21-Day Earth Day Challenge - Day One (Friday)

On Friday, I took stock of everything that I had on hand to work with for this challenge -- luckily, it was produce delivery day. Below is a list and photos of the PLETHORA of food that I have. I made no surplus purchases in advance of this challenge. If anything, I've got less on hand than normal, because I've been trying to cut back on the amount that I spend at the grocery store. For, example, take the containers of dried goods you'll see in the pantry section; normally, I'd be having a panic attack if that many of them were below the completely-full level.

Produce:

8 limes

3 Meyer lemons

5 avocados

3 apples

3 oranges

2 cups of snap peas

3 turnips

3 bulbs of roasted garlic

3 bulbs of raw garlic

1 bunch of radishes

1 bunch of broccolini

2 cups of mushrooms

1 cucumber

1 bunch of kale

2 bunches of lettuce

2 large potatoes

6 onions

1 coconut

2 1/4 mangoes

1 shallot

ginger root

3 bananas

1 grapefruit

Fridge items (not including produce):

white miso

red miso

yellow miso

ketchup

salad dressing x 4

BBQ sauce x 2

1 firm tofu

relish x 2

hot sauce x 3

various pickled veggies and olives

1 pkg soy whip

pine nuts

nutritional yeast

wheat germ

sun-dried tomatoes

Field Roast

1/2 pkg pepperjack Daiya "cheese"

3 "sausages"

3 cups of "sausage" gravy

mirin

1 tub of salsa

1 tub of Sour Supreme

1 pkg of Tofurkey lunchmeat

1 pkg of Smart Bacon

1 loaf of Dave's Killer Bread

3 English muffins

1 pkg of whole wheat tortillas

1 pkg of whole wheat pitas

Freezer:

1 cup of chipotles in adobo sauce

1 lb of cashews

1 lb of almonds

1 lb of pumpkin seeds

1 lb of walnuts

1 loaf of Dave's Killer Bread

1 cup of pesto

1/2 pkg of potstickers

4 cups of applesauce

2 bananas

3 cups of butternut squash puree

4 cups of pumpkin puree

5 cups of vegetable broth

3 cups of "crab" wonton filling

1 pound of green beans

wontons

black olives

black bean soup x 3 servings

2 cups of light beer

2 Amy's pizzas

dulse

1 pound of broccoli

2 pound of peas

1 pound of corn

some tots

Pantry (see photos; I'd get carpal tunnel trying to type up everything you see here):

Beans and grains:

The pastas:

Seeds, nuts, seed & nut butters, and beverages:

Baking supplies, sweeteners, dehydrated goods, oils, vinegars, and flavorings:

The sundries:

So, as you see, there is more than enough food here to feed two people for, oh, I don't know about a year? I take pride in having a well-stocked vegan pantry, but, yeah, FOUR BAGS of croutons and every variety of lentil the Greenwood Market has to offer?? I think things have gone just a skosh overboard. So, over the coming weeks/months we'll be seeing how much of this stuff we can consume!

21-Day Earth Day Challenge

After reading Colin Beavan's book "No Impact Man" last year, I decide to do a 21-day Earth Day Challenge. I thought and thought about what to do and decided to give up plastic for three weeks. It was a difficult challenge and I found myself making a lot of exceptions (Ziploc that I already had was fine, corn chips in a paper bag with the little plastic window was fine, and so on). But, in the end, I became much more aware of how prevalant plastics are, how much plastic can't be recycled, and the energy and effort is expended to repurpose even recyclable plastics. The ultimate benefit was that I began religiously washing and reusing my produce bags and, whenever possible, I began selecting items at the store based upon how little plastic-packaging there was. During this same time, my best friend, her husband, and their son gave up electric lights for three weeks. While they use their lights now, they frequently don't use lights, are more conscientious about turning lights off, and only turning those lights on that are truly needed. The goal of each challenge is to increase one's awareness, therefore resulting in changed behaviors.

As Earth Day approaches, I have contemplated what my personal commitment to the earth and our environment will be this year. Ultimately, I should commit to taking the bus, but I'm just not selfless enough to add 3 hours to my commute...maybe next year :) So, this year, for reasons that are also related to household budgeting, I've decided to focus on food waste.

According to The Scientific American, US households throw out 14% of their food purchases. In our house, I couldn't guess a percentage, but I can tell you that there are two sad half-used bunches of celery in our fridge, a gross-looking bunch of cilantro, and a few containers of leftovers whose stays of execution are drawing to an end. I can also tell you our pantry, freezer, and fridge are loaded with food, yet, we spent over $150 this week at the grocery store. How much of that do you expect will wind up in the compost bin at some point? How much do you want to bet that there are a few things in my pantry that are past their "use by" date?

Wasting food in this day in age costs resources we don't have, be it our own financial resources or society's precious water and fuel resources; not to mention whateve goes into the packaging. Meanwhile, lots of people in our country and all over the world are underfed or hungry. I'm really using this attempt to examine my own morals more closely and to see if I can get to the root causes of how and why food gets wasted in our house. While I don't think we're anywhere near 14%, any food wasted is a waste on so many levels.

I am lucky to have had the values of frugality bestowed to me by my grandparents, who lived through the great depression, and my mom who raised a child as a single-parent. I am fortunate to have learned the concepts of thrift from them and I'm excited to participate in my self-made challenge. I'll use the time to reflect on my choices, behaviors, and relationship with the earth and hopefully come out with a few ideas for how I can continue to lessen my impact on the environment.

My 21-day challenge starts today (technically, I started yesterday) and will involve:

1. Taking an initial inventory of our food at the starting point.

2. Using only foods that are currently on hand or that show up in our produce bin.

3. Arranging our meal plans in a way to best utilize fresh ingredients and leftovers.

4. Refraining from eating out (except for those events that are already scheduled).

5. Keeping a log of all food that gets thrown out, when it was purchased/cooked and why it was tossed (this doesn't include peelings, pits, and other non-edible parts).

I'll be bringing back my Compassionate Living blog to detail my efforts. Last year, I started my challenge on Earth Day, this year I'm starting 21 days ahead of it out of sheer necessity. My husband, the ultimate non-activist, has grudgingly agreed to go along with me (I did concede to letting him stock up on booze and chocolate first). I invite you to follow along with my challenge or, preferably, come up with a challenge that resonates with you and helps you to build a stronger connection with the earth.

Epic Failure

My self-imposed, 21-day Earth Day challenge was to leave off of plastic containers and packaging. So far, it has been an epic failure. In the week leading up to the start of the challenge, I realized that there were a number of things that I would have to give up. I don't think a cracker exists in America that doesn't, in some way, involve plastic packaging. Even my organic corn chips that come in the Earth-friendly brown paper bag have a little plastic viewing window!

My first problem was all of the plastic in my house. I gave up Ziploc baggies a year ago because they are just too tempting to dispose of, but I still have Ziploc brand food storage containers. I went online to order non-plastic versions, but even the glass containers come with plastic lids. Hmph! My next deviation from the plan was when I made a rare trip to the local vegan store to buy some supplies. Finally, I was able to find the much raved about Daiya cheese and Gardein meat replacements. I couldn't resist them. I'd wanted them for so long. I could've waited until my challenge was over, but what would that prove? Then, on an impulse, I went to Starbucks. I didn't have a travel mug with me (which is made out of plastic, anyway) and nearly KICKED myself when I got my coffee -- the cup may be compostable, but the lid is made out of plastic. ARGH!!!

So far, all this challenge has taught me is how pervasive plastics are. Many of them are recyclable, so that helps. But it takes petroleum, water, and energy to make them in the first place. I started realizing that almost all of the fantastically compassionate products I buy come in not-so-compassionate packaging. It got me to thinking: how can companies that cares so deeply about cruelty-free, non-GMO, organic foods not think twice about packaging their foods in materials that are not recyclable and/or won't degrade in the natural environment?

Commence 21-Day Earth Day Challenge

So, today is the day that I embark on a life without plastic. Well, actually I will embark on a life without packaging and container plastics. In other words, I will rid my life of all plastics except for those that may be found in existing items (computers and other electronics, plant pots, shoes, etc.). For the next 21 days, I will not buy anything new that contains plastic and I will not use anything that contains plastic (with the exception of the existing items listed above). When I came up with this challenge last week, I didn't realize everything I'd be giving up. No crackers, no chips (even those corn chips that come in a paper bag have a little plastic window), no packaged bread (sorry, Dave's Killer Bread). I already own and reuse a number of those plastic produce bags to store my weekly delivery of local, organic produce in (I figure it's ok to keep reusing those guys, rather than getting rid of them, although I will spend the next 21 days researching alternatives to those as well). My goal is to come out of this with a greater awareness of all the things that contain plastic and to train myself to buy alternatives as much as possible. This should be a crash course in learning what those alternatives are...as well as a crash course in making breads, crackers, tortillas, and pita from scratch. Stay tuned!

Earth Day Eve

Well, it is officially Earth Day Eve. And not just ANY Earth Day Eve, but the 40th one! Earth Day Eve should be spent thinking, reflecting, and planning for how to make a tremendous one-person (or one-household), positive impact on the environment and/or its inhabitants for the next year. So, tonight I am going to watch "Food, Inc." (again) on PBS then I will think, reflect, and plan for any additional commitments that I will make to help improve the state of the Earth. Please enter your zip code into the PBS schedule to find when the movie will be playing in your area.

In addition to watching "Food, Inc." I intend to make a home-cooked, vegan meal, using local organic produce and then cut all electricity use for the rest of today. I'm really excited to catch up on my Vegetarian Times magazine over candlelight :-) I will also spend some time coming to grips with the fact that I won't be able to use any plastic containers/packaging for the next 21 days.

How do you plan to celebrate Earth Day Eve?

Compassionate Living: What Does it Mean?

The definition of "compassion" is "a deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it" (www.wiktionary.com). But, what is missing from the definition of compassion is the actual taking of action needed to relieve suffering. That is where compassionate living comes in. It is not enough to simply be deeply aware of another's suffering, nor is it enough to merely wish to relieve that suffering. What IS critically important is taking personal actions to actually relieve the suffering of others. There is great deal of suffering in our world and it's hard to know where to start. Our planet is suffering from human-induced pollution and climate change, billions of non-human animals suffer from inhumane treatment and unnecessary death, and humans all around the globe suffer from not having enough food or access to clean drinking water. Most of us are content to donate a couple of hundred bucks to charity each year and call it good; still others of us may choose a vegan lifestyle. But are any of us really doing enough? When is the last time that you went out of your way to reduce the suffering of another living thing? The truth of the matter is that we only give what is convenient for us to give or what is within our comfort level. Most of us really don't push ourselves on a continual basis. Unravelling the web of suffering can be difficult and the deck is definitely stacked against those who are the least powerful (typically the natural world, animals, and impoverished persons). One could argue that the practice of buying products from China has negative impacts on the environment and continues the opression of people; another could argue that the practice provides jobs and elevates the standard of living for otherwise impoverished Chinese people. Additionally, the very existence of many corporations and industries hinges upon how compassionately we live. For example, if enough people decided to leave off of meat because they wanted to reduce the suffering of billions of U.S. food animals, the agriculture, chemical, and feed companies would lose billions of dollars. Therefore, these entities are not above lying to and manipulating consumers into believing whatever it takes to keep the money rolling in. Furthermore, it is nearly impossible to live in a society as large as ours while completely eliminating all suffering. For example, buying organic products is absolutely the right thing to do for the Earth and its inhabitants, unfortunately most organic farms use by-products of the slaughter industry (i.e. bone meal) to fertilize their crops. In the face of all of this, it can be difficult to know what is right or wrong. The key to reducing suffering is to educate oneself and to critically analyze the factors and make a choice that is consistent with your beliefs and knowledge. Metaphorically speaking, we simply have to get off of the ride. It is no longer ethical to live a life of consumption without consideration for who or what was harmed or will be harmed in the production of each good or service. You do not have to become compassionte living overnight. You can start by switching from all of those household products that are tested on animals (Drano, comet, etc.), and move to humane products that are more earth friendly anyway (Seventh Generation, Method, etc.). Ultimately, the goal of living a compassionate life is to live in a manner where you cause very little or no suffering. But getting there is a journey that can be long and winding or short and direct. Where to start how to start; these are things that are yours to choose. But NOT starting to live a compassionate lifestyle, in this day in age, is simply not an option.