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.

“The essence of good manners is not exclusivity, nor exclusion of any kind, but sensitivity.”

Reading a review of “Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That?,” a new etiquette book, we were reminded of a few green pet peeves: idling delivery trucks, littering pedestrians, and, in our very own house, teenagers and spouses. Specifically: Would it kill you to turn off the motor when you’re inside the building delivering packages? Would it kill you to put your donut wrapper in a trash bin instead of dropping it onto the sidewalk?

And, Would it kill you to turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth? Is the sound of running water essential for sparkly dentals?

Today we focus on Turning off Faucets while Brushing Teeth. A no brainer: it’s free, it’s easy, a quick 10 points, and 60% of the Practically Green community is already doing it.

If you simply cannot remember to turn off your faucet, consider a Mac Faucet hands-free model (with matching soap dispenser)

A standard faucet can use about 2-3 gallons of water per minute. Turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth can save around 20-30 gallons of water per week per person. For a family of four, this can translate into over 6,000 gallons of year.

In addition to saving money, using less water allows more water to stay in the ground or in a reservoir which helps to maintain a natural water balance, support wildlife, and preserve water for future use. Don’t assume that because you live in a place where it rains a lot, there isn’t a water shortage. Even in areas that don’t technically have droughts or even water restrictions, concerns are rising that there may not be enough clean water to support population and water growth due to reduced mountain snow pack. At least 36 states expect water shortages in the next five years.

It seems basic: Turn on, wet toothbrush, turn back off. So why is it so darn hard?? Especially for five-year-old boys?

Like anything, it takes practice to develop a habit and have a routine. If you need a little help in developing this routine, try installing a motion sensor faucet or a foot pedal faucet.

From PedaControl the flow of your faucet with a convenient foot pedal. Pedal Valve designed their hands-free faucets to help conserve water and as a more hygienic option. Great for kitchens, baths.

Drinking Water: Conservation, Preservation, and Stewardship

Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense Program

Sometimes it’s handy to buy a bottle of water, especially if you’re traveling, especially if drinking water is sketchy. We know. But for most of the time, it makes sense to establish another routine: Replace bottled water with filtered water. Once you read this explanation, you’ll probably agree.

Water bottle with built-in filter, from Brita

By switching to filtered water or just plain tap water, you can save significant amounts of money, natural resources, and avoid a huge source of waste. Americans drink 21 gallons of bottled water per capita per year and it’s not a cheap habit. Water costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water.

In terms of resources, supplying Americans with plastic water bottles for one year consumes more than 47 million gallons of oil. That’s enough to take 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the Container Recycling Institute. And only ~30% of water bottles are recycled.

Bottled water is not necessarily safer than your tap water. Municipal tap water is tested much more rigorously than bottled water. An investigation of 10 brands by the Environmental Working Group found that several ranked the same as municipal tap water, and several were worse. Unless you have a special health concern, tap water is likely to be just as safe.

Want one in every color! Each pitcher holds 10 8 oz units of filterable H2O. Perfect for home, office, or dorm. Brita Grand

If you like the taste of your town water, then get a few jugs and cool it in the refrigerator.

Posh Chez Panisse restaurant serves filtered tap water & house-aerated sparkling water in lieu of bottled water...You can too! Use repurposed clear wine bottles (soak off label) as water carafes; just fill w/ cold water. (Thank you, Remodelista)

PUR 3-stage faucet mount

If you want to filter it for taste or to get out an impurities, decide whether you want to go with a filtered pitcher or add a filter to the faucet or system.

Pur Stage 3 Faucet Filter

Brita Aqualux

Brita Faucet Filtration

Multi-Pure Stainless Steel Countertop Water Filter

Multi-Pure: This stainless-steel model sits on counter next to the sink & is connected to your existing faucet. Filter life: 750 gallons.

How long do you typically spend in the shower? Is 5 minutes enough time to get cleaned up? Read on. We know of a few gadgets and even a bunch of songs that can make this an easy switch. And at 20 points, this action is obviously one worth bothering about.

Grohe's WaterCare program recommends 4-minute showers! So 5 minutes is LONG!

Taking shorter showers is an easy way to significantly reduce your water usage. The average shower length in America is approximately eight minutes. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, standard pre 1992 showerheads use over five gallons of water per minute, while standard post 1992 showerheads and low flow showerheads average one and a half to two and a half gallons per minute.

By cutting your shower time to five minutes, you’ll effectively save five to fifteen gallons per shower. This can add up to thousands of gallons saved per year for just one person. Get the whole family involved and you’re like a team of water warriors.

PG Tip: Organic Cotton Spa Robe like these ones from Pottery Barn will help you shorten your shower time!

Efficient water use allows more to remain in the ground or in a reservoir, which in turn helps maintain a healthier ecosystem by supporting wildlife and preserving H20 for future use. Even if you live in a place where it rains a lot, there may be a drought. At least 36 states expect shortages in the next five years.

Taking shorter showers will also save you money on water, heating, and sewer bills.

Cuddledown has organic cotton Turkish towels: reward for your shorter showers!

Keep track of your shower time. Set your watch alarm, use a kitchen timer, listen to two songs on the radio, or install a shower timer. Up the ante by turning the shower off while you shave, shampoo, or soap up.

FloWise® showerhead from American Standard

Some devices automatically shut off the water after five minutes and won’t allow it back on for a set period of time. No cheating allowed.

To save more H20, don’t shower daily if you don’t need to.

Free shower app: Set your time, choose a wake-up or chill-out song, and presto!

Unilever Shower Ballad Unilever’s clever–and free–tool helps keep showers short. Visit their Facebook page, select your target shower time and music preference–wake up or chill out–and they’ll find your song. Press play and “sing yourself to a greener clean” until the music stops and time is up.

Five Minute Shower Timer This shower timer keeps it simple–and battery-free! Simply stick it to the wall, flip the hour glass, and when the all the sand slips through, your five minutes are up. Word is though that the suction function is not that reliable, so you might need to get crafty.

Water Droplet Shower Timer This digital shower timer is battery operated and beeps when your set time is up. The manufacturer says the strong suction cup will hold fast to any non-porous surface in your bathroom even the shower since it is steam and water proof.

Ripple: Tested by active kids to withstand everyday usage. Choose from Yellow Duck, Green House, Blue Star or Happy Turtle.

Ripple Water Saving Timers Get the kids in on the short shower wave with these fun, practical shower times. The water proof digital shower timer sticks to the wall and displays a real time clock with an easy-to-program count down timer that beeps when shower time is up.

Envirosax 4 Minute Timer Keep it simple with this basic hourglass timer–sands take four minutes to run their course, so your shower should follow suit. Bonus! With any Graphic Series Pouch, Envirosax will throw in a free timer to help encourage households to conserve water and energy.

Envirosax is a line of chic reusable shopping bags. When you order from the Graphic Series, founders Belinda & Mark David-Tooze will send you this free timer!

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.

It’s getting down to the wire for holiday gifts! When you’re rushing, it’s so tempting to just go to any store, buy the first thing you see that’s mildly appropriate, and be done with it. But that’s how you wind up kicking yourself saying “Why did I get that [insert word: unhealthy, energy-sucking, clutter-inducing] thing. What was I thinking!?!” Even if you’re in a rush, there are good, healthy, and green choices out there.

1. Look for new-to-you vintage goods on eBay. This doesn’t have to mean antique. We know of 3 PG team members who bought from eBay this holiday season: a stainless-steel Calphalon pasta cookset; Hanna Andersson kids’ clothes made from organic cotton; and, in a frenzy, a basket full of outstanding designer scarves and neckties in perfect condition. They all cost less and earn health & stuff points on Practically Green. And psst, this Mrs. Claus is a firm believer in picking up a little something for herself… found an amazing pair of Prada boots on eBay — and miraculously they fit!

2. Opt for durable, safe materials for clothes, including organic cotton or other natural fibers. It’s not just Hanna Andersson. Brands like Patagonia, Nau, Levi’s, and Eileen Fisher use organic cotton in some of their clothing. Seek out local designers using organic materials at holiday arts and crafts fairs in your area.

Nau vest has a recycled polyester shell

3. Towels and sheets come in organic materials, too, and they make lovely gifts. Gaiam is a trusted source, and The Company Store, L.L.Bean, and Target all offer versions.

Won't you sleep better on organic cotton? This bedding is from The Comapny Store.

4. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: a DIY seltzer machine is a gift that keeps on giving! Make your own sparkling water is a complete no-brainer once you’ve got a Soda-Stream penguin.

5. Stuff a reusable bottle into your beloveds’ (reusable) stockings! Have someone on your list who would switch, but complains about bulk? Check out Vapur’s foldable, flat, BPA-free water bottle — so easy! you can buy it or lots of other choices right from the PG action page.

6. Got kids? Give toys made from sustainably harvested and renewable wood. Our users have suggested several great options! One of our favorite playthings ever:

Wooden Play Kitchen from HazelNut Kids keeps children busy for days on end

7. Doesn’t your home deserve a gift, almost any day of the year? We fell for this Plumen CFL bulb. Magical! (… even though we do, philosophically, prefer LEDs.)

Plumen bulb transforms Restoration Hardware shade!

8. If your skin feels a bit dry and neglected after all this shopping, treat yourself to a fabulous Weleda product — or two: our favorite is a squidge of rose oil with a dollop of aloe cream, mix together in the palm of your hand and stroke your deserving epidermis.

9. We’ve said it before and we’re saying it again: Experiences make great gifts! Whether it’s a local theatre production, a day at the slopes, a membership to a museum, or a gift certificate for a local farm to table restaurant—these are low impact gifts that often can be ordered right from your laptop.

What a wonderful gift: ski trip to Sugarbush!!

P.S. If your gift recipient would like to get inspiring communiques like this one on a regular basis, please take him or her by the hand to Practically Green! Registered users receive a timely letter from our team every week. And thank you for subscribing to our blog!

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

We’ve already applauded Patagonia’s fantastic Black Friday ad on this blog: “It’s a classy reminder: Sometimes, the best Stuff is the stuff you already have. Which is why we have dozens of Stuff-related actions at Practically Green…” — and we loved the comments from readers:

Now two of our favorite and longtime deeply green friends have also blogged about Patagonia’s stunner message, and we wanted to capture them for you.

Wendy Gordon

First, from Wendy Gordon’s piece in The Huffington Post: “How I Spent my Black Friday Selling, not Buying, Patagonia Fleeces on eBay”:

….my plan this year for Black Friday was to sit out the retail game altogether. That was before I saw the ad… ”Don’t Buy This Jacket.” … It went on to encourage readers not to buy what they didn’t need and to sell their used Patagonia products on eBay…. So while I had promised myself I wouldn’t buy anything other than a quart of milk (we’d run out) on Black Friday, I made the transition effortlessly into über-cyber-saleswoman, posting every one of the fleeces my 20-something sons had outgrown on the retail site, along with all those shirts they’d really never liked in the first place.

Oh, it felt good. So good, in fact, that I ended up cleaning out three whole closets. What I couldn’t sell through the Patagonia initiative, I bundled up for the nearby thrift shop.

**************

Jeffrey Hollender

And, from Jeffrey Hollender’s blog, “Don’t Buy This: The Truth About Sustainability”:

Having not broken my obsession with the print version of The New York Times, I was thrilled to greet Black Friday by opening to a full-page ad from Patagonia that urged readers “Don’t Buy This Jacket.”

To the best of my knowledge, Patagonia has never purchased a full-page ad in the Times, and for this, the first time that they did, they are urging consumers to buy less stuff. This exhibits both true leadership and untarnished truth about what it means to be sustainable.

The copy reads: Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything.

Click here for Jeff’s complete post.

PGer Nick Rockwell (that IS a Patagonia vest?)

Thanks again to Chelsea stringer and Patagonia enthusiast Nick Rockwell, who told us about the ad before anyone else had mentioned it, and who caught a Cyber-Monday sequel in his email:

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.

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.

Susan Mazur-Stommen is a cultural anthropologist focusing on how people adopt sustainable, green behaviors. She conducts her research from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy as the Director of Behavior and Human Dimensions, renowned for their States’ Scorecard for Energy Efficiency (see image ahead).

Susan argues that “in order to achieve true, lasting, behavior change in the area of sustainability, we have to use a multi-layered approach, tackling the problem with various tools and media. It’s important to think about the ‘whole person’ when we discuss behavior change, and that includes things like emotions, physical well-being, and how our environment may be affecting us on any given day.”

“For example,” she told us, “some popular ideas for going ‘green’ aren’t always very practical in terms of people’s real lives. Take line-drying, for example. Proponents fail to figure in the cost of the person who has to stand outside for an hour putting all those clothes on the line and then taking them back inside. When you consider the cost of that person’s labor, standing in the heat or cold, line-drying is not the ‘free’ energy saving solution it is often touted as, at least in terms of the individual and their limited time and physical energy.”

Susan gave us a few further insights from the social and behavioral sciences to share with you.

1) Social norms:

Robert Cialdini tested messages about saving water on the cards you see propped up in the bathroom of a hotel. He found that the most successful was one that read, “Two-thirds of our hotel guests decide not to get fresh towels during their stay in order to save water, won’t you join them?”

Reason: People like to ‘stay in line’ or ‘tribe’ with their peers and neighbors, it is a powerful incentive.

Note: Practically Green’s leaderboards encourage you to choose more green actions!

2) Foot in the Door:

Robert Cialdini also tested the ‘foot in the door’ concept, which says that people are much more likely to agree to make a big change if they are first asked to make a very small change. It works like this: if you ask someone for a nickel, and then later go back and ask for a dollar, the people you asked for a nickel will be much more likely to give later (which of course widens the gap between givers and non-givers even more!)

Note: That’s why PG offers so many ’small’ actions, worth just 5 points but still very important! A handful from the Recycling section:

3) Reciprocity:

Offering someone something begins a relationship of give and take that people find extremely hard to resist. This is one of the reasons charities include those address labels in their appeals: they have already given you something, and now you are enmeshed in an obligation to return their ‘gift’ even if you don’t like it, want it, and did not ask for it!

A utility could utilize a combination of ‘reciprocity’ and ‘foot in the door’ in a message. Say at the beginning of summer you want to get people to raise their thermostats in general to reduce peak load, you would send an insert in the mail, or an email that would read:

“Dear John Q Customer, we here at utility X appreciate how you have worked to save energy in your home these past few years.  To honor your commitment to energy savings, we have donated $50,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of America. All we ask in return is that you commit to turning your thermostat setting up by ONE degree this summer.”

Next summer….the follow-up…

“Dear Customer, we really appreciate how much energy you and your neighbors saved last summer, and to recognize that, this year we have DOUBLED our donation to Charity X in your name. All we ask in return is that you consider turning up your thermostat by FOUR degrees this summer. If you decide to take the pledge, please send in the enclosed BRC. Thank you for your support!”

Now, theoretically, the combination of social norming, reciprocity, foot in the door, and a pledge (whereby you can also evaluate level of intent) should result in some serious savings.

And this leads to the final insight,

4) Grant McCracken’s “Diderot Effect”:

Susan told us the story of the French philosopher Diderot’s new bathrobe:

“He received a lovely new bathrobe, cherry red silk, and he was sitting in his study one evening with it on, and feeling terrific but then he began to notice that the fabulous new robe made the rest of his surroundings seem shabby. ‘I need a better chair,’ he thought. ‘A nice desk…. New wallpaper. The bookcases are a mess!’ The idea is to introduce a disconnect between the consumers’ old selves and their new selves which can result in their wanting to bring all of these parts of their identity back into line, or what McCracken calls, ‘unities’.  An example of this might be a new mom who carefully purchases Bisphenol-A free baby bottles, but at the same time drives a gas guzzler which pumps pollution into the air her baby breathes. The disconnect between her decisions begins to gnaw at her and pretty soon she considers replacing it. Thus a whole chain of actions goes into effect. Pretty soon this mom is evaluating her food choices, her indoor air quality, her household waste, inefficiencies at her job. The activity of bringing her lifestyle choices into ‘unity’ with one another is an example of the Diderot effect.

At Practically Green we see the Diderot effect every day: once people begin checking off actions on their dashboard, they begin to get addicted to the process, it takes on significance, they continue and eventually share their accomplishments with their friends and colleagues.

One more story from Susan, who says that simple social recognition can be a powerful driver for change:

“I once met an older gentleman named Frank, a retired maintenance worker. He likes to walk around town, and at the end of his block was a little pocket park that would have been a nice place to sit except that people were filling it up with discarded cigarette butts. He started cleaning it up every day.  Eventually he won an award from the city council. They put a plaque up and named the park after him. It wasn’t that complicated, but it made Frank feel great so he got even more involved. He started working at the public library, going to city council meetings. So this social recognition was effective. It was very cheap for the city to recognize Frank’s good works, and at the same time, they reaped the reward of his intensified volunteer efforts!”

Bingo: Practically Green gives badges when you complete sets of actions. For example, here’s the new Conscious Consumer badge. How would you like to join the 12% of PG users who have already earned it!!

Click here for the complete playlist of actions: http://practicallygreen.com/badges/conscious-consumer

Check out the ACEEE 2011 State Energy Scorecard… where are you? Follow ACEEE ion Twitter @ACEEEdc and join them on Facebook.

Water: Got too much? Not enough? What are the coolest new products for conserving water? How do the experts view this precious resource?

** Please join our free webinar on November 16, 1-2pm ET to get expert advice and answers. **

Register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/458003078

Practically Green has 51 Water-related actions, from Wash only full loads of laundry (99% of PG users have done this already; 20 points) to Install a shower timer (Only 1% of PG has done this one! Why is it the least favorite Water action?)

What would happen if the entire country decided to Turn off the faucets while brushing teeth? Or if every Fortune 1000 headquarters Installed a rainwater harvesting system? (150 points!)

We’re hosting an online event for a deep dive on the subject.

Panelists:

•  Molly Hislop: Program Director, Green Education Foundation

•  Michele Hudec: VP of Product and BizDev, American Standard Brands

•  Stephanie Thornton: Community Outreach, WaterSense, EPA

•  Martin Wolf: Director of Product/Technology at Seventh Generation

•  Peter Yost: Director of Residential Services, BuildingGreen

•  Alexandra Zissu: Editorial Director, Practically Green; Author, Planet Home and more

Moderated by Practically Green’s Founder & CEO, Susan Hunt Stevens.

As we all get pumped for the holidays, here’s a mantra to relieve stress: instead of buying new stuff that’ll go in the trash, why not shop on eBay, thredUp, Freecycle or your local thrift shop to get what you need? Alternatively, swap! And don’t forget Mom’s closet!

Buy or use vintage or second-hand stuff for the Holidays

Holiday Nutcracker Mouse

For inspiration, here’s a vintage mouse costume that’s 20 yrs old, perfect for Nutcracker duty. Thank you, Farrah Graham of Regina, Canada, who sent us this pic with the following story:

For Hallowe’en our daughter wore a mouse costume that has been handed down in our family for the past 20 years!  (And she looked just as adorable as all the mice before her!)

What are your ideas for greening the holidays? Have you used EcoFreek.com or EcoSharing.net — they’re both recommended on Practically Green and await your rating!

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!

We’ve got a fabulous panel of experts coming to our Water webinar on November 16. Please mark your calendars for 1pm Eastern, full details coming soon!

*          *          *

Meet Martin Wolf, one of our panelists; he’s the Director of Product & Environmental Technology at Seventh Generation. He also goes by “Scienceman.”

We asked Martin for the two or three most salient points he’d like to address during our Webinar, and here’s one of them:

Our water supply pipes and our drain pipes are connected.  What goes out our drain pipes goes into a system, and is brought back into our homes and other buildings through our supply pipes.  Knowing this, how should we change our thinking about what we put down our drains?

That got me thinking about my kitchen sink at home, and the drain in the sink that leads to a disposal, which grinds up all our food scraps into… pulp? mush? and then all of that glop goes … where?

To the rescue: Bootstrap Compost, a can-do composting entrepreneur who supplies households and businesses in metro Boston with a cool bin, lined with a biodegradable bag. It has a happy green lid and it looks just fine on the kitchen floor.

Who can resist this message from Bootstrap’s impresario, Andy Brooks?

Bootstrap Compost is Greater Boston’s only year-round kitchen scrap pickup service. We use bikes, trains, hand trucks, and the occasional vehicle to collect and transport compostable material from houses, apartments, dorms, co-ops, and condos. Additionally, we’ll happily collect scraps from farmer’s markets, cafes, restaurants, concerts, festivals, cult gatherings — you name it. And the coolest thing is this: all active Bootstrap customers receive a portion of super rich compost 10-15 weeks after their initial deposit to the Bootstrap Compost bank. The second coolest thing is this: We donate finished compost to urban gardens in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

I was amazed at all the scraps we had accumulated after one simple dinner for two and a light breakfast the next morning – and this was before we scooped in our coffee grinds! There’s something a bit intimate, revealing, about showing you our compost, but here you are:

Personal compost, after one dinner, half a breakfast, and before coffee grinds

Turns out Andy is not alone: there are compost services in many other cities (go Philly Compost and New York Compost!), some of which are actually provided by the municipality (go San Francisco and Seattle!). And composting isn’t just for home: we know restaurants, companies, and even a major-league baseball team that composts 85% of its waste (go, Seattle Mariners!).

Find out why Compost kitchen food waste is worth a big fat 100 points!

Have you ever considered composting at your home, office, school? This might just be the way to ease into the practice…. Google “NAME OF YOUR CITY + compost pickup” and see what you get!

In a couple of months, the reward: they’ll deliver a bag of urban black gold – worm-processed soil that’s perfect for houseplants this winter.

Thank you, White Flower Farm

If you’re diving into a Hallowe’en frenzy this weekend (and who isn’t), our Green Halloween badge should be your first stop. Take any 6 of these actions (which you are probably doing anyway!!) and win this fabulous pumpkin badge for your PG dashboard.

The badge rewards you for making some seriously healthy green holiday choices — including trick-or-treating bags, candy, candy alternatives, eek-o-friendly cocktails for adults, costume selection, and face paint.

Example: Consider Switching to natural face paint. Who wants to clog their pores with anything that might be contaminated with lead (for instance)? You’ll find suggestions on Practically Green including DIY tips; our partner GreenHalloween.org has 6 Very Simple Steps to Make Your Own Face Paints here.

Corey and Lynn of GreenHalloween.org

About GreenHalloween.org:

Corey Colwell-Lipson and her mother Lynn Colwell launched Green Halloween in 2006 with the idea that a few other concerned parents might be interested in making Halloween more about safe, fun trick-or-treating — and less about junk food and “flammable plastic death trap costumes” (as Stephen Colbert calls them).

Five years later they’ve reached a tipping point: tens of thousands of people are persuaded that there’s a better way to celebrate this holiday, with millions more on the way.

We called Green Halloween headquarters today – suffice to say it’s bloody insane there — and got their last-minute ideas for making sure this is a fantastic and safe holiday for you and your friends and family:

1. Check out the first-ever Guide to a non-GMO Halloween: Created in partnership with Non-GMO Project.

2. National Costume Swap Day took place a few weeks ago: 170+ swap events happened in the US and Canada. Why not throw together your own neighborhood swap right now, this weekend?

Host or Join a Costume Swap

3. Find Green Halloween® events across the country this weekend and on Halloween, including the Howl-O-Weens at the Phoenix Zoo and Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, and Boo at the Zoo at the Bronx Zoo.

4. Three Alternatives to eating leftover candy

We’d love your ideas for a Greener Halloween, so please let us know what you’re doing!

If you or your favorite teenager are wondering what to do this weekend, check out Project Green Challenge, now in its final week. Launched on October 1, #PGC has come up with an energizing idea every single day this month. Thousands of young participants from hundreds of schools and colleges in the US and abroad are busy competing for prizes (1st prize is a $5,000 college scholarship from Natracare). Go to the Winners Circle to see the highlighted Green, Greener and Greenest submissions on everything from eco-fashion to green recipes to energy-saving epiphanies and stories of entire families changing their habits. Have a look around! Learning and doing all this healthy green stuff is genuinely rewarding and fun.

Teens Turning Green is the absolute beehive of activity behind Project Green Challenge. A student-led movement based in Sausalito, California, they’ve attracted an amazing cast of participants, sponsors, and supporters. Practically Green is proud to be a media partner (we’re tagged as a resource on Friday’s Energy challenge!) – and we welcome all PGC participants (and their parents, teachers, coaches, aunts and uncles) to Practically Green.com! Here’s one of the recent winners:

I took the survey on the Practically Green website and found out that I’m an impressively green human (8/10). I tend not to use extensive amounts of electricity powered things in my life, and the things I do use are smaller, like phones, music players, computers, calculators and things like that. However, there are still a lot of things that can be implemented into my life to be more energy conscious. – Sophia

Judi Shils and daughter Erin Schrode co-founded Teens Turning Green. Erin’s studying in Madrid this semester, and we couldn’t resist asking Judi (the Executive Director) how the whole initiative is going. No surprise, on Day 21 she sounds a little bit busy (they’re not getting much sleep!) — and thrilled:

“It is the most inspirational work imaginable.. so many lives changing before our eyes….”

If you’re a twenty-something or teen — or if you know someone who is — we suggest diving into the TeensTurning Green and Project Green Challenge Facebook pages, where you’ll find lots of activity. If you’re on Twitter, follow them there @TeensTurningGreen and #PGC. And, read their blog!

Check out this Extra Credit submission for the Whole Body challenge, from a student at Terra Linda High School:

A sample of comments from engaged participants:

"Just went shopping with the roomies and convinced them to make the sustainable choice :) and we bought a composter. thought y'all appreciate hahah"

Here’s a win-win: an easy 10-point action you can do today.

Why is “Replace bottled water with filtered water (tap or jug)” green?

By switching to filtered water or just plain tap water, you can save significant amounts of money, natural resources, and avoid a huge source of waste. Americans drink 21 gallons of bottled water per capita per year and it’s not a cheap habit. Water costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water.

In terms of resources, supplying Americans with plastic water bottles for one year consumes more than 47 million gallons of oil. That’s enough to take 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the Container Recycling Institute. And only ~30% of water bottles are recycled.

Bottled water is not necessarily safer than your tap water. Municipal tap water is tested much more rigorously than bottled water. An investigation of 10 brands by the Environmental Working Group found that several ranked the same as municipal tap water, and several were worse. Unless you have a special health concern, tap water is likely to be just as safe.

How to: Replace bottled water with filtered water (tap or jug)

If you like the taste of your town water, then get a few jugs and cool it in the refrigerator.

If you want to filter it for taste or to get out an impurities, decide whether you want to go with a filtered pitcher or add a filter to the faucet or system.

Pur Stage 3 Faucet Filter

Recommended Products and Services that are already on Practically Green:

Pur Stage 3 Faucet Filter

Brita Aqualux

Multi-Pure Stainless Steel Countertop Water Filter

Got another product to recommend on this action? Please do!