Naturally Fun!

Woo Hoo! Spring has arrived in my little neck of the woods and all I want to do is be outside. I thought I would share some fun things to do with the little ones, while enjoying the beautiful weather.

Now I really like the NWF (National Wildlife Federation), they have a great website. They will certify your yard as a wildlife habitat with a few simple steps. If you don't want to get official, there are a lot of small things you can do to brighten up your favorite little person's day.

• Spread some bird seed around. Can you figure out each birds' unique tune?
• Stack twigs, leaves, and branches into a small pile and see who comes to visit.
• I have found that when I water my plants with the sprinkler, the dragonflies and birds flock to it.
• Grab a magnifying glass, how many insects can you find in a small patch of grass?
  
• Take a walk. Is there a nature preserve near you? How many animals can you find? Just taking a walk around my neighborhood, we can see rabbits, snakes, hawks, and even an alligator or two if I go down by the canal.

Now I know that this isn't exactly a 'green' post, but I truly feel that we need to get our kids interested in environmental issues. One of the ways to do this is to foster a love of the outdoors. Most kids like animals naturally, so when you help them to see them in their native habitats then they will strive hard to keep them there in the future.

Another thing we enjoy is camping, my daughter absolutely loves it, she has her own tent. Many weekend nights you can see the tent up in my backyard as she lays under the stars with our cat and a good book.

If you don't have a backyard, or it's still freezing in your neck of the woods then make your own camping spot. Throw a sheet up in the living room and place blankets, books, kids, and pets in a pile. (hint: if you use a small fan under the sheet, it will keep your tent nicely erected.)

Take them with you to the store and let them pick out seeds and plants to create their own gardening bed. They will love to watch the plants grow under their loving care. If you help them to plant a vegetable garden, you may be surprised at what types of veggies they may consume in the future.

my nephew Jack, being curious.

Kids are naturally curious, let's get them curious about our environment and we will create little foot soldiers on our quest to tread a little lighter.

Plastics!

There are many arguments out there about why plastic is bad. While researching I came across some propaganda from the plastics company stating that if you considered the life of plastic it was actually a more environmentally responsible product. As if.

What I really found in my research was that plastic IS bad for you, imagine that. The best plastic is no plastic, but then we come back to the argument of convenience vs. green. How many of us can really avoid plastics all together? It seems nearly impossible, everything has plastic in it, on it, around it....

Chemicals used to formulate plastic migrate. Migration, when used in regards to plastics, is the movement of free toxins from plastics into the substance they contain. Let's say you make a healthy organic salad and place it in a plastic container, now all the free toxins are corrupting your no-longer organic veggies. The plastic industry, as well as the government agencies that supposedly regulate it, say that the amount of toxins released from the plastic chemicals is such a small dose that they are safe. The problem with this, is that the size of the dose is irrelevant because some of them are more toxic in smaller doses. At what age and stage of life you are in when exposed is also important, pre-pubescent children, embryos, ovums, and sperm are all affected at low doses. They cause endocrine disruptors. Then you take into account synergy. Synergy

occurs between the chemicals and now you have a volatile, toxic super chemical whose effects are rarely monitored.

What to do, what to do? We just figure out what chemicals are in which plastic, and how they interact with each other, and avoid the bad ones, easy. Wrong. The chemicals in each plastic are considered trademarks of the companies that produce them, therefore do not have to be divulged.

So like I said, all plastic is bad.

If you choose to use plastic and most of us will have to, try to avoid #3. That's the one they call, PVC or polyvinyl chloride. It's like the king of the bad plastics, also try to avoid #'s 6 and 7. The 'safer' option, at least for foods are #'s 1,2,4, and 5. The truly safe option is to only use glass containers. And remember no matter how many dirty dishes you have piled in the sink, make one more. NEVER heat up your food in a plastic container, always grab a plate to reheat.

***For more information check out these sites***

Slideshow of plastics and their numbers, for a visual realization of what plastic is where.

This brochure describes in detail information on all the numbers.

Then check out this no-plastic fanatic, for some great ideas on how to get plastic out of your life.

I have to say after exploring information for this post, I have found myself checking all plastics, and even trying to avoid them in favor of glass and metals. Let me know how you got rid of plastic in your life, I'd love to utilize the tips.

Bad Habits

Doors signify a change, new beginnings.

I'm not exactly Miss Green Queen, and I don't mean to come off like I am. I understand I can be a bit preachy, but really I'm just preaching to myself. Reminding myself to tread a little lighter, and change some old habits. We all have our bad habits, my number one is procrastination. I also bite my nails, never eat breakfast, and don't brush my teeth enough. All of these habits are easily changed, yet I continue on. I have heard that it takes 21 days to break a habit, 3 weeks.
I also have bad 'green' habits. I use paper towels often, I never unplug my appliances, I haven't switched every light bulb to a CFL. Same thing, they're easily changed. It got me thinking, what bad habit was I going to change this first 3 weeks? What can I do differently? I could choose to sit here, lament and make excuses, or I could stop talking/writing and do something.

Let's check back in 3 weeks, tell me, what did you change?

Being Veg in a Non-Veg House

It has been said one of the most effective ways to fight global warming is to go vegetarian.* Here are some quick facts* on animal agriculture:

• Eating 1 lb. of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving an SUV 40 miles.


• If every American skipped 1 meal with chicken and had a vegetarian substitute instead it would equal carbon dioxide savings the same as taking more than a half million cars off the road.


• An area the size of 7 football fields is destroyed in the rainforest every minute to make room for grazing cattle, but each vegetarian saves 1 acre of trees a year


• It takes 5,000 gallons of water and 16 lbs. of grain to produce 1 lb. of meat. Farmed fish are fed 5 lbs. of wild-caught fish to produce 1lb. of meat for us to consume. You would save more water not eating meat than you would by not showering for an entire year.


• 20% of the world's population could be fed with the grain and soybeans used to feed the United States cattle alone.


• Of all the raw materials and fossil fuels currently used in the U.S. more than 1/3 goes to raising animals for food.

In 2006 the United Nations put out a report titled Livestock's Long Shadow, informing of the environmental consequences of eating meat. They stated that the meat industry produces almost 40% more greenhouse gases than all SUV's, cars, trucks, planes, and ships combined. Animal agriculture is the leading source of methane and nitrous emissions, while also contributing to land degredation, climate change, air and water pollution, water shortage, and loss of biodiversity.*

You might think that being a vegetarian in a carnivorous household might be hard, actually it just took a few minor adjustments. We've always cooked a traditional dinner, you know-- meat, starch, vegetable. I just had to make sure I had an extra something for my protein-- beans, avocado, or you could try a meat substitute, there are a ton of varieties out there. We made roast chicken, garlic rice, black beans and asparagus for dinner the other night, I had everything but the chicken.
We also had a yummy make-your-own-salad bar. Whatever your tastes are I'm sure you could pledge to be veg at least one day a week. Here at my house we are going to strive for one completely meat free meal (at least) a week. It's good for your health and the environment, why not give it a shot?

all * info comes through peta.org and GoVeg.com

Organic

If you don't want to try your hand at gardening, and still want healthy organic produce on your plate, but can't quite afford to buy organic all the time, well this is the list for you.

The top 12 fruits and veggies you should buy organic:

(list found on gourmetfood.com)

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Nectarines

Celery
Pears
Peaches
Apples
Cherries
Strawberries
Imported Grapes
Spinach
Potatoes
Bell Peppers
Red Raspberries

Those foods that you just can't afford to buy organically: always wash. A simple mixture of 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar will do an even better job than a regular produce scrubbing brush. One more tip that I found helpful: wash all produce even items like melons, and oranges. If you cut into these the bacteria and pesticides will transfer onto the knife, and then transfer onto the flesh of the fruit, that you will be ingesting.

Happy Healthy Eating Everybody!

Gardening

spinach ---- rows of yummy goodness---- mystery squash

container gardening at it's best-- calendula (marigolds-help keep pests away from my...) tomato

One of the easiest things you can do for the environment, and your health I might add, is garden. Just think of all the yummy fresh organic produce growing in your backyard, rooftop, windowsill. It doesn't matter where you live you can garden. Take it from me a self proclaimed reformed black thumb, otherwise known as a killer to all things living and green. The thing I finally realized is all you really have to do is make sure your plants are watered and in the right place. I have a small area in my backyard that I grow vegetables in. I also have some hanging boxes on my fence with herbs. You can garden on any spot of earth around, you can also garden in containers, which if you're new at it, I suggest. Gardening in containers gives you the ease of moving them if you are not happy with their growth, sunlight, the amount of pests, etc. You can also use just about anything for a container, as well. I have a friend whose entire back patio is filled with vegetables, in containers. She was also telling me about a thing called the Earth Box. This is so cool, you basically make your own little patch of Earth in a box (hence the title:) AND you only have to water it a few times a season as the box has it's own little water reserve in it. Pretty neat. A garden is not only good for the environment and your health, it's good for the soul. It takes a few minutes out of your day and puts you back in touch with nature. A little reminder that all we have we can create on our own, with a little thought and imagination.