Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  What will you do today?

Infographic from https://elearninginfographics.com/10-ways-to-make-everyday-earth-day/

Funerals: Returning to the Earth

Sadly, we've had to attend two funerals in the past month. Never fun. It certainly puts everything into a clearer focus and makes you sharpen your priorities knowing that our time on this planet is finite.

Given we have been very much in this hyper-awareness of death in our house, I certainly paused when I saw Michael d'Estries' January 10, 202 Treehugger article: "New York Expands Green Burial Options With Human Composting."

My previous school was very eco-centric. We composted our school lunches and I brought my family's home food composting to school weekly--so I closely know how composting works. This, of course, brings almost too much inside information to the table... the thought of human composting brings about an initial "ew" factor.

New York is the sixth state to legalize human composting (which is also called natural reduction). Washington was the first in 2019, Colorado and Oregon in 2021, then California, and Vermont prior to New York in 2022.

Thinking about traditional modern burials, there's a lot of items being put into the ground: metal caskets lined with fabric. When you think about that alongside a growing population, that's a lot of "stuff." But even considering cremation can be hard for some people when it comes to considering that for a loved one. Then you add in composting? That's a lot to wrap a mind around.

But, for the avid environmentalist, it might be worth considering. In d'Estries' article, he goes through what human composting entails...and does a better job of it than I could do with summarizing it.  He also mentions companies in this field like Recompose and The Natural Funeral that specialize in natural reduction. While the price is still currently on par with traditional funerals, the longterm projection is that as more people embrace this, the costs will come down. 

To dive even deeper than the d'Estries article, click on the Recompose and The Natural Funeral links above. Then check out CNN's November 7, 2022 article "How Human Composting Could Reduce Death’s Darbon Footprint" by Kristen Rogers.

Am I ready to make this my end game plan? Not sure yet. But it is an interesting green alternative green for those who choose it as a way to reduce their waste, carbon footprint, and greenhouse gases in order to make a more sustainable impact on the Earth.

Image from https://undark.org/2022/08/18/for-a-more-sustainable-afterlife-try-human-composting/

Biodegradable Mushroom Packaging

I find that mushrooms are one of those things most people have strong feelings about--they either love them or they hate them. I personally have had a lifelong NOT love affair with them. It's a texture thing, I don't like them at all, and as my mother (a mushroom fan) will attest--I never did!

But, I think I might have found my favorite use of them yet. They are being used more and more in biodegradable packaging. As a person who has an equal detest for packaging, this may be my personal equivalent of 2 "wrongs" that do indeed make a "right." It can replace those big evil styrofoam blocks we find in hundreds of products we buy. Styrofoam, which is the branded [but more known] name for polystyrene foam, is made of plastic which comes from the limited resource of petroleum. We all know how hard that resource is hitting us at the gas pumps these days!

Using mycelium (a fungus--which, of course, is plant based--and is the root structure of mushrooms) with hemp hurd (a byproduct of the hemp fiber industry), companies such as Ecovative Design can create molds for packaging. Several years ago IKEA made a commitment to biodegradable mushroom packaging. IKEA has a deep commitment to environmental sustainability, so it should be no surprise that this is one of their initiatives. But, IKEA is not alone in in using this type of biodegradable packaging. Dell and Crate and Barrel are also on the mushroom bandwagon. Here is a video from Ecovative Design that shows the making of these mycelium molds.

When the mushroom-packed product gets to your house, you can break apart the packaging and put it out in your yard, compost, or garden and it will decompose in a few short weeks. Additionally, it adds nutrients to your soil. Styrofoam, which takes 500+ years to biodegrade and is a carcinogen, certainly can't do that.

This type of packaging being around for more than a decade. Given that, we should be seeing more of it than we do. But the good news, according to Ecovative Design's blog, they are growing (not to mention, they earned $60 million in 2021), which means it is becoming more and more commonplace. I "root" for more mushrooms than ever before! (Pun intended!😊)

Videos from https://youtu.be/zw2O1PhrzA0 and https://youtu.be/zmDENxTPn8Q and picture from https://www.sourcegreenpackaging.com/mycelium-packaging-styrofoam-alternative/

Happy Halloween.... And Pumpkin Planning Ahead for November!

Have a mighty keen, safety scene, candy cuisine, super duper Halloween!

Be safe out there this Halloween weekend!

Come Monday....

Haunted houses will have shuttered their doors.

Pumpkin patches will be harvested and sit empty.

Ghosts and goblins will float away on to vacation.

Jack-o'lantern lights will have all blown out.

Countless costumes will have been tucked away for another year.

And candy bowls have only scraps of wrapper left inside.

....Welcome to November. 

With the weekend festivities, November is a mere calendar flip ahead. Once Halloween is behind us, nature will start to settle in on your jaunty jack-o'lanterns. If the weather is warm, it might speed up the decomposition process, leaving you with a wrinkly version of Grandpa Pumpkin Jack. 

Rather than just toss your decaying, done pumpkin in the trash where it will land in a landfill, why don't you check out some of these ideas, fresh from Proptalk: Chesapeake Bay Boating. Be sure to click this link to learn more! (Unpainted pumpkins only for these reduce, reuse, recycle ideas.)

1. Compost it.
2. Turn it into a planter (great for an uncarved pumpkin).
3. Make it a "snack-o'lantern" for backyard birds.
4. Set out unseasoned seeds for treats for your yard critters.
5. Plant your own pumpkins for next year with those seeds.
6. Chunk down your pumpkin for your four legged backyard buds.
7. Make your own roasted pumpkin seeds.
8. Bake to create a serving bowl for your Thanksgiving themed events ahead.

For some fun ways to ready your pumpkin for the compost heap, check out Treehugger's "How to Host a Pumpkin Smash (And Compost Jack-O’-Lanterns)." A "pumpkin smash" might be just the fun you need way to get any frustrations out that's been stockpiling during this crazy Covid pandemic time! 

Images created at www.canva.com.

Repurposing Your Christmas Tree

Depending on when you take your tree down, this post may be in the category of "day late & dollar short." Or maybe it's perfectly-timed given you decided this was the year to hang on to holiday cheer and keep your tree up a little longer, because, well...you know...2020. Or, it could happen that the point is mute due to having an artificial tree which just goes back in the box until next year. Or perhaps this post will serve as inspiration for next year's Christmas season. 

Whichever it may be, at some point your holiday decorations come down, as does your Christmas tree. If you had a real one, you have to do something once it's stripped bare of ornaments and lights. In the past when we have had a live tree (versus the artificial one we have now that will ultimately go back into the garage), we have pulled our tree curbside for recycling & the making of mulch. Repurposing the tree in that way is a good use of resources, and be sure to watch your local municipality for its curbside-tree-dates if you decide to go that route. 

However, the thought of returning the tree to nature as a gift of the season as a respite and home for wildlife struck me as a warm one this year. Kudos goes to The Nature Conservancy of Canada for posting the idea of leaving your old Christmas tree in your backyard. In doing this, you've taken a circular loop  approach. In fact, more things should come with this kind of closed loop (or circular economy) concept. Here, instead of the "throw away and replace culture we've become used to, we'd adopt a return and renew one, where products and components are designed to be disassembled and regenerated." 

In nature, with a Christmas tree, the closed loop is simple: bring it outside. By leaving it in your backyard, especially during the winter, you've now created a habitat for birds and other backyard wildlife. You've also widened your own backyard biodiversity. All the more so if you decorate it with peanut butter and bird seed covered pine cone ornaments. 

As the tree looses the needles and starts to decompose, not only will it continue to provide shelter to animals, it also will start to break down, which ultimately will add nutrients to the soil. According to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, many fir trees break fairly quickly given the makeup of the wood. You can speed up that process by drilling holes in the tree trunk. 

If your backyard doesn't accommodate that, PickYourOwnChristmasTree.org has some other suggestions for ways to repurpose your tree. Check in with your local community to see if you can find places that would take your tree to use in these ways:

• Fish feeders in private fish ponds
• Soil erosion barriers to assist with shore stabilization 
• Hiking trail path material

Like I said, ours will be going back in the box for the next 11 months, living it's own level of closed loop here at our house. But if you have the ability to give it back to nature, the birds and your local wildlife will thank you!

Video from https://youtu.be/zCRKvDyyHmI, Decorated Christmas tree from my photos this year, downed Christmas tree image from https://www.vicnews.com/news/give-your-christmas-tree-a-second-life-by-recycling-it-in-your-back-yard/; infographic from https://medium.com/usfws/recycling-christmas-trees-for-wildlife-6dc533092d05

Snarky Tea For Me

About 3 weeks into the new school year, when pandemic-style hybrid back-to-school teaching this fall felt like running triage, a girlfriend of mine sent over the exact perfect gift for both my mood and that moment. 

It was the Sassy Sampler from Snarky Tea. (Language warning ahead!)

I'd recently run across their Facebook advertisement prior to this...perhaps the algorithm had discovered that "snarky" is indeed one of my favorite words. 

Aside from the well-timed and much-needed comic relief, it also spoke to my 3+ years of caffeine-infused tea-addiction as I had moved on from a lifetime of Diet Coke drinking. It was indeed a perfect back-to-school teacher gift, and precisely suited for 2020!

As I made my way through the sampler, putting an extra smirk behind my daily-masked-self, my day had a little extra "oomph" to it during tough times. Amazing how far a smirk and a smile can take you, especially with each sip of tea from my stainless steel straw.

The sad part of a sampler pack is that eventually you land on that last one, a dozen days later. So of course, it led me to their website with the desire to order more. Who knows, it might also make it to my Christmas gift-giving list down the line. 

As I was perusing their site, I came on some extra love when I learned that their lovely little tea sachets are also environmentally friendly. They are 100% biodegradable, made from SOILON, a corn starch and plastic free material that actually allows for excellent water flow through the tea leaves, which totally benefits your tastebuds. It has been startling to learn along my tea journey that this is not the case for many teabags (including high end brands) because a majority of tea companies "use polypropylene, a sealing plastic, to keep their tea bags from falling apart. This plastic is not recyclable or biodegradable."

Snark AND great taste AND comic relief AND environmentally friendly tea?!? Yes, this is nirvana! Not to mention, the company has a great "girl power" vibe behind the entire company. Can't argue with female empowerment! 

I happen to like their "Profani-tea" series shown above in their Sassy Sampler, but they also have wellness and cold brew teas, as well as a pumpkin spice tea just in time for fall and a pepperminty one for the December holidays ahead, all available at their shop. 

As their tagline succinctly puts it: "Health. Humor. Happiness." That's all you need! That and maybe a cup of tea!

Photo from my camera of my very own Sassy Sampler from Snarky Tea: https://www.snarkytea.com/collections/snarky-tea-samplers/products/snarky-tea-sampler-12-pyramid-bags

Climatarian Diet

I always love a good infographic. This fun one entitled "The Climatarian Diet" was created by Emiliy Ehlers (also known as "Eco With Em"). You can find her on Instagram (where she has 33K followers and it is her most active platform) as well as Facebook and Twitter . Her Instagram account is chock-filled with more like this!

You can also catch a listen of her on episode 19 of the podcast "Simply Complicated with Katie Dean."

Image from https://www.instagram.com/ecowithem_/

Compost Cab

For those of you who have been around awhile, you know I'm a fan of composting. Sadly though, I had to bid adieu to composting. Seems our compost was becoming a fine French Restaurant for all the neighborhood critters...which was not our backyard plan at all! All still perils of the closing the the greenest school in America, now almost 5 years ago!

If I lived closer to Washington, DC, I'd be sure to be in touch with Compost Cab. They could bring about the trifecta: tackle my food scraps while satisfying my environmental desire to compost... all the while without catering to the critter cafe. Yes! I could once again (to modify their tagline) be a Waste Zero Hero!

Created in 2010 by Jeremy Brosowsky and a production of Agricity, Compost Cab's mission is to help "urban agriculture thrive." Not only does it center around local, homegrown food, but it helps work to reduce waste by using that food waste to create soil!

Watch this video to learn a little more about Brosowsky & Compost Cab:


Compost Cab provides its clients with a bin for food scraps. A key component: "If it grows, it goes" (in the bin). They weekly come by to collect your compost, leaving another bin bag for your following week. Your big takeaways (as they take away your compost) is that you are reducing what's carted away to the landfill, you're helping to create soil at Engaged Community Offshoots in College Park, MD, providing great soil for local farms or community gardens.

Compost Cab also has an Education component. They will bring their "Compost Academy" and curriculum to your school to teach kids how to compost, perform "waste audits" of the school, or bring their services to your school.

Compost Cab has two goals: make it easier for people to compost, and easier for urban agriculture to thrive. They achieve these two goals by providing home and commercial composting services, and by partnering with urban farms and community gardens to build soil in the city.

To learn more about composting, check out their websites Resources, click here.

Additionally, learn more here at this Washington Post article from a couple of years ago or The Department of Energy & Environment's 2016 District Sustainability Award Winner Case Study: Compost Cab


Images: screenshot of Agricity from http://agricity.net; photo and logo from https://compostcab.com/mission/ and https://compostcab.com/#community; Video from https://youtu.be/pwSKRrrmTGw

No-Waste Thanksgiving

I don't know about your Thanksgiving traditions, but as for many Americans, I'm nearly certain they center around the food, the feast, the festivities. And usually, lots of lots of all of that. If your house is like mine--typically too much of it!

Typically, across the United States, 40% of all food goes to waste. This stems from super-sized portions at restaurants, expiration dates, over-shopping, and on holidays like Thanksgiving, planning too much for the crew coming to you.


With all of that in mind, here are some tips to go about having a no-waste Thanksgiving (and other feasts and feeding frenzies throughout the year:

FoodTank Resources:

• This statistic from FoodTank was startling:  "Each year, consumers purchase over 700 million pounds of turkey, according to the National Turkey Federation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects that 35 percent of the meat purchased does not get eaten–ending up in landfills, along with sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie, and other holiday fare."
• In addition to facts like that above, there are a slew of practical ideas you can do, down to donating your leftovers to local food banks
• FoodTank provides 14 apps to help you link your excess food to your smartphone.

RecycleNation provides 8 ideas on how hone in on your planning to help cut down on too many leftovers. They include:

• checking your guest list, 
• turkey shopping for your numbers, 
• consider going meat free, 
• watching for dishes that need special ingredients (where the rest then gets wasted), 
• making stock with the bones or using FindAComposter to repurpose that food waste,
• sending leftovers home with your guests,
• getting creative with the leftovers you are left with!
• using the dishwasher versus handwashing--it's more water efficient!

Hungry Harvest's variation to the theme is also to freeze whatever leftovers you know you aren't going to get to. Additionally, bumping up those veggies always helps! MindBodyGreen and Wild Minimalist, agree, adding in letting natural items inspire your decor (versus anything store-bought or plastic).

Popular Science also included a lot of the ideas above (including finding a composting center) and this per person serving:

• 1 lb turkey per person
• Proteins 4-8 oz (1/2 cup to 1 cup)
• Starches 4-8 oz
• Vegetables 4-6 oz

However my favorite share of theirs was their link to the Guest-imator tool, a calculator designed to help you plan your Thanksgiving menu. You plug in # eaters (by small, average, and big eaters), amount of leftovers, and the type of menu you want: "Classic Thanksgiving," "Veggie Paradise." and "Smorgasbord" w/a little bit of everything. I'm definitely going to check that one out!

Whatever you plan for this Thanksgiving ahead, may your meal be plentiful, just not overflowing! Think largely while you eat lightly--maybe still a feast for you, but lightening the load on our planet!

Clipart from http://www.lovethispic.com/image/44755/snoopy-and-charlie-brown-thanksgiving; http://clipart-library.com/snoopy-thanksgiving-cliparts.html; Guest-imator image from https://savethefood.com/guestimator; video from https://youtu.be/z1X-HWPbeD4

Kraft Heinz's Sustainability Goals for Packaging

2025 is surprisingly not that far away, when you think of it in the grand scheme of things. 7 years. That's virtually around the corner--especially for this kid, who was born in the in the last 1960s!

The 7 year goal for Kraft Heinz Company is to continue to "go green," moreso than ever before with 100% of their "packaging globally recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025." What that looks like, however, is yet to be seen as they are still crafting what their packaging will look like. But, a positive plan for our planet and its sustainability is always a good thing!! There's a great "Now This" video that details the complexities of recycling the foil packets here.

Cheers to the future of our fries, and more importantly, our ketchup!! (As the Mother Nature Network put it--this could be "the new straw" when it comes to environmental responsibility!)

Check out their Sustainability page to learn even more about the Kraft Heinz Company and their commitment toward environmental stewardship.

Image from https://www.chowhound.com/post/heinz-ketchup-packet-685706

Making the Most of Compost: Garbage to Garden

Anyone who's been hanging around for a while knows I was an avid composter back in the day, when I was teaching at Eagle Cove School. There, we had the Fort Knox of Compost... a 3-part system where we composted our school lunches, creating soil along the way. Doing so, along with our regular recycling, created virtually no classroom trash. (School-wide, we had a little more, but still, a very low-trash work environment.) Later, this compost turned to soil which was used for our greenhouse and our flower beds.

I was one of the handful of teachers who also used the school compost for my home food waste--which of course brought in a slightly different composition and quantity to the school compost bin. Being at a small school, I was widely known for my Infamous Compost Bucket, joke-worthy and legendary!

When the school closed, one of the many losses was my reliance on ECS's compost. We tried the backyard variety, but critters outsmarted us by digging under, and now it has been relegated to yard waste alone.

Given all of this, I'm in love with the Garbage to Garden program in Portland, Maine. Every community should be embracing this level of innovation.



Garbage to Garden has been a curbside compost service in Portland since 2012. The buckets are reminiscent of my own 5 gallon camo bucket! Creator Tyler Frank started it as a grassroots movement, sprung up from conversations with his roommates and put into action on a very small scale with a sign up at a local art festival. From there, it has grown to service 5,000 households, schools, and businesses from Maine to Massachusetts. Maryland! Come to Maryland! You can request cities as they are expanding, but I think I might be a bit far from their farm.

My favorite part too is that once you are on board with them, you can also request soil deliveries, created from compost. A sustainable, closed loop!

To learn more, check out Garbage to Garden's website!



 Videos from https://www.facebook.com/RobGreenfield/videos/1993363020905375/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVNzAmir4a0; All photos from https://garbagetogarden.org/

Happy 4th of July

Cheers to all of you celebrating Independence Day this year.

Check out this checklist and see what you can mark off for your celebration!

Checklist created at https://app.edu.buncee.com/buncee/a5dd5b3d606c448ea303cb6d71ea78b5, image from https://4thofjulyproducts.com/4th-of-july-quotes-and-sayings/

Bee's Wrap: Sustainable Food Storage

The buzzzz is all around...there's a new kind of food storage in town. It's from Bee's Wrap, a company created by Sarah Kaeck in 2012. And indeed, these new eco food wraps are made from organic cotton infused with beeswax, jojoba oil, and tree resin. It could be a game changer for plastic wrap as it can be washed, reused, and composted--3 things plastic wrap cannot be!

If that's not "the bee's knees," I'm not sure what is! These two videos give you an even closer look to the magic of Bee's Wrap.

 

For a more indepth story about how Bee's Wrap started, check out Sarah's video from her "About Us" page... then check out her website and consider doing some shopping!

Bee's Wrap® - Our Story from Sarah on Vimeo.

Video #1 from https://www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedVideo/videos/2186480714826132/; Video #2 from https://vimeo.com/218236674; logo from https://www.beeswrap.com/; other image from http://www.designsponge.com/2013/04/bees-wrap.html

Garbology Revisited

Garbage isn't sexy, but you certainly can learn a lot from it.

One go-to place for students to learn is My Garbology. The website opens with a clickable kid-sized quiz filled with an assortment of animated fun facts. Along the way, you need to sort out where the banana, the plastic bottle, and more should be deposited: compost, reuse, recycle, or landfill. Many of those facts and figures you click upon are startling in their statistics. Definitely good food for thought, and you will encounter a challenge or two along the way. There are also links to parents, students, and teachers, as well as many other resources on their site.

Another place to take notice of our over-consumption & garbage is the arts. Namely, the photography of Gregg Segal.  In his bio, Gregg details how he was taking pictures of his neighbor's garbage with his new camera at the age of 11. Early on, he had a vision of how garbage had an artistic quality about it. At the very least, he knew photography could capture a story worth telling, revealing volumes about our cultural values and beliefs. His work has been featured in many well-known publications

Some of his garbage/over-consumption series include:

7 Days of Garbage
Essential questions such as "where does the garbage go?" and "What happens when that space is maxed out?" were driving forces that led to this series of Gregg's. Especially when you consider that Joe "Average" American can self-generate approximately 29 pounds of garbage a week. Photographing this personalizes it and definitely brings the problem home. This series also brings home the idea that companies need to figure out a way to help with the excessiveness and build in their own circular construct of recycling to help the product go "cradle to grave"--from creation to safe and proper disposal.

  

Detritus

The vision behind this series is to highlight "a world drowning in excess." Detritus is seen as an iconic embodiment of our role as wasteful over-consumers. That "more, more, more" mentality. From Segal's description on this series: "Wandering the Earth, no place left for him in landfills, this dustbin refugee exudes pathos and regret, a vibrant reminder of our willful abuse of the planet."

Daily Bread

This series came out of his investigation of garbage. He started paying attention to both the food we were eating, and that which we were throwing away. Especially kids. Using food journals, he replicated the diets of kids, with some startling results. Makes you ponder as a parent what eating habits we are helping our kids build (and the associated health costs that processed foods lead to.)

To investigate some of his other thought-provoking series, check out his website!



Garbology definition from a google websearch https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=garbology+defined; "My Garbology" image from http://educade.org/lesson_plans/brainstorm-sustainable-activities-with-my-garbology; Greg Segal's images from his website: http://www.greggsegal.com/projects.php

Huffington Post #Reclaim Food Waste

I wrote earlier about Huffington Post Original Series "Sustainable Self."  At the time I wrote it, there were only a few videos.  Now they're up to 9 mini-movies, with the most recent posted just last week. No doubt, there's more to come.

But the Huffington Post isn't ready to just stop with sustainability.  They've got another mini-movie series called #Reclaim.

The rational behind creating #Reclaim:

• 1/3 of all food produced worldwide goes to waste.
• 800,000,000+ people go to bed hungry world wide.
• Food waste generates over 3 billion tons of greenhouse gasses.
• In America alone, 40% of the food goes uneaten due to waste.
• In America, 15+ million children do not have enough food to eat.

From their website, here is their mission through #Reclaim:

"Our food waste campaign is the latest expression of our global What's Working initiative, which aims to empower our audience to positively change the world by highlighting the art of the possible."

In addition to raising awareness, the Huffington Post also has several key action plans in motion to help petition for less food waste, tackling the distribution problems that get the food where it is needed.

Their current Youtube #Reclaim playlist is up to 15 videos:


Here are the current 15 titles to check out in the HuffPost #Reclaim series.  They were posted between July to September, 2016.

• Help Us End Food Waste
• 5 Ways To Reduce Your Food Waste
• This Chef Made Delicious Dishes From The Dumpster
• Ugly Produce Gets A Bad Rap
• Walmart's Ugly Produce Problem
• How To Start Your Very Own Worm Composting Bin At Home
• Wecyclers Is Fighting Nigeria's Waste Crisis
• This Man Only Eats Perfectly Good Food Waste
• The Rust Belt Riders Are Not Your Average Garbage Collectors
• This Company Is Putting Coffee Waste To Good Use
• These World-Renowned Chefs Are Feeding Rio's Poor
• Fighting Food Insecurity In Appalachia
• This Compost Collecting Bicycle Is Helping Reduce Food Waste In NYC
• This Company Uses Bacteria And Food Waste To Power Homes
• This Designer Uses Flower Waste To Create Truly Magical Clothing

Huffington Post's #Reclaim Youtube playlist from https://youtu.be/s5T6T6IQi2c?list=PLV6Qc21U3jVLW_vbXKlg4QKnqSMnb5imu; image from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffington-post-reclaim_us_576be8c4e4b065534f490c1f

Think Eat Save: Reducing Your Food Footprint

It's always interesting when you are living life for a week in another country.
In addition to immersing yourself in a little bit of relaxation, you get the great opportunity of seeing the sights of another culture.  Not only seeing their history, but the little things as well.

One of the very interesting sights I saw was at a buffet on a catamaran day trip we took.  Posted above the pans of amazing food dishes was the following sign:

Anyone who is a mom knows that these are the little messages we all share with our kids.  Especially at a buffet.  That whole "make sure your eyes aren't bigger than your stomach" thing.  I like that here it is a posted message of environmental awareness to help us all reduce our food footprint.

Speaking of which, here's a good video highlighting that same importance in the grocery store. It shows the journey that food goes through to get to your fridge.  Therefore, once it gets there, make sure it gets eaten and does not go to waste or compost.

Photo from my vacation camera, Video from https://www.facebook.com/TheHungerSite/posts/10153793205643366

A Tale of An Environmental Teacher

Once upon a time,....
there was a girl who taught at a very "green" school where they recycled, composted, built rain gardens, had green roofs, raised oysters, grew butterfly gardens, had an entire week dedicated to Earth Day, hosted Earth Hour events, and much much more.

She taught there for a very good long time. There, she was quite in her element, integrating curricular topics on the side of sustainability.  Her students were mesmerized by books like Operation Redwood. They graphed light usage and how long it took different items to biodegrade.  They did biographies on environmentalists such as Jacques Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, Jane Goodall, and John Muir. Her students weekly cleaned and counted Capri Suns to send back to Terracycle to reduce landfill waste. She was even rumored to have a majestic dress made entirely out of Capri Suns. Oh yes! They all ate and breathed the "green" scene.

Until one day....this wonderfully special school closed.

It was at this point the the friends/teachers/colleagues/families/students were quite saddened that they had to scatter like seeds in the wind.  Scatter they did.  They all landed well and started their next phase of happily ever after at brand new schools, public and independent, spread all over the community.

As would not be surprising, our one, same teacher gal also found a new school to call home. Here she got to embark on being the "iPad Lady," bringing new and innovative ideas to classroom teachers at her new school, helping her colleagues find ways to integrate technology and the curriculum.  And all was very good for her first new year at a new elementary school.  Not as "green" as where she'd been, but a good place to land all the same.

Then one summer day about 2 weeks before school started before her 2nd year there, our teacher was asked to do a favor. Would she kindly take on a homeroom classroom due to an unexpected leave of absence by a teacher on staff. This was quite a surprise, but of course she said yes. She embarked on both the hurry and scurry of setting up shop for the incoming students, as well as the "hurry and worry" on mentally getting her game on. She had to switch gears and go into classroom teaching mode versus just teaching tech with an office and classroom visits. It was supposed to be a short-term fill, but as often happens in this tale called "Life," more unexpected things happened, and she stayed in this spot for the whole school year.

There, with her students, she did what she knows how to do best.  She shared the importance of caring for our planet through student-driven tech investigations. She shared the concern of marine debris through mockumentaries and ocean cartoons. She read some of those same books as read-alouds that she had always read in the past. She embarked on a journey with a team of 3 other teachers to help the school become a Maryland "Green" School.  They triumphed and the designation was awarded!

Of course, as happens, the school year came to a close.  In addition to all of those eco-things, our girl helped her students prepare for the next step, write their end of the year speeches, and wrap up the year.  In return, her students surprised her with a very remarkable gift.  Based on her love on the environment, and their love for her, she was given a sizable donation in her name to a local environmental charity, promoted to conserving the Chesapeake Bay.  A gift was given that will keep on giving. The donations will continue forward to help further more environmental programs.

As her son once said in Kindergarten:  "Mom, it's all physics.  The world loves a circle."

A circle indeed. Those seeds that scattered to the wind with the closing of a school, had been sown. More environmental stewards had been grown. The circle of conservationism and environmental sustainability continued to grow outwards.

A circle indeed.  For the love shared and the love spread was more touching than I can describe.   I should know.  I know that girl, that teacher, very very well.

Thank You! Which, of course, is a most delightful way to "End."

GTG logo from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/; Capri Sun dress from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/2015/10/halloween-blasts-from-pasts.html; Michael Recycle costume image from http://www.greenteamgazette.com/2011/10/bein-green-this-halloween.html; CBF image attributes noted above & from https://www.cbf.org/join-us/tribute-gift-e-card?eCardViewKey=5a011206-1af7-4baf-afe6-f1174581b099

Summertime Cheers: Composting!

There are definite items for me that just scream "SUMMER!" (Maybe in the same way Mel Gibson in Braveheart screams "FREEDOM!"):

-No doubt, for me (& all teachers): The countdown to the last few days of school, & of course, the official last day of school. 

-Memorial Day Weekend = The Gateway to Summer.

-The opening of our backyard, pool--nothing extravagant, but mine!

-Heat! Sun! (Especially after an incredibly rainy Spring).

-Vegetables & fresher, cleaner eating.'

-Time!  (To cut all of those extra veggies! Not to mention, read books and do all those other things I can't quite fit into the school year.)

-Tank tops, shorts, bare feet, & breaking out the non-classroom summer wardrobe.

Today, I had one of those "Summer" moments mentioned above, where it definitively felt like we had arrived.  Chopping some vegetables for some folks who were coming over, I was collecting up the leafy ends of the celery and the centers of the peppers. I was chomping on the ugly carrots that weren't pretty enough to make the veggie tray display. And I was delighting in the fact that I could walk those leafy discards to our backyard compost.  As I told my 5th graders a few weeks ago, I'm the unusual one (the eco-warrior they'd come to know and love) that was tickled pink with the backyard composter that I got this year for Mother's Day.

After nearly 2 years away from the Fort Knox of Compost at my former school, I'd been missing it.

When you have had the 7-year experience of teaching at a mega "green" school where they compost daily... and where I had the infamous "Dabrowka Bucket" of compost that I brought to school weekly for six of those years... this compost-creation of soil had been a part of me.  It was summer salads that had initiated our compost bucket--a 5 gallon green camo bucket that became infamous at our school. I remember the sadness I felt when we learned that the school would be closing.  Yes, it was my home away from home, the safe haven of schooling for my own kids, my place with my people, and a spot where all of us had grown up and grown together. But a part of my melancholy in leaving was also in knowing I'd have to retire my li'l camo compost bucket, which was another huge part of that school & its history for me.

I'd been feeling the last 2 years that I'd been letting the planet down with all of those watermelon rinds and waste-food going to the live in the landfill.  It had pained me a little bit, every time I took another bag of "green" garbage to our trash can.  Paper towels I think were my worst guilty-inducing offender.

But now, thanks to Mother's Day love, I can just walk all that out the back door, deposit my veggie scraps, & smile.

It's the little things in life that make us happy.

Summertime cheers to my veggies, my composter, & the fact that my personal shade of green just got a li'l bit darker!

Images from http://media.photobucket.com/user/JesusFreak783/media/world%20history/Braveheart-7.jpg.html?filters[term]=braveheart%20freedom&filters[primary]=images; "Compost" lettering from http://www.sibrecsa.fr/images/compostage/illus-compostage-02.jpg; compost pic from my own camera.

Eco Wins & Eco Losses: Hotel Style

A week or so ago we did a pre-Valentine's Day get away to a cute town not far away, rich with quirky
shops and fun meanderings, in and out.

Kids and dog at grandparent's house. Check.

Just the two of us, and clearly from the giddiness I carried with me, it's been far too long since I've been "away."   I was please as punch with both a comfy room, a hotel with a pool & hot tub, a darn tasty breakfast, and a nice little street fair to boot. Yes, a nice get away, indeed!

Heading back to the breakfast, I was impressed with the plates, cups, & bowls with their "Sustainable Forestry Initiative" logos, and message stamped on each one saying that they were recyclable. Superb! Just how it should be!

Until....

I noticed that on the buffet (right next door to the plates) there was a bowl of individually-wrapped apples. Wrapped in plastic, 1 for 1. Ack?!!! Apples have a natural packaging! It's called skin!! Which caused me to ponder: "Do we seriously live in a world that's so germaphobe/clean-a-phobe that we need to individually wrap apples in plastic wrap?!"

I guess so.

Insert huge sigh here.

Unfortunately from here, the cosmic eco-miss continued. In this hotel, dedicated enough to advertise on logo-ed plates that they care for our planet enough to provide sustainable paper-ware, I was struck by the fact that there was one receptacle in the dining area. Well, two really, though two identical ones. Ones that looked far more like a traditional trash can than any sort of environmentally-friendly recycle bin. Long live co-mingling food scraps and recyclable products (she says sarcastically).

So, as I bid my plastic-ware, recyclable plates, and food scraps into the abyss of the trash bin, I bid a welcome to my wares to a long life in their future new home--the ever-lasting "sustainable" landfill.

Another mega sigh.

The irony: the weekend we were away is the weekend of my annual eco-mecca.  It's the equivalent my Superbowl.  The annual environmental conference at MAEOE (= Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education). For the first time in 7 years, I was not there. And while I was certainly having a delightful weekend away with my husband, I found myself pondering: "Why are we still here, in 2016?  Why am I writing about plastic wrapped apples, 5.5 years after I've written about that all before? When will we figure out that plastic wrap is a terrible drain on a non-renewable resource. When are we going to realize, as a society, that there is no "away?" Why do we keep throwing it all away... and when will we ever learn?

Increasingly, I'm worried that the answer to that question is, "When it's too late."

Heart M&Ms from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valentine%27s_day_M%26Ms_in_the_shape_of_a_heart_(8418026760).jpg,
Logo from Sustainable Forestry Initiative from http://www.sfiprogram.org/, 
apples pic from http://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xta1/t51.2885-15/s640x640/sh0.08/e35/12383282_1667284903531976_327338431_n.jpg; MAEOE logo from http://maeoe.org/2015-mdgs-awards/

No Impact, Man?!

When you hear the words "no impact," what does that mean?

Well, if you go online and search out a definition for "impact," this is what you get:

"noun:
1. the striking of one thing against another; forceful contact; collision: The impact of the colliding cars broke the windshield.

2. an impinging: the impact of light on the eye.

3. influence; effect: the impact of Einstein on modern physics.

4. an impacting; forcible impinging: the tremendous impact of the shot

5. the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or ideology: the impact of the industrial revolution.verb (used with object)

6. to drive or press closely or firmly into something; pack in.

7. to fill up; congest; throng: A vast crowd impacted St. Peter's Square.

8. to collide with; strike forcefully: a rocket designed to impact the planet Mars.

9. to have an impact or effect on; influence; alter: The decision may impact your whole career. The auto industry will beimpacted by the new labor agreements.verb (used without object)

10. to have impact or make contact forcefully: The ball impacted against the bat with a loud noise.

11. to have an impact or effect: Increased demand will impact on sales."

"NO Impact" clearly means the opposite.

Which lands us upon "No Impact Man."

"No Impact Man" was a movie, documentary, experiment on NOT making an impact on the environment.  Like I said: it's a book, it's a movie, it's a blog.  It could even be called a way of life.

There's even a follow-up with "How To Be Alive: A Guide to the Kind of Happiness that Helps the World"

It even made its way to the world of podcast (and a very good one at that):  "The Good Life Podcast, Colin Beavan: No Impact Man on How to Be Alive"

From Bill McKibben via Amazon:  "This is the book where self-help turns into helping the world—and then turns back into helping yourself find a better life. Fascinating and timely!"

A good read I can't wait to read!  Or watch!


You can buy the movie from the website, or rent or buy it from Amazon.


Dictionary definition from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/impact; Images from http://noimpactproject.org/experiment/ and http://envs1010f11.bgsu.wikispaces.net/Alex+Hoffman; video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ctt7FGFBo