Celebrating Earth Day is a fantastic event and it gets us thinking of the environment and what more we can do. And we can do more. We can take the ideas and lessons learned on Earth Day and apply them to our everyday lives.
6 Simple Things You Can Do Everyday
Give up bottled water. Did you know that in America we throw out more than 40 Million plastic bottles every year from bottled beverages, including bottled water? And only 20% of those bottles get recycled.
What you can do:At home, put a filter on your tap and use a glass. If you’re going to the gym; take your own reusable water bottle. At the office, get a water filter or a water service.
Use reusable bags at the store. With your own reusable bags you will know the answer to that annoying question of “paper or plastic?” - You will say, “Canvas, please!” If you did this one little thing, you personally would save 500 plastic bags going into the landfill every year.
Now that is Earth Life!
Eat less (red) meat.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, one pound of red meat is responsible for 20 times the land use, five times the water use, and three times the greenhouse gas pollution compared with a portion of beans or pasta.
Create an organic garden. Planting your own vegetables means you can ensure they are organic and healthy. And getting your food out of your own garden cuts the carbon emissions that would have been required to bring you food from the farm to the store to your table. Learn all about organic gardening at Gardenerd.com.
Cut the junk mail. First, go to Do Not Mail.org and sign the petition for the “Do Not Mail” Campaign to stop junk mail. This is a campaign to create legislation similar to the “Do not call” registry. We canned spam in our email boxes and we stopped the “junk” phone calls. Now we can stop junk mail, too.
Second, even though the Do Not Mail registry isn’t created yet there are a few paid serves you can get to stop your junk mail.
41pounds.org (not for profit): Cost: $41 for 5 years
StopJunkMail.com (for profit): Cost: $19.95 for individuals and $24.95-$84.95 for businesses
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. The tried and true… But I think we are all getting the idea of reuse and recycle so I would like to focus on “reduce.” Put simply, buy less stuff. America is the largest consumer market in the world with the smallest population compared to other industrialized countries. Do we really need all that junk?
In my neighborhood you drive down the street and even though every house has a 2 car garage, all the cars are parked on the street. Why? because that 2 car garage is full of junk that we bought and clearly don’t need.
On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.
Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.
What will you do when the lights are off? We have lots of ideas.
Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change. Don’t forget to sign up and let us know you want to join Earth Hour.
One hour, America. Earth Hour. Turn out for Earth Hour!
A great place to start for the organic newbie is understanding USDA organic labeling and learning what the word organic does and doesn’t mean.
When you’re shopping in the store you will come across a lot of options for healthy, natural and organic foods. Especially these days where the organic market is growing in leaps and bounds. Big money companies are fighting for your dollar and as a result muddying the word “organic” with their marketing gimmicks. Being a savvy shopper will help you make educated purchases and be self-assured that you are buying the best for you and your family.
What to look for in organic - if you have access to a local farmer’s market you’re one step ahead of the game.
The USDA organic label - this is government certified that the food, whether produce or packaged, is organic.
The #9 on Produce stickers - On the stickers you find in a grocery store there will be an item number. If the number begins with the number 9 it is organic.
The word Organic - For a company to even put the word organic on their packaging the product inside must be at least 70% organic which includes the ingredients used to make the product.
The other day I posted the information that I had found regarding Wal-Mart “Organics” and one of my readers, thegreenmommy, posted this great comment:
“…when articles tackle the subject of deceptive use of “organic,” it makes consumers doubt the entire organic food industry’s validity.“
So, what does “Organic” stand for?
Integrity
Trust
Community
Health
Sustainable Living
Renewable Resources
These are just a few words that define what”organic” means to me but for now, I want to talk about the formal definition of “organic” to clear the air after the Wal-Mart issue.
From the USDA:
“Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.
Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.
Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.
Before a product can be labeled “organic,” a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.“
It isn’t only the government that is keeping “organic” strong but it’s also the people and communities of organic and natural living. It’s up t us to be the “watchdogs” and thankfully we have groups like The Cornucopia Institute and many others that are keeping things in check.
What does Organic mean to you?
Love to hear what you have to say - leave a comment
In our grocery stores we see such labels as natural, home-free, free-range and others but these terms don’t mean they are organic. These claims maybe true but they aren’t interchangeable with organic.
So how do we know what is or isn’t organic?
We start with looking for a label whether it’s a single-ingredient food such as fruits and vegetables or multiple-ingredient foods such as pasta sauce or bread.
The label we are looking for is the USDA Organic Label, as shown bellow. This ensures that the product is at least 95-100% organic. This is applied to both single and multiple-ingredient foods.
If there isn’t a USDA Organic Label but the product states “organic” on the front of the box or package then it is ensured that the ingredients are at least 70% organically produced.
If there isn’t a USDA Organic Label or the word “organic” on the front of the product, then we look at the side panel. Here companies can list specific ingredients that are organically produced but they may not make any claims of “organic” on the front of the package.
For more information or to read further in-depth about these labeling rules, I suggest reading this consumer brochure produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Do it yourself naturally. It all begins with you and maybe a bit of information from this little blog.
Natural and healthy living takes more than a New Year’s resolution but it’s enough to get started. It was my 2006 resolution and here I am a year later still enjoying the benefits of natural living.
Natural living is a life style change that will change your life. There are few things better than getting up in the morning and taking a shower with all natural bath products. It gives me a sense of wellbeing knowing that I’m doing my best to take care of my body. Afterall, your skin is your largest organ and absorbs most of the nutrients or toxins you put on it. So what will you choose? Nutrients or toxins?
Stay tuned…I plan to share my experiences, knowledge and research I have gained over the last year as well as all the new stuff I find worthy enough to write about.
Subscribe via rss
