How much thought are you giving to your milk purchases? You should be thinking about your milk, both for the sake of your health and the environment.

First of all, containers aside, milk is one of the foods that should be on your ONLY buy organic list. Organic milk (and all dairy products made with organic milk) won’t contain antibiotics, pesticides, or synthetic hormones, among other junk you don’t need in your body. Of course some folks think that organic milk doesn’t win out over conventional; that’s a choice you need to make on your own. However, no matter the milk …read more

I haven’t received a home newspaper delivery in a long time, but I do remember that newspapers started the nasty habit of always putting the goods in a plastic bag, rainy day or nay.
If you find yourself with a load of plastic bags from newspaper delivery, you can try a few things:
• Reuse them for tasks like picking up doggie doo.
• Take them to the plastic bag recycling drop-offs at most grocery stores.
• Ask your newspaper to stop using plastic bags on clear days.
All of those suggestions have their issues. Plastic bags used for doggie doo still won’t break down …read more

This is a tough question to crack, but one you may be wondering about if you’re considering buying some reusable bags for grocery and other shopping trips.
How many grocery bags?:
I used to have a bunch of odd shaped bags. Now I have eight that are exactly the same size; 12″ wide x 12.25″ tall with a flat 6.5″ bottom gusset. Plus when I bought them, I got a free bag. Personally, I think I got one bag too many.
When Cedar and I go grocery shopping we GO grocery shopping. I hate wasting gas on multiple trips, don’t like shopping …read more

GreenBiz News has a cool story about plastic bags, or rather the cease and desist of plastic bag use by some companies.
Turns out that IKEA will be halting plastic bag use by October in their U.S. stores. Good news since plastic bags are one of the worst items ever in terms of recycling. People simply don’t recycle their plastic bags. Thus far IKEA has been selling their plastic bags and donating the proceeds to tree planting efforts. That’s nice, but getting rid of them altogether is so much better.
To find out who else is saying, “See ya” to plastic bags …read more

Many of us are welcoming spring today, so I thought it would be nice to go over some nature loving, tree hugging, eco-friendly ideas that will carry the entire family through the better part of spring and into summer.
1. Quit looking at nature through your frosty windows. It’s warming up, so get out there and enjoy nature in real time, in real life, in full blown color.
2. Throw open your windows wide and let in the fresh air. Natural ventilation is actually a really effective green home goal to aim for. Proper cross ventilation naturally helps to remove any indoor …read more

Getting take-out from a restaurant is generally a very unfriendly thing for the planet. Unfortunately, there’s usually a lot of Styrofoam involved. And even if there’s no Styrofoam, there’s often lots of other packaging.
Restaurants in several cities like San Francisco are required to use recyclable, biodegradable or compostable containers instead of Styrofoam, but not my city.
Yet, take-out is sometimes a good thing, like when Michael and I were both sick with colds on Friday night. Neither of us wanted to cook. And nothing we had at home sounded good anyway.
So, take-out it was. And when I opened the bag, I …read more

Me actually – I don’t like plastic bags. However, if you’re going to have them why not recycle them into lovely flowers.

Learn how at one of the better new green blogs to appear last year – Keetsa. Can you imagine a recycled plastic bag wedding!

Just some basic figures to consider tonight from Worldwise:
how long will it take to decompose…
Cotton rags
1-5 months
Paper
2-5 months
Rope
3-14 months
Orange peels
6 months
Wool socks
1 to 5 years
Cigarette butts
1 to 12 years
Plastic coated paper milk cartons
5 years
Leather shoes
25 to 40 years
Nylon fabric
30 to 40 years
Tin cans
50 to 100 years
Aluminum cans
80 to 100 years
Plastic 6-pack holder rings
450 years
Glass bottles
1 million years
Plastic bottles
Forever
If you aren’t already recycling (composting counts!) all you can, you need to, or your great grandkids 10 times over are going to find your trash from yesterday. Here’s some help: How to Recycle Practically Anything.
Get the kids involved:
Trash 4 Kids has …read more

I hate plastic silverware and if you’re going green so should you. To give you an idea of why; it will take plastic 6-pack holder rings 450 years to biodegrade. Now consider how much more plastic your typical plastic spoon contains…
However, while it makes sense to use real silverware at a smaller, or even mid-sized event like a family reunion picnic it’s tough to imagine using real silverware say at an art fair or other mass attendance event. But there another option besides plastic.

This Jaya high-heat potato starch silverware is made from potato starch and is 100% biodegradable and compostable. …read more

Refillable liquid hand soap is a tiny step that everyone can take to reduce plastic waste. If you have the basic family home you may have two bathrooms; each with liquid soap dispenser. Most folks keep one in the kitchen as well. Now consider a family of four and how much hand soap gets used each day (or how much should be used each day). That’s a ton of soap and a lot of dispensers.
If you aren’t already using refillable dispensers it’s time to start. You can buy refillable containers everywhere. You can buy hand soap in bulk bottles or …read more