Christmas leftovers ?

Merry Christmas.... this is our "Charlie Brown" tree. it is a funny & skinny one this year . We always go into the forest ( with our permit) to get a live tree but we never take a "good" one. We choose some pathetic sad one like this that is growing too close to a "good" one for either of them to benefit. We take out the skinniest one & the better one has more of a chance to grow. But what to do after wards ????
If you do cut or buy a live tree check your newspaper for where you can take it to be chipped & made into compost or mulch. Some communities even pick them up. We leave ours outside for the birds until spring. We spread peanut butter on pine cones and they love it. Then we let it decompose naturally & finally burn the trunk in a fire once it's nice & dry. A the joys of country life !
Don't forget to recycle all that wrapping too.
Boxes, bags, ribbon, bows and tissue paper can all be used again.
We even save the cards for nest years gift tags . I'm going to try making some of those old fashioned ornaments out of them for next year too.
( the kind everyones grandma used to make )
If you want to try it you'll need to cut 20 same sized circles out of cards ( the larger the circles, the larger the ball will be ) , fold 3 sides up so there's a large triangle in the center of each circle and glue the edges of the flaps together to form a ball. 5 in circles top & bottom rows and the rest in the center. Don't forget to glue a pretty ribbon in the top to hang it from !

This years "green Christmas" ideas are much the same as last years, but worth a reminder since we only have one planet to live on so anything we can do to help it is a great gift ( Merry Christmas Earth ? !)

• Wrap gifts in cloth bags, tins or gift boxes that can be reused in years to come.
• Give gifts that don't need wrapping such as gift certificates or concert tickets.
• For the person that has everything, give a charitable donation in their name instead of a gift.
  
• Save & use this years Christmas cards for next years gift tags.
• Use your talents to sew, build or craft home- made gifts ! Don't underestimate the power of home made cookies !
  
• Give a gift of your time, dog walking, babysitting, shoveling someones driveway ???

Don't forget the basics either...

• Replace burnt out strings of lights with LED's
• Recycle bows, wrap & ribbons that survive Christmas morning in good shape
• Wear a sweater & turn that thermostat down ( maybe someone will knit you some slippers for Christmas !)
• Check the weather stripping on your doors & windows to keep out the cold & save energy.
  

Most of all remember...

• Spend time with your loved ones, not just in front of the TV or computer !
• Play, sing, laugh, love and remember the reason for the season !
  
• Check your smoke detector batteries. If you don't have a smoke detector, ask Santa for one this year.
• Don't drink & drive
  
• Be charitable, be a good citizen of the Earth, have a wonder filled holiday & be safe !
  

Remembrance and Tolerance

November 11th. Lest we not forget. Forget what ? Remember who ?
Today is also St. Martins Day. A day not so well known in my part of the world....
As the tale goes, St. Martin was a Roman soldier, who happened into a town, one cold night, where he saw a thin, hungry old beggar. Everyone was passing the beggar by, without a second glance, but St. Martin, got down off his horse, gave the beggar half of his piece of bread, and though he was very cold himself, tore his cloak in two and wrapped half of it around the old beggar before riding off. The pic above is of a re-enactment of this event, that I watched last week at work ( cool job eh ? ) and it bears witness not only to the kindness of a Roman soldier, but it also serves as a reminder of the many sacrifices all soldiers make for us, the common citizens of this world, so that we might know peace.
This Friday ( Nov. 16th ) marks the 50th anniversary of the International Day of Tolerance.
Funny thing is... if there was a lot more tolerance, we'd have a lot less war for those soldiers to protect us from !
If we could all just learn to respect and maybe even appreciate the richness of what our differences can do to enhance each others lives what a great world this could be. Each different culture has different ways of expressing themselves...different religions, certainly different politics, customs and even different celebrations. Tolerance comes from choosing to learn , and perhaps even understand about these differences, instead of fearing them. To recognize that the ways to be human are many and that we should each have a right to express ourselves, and celebrate that diversity without exclusion, without ridicule or without experiencing discrimination and violence. Diversity should be a treasure for all to experience , so today remember. Remember the sacrifices. Remember the Heros and most of all, remember we all inhabit this one little planet together !

World Food Day

World Food day was established in 1979, as a day of awareness on the issue of world hunger and is observed every October 16th by over 150 countries. It is the right of every person to have regular access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life. It is the right to feed oneself in dignity, rather than the right to simply be fed. Yet more than 850 million people world wide are still deprived of enough food.
So what is the answer to the eradication of hunger ?
Surprisingly, the answer is not to produce more food globally. People’s economic and political power to produce & purchase food needs to be more equitable. The international trading system must be reformed to make it fair and sustainable. Food security is best achieved when power is put in the hands of individuals and small-scale farmers – not multinational food companies. Profitable small-scale farmers, whether in Africa or Canada, are trying to to promote food security for their families and communities. Meanwhile , the primary goal of agri-business giants is of course, just to maximize their own profits. ( www.oxfam.ca )
Oxfam and many organizations work with the WFO ( World food organization) to fight hunger in many ways, including, changing laws in corrupt countries, bringing awareness to what large corporations do that creates hunger ( such as pay the farmers slave wages instead of "fare trade" wages that they can actually live off of and support their families on ) - the message here being, that it you don't buy goods such as coffee etc clearly marked "FARE TRADE" you are also part of the problem because you are supporting those multinational giants, instead of the farmers who actually grow the food and are only receiving less than 10% of what their coffee is actually worth.
While the big guys like OXFAM tackle the big corporations, by trying to change international trade laws and economic policies, there are things we do because
EVERY TIME WE EAT, WE VOTE for who we want in charge of our food security, and who we want to give our money to !
What can you do to help world hunger ?

• If you can, donate your time or money to Oxfam or other such organizations
• Shop local ! Buy locally made goods, look at the labels & purchase goods produced in your own area first when given a choice.
  
• Purchase as much as you can at your local farmers market & farm stores or even try the 100 mile diet ! www.100milediet.org
  
• Buy fare trade goods & support conscientious companies.
  
• Give any extra garden produce to your local food bank or gleaning project.
• Educate yourself on the real causes of world hunger.
  
• Tell everyone you know, so they can do it too !
• On October 16th make a commitment to be part of the solution !
  

Thanksgiving

We've probably all heard by now that eating local is not only better for us because the food is fresher & retains more vitamins, but it's also better for our local economy. When we choose locally grown foods we are supporting our local family farms and by reducing the miles our food travels before it gets to our plate, we are also reducing packaging and carbon emissions ( from the vehicles used to transport & refrigerate it ) . So, how do we have a local Thanksgiving....
if you are luck enough to have a local poultry producer, get your turkey there ! With the new processing laws in our area the government isn't making that easy: I can't add a link here for some reason but you can see the website & sign petition at.. www.okshuswapgreens.ca
& I know the candidate personally , so she wouldn't steer us wrong !
Anyway, we found one from within a couple hundred kms . The next step is to scour your local farmers market for the veggies.... I managed to find carrots, potatoes & dinner buns, etc but no yams. I bought cranberries grown in our province & will make my own cranberry sauce today ( easy & much yummier than canned ) we will take a few minutes to whip fresh cream from a local dairy instead of buying the fake stuff or those nasty aerosol cans and we will decorate with fresh leaves & pine cones on our table. The best part about thanksgiving is of course , the people we share it with. We are expecting some very special guests this year but you'll have to read our family blog, after the holidays to find out about that ! Happy Thanksgiving everyone ! Oh, the turkey in the picture was not harmed in any way & lives happily at a local petting zoo ! Remember...LOCAL FOOD IS SAFE FOOD !

Teflon - friend or foe ?

A couple years ago we decided to ditch teflon pans & we went back to using cast iron frying pans ( like grandma used to use !) . With all the stuff we've learned lately about it, we would like to add a few other things to the list, that are coated in teflon. A few things that aren't widely advertised...
Remember my last blog about green lunches ? Well it turns out that not only is ditching those handy little tetra packs ( drinking boxes ) a good idea from a waste reduction point of view( yes they can be recycled, but reusing a thermos is still better ) but it turns out that they , and many other packaged items are coated inside with teflon ( or other brands of non-stick coating ) which, it's being discovered is a health risk.

The chemicals, Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate acids (PFOA) which are used in stick and stain-resistant products, are being found in human and animal blood around the world. Fluorotelomers, which are chemicals used in food packaging as well as in rugs and clothing, break down into PFOA in the environment and when you ingest them. Several animal studies have demonstrated this, including one by the Environmental Protection Agency. PFOA causes cancer & other health problems in lab animals.
In animal studies PFOA has been associated with:

• "Significant increases in treatment related deaths" in rat offspring at doses that did not affect the mothers
• Serious changes in the weight of various organs, including the brain, prostate, liver, thymus, and kidneys
• The deaths of a significant number of rat pups of mothers that had been exposed to PFOA
• Damage to the pituitary at all doses in female rat offspring (The pituitary secretes hormones that regulate growth, reproduction, and many metabolic processes. Change in pituitary size is associated with toxicity)

PFOA can now be found in the blood of 90 percent of Americans, and in one study that tested 600 children, 96 percent had PFOA in their blood. Unfortunately, while you can choose whether or not to use Teflon pans, there is currently no way for consumers to tell if packaging contains fluorotelomers. PFOS and PFOA’s are used in or associated with production of thousands of products, including:

• Non-stick cookware
• Carpets
• Food wrapping
• Clothing
• Electrical equipment
• Packaging for fast foods like sandwiches, chicken and French fries
• Packaging for pizza, bakery items, drinks and candy
• Packaging for microwave popcorn

• The precise environmental and health impact of Teflon and similar heat-resistant coatings is uncertain, but the findings suggest that continued use of the compounds may contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming.
• The best and safest cookwear to use is believed to be ceramic-coated metal, as ceramic is virtually inert and will not transfer any metal ions to your food. Cast iron at low temperatures is believed to be okay though, unless you are one of those people that already stores too much iron in your body. As for the rest, reduce your packaging & processed foods, use a hot air popcorn maker, don't buy stain resistant clothing or use stain guarding sprays on your furniture & carpet. Read the labels !
  

Bad for us, bad for animals, bad for the planet. That's enough for me , we're going teflon free !
for more info go to www.mercola.com & type in the search word teflon.

Back to school - green lunches

One more week and it's back to school ! I've been thinking a lot lately about how much wasted packaging materials are used in school lunches ... when you add up all those individually packaged snacks, paper napkins, tetra packs of juice and saran wrapped items, it has been estimated that the average child , packing a lunch every day, generates about 65-70 pounds of waste every year !That works out to about 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school every year ! So we've decided that we are going to reduce our waste, thus also our carbon emmissions and just go green lunches this year. So dig out the ol tupperware , cloth lunch bag & thermos, people...because other than a few extra things to wash and making sure it gets back home again, it's really a no brainer and can be applied to work lunches too, not just for the kiddies . After all, what did we do before saran wrap ?Another bonus.... financial savings !! Read on to see how much money you can save ! ( source: http://www.wastefreelunches.org/ )
THE FACTS :

WHAT DOES A WASTE-FREE LUNCH LOOK LIKE?
A Typical Lunch(DISPOSABLE)
sandwiches sealed in plastic bags
fruits and vegetables in plastic bags
prepackaged chips, cookies, fruit bars, granola bars, cheeses, and fruit leathers
prepackaged yogurts, applesauces, and puddings
crackers, pretzels, chips, and other snack foods sealed in plastic bags
disposable juice boxes, juice pouchs, soda cans, water bottles, and milk cartons
plastic forks and spoons
paper napkins
reusable lunchboxes and disposable paper and plastic bags
A Waste-Free Lunch(REUSABLE)
sandwiches and other main dishes, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and treats in a reusable lunch container
cloth napkins
stainless-steel forks and spoons
reusable drink containers
reusable lunchboxes
*With this type of lunch, lunch food items can be bought in larger quantities. The packaging can be left at home for reuse or recycling. Waste-free lunches are not only a wise environmental choice, but they are less expensive as well.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO PACK A WASTE-FREE LUNCH?
A Disposable Lunch
1 egg salad sandwich $1.25
1 yogurt .85
1 granola bar .35
1 apple .30
1 package of carrots and dip .65
3 plastic bags .12
1 juice pouch .45
1 plastic spoon .04
1 paper napkin .01
TOTAL $4.02
A Waste-free Lunch
1 egg salad sandwich $1.25
1 serving of yogurt .50
1 serving of granola .35
1 apple .30
1 serving of carrots and dip .25
water 0
cloth napkin 0
stainless steel spoon 0
packaging 0
TOTAL
$2.65

Disposable Lunch
Waste-Free Lunch
$4.02 / day
$2.65 / day
$20.10 / week
$13.25 / week
$723.60 / school year
$477.00 / school year
723.60 - 477.00 = $246.60 savings per school year per person

Eco Friendly Wedding

Well, our wedding plans are coming along and we are working on the eco-friendly aspect.
Some is good, some is more difficult to incorporate but we'll do what we can.
We have our wedding clothes and every member of the wedding party, including the bride has clothes that can actually be worn again , in a variety of circumstances !
The centerpieces are going to be potted plants, from a local nursery, and will be given away. ( The average cut flower sold is sprayed dozens of times with chemical fungicides, chemical pesticides, growth hormones, growth regulators and chemical fertilizers. ) so we will only use cut flowers for the bouquets ) As the wedding is at our home we will plant flowers around the yard as well.
To save paper we've asked that people RSVP by phone or e mail ( which some of you haven't done yet....) rather than RSVP cards, because the average North American uses almost 700 pounds of paper every year. Much of that paper has been processed with chlorine bleach, making it non-recyclable and, even worse, totally toxic for the environment.
The worst offenders at our wedding will be the plastic table clothes etc but we will gather as much of the waste to be recycled as possible.
I'd love to hear your ideas too. Toodles !

Spring is springing...

Spring is springing & I'm in yard work mode lately. With our wedding fast approaching we are trying to get the yard in ship shape so that we can take advantage of our lovely trees etc as backdrops instead of too many pesticide laden hothouse grown flowers. ( bad for global warming !) instead we will only use those for our bouquets. The corsages, boutonnierres , etc will all be fake ( fabric, not plastic) , as will the petals the flower girl tosses from her basket. The table centerpieces will be live potted flowers, which we will give away and we will plant as many pink flowers in the yard as we can manage ! We also have our lovely cherry trees, grape vines etc. to look at.
April 22 is Earth day "The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 in the United States. U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson started this important day because he wanted to make people aware of the importance of keeping our planet healthy and clean. On that day, over 20 million people participated in what is known as the largest grassroots (every day people making positive changes in their community) environmental movement in U.S. history! Since then, more and more people have joined in the celebrations every April. Now more than 500 million people in over 180 countries participate in Earth Day activities on April 22 !" - www.ecokids.ca
so we will plant a rose bush or something on that day too.
Other Earth Day Ideas for you....

• plant something
• take a 'garbage free lunch' to work or school
• clean up litter from your neighborhood
• walk or carpool to work
• tell someone about Earth day !
• turn ou lights when you leave a room
• Eat locally - Support your regional farmers & farming industry: buying locally and in season is fresher for you, & better for the environment than buying foods that have been shipped hundreds of kilometers to your grocery store.

Happy Easter everyone, & be sure to think about what you are going to do for Earth on Earth day - remember, this planet is the only one we've got !

A planet friendly wedding ?

Is a planet friendly wedding, anniversary party or family reunion possible ? Here is yours truly, planning her wedding, so that's what we'll focus on, but many of the ideas are transferable to any gathering you might host. So I ask this question... is it possible, and if so, what exactly is a planet friendly wedding anyway ?
A traditional wedding ceremony & reception means a church, synagogue or perhaps a park or any other beautiful outdoor setting for the ceremony then perhaps a hall or ballroom for the reception if it's to be indoors. Our wedding is at home, in our yard, facing a lovely lake. So, how to make it a little more eco friendly ?
After a bit of research I've discovered that it is possible to make at least some Earth friendly changes.... I've even learned that making your own silk flower arrangements is not as hard as one might think ! ( Greenhouses release a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere ! ) I didn't make the one in the photo ( It's "re-used") but I did make some of the ones I'll be using.
Focusing the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy, some of the ideas I've come up with for an "at home" or "do it yourself" wedding, are:

• If the wedding is at home, plant lots of flowers in spring, to cut down on buying them from a greenhouse.
• If using a florist, ask for flowers that are organically grown, or pesticide free.
• Use potted plants instead of cut flowers for the centerpieces.
• Borrow or rent anything you can, including tables, chairs, & canopies ( in case of rain)
• Print your own invitations, programs etc, especially using recycled paper or homemade paper if you can find it
• Scout out consignment & second hand stores for items like extra water jugs, candle holders, etc.
• Place a recycling bin beside your garbage bin for plastic items you decide you must use ( cups, cutlery, etc) or collect, wash & reuse them at your next party.
• Instead of hothouse grown, cut-flower corsages & boutonnieres, have a crafty friend ( or in my case, grandmother) make them for you from your garden flowers , or silk ( which can be kept as mementos )
• Plan bridesmaid outfits that will actually be worn more than once, or donate them to a charity such as dresses for underprivileged grads, after you are done.
• If self catering, use locally grown, organic produce & other foods whenever possible, or ask your caterer to do so. Even better, grow your own in your garden if possible !
• Give reusable or recyclable favors to your guests. some ideas might be, an engagement photo of the happy couple, mini plant pots & seeds, mints in recyclable wrapping... use your imagination !

If you are going the more traditional, Church, & hall route you can still do a few planet friendly things here too.

• choose recyclable decoration materials
• Ask the chef about choosing locally raised meats, & veggies grown locally.
• They supply the linens & dishes & reuse them over & over
• Ask to use their centerpieces instead of purchasing cut flowers

Let the wedding bells ring !