Making a Commitment to Make Things Better...One Step at a Time

Change is never easy.  Sometimes we don't change because we don't think there's a reason to change.  Or we don't know there's a reason to change.

And sometimes we do know...but it's easier not to change.  Or so we think.

A lot of things in our society are 'convenient'.  I run a Terracycle program at our Elementary School.  Terracycle has had a brigade called the 'Home Storage' brigade for a while now.  It is sponsored by Ziploc, who recently decided to end their sponsorship.  So the brigade is going away...slowly, a few schools at a time, in the reverse order of when you signed up.  Since we were one of the first to sign up, we were one of the first to go.  Not having this brigade around is upsetting a lot of people.  REALLY upsetting people.  Enough that they are willing to write letters to Glad and Hefty and ask them to take on sponsorship of the brigade.

So this has me thinking and wondering.  Are Ziploc bags really that much more 'convenient' than anything else?  When I started becoming aware of how much plastic our family disposed of, I made a commitment to stop buying ziploc-type bags.  When the last one came out of the box, that was it.  I bought 2 sandwich containers for my sons to take to school and we saved some empty butter containers to use as snack containers.  We've lived Ziploc-free for over a year now and it doesn't feel any less 'convenient' to me.  If I were going to do it over again today, knowing what I know now, I would probably buy stainless-steel sandwich containers instead of the plastic ones I bought back then, but when I see all of the Ziploc bags being thrown away every day at school, it makes me glad that I took that one small step.

And now this act by Ziploc gives me another chance to spread the word.  You can survive without your Ziploc bags.  Some people tell me they still wash and reuse their Ziploc bags and I think that's great, but I still ask them when that last bag comes out of the box to consider a better alternative.  In turn, they tell me that I shouldn't buy butter in plastic containers and indeed, they are right!  So we encourage each other and help each other along the way.

I also think that if you are passionate enough to write letters to companies asking them to sponsor your desire to keep using and discarding (and then Terracycling) your plastic bags, you should be passionate enough to ask them to think of better alternatives, too.  I grew up as a fast-food kid and have a guilty-pleasure of taking my sons to Chick-Fil-A on occasion (please don't shoot me for this!), but every time I go there, the styrofoam cups drive me insane!  So I write to them.  I've probably written 20 letters so far, but the response I always get is that they feel that styrofoam is 'overall' the best environmental choice they could make.  I disagree, so I no longer buy drinks if I take my boys there.  And I find that we go there less and less often now.  For a while, I would buy the drinks, feel so guilty, and save the rinsed out cups.  My mom would take them and use them as packaging when she shipped things for her small business.  Somehow this allowed me to feel less guilty.  But the last time I handed her a stack of cups, I knew the insanity had to stop!  Like a smoker who knows it's their last puff, I quit, cold-turkey!  I made a commitment and declared it out loud to my family:  "We will no longer buy drinks in styrofoam cups!"  It is our latest commitment and for 2 months now, it has stuck.  It makes me proud when my sons say, "We don't like styrofoam because it never goes away.  And animals eat it and get sick.  And some die."  They get it.  They made the commitment with me.

We're not perfect.  We go to Rita's water ice for a treat.  Yep...it comes in disposable paper cups.  No, it's not the healthiest treat in the world.  But every time we go (which is not very often because it is an expensive treat for a family of 5!) now, we take our own spoons.  And we are not shy about it.  People see our spoons and say, 'What a great idea!  That's something I can do.'  And that's the whole point.

The other day someone wrote on my Facebook wall that she was happy to report that her son no longer uses straws because he was inspired by the story I told him about Milo.  (http://www.bestrawfree.org)  And he is passing the word on to others!

Do something good.  Make a commitment.  Inspire others.

We're not perfect, but together, we'll get there.  One commitment at a time.

Random Environmental Thoughts

Sustainability....one of the latest buzzwords.  I just got back from the 'Tri-County Sustainable Communities Forum' that was hosted by Sustainable Cherry Hill and Sustainable Jersey.  I had to push myself outside of my comfort zone on several levels to attend this event:  First, I had to drive on some really big highways (Ok, I'll admit, anything more than 3 lanes in each direction gets my heart beating a little faster - and these were 4 lanes!  With 'roundabouts'!  And I'm more of a backroads kinda' gal, but I did it!!  One hurdle down!).  Then I had to walk into a huge room full of people who I did not know and mingle.  Talk.  Meet people.  OK, this wasn't as hard as I thought thanks to the many kind and accepting people that the event drew.  So I came away with a few more friends who are walking the walk with me, adding up our footsteps to make a bigger impression in the world.  I reached out.  It wasn't easy, but I did it......and it wasn't as hard as I thought - I actually enjoyed it!  One of my favorite things about sustainability is community - we're all in this together.

Which led me here and then I caught up with one of my favorite blogs, from another fellow friend who is walking the walk and talking the talk, and I'm so honored to read that he includes me among his inspiration - Thanks, Dave!!!: 
http://responsibleplastic.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/why-you-should-read-this-blog/#comment-113

 And it truly brings me full-circle, because I see that these connections are part of the bigger picture.  It reminds me of the Cheers song:  "Sometimes you wanna' go...where everybody knows your name.  And they're always glad you came."  That's how I feel among all of you and that's how I know that I'm in the right place, doing the right thing.

Because I'm not always among friends.  This week, I went to a screening of a documentary entitled 'Crude' at our local library.  It tells the story of the indigenous people of Ecuador's battle against Texaco/Chevron for environmental and health devastation that has taken place in Ecuador.  It was eye-opening for me since I didn't know much about that struggle, but it was a familiar struggle that I've seen in several documentaries that I've watched recently.  David vs. Goliath in the war on the environment.  So at the end of the movie, I grab a chocolate chip cookie and turn around with a man, much taller than myself, standing less than 6 inches in front of my face.  He proceeds to tell me how much I scare him.  Me and all of the environmentalists like me.  (I know some of you have never seen me, but at 5'4" and with the voice of a 1st grader, I'm hardly a threat!).  This man was about 20 years older than me and was singing the praises of drilling in Marcellus Shale (a local fracking site) and telling me that reusable bags spread e-coli.  I opened my mouth to speak, but he immediately filled the air with more reasons why environmentalists are 'dangerous'.  The library received angry e-mails saying that they had a 'pro-green conspiracy' for even showing the film.  "What exactly is a 'pro-green conspiracy' anyway?", I wanted to ask.  "You non-environmentalists scare me!" I wanted to say....but never got the chance.  There would have been an opportunity for real discussion here if the man stuck around to hear what I had to say.  But I guess I was too scary, so he told his side and left.

Leaving.....why do we leave?  Why do we turn a blind eye?  Thankfully, I have met many, many people who do not want to turn away.  They want to know more.  They want to find out what they can do.  They come to me, because I know some things and they want me to know everything.  Sadly, I don't.  I started a Terracycle program at our school.  It's doing very well.  People want to Terracycle everything.  I asked for e-waste and put out a detailed letter stating that we could only take cell phones, mp3 players, cameras and laptops.  The first day, I got a Cuisinart coffee bean grinder.....that still works!  It's been very interesting collecting trash for Terracycle.  People trust me.  They trust that I will do the right thing with their discarded items.  They know that even if it can't be Terracycled or recycled, I will try to find a responsible thing to do with it.  Sometimes I can, as is the case with the coffee bean grinder, and sometimes I can't, as is the case with MOST plastic items that people give me with the hope that I can make it disappear.  How I wish I could wave that magic wand, click my heels and make it all go away.  How my husband wishes this, too (so he could get all of these hopeful items out of our garage)!  I can't.  But I think we ALL can...working together, piece by piece, until we are truly living in a society that is sustainable.  The path isn't always easy (and many times it feels like 'the long and winding road').  It usually isn't a profitable path.  I know many, like myself, who volunteer a lot of time to this cause, never seeking compensation.

To all of these friends, I offer one of my favorite poems of all time, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

Say CHEESE!!!

Last year, I started a TerraCycle program at our Elementary School.  In case you haven't heard of TerraCycle, they take your trash and upcycle it into cool new stuff....find out more here:  http://www.terracycle.net .

Well now I have a reason to love them EVEN MORE....because they have a new CHEESE BRIGADE!!!!!!!!

We all know about America's obsession with cheese...and along with that cheese comes a lot of plastic.  So until a more environmentally-friendly packaging comes along, it's great that the packaging no longer has to sit in a landfill or pollute our Earth!

So if you are saving your trash for me, start adding your cheese wrappers, please!!!!!!

And if you eat a lot of cheese, consider finding a TerraCycle Brigade or starting one of your own!

SAY CHEESE!!!!!! :)

Healthy snacks that are good for the Earth, too!

I just watched a link featuring "Healthy summer snacks for kids"...you can view it here:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=resources%2Flifestyle_community%2Ffood%2Frestaurants&id=7467176

It reminds me of the irony that I'm faced with so many times when trying to find eco-friendly solutions.  It's so great that they featured ecolunchboxes.com and their reusable lunchboxes.  The irony is that the hosts of the show are gushing over the "cute packaging" of the space-age, NASA-designed applesauce pack and ProBug pack which go in the exact opposite direction of what ecolunchboxes is really all about.

I wonder why they didn't mention that you could fill one of the reusable containers with applesauce or yogurt and be just as healthy and also good to the planet.  Or better yet, you could pack an apple with no packaging at all!  I'm a mom of 3 boys with very big appetites.  I completely understand the need for convenience.  I know we need to have quick snacks for our kids that are healthy and nutritious.  But we need to stop buying into all the 'cuteness' and 'convenience' that is being sold and realize that the best snacks we can send our kids are really the simplest ones:  grapes, apples, oranges, bananas, carrots, etc.

I mentioned the words "waste-free lunch" at a recent PTO meeting and was met with gasps and replies that it would never happen at our school.  Why not?  Is it really that hard?  Or have we just been brainwashed to believe it is?

As the TerraCycle coordinator for my school, I see first-hand how much is thrown away each day from the students' lunches.  When I collect juice pouches to be upcycled by TerraCycle, half of them are at least 30% full (and a juice pouch isn't very big to begin with!) and some are completely sealed with the straw still in the wrapper when they are thrown in the TerraCycle bin.  I think not only about how many resources could be saved, but also how much money could be saved by hard-working parents if they would only realize how much better it would be to send a reusable bottle for their child's drink.  Whatever is left can be saved for later or they can adjust the amount they send based on what is being brought home each day.

The same is true for chip bags.  I collect several each week that haven't even been opened and many more that are half full when they are "thrown away".

Is that convenient?  Is the convenience worth the waste that comes with it?

Lugging cases of juice pouches and bottled water home from the big-box store doesn't seem any easier to me than pre-filling a few reusable bottles each week.

What if the school glamourized fruits and vegetables the way they do chips, cookies and ice cream?  What if instead of moldy bananas and half-bruised apples the kids could choose from fresh fruits and veggies?  That's the world I hope for.  Our kids need us to wake up from the marketing blitz and help them make better choices....for their health and the health of the planet!

Supersized Everything - Waste Included

Glad to be back after a bit of a break!  I'm in MD staying with my parents.  I am finding a lot of food for blogging down here, though! :)

We stopped at McDonald's for ice cream cones last night.  For 3 ice cream cones, they gave us 27 napkins!  Not an exaggeration and not a misprint!  Here's a picture:

Now my boys are messy, but even they don't need 9 napkins for 1 ice cream cone (a very tiny ice cream cone at that)!

We visited Applebee's and the boys were given the plastic kids' cups with lids and straws.  When they asked for a refill and tried to give the waitress their cups, she set them down and brought them brand new plastic cups....?!?  So instead of 3 plastic cups, lids, straws (which was bad enough), we ended up with 5 of each...for 1 visit.

And then there was our visit to Walmart.  We all love low prices, but sometimes you have to wonder at what price these low prices come.  But now TerraCycle has partnered with Walmart, so it makes me want to give them a chance.  Well, the Walmart that I visited here didn't have any TerraCycle items to be found and when I asked 2 of the workers, they looked at me like they had never heard of TerraCycle before...so I wasn't off to a good start.  I did need some allergy meds., though, so I purchased a few things while I was there.  When I pulled out my reusable bag to ask the lady in the 'less than 20 items' lane to use it, she shook her head 'No' and told me to push my items up and she was shoving them as quickly as she could into her plastic bag.  All around me, I watched carts piling up with tons of plastic bags....it seems that Walmart has  a policy of only putting 5 items in a bag, no matter what their size.  Some people had what looked like 10 plastic bags for what I'm guessing was no more than 30 items.  ?!?  Did I mention that the entire Walmart store smells like badly offgassing plastic?  What is that all about?  They are not really doing much to improve my impression of them, although I do realize that their prices are hard to beat and there are many people who depend on them for cheaply priced items.  I have a love / hate relationship with Walmart.  I really want to love them, but I keep finding more reasons to hate them.  I guess this story is to be continued...

And I now have 3 letters to sit down and write.  I'm hoping they will be taken seriously.  Have you ever written a letter to a company and gotten a really great or satisfying response?

What's your Walmart story?  What do you think about fast food and restaurant waste?  Lots more food for thought....

TerraCycle - turn your trash into treasure!

The very best way to eliminate trash is to use less and eliminate it at the source.  But let's face it:  we're not all perfect.  So there are things we throw away that can't be recycled.  But there's a big list of things that can be TerraCycled!  TerraCycle will take your trash and turn it into something useful...and they'll even pay your charitable organization for it!

This year, I started some TerraCycle brigades at our Elementary School.  If you don't want to start a brigade yourself, check with a local school (colleges included) to see if they have a program you could donate to.  

Here's what our school collects:

• Juice pouches
• Chip bags
• Cookie wrappers
• Energy bar wrappers
• Yogurt cups
• Kashi products
• Huggies wrappers
• Scott brand wrappers
• Scotch tape dispensers and rolls
• Candy bar wrappers
• Elmer's glue containers
• Bear Naked granola wrappers
• Aveeno tubes
• Neosporin tubes
• Margarine/spread tubs

Whew!  There are even more brigades available.  You can check it out at http://www.terracycle.net/ .


I'd be willing to bet you have at least one of these items in your house during the course of a month.  If not, way to go - you are doing a great job at waste reduction!  If yes, wouldn't it be great to give your trash another life before it hits the landfill?  You can check out some of the cool things that TerraCycle makes at their website.  In April, they will have lots of their products on sale at WalMart stores across the country.


Our school has raised almost $50 for just a few months worth of trash (much more waiting to be sent in and counted!), but even better, we've saved hundreds of chip bags, hundreds of yogurt cups and almost 2,000 juice pouches from being landfilled.


Start TerraCycling today!!!