Rubbish Free Week

Moreland council is encouraging people to participate in a  "Zero waste for a week" challenge. We just completed our week . I was surprised that it wasn't too hard to do. In Moreland we can recycle soft plastics like bread bags and other plastic wrappings so that helps (I just realized we could do this through our curbside collection a couple weeks ago-we had been collecting them up and taking them to Coles for recycling). We did end up with four pieces of rubbish for the week: a foil-like plastic wrapper from a chocolate bar we got at WVD-I'm pretty sure this sort of plastic can't be recycled with soft plastics (someone please tell me if I'm wrong), a foil-like plastic wrapper from some crackers I'd opened before the week began, the wrapper of a stock cube and the small bit of paper towel I used to re-season our wok (I probably could have used a cloth for that). We compost all our food scraps and recycle all the packaging we can. I realized we can probably downsize our bin (it's not that big anyway but if would be nice if it took up less space). Maybe we'll be able to do a completely rubbish free week in the near future.

                                    Our 1 week of rubbish 

Fair Food

We've been getting boxes from CERES Fair Food program for almost 2 years now.  We started getting them when my workplace was a host (a drop of point where I could collect our box and extras from).  This past summer I wanted to continue getting boxes while my work was closed but I realized there were no hosts really close to me.  I decided to volunteer to host since I think it's such a great program and I wanted to support them to grow. 
I love that everything about Fair Food has been thought through to be sustainable and ethical.  Most of the food is grown locally (a lot of it around East Brunswick and Coburg) so the food miles are minimal.  It is all organic (better for the earth, better for people).  The farmers are paid 50% of the price the consumer pays.  The workers in the distribution warehouse are disadvantaged people that are gaining skills based on environmental and social principles.  The packaging used is minimal and most of it is re-used and can be recycled.  The profits support programs at CERES Environmental Park.  Any left over food after the boxes are packed is given to a soup kitchen.  Scraps that cannot be used are composted. 
The food is also very reasonably priced for organic produce since the food is bought in such large lots to be distributed between each of the boxes for the week. 
There are several sizes and varieties of boxes that are available.  Our box this week was the "Basic Mixed Box" ($30):

It contained 1/4 pumpkin, 1/2 cauliflower, 2 capsicums, 2 parsnips, lots o' carrots, 2 beetroots, a leek, lots o' potatoes, 5 onions, 2 broccoli heads, zucchini, 2 oranges, several apples and a bunch of bananas.
There are also a TON of extra items available including pantry items, household products and extra produce.  There are food hosts (box pick up points) all around Melbourne (including some outer suburbs as well as close to the city). 
If you've ever thought about getting an organic produce box, I highly CERES Fair Food.  We tried it and loved it so much we decided to host. 

packaging free

I came across this article today: Zero Packaging Grocery Store to Open in Austin Texas. The concept is really cool. Some of the organic shops around here have bulk sections (and a lot of supermarkets back home have bulk sections) but I love the step forward in.gredients will take. They'll have a pretty big range of products and be mostly organic and local. Customers are encouraged to bring their own containers but compostable containers will be available. CERES shop works in a similar way. They do have a lot of packaged items but also have a big range of grains, dried fruits and household cleaning products in bulk. CERES customers can bring in their own containers and there are sometimes extra containers that people have left for others and small paper bags. We need more places like this around. Our little kitchen bin gets filled from plastic packaging that can't be recycled. Hopefully bulk purchasing will become more the norm over the next decade.

waste

that's our stack of phone books for last year and this year (not sure why last year's are still around-- this year's have been sitting by the front door since they were delivered several months ago). most of the ones that came wrapped in plastic are still wrapped (i think i unwrapped last year's white pages to look up one number probably before we got our new computer and the old computer took up to 30 min or more to get it started). i finally took 2 seconds to see how i could stop getting the phone books delivered and it's sooooooo easy. wish i had done it a long time ago. just go to this link. you just need to fill in your details and mark the phone books you want to stop delivery of (i stopped them all). hopefully i've done it in time to stop the delivery of the 2011 books. i feel bad about just chucking them all in the recycle bin but so far i haven't come up with any other use for them.

go green

from failblog.org:

consumption and stuff

a couple weeks ago my work had a parent information nite with a great topic and a guest presenter that i have been to a couple of her workshops at conferences and really enjoyed them. i decided to go the the evening and it was really good. the topic was consumption (great topic for families going into the holiday season). part of the evening included the 20 minute video "the story of stuff"-- it's a great video that is worth the 20 minutes and you can either watch it on the website or download it for free)
one minute of the movie:

it was interesting what a lot of the parents had to say too (we had some group discussions afterwards).
just before i left home to go to the meeting zac came home saying he NEEDED some musical related thing (i can't remember what it was that nite because most of the time it changes every couple weeks). fortunately he doesn't go out and buy most of this stuff he says he needs but i did come home with this fact for him (from the video): in america (and i'm sure that australia is similar although probably a bit better) 99% of things bought are not used 6 months after purchasing and are just thrown away. just looking around our lounge room i can see several things that we haven't touched in months (and i don't even want to think about the stuff in the spare room). it's amazing how much stuff we've gained (especially since i moved from canada with only 2 large bags and have only brought over photo albums and a few other special items since then) even when we do try to be careful about what we buy.
i've even tried to be much better in what we give to others in gifts over the past year. i'm only buying books, fair trade toys (sold from local shops) and handmade clothing (either by me or local person) for children and we're trying to get more meaningful gifts for people (i.e. photo gifts). i'm also trying to buy a lot more from small local shops (and we have some great shops around the area).

sustainability

last saturday i got to attend 1 day of a 21/2 day sustainability in early childhood education conference for work. i wish i could have gone to the whole thing but because my co-worker was already going to all of it, one of us had to be at work on friday so there weren't just 2 relievers working together and opening the kinder (and my co-worker is actively involved in the organization that planned the conference).

i got to go to 2 really great sessions on saturday morning-- the first one was discussing our own journeys with sustainability and outdoor play and the second one was a presentation from a new zealand kindergarten that built their entire garden from the children's ideas. they had everything from garden beds where the children could pick all the flowers they wanted whenever they wanted, chamomile grass, insects and bugs to observe (they even found a protected lizard in the garden because of the kinds of plants they had), lots of fruit and veggies and even a banana tree (it's kept inside but they were actually able to find a way to have it after one child said he wanted bananas to grow in the garden). after lunch we went on tours. i went on a tour to skinner's playground (a great supervised playground in st kilda with cubby houses built from recycled materials, a veggie garden and lots of space to play) and 2 kindergarten and child care centres in the st kilda area that have amazing gardens and programs focusing on the environment and play areas involving natural materials.

the saturday of the conference also happened to fall on the international day of climate action (they didn't realize that when the conference dates were set) so we took a photo for the 350.org website:

(my head is barely visible behind someone near the right side of the photo)

below is a closeup of the banner that is behind us in the photo:

the only thing i was really disappointed in was the food. the entire conference (including a 3 course dinner at the zoo on friday nite) was vegetarian. people i talked to said the food was pretty good. i was just there for morning tea and lunch on saturday. morning tea was muffins and fruit bowls (apples and pears). i was happy to have an apple but i was a bit disappointed there weren't a few vegan muffins (i think there were a couple others that were vegan too). lunch was a packed lunch (in a tupperware sandwich box to keep and an aluminum--aluminium to aussies--drink bottle) so we could head off on our tours. lunch for most people was sandwich wraps in the container and then there were small bananas and pieces of cake (not vegan unless they just didn't mention it and i couldn't find anyone to ask) to take if you wanted along with your water. in my specially labeled sandwich container was a salad. a small salad of lettus, tomato and cucumber with drop of an oily dressing. i'm sure the wrap bread was probably vegan and if the sandwiches had cheese or other dairy i'm sure they could have easily been substituted. so i had lunch of salad and a small banana (after my morning tea of an apple). fortunately i brought the last few almonds that had been sitting on the kitchen table so i had a little bit to snack on from a food that was not fruit or vegetable. i know it wasn't the conference organizers fault-- it was the catering people's fault for not really knowing what vegans can and can't eat. i did make it clear on my evaluation form that i was very disappointed in the vegan food though (especially sad since in the conference program book they had a paragraph stating why they had chosen to have an entirely vegetarian and vegan menu for the conference).
i did have a great time though, got to talk to some great people, hear some great things and just be around a lot of people with similar views on the environment, sustainability and the importance of play in nature for children.

food of the future

i came across this article in the age today. apparently, genetically modifying the tomato may be the key to "boost[ing] crop yields in a move [scientists] say could help feed and clothe millions of people in a time of climate crisis"
really? the tomato is the answer?
i'm really not sure how the tomato is going to clothe people 8)
i would have thought the answer to sustaining a growing world population would be more along the lines of growing/eating foods that work well in local climates and eating less resource intensive foods like meat.

why vegan

being that its national vegetarian week i thought i'd put some of my favourite facts on why people should go vegan (or at least eat a lot less meat and dairy if not going vegan):

first, some facts from a great video:
* earth can sustain about 2 billion on meat and dairy based diet (about 7 billion live on earth)
* raising animals for food creates 40% more pollution than all the planes.trucks and cars
* 1lb meat takes 2500 gallons of water to make, 1gallon cows milk uses 750 gallons of water
* vegans save 1.3million gallons/year-- a vegan can leave shower running 24hrs/day, for 365 days and still use less water than animal basted diet person!!!
* a vegan saves full acre of trees/year (that would be clearned for animals)
* in america farm animals produce 130x more excremement than intire human population—86000 lbs /sec (enough to rebuild denver skyline every 24 hours from excrement!!!)

some facts from various sources on the web:
*the methane produced by australia's cattle and sheep has more impact than the emissions from all coal-fired power stations in australia (Australian Greenhouse Office. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. 2003)
*a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation states the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent - 18 per cent - than the burning of fossil fuels by transport(http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html)
*Dairy and beef production are the highest major water users in Australia.(CSIRO 2005 Balancing Act)
*It takes thousands more litres of water to produce a kilo of beef than it does to grow the same quantity of grains or vegetables (Food and Agriculture Organisation. 22nd March 2007. FAO urges action to cope with increasing water scarcity. Rome. http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000520/index.html)
*Livestock production accounts for over eight percent of global human water consumption (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. 2006. Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options. Rome.)
*the average vegan uses about 1/6 of an acre of land to satisfy his or her food requirements for a year; the average vegetarian who consumes dairy products and eggs requires about three times that, and the average meat-eater requires about 20 times that much land. (john robbins)
*It requires about 300 gallons of water to feed a vegan for a day. It requires about four times as much to feed a vegetarian, and 14 times as much to feed a meat-eater [because you have to give the animals water, water the crops that get fed to them and use water in the slaughterhouses] (National Audubon Society)
*One acre of land can yield 75 kilos of beef or 9,000 kilos of potatoes (Klaper, Michael M.D. Vegan Nutrition: Pure and Simple, Fourth Edition, Maui, Hawaii: Gentle World, 1987, p.16.)
*It takes twenty-one pounds (9 kg) of protein fed to a calf to produce a single pound (450 gr) of animal protein for humans. We get back less than 5 percent of what we put in. (Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation, Second Edition, London: Jonathan Cape, 1990, p.165.)
*Nearly 40 per cent of the world's wheat and corn is fed to animals and huge amounts of land are given over to growing things such as alfalfa, peanuts, turnips, tapioca to be used animal food. This land could just as easily be used to grow food for people.(Gellately, Juliet. The Livewire Guide to Going, Being and Staying Veggie!, London: Livewire Books (The Women's Press), 1996, p.66-7.)
*Amount of nutrient wasted by cycling grain and soy through livestock: Protein 90% Carbohydrate 99% Fiber 100% (Our Food Our World: The Realities of an Animal-Based Diet, Santa Cruz, CA: EarthSave Foundation, 1992, p.4.)
*Number of people who will die as a result of malnutrition and starvation this year: 20,000,000. (Institute for Food and Development Policy, Oxfam America. Cited in Our Food Our World: The Realities of an Animal-Based Diet, Santa Cruz, CA: EarthSave Foundation, 1992, p.6.)
* If the whole world ate a vegetarian diet - that's plant foods and dairy products such as milk, cheese and butter - Tickell states there would be enough food right now to feed 6 billion people well. In fact, if everyone became vegan and cut out all dairy products and eggs, the world's population could be fed on less than one quarter of the land that's used at present! (Gellately, Juliet. The Livewire Guide to Going, Being and Staying Veggie!, London: Livewire Books (The Women's Press), 1996, p.67, citing Sir Chrispin Tickell of Oxford University, a UK Government Advisor on environmental issues.)
*Vegetarians suffer lower rates of diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, and - contrary to myth - don't suffer more deficiencies than the rest of the population (vegetarian action)

and finally a link to a great page of facts from john robbins. he lists a lot of good reasons to go vegan under several categories (i've posted his hunger argument in full, the arguments for all his other reasons are listed in full on the website):
The Hunger Argument:
*Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million
*Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million
*Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people: 20
*Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 80
*Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95
*Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90
*How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds
*Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre: 40,000
*Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 250
*Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56
*Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce a pound of edible flesh from feedlot beef: 16

The Environmental Argument
The Cancer Argument
The Cholesterol Argument
The Natural Resources Argument
The Antibiotic Argument
The Pesticide Argument
The Ethical Argument
The Survival Argument
from: "Diet For A New America" by John Robbins

there are probably a billion different reasons why vegan is a good idea. these facts were just a few of the reasons.

a good reason to go veg

i was just looking at the vancouver sun online (which i haven't done for months) and i came across this article on why people should cut down on red meat in their diets (just one of many good reasons).

another bit of space

when we moved into our house over 3 1/2 years ago a friend gave us a dryer. i was quite excited about it but zac and our other housemate were both against driers. they managed to convert me to their ways (driers waste a lot of energy, shrink clothes-- i never had much issue with that though, and we have a gigantic hills hoist that takes up a good part of our yard so it might as well be put to use) and the drier has gone unused in the 3 1/2+ years its lived here. we finally decided to get rid of it and replace it with something useful- shelving. we weren't sure how well it works (we've turned it on a couple times, it heats up but doesn't seem to actually start drying things) so i put it up on freecycle a couple nites ago. within 20 minutes someone wanted it!! he just came and got it now!!! now i can move the half assembled ikea shelves from the loungeroom (where they've been sitting for a couple weeks or so) and finish putting the indivdual shelves in. the laundry room is gonna be so much easier to walk thru now (and there won't be a pile of dog towels and junk on the floor cuz there was no where else to put it)!

diva

this is kind of a girly post so you may wanna skip this one if you're not into girly stuff.
for a while i've been looking at environmentally friendly alternatives for tampons. pads aren't my thing so the idea of reusable pads (and the cleaning that goes with that) doesn't appeal to me at all. in my searches i came across the diva cup. it's a silicone cup that will last indefinitely (but i think i'll replace mine every year or 2 just for hygiene reasons). they're safe (probably a lot safer than tampons), easy to use (after the first few inserts/removes) and way more convenient than tampons. they're canadian made (although i think i got mine thru a u.s. distrubutor-- the happened to be on sale AND had free international postage!) and they seem to be widely available at drugstores in north america (they've got a store locator by city or postal/zip code on the diva cup website).

trying to narrow it down

i'm working on figuring out what more i can do for the environment at home in a way that zac will help with too. he's happy to do basic things like recycle, compost, put grey water on the garden and turn off electrical things when they aren't in use but things like cutting down on consumerism and buying more locally produced food and other items are harder to do (especially for zac but i struggle with it too).
i think my biggest issue is plastic. first of all, it's plastic that generally fills our rubbish bin (wrappers from tofu, rice cakes, crackers, cereal and other things we buy). zac also tends to get unnecessary plastic bags from shops sometimes just so we have something to line the bin. i bought a roll of biodegradable plastic bags but zac still seems to find it necessary to bring home plastic bags from shops occasionally (even though he never needs them for what he bought cuz he's usually got his panniers or a backpack with him). we could look into cutting down the amount of overly packaged stuff we buy too (there's a lot of bulk-buy places starting to pop up everywhere and most of them you can bring your own containers to fill too).
buying locally produced items would also help the environment a lot (i.e. buy more in season fruit and veggies grown near here). other things we might need (like clothing) could mostly be bought from local crafts people or second hand.
i could also go completely vegan (not just dinner time vegan) which would benefit the environment and the animals that are raped for my cheese. i don't think i would have much issue going vegan at home, it would mostly be when we go out that the things that sounded the best to me on the menu would most likely be something involving dairy.
those are a few of the ideas floating around in my head but i think i just gotta take it one step at a time and pick one spot to start......