Miomarmo

Finally (for me): Reusable Produce Bags

I finally got something that I can use to store produce in at the grocery store rather than those plastic bags they provide.

I do not use the plastic bags for things like bananas and potatoes and onions and oranges — items that I'll be peeling anyway, but for everything else, I would reluctantly tear off a new plastic bag. Later, I always use them for other purposes, but at some point they end up in the trash or with the other plastic grocery bags I recycle (it's amazing how many plastic bags I still accumulate considering the fact that I bring my own bags to the grocery store, something I need to give more attention to).

Anyway, back to the bags ... I'm still reluctant to buy anything new that I don't need. But, after so many instances of standing next to the green beans or mushrooms and NOT wanting to buy the mixed greens that come inside the plastic bag which is inside a hard plastic container, and instead wanting to buy the loose mixed greens but realizing with that, too, I had to use a plastic bag to get it home, I broke down and bought reusable produce bags.

I now have four of the "veg" bags, which you can see and buy here. I get some funny looks at the grocery store when the checkout clerk has a little harder time seeing what's inside, but I feel so much better now :-)

I'm not pushing a specific manufacturer, there are plenty of resources for reusable produce bags:

• Reusable Bags
• Eco Bags
• Pristine Planet

Or make your own!

• Mountain Mama Knits
• Instructables
• CraftStylish

Walking New Jersey Point to Point

Back in the day, my husband Paul and Rich biked the 200+ miles from High Point to Cape May in one very long all-day trip, appropriately titled “The Longest Day.” You can make the same journey -- but you don’t have to do it all at once!

Check out a fun online initiative from Rutgers: Walk New Jersey Point-to-Point. Just wear your pedometer or walk on a treadmill and keep track of your steps and mileage. If you don't have a way to count your steps, the site has a table to help you figure out how many miles you've logged by gardening, mowing your lawn, and chasing after your children.

You will need to create an account and set a goal for yourself to keep track of your journey. Walking from High Point to Cape May is just one of the trips you can log; you could do the Lighthouse Tour, the Historic Tour, or create a custom goal of your own if you don't live in NJ. Or get a team together of friends or co-workers together and walk as a group!

I'm beginning to walk the trip Paul and Rich took those years ago, and I think next I'll try the ambitious 1,000 Mile Challenge. It might take me all summer to do it, but eventually I'll get there, the same way you do anything. One step at a time.

Who Knew Saving Trees Could Be So Easy!

Unfortunately, not all municipalities recycle newspapers/magazineS that are acquired from everyday junk mail within corporate business parks.  Petitioning the township/municipality that you work in to start doing this is a great idea!  But an even easier start is to take the newspapers/magazines home and throw them in with your weekly or bi-weekly pickup.  You won't believe the difference you'll be making when you see how much junk mail offices can actually get.  By doing this, thousands upon thousands of trees are saved every year.  START NOW AND MAKE A BIG IMPACT WITH A SMALL EFFORT!

Our favorite things (to do to save the Earth)

In honor of Earth Day and the almost-one-year anniversary of Miomarmo, we’ve got a list of some of our favorite green tips and practices.

Nichole:
Grocery stores, Staples stores, Wal-mart all now have bins at the entrance to the store or just inside to recycle the plastic shopping bags.  I’ve doing it for a while now & I’m noticing more & more people.  It’s pretty cool because even though I mostly use my tote bags when I shop, we all still wind up with these plastic shopping bags that we all never wind up using (well…not all of them at least).

On your weekly, monthly, whatever trip to the grocery store…bring the bags back & recycle!

Chintan:
Go veggie! I don't know if I can be anything but a vegetarian. There are far too many reasons to list here, but some of the most important ones according to me are:

• It’s good for the animals. Stop the cruelty towards animals. What have they done to deserve this violence towards them?
• It’s good for you health. Simply doing a google search on vegetarianism and health will get you tons of information proving so.
• It’s good for the Earth. We are destroying pristine forests and converting them into farmland that can provide food for cattle.

Some links to get you started:
http://www.goveg.com/
http://www.peta.org/
http://www.vrg.org/journal/

Elena:
Check out yesterday’s post! Seriously, turning off lights and appliances you’re not using has to be one of the simplest things you can do.

Tim:
Some things we do on a regular basis are:

• using minimum amounts of detergent when doing laundry (you really don't need a full cup)
• re-using towels and work cloths
• find other uses for otherwise discarded items (I made birdhouses out of old deck lumber)
• using the fireplace more often in the winter (I use my own trees when possible and ask the neighbors if I can have the one they plan to discard)
• I no longer use bottled water; instead I use a filter pitcher
• discard batteries and other contaminates appropriately (our public library has a bin just for old batteries)

Matt:
The reusable grocery store bags – my family all uses them.

Dany:
Seek out sources for refilling containers, such as laundry and dish detergents. Our local coop has this service available for these and a few other items.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Small Steps

While everyone is hopefully inspired by Earth Day (and Arbor Day!) this week to do something good for the world, our family actually made our big list on New Year’s Day of things we wanted to do this year to help make the world a better place. In the past 4 months, we’ve been taking small steps to try to be in better touch with nature and the world around us. Our hope was to show the children that even preschoolers and kindergartners can make a difference – that no step (or person) is too small. Below is our list – most of the suggestions coming directly from our kids (“hug the birds” being my favorite, though impractical, suggestion).

We broke our list down into three sections:

Helping the World:

• Turn off lights.
• Don’t leave water running.
• Plant trees.
• Learn about other countries/cultures and who needs help -  not everyone in the world lives the way you do.
• Walk more and drive less.
• Pray for peace.

Helping Nature:

• Create a website for our favorite park.
• Feed the birds.
• Help clean up the park.
• Hug the birds.
• Plant more trees.
• Plant flowers that bees like.
• Read 50 Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth for ideas.
• Help clean up the reservation near us (they have trail cleanup days and are always looking for volunteers
• Go on walks and spend more time outside enjoying nature.

Helping Kids and People:

• Bring coats and food to Foodbank (we did this and it made a huge impression on the kids)
• Adopt a child from another country
• Rice bowls at Lent
• Visit people who are shut-in or hospitalized
• Draw pictures/share art with people who need cheering up

What are your favorite small steps?

Together in Electric Dreams

When I read this recent article in the New York Times, all I could think of was the scene in “Electric Dreams” where the Edgar, the computer, runs all the household appliances and makes coffee as well. (It also tries to steal the main character’s girlfriend away from him, but that’s a whole other story.)

The article, "Keeping a Green Home, Remotely", says:

“Now a new set of software tools lets a cellphone owner track a home’s electricity use from wherever she is.

The new tool from Tendril … lets the cellphone user turn appliances and furnaces on and off from a distance. It integrates with a collection of tools that track consumption and broadcast it to local and distant displays.

Their systems will compare your home’s consumption against similar sized ones in your neighborhood. It will also make suggestions and predict how much lowering the thermostat would lower the bill.”

“Electric Dreams” came out in 1984, and it’s exciting to think that 25 years later, we could actually do some of the things that were so over-the-top techhy back then. Apparently there’s a remake of the movie being planned for 2010 – I can’t wait to see what they come up with for Edgar (the computer) to do this time. I'm sure managing the electricity for a greener household will be part of it.

Below: Edgar tries to get his lovely neighbor's attention....