tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53634078311901609172024-03-05T14:24:02.060-08:00Gaia Hates PlasticAmara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-45734422907966819132019-08-31T07:22:00.004-07:002019-08-31T07:22:54.563-07:00Zero Waste Labor Day<br />
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My hobby for the past couple of years has been to collect as
little new plastic as possible, from packaging to products. I even tried composting
in an apartment composter for a while until I had several infestations of other
insects and my worms died. While I am certainly not living a zero waste life, I
have endeavored to have less trash and to be aware of what I’m bringing into my
home that I eventually will have to throw out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Going totally zero waste may not be your thing, but can you
do it for one day? All over the country Zero Waste Labor Day celebrations are
springing up to bring awareness to how much we contribute to the landfills. The
average American makes 4.4 pounds of trash a day. Outdoor picnics are one of
the biggest contributors to an individual’s trash because everything is typically
disposable. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If you’re hosting a Labor Day event this weekend, consider
using real silverware and plates and washing them. If you are going to someone
else’s house, lug a mug, a plate and silverware to avoid using disposables. I
keep a set of bamboo eating utensils in my purse and a metal container in my
car for leftovers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here are some picnic tips:</div>
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<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Use glasses instead of plastic cups</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Label trash, recycling and food waste bins</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Repurpose decorations from other holidays</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Pack leftovers for guests</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Use foil instead of plastic</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Choose a drink in a recyclable bottle or can</span></li>
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If you aren’t going to a picnic this weekend, challenge
yourself to see if you can go one day without throwing anything into the
garbage can. Use recyclables when you can. Compost food scraps – if you don’t
have a compost bin or live somewhere where that’s impractical, collect your
food scraps and bury them in the back yard or forest at the end of the day. Make
sure everything is bio-degradable that you are burying. </div>
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<o:p></o:p>Noticing what goes into the trash bin is the first step in reducing
your footprint on Mother Earth. Few of us are aware on a daily basis of the
packaging of our food items that goes into the garbage. Even fruit and veggies
usually have plastic labels on them, which are easy to peel off but don’t
recycle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Most of all, though, don’t feel bad if you can’t do zero waste.
Our society really isn’t set up to make that easy. But the first step in
solving any problem is always awareness. Make Labor Day your day to work on the
planet’s health by using the day as a meditation on what you can do to heal
Mother Earth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-60601840391096167682018-10-24T06:56:00.002-07:002018-10-24T06:56:42.995-07:00What to do with all those old plastic toys your kids don't want anymore?<span style="font-family: inherit;">One company has found a use for old plastic toys. <a href="https://www.ecobirdy.com/" target="_blank">Ecobirdy </a>is turning old toys into sustainable kids' furniture. Sure it's still plastic, but it's getting a second life as sturdy and chic furniture, which might be less likely to end up in a landfill or in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to Ecobirdy, 80 percent of plastic toys end up in landfills, waste incinerators, and oceans. 90 percent of toys are made from plastic and have only a 6 month lifespan. By 2050, oceans are expected to contain more plastic than fish by weight, <span style="color: #333333;">and the entire plastics industry will consume 20% of total oil production and 15% of the annual carbon budget.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Find out more here: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6457590291548426240" target="_blank">Ecobirdy Upcycled for the Future</a></span><br />
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<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-25394612745506484572018-03-26T07:30:00.000-07:002018-03-26T07:30:25.443-07:00Plastic waste is a time management issueOn weeks when I'm really busy and have too much to do, I definitely use more plastic. On a normal week I do most of my cooking using whole foods -- like rice and beans purchased in the bulk bins at the grocery store, meat and cheese from the butcher and cheese store in my own glass containers, vegetables that I buy at a farmer's market or get loose at the grocery store.<br />
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Not only do I not have time to go to multiple places when I'm busy, but also I don't have time to cook from scratch. On those weeks when too much is going on or I have too many tasks to complete, I buy more packaged food and pre-cooked items, helpfully called "grab and go" from the grocery store. Most of those items come packaged in plastic. Or I pick up take out for a quick evening meal, which usually comes in plastic. (Some restaurants are starting to use post-consumer cardboard for food packaging.)<br />
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I really enjoy cooking though I know that not everyone does. I mourn the weeks that I can't spend part of my time creating wholesome meals for myself and my family. As a certified professional organizer<span style="vertical-align: super;">®</span>, I try to leave gaps in my schedule for cooking and for unexpected challenges that normally come up in a week. Even so, some weeks just get away from me. Those are the weeks that I notice that I'm picking up sushi in plastic boxes or a pre-cooked chicken in a domed plastic container.<br />
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In 1982, physician Larry Dossey coined the term "time sickness," which refers to the belief that people have that there is never enough time. Thirty-five years later we're still struggling with this concept. Try as we might, the world seems like it's speeding up and our lifestyles reflect that. I believe that our reliance on plastic is part of that. Yes, it's a lightweight and cheap way of packaging foods. But why do we need so much food packaging? I believe it's because we aren't able to slow down enough to create food from scratch. Sold to us as "convenience foods," packaged and prepared food are consumed by our society in ever greater quantities.<br />
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When we consciously choose to slow down and re-prioritize, we can make a different choice about plastic and food. We can choose to make it a priority to prepare more farm to table food that didn't pass through a plastic bag on its way to our kitchen. We can hop on the Slow Food bandwagon and buy high quality, locally sourced ingredients as often as possible. And we can participate in the magic and mystery of creating the food that nourishes us the way our ancestors did.Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0New Jersey, USA40.0583238 -74.405661236.9481798 -79.5692352 43.168467799999995 -69.2420872tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-73201441300028986752018-03-09T11:28:00.000-08:002018-03-19T06:10:34.578-07:00Break up with plastic<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-43235247/five-ways-to-break-up-with-plastic" target="_blank">Break up with plastic video</a><br />
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It’s great to see younger people becoming the models for what rest of us could be doing. There are a couple of problems with this video, namely that if you put a bamboo and boar’s bristle toothbrush in a plastic bag in the landfill, you are no better off than putting a plastic toothbrush in a landfill. But it definitely has the right idea: How can we reduce the use of plastic in our lives?Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-63614455779392530902017-11-05T06:05:00.001-08:002018-03-22T07:35:57.542-07:00What's up with plastic in tea bags?I stopped buying tea bags because either the boxes were wrapped in plastic or, even worse, each tea bags was. Did you know that the tea bags themselves contain plastic, so they can't be composted?<br />
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According to the blog, Treading My Own Path, tea bag sheaths contain reinforcing plastic. Read Lindsay's post here: <a href="https://treadingmyownpath.com/2014/07/11/the-scandalous-plastic-in-tea-bags-who-knew/" target="_blank">Plastic Free Tea. </a></div>
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If you'd like to do something about this, join her <a href="https://treadingmyownpath.com/2014/07/29/plastic-free-tea-lets-start-a-campaign/" target="_blank">campaign</a>. Oh, and use loose tea, which tastes better anyway!</div>
Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-23672057797645121142017-07-30T11:00:00.000-07:002017-07-30T11:00:00.317-07:00The problem of waterAmericans use more plastic disposable water bottles than any other country in the world. Eighty percent of them end up in landfills. The <a href="http://waterbottles.healthyhumanlife.com/plastic-water-bottle-pollution-plastic-bottles-end/" target="_blank">Healthy Human</a> website reports:<br />
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The production of bottled water uses 17 million barrels of oil a year.</em></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">It takes </span><a href="https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/15-outrageous-facts-about-the-bottled-water-industry/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #285989; text-decoration-line: none;">3 times</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> the amount of water in a bottle of water to make it as it does to fill it.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Plastic water bottles are made from a petroleum product called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which requires </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/whats-the-problem-with-plastic-bottles/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #285989; text-decoration-line: none;">giant amounts of fossil fuels</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> to make and transport.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The production of bottled water uses 17 million barrels of oil a year. That’s slightly more than it would take to fill </span><a href="https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/15-outrageous-facts-about-the-bottled-water-industry/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #285989; text-decoration-line: none;">one million cars a year</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> with fuel.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">It takes almost </span><a href="https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/plastic-water-bottles-impose-health-and-environmental-risks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #285989; text-decoration-line: none;">2,000 times</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> the energy to manufacture a bottle of water than it does to produce tap water.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">If you fill a plastic water bottle so it is about 25% full, that’s about how much <a href="http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/water-bottle-pollution/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #285989; text-decoration-line: none;">oil it took</a> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">to make the bottle.</span></li>
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One alternative is to drink tap water or filtered tap water. Most tap water in the U.S. is pretty safe. (You can check your municipality's water testing results to reassure yourself.) You can buy filters that attach to your sink faucet, which is the best choice for water filtration, but they are expensive. </div>
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Another option is to use a Brita water pitcher with disposable filters. The filters are made of #5 plastic, which can be difficult to recycle. However, the Brita company maintains a recycling program where you can send the filters back to them on their dime. </div>
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To recycle your Brita filter, go to the <a href="https://www.brita.com/recycling-filters/" target="_blank">Brita Company's website</a> and create an account. If you don't want email from them, make sure to indicate that as you create the account. After you enter your address, you will be emailed a link to print a UPS label.</div>
Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-12859993623599689842017-06-03T10:23:00.000-07:002017-07-29T05:44:41.575-07:00Plastic and traveling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I recently went by airplane to California. I knew that water was difficult to get without plastic in airports and on the airplane, so I brought empty water bottles with me to fill in the airport. I also brought snacks and a sandwich wrapped in cloth. This worked pretty well, except that the water fountain water tasted terrible and I couldn't get the flight attendants to refill my water bottles. What I ended up doing was getting coffee in a paper cup, rinsing that out and having the flight attendant refill the coffee cup.<br />
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Bringing food was a little more successful. I was able to avoid both having to purchase food at exorbitant prices and also the dreaded styrofoam take out container. (see left)<br />
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While in the airport, I saw the following amazing item (at right): a toilet with a rotating plastic sleeve to keep your tushi from touching the toilet seat where other people have sat. This has never been a big concern for me, but apparently it is for others. I chose not to push the button to rotate the plastic sleeve. Thankfully, it wasn't automatic!</div>
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Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-57984849807998837562017-06-02T10:09:00.002-07:002017-06-02T10:11:08.974-07:00How does recycling work?Here's some information about multi-stream recycling:<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7GMpjx2jDQ&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">How Recycling Works</a><br />
<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-17821575688178467872017-03-12T05:40:00.002-07:002017-03-12T05:40:45.920-07:00Making gluten-free breadAs I was making my weekly bread yesterday, it struck me how beautiful the process was -- from mixing the dry ingredients together, to adding the egg, to the risen loaf (before baking). Not only am I avoiding buying bread in plastic -- I can get most of the ingredients in bulk or cardboard containers -- but I'm also creating art and linking myself to my past, when generations of women made bread every week.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2q_USAPOYOSmMZggLYVSmwhs_AigS0lpuWvDO0l9x4s0LpfreJnnU3FLAzhvys-F6CwDvYZUpeNWJl3W2fCsczW1xYvzt8DcjaT8yxYcl-ob15RUQ_87N0fq1-WrKJa1d72YXht6dHAuI/s1600/grocery+blog+bread+1+3-12-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2q_USAPOYOSmMZggLYVSmwhs_AigS0lpuWvDO0l9x4s0LpfreJnnU3FLAzhvys-F6CwDvYZUpeNWJl3W2fCsczW1xYvzt8DcjaT8yxYcl-ob15RUQ_87N0fq1-WrKJa1d72YXht6dHAuI/s320/grocery+blog+bread+1+3-12-17.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-84732415546627176452017-03-02T06:45:00.002-08:002017-03-02T06:46:36.891-08:00Grocery Store Thermometer - How did I do this week?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here are my groceries for the week. On the left are the ones that are packaged in plastic, some of which might be recyclable. (Empty Tom's toothpaste tubes, for instance, can be shipped back to <a href="https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/tom-s-of-maine-natural-care-brigade" target="_blank">Tom's of Maine</a> for free for them to recycle.) Theoretically, the company that picks up recycling in my town recycles milk cartons and #1 & 2 containers (Burt's Bees shampoo & conditioner, Coconut Milk shampoo & Coconut Water conditioner). The yogurt containers are #5s, so probably not recyclable, but I had a free coupon for the Noosa, which I couldn't resist trying. (It was very good!) Xochil chips look like they come in paper, but the inside is coated with plastic.<br />
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The groceries in the middle had minimal, but some plastic -- labels on the fruit (I brought my own bags for the produce), plastic caps on the hazelnut spread and mayonnaise, and the fish is wrapped in plastic coated paper. Next time I should remember to bring my own container for the fish.<br />
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The products on the right are either packaged in glass, foil, paper or cardboard, or were bulk items that I brought my own bags for (raisins, coffee, chocolate-covered almonds & ginger). The winners of the least packaged products this week were Hodgson Mill corn starch, Marcal toilet paper, and Frontera salsa, The Organic Valley eggs have a plastic label on the cardboard carton, and the Organic Valley butter is wrapped in tin foil, but that probably also has a plastic coating.<br />
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I'm looking forward to farmer's market season, when I can go back to buying fruit and vegetables without labels stuck on them!<br />
<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-39827337479022137832017-02-22T16:58:00.001-08:002017-02-22T16:58:01.746-08:00Gaia Hates Plastic: I love my town<a href="http://gaiahatesplastic.blogspot.com/2017/01/i-love-my-town.html#links">Gaia Hates Plastic: I love my town</a>Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-51652364070033821862017-02-05T17:17:00.000-08:002017-02-05T17:17:31.556-08:00ShoppingToday I walked to the market and did my week's shopping for produce, bulk items, and other groceries. I'll go to the butcher on Tuesday, since it's not open on Monday. I could have gone today but I didn't bring containers and quite frankly, I had enough to carry without adding more.<br />
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What I learned:</div>
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1) February is not the month to decide to do all my shopping WALKING distance from my house. Brrr!</div>
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2) I spent 60 percent of what I usually spend on groceries because I was very aware that I'd be carrying them home. I do still need to buy meat, but that's not going to make up the other 40 percent.</div>
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3) I couldn't get chocolate milk for my son, who won't drink either regular milk or milk with chocolate syrup added. (He's a little like a finicky cat, but don't say I said so. We stopped (by car) at Shoprite to pick up the chocolate milk for him. I don't expect him to go a month without milk because of my whims.)</div>
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4) It felt pretty good to be able to walk, buy groceries, and walk home in 45 minutes. That's less time than it usually takes me to shop.</div>
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So all in all, less time and less money: I'm pretty happy with my experiment.</div>
Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-21142172965929923162017-01-17T15:36:00.001-08:002017-01-17T15:36:39.136-08:00I love my townHow great is it to be able to walk two blocks to buy fresh bread, nice cheese, organic groceries, and fresh meat at the butcher. Plus I can get my bicycle repaired and a cup of coffee at at least four coffee houses, two diners and Dunkin Donuts within a mile. Maybe that's too much coffee. Nah, never enough coffee.<br />
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So for the next month, I'm going to try to reduce my carbon footprint by walking to get all my groceries. Also, this will help with my desire to get more exercise.<br />
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This is somewhat problematic because my carbon footprint in gas to purchase groceries is very minimal compared to the fossil fuels used to grow produce with fertilizers, ship the groceries near enough to me to get them, and refrigerate them till I get there. After all, the supermarket is only 2 miles away. How much gasoline does that really take, especially in my hybrid car?<br />
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But as an exercise in appreciating what is close by (and plastic free), onward and forward.Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-83430812145035485482016-12-05T12:30:00.002-08:002016-12-06T06:32:16.923-08:00Fun with FermentationIn trying to cut down on plastic, I figured one of the biggest sources in my home is plastic bread bags. We eat a lot of bread. I was able to get bread for my son at a local bakery and have them put it directly in a (clean) cloth bag for me to take home.<br />
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Unfortunately, I am allergic to wheat and cow dairy, which makes grocery shopping for me much more complicated. No local bakeries that I know of make gluten-free bread and the GF bread sold at the supermarket are either wrapped in two plastic bags or a hard plastic sheath that has to be cut open. I decided to try my hand at making bread. </div>
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One of my favorite cookbooks is <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20style=%22width:120px;height:240px;%22%20marginwidth=%220%22%20marginheight=%220%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20src=%22//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=timetogetorg-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0544157346&asins=0544157346&linkId=8480b5a3bed6c6773b7d46b76edf7aef&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff%22%3E%20%20%20%20%20%3C/iframe%3E" target="_blank">Silvana's Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Kitchen</a> by Silvana Nardone. I used her recipe for sandwich loaf bread and made a delicious loaf. I realized I need a bigger loaf pan though because when I let the bread rise in a warm oven, it overflowed the pan and dripped on the oven floor. Yikes!</div>
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My other experiment in fermentation was Harvest Apple Beer. You may be saying, but hey, beer and wine come in recyclable glass bottles and tin cans. Why not just buy beer? Actually, I found out that many wine bottles have plastic corks and plastic sleeves near the top of the wine bottle. The inside of cans is often coated with plastic. </div>
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My apple beer recipe was given to me many years ago, and I no longer know where I got it from. It has apples, raisins, sugar, cinnamon and clove and uses wild yeast in a one-week long fermentation process. Now I have plenty of mildly alcoholic apple beer to share throughout the holiday season. </div>
Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-81208357555282408162016-10-17T05:12:00.000-07:002016-10-17T05:12:01.511-07:00How weird am I willing to be?I went to a networking function run by the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce. I hadn't seen many of the attendees in quite some time. There was a nice buffet and an open bar.<br />
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Unfortunately, I hadn't thought ahead about what would be available to serve myself with: plastic cups and dishes. I had a travel mug and metal bowls in my car, but I felt really awkward about eating off of them in a public business setting. So I opted for a glass of wine in a plastic cup and a paper napkin. Then I ate only things I could pick up with my hands -- like shrimp, teriyaki meat on sticks, and skewered bacon and pineapple.<br />
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Am I really going to bring my own wine glass and plate to a networking function? What am I supposed to say to people when they ask my what I'm doing?<br />
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Actually drinking out of a plastic cup gave me an opportunity to tell people about my new hobby and blog. A few people asked me for the web address. Publicity, one - Fight against plastic, zero.Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-2734306503021832282016-10-13T17:37:00.000-07:002016-10-13T17:37:07.616-07:00The worms are here!When I got home today, a box was waiting for me by my door of live worms. I wasn't expecting them for several more days.<br />
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After I broke the news to my son about composting in our apartment, he said, "You mean we're going to have live worms in our apartment?"<br />
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"That's right," I said. His expression was priceless.<br />
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Still I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do with a composter (The Worm Factory 360) and a pound of worms, so I put the DVD that came with the composter into my computer and watched how to care for my new pets. Then I broke out the worm factory, created "bedding" for my worms, put some (new) lettuce into the composter, and deposited a pound of red wigglers into their new nest. They squirmed around and then quieted down.<br />
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I couldn't help but peak in on them a few times during the day. I put some veggie scraps in with the lettuce as I made my lunch. They wiggled a little and then disappeared into their nest. I looked again, but they were quiet. I looked again and a couple were sitting on the lettuce. Right, worms are not that interesting.<br />
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Still I felt like a farmer, making soil in my kitchen, slightly deviant, with my worms wriggling in the dark enclosed space.Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-84628550709452085112016-10-10T10:24:00.002-07:002016-10-10T10:24:27.864-07:00CompostingOn average about one-third of our trash is compostable. There are a number of things that you can do with biodegradable trash that doesn't involved sending it off to the landfill. Besides the obvious benefit of not filling up landfills as quickly, biodegrading materials in landfills create methane gas, which is a big contributor to our ozone damage. Landfills are the third largest source of human-made methane in America.<div>
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If you live in a house, you can fairly easily set up a compost bin. Rotating compost bins are available, but a garbage can on wheels with holes cut into the bottom also works. Make sure you park the can somewhere where worms can get into it, not on asphalt or cement. When I lived in a house, we used to alternate vegetable matter and gerbil bedding (from our gerbil), which helped the compost break down.</div>
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If you have access to a farm or friends with a compost bin, you can save your veggie discards in the freezer and then bring the frozen stuff over to them regularly. Obviously, ask permission first and find out if there's anything they don't want included in the compost. (Most composters don't want animal flesh mixed in.)</div>
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Now I live in an apartment, so composting is a little more complicated. I thought about asking my landlord if I could set up a compost bin somewhere on the property. He does have a small vegetable garden, but he hasn't been keeping it up. Besides the downside of composting in the Northeast is winter. We still eat vegetables, but who wants to go out and wrestle with frozen compost in the dead of winter?</div>
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Several indoor composters exist that create soil using worms or composting tea that can be used as a fertilizer. Unfortunately, all the ones I located online were made out of plastic, and I didn't want to buy any new plastic if I could help it. Luckily, I found a worm-based composter called The Worm Factory 360 used on Craigslist. The guy I bought it from was moving and said he hadn't used it much anyway. I asked if it smelled when it was in operation, and he said they had kept it outside and not used it much. Now the proud owner of a used Worm Factory 360, I guess I'll find out.</div>
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Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-74194651080662667432016-10-08T13:52:00.001-07:002016-10-08T13:52:55.910-07:00First Grocery (foraging) TripWithin 15 minutes drive I was able to get a week (or so)'s worth of groceries and drop off recyclables to boot. It did take some time though.<br />
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First I dropped dry cleaning plastic and hangers off at Tirpok Dry Cleaners in Flemington. Then I took batteries and used printer cartridges to Staples. I drove past the county recycling facility to drop off my old milk cartons, but it was Electronics Recycling Day and there were too many people waiting in line.<br />
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I went to Basil Bandwagon, the local natural food store, and shopped out of the bulk bins with plastic bags that I had brought with me (previously used). I bought some produce -- potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, lettuce, and broccoli. Most of the fruits and veggies had labels on each one so I passed on everything else, but I did take a melon with a label. I bought a few glass jars, even a couple that had plastic seals over the metal lids.<br />
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I was particularly delighted to find a glass jar with a metal lid of tahini. The only tahini I'd ever found before was in a metal container with a plastic lid. I'd scored garbanzo beans out of the bulk bins and now I could make hummus, which is definitely worth the work.<br />
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Later my boyfriend and I made the rounds of the Stockton Market, an indoor "farmers" market, that was much more gourmet than I usually do. More produce went into my basket -- apples and red chard, no labels, one rubber band.. A Mexican restaurant was selling homemade tortilla chips in a gallon-size Ziploc bag, which I decided I could reuse and therefore live with. I also bought some cheese and fish, wrapped in paper, but costing more money than I could justify spending on a regular basis.<br />
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Certainly I got less plastic packaging than I would normally have at the grocery store. I'm thoroughly enjoying researching and exploring this new hobby, because I recognize that at least for now, that's what it is.Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-84712979370611887592016-10-06T06:53:00.004-07:002016-10-06T06:53:57.197-07:00OMG - plastic is everywhere!When I first started thinking about plastic, I thought I would try to cut down on the amount of plastic packaging when I purchase food at the grocery store. I've just spent the last three weeks watching videos and reading news stories about plastic, recycling, landfills and zero-waste lifestyles. I feel like I've had an awakening that I can never go back to sleep from.<br />
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Now instead of cutting down on plastic at the grocery store, I'm contemplating composting in my apartment's kitchen, researching buying wine in refillable 750 ml bottles, and giving serious thought to whether I can still ethically wear contact lenses. (Daily I use four different contact solutions, all sold in plastic containers.)<br />
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My sweet boyfriend says, "Why don't you pick one item to eliminate plastic from and see what happens, one at a time." He's right, of course, but after watching all those videos, Every time I look at plastic, I can't help seeing dead marine animals with the plastic I'm purchasing in their bellies and mountains of plastic waste in India and China shipped from the United States to be "recycled".<br />
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Today at a diner with a friend, I took my meal home in the tin bottom of a take out container and asked the waitress not to bring the plastic top. I also gave her back the unused drinking straws. I felt like I should tip her more because I was asking for more, even though not taking plastic saves the restaurant some money. I immediately went home and put metal bowls in my car for future takeout dilemmas.<br />
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I'm not usually so black and white about anything. Indeed, my favorite color is gray, and I tend to make decisions on a much more fluid basis than most people, especially most other professional organizers. Beth Terry calls plastic an addiction -- I feel a little like I have to go cold turkey, or it will insidiously snake its way through my life.<br />
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<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-46254068057085409402016-10-03T05:37:00.003-07:002016-10-05T05:55:29.097-07:00PicklingRecently I bought Kimchi from a farm stand and it was terrible, drowned in vinegar. I knew I could do better.<br />
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A few years ago my family had purchased a share at a local organic farm. We had been inundated by vegetables, way more than we could eat. I spent the summer pickling, canning, flash freezing and giving away whatever we couldn't eat. I was spending about 10 hours a week cooking and preserving my vegetables. After that I decided I didn't want a part-time job as a chef on top of my full-time business, so we stopped participating in the farm share.<br />
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In my forays into pickling, I had tried to make Kimchi with some of the vast quantities of cabbage the farm share provided. I dug through my recipes and found the old Kimchi recipe that I'd used back them, discovering that I hadn't bothered to write down any of the proportions. I pulled out my crock pot, cut up the vegetables on my list, added water and salt and covered them with a weighted plate for two days.<br />
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It made six jars of kimchi, which I tucked into the back of my tiny apartment refrigerator. Not ready to put them through the canning process to seal them and keep them in my pantry.<br />
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Here's what I put in the kimchee:<br />
3/4 of a head of Napa cabbage<br />
3 1/2 Carrots<br />
1 Red pepper<br />
3 Jalepeños<br />
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2 Leeks<br />
6 Scallions<br />
6 Raddishes (I'd use daikon next time because the red leached out of the red raddishes and turned the water pink)<br />
3 cloves of Garlic<br />
1" of Ginger<br />
1/2 c Sea Salt<br />
Filtered Water to cover<br />
<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-33087485111373066552016-10-03T05:37:00.001-07:002016-10-03T05:37:25.753-07:00ReuseI've always been a big fan of buying used items. My mother used to shop for my clothes at a secondhand clothing store, which still exists 30 years later. It was, therefore, natural for me to buy my own child's clothing secondhand, especially when he was a toddler, and we were on WIC (read: government cheese). Throughout the years I've prided myself on how little I've had to spend on our clothing, getting most of it secondhand.<br />
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When I woke up this morning it occurred to me that I've never bought undergarments, which definitely run high on the plastic content, secondhand. Not sure how that's going to be managed.<br />
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I stopped buying new books a few years ago, based on owning too many already and having run out of bookshelf space, and take most of what I want to read out of the library. What I can't find locally, I request through interlibrary loan (ILL), which can search for and get books anywhere in the country. </div>
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Recently I purchased a bicycle for my son on Craigslist. I admit that's taking a chance and required some research on different types of bicycles. Then I took the bike, which I had to drive an hour and a half to pick up and cost $70 (not including gas), to a bike repair shop. I spent another $208 at the repair shop to get the bike into peak riding condition. The guy who owned the shop assured me I still got a deal. On eBay similar bikes were selling for $300, so 7% savings. Not a huge deal, but no new energy consumed to make a new bike.</div>
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Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5363407831190160917.post-35255916699884360662016-09-30T13:04:00.001-07:002016-09-30T13:04:46.865-07:00The idea about plasticI'm not exactly sure what started my current obsession with getting plastic out of my life. I had read some articles about how bad plastic and even recycling plastic are for the environment. I'd been thinking about how to cut down on the plastic packaging that inevitably comes into my house through grocery store and other purchases. I've been noticing plastic packaging and talking about it all summer.<br />
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While researching plastic and recycling, with the thought of posting some videos in the venue of my Rotary eClub, I realized that this whole plastic thing goes much deeper than I initially thought. And also that although there are plenty of articles saying what I want to convey, for the life of me, I cannot find any videos to re-post extolling the vices of plastic recycling.<br />
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I was planning a series of videos on Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to share with my Rotary club. After hours of pouring over videos on YouTube, I still couldn't find the recycling propaganda that I was looking for. What I did find, though, was that I'm not alone in my distaste for plastic. I started looking at other people's blogs, including Beth Terry's Fake Plastic Fish, now called My Plastic Free Life, which lead me to her book <i>Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too. </i>Delightedly, I found two copies at the local library and borrowed one, which ironically was covered with a plastic cover by the helpful library acquisitions department.<br />
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So I look forward to reading this pro-environment bible as I begin my own journey toward finding enjoyable ways to kick plastic to the curb. (But not literally, because then it might end up as part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.)<br />
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<br />Amara Willey, CPO®http://www.blogger.com/profile/08438206982490706209noreply@blogger.com0