Biodegradable, sustainable, eco and...sensational!

Check out these amazing flower pots by EcoForm !


No that shiny smooth exterior is not plastic! These flower pots are made from renewable grain husks (i.e. rice), contain no wood or petroleum ingredients, do not deplete natural resources, and decompose in landfills if they ever end up there!
I'm in love.
I bought my first this weekend. I have a Hawaiian Ti Plant to put in it too (the plant it really a stick right now, but I hear if I plant it in some soil and give it some lovin' it will be beautiful). Now I'm just waiting on some potting soil/dirt that doesn't come in a plastic bag. My boss has a green thumb and I think she might let me have some dirt from her back yard if I ask nicely....
This is revolutionary. I can't believe these pots are not made from plastic. They look and feel like plastic, last a long time, and then reenter the ecosystem via nirvana.
We need more products like this in the world!

BYOB

If Erin and I owned a wine shop it would be called BYOB for bring your own bag! and it would be the best ever.

Second best is Prospect Wine Shop in Brooklyn, which participated in the Brooklyn Green Team's NO Plastic Bag Challenge. They keep a sign up at the cash register about the evil's of plastic bags and encourage customers not to use them. I was there on Friday and the girls working at the counter were amazing-- they asked every person if they "needed" a plastic bag. If someone already had a bag, they would ask "do you need another bag, or can you use the one you have?" Pow. You've been greened!

The dialectics of the plastic diet.

There are certain things I will not budge on, say, using throwaway plastic utensils. If caught without my own metal utensils I'll use my fingers. And then there are others that I will budge on, say, buying these local extremely delicious pistachios that only come in plastic ziplock bags(!), see:

At least the ziplock bags are reusable...and the justifying begins.
This is where the dialectics comes in. How do I make my decisions....what's the process....? Kerry and I made the rules that we play by, and continue to make them as we go along, so there is not real set process. Really this is a very personal process, the process of deciding what plastic I will not allow in my life and what plastic I can justify--all under the overarching umbrella of no new plastic/one piece of plastic a day. Which is where the dialectics comes in, i.e. point, counter-point, synthesis of points, constantly going on in my head around plastic.

So, today for example: I went to my local Farmer's Market and walked away plastic free. Then I had to drive by a different farmer's market on my way to a fall festival and knew I could get my beloved pistachios at that FM, but I also knew that my buying these pistachios would involve plastic. I bought two bag! I don't get to that FM very often, and they are good pistachios(!) and they are local. So, I justified this in my head. Now, on to the fall festival. It was hot today over 90 out in the desert where the festival was (not particularly fall-like but whatever) so I got thirsty... Well, I had my trusty collapsible cup, ta-da, but none of the vendors would let me use my own cup to buy their ice-tea or smoothie in. "Health code violation" something or another, they weren't budging. I searched for a water fountain to fill my depleted Sigg to no avail. I was ready to go thirsty because I would not use a disposable plastic cup-and yet just earlier I bought not one, but two bags of pistachios in plastic without any real guilt...hum. Finally, I saw some kids filling styrofoam cups of water at one of the vendor stands and I knew that as an adult I could get them to give me water--they wouldn't question me. So I filled my water bottle surreptitiously, health code violation and all. But sales of cold drinks were lost on me.
It just gets me wondering though, about some of my choices, and how non-straight forward this plastic reductionist life is sometimes. It would be more straight forward if I just lied to you and said I only use one piece a day and that I put my foot down on all new plastic (period). But let's face it I'm human and so this process is human too, and somedays it's just weird.

need your help! greening the office..

i arm-wrestled my way onto a two-person committee to green our office.
we're doing a lot really well-- it's so efficient to have a chef cooking for our whole staff and to eat lunch off of real plates and bowls and silverware.
but i'd love to hear suggestions about easy ways to make a difference in greening the office.

of course i want to eliminate all plastic, but i'm learning that we actually spend heaps of money on paper towels for the bathroom. we do have plastic utensils around, and paper cups, plates and bowls, but don't spend nearly as much on them.

thoughts? questions? comments?

thanks for your help!

Plastic-free dreams.

If you have been reading along lately you know I moved recently and had to acquire a lot of new furniture (and plastic) during this move. I debated whether to buy a bed or not because of the fact that they are all (okay not all, but the kind I can afford) made with polyester and other plastic-y synthetic material and stuffing. Well I bought a bed, synthetic material and all. I realized good sleep is a good thing. Now on to the sheets and pillows...
Pillows are all sold in plastic bags(!)-foiled again (or plasticed again, as the case may be). I assumed I would have the same problem with sheets, but wait what is that I see on the shelf at Target, organic cotton sheets in an organic cotton drawstring bag? I don't even think there is any plastic hiding inside the bag! I don't know for sure yet though because my Target was, of course, out of Queen size organic cotton sheets. So I will have to wait until I can try another Target store tomorrow-but the odds are looking good on these being plastic-free sheets. I opened the King size sheet set drawstring bag and poked around a little. I couldn't hear any tell-tale plastic crackles. Of course these sheets are more than double the plastic encases cotton/polyester mix sheets, but you gotta do what you gotta do and maybe take a cut in your budget somewhere else-lets say the ice cream budget department. So, Target wins some much need plastic-free points in the sheet options department. Not enough positive points to counter act all the negative points they are getting in the Halloween candy department though. Try and find Halloween candy not wrapped in plastic-really try. Then try and find individually wrapped Halloween candy not wrapped in plastic twice (outer bag and inner individually wrapped pieces-plastic and plastic) it's gonna be a rough year for those who come a knocking at my door :(

have you seen the commercials about high fructose corn syrup?

I'd like to share an important email I received today. It's only peripherally related to plastic.. but if you watch the commercial you'll notice the juice is in a plastic container and is being poured into a plastic cup! Perhaps the lack of awareness around using plastic is a metaphor for the lack of awareness about high fructose corn syrup and all of the chemicals and additives and preservatives we put into our body.

High Frutose Corn Syrup

Dear Kerry:

Have you seen this commercial claiming that High Fructose Corn Syrup is "all natural" and "no worse for you than sugar"?

See the video here.

The Corn Refiners Association has spent $30M on this ad campaign to boost the reputation of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Of course, you recognize that these ads are an outrage. Based on that commercial, we should all be drinking other corn-based products, such as ethanol.

The average American is deeply misguided about their food choices. They don't know that HFCS may be linked with: Diabetes • Obesity • Liver Disease

As health counselors, we educate people about eating whole foods and guide them to develop a deeper understanding of their food and lifestyle choices.

The work that we do is more important now than ever!

Help us fulfill our mission to play a crucial role in improving health and happiness in America, and through that process create ripple effect that transforms the world.

Please enjoy our new catalog and forward this message to others who may be interested in attending our school.



Joshua Rosenthal
Founder & Director
Integrative Nutrition

P.S. Our community is fired up about this ad. See a response article by a graduate here.

diagnosis: polymer anxiety

I love getting emails about plastic:

"hi kerry, i was at a small indian restaurant in inwood yesterday. we ate in the restaurant but they still served us in plastic...container and fork, etc. after our meal, i literally felt like i had consumed plastic. it was really gross. i wonder if there is any truth to that. like how plastic might appear solid, but we do consume trace amounts of it. would be interested in your thoughts"

my thoughts:
When we eat food that's served on plastic, or wrapped in plastic, or sucked up through a plastic straw we consume guilt with every bite and sip.

Even if you think you don't give a hoot about the environment, you are an intelligent person (yes you!) and at some level (subconsious, or if you've been reading this blog, conscious!) you realize that it's a destructive action. This gives the food a bitter aftertaste.

My diagnosis is polymer anxiety, and the best course of treatment is to use less plastic :)

Alan Weisman said it well in his book, The World Without Us:

"Plastic embodies our collective guilt over trashing the environment. Something about plastic feels uneasily permanent. The difference may have to do with what happens outside landfills, where a newspaper gets shredded by wind, cracks in sunlight, and dissolves in rain--if it doesn't burn first."

[Note: Alan goes on to explain newspapers don't biodegrade when they are buried in a landfill away from air and water. But that's a story for another blog. I recommend reading Alan's article Polymers are Forever.]

So my question to you, dear reader, is:

What is ONE THING you can do today to reduce your plastic guilt?