The Red, White, and Green

Photo via Flickr: Clean Wal-Mart

Most of you know by now that I’m not really big on buying things just for the sake of buying, even if those things are eco-friendly. There’s an interesting theory out there that the biggest contributor to global warming is not the incandescent bulbs in our homes or the gasoline in our cars — it’s all the stuff we buy.

Even so, I admit that when it comes to Valentine’s Day, part of me says, What a load of consumerist crap; while the other part of me says, Hey, where’s my chocolate? I’m not a total grinch, after all. And I do love chocolate.

But when it comes to the Valentine’s green gift guides floating around out there in the blogosphere, a lot of the stuff makes me cringe. Organic flowers shipped across the country? Panty sets made from recycled pine tree fiber? I hate to see green reduced to little more than a creative marketing tool.

Instead, why not use your own creativity to plan a thoughtful V-Day for your sweetie, without buying something you don’t need (even if it is green)? A few fun ideas:

Breakfast in bed. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better way to pamper someone than the classic, home-cooked B in B (to my husband: hint, hint!). Some delicious and festive ideas: eggs benedict with red chile hollandaise, heart pancakes, or a french toast casserole.

Romantic picnic. If you live somewhere warm, pack a cooler with tomato and mozzarella sandwiches, a bottle of wine, and a chocolatey dessert. Then, hit your local state park or beach for a picnic. If you’re in a colder climate, pack it all in a basket and spread a blanket on the floor of your living room for an indoor outing. (Nice touch: Download a “nature sounds” track from iTunes to play in the background.)

Movie marathon. Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, so why not whip up a big batch of spicy cinnamon sugar popcorn and crawl back into bed for a rom-com movie marathon? (Or go for an anti-V-Day flick fest; check out the Syfy channel’s scary lineup for this Sunday.) Of course, you can also rent DVDs from your local library, video store, or use Netflix on demand.

Cupid cocktail party. If you’re single or just feel like adding more merriment to the mix, why not invite over a few friends and whip up a big batch of Valentine’s-inspired libations? Cut costs by making it a potluck: Ask each guest to bring a favorite drinking snack.

And the best part about all of these ideas: They’re perfect for all you procrastinators (myself included) who haven’t yet decided what to get your honey for Valentine’s Day!

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Oh, and don’t forget to send Valentine’s e-cards instead of paper cards to your friends and family. Check out the stylish ones at Cocodot.

Related posts:
How to give gifts without giving ’stuff’
Green goods

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Photo via Flickr: Plindberg

Well, it all started with a rant about shrink-wrapped magazines. Three hundred and sixty-five days and 205 blog posts later, I’m thrilled to wish my little green baby a happy first birthday. I don’t see it as coincidence that my March issue of Marie Claire (the very one I complained about one year ago today) arrived yesterday without a plastic sleeve and with the address stamped on the cover — the world has become a lot more environmentally aware in the past year, and so have I.

I receive a lot of emails from people who think I know all the answers, but this blog has been a learning experience for me, too. I always considered myself an environmentalist, but sitting down and writing about it on an almost daily basis has forced me to take a much closer look at the way I live and the products I buy. Every day, I learn something new about how I can be a better steward of the earth; and inevitably, I say the same thing: “Why didn’t I think of doing this before?”

So, in honor of making it successfully to this milestone, I thought it’d be fun for me to share with you how I’ve personally become greener in a year’s time. Here, 12 things I’m doing now that I wasn’t doing this time last year — one for every month since I started this blog.

1. I’m meatless on Mondays. Actually, I now eat vegetarian about 75 percent of the time. When I do buy meat, dairy, or eggs, it’s organic and grass-fed all the way.

2. I bring my reusable water bottle with me everywhere. I used to grab the occasional bottle of water if I was out and about, but now I’d sooner go thirsty than buy a bottle of Dasani. If I forget my bottle, I find a water fountain or wait till I can have a glass of water at a cafe or restaurant.

3. If I have to buy packaged foods, I choose ones that are BPA-free. That means canned beans from Eden Organic, tomato paste in glass jars from Bionaturae, and soups in aseptic packaging from Pacific Foods and Dr. McDougall’s.

4. I collect vegetable scraps to put in my curbside compost collection bin.

5. I’m shopping more at the farmers market. I’ve been buying organic since 1994 (well, or guilt-tripping my family into buying organic, since I was in high school then). After reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma this year, I realized that organic alone is not enough; supporting local agriculture is just as important.

6. I try to avoid buying genetically modified foods and products whenever possible.

7. When it’s time for presents, I try to give experiences over “stuff.“ Take anniversaries: My husband and I have cooled it on the tchotchkies and opt for a romantic dinner out or treat ourselves to a couple of massages instead.

8. I only buy wine with a real cork.

9. I’ve replaced all the lights in my apartment with CFLs. It’s ugly, but my electricity bill is really low. I’m working on finding better looking alternatives.

10. I canceled my gym membership. And I haven’t gained a pound. I walk or hike outside, ride my bike, and hit the yoga studio a couple of times a week. No electricity required, and I get my daily dose of vitamin D.

11. When there’s a new book I want to read, I don’t buy it — I borrow it from the local library.

12. I’ve finally given up the Pantene (or hair crack, as I like to call it). The closest eco alternative I’ve found so far is Giovanni’s Smooth as Silk shampoo and conditioner. My hair doesn’t look quite the same, though, especially since I’ve been testing solid shampoos.

Thanks to all of you for your comments, insight, and support along the way. I couldn’t have made it this far without you! OK, I’m going to go bake that cake now…

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Woodleywonderworks

I now eat vegetarian 75 percent of the time. My husband, while he’s embraced Meatless Monday and definitely reduced the amount of meat in his diet (thanks, in part, to my trick of buying smaller cuts of meat and filling the void with more veggies and complex carbs), isn’t quite ready to eat vegetarian dinners three nights a week. But since we cook almost every night, it’s been a real challenge finding a way to feed us both without having to preparing two separate meals.

My friend Andrea has the same dilemma, and she came up with this brilliant solution: To avoid cooking two meals, she makes dinners where the meat can easily be added, like a vegetarian pasta dish with a few meatballs on the side for him, or a grilled vegetable medley where he’ll throw on a steak and she’ll add a meaty portobello. No muss, no fuss, and either partner can easily cook this way for the other.

Since I mentioned this tip on HuffPost last week, several people have asked for more meal suggestions. (I guess I’m not the only one out there who’s half of a vegetarian/omnivore couple.) You asked for it, you got it! (Toyota?)

Individual pizzas. Buy ready-made personal-sized pizza crusts, and let family members add their own mix of toppings: sliced pepperoni for the meat-eaters, and mixed veggies for you.

Homemade soup. Whip up a big batch of lentil soup, and cook a few sausages on the side that can be sliced and added to individual servings. This works with almost any soup: Make a side of shredded chicken for vegetarian tortilla soup, chunks of pancetta for split pea, or chop up a little smoked kielbasa for a kale and white bean stew.

Chopped salad. Depending on what’s in season, toss together a hearty chopped salad to which you can later add chicken or grilled shrimp. My favorite is based on a recipe from one of my favorite lunch spots in LA, Toast Bakery Cafe (romaine, tomatoes, jicama, corn, garbanzo beans, avocado, and mozzarella). Don’t forget to serve with crusty bread and plenty of butter.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: For more recipe ideas, check out The Adaptable Feast: Satisfying Meals for the Vegetarians, Vegans, and Omnivores at Your Table (Sasquatch Books, 2009).

More Meatless Monday posts:
WATCH: Meatless Monday goes to the farmers market
5 tips for sticking with Meatless Mondays

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Tomorrow is supposed to be the first sunny day in Los Angeles after a brutal week of storms, so I know it might be a bit hard to persuade you to spend some time indoors; but the Go Green Expo only comes to LA once a year, and that once a year is this weekend. Everything has to dry out anyway, and it’s going to be sunny for months on end now — come on, you really don’t want to miss this.

I went yesterday (B2B and press day only) so I could give you all a sneak-preview, and while I certainly had fun nibbling my share of fair-trade chocolate and checking out the new 2010 Honda Insight, I really think the speaker panels are where it’s at. The one I attended was moderated by Planet 100 host Sarah Backhouse and featured eco-futurist John Picard, and I was really inspired to hear Picard’s message of working to become a green “rock star” in whatever field of work you’re in. If you’re already doing what you love, whether it’s running a restaurant or walking dogs, then fabulous — use that as your platform to raise environmental awareness.

The speaker schedule for today and Sunday promises to be equally as stellar and even more eco-star-studded: Ed Begley Jr., Mariel Hemingway, Mayim Bialik, Paul Pelosi, and Anna Getty, to name a few. And while you’re waiting to see them, you can check out the 300-plus booths showcasing cool green products and companies, take a free yoga class, see films from the Blue Planet Film Festival, or grab some local fare and a tipple at the restaurant and wine tasting pavilion.

Tickets are available at the door for $10 (weekend pass); children under 12 are free. If you don’t live in LA, don’t fret — the Go Green Expo comes to New York City, Philadelphia, and Atlanta later this year.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Nexeus Fatale

I’m a big Freecycle fan. With its “one man’s trash is another’s treasure” concept, it helps keep waste out of landfills and inspires goodwill in the community, since all unwanted items are given away for free, rather than sold. There’s also a “wanted” section of the site where people can post for items they’re seeking. This can be helpful, I suppose, if you’re trying to find a match for your gently used Snuggie, but I’ve always wondered if people ever took advantage and asked for, say, a gently used BMW.

Well, wonder no longer: Evidently with Christmas fast approaching and the economy in the toilet, some Freecyclers are getting greedy, turning the message boards into a personal holiday wishlist.

From the email I received last week via the Los Angeles Freecycle moderators:

With the holiday season upon us, we anticipate a surge in the list of
WANTED posts. We get many Wanteds for expensive items. Occasionally some member will be willing to part with a treadmill, iPhone, nice furniture, a nice camper. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with asking for something you can use. But perhaps it’s time to ratchet down our expectations…. Freecycle’s aim is to keep tangible items from filling up our dumps.

I’ll admit, it kind of makes me chuckle to think that someone actually believes he’s going to get a shiny new iPhone via Freecycle (but I suppose stranger things have happened). It’s not a laughing matter, though: The moderators who sort through all these postings work for free, and advertising for unrealistic items just clogs up the process and undoubtedly results in frustrated Freecyclers with no other alternative but the dump.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Aside from not posting for frivolous items, you can help your local Freecycle community by becoming a moderator for the site. Click here to learn how.

Related post:
Reduce, reuse, Freecycle

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Two weeks before you have to squeeze yourself into an Herve Leger bandage dress for your brother’s New Year’s Eve wedding is probably not the best time to be stuffing yourself with potato latkes, but what the hell: It’s the third day of Chanukah and I’ve got a glut of sweet potatoes in the refrigerator. Besides, latkes just happen to be the perfect Meatless Monday meal.

This sweet potato version is in season right now, packed with vitamin A and other powerful antioxidants, and aside from being fried, is actually quite nutritious. Instead of frying, you can bake them on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 40 minutes (flip halfway through), but I say in the spirit of Chanukah, why not celebrate the miracle of oil? Just feel free to chase them with a glass of red wine if you’re having them for dinner tonight.

Since I’ve got gluten-sensitive family members, I substituted rice flour for wheat in the recipe below. You can’t tell the difference.

Sweet Potato Latkes
3 medium sweet potatoes, coarsely grated
1/2 onion, chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
canola oil

Wash and peel sweet potatoes. Using a box grater or ultra course grater, shred potatoes into a large bowl. Add onion, egg, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Stir thoroughly until well blended. In a large skillet, add enough oil to generously coat bottom and heat on high until glistening. Drop potato mixture by rounded spoonfuls into pan; press with back of spoon to flatten. When edges appear brown and crisp, flip and cook for a minute or two more. Remove from pan and place on paper towels or a brown paper grocery bag (clever reuse!) to drain. Serve immediately, or place on a cookie sheet in a warm oven until you’ve fried up the whole batch.

My favorite is to serve them topped with crème fraîche and chives (especially glamorous for a holiday party), but they’re also delicious with sour cream or apple sauce. Enjoy for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner. B’tayavon!

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Need more inspiration for Meatless Monday? Sign up to have weekly recipes delivered to your inbox via Eater’s Digest.

More Meatless Monday posts:
Meatless Monday: Crustless rainbow chard quiche
Meatless Monday: Dr. McDougall’s BPA-free, vegan soups

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Image via Paperless Post; www.paperlesspost.com

Last week, I received a truly beautiful online invitation to a holiday party. In fact, so stylish was this evite — complete with a shimmery virtual envelope that “opened” when I clicked on it — that it made me rethink whether you could send a wedding invitation via email.

The company is called Paperless Post, and even though the site is still in beta, it’s already received a boatload of press, including write-ups in Vogue, The New York Times, W, and Lucky. And no wonder; as I discovered while hunting down a suitably elegant evite for my brother’s bachelor party (I’m the best “man,” and he requested a nice dinner in lieu of the traditional debauchery), it’s slim pickings out there when it comes to online invites with any real aesthetics.

So if you’re a procrastinator and haven’t yet sent out that invite for your holiday party — or are scoping invitations for your next dinner party or whatnot — save some trees and design a custom evite with Paperless Post. It’s free to join, and you only pay for the invitations you send. The prices are incredibly reasonable, too: You get 25 free “stamps” when you sign up (each stamp is good for one invite), and 100 stamps thereafter will set you back a whopping 8 bucks.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: While you’re at it, do you really need to mail holiday greeting cards this year, just so people can take one look at your signature and then toss the card in the trash? Send an online holiday card via Paperless Post instead, and help save 2.5 million trees a year.

Related posts:
Green wedding: Give up the gift wrap
How to give gifts without giving ’stuff’

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[Click here to watch video on YouTube]

The Crayola Crayon Maker is made from nearly 4 pounds of plastic, the crayons are petroleum-based, and my guess is that the toy is doomed to a short life cycle, but I’ve gotta admit, I like its spirit of creative waste transformation. No crayon bit is too small to be recycled — it’s a great, green lesson to be teaching our kids at an early age.

But before you shell out $59.95 for one of these puppies — which promises to be one of the hardest-to-snag, hottest toys of the 2009 holiday season — why not check out this cool article on how to recycle crayons the old-fashioned way? All it takes is some glass jars, a pot of boiling water, and a couple of candy molds (or ice cube trays). It’s the perfect art project/science experiment to do with your kids on a cold winter day, and it’s at least as exciting as staring at the Crayola Crayon Maker for 20 minutes while a 60-watt light bulb painstakingly works its magic.

While I certainly don’t want to deny any childhood the memory of Burnt Sienna, you could take the money you’ve saved and pick up a box or two of Prang soybean or Stockmar beeswax crayons.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Need more ideas for fun green art projects to do with your kids over the holiday weekend? Check out this post on how to make paint from blueberries and beets.

Related posts:
How to give gifts without giving ’stuff’
Green wedding: Give up the gift wrap

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Photo via Flickr: Paul Keleher

This week’s Eco Etiquette dealt with a lady who was a bit overzealous with her ‘green’ purchasing — picture frames made from reused bike chains, wind chimes pieced together from recycled wine bottles — basically, a lot of junk that would likely die a swift landfill death. The moral of the story is, it doesn’t matter if something says green or eco-friendly. The question is: Is it really useful? Is this something we really need?

According to Joshua Stolaroff, a former science and technology policy fellow with EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, these are the questions we should be asking ourselves if we really want to make a dent in global warming. Not, Should I unplug my toaster or Should I switch to biodiesel, but Should I buy this? Two reports he recently authored draw the same conclusion: The biggest contribution to global warming is all the stuff we buy (and the stuff used to package all the stuff we buy).

Read this from The Daily Green: Everything you know about going green is wrong

So with the holiday season almost upon us, what can you give that isn’t “stuff,” without being a Grinch and forswearing the holidays altogether? A few ideas (my thanks to the HuffPost comments board for their contributions):

Give an experience. A massage appointment, tickets to the theater or a concert, a gift certificate for a fabulous restaurant meal, even a series of guitar or voice lessons for the musically inclined. The key here is to choose something that the recipient wouldn’t normally splurge on.

Give to a charity in the person’s name. This isn’t for everyone (remember “The Strike” episode of Seinfeld?), but if you know someone who is particularly civic-minded, this can be a really meaningful gift. And you can be creative, too: One HuffPost reader had given a share in a tiger sanctuary, sets of farm tools and seeds for farmers in Africa who’d lost everything in assorted conflicts, and immunizations for kids in Asia.

Refurbish a family heirloom. Technically, this is “stuff,” but it’s making use of something that would otherwise go to waste. Everyone’s got treasures hidden in away in a storage closet or the attic, or maybe there’s something you cherish that you know someone you love will get tremendous joy from. So have the crack in that crystal vase fixed or take that antique bracelet to the jeweler to be repaired and give it to another family member. One year, my mom had an expensive vintage handbag of hers fixed up for me, and it was one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.

What gifts have you given/received that weren’t “stuff”? Post your suggestions below!

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Watch The Story of Stuff.

Related posts:
Green goods
The careful consumer

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Photo via Flickr: Stewart

When I recently wrote about recycling wine corks for my Eco Etiquette column — in which I expressed my disdain for the plastic, landfill-bound variety, as well as aluminum screw caps — I was not prepared for the slew of angry emails from the grape nut gallery.

I had your recycling corks article sent to me and, as someone who enjoys wine, it troubles me…. Some of the world’s best wines are now bottled under screw caps. Why? Because, by and large, they treat the wine better than cork does. And, as a side benefit, they are easier to open. A small fraction of wines bottled under cork can be tainted by the cork.

And another:

[Synthetic corks] are perfectly fine for wines you are going to bring home and drink within even a few months. They are, in large part, due to a worldwide shortage of natural cork…. unfortunately in your post you came across as completely pretentious, which I trust was not the intent, and is entirely the wrong approach to enjoying good wine and offering sage advice.

Now, I’m certainly not going to argue with a oenophile as to what method of closure ensures the best tasting wine, considering that most weeks I’m content with a bottle of Two Buck Chuck. There is no doubt that some very fine wines employ an aluminum screw cap; my main beef is with the environmental damage associated with synthetic corks (screw caps included). There’s a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to natural cork, so let me dispel a few myths:

Myth #1: Trees are cut down to make natural corks. Cork trees are not felled to harvest the cork; the renewable bark is stripped by hand off the tree. By using natural cork, you’re actually ensuring the survival of Mediterranean cork forests, which, like the rainforests of the Amazon, are crucial to the world’s biosphere.

Myth #2: There is a worldwide shortage of natural cork. Plain and simple, this is PR spin from the plastic cork/aluminum screw cap industry. “By all statistical standards, the cork forests have enough cork to close every bottle of wine produced, in the world, for the next 100 years, without planting new trees,” says Patrick Spencer, director of nonprofit cork recycler Cork ReHarvest.

Myth #3: You can recycle aluminum screw caps — natural corks aren’t recyclable. Actually, the plastic seal and adhesive in most screw caps contaminate the aluminum; the only choice is to send them to the landfill. And let’s not forget that harvesting aluminum is incredibly destructive to the environment. Natural cork, however, can be re-purposed into flooring tiles, building insulation, and packaging materials (and at the very least, can be cut up into compost).

Myth #4: Wines with natural corks are prone to spoilage. There’s been a rumor circulating for some time (perpetuated by alternative stopper manufacturers?) that with natural closures, one in 10 bottles of wine ends up corked. But a study by the UK’s Wine and Spirit Trade Association puts that figure between .7 and 1.2 percent; a prominent wine expert even announced earlier this year that TCA contamination is no longer a major problem for the US wine industry.

So go ahead, be a pretentious snob and insist on old-fashioned corks (just don’t forget to recycle them!): You’ll help save the cork forests, reduce destructive aluminum mining, and keep billions of screw caps and petroleum-based stoppers out of our landfills.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Stick to bottles with natural cork closures — and make sure they don’t die a landfill death. A few recycling options: Cork ReHarvest, Yemm & Hart, and ReCork America.

Related posts:
5 ways to choose local wine
Neato! Reusable wine totes

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