Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?” — Dr. Jane Goodall I buy organic produce at the farmers’ market from small local producers who: grow a variety of crops […]
plastic free july
A Brief History of Recycling
“You must recycle everything.” That’s what I sometimes hear when people learn that I don’t generate any trash. In reality, I rarely recycle because I rarely buy anything in a package that I could put into a recycling bin. I bring my own packaging with me when I shop at the farmers’ market and bulk […]
Lose the Plastic not Your Mind During Plastic Free July
Plastic contamination has reached every corner of the planet. And while many, many organizations and individuals have been working on the problem of plastic pollution for years, thanks to David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II and National Geographic’s June issue focused on plastic, awareness of the crisis has finally reached mainstream consciousness. Plastic Free July this […]
How to Respond to Critics of Zero Waste
Updated 06/22/17 Perhaps you’ve taken the Plastic Free July challenge. You’ve banned plastic wrap in your home, started carrying your reusable water bottle everywhere and maybe you’ve started making your own granola. You feel very excited about your progress (as you should)! Then your friends and family criticize you and burst your bubble. Sound familiar? “You don’t […]
9 Tips for a Successful Plastic Free July
Think about it…why would you make something that you are going to use for a few minutes out of a material that’s basically going to last forever. What’s up with that? — Jeb Berrier, Bag It movie Plastic Free July kicks off Friday. For the entire month, tens of thousands of people around the world will forgo plastic. […]
Zero-Waste Menu No 2
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that transitioning to my zero-waste shopping and cooking routine took many months of reprogramming and I continue to tweak and hone the drill as new challenges come up. I had always cooked but at some point, started shopping quite a bit at Trader Joe’s, basically a giant convenience store. (I’m sorry. […]
Captain Charles Moore’s 10th Voyage to the North Pacific Gyre
Last Tuesday in Berkeley, Clean Water Action hosted an eye-opening event that featured Captain Charles Moore discussing his most recent voyage to the North Pacific Gyre, the largest of the five plastic-trash-swirling vortexes in our oceans. After his talk, a panel comprised of Beth Terry from the blog My Plastic Free Life, Stiv Wilson from […]