sustainable eating

here are some helpful hints from a book i borrowed from the library called living green: a practical guide to simple sustainablity by greg horn. he says these are the seven steps to eating better for you and the environment, and they are easy to follow. here they are:

1. eat organic. a lot of people aren't willing to do this, at least not all at once, so the top ten foods that you should buy organic are meat (which you're cutting out or cutting back on already, right?), dairy products (again with the cutting out and cutting back), fish (and again), berries, salad crops, mushrooms, root crops, bananas, waxed fruit, and coffee and tea.
2. be careful of fish. you already know how unsustainable modern fishing practices are and how they kill other sea animals, like turtles, dolphins, and whales, but there is also the issue of mercury in the fish building up in your body as well as other toxins. yum.
3. eat low on the food chain. i pretty much covered all of this with my vegan post already.
4. filter your water. i talked about bottled water in a previous post also, so you should already have your reusable water bottles, right?
5. reduce sugars and sodas. this should be pretty self-explanatory - this stuff is junk and horrible for your body.
6. cut fried and processed food. i know, this seems pretty tough, but stuff that is overly processed doesn't occur naturally, plus there are a ton of preservatives in that food to keep it from going bad, which is also not good for you.
7. change your cup. not only should you not drink bottled water, but when you get coffee, you should always bring your own mug. those styrofoam cups go right in the trash and don't break down quickly. i always bring my own or drink from the ceramic mugs that they provide when i go out to get coffee.

a lot of these steps tie in with some things i already have posted about, so it should come as no surprise. now it's time to start putting these into action.

here is a pretty full list of all the vegetarian/vegan restaurants in philly. i can't comment on all of them because i haven't had a chance to go to many. but i can tell you about gianna's grille. not only can i get vegan pizza AND cheese fries (who knew?), but all of the desserts are vegan too. the thing about gianna's is that they serve non-vegan food also, so you have to make sure you specify when you go in there. it's a great little place and i would definitely recommend checking it out. another place i recently went to that isn't on that list is home slice. they also serve both vegan and non-vegan stuff, so just make sure you specify. i got a vegan cheese steak (again, who knew?) and it was great.

so remember what i said about a vegan diet being better for the environment and try out some new places!

arnold's way

i am planning on dedicating a whole post to vegan restaurants and such, but i had to write about this place i went to today. i missed my train this afternoon and had an hour to kill before the next one. i get the train in lansdale, and i remembered someone telling me about this place that sells vegan food right near there called arnold's way so i figured i would go check it out.

first of all, they are extremely friendly there. the woman, whose name i can't recall at the moment...i'm terrible at names...was showing me around and telling me about the place. it's a store/cafe and it's all raw vegan food. they sell food and also books, dvds, and health products. the menu consists of the usual salads, soups, and wraps, and also pasta and pizza and burgers. someday when i have some more time (and money) i would like to see what a raw vegan pizza tastes like i think...she made me a sample of their green smoothie and a banana whip thing, and both were delicious. i ordered one of the green smoothies and got these neat little cinnamon raisin cookies that aren't baked, but are definitely yummy. overall it was a good experience, and i told them they would probably be seeing me again! if you're ever in the area, i would definitely recommend checking it out.

recycling

here are some of the items that my classmates talked about how to recycle. these are all things that they thought people would typically throw in the trash or just stash in the basement because they don't know what else to do with them.

• cds: you can send old cds to the cd recycling center. just disassemble before you send them to this address: cd recycling center, 68h stiles rd., salem, nh 03079
• ink cartridges: staples allows you to drop off ink and toner cartridges and they give you $3 towards your next purchase of one. staples also takes computers, monitors, laptops, printers, fax machines, cell phones, pdas, pagers, digital cameras, chargers, and rechargable batteries. go staples!
• computers: here is a list of who has recycling programs for their computers. underneath that it has ways to recycle cell phones, ink cartridges, and batteries. the whole website is pretty cool. these guys will also recycle your computers for you, and so will these guys. just do a search for recycling computers in your area and you'll find plenty of options.
• cell phones: besides staples and the other website i provided telling how to recycle old cell phones, you can also drop them off in best buy. type in your zip code at this website and find all the drop-off locations by you. two more great sites i found are collective good and recellular.

those are a lot of the big ones that we talked about. but if you ever have any doubts about throwing something out, just try searching for it on the internet and see what your recycling options are. and remember before, i mentioned freecycle. if you have something that is slightly broken or used, someone out there probably wants it. i recently saw on there that someone was collecting cell phones to trade for phone cards for soldiers overseas. always think before you just throw something in the trash.

being a vegan

for the same class i had to research recycling makeup, i also had to do a little research project on something of my choice. i chose to do mine on why a vegan diet is better for the environment. instead of rewriting my whole paper in here, i figured i would just link to it, so here it is. it's not too long, and my classmates seemed to be very interested in my presentation. basically, using animals for food is extremely wasteful (over ten pounds of plant protein go into making only one pound of beef...a vegan would use all ten of those pounds as food, not just one). it creates tons of pollution, through greenhouse gas emissions and runoff of fertilizer and manure into groundwater and surface water. and it wastes a lot of water - only 70 liters of water are needed to produce an apple, compared to 4,500 liters for a 300 gram steak. fishing procedures decimate the fish populations and not just fish, but sea turtles, dolphins, sharks, and even whales get caught in the nets. plus, anything that involves something called "manure lagoons" is right out, in my opinion. ew.

after i presented, everyone wanted to know "how healthy is being a vegan?" and "what do you eat?" and "how do you get enough protein?" i have been a vegan for over five years and vegetarian for most of my life and i am perfectly healthy and i eat tons of things. i do it for the animals, but saving the environment is just another good reason for me to continue. check out this page for even more reasons why you should go vegan.

here is a great page outlining everything having to do with health issues and being a vegan. but to tell you the truth, i don't take vitamins (i know, i know, i should) or supplements of any kind and i have never had any health issues. any vegan will tell you that they look and feel better than most people. my friends are jealous that i'm so skinny, but it's because i'm not putting all that junk that comes from animals into my body. vegans don't have cholesterol problems, because you can only get cholesterol from animal products. i don't have to worry about high blood pressure, or mad cow disease for that matter. same goes for e.coli and salmonella. i can make cookie dough and actually eat it without worrying about getting sick! instead of eggs when you're baking, use egg replacer - i use ener-g and it has never failed me.

which leads me to the "what can you eat?" questions. i give you this page. it has EVERYTHING. seriously. i also have about a million vegan/vegetarian cook books, they're not hard to find and the recipes are awesome. a lot of people want to know how i can live without milk, or cheese, or butter, or [insert any other non-vegan food item here]. here are some products that replace those things:

• silk soy milk, which has a sourcing program showing their "commitment to sourcing soybeans that are produced in a sustainable, socially responsible and ethical manner and will be used to ensure support of our standards from our farmers and partners." the vanilla flavor is all i use anymore. delicious.
• turtle mountain ice cream, yes, ice cream. i have non-vegan friends who think this stuff is awesome. they have tons of amazing flavors, and are also committed to the environment.
• earth balance makes buttery spreads and buttery sticks (yeah, haha, i know that sounds funny) but most people can't tell a difference between this stuff and real butter. the sticks are great for baking and the spread is great for putting on toast.
• road's end organics mac and 'chreese'. when my sister told me she found me vegan mac and cheese, i thought she was messing with me. i had given up on ever eating it again and wasn't even looking for a replacement anymore. this stuff rocks, plain and simple.
• vegan gourmet cheese. comes in cheddar, mozzarella, monterey jack, and nacho flavors. i always get a kick out of the package, where it says "it melts!" well, it actually does melt. a lot of vegan cheeses don't, but this stuff does melt and it tastes pretty good too.

there are so many options out there, you just have to look. and of course don't forget about veggie burgers, and all the other vegan fake meat products...they are usually a good source of protein as well as being yummy. and i will admit, i went for years without eating cheese and ice cream and butter, before i found these alternatives, so i can't say for sure whether they taste like the "real thing" but i will say that they are really really good.

before this post reaches epic proportions, i will just leave it there. but i'm not done yet - stay tuned for vegan restaurants in the philadelphia area!

recycling makeup

for another class that i'm taking at temple (environmental resources) we had to research a product that you would normally throw away when you are finished with it, and find a way to recycle it instead. my product is cosmetics. i guess everyone just throws away their empty makeup containers. they're made out of plastics that can't be recycled, so what else can you do with them? i was really unsure of what i was going to be able to find out.

the first thing i discovered is that mac makeup has a "back to mac" program. you take six empty makeup containers (they have to be mac brand) to the store, or return them via mail, and in return you get a free lipstick.

at this point, i figured i was at least on the right track, but how many people actually buy that makeup? that's where origins comes to the rescue. they just started a recycling program last month, where you can take back any of your cosmetics packaging - tubes, bottles, jars, caps, compacts, etc. - any brand! - and they will be recycled. according to the website, consumer goods packaging takes up 1/3 of all landfill waste. the more people know about it, the less waste will end up in landfills, so spread the word! origins also has a commitment to the environment and have a cool plant a tree program.

as for the other items that students in my class are researching - i will hopefully be getting a list of all the items and where they can be recycled. when that happens i will definitely be sharing it.

bring your own bag

here is something you can do that is really really easy, and makes a huge difference: bring your own bag(s) when you go shopping. some places will even give you a discount for bringing your own bag. i wasn't able to find anything conclusive on what stores definitely do this because it seems to really depend on the store itself and where you live. whole foods gives you a few cents back for every bag you bring. it doesn't hurt to ask, wherever you go. anyway, even if you aren't getting any money for it, you're still doing your part to save the environment. plastic bags are terrible for the environment. well, plastic in general is bad, but we see these bags everywhere; did you ever notice when you're only buying one thing at the store, they'll try to put it in a bag for you? what is the point of that?

did you know we could save 187.5 million pounds of waste if everyone in america used just one less plastic bag? that's a lot of waste! here are some more reasons why plastic bags are so evil:

• they are not renewable.
• the manufacturing process requires drilling and withdrawal of petroleum. it takes 12 million barrels of oil to make 100 billion bags, which is the amount used in the u.s. i thought we were trying to use less oil, not more...
• plastic bags are not biodegradable; instead they do something called photograding, where they break down into smaller pieces and contaminate everything - soil, water, and animals, too, once they make their way into the food chain.
• it takes 1,000 years for a bag to break down.
• and finally, to make you feel even worse for your plastic bag sins, hundreds of thousands of marine animals (sea turtles, sea birds, whales, etc.) die from eating plastic bags that they think are food.

sure, you can recycle your plastic bags...but think back to how much goes into producing them. to really make a difference, we need to stop using them. by now i'm sure you have all seen the cloth bags offered by stores. i've seen them at whole foods, giant, and target, just to name a few. almost everyone makes them now, and they usually cost around $1. if you don't feel like carrying around an advertisement for a store, there are tons of neat cloth bags out there that you can use every time you go to the store. i always keep a bunch of bags in my car so that i always have one. this is my favorite bag that i own:

it's HUGE so i can fit everything in it from one trip. and see that little zipper on the side? the whole bag folds in on itself until it turns into a cute little pouchy thing. i got mine at beyond the wall in new hope. i have another bag that i love, from envirosax. a co-worker of mine got them for everybody as christmas presents, which i thought was really cool.

this is what mine looks like. these can be folded into tiny little rolls that are easy to carry around with you. i really like mine.

these are just a few of the options that are available, if you look, you will find tons of reusable bags. plastic bags may seem like they are more convenient, but is using up our resources and filling up landfills with un-biodegradable junk really that convenient?

bring your own water bottle

i'm just going to get straight to the point: did you know that bottled water costs 1000 times more than tap water? every time you buy a bottle of water, you're throwing money away! and your tap water is, in most cases, better drinking water than bottled water (however, if you have nasty tap water, just buy a filter - it may seem a little pricey but it will end up being way cheaper than constantly buying bottled water).

not only that, but those little plastic bottles take quite a toll on the environment. every year, the world throws away 1.5 billion tons of plastic. that's pretty gross, and to make it worse, it takes over 1000 years for plastic to break down. ew! if you really have to buy a bottle of water, make sure you recycle it! then think about this: it takes 1.5 billion gallons of oil every year to transport bottled water. and that's not including the chemicals used in the manufacturing of the bottles. tap water just makes more sense all around.

if you still aren't convinced, how about this: plastic water bottles have phthalates in them. phthalates are nasty little buggers that mimic estrogen (they are endocrine disruptors). what does that mean? it means that girls go through puberty at an earlier age and boys become emasculated. reusing plastic bottles isn't really a great solution, because even more phthalates are released the older the bottle gets.

so what is one to do? fortunately there are plenty of alternatives. the ones made out of aluminum are really good, but you can get plastic ones. just make sure it is hard plastic, because the chemicals don't leach out of those; they are #5PP, #2HDPE, and #4LDPE. i use the sigg water bottle, which is aluminum. this is the one i use:

isn't he cute? yeah, it's made for a kid, but i didn't feel like carrying around a huge bottle. i love this thing and take it with me to school every day. the other neat thing about these (besides the fact that you are saving the environment) is that you don't have to put water in there. let's say you feel like some orange juice in the morning...just fill it up and then you can rinse it out and fill it with water later - for free! the bottle cost me around $20 but it's paid for itself several times over already.

like i said, there are tons of options. you can check out the kleen kanteen or new wave enviro products, but that is by no means an exhaustive list. there are plenty of reusable bottles out there.

a bit more on paper...

as if you needed any more things to be crammed in your head since that last post...but i forgot to touch on junk mail - a big paper waster. aren't we all tired of getting catalogs and credit card offers that we barely even acknowledge? well, first of all, you can try contacting the organizations directly and tell them to stop sending you things. if you don't feel like doing all the work, then check out 41 pounds. you have to pay $41 to sign up for this but it stops unwanted junk mail for five years. you can also put in the names of everyone else living in the same household, and then you just type in the names of all the places sending you junk. not only that, but you can choose a charity for them to donate a portion of your money to, and depending on the organization, they will plant 15 to 150 trees on your behalf. another organization is green dimes. this does basically the same thing and costs $20 a year. they will also plant five trees for every member who signs up, which is pretty cool. finally, if you don't feel like spending money, you can at least stop the catalogs from coming in with catalog choice. you sign up for free, and then either search or browse through their existing list of catalogs and check off the ones you no longer want to receive. if the ones you are getting aren't on the list, just let them know so they can add it. easy! so what are you waiting for? i think i'm going to try catalog choice first and see how that works, as well as contacting people directly and letting them know i am not interested in receiving mail from them.

recycling

our top five items for this week are about recycling. everyone knows the three r's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. reducing what you consume comes first; the less you consume, the less waste you produce. second is reusing - whatever you do end up buying or consuming should be reused when possible (plastic bags for instance). finally, you should recycle anything that can't be reused anymore. while recycling should be the final and last resort of the three r's, it doesn't mean that it isn't important! i'm going to cover recycling paper and clothing.

first - paper. in most places, paper (including cardboard) is extremely easy to recycle. some don'ts for the recycling of paper are: greasy or food contaminated items (like pizza boxes), wax paper, carbon paper, sticky paper (such as post-its), and laminated paper. but other paper, including magazines and newspapers, can generally all be recycled together. but, rather than recycling right away, see if you can donate your old magazines to the library, hospital, or doctor's office - reuse before recycle! you can also use the pages for gift wrap or for kids arts and crafts projects. i wrapped all my christmas presents in newspaper this year, and no one thought i was being cheap, they all thought it was a cool way to recycle. phone books are another item that can be recycled (if you happen to have a rabbit, you may want to give them your old phone books as they love to chew on them). now, for shredded paper. there are those papers that you can't recycle, and you just have to shred. well, i use them for bedding for my numerous little critters (gerbil, mouse, and hamster). the shredded paper works wonderfully, and i haven't had to spend money on expensive bedding from the pet store. you can also compost the shredded paper straight from the shredder, or use it as packing material. it's WAY better than those nasty styrofoam peanuts! and i just compost my shreddings after cleaning up after my critters (you can compost waste from animals that don't eat meat, so these guys pass the test; but don't try to compost your dog or cat poo).

if you first want to reduce the amount of paper that you have to recycle, you can pay bills online - almost everyone offers this service now. you can do online banking, which cuts out a lot of paper use. also, you can email whenever possible. i know, sometimes emailing can be unprofessional or tacky (like wedding invitations), but a lot of times, an email will suffice.

and one last thought on paper - if you truly want to go full circle with recycling, you should also buy recycled paper products. this includes regular old paper, but also paper towels, toilet paper, tissues, and napkins. or you could start using cloth towels and napkins to replace the disposable kind, and - dare i say it - handkerchiefs. think about this: in the u.s., if every household replaced one box of tissues with a box of 100% recycled ones, it would save 163,000 trees. if the same was done for only one roll of toilet paper it would save 423,900 trees. for paper towels, it would save 544,000 trees. finally, if one package of napkins in every u.s. household was replaced with 100% recycled ones, it would save one million trees. everything you do makes a difference, so think before you buy. here's a handy list of brands to buy and who to avoid. the recycled products tend to be a little more expensive, but it's totally worth it. just think of all the trees that you will be saving.

second - clothing. the best way to recycle clothing is thrift stores. i love thrift stores. how can you not love them? you can get super cheap clothing and you're money is going towards a good cause. check out the pages for goodwill and salvation army if you aren't already familiar with them. but as for recycling, you can just donate all of the old clothes you don't wear anymore to either of these places, or any other thrift store near you. there are other places that you can donate clothing to and shop at that are a bit more upscale, for those of you who don't like sifting through the acid washed jeans and muu muus and xxl garth brooks concert t-shirts. plato's closet is one such place. they give you money for your "brand name, gently used" clothes. there is one in deptford, nj that i go to occassionally and i never leave there without buying something amazing. there is also the freecycle option. if you aren't signed up for freecycle you should definitely do it. it's an email list and when you sign up for it, you get emails from people in your area who are getting rid of stuff. and you send out emails telling people that you have stuff you want to get rid of. you don't pay for anything, all you have to do is be able to go pick it up from them. it's a great way to get rid of old clothing if you can't drop it at a thrift store (not to mention all the other junk you can rid of in this way). one little suggestion though - it can get pretty crazy with all the emails, so you may want to use a separate account so your regular emails don't get lost in them.

since this is turning into an exceptionally long post, i'm just going to leave you with that. remember: reuse and recycle your paper and buy recycled paper; and recycle your clothes via thrift or consignment stores or freecycle. you'll be glad once you do.

more about laundry

ok, so now you know about saving energy (and water) while doing laundry. but there's more! namely, the detergent you use. this is a big deal. to begin with, here are some things you are likely to find in regular laundry detergents:

• linear alkyl sodium sulfonates: skin, lung, and eye irritants; nonbiodegradable; toxic - release a carcinogen during manufacturing process. ew.
• alkyl phenols, nonylphenols, nonylphenol ethoxylate: first of all...what? i can barely say these words. hormone disruptors, bioaccumulative (builds up the higher up it goes in the food chain), nonbiodegradable, or they degrade into even more toxic compounds. nice.
• ethanolamines: skin, lung, and eye irritants; corrosive and carcinogenic; absorbed through the skin and cause damage to liver, kidney, and nervous system. mmm.
• sodium silicate: skin, lung, and eye irritant, allergen, corrosive, not biodegradable. are you sensing a theme here?
• sodium sulfate: skin and lung irritant, allergen, can cause asthma attacks, corrosive, biodegrades very slowly.
• sodium hypochlorite: skin, eye, and lung irritant; corrosive; damages liver, kidneys, blood, heart, immune and respiratory systems; really bad for people with asthma and heart conditions; forms toxic compounds in environment, harms plant life, toxic to aquatic life.
• sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate: eye and skin irritant, toxic when it degrades.
• Triethylene glycol: toxic to aquatic life when it gets in groundwater.
• trisodium nitrilotriacetate: again with not being able to pronounce these things...this is a known carcinogen, and eye and skin irritant, and is bad for aquatic life.

wow...just wow. i sure don't want this stuff rubbing all over my skin - almost all of them are skin irritants! they are just terrible for the environment and for you. detergents contian phosphates - water with the detergents in it gets into our water system, and phosphorus ends up in the ocean. why is this so bad? phosphorus leads to eutrophication, which is when algae blooms take over and kill everything else that lives there, due to lack of oxygen and sunlight. algae LOVES phosphorus and it makes it grow huge.

also, i may be alone in this, but when i'm walking outside and someone is doing their laundry, and that dryer sheet smell floats through the air - it gives me a major headache. blech. i hate those fake flowery smells that smell nothing like what they're supposed to. again - blech. so - here are your alternatives:

• biokleen
• caldrea
• citra-solve
• country save
• earth friendly products
• ecover
• method
• mountain green
• mrs. meyer's clean day
• naturally yours
• seventh generation

i saved the best for last - i LOVE seventh generation detergent. it smells awesome and i don't get those nasty headaches from the smell. oh, and they have the best scent - blue eucalyptus and lavender. yum. check out the websites and read about all the fab features of these non-toxic detergents, and next time you go to the store, get one of these instead.

saving energy

before i start, you should go check out the top 5 list on how to save energy over at green your life.

so, if you are looking for an easy way to start saving energy at home, look at how you do your laundry. first of all, you should only wash full loads (this also goes for your dishwasher). your washing machine is going to use the same amount of energy no matter what, and if you don't fill it, you're just wasting water. your machine works most efficiently when it is full. and if you think you can get away with doing a few smaller loads, think about this: two small loads are using up more water than just one full load. anyway, if you're anything like me, you are probably waiting to do laundry until the last possible moment, when you have absolutely nothing left to wear; filling the machine is no problem. just don't cram it too full, because then it won't be able to work very well.

second - always use cold water when you are doing laundry. hot water is NOT going to get your clothes any cleaner. most of the energy used when doing laundry (85-90%!) goes toward heating the water. think of all that energy you're saving by not heating the water at all. and if that's not incentive enough, hot water is worse for your clothes. it wears at them more quickly and makes colors fade faster; cold water is your best option all around.

if you're not convinced, i've been doing both of these things since i first started doing laundry myself...my clothes are always clean plus i'm saving a ton of energy. oh, and another thing - you can also use a little less energy by using a shorter wash cycle; detergents do all the work they can in the first ten minutes, so after that you're just wasting energy and time. also, if you're in the market for a new washing machine, check out the energy star certified ones.

for a class at temple, i am doing a group project which is going to examine how to live a more eco-friendly life. we are going to be giving a top-5 list of different ways to make changes in specific areas of your life, and also test out the methods to let you know what works and what doesn't. check out the blogs of my two group members to get the top-5 list and another perspective on what ideas work and which ones don't.