food & Water Watch Smart Seafood Guide
Greenpeace’s Sustainable Seafood Supermarket Scorecard
Supermarkets play a big part in the future of our fragile oceans, so Greenpeace has rated popular supermarkets in terms of their seafood sustainability. Find out how your store stacks up and shop accordingly.
Blue Ocean Institute’s FishPhone
Ensure that your seafood purchase is sustainable by dialing Blue Ocean Institute’s FishPhone. Text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish in question, and they’ll send a text back with their assessment and recommended alternatives. Great for standing in front of a fish counter or texting while reading a restaurant menu. There is also an iPhone app available.
Greener Choices Seafood Buying Guide
Published by the people behind Consumer Reports, this online guide provides recommendations on how to avoid buying contaminated fish and tips on how to buy seafood.
The Environmental Defense Fund’s Pocket Seafood Guide
Your seafood choices matter! Many popular seafood items are fished or farmed in environmentally destructive ways, this handy pocket guide helps you make smart choices about the seafood you buy. It also considers health hazards.
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Guide
Another great pocket guide that you can download to keep on hand the next time you head to the market. They have a comprehensive list of ‘Best Choices,’ ‘Good Alternatives,’ and fish to ‘Avoid.’
Food & Water Watch’s Smart Seafood Guide
Food & Water Watch analyzed over 100 different fish and shellfish to create a guide that assesses not only the human health and environmental impacts of eating certain seafood, but also the socio-economic impacts on coastal and fishing communities. Download the pocket guide.
- NRDC: Mercury Contamination — A Guide To Staying Healthy
- EPA: Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
- Practically Green Book Pick: The Conscious Kitchen by Alexandra Zissu
- NPR: Author Paul Greenberg On The Future Of Wild Fish
- The New York Times: A Seafood Snob Ponders The Future Of Fish
- Ted.com: Dan Barber — How I Fell In Love With A Fish
- The New York Times: Another Side Of Tilapia, The Perfect Factory Fish
- Consumer Reports: Mystery Fish–The label Said Red Snapper, The Lab Said Baloney
What’s with all the plastic bags caught in trees and bushes lately?
Why not recycle them instead?
(Why not bring reusable shopping bags and stop using these altogether, as many places now require…. Seattle, Long Beach, San Francisco, Washington, Hawaii, New Delhi, Italy, France, China, Tanzania….)
From an illustration by Ben Katchor for "Bags in Trees" in The New Yorker, Jan. 12, 2004
Nearly 1 million bags are used each minute worldwide. Recycling rates of plastic bags hover near 10 percent (only about a third of paper bag recycling). Suffice it to say that we have a long way to go to reduce the number of plastic bags that are thrown in the trash and wind up in our waterways as well as our overstuffed landfills.
In 2010, D.C. businesses began seeing a drastic reduction in bag usage; environmental clean-up groups witnessed fewer bags polluting regional waterways
Unfortunately many curbside recycling programs don’t currently accept plastic bags. If this is the case where you live, seek out a grocery or retail store near you that will accept them for recycling. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to recycle them curbside, make sure your bags are properly secured within the bin. They won’t get recycled if they blow away.
Reduce the amount of plastic bags you need to recycle by not taking them at stores in the first place—use a reusable bag instead. You can even bring reusable produce bags to go inside your shopping bags! Reusing the plastic bags you do have stretches the considerable resources that went into making them.
Our friends at Blue Avocado ease the switch BYO bags, with zippy design & a passion for reducing plastic bag waste.
Check with your town or municipality to see if they recycle plastic bags. If they don’t, ask them to start.
Look online to find a store that accepts plastic bags for recycling near where you live. Double check to see what kind of plastic your bags are; some stores only take back plastic #2 and #4 bags. See if they take produce bags as well as shopping bags.
Keep in mind these guidelines from Waste Management:
Clean plastic bags are accepted in recycling containers at many grocery stores. However:
- Plastic bags are a major cause of litter and waste. It is much better to use a durable shopping bag.
- Plastic bags cause litter, slow sorting and jam machinery at recycling centers. Empty recyclables out of bags and boxes, and put them loose in recycling containers so that they can be easily identified and sorted.
From SimpleHuman: Mount this slim profile storage bin in pantry, under sink, or on wall to keep plastic bags organized & at the ready.
Earth911 makes it super easy to find a plastic-bag recycling drop-off.
At Earth911, choose an item, type your ZIP code...
… and presto! You get info on where to go and how to get there.
Or visit PlasticBagRecycling.org.
We’re not the only ones who see bags in trees everywhere; check out Beth Terry’s blog My Plastic-Free Life, or Windy, the story of the plastic bag caught in a Pennsylvania tree in 2008 (and disappeared during the freak snowstorm of October 2011).
We admit to a slight obsession with food: delicious, simple-to-make food that won’t make us fat or sick. Food that’s healthy, and with the simple style that comes from smart recipes and great ingredients. Lucky for everyone: in 2012 we inhabit a Foodie Culture. Most of us have unprecedented access to celebrity chefs, home-cook bloggers, and inspired organic entrepreneurs. Just check out EatingWell or Food52, or the Family Dinner website. Frankly, anyone who says they can’t figure out how to eat right just isn’t giving it a fair chance.
Follow @MarthaRShulman on Twitter
One way to stay mouthwateringly inspired is the daily dose of Recipes for Health from Martha Rose Shulman of The New York Times. Every week Martha picks one ingredient, or one type of food (muffins, anyone?) and goes nuts (heh heh). This week’s theme: “Lunches to Take to Work.”
Although I work at home, my lunch requirements are probably similar to those of many of you who work in an office. I don’t like to eat complex dishes with strong flavors like raw garlic or onion at midday, because I don’t want those flavors lingering when I get back to work. I want a lunch that’s light and simple, enjoyable but not distracting….
I so enjoyed working on these recipes, as they provided me with great lunches all week long. They’ve kept all week in the refrigerator, and they don’t require refrigeration during those few hours between the time to get you work and the time you eat your lunch, though all of them will taste fresher if they have been in the fridge.
Egg Salad & Greens Wrap: If you can hard-boil an egg, you can make a scrumptious wrap to take with you for lunch (TY nytimes.com)
Have fun with Martha’s recipes, post your lunchbox favorites for all to share—and please, don’t neglect to check off this 20-point action!
There are many great reasons to BYO meals to work. First up, the food. Who knows what sort of produce, meat, preservatives, and chemicals are in the corner deli’s turkey club or the coffee shop’s muffin. When you pack your own meals, you control the ingredients. If you’d like lunch to be local, organic, and free of hormones, antibiotics, pesticide residues, and trans fats, brown bagging it is healthiest for you, your farmers, and the earth we all share.
Black Bean Chili: A medium-hot vegetarian chili that freezes well. From "Clean out the Pantry" week on Recipes for Health
A Goodbyn bento box makes your BYO meal more fun, guaranteed!
Speaking of brown bags, packing meals in reusable containers reduces waste. According to CleanAir.org, the U.S. population tosses out enough of them plus plastic cups, forks, and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. These one-use items clog our landfills. Many resources go into making takeout containers. Our food is in them for mere moments before we toss them. It’s a system that doesn’t make much common sense.
If you can’t commit to bringing your own food daily, try for a few times a week. Bonus: you’ll save money.
Grocery shop and pack your lunch. If you eat breakfast or even dinner at your desk, try packing them, too. There are many waste-free reusable containers and wraps available in stores and online. Shop around. And don’t forget a cloth napkin and a reusable water bottle.
Ask your office manager to stock the kitchen with real plates, reusable utensils, and glasses.
When eating takeout, BYO reusable containers for the counter staff to use instead of their disposables.
Who doesn’t want to save money? Here’s a great way to do it with sustainability in mind: join Practically Green’s Frugalista Sprint! Starting today and through the end of the month, we’re checking off actions for the Frugalista badge. Frugalista badge? Yes, it’s that adorable little pink pig that you see on your PG dashboard when you’ve completed 25 of these actions!
The Frugalista badge rewards you for taking actions that save money while promoting a healthy green life. Some are beyond easy and others require an up front investment, but all will save you money in the long term.
Today’s action: Switch to cloth napkins at home regularly. Frankly this couldn’t be easier. We’re invetrate cloth napkin users and we’ve peppered this post with great suggestions on how to embrace cloth napkins at your house. You could use a favorite old shirt (clean!) as a napkin. More ideas—including why it’s worth the bother—right here:
Using cloth napkins that you wash and reuse instead of paper napkins that you use once and throw away saves natural resources (trees!) and helps minimize the amount of garbage you contribute to landfills. Science backs up this common sense choice: in a life-cycle assessment (this is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts of a product or process) of cloth versus paper napkins, Treehugger’s Pablo Paster declared cloth the winner with about ½ the total impact.
Set of 6 linen napkins with a different gentle admonishment on each... irresistible! From Etsy.
May we suggest: "No texting at the table"?
The same assessment found linen to be more eco-friendly than cotton, in terms of both energy and water used. Any way you look at it, reusable napkins beat paper hands down. If the cloth napkins happen to be linen, vintage, or organic cotton, so much the better. Bonus: cloth makes for a prettier table.
Would you like to have a handy napkin for picnics & take-out? Try PeopleTowels! Choose from dozens of fab designs on derrière-soft organic cotton.
Prowl eBay if your Grammy didn't give you elegant linen napkins.... these transform your table, easy to launder when you line dry!
Pull out those cloth napkins that sit in a drawer waiting for special occasions and put them to use every day. Don’t have any? Stock up. You may need more napkins than you think if you use them regularly.
PG Tip: Assign everyone in the family their own very special napkin ring.... that way they keep track of their cloth napkin all week long!
To use the least amount of cloth napkins as well as laundry, assign each family member a napkin ring. That way you will know whose is whose. Have everyone hold onto his or her napkin until it truly needs a wash or to the end of the week.
Wash napkins in cold water with other clothes so the load is full.
Why is Eating a Vegetarian Diet worth a whopping 200 points on Practically Green?
Why is this a super-score action, as impactful as Sell a car and don’t replace it and Buy a pre-owned home instead of building new? Eating your veggies is good for your innards, and it’s usually great for your wallet―you know this already―unless your idea of veggies is truffles (see photo please) and Gianduja at Le Bernadin. Here’s why it’s also a top action for Sustainability.
A favorite veggy recipe: White Truffle Grilled Cheese (you only need a drop of truffle oil!); TY Food52 & KarmaCucina
Remember, you’re in charge! You can ease away from your juicy sirloin habit just one day a week, or decide to eat meat only on weekends.
Mark Bittman: "In the USA we eat almost 10 billion chickens, pigs, cows, turkeys each year. And that’s just us! That kind of settled it.... with the Food Matters Cookbook I’ve proven to myself (and hopefully to all who cook from it) that {it} doesn’t feel like a sacrifice & leads to incredibly inventive, delicious food.
A vegetarian diet is an environmentally friendly one. The conventional production of meat–from feed to slaughter to transport—is energy intensive. By not eating meat, you basically eliminate that entire footprint from your personal consumption.
Not all cows are for eating... these Brown Swiss beauties at Shelburne Farms help make award-winning cheddar
The global demand for meat has risen dramatically in the past few decades, leading to an increase in factory farms. The average family of four consumes between 500 to 800 pounds of meat yearly. This kind of mass production consumes enormous amounts of energy, pollutes the air and waterways, and requires increasing amounts of corn, soy, and other grains—often genetically modified and intensively sprayed with pesticides. This has led to the destruction of vast plots of the world’s tropical rain forests. There are many studies comparing vegetarian and meat-based diets. One often quoted stat: a meal of fruits, vegetables, and grains generates 24 times less greenhouse gas emissions than 6 ounces of conventionally raised beef.
Get inspired with tasty veggy recipes at EatingWell.com, like Elise's Sesame Noodles!
If you’re eating conventionally produced dairy, you’re still involved with the factory farm system. Dairy from local, pastured animals—preferably organic–will have a lighter footprint.
The health benefits of being vegetarian depend largely on what you eat–processed packaged foods don’t have the same nutrients as whole foods. There has been some concern about the health effects of highly processed soy. Also, for people interested in eating local foods, soy might not be grown locally.
There is no single type of vegetarian. A classic vegetarian avoids eating animals, even fish, but there are certainly vegetarians who maintain a bacon or a chicken exception.
- Scientific American: How Meat Contributes to Global Warming
- Greenbiz.com: A Meat Eater’s Guide for Easing Climate Change Impacts
- The Guardian: Eat Less Meat/Dairy Diet?
- Practically Green: Vegetarian Cooking And Eating–Try The Weekday Veg Plan With Spring Pesto
- ADA Journal: Production Of Red Meat Should Be Curbed In Order To Conserve Natural Resources
- Bookmark This Site: HappyCow.net
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Effects Of Soy On Health Outcomes
The eagerly awaited update on this classic has easy-to-read tables, figures, menus & food guides to help you determine how to meet your daily nutritional requirements. The book also suggests what plant-based dietary components and factors play active roles in both prevention & treatment of chronic illnesses.
New Year’s Eve! Celebrating, parties, and libations—including wine and champagne: CORKS! Why not plan to recycle yours instead of throwing them into the trash?
1915 English magazine illustration of a lady riding a Champagne cork (Lordprice Collection; Wikipedia)
Harvesting cork from trees Photo taken by Patrick Spencer, director of Cork ReHarvest
Cork is a highly sustainable material. It’s natural, renewable, and biodegradable. It’s also recyclable.
When you recycle cork, you extend its useful life. The material is diverted from a landfill (where, because of overstuffed conditions, even biodegradable items rarely biodegrade) and is (re)used in a wide range of products including floor tiles, place mats, dart and memo boards, and coasters. Reusing cork for these items means not having to harvest and import new material from overseas, which saves energy and reduces carbon emissions.
On Earth Day 2011, Anthropologie & the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance teamed on amazing displays in hundreds of store windows
Cork forests are said to absorb millions of tons of C02 yearly and provide vast quantities of oxygen. Though they’re considered among the most sustainably harvested forests in the world, minimizing the extraction of new cork by reusing what is already available protects them.
PG Tip: Select a nice bowl to collect corks
To locate cork drop-off locations near you, check out the sites listed below. Your local Whole Foods may also have a cork recycling bin.
Set up a spot in your kitchen where you keep your wine corks. Almost 60 percent of the world’s cork is used in wine bottles, so this is likely what you’ll be recycling.
If you’re crafty, you can even try making your own cork bulletin board.
Wine Cork Serving Tray (Etsy.com)
Bookmark This Site: ReCORK America
Bookmark This Site: Cork ReHarvest
Mongabay.com: How Cork Helps Forests And Biodiversity
PlanetGreen.com: Recycle Your Corks With ReCORK America
PracticallyGreen.com: How To Declutter Your House To Prepare For Sale
Give your corks to someone crafty? We found this 16" wreath on Etsy
Okay, now that you’ve nailed the first two New Year’s Resolutions*, here’s a reward: 10 points for eating chocolate that’s delicious, doesn’t contain chemicals, and treats workers fairly.
Dagoba Lavender Blueberry organic chocolate bar
Chocolate! What’s not to love? Well, as it turns out, conventional chocolate production is hard on the rain forest and harder on workers (some of them children).
Conventional cocoa plantations, like most farms, use large amounts of pesticides and fertilizers. They harm the environment and can remain in chocolate. Organically farmed cocoa isn’t permitted to use these synthetic chemicals.
There are a few cacao-specific things to consider as well before your unwrap a bar and devour it. It, like coffee, is a shade tree. To increase production, large plantations cut down the rain forest canopy in an effort to grow trees in direct sunlight. Beyond damaging the forest, this increases the need for chemicals. Many organic chocolates come from shade grown cacao grown on small farms. Some of these farms are also fair trade.
Mmmmm, dark chocolate with hints of orange and spice that's made with Fair Trade Certified Organic Cocoa & Sugar
Taza's 100% USDA certified organic chocolates are handcrafted in small batches from a single origin
Chocolate, coffee, caramel, and salt all in one!
USDA certified organic chocolate is widely available at supermarkets as well as natural food shops. Taste a bunch to see what you like (tough work but someone has to do it!).
A benefit of organic chocolate is that it won’t contain artificial colors or flavors. Go dark enough and it can almost be considered health food.
If you want a fair trade chocolate, look for the label.
As we write, 8 products are live recommendations on Practically Green. For example:
Would you like to buy one? Please do! How about rating it? Simply go to the action page and click click to give your thumbs up.
Do you have a product to suggest? From the same action page, click this button:
Product specialist Rebecca Sama will be delighted to test your suggestion and put it through her no-nonsense approval procedure! (Munch, chomp, YUM.)
Organic Fair Trade Vegan Chocolate Cherry Hearts.. great gift, but you might eat it first!
This gourmet very dark chocolate bar is certified organic, fair trade & contains no soy products.
Organic Dark Chocolate w/ Cacao Nibs, Yacon & Acai. Endangered Species Chocolate
And don’t forget the cocoa!
We found a truly droolicious recipe for hot chocolate at EatingWell.com
*New Year’s Resolution #1: Use Reusable Shopping Bags Regularly
*New Year’s Resolution #2: Turn Off the Lights When You Leave a Room
No matter what you’re celebrating, family time and school vacation means a busy kitchen!
Cooking Quesadillas ChopChopMag.org
You can tell we’re obsessed with great healthy food on Practically Green. We follow lots of foodies to stay inspired and informed @practicallygrn; e.g., @EatingWell, @WholeFoodsPR, @CKummer, @barry_estabrook, @Food52, @famdinner. We can never resist a new cookbook. Some of our favorites this year:
The Art of Eating Well won 2011 James Beard Award for best Healthy Focus cookbook
Check out Alice Waters’s EdibleSchoolyard project
Thank you, Corby Kummer, for pointing out two excellent books for leftovers, aka recycling food:
And one from last year that’s truly stained/beloved by now:
We had a Q & A with Sally Sampson of ChopChop magazine to get psyched to involve friends and relatives and have a great time in the kitchen this season–not just eating and drinking but also dreaming up menus and helping to prepare.
PG: Lots of families will be home together during the school vacation and what better time to get cooking! Please give us a few pointers.
ChopChop: Cooking is one of the best ways for families to bond. It’s also a great way for kids to take ownership of their health. ChopChop’s mission is to educate kids to cook and be nutritionally literate. The first step in this process is getting kids excited about spending time in the kitchen and making them an integral part of meal preparation. To draw them in, let them pick what you will make together. Show kids what to do, and then let them do it themselves or with help, when necessary. Even very young children can measure, pour and stir. Make sure each young chef has an age appropriate task that let’s them feel that they are part of the process.
Baked Veggy Frittata
PG: What are some recipes that families can do together for fun meals — e.g., dinner where everyone does something, even smaller kids.
ChopChop: Recipes that involve everyone are the most exciting for families. Our Baked Vegetable Fritatta is an example of this. An older child can help chop vegetables and grate cheese (organic, if possible!). A younger child can measure out ingredients and help crack the eggs. Either can help stir the vegetables and add ingredients. Adults can move the dish from stovetop to oven, and everyone can eat it.
PG: Looking ahead to the New Year, what are some great recipes and strategies for bringing delicious lunches to school and work?
ChopChop: Try this great recipe for lemony hummus (from White House chef Cris Comerford) spread onto a wrap and filled with turkey and cheese. We also had a romaine lettuce roll up filled with hummus, vegetables, pumpkin seeds and rice. Many of these wraps and sandwiches can be made with leftovers right after dinner. Salads are always easy, but make sure the dressing is in a separate container so it doesn’t get soggy. Remember that salad doesn’t have to be just lettuce and vegetables.
Lettuce Roll-Up
Don’t give your kids food you don’t think they should be eating! Sit down with them and make a list of what they want and plan lunch options together. Put in a few different textures and flavors for variety-some crunchy (carrots or peppers), some chewy (dried fruit), some sweet (apple sauce) and some spicy (like our spiced pumpkin seeds).
Many of these recipes are available under the lunch section at chopchopmag.org.
Getting ready for some serious year-end partying? Consider using biodegradable or recycled tableware!
No matter what you’re celebrating, you can kiss goodbye the cheezy paper party supplies. SustyParty has amazing hand-stamped and colorful compostable plates and cups, just in time for your year-end bashes.
Every once in a while, reusable plates are truly not an option. Unless you have a lot of like-minded guests who would be happy to BYO table settings (a rare but fantastic group of people!), the next best option is to look for party goods made of recycled plastics or bio-based materials. Choosing either minimizes waste as well as the consumption of fossil fuels, a non-renewable resource.
Compostable hand-stamped star cup made of sugarcane bagasse
Heart cups “These babies are also tough: microwave, freeze or put boiling liquid on 'em”
Jessica Doubilet and Emily Holsey met each other at a party (where else) in New York, and they’ve teamed up on a terrific inventory of cool party products that won’t add stress to groaning landfills.
“We wanted to bring FUN to sustainability.”
Plates are compostable & recyclable. Colored w/ natural dyes. Made of tapioca, potato, and grass.
At the end of the day, we ask ourselves: Will this product be good for the environment, the people who made it, and the people who will use it? We also screen our products for these specific standards.
Organic party crown is machine washable, comes w/ a pack of attachable felt shapes: critters (see fish in photo), flowers and numbers 0-9. Update age year after year!
All products must meet at least three of these attributes: renewable (made from a renewable resource); compostable (it biodegrades in 180 days); recycled (made from mostly recycled content); regulated (3rd party verifications and certifications such as Fair Trade or B Corp or Cradle to Cradle); green energy (produced by green energy); made in the USA; durable; non-toxic; artisanal producer.
Shop by color, theme, category, or material
Picture one of these non-toxic, biodegradable straws in your next peach rum colada!
Watch for an expanded product line in 2012 (hint: wedding) and check out their blog for updates; join SustyParty on Facebookand follow them @sustyparty.
P.S. Don’t forget to recycle the corks!
And click here for a quick reminder of 11 sustainable party tips:
Close friends of Practically Green know the story: Susan’s son Hunter was diagnosed with myriad allergies, she went crazy trying to find reliable clear information to make her household healthy and green, and she decided to create a LEED for Life: Practically Green.
Challenges remain. For example: how to stock up on candy and special treats that are safe for everyone, family, guests, visitors. Ta Da! A few weeks ago, Susan found a wonderful site called the Natural Candy Store. This small California company is run by two sisters, Dawn and Irene, and their mom Molly. You can see their favorite candy here.
For example, Caramella Vegan Salted Caramels, $13.95. Ingredients: Organic unrefined cane sugar, organic coconut milk, organic agave nectar, organic cocoa butter, organic dark chocolate (organic cocoa mass, organic unrefined cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin, natural vanilla), organic coconut oil, sea salt.
Our customers have a variety of lifestyle and dietary needs – natural, organic, vegan, gluten-free, allergen-free, corn syrup-free, kosher, food dye sensitivities, fair-trade, GMO-free, etc…. they pay very close attention to ingredients. We work hard to provide as much information as possible about each item, including a complete ingredients list…. We want to make it easy for anyone, whatever their special dietary requirement, to find candy they can eat and feel good about eating.
The increasing incidence of conditions like ADHD and autism is also a significant factor. Many parents find that a diet free of artificial ingredients reduces symptoms, with research suggesting artificial colors and preservatives do indeed increase hyperactivity in children. Sugar always gets blamed for making kids hyper, but the research has never supported that — it’s probably all the artificial, petroleum-derived artificial colors and flavors that usually goes along with sugar that’s the real culprit!
Find out what food you buy regularly that contains artificial sweeteners (5 points on Practically Green)
Find out what food you buy regularly that contains artificial colors and flavors (10 points)
Find out what food in your house has artificial preservatives in it (5 points)
Choose organic or natural candy as a treat (10 points)
What makes this frosting blue? Cabbage!
Surf Sweets Organic Jelly Beans w carrot juice concentrate
Let’s stop talking and start ordering and enjoying! Dawn promises excellent customer service, and expedited deliveries are available for last-minute types.
Bonus: choose free samples with every order.
Cruise through the Candy Store guided by this key
Did we mention salted caramels? From Dawn’s description:
Enrobed in award winning milk chocolate & sprinkled with grey sea salt. Wrapped in festive holiday label! This simple & beautiful caramel highlights the richness of true Madagascar vanilla beans. From the first and only organic & fair trade bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the US!
Size Information: Each 1.83oz/52g box contains 4 caramels.
Ingredients: Sugar**, cream (milk)*, non-GMO corn syrup*, cocoa beans**, milk powder*, butter (milk)*, cocoa butter**, grey sea salt, ground vanilla bean*. *Organic **Organic & Fair Trade
Organic info: USDA Certified Organic
Theo Salted Caramels, Organic & Fair Trade
Last but not least, the Hangover Drops from England are miraculous, according to Dawn: “These all-natural, curative candies taste like yummy fruit punch (non-alcoholic, of course!).” Ingredients: Sugar, glucose syrup, citric acid, ginseng, natural flavors: bramble, lemon, orange, raspberry, rosehip, natural color: beetroot red.
Find them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @cleancandy
Sometimes when we want the advice of a chic, worldly, bossy big sister, and we mean that in the best possible way, we turn to blogs like Dominique Browning’s Slow Love Life, Zem Joaquin’s EcoFabulous, and Ronnie Citron-Fink’s EcoNesting, … and, Priscilla Woolworth’s Almanac.
These women are stylishly green, intelligently and brilliantly green: they’re strict about ingredients, family, and process; they seem to travel everywhere and know everyone; they always have fresh flowers; and they are ready with sharp poison daggers to stab greenwashers. Also, they almost always have a French grandmother.
From SlowLoveLife.com
We recently caught up with Priscilla for a Q & A. (The first in a series, if you like the idea!)
Q. How did you get started?
A. I started developing the concept for my store 6 years ago, when I couldn’t find the non-toxic cleaning products I needed when I was at my house in Maine in the summer. I started shipping them from Los Angeles to Maine a week before I was leaving! Just nuts! Also, my friends were always asking me where I bought things or asked for advice about my lifestyle. I never imagined having my own store, let alone online and I discovered it was the most natural thing for me to do. Maybe it’s in my genes…
(Ahh, yes… that Woolworth!)
Golden Rules painting by Priscilla Woolworth, 24" square, on wood
Q. What makes you bounce out of bed in the morning?
A. How did you know that I bounce out of bed in the morning?! I can’t wait to get to work, especially if I’ve just read something fantastic in the newspaper. I must share it right away. I am a compulsive sharer of good, inspiring, exciting information and all of it is connected to my mission of educating and inspiring the public to make changes they can feel good about.
Penguin egg cosy (or puppet?), made of carpet remnants. $12
Q. What’s your mission?
A. My mission is twofold: to provide my favorite practical non-toxic, organic, energy-saving, water-saving products in my store; and to be a trusted resource for information about living a more sustainable lifestyle. I am my own best customer and use most of the products I sell. The market bags, reusable produce bags, stainless steel compost pail, African kettle, olive soap, glass water bottles and Valentina outdoor composter are a few of my products I use every single day.
Here’s the “delightful Kettle”: “I keep it by my kitchen sink, where I pour water from unfinished glasses, or saved water from washing lettuce, etc. Do not put any soap in it, only water! When it’s filled up, I use it to water my potted plants outside my kitchen.”
African Water Kettle made of salvaged plastic. $12
Q. I’m interested in your big thoughts on why sustainable living is important. Why bother?
A. Sustainable living is the way we all need to live if we are going to have a chance at leaving our world a livable and hopefully better place for our children. People need to know that they don’t have to sacrifice their lifestyle but instead can transition easily to something as easy as using reusable market bags or water bottles. I have heard people say that anything we do won’t make a difference, and I strongly disagree. We all have the power to change the world by what we buy… if we all support, for example, the companies that make non-toxic cleaning products or the ones that use recycled paper for paper products, the more those products will become the norm rather than the exception. The awesome United States is a consumer society, so we as the consumers have a lot of power we don’t even realize. Everything we buy is tracked, and when more people spend their money buying non-toxic cleaning products rather than the traditional brands, those environmentally products will become more available and more affordable.
I am inspired so much by my French grandmother, who at 93 years old, has explained to me the way everyone used to live, decades ago: people bought local and produce in season, using market baskets or cloth bags. Very little was wasted and people lived more simply and were content with less. I feel there is a movement to aspire to this kind of lifestyle.
Priscilla's Valentina Outdoor Wooden Compost Bin
Q. We would love your personal recommendations for products and services that make the process easy and terrific.
A. The easiest recommendations are for things we do on a regular basis, such as shopping for food and personal care. Bring your own market bags with you, buy organic food whenever you can, and buy paper goods made with recycled paper. If you live in an area where water is getting scarcer, get in the habit of keeping a bucket in your shower to catch as much wasted water as possible and use it on your plants instead. EWG.org is a great resource when it comes to checking the safety of beauty products and suntan lotions. Check with your local DWP (Department of Water and Power) and find out what energy saving programs they are offering, and learn ways you can reduce the energy and water wasted in your home, and save money. Add indoor plants like a Spider plant, which acts as natural air cleaners, busting indoor air pollutants in your home or office.
Priscilla on a building, location TBA
Q. What are you doing posted on the side of that huge building?!
A. Just hanging around…
You can find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @ecowoolworth.
Tailgate to heaven: grill, beer, food! There’s two months of football to go on the schedule, and SoCal Jocelyn Anne has some fantastic ideas on how to green up your tailgate festivities!
GREEN TAILGATE, by guest blogger Jocelyn Anne
Our guest blogger enjoys her tailgate in Southern California
We’re particularly excited about the opportunities for going even greener than years prior! It may mean digging a little deeper, stretching our brains, and perhaps investing a little more time than normal, but it also means bigger pay off than ever before, and I think, even more delicious samplings and drinks to be had! So here’s to the greenest tailgates yet. Whatever team colors you’re rooting for, we’re all rooting for green around here.
First Things First: The BBQ
What tailgate, really, is complete without a barbecue? So, let’s get the real answer when it comes to what’s green and what’s just not. If you have the budget for it, a hydrogen grill is about the very best because it produces zero emissions. Solar is probably a close second, but let’s face it, sun is a pre-requisite and it’s pretty time consuming (neither points good for tailgates). My fave is the corn grill: 100% efficient and burns a 100% renewable resource. Plus, no gases, creosotes, hydrocarbons or chemicals. And, bonus: it’ll never explode! But, okay: benefit of the doubt, college student without the budget for a new-fangled green grill. What you do need to know is that propane beats out charcoal. In fact, charcoal has a footprint about three times greater than propane. I’m also a very big fan of the FlameDisk by uGO. You get 40 minutes of burning per recyclable disk, and it produces 90% fewer pollutants than a charcoal grill. And, if you already have a charcoal burning grill, you can easily make it a greener bbq by replacing the charcoal with eco-friendlier briquettes.
Even Before First things First? The Beer
Let me preface, I’m not a beer drinker. But, I hear from the “crowd” that any real tail-gater gets started on the beer first. If you’re going to go green here, your very best option is to brew your own. I’ll let you research that on your own if you feel so inclined. Following brewing your own, the next best thing is to drink organic and locally brewed beer. We just so happen to live in a time when we can not only find beer made in an eco-friendly process, with locally grown organic and chemical/pesticide free hops and barley; but also, the buildings themselves are becoming more eco-friendly. Plus, for you beer drinkers, the good news is that the bigger the container, the better; in this case, we are keg approvers! Kegs eliminate glass bottles that don’t always get recycled and they can be re-used over and over. Even better, they require less energy to keep cool and can often be found locally distributed. If you need a list of green-approved bottled beers, try these: New Belgium Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Full Sail Brewing, Alaskan Brewing, and Great Lakes Brewing. (And don’t forget to submit your favorites on Practically Green!) 
Truly Most Important: The Food
This is basically why I go to tailgates. To go greener, consider ditching the burgers and dogs, at least traditionally speaking, and try some Boca burgers or Tofu dogs. Personally, I think the soy versions taste better, not to mention they should be better for you nutritionally speaking. Mix things up and do veggie shish ka bobs. Make some killer guacamole. Veggie tacos, anyone? Or, a personal favorite: vegetarian chili. Some chips and super hearty chili, and I’m set. My favorite idea of all? Shop at the local farmer’s market before the game! Nothing like some warm, freshly baked pitas to go with that local hummus!
YUM!! Rosemary-Thyme pita chips from Food52.com (photo: Sarah Shatz)
The Bottom Line
Going green at a tailgate is really actually just as easy and simple as you want it to be. Remember to go local and organic as much as possible. Forget the disposables and bring your own dishes. Recycle when you’re done and clean it up like you were never there. If you can do that, Team Green will win every time!
Note on the author:
Jocelyn is a native Montana ranch girl who recently made the move to California, where she’s found it especially important to incorporate her green roots into her new city life. She now works as a writer for Air & Water, an appliance e-retailer, where her research has greatly awakened her to just how much energy a single house drains in a day and how imperative it is to cut back and start conserving. She’s vowed to skip central heating this year and opt for small, eco-friendly infra red heaters when she needs extra warmth this winter. But, if she does have to use central, you can bet she’ll be turning it down two degrees lower than standard room temperature. And if she isn’t convincing friends to unplug appliances and use low-flow faucets, she’s probably dragging them out to the farmer’s market to teach them about real food!
SmallBizSaturday falls on November 26, and we can think of at least 12 great reasons to participate:
Shopping street in Carmel, California
1) Pump your precious bucks into the indigenous economy: the cash register rings where you throw down; and it rings throughout the entire network behind the proprietor – think about the bookkeeper, the recycling service, shop employees, employees’ babysitters, coffee shops where you go to refuel while you buzz through your gift list….
2) Get to know your local retailers: the dogged and inspired people who work hard to make their establishments better than the ones you find at the big-box mall or online.
3) Save on shipping and transport expenses — yours and the merchandise’s!
4) See, touch, feel, sniff instead of going online and clicking.
5) Avoid the stress (and time-wasting, gas-guzzling jams) of snarling crowds focused on Black Friday.
6) It’s a party! Many local outfits have chocolatey goodies, music, and other fun enticements – at least, the ones we know do…
7) Uniqueness: if it’s one-of-a-kind you crave, your chances are improved by shopping a stand-alone, one-of-a-kind shop.
8) Three gifts for them, one gift for me…. Enjoy a tasty local lunch or mani-pedi as a reward during your errands.
9) Get outside!
10) Save money: many SmallBizSaturday participants offer coupons, deals and other incentives.
11) Enjoy ancillary activities that your ingenious local retailers dream up. For example, KaightNYC is hosting a Wool and the Gang Knitting Party: “The holidays are just around the corner, what better gift to give than to knit that someone special, something special!”
See? Told you local shopkeepers are serious about having fun this season (refer to point 6 above).
12) Shopping local gives you another reason to bring your reusable shopping bags (see the fab selection from BlueAvocado) and earn Practically Green’s Green Shopper badge!
For more info, including a ZIP-directory, visit the Small Business Saturday Facebook page. And please post your stories and recommendations for Small Business Saturday!
Most of these points hold true for the other 364 days of the year: Shop local businesses regularly!
6 easy ways to avoid BPA at the Thanksgiving table, by Founder/CEO Susan Hunt Stevens
Is anyone else in Thanksgiving planning mode? While Googling stuffing recipes this week, I read a report from the Breast Cancer Fund. I want to share it with you because I have several VIPs in my life battling breast cancer—and I bet you do, too.
Herb roasted turkey from EatingWell.com
They were curious about how much bisphenol A (BPA) might be in an average Thanksgiving meal. BPA is in can linings because it acts as a protective barrier between the metal and the can’s contents. But it actually gets into the food, acts as a synthetic hormone, and has been linked to breast cancer as well as many other health issues. So they tested the canned foods that are typically found at a Thanksgiving meal—things like cream of mushroom soup, creamed corn, green beans, and cranberry sauce by big brands including Campbell’s, Carnation, Del Monte, Nestle, Ocean Spray, and General Mills. Here’s what they found: “Single servings of almost half of the products tested had levels of BPA comparable to levels that laboratory studies have linked to adverse health effects.”
Apple cranberry pie, thank you First Prize pies!
Thankfully, there are ways to reduce the amount of BPA in any meal—holiday or otherwise. The first step is to stop using canned food, or to reduce the amount you use, and to buy fresh produce instead. These 6 actions from Practically Green will help you ditch the BPA for Thanksgiving and still have a truly tasty meal:
1. Shop at farmers’ markets, where cans are extremely rare (many end shortly after Thanksgiving, but there are also winter markets)
2. Eat local produce in season
Sure hit! Sweet potato recipe from Food52.com, photo courtesy Sarah Shatz
3. While you’re at it, buy organic when you can–if not fresh, frozen is preferable to canned organic veggies
4. Use BPA free cups and bottles
5. When reheating or defrosting in a microwave, use glass or lead-free ceramic instead of plastic; heating plastic speeds the release of its chemical components into food
6. BPA can be found in soda cans, too, so why not replace them with fizzy natural juices in glass bottles?
Which brings me to this week’s PG Holiday Tip, a friendly reminder: Take your reusable shopping bags while out gathering all of your holiday meal goods!
We’re loving this four piece insulated kit from our partner BlueAvocado and are thrilled that they are offering you, PG members, 25% off your holiday orders! Just use the code balovespg25 at checkout. The bags are made from recycled fibers containing plastic bottles, and hold up to a total of 70 pounds—that’s at least several holiday roasts! If you have too many bags already, these would also make a great gift for someone who is still trying to break the bag habit.
Deluxe 4-piece Shopping Kit from BlueAvocado.com
10 Rules for Conscious Eating, by Chris Keenan
Chris in action in the kitchen
- 1) Eat the colors of the rainbow. Not only is this good for your health, the more fresh fruits and vegetables you eat, the less meat and processed foods you eat, which are not as sustainable or environmentally friendly.
- 2) Plant a garden. You just can’t beat the taste of homegrown, garden fresh vegetables, but did you know having a garden is also environmentally friendly? A healthy garden is good for the soil, and it creates an environment for bees and other insects that play a huge role in our ecosystem.
Eat the Rainbow! (Photo credit: karimian @flickr)
- 3) Buy local. Organic is appealing to conscious consumers, but remember that the bulk of organic produce is grown thousands of miles away and must be flown in. Instead of buying organic, buy local, which traveled a much shorter distance.
- 4) Cook more. Preparing meals yourself is not only a great way to save money and eat healthier, it’s a great way to reduce waste. Plastic utensils, metal or paper containers, plastic bags and paper napkins can all be eliminated when you cook at home.
Rule 4: Cook More! (credit cheesy42@flickr)
- 5) Pack an eco-friendly lunch. Most brown bag lunches generate a lot of trash. The brown bag itself, plastic baggies that hold food, and the food containers themselves (i.e., yogurt). Use Tupperware containers instead of plastic bags and buy in bulk rather than buying individualized items. You can store your bulk items in the garage, just keep them away from the garage door and closer to the home. Also, keep everything sealed or you will attract bugs and rodents.
- 6) Kick your soda and bottled water habit. Recycling is good, but not having to recycle at all is even better. Say “no” to beverages that come in cans or bottles.
- 7) Participate in Meatless Mondays and eat more vegetarian meals. The less meat we eat, the greener we’ll be.
- 8) Buy green products. Whenever you have the option, chose brands that use recycled paper or are otherwise committed to environmentally safe practices. Support eco-friendly companies whenever possible.
- 9) Bake your own cookies. Instead of buying a bag of cookies, bake some. Processed foods, like cookies, are mass produced on equipment that uses a lot of energy. Then they are packaged in materials that you ultimately throw away and are then distributed all over the United States. Be green and bake.
Rule 9: Bake Cookies! (credit marshsu @flickr)
- 10) Buy free range, grass fed, and humane animal products. Factory farming is cruel and wreaks havoc on the environment.
Join in the discussion in the comments below and/or share the piece.
Chris & Rachel
About the Author: Chris lives in New Jersey with his wife Rachel and their baby boy. He works at a Mom & Pop operation.… He says “being middle middle class, living green and healthy can be difficult but we do our best. We mostly concentrate efforts on the mantra reduce, reuse, recycle; avoiding wastefulness; and keeping our energy consumption to a minimum — even if it means getting an earful from parents every time it’s cold out on why we won’t raise the thermostat higher. We run a food blog, thekeenancookbook.com.” Chris also writes for Precision Garage Door, and he maintains a personal house and garden blog.
*** We’ll update this Corporate Gift Guide in the weeks ahead and hope you’ll continue to contribute your ideas – here, on Facebook, and via Twitter @practicallygrn. ***
From last week’s inbox:
Q: Quick question, what is an appropriate green sustainable corporate holiday gift? It is complicated. We don’t want to purchase sustainable goodies that have to make their way here from Australia. Additionally, we want to be sensitive to the state of the economy and our friends who have lost their jobs. Thank you, Robin Freedman, Waste Management, Inc.
Thanks for asking, Robin! Here are a few ideas to start the conversation.
- Restaurant meal: Especially in economically volatile times, who wouldn’t appreciate a nice meal out? Arrange a gift certificate to a local, sustainable restaurant! Metro New Yorkers will love a certificate to dell’Anima; got a favorite client in LA? Our sources say TrueFood in Santa Monica is the best. Mmm, in Kirkland, Washington, where Robin works, Café Juanita looks like a very good choice.
Eat at a dine green certified restaurant
Eat at a local, sustainable restaurant when traveling
Wine. Find a local wine shop who knows their organic, biodynamic, and natural wines. Ask if they ship or offer local delivery. Our personal vintner, the Wine Bottega in Boston’s North End, has a Farm to Glass case-of-the-month program that’s sure to thrill your recipients! You can request a mixed case to be delivered within metro-Boston or sent via FedEx. Owner Kerri Platt, a Yale-educated biologist, writes an informative brief to accompany each hand-picked selection, which can be delivered via Metro Pedal Power or shipped FedEx. If you can’t locate an inspired sommelier near you, contact the Wine Bottega team: staff@thewinebottega.com.
- Sparkling water maker. Speaking of beverages, we don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love to see a Sodastream Penguin in the office kitchen to make fizzy water from tap:
- Leafy Office Plant. What’s greener than this?! A local nurseryman can fill your order, or consider a super-legit source like White Flower Farm. There’s no more gorgeous (and foolproof) selection than an Amaryllis from White Flower Farm. One it’s bloomed, these can be set outside (once it’s frost-free) and practically neglected; they’ll set up a new blooming display next year. If the Amaryllis doesn’t grab you, review this gift section. Perennial = Sustainable!
- Old school: We called Tiffany & Co. to see if they have anything greenish to offer business accounts, and here’s what they said:
Tiffany IS vintage, Tiffany is durable, nobody throws out a Tiffany gift, nobody even throws out a Tiffany BOX!
We had to admit we agree… we even save empty Tiffany boxes. So, consider this planet paperweight. It might cost less than you’d imagine. And rest assured it won’t go into a landfill.
- Cards and Invitations: Paperless Post is our favorite online resource. Check out their designs – and don’t forget the envelope linings!
P.S. Our friends at The Family Dinner gave this plug on our Facebook wall – and we have to say, the book is amazing and should be in everyone’s kitchen… perfect for anyone on your list who has ever complained about having a decent dinner conversation with their teenagers.
P.S. As you make your selections, please consider these PG gift-giving actions:
Give experiential holiday gifts
Wrap a gift using used wrapping paper, boxes, bows, ribbons
And finally, don’t miss Lisa Borden’s tips for gift giving:
Save money being green
In a skittish economy, money trumps all. Everyone wants to boost efficiency, reduce waste, and be healthy not only because it’s the right thing to do but because it’s miserable watching cash float away any more than we must. Practically Green has 70+ actions you can do that are either free or that will yield impressive financial results.
Check the list! You’re probably doing lots of these things already. You’ll see several to do starting, well… Now!
Here’s a sampling. The point value tells you the relative impact of each action:
Turn thermostat down by 4 degrees in the winter (50 Points)
Turn down hot water heater (20 points)
Turn off the heat dry feature on your dishwasher (20 points)
Switch to reusable towels or dish cloths at home (20 points)
Install one low-flow shower head (20 points)
Use reusable shopping bags regularly (10 points)
Unplug (or avoiding buying) your second refrigerator (50 points)
Turn off the lights when you leave a room (10 points)
Unplug chargers and appliances when not in use (20 points)
Buy antique or secondhand furniture and home goods (50 points)
Buy a pre-owned home instead of building new (200 points)
Commit to 25 of these next steps, and you’ve earned the Frugalista badge. Who wouldn’t want this coy pig on their Practically Green dashboard?!
So go ahead, pick your 25 actions and get this savvy oinker on board your green program!
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