making a difference! new year of the trees

wanted to share this very cool newsletter article i just received. you can check out the whole newsletter online here.


Dearest reader

A lot is happening on planet earth. On one hand it seems like we humans continue to bite the life out of mother earth. On the other hand, awareness to natural health and ecology is constantly on the rise.

Three years ago I wrote in this very newsletter about a ceremony I was invited to lead at an orthodox synagogue for Tu B'shvat - New Year of the Trees. I deliberately didn't write how disappointed I felt after seeing all the disposable plastic plates, cups, and utensils that were used during the event. I decided to focus on the bright side - that the participants were open to learn about the advantage of whole foods over processed foods. One step at a time.

Last year I participated in a different New Year of the Trees, that took place outside of the USA. This time, in addition to the plastic plates, cups, and utensils, sodas and artificial snacks dominated the tables. Since it was a charity event, I didn't want to be a party pooper and kept my mouth shut.

Recently I received an invite for this year's event. This time I decide to write to the organizers. I began by thanking them for organizing these important charity events. Then I added that I find it contradicting that a celebration for the trees, for nature, turns into an ecological disaster with plastic plates and junk food.

To my surprise the organizers wrote back to me, asking how they can handle the situation differently. We had a meeting in which I presented them with various options like serving finger food - mainly fruits and nuts which are the traditional foods of this holiday and for which there is no need at all for plates and utensils. To use biodegradable cups (made from plants like corn and sugarcane instead of oil). To put a marker next to the cups so people can write their names on the cup and re-use it during the event. To avoid sodas and processed snacks and instead to serve water, natural juices, fruits, and nuts.

The organizers were so excited from these suggestions that they asked me to make a presentation during the event itself on how New Year of the Trees is related to our commitment to the ecology and what we humans can do to help.

On a personal note, not only that I'm happy to be sharing this information with a large audience of adults and kids, but also I'm happy to attend an event that I will feel comfortable at.

On a similar note, in this month's newsletter, I'm introducing a new company that I've joined - Elements for Life. In addition to the focus on financial profit, this company is also committed to human health and the environment, not only on a philosophical level, but also in a very practical way. You're invited to visit their website, which has a lot of information, so take your time to read the information.

In April we're headed to a special journey in Israel. You're invited to join us. See the details in this newsletter.

To a greener, healthier, peaceful world,

Zohar Zemach Wilson
Founder & Director
Alok Holistic Health

Plant lovin

My plants need a little lovin. I am by no means a green thumb but I have begun to suspect that my plants can't live by water alone—they need nutrients too! So I have had a mission to find plant food that doesn’t come in plastic packaging. Plant food does exist in this form in paperboard boxes, in plentiful amounts actually, like in this picture:

But it does not exist in plentiful (or even pitiful) amounts for indoor plants...at least not what I could find. I was so excited to find plant food in paperboard boxes and so sad to find out it is not “formulated” for indoor plants. The outdoor formulas, I was told, could kill my indoor plants :( I ended up buying this all-purpose indoor plant food variety (pictured here with my nutrient-needy Donkey Tail plant).

This one is concentrated so it will last a looong time (and it is #2 recyclable plastic), but mostly I was sold on the little eyedropper feature. I can see myself reusing this someday looong in the future for something else...after a very thorough washing out of course as plant food ≠ people food!
Does anyone know of a plastic-packaging-free alternative for plant food? It is a little too late for me this time but maybe not for others.

8 months of plastic

February 1st will mark 8 months of Kerry and my plastic reductionist lifestyle!
This was our one rule in starting this adventure:
Limit/confine/reduce plastic intake to no more than one piece of plastic per day.
I decided to keep all the plastic I use/consume (even if it is recyclable) over the year. I wanted to see how much would accumulate. My dream is to find an artist to make something out of my plastic after the year is up! I would like something creative to come of my mass of plastic. On June 1st 2009 I will count all my plastic and see how close I have gotten to keeping my plastic consumption goal—no more than 365 pieces. But for now here is a picture of how much has accumulated...

I decided early on to keep my plastic in this tub, but the tub is getting full! I'm not sure what to do if it gets too full.... I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Note: There have been times it just wasn't possible to keep a piece of plastic that came into my life (i.e. I decided not to bring any plastic waste back from my month in Brazil) and there were a few times I have forgotten to bring a used piece of plastic home with me. So, I'd say I have kept (and pictured here) about 90-95% of the plastic that has come into my life since June.

That ship has already sailed

Let me tell you about my 'that ship has already sailed' philosophy as it relates to the plastic diet. So, I go to great lengths in general to avoid plastic, i.e. making a cake from scratch to avoid the plastic-bag-encased-much-less-time-consuming store bought cake mix. (Of course, I have my weaknesses, i.e. local cheese that only comes in plastic, that I never seem to avoid even if I should.) For the most part though I try very hard to avoid plastic food packaging. This is because this is an area of plastic reduction that can make a big difference. In general we get a lot of plastic when we buy/consume food (take-out, eat-in, grocery store, farmer's market-you name it). There is a big exception to this avoidance though and that is when the food item is bought by someone else and offered to me—post purchase. In this case I live by the philosophy of 'that ship has already sailed'. By this I mean, I can't undo that plastic purchase, it is done, nothing I do can change it—so, I think ‘I might as well not be a martyr’ and I partake! I usually get really excited about the partaking too because the food item is generally something I no longer allow myself to buy and often something I miss, like crunchy carbs…yum crackers. I talked to Kerry about this plastic food loophole when I was in NYC with her a few weeks ago. We discussed the merit (or lack there of) of my justification working across the board. For example sometimes it might be the case that if I didn't partake, less would be consumed, then less would be bought in the future, and then less plastic would enter the system. I agree this is the case sometimes, but today while I partook of two wonderfully crunchy Mint Chocolate Pirouette cookies in the common room at work, I was happy for my 'ship has sailed' philosophy—even if it is a loophole :)

no bag! save a tree!

I bought shoes the other day
and told the guy that I didn't need a plastic bag.

He goes "no bag! save a tree!"

what? :)

maybe he meant save a tree from getting choked by plastic bags,
like this one:

Glass kicks a**

Check out this bumper sticker...who knew there were enough other glass lovers out there for such a thing to exist? The plastic diet has made me love glass. I was big fan of Ball jars for storing food before, but now I go a bit gaga for glass containers of all kinds. I even recently thought to look for vitamins in glass bottles. I ran out of my trusty children’s chewable vitamins a few months back (gotta love those Flintstone flavors:) and thought I would just give up vitamins (I eat pretty healthy so I figured I could handle it) but then-stroke of genius-I asked at Whole Foods if they sell any children’s chewable vitamins in glass bottles and low-and-behold one company (Country Life) does. Now I’m back on track with my daily supplements of Zinc, Selenium, d-Biotin and the like. Hooray for glass! Hooray for health! Next I will be sure to find Omega 3 Fish Oil sold in glass when I run out.

mouthwash?

sorry i've been quiet!

i just had yogurt from a plastic container. will recycle.

and want to replace an empty bottle of mouthwash.. do we know of any plastic-free options?