If you’re in the mood for spring gardening we’ve got lots of ideas, from reacquainting with local farmers’ markets, signing up for a share in a CSA, pot up a few containers of herbs or veggies, or even plant your own garden or participate in a neighborhood garden!
Why not have fresh veggies handy at the office? Here's a green salad with asparagus & peas from "Top 10 Most Popular Spring Recipes" at EatingWell
Can’t possibly have a garden at home because you don’t have a good spot, or because practically live at work? Maybe you can organize a vegetable garden AT work! PG user Jakob Barry wrote in to recommend an office solution: “No, I don’t mean the occasional salad bar but a real thriving workplace garden either within an industrial park, courtyard, or on a balcony.”
Gardeners Supply Company is a favorite on-line shop for tools and planning
Jakob points out 5 key advantages to an Office Garden:
- Less waste. Office gardens reduce waste: people pick their own vegetables on-site and mix them up in a reusable bowl. No disposable packaging waste! (And don’t forget to compost!)
- Less money. A package of seeds costs a dollar or two and provides an abundance of sustenance. An office garden takes some effort to maintain but will reduce overall expenses.
- Less pollution. Food transport can be fuel-intensive. Buying local solves part of the problem. Growing local in an office garden helps prevent a few less puffs of smog from dirtying the world.
- Better air quality. Plants promote air quality, indoors and out.
- It will inspire: Once employees taste the fruits of an office garden as opposed to the sometimes rubbery make up of fast-serve salad, a few may even be inspired to make their own gardens at home!
We’ll add a sixth: happier, healthier, more relaxed & more productive workers. How about it? Can you imagine starting a vegetable garden at work? Do you have one going already?
Next up, we’ll chat with Kristee Rosendahl, the creator of Smart Gardener, an intuitive and interactive platform for gardeners of all levels that’s so eerily reminiscent we’re ready to nickname it Practically Green for Gardeners!
Jakob Barry, whose idea for Planting a Garden at Work may just become a new Practically Green action for Spring!
You’ve cruised Practically Green’s 453+ actions, chosen the ones that make the most sense for you. Did you know you are invited to submit ideas for green living that we haven’t thought of? Please do! And now, we have a special challenge: participate in the #YourMealMatters event on Twitter, Tuesday 3/27 at 12:30 EST, come up with a new on-topic action for Practically Green, and you’ll be part of the fastest growing and most influential database of sustainable next steps around.
Details from GoodGuide’s blog (please read to the end!):
Do you think that sugary breakfast cereal is only going to affect your waistline (and maybe lead to an energy high that will crash by lunchtime)? Think again. Did you know that your daily bowl could also be contributing to unethical working conditions, the destruction of nutrient rich soil or other environmental and social downfalls?
Food production has changed dramatically over the past several years, making food cheaper at the expense of our health and the environment. While some would argue that the industrial food system has brought efficiency and reliability to our food supply, the changes in how we get our food have resulted in a major disconnect between consumers and the rest of the food system. However, there is a growing movement to address this disconnect, bring mindfulness back to eating, and show people that their meals do indeed matter. We’re getting in on the action, and so can you: now is your chance to learn how small, simple changes to your everyday meals can have a big impact on your body, the environment and society.
Join the “Your Meal Matters” Twitter chat party on March 27 at 9:30am PST/ 12:30pm EST to learn how. GoodGuide (@GoodGuide) will be partnering with organizations across the globe including Greennovate (@Greennovate), Roots of Change (@RootsofChange), EatingWell (@EatingWell) and Practically Green (@PracticallyGrn) to share ideas about how each of us can make an impact. We will spend an hour discussing everything from what to do with your leftovers to how to navigate the grocery store. Just follow the hashtag #YourMealMatters to join in!
The party doesn’t stop there! To add to the excitement, we will pick the best tips to be featured as Practically Green actions after the chat. If you have a great idea about how to (easily!) make healthier and environmentally friendly food choices, it could be broadcast to the entire Practically Green community and help thousands of other people make better meal choices.
Partners include:
Greennovate: A sustainable consultancy that aims to raise environmental awareness by providing innovative educational programs such as this “Three Meals That Matter” video.
Roots of Change: Works to develop and support a collaborative network of leaders with interest in establishing a sustainable food system that share a commitment to changing our food thinking, food markets, and food policies.
Practically Green: A community for people striving to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Provides tools that make green actions much simpler, more personal and fun.
EatingWell: A bi-monthly national food and health magazine and website that provides the inspiration and information people need to make healthy eating a way of life through recipes, cooking tips, health information and coverage of food news and sustainability issues.
We are also excited for organizations including Meatless Monday (encourages going meatless on Mondays to improve the environment and personal health) and Sustainable Table (educates consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food) to join in the chat and lend their expertise. Let us know in the comments section if you will be attending also!
Stay tuned on Facebook and Twitter for unfolding details! We are eager to field your ideas for new actions that everyone in the PG community will love to check off and add to their goals.
If you kept up with Nutrition & Health news this week, you learned that sugary drinks are linked to heart disease. No worries! This PG action makes it so easy to Switch to Fizzy Natural Juices or Sodas.
Even though you like the way it tastes, chances are you know your favorite soda isn’t good for you—to put it mildly. It’s filled with high fructose corn syrup (or questionable artificial sweeteners), preservatives, as well as artificial additives including colors, flavors, and possibly flame retardants. The can it comes in may be lined with the hormone disrupting chemical bisphenol-A.
For recipe panic, try EatingWell. Here's Cran Razzy: "To keep calories in check, we like to use seltzer along with juice in drinks like vodka and cranberry. This version gets a raspberry twist w/ cranberry-raspberry juice & raspberries for garnish. For the prettiest garnish, start with big, plump fresh raspberries, freeze them yourself"
If you just cannot give up the bubbles, try weaning yourself to more natural soda. Do a little taste test of brands with friends and family until you hit on a palatable replacement. These usually still contain (real) sugar—some might even be organic or fair trade—plus fruit juice and carbonated water. You won’t miss the artificial additives. Choosing organic means the fruit for the juice won’t contain synthetic pesticide residue, among other good things. There are even organic colas and root beers on the market if that’s your weakness. These clearly aren’t health drinks, but they’re preferable to the conventional versions.
Izze watermelon sounds like a good choice for spring! 25% fruit juice + sparkling water = 50 calories
Read labels when shopping for a better-for-you soda. Remember that the word natural is an unregulated term—a claim anyone can make. USDA organic, on the other hand, has to be third-party certified.
GuS is Grown Up Soda, and they've got lots of tantalizing cocktail recipes — or enjoy unmixed! YUM
You’re more likely to find organic sodas at health foods stores, though those containing natural ingredients are fairly widely distributed. Opting for a locally produced brand minimizes the transportation footprint.
Choosing glass bottles over cans is an easy way to avoid exposure to bisphenol-A.
Don’t forget to recycle the bottles or cans!
LemonLime Marguerita from Food52: fresh lemon & lime juices; cointreau (ok, a *bit* of sugar); tequila: "the more expensive the less the hangover"
If you think race car drivers aren’t green, think again.
Leilani Munter
Leilani Munter is one professional race-car driver who personifies champion performance at the track — and environmentalism. Known as “Carbon-Free Girl,” she’s working for tire recycling, racetrack composting, energy-efficiencies like LED lighting, and bio-fueled cars. Leilani has been thinking and acting sustainably for years – and she’s been eating that way as well. Last month at Daytona she launched an eco-education program to “educate and engage the 75 million race fans in the USA and inspire them to rethink their day to day habits for our planet. Each time my car hits the track we address a different environmental issue and have a specific call to action.” Since 2007, she’s adopted an acre of rainforest “every time I sit in a race car, since the emissions are always a question.” Leilani plans to run a “Fueled by Veggies” car later this season.
“The incongruity is part of what makes going green in this sport so impactful,” said Michael Lynch, Nascar’s director of green innovation. “There’s a bias that the sport is not green and therefore the fans aren’t green.” (NYTimes.com) We’re impressed with the organization’s sincere efforts to recycle, conserve, and even using sheep to mow the grass!
We caught up with Leilani Munter between races recently.
“I’ve always liked to go fast. The more races I win, the more people will listen. I know what you’re thinking: race-car driving is not green. I completely agree, And that is exactly what I intend to change.”
PG: Why is eating vegan so important to you?
Leilani: Everyone associates carbon footprint with fuel – cars, trains, ships, racecars, but 40% more greenhouse-gas emissions are coming from livestock raised for food.
PG: What’s you favorite Practically Green action?
Leilani: I’m a big supporter of MeatFree Mondays. I love the one-day-a-week approach. It’s really not so hard to make the change. I love cooking for people using fake meat. People come over to my house and they’re shocked! What appears to be a grilled sausage with grilled onions on top, is not!
Plunge into mouth-watering recipe database to find meatless recipes, like this Savory Roasted Orange Tofu & Asparagus from EatingWell.com
Leilani echoes NYTimes “Eats” writer Mark Bittman when he says, “My point here is to make semi-veganism work for you. Once a week, let bean burgers stand in for hamburgers, leave the meat out of your pasta sauce, make a risotto the likes of which you’ve probably never had — and you may just find yourself eating ‘better.’”
Try Mark Bittman's "Recipes for the Semi-Vegan" — this collection appeared in The New York Times on 1.29.11
PG: What tips to you give people who are interested in shifting to a more plant-based diet?
Leilani: People always ask me, What new cookbooks do I need to get? My answer is You don’t! There are so many great meat substitutes out there, just start trying them. You do not have to change everything in your house! When a recipe calls for ground beef, use vegan ground meat. When It calls for milk, try almond milk. People say, You mean I can have white-wine mushroom chicken risotto? And I say, Of course you can! Just use a chicken substitute! I have people over and cook them Tofurky tacos and they say, WOW I’m eating tacos! It looks and tastes like meat!
Find out more about Leilani at CarbonFreeGirl.com, follow her on Twitter @LeilaniMunter, and check her out on Facebook and YouTube.
Blog PotLuck! Please share your favorite meatless dishes, recipes and ingredients…. Chef Bittman raved about Savage River Farms “real fake chicken” in the NYTimes yesterday.
Bittman was fooled by this “chicken” wrap from Savage River Farms.
Part of living sustainably is knowing what’s IN things, and on Practically Green that means house-paint, crayons, milk, furniture, mascara, bed linens, toothpaste, teddy-bears, and on and on.
If you're going to hug a teddy bear all night long, best it's an irresistible & organic one like this guy from NunoOrganic... but does he have a label to tell you what he's made of?
By now we’re accustomed to squinting at tiny ingredient labels–on tubes of sunscreen, on wine bottles; on chocolate bars, coffee, jars of strawberry jam–because it turns out there can be some pretty unsavory items included in normal everyday products. Usually, those ingredients are remarkable for their many syllables and acronymic or otherwise unpronounceable chemical-sounding names: Polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs), Bisphenol-A (BPA), Methylparaben, you know… that sort of name.
Major players are finally beginning to make this easier for the consumer:
- Walmart has a new “Great For You” icon to “help customers instantly identify food options that are better for them” — e.g., with reduced sodium and added sugars. Watch for this in April:
Items with the “Great For You” icon must meet rigorous nutrition criteria informed by the latest nutrition science and authoritative guidance from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Institute of Medicine (IOM). Developed in consultation with food and nutrition experts from the public and private sectors, as well as leading health organizations, the icon represents a collaborative and transparent effort to develop a trusted and reliable system for consumers.
- Chevy is introducing an enlightened label for its 2012 Sonic and plans to affix to 2013 Chevrolet vehicles later this year.
This new Ecologic label from Chevrolet includes info about fuel-efficiencies, end-of-life recyclability, and responsible manufacturing... not just horsepower and cylinders!
More on both initiatives and others as they roll out.
For today, try this new action: find inspired labels on any three items and tell us what they are!
Hint, we already blogged about Levi’s customer-care tag a few months ago, Conscious Shopping: When Blue Jeans are Green.
Levi's partnered with Goodwill on this tag to keep billions of pounds of unwanted clothing out of landfills. Kudos!!
Our most recent Twitter party was such a blast, with so many great comments and stupendous participation, that we want to share 2 minutes of the conversation with you. Literally, 2 minutes. Here we go with the Bonus question our moderator Elise Jones of @Mommybites posed at the tail end of the party — followed by 120 seconds of fast answers and links to more info on Practically Green.
(NOTE: For the full party transcript, which goes from 9pm EST on 2/28 and is still continuing, please find hashtag #PGLeapYear.)
10:00 P.M. EST Q7 What new efficient/healthy/sustainable routine are you ready to begin.. right now today! #PGLeapYear
10:00:01 to 10:02 P.M. EST, 2 minutes of answers:
Here’s how Practically Green can help, @LLLSummer: Walk to work regularly and Switch to a reusable water bottle
Walk or bike to do your regular errands
Plant containers for herbs or vegetables
Find out what food you buy regularly that contains artificial sweeteners
Replace bottled water with filtered water (tap or jug)
Try the Frugalista badge!!
Turn thermostat up by 4 degrees in warm weather
Try these “I Heart Organics” actions!
Walk or bike to do your regular errands
WHEW! That was 2 minutes!
Hope you’ll follow @practicallygrn and join us at the next Twitter bash — and please post your positive changes.
It’s a pain to clean the inside of a microwave. Whatever you have to do to get the zapped on gunk out of there, don’t use a conventional cleaner! When you clean with them, they leave behind residues that can get in the air you breathe but also the food you’re heating. Most chemicals in these products should not be heated to the temperatures generated by a microwave.
To clean microwave safely, Ingredient #1: LEMON
To clean microwave safely, Ingredient #2: GLASS CONTAINER (this one's from Williams-Sonoma)
It’s difficult to know exactly what a cleaner contains as cleaning product formulas are currently considered government-protected trade secrets. Manufacturers aren’t required to disclose their contents to consumers. So they don’t. Sometimes there are warning labels like “danger” “poison” “toxic” or “hazardous.” These are best not sprayed in a microwave. Generally speaking conventional cleaners contain hazardous, often petroleum-derived, chemicals including ammonia, glycol ethers, synthetic fragrances, and even the synthetic antibacterial agent triclosan—which have been linked to cancer, asthma, hormone disruption, liver and kidney damage, and more.
If you have an oven-cleaning product already, you might want to check it on GoodGuide.com
Using a natural cleaner reduces your exposure to these chemicals and keeps their residues out of our waterways. But when it comes to cleaning a microwave, it’s just as easy—and very safe—to rely on a few household staples.
Either place a half of a lemon or distilled white vinegar with water in a microwave-friendly bowl (preferably glass). Heat for five minutes. The steam generated by either mixture will loosen food residue. Wipe it away with a damp cloth. The lemon will leave behind an especially pleasant fresh natural scent.
- eHow: How To Clean Your Microwave Without Chemicals
- NaturalCleaningService.com: Vinegar And Steam– A Simple Microwave Cleaner
- PracticallyGreen.com: How To Clean A Microwave
- DrWeil.com: Are Conventional Household Cleaners Harmful?
EnergyStar does not yet rate microwaves, but smaller is most energy-efficient. This one's by Daewoo
What do most people need? On our list: Time.
And this year we have a whole extra DAY. What to do with that extra 24 hours? We decided to throw a Twitter party to chat about the possibilities.
You’re invited!
Leap Year Twitter Party
Tuesday, February 28th, 9 to 10pm EST
Use hashtag #PGLeapYear
Please join us for a Twitter party to chat about healthy & sustainable living!
Eat, Sleep, Drink Wine, and Recycle!
Moderated by Elise Jones of @HereinthisHouse & @Mommybites
With Susan Hunt Stevens & Alexandra Zissu of PracticallyGreen @huntstevens @alexandrazissu
* * * Amazing Prizes!! * * *
See them on @Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/practicallygrn/pgleapyear-twitter-party-prizes-to-be-won/
From @Cuddledown @TazaChocolate @ApplegateFarms @HipCycle @TataHarper @Goodebox
Mythic @SafePaint, @LateJulyOrganic Snacks @AnforaNYC wine bar @Weleda @Holstee @FetchDog
Tweet with Special Guests!
Priscilla Woolworth @EcoWoolworth
Susanna Schultz @GreenDepotLLC
Kerri Platt @WineBottega
Megan McWilliams @GreenDivaMeg
Karen Lee @EcoEtsy
Sarah Badger @Stonyfield
Dawn Woollen @FamDinner
Tara Klein & Amy Hall @EILEENFISHER
Jennifer Schiff @Foodily
Amy Burba @PeopleTowels
Veronique Pittman & Emily Fano @GreenSchoolsAll
Kimberly Pinkson @KimberlyPinkson
Lori Alper @GroovyGreenLivi
Anneka Wisker, @MomsCAF
Lisa Gosselin @EatingWell
Jennifer Barry @Earth911
Angelica Ott @CocoEcoMagazine
@PaigeWolf of Spit That Out
Janelle Sorensen @Honest
Josh Camire @KJWines
LisaBorden @LisaBorden
Mary Rockwell @DowntownCookie
Chris Chappell @RamblersWay
Gabrielle Melchionda @Madgabsinc
Lori Bitter Publisher, Eons @loribitter
…and lots more! Check the Practically Green Facebook page for updates, follow @practicallygrn and the rest of the participants on Twitter… and please share with your tweeps! SEE you there!
Each of Practically Green’s 428 actions comes with Recommended Products. Because once you’ve learned why a next step is so smart, healthy & efficient, you’ll want to do it! More than 1,500 products are included on the database, from BIG — a Lennox Gas Furnace to upgrade your heating system — to medium, e.g. eco-friendly office supplies — to tiny — for example a virtually weightless birthday e-card from Paperless Post.
How do these products get onto Practically Green for everyone to see, and buy? They’re submitted by all of YOU, Practically Green users!
Here’s how to submit a product on Practically Green:
1) Search the Practically Green database for the relevant action. If you want to nominate a high-mileage car, you go to:
Upgrade your vehicle’s fuel economy to 27 to 37 MPG
2) Scroll down the action page, beneath the “Why’s it green?” and “How to do it?” blurbs.
3) You arrive at “Recommended Products and Services.”
4) Look at the listed products — and if your favorite is not there, click on the “Suggest a product” button.
It looks like this: 
5) Complete the form:
6) Product suggestions go directly to Rebecca Sama, Practically Green’s Product Specialist. Rebecca assesses submissions from every imaginable angle and, if your favorite is legit it goes live on the site for others to consider, rate, share, and possibly purchase. Click here for Practically Green’s Product Guidelines.
So, if you’re in the market for a new fuel-efficient vehicle — or reusable water bottle, or natural shampoo, or organic snack idea — chances are you’ll find what you need right here!
Once you read the product description on Practically Green, you might be persuaded to buy or lease a new car, who knows!
Any discussion about nuts often includes allergies, but this week we had the opportunity to think about their sustainability. A Practically Green visitor wrote to info@practicallygreen.com asking about the environmental impact of nuts.
The question was simple enough: “Which nuts are most environmentally friendly—peanuts, walnuts, and almonds because they are grown in the United States?” but really got us thinking. Likely, nuts’ sustainability isn’t something you often think about, so we decided to share our research!
While there isn’t a specific action on our database about eating organic nuts, we do have several encouraging organic food—especially fruits, vegetables, milk, and coffee. Eating organic food is important, as you well know, because it reduces the amount of pesticides and chemicals in your body, your farmers’ body, as well as in the air, land and water resources we all share.
If you can commit to buying organic vegetables regularly, you’ll earn 50 points! And since peanuts are not technically nuts, but are in the legume family, which is a class of vegetable, eating organic nuts can be counted in this action.
There are some things to consider when purchasing nuts:
Can’t find organic almonds in your local grocery store? You can buy them on nuts.com—order now and they’ll ship today!
1. Is it USDA Certified Organic? There are plenty of organic nuts on the market (see the extensive organic section on Nuts.com)
2. Where are they grown/raised? Most USA-sourced nuts are grown in California, so buying USA made likely means that your nuts have traveled less miles to get to your table, that is unless you live closer to Canada or Mexico than, say, California. It’s best to buy as close to home as possible.
Peanuts, Almonds, Walnuts (Black & English), Pistachios, Pecans, Pine Nuts, Soy Nuts, and Hazelnuts can be grown in California.
Hickory nuts, butternuts, and black walnuts can be grown in New England.
Macadamia nuts are grown in Hawaii, so may not be the greenest purchase if you live in New York…Brazil nuts and cashews grow in tropical environments, so are imported from far off locals.
According to the USDA, peanut consumption makes up 67% of all nut consumption. Photo credit: http://www.peanut-institute.org.
The key is to make sure to check the label to find out where the nuts were grown as many nut varieties are frequently sourced from China, India, or Brazil.
3. How is it made? How is it packaged? How are workers treated? Consider Fair Trade, carbon offsets, solar powered plants, recycled packaging, small farm vs. industrial farm.
We reached out to James directly to ask what prompted him to submit the question and he said: “I wondered because nuts are an excellent source of protein and other good stuff for vegetarians (trying to decrease that source of environmental destruction). Then it occurred to me that my favorites–cashews–must not be great from the standpoint of all the energy it takes to transport them from the tropics. I love Practically Green because you present such an encouraging range of things one can do to help a little. Really practical. And you manage to send new information often enough to be a useful prompt but not so often that I feel inundated. Keep up the great work!”
James is spot on--peanuts are a great source of protein, and Teddie Organic is one of our favorite peanut butter brands!
Thanks, Jim, for your support and prompting us to research this topic and share it with all our blog readers!
Go ahead, twist our romantic arms!! Let’s all get this absolutely essential action checked off and move one step closer to the coveted Date Night badge!
Taza's Valentine winner: Yes, please! "Roses & chocolate are classic Valentine’s gifts. In Mi Corazon, the two become one... enchanting flavors of pure organic rose oil & fragrant Costa Rican vanilla bean offer an exotic..." When visiting Boston, don't miss this factory tour!
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.
Order enough for everyone! Organic, fair-trade, dark chocolate hearts wrapped in red foil. Order @naturalcandystore.com
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.
Lake Champlain Chocolates has Organic chocolate bars in bold flavors like Dark Spicy Aztec and Milk Sea Salt & Almonds; organic truffles made from exotic ingredients like ginger, lemon, wild honey, figs... this box of 15 truffles will perform Cupid's job for you!
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!).
Need Now! From Endangered Species Chocolate: Tart-sweet dried cherries covered in thick blanket of premium dark chocolate. 10% of net profits from your purchase support conservation efforts.
@TheoChocolate has fair-trade, organic Valentines Day chocolate bundles... irresistible!
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.
With one week ’til Valentine’s Day, we’re launching the Date Night Sprint! Go for it! Sprinkle a bit of Sustainability into your V-Day plans, and this Date Night badge will pop up on your Practically Green dashboard:
Step 1: Make a reservation to Eat at a local, sustainable restaurant and/or a Dine Green certified restaurant
Dining out sustainably with your honey hits all 4 categories of impact: Energy, Health, Water, and Stuff. Plus, the DELICIOUS category!
Do a little research to find a restaurant that serves your kind of edibles–organic vegetables that haven’t been heavily sprayed with synthetic pesticides, meat from animals that weren’t raised on factory farms or administered hormones or antibiotics, and maybe some ecologically produced wine to wash it all down with.
Food isn’t the only thing that can give a restaurant a big old eco footprint. According to the Green Restaurant Association (GRA), the restaurant industry consumes a third of all U.S. energy used by the retail sector and the average food service facility uses 300,000 gallons of water per year. Couple this with the fact that Americans are said to eat 30 percent of their meals away from home, spending more than 40 percent of their food dollars at restaurants. Support restaurants taking steps to reduce their ecological footprint.
We can't stop smiling when you take us out to a fine restaurant that specializes in fresh seasonal cuisine! (Hint: Auberge du Soleil, Napa Valley)
In Chicago? You are in luck! The DineGreen directory recommends the Bleeding Heart Bakery.... build a cake for your Valentine
For the past 20 years, the GRA has been working to create a more environmentally sustainable restaurant industry. They reward existing restaurants with points in seven environmental categories: water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable furnishings and building materials, sustainable food, energy, disposables, and chemical-pollution reduction. The GRA also provides restaurants with guidance, information, and solutions for becoming greener and more efficient.
Some of the cool requirements that must be fulfilled in order to become a Green Certified restaurant include: a full-scale recycling program, zero polystyrene foam (Styrofoam), and a total of 100 accumulated points.
Consult the Green Restaurant Association’s Dine Green restaurant directory to find Green Certified restaurants near you.
Note to Valentine: We'd say 'Yes, please!' to a dinner at dell-anima in NYC! Psst: If we say the words "DINE GREEN" to our server or bartender we'll receive a complimentary glass of Lambrusco!
Additional Resources:
- Local Harvest Restaurant Search
- EatWellGuide.org: Travel Map
- Planet Green: How To Find Restaurants That Use Organic And Local Food
- Bookmark This Site: OrganicKitchen.com
- Slow Food NYC
- PracticallyGreen.com: Special Dinner Out? Consult The Green Restaurant Association’s DineGreen Directory Of Eco-Healthy Chefs
Eating local when gardens are abundant is one thing, but what about eating local in Boise, Idaho in January? That’s exactly what two friends named Randi and Janet challenged themselves to do.
Janet: “I had a few goals going into this challenge, including a transition to healthier local food habits and reducing my recycling by focusing more on “pre-cycling.”
Randi: "I was in a sustainable frame of mind... I wanted to do something significant. Healthy for me, my family--and less impactful on the planet."
Practically Green: How did you ever decide to do this?
Randi: Janet and I had lunch in early December. We got the idea to develop a personal challenge for 2012 and support each other. I’d just completed a class at Northwest Earth Institute called “People, Place, and Planet,” so I was in a sustainable frame of mind… I wanted to do something to appreciate where food comes from, something that would be healthy for me, my family, and the environment. I was questioning excessive packaging and what really was available from local sources. I wanted to now begin to answer those questions, and better understand what was available organically, locally, especially this time of the year.
Janet: It’s one thing to eat local in Boise during the gardening season – and Randi and I both have vegetable gardens. But in the dead of winter? We decided to try it at an intense level for the month of January.
Randi and Janet did their homework in December. They interviewed local experts and researched local food offerings. They aligned their primary focus around foods/products locally grown and produced in Idaho, and they also included Oregon and Washington.
IdahoPreferred.com has this keyed map of local food sources; there's likely to be a similar resource for your region
PG: Any a-Ha moments?
Randi: One tip, set aside time on Sunday afternoon and cook for the week. Potatoes, legumes, hearty soups and stews.
Janet: Before the January challenge, I didn’t really enjoy cooking or planning meals. When we initially discussed the challenge in December, my hands were sweating at the thought of doing this challenge. I knew I needed to develop healthier habits around food, but prioritizing the time and making it happen seemed like a big undertaking. But to my surprise, there are many local options to choose from in Idaho. The transition was much easier than I anticipated and I actually do enjoy planning meals and cooking now. I also find I’m not wasting food (at the end of the week) by adopting easy strategies and investing this time. These are habits I’m carrying forward past January.
Randi: I was amazed at how wonderful this was from a community perspective. Everyone at our local farmer’s markets was so helpful, supportive and interested in what Janet and I were doing. Not only was it eye-opening and fun to discover the variety of delicious local food sources, it was enriching to meet the people behind them all. These connections and relationships will be ongoing. The other thing “that’s next” for me is to learn how to can, freeze, and preserve all the bounty from my husband’s organic garden this summer and fall… so we can enjoy during the winter months next year.
Janet: My family drinks a lot of milk. I calculated: we consume an average of 140 or 150 gallons a year. I recycle the plastic jugs, but one of my goals in doing this challenge is to also reduce the amount I’m recycling and focus on “pre-cycling,” i.e., eliminate the demand on resources before I use them. I’ve transitioned to now local milk bottle exchange and I have completely eliminated the need to recycle the plastic. It was so easy to make the transition and it’s another outcome I’ll continue moving forward too.
Mid-month they began craving organic strawberries; Janet started texting Randi, “I miss lettuce!”
It helps to have an enlightened food-services team at work: "HP Cafeteria board in Boise with some of our local farms & produce listed available in the cafeteria daily. The board is located just inside the entrance of the Cafeteria. It’s a great reference for considering options to everyone’s daily diet."
What’s next for these two? They’re thinking about a blog and we’re urging a cookbook. Enjoy their recipes below. We’ve included local sources for you Boise residents, and to inspire others to seek out Winter Farmers Markets and CSAs in their areas. (Community Supported Agriculture programs are hopping–even in winter in New England! See FarmFreshRI’s excellent directory, and You Go Wishing Stone Farm!).
Local find: Zursun Idaho Heirloom Beans
Note: Janet writes a blog as a result of her expedition to Antarctica last year. Go there for details on this January Local Expedition!
Get inspired! See all of Practically Green’s Locavore actions:
- Buy local produce seasonally
- Plant a vegetable garden
- Plant containers for herbs or vegetables
- Shop at a farmers’market
- Shop local businesses regularly
- Sign up for CSA (community supported agriculture)
- Use a sustainable caterer
Order Idaho White Cheddar from Ballard Cheese in Gooding, Idaho
Janet sourced tasty flour tortillas from Casa Valdez in Caldwell, Idaho
A few recipes/menu options from Janet and Randi:
– All-Idaho Breakfast or Lunch Burrito
- Local farm eggs, scrambled in CloverLeaf butter
- ½ Idaho potato, cubed, with diced Idaho onion (to taste) and sautéed in CloverLeaf butter til tender
- Applewood-smoked bacon, diced and sautéed from Porterhouse Market (optional)
- Shredded cheese from Ballard Farms
- Flour tortillas from Casa Valdez
Note: You can also add or substitute in your favorite legumes as well.
Place ingredients in center of slightly warmed flour tortilla and fold to make burrito. Further warm in low-heat oven (wrapped in foil) or in microwave (not wrapped in foil).
Ingredient sources: Local eggs: fairly plentiful here; I bought mine at Stonehenge Produce. CloverLeaf butter: Buhl, ID. Potato: same as eggs; Idaho potatoes are in every major grocery store here. Applewood smoked bacon: purchased in Eagle, ID at Porterhouse Market. Cheese: Ballard Farms, Gooding, ID. Casa Valdez tortillas: Caldwell, ID. Legumes: Boise Co-op and Stonehenge Produce
– Quick Flavorful Favorites…
Local Butternut squash (cooked, 1-inch slices). Squash purchased from Capital City Farmer’s Market (Boise) in November. Preparation Note: Peel, cut in half length-wise and bake for 40 minutes on 300 (or until tender). Slice in 1-inch pieces. Enjoy immediately or store in the refrigerator to reheat for healthy snacks during the week.
Large bowl of local Fuji apples for easy family access. Fortress Brand from Fruitland, ID. Purchased from Stonehenge Produce (Boise)
Toasted local potato bread, Zacca Red Pepper Hummus (spread) and top with Purple Sage Herb Farm fresh basil. Hummus and Basil: both local and purchased at the Boise Co-op.
Potatoes aren't the only tasty item on Idaho's menu in January!
All Idaho Breakfast – French Toast
- Potato Bread from Café de Paris (local bakery)
- Local farm eggs
- Local red potatoes
- Idaho Huckleberry Syrup
- Cloverleaf Butter and Milk
- Lavender pepper
- Applewood smoked bacon (optional)
- Apple slices
Mmmm... bet Dorothy's wild Huckleberry Syrup is delish
Ingredient sources: Local farm eggs: Stonehenge Produce, Boise, ID. CloverLeaf butter and milk: Buhl, ID (available through Stonehenge Produce in Boise). Lavender Pepper: Starlight Brand from Star, ID. Purchased at Porterhouse Market Eagle, ID. Potato: same as eggs; Idaho potatoes are in every major grocery store here. Applewood smoked bacon: purchased in Eagle, ID at Porterhouse Market. Apples: purchased at Stonehenge Produce, Fortress Brand from Fruitland, ID. Huckleberry Syrup: Homemade by Dorothy brand, Boise, ID purchased at the Boise Co-op.
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.
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