I'm slowly re-emerging from post-holiday lethargy. I know—you thought the Adolfs had gone off the green wagon. You thought we couldn't handle the pressure of forgoing Christmas traditions that involve non-LED lights. You thought we'd cave and let Santa bring crappy plastic toys that will soon litter the landfill. You assumed we couldn't handle the pressure of a non-battery-driven, non-electronic Christmas. You're right.
Yes, I failed miserably at the greening of our holidays. I knew I would. I hate to say it, but I know how I am at Christmas time. I am a holiday fanatic. I love the lights, I love aimlessly driving around, looking at decorations. I'm the first to suggest that we pile in the van (not Prius) and drive to the zoo where there are millions of energy-wasting lights. You can drive into the “Deer Forest” and feed the animals out of your car, all while wasting gas as the car idles with the heat on, doors open. I try to be good and order presents online—but then they arrive, with the non-recycled boxes, plastic, and styrofoam peanuts consuming the house. I still send the old-fashioned Christmas cards and will probably never embrace e-cards. We bake too much, indulge too much, and throw away too much. It's a glutton's dream.
So, I suppose, I've been a little ashamed to write about our family's “green-ness” after our holiday lapse. There were, however, a few things we did right:
We recycled. A LOT.
In Christmases past, I must admit to throwing away bags and bags of trash, just to get the clutter out of the way. This year, we made a very concerted effort to recycle anything and everything we could. During our present-opening frenzies, both at home and at my sister's house, we took the time to separate paper, cardboard, and plastic that could be recycled. We took bows that weren't crushed and put them away to reuse. In past years, our trash can overflowed after Christmas. In fact, our neighbors next door, in addition to their two trash cans, had at least a dozen trash bags at the street post-Christmas.
We didn't even fill one-third of a trash bag. We had a very large recycling run.
VERY large. I still have piles of boxes that need to go to recycling. But at least they're not headed for the landfill, as in Christmases past.
We turned down the heat. WAY down.
This fall, when it began getting chilly, I think I shocked Peter by my insistence to keep the thermostat down. OK, in truth, it's really not that far down. However, I'm the one who usually keeps the temperature set at 72 degrees. I'm cold. Always. When I get tired, I freeze. And, since I'm always tired, I'm always cold. Still, I was determined to keep the temp at the more environmentally friendly 68 degrees. I know, I know...it's not that great. Lots of the greenies of the world turn it way down, and there's a cult of green gurus who try not to use heat AT ALL. Have you heard about these environmental gods and goddesses who forsake heat? Good luck to those dedicated souls...but can't people die without heat?
Anyway, as a mom, I'm a little torn. Our daughter has no body fat—seriously, the child is a stick. We do feed her, I promise. So, while trying to maintain my stance on our lowered thermostat, I've encouraged the kids to add layers. Personally, sleeping in my old Bradley University sweatshirt is not winning points with Peter, but hey—it's warm, I love it. Still...there are times, especially in the morning, when I'm trying to get Kristen out of bed...and it's cold. Darn cold. And I wonder why I can't get that child up and moving in the mornings? There are some mornings she puts her coat on over her PJs. It's kind of pitiful.
Someone, who will remain nameless, has been known to sneak the thermostat up a degree on really cold nights. Huh. I thought I married a tough Swiss man.
Garden Delights is going e-commerce—and I'm committed to running a very green business.
Yes, there's never a dull moment at our house. My heirloom plant business is expanding, with the website going live very soon! Now, it's one thing to grow heirloom plants sustainably and sell them locally at the Farmer's Market. It's quite another challenge to run an e-commerce business, shipping plants across the country, while utilizing only green materials for sustainable growing and packaging. Still...I've found some great vendors, terrific green packaging options, and even some ways to offset the environmental impact of the transportation involved in shipping. Stay tuned...I'll be reporting on my attempts to start the business and keep its green mantra, while continuing to get our family back on track to reducing our environmental impact.
So, friends, Happy New Year—a little late! Did you make any interesting resolutions this year regarding the environment? Want to share them here? Maybe we can help each other be more accountable and meet our goals. (Oh...and besides being better to the environment, I also plan to drop 20 lbs. And exercise every day. And not set unattainble goals. HA.)
It’s official--we’ve survived more than a month of our family’s eco-experiment! Here’s a quick review of the highs and lows from the month:
High: Our increased commitment to composting and recycling reduced our trash production enormously. Previously, our family produced a 13-gallon bag of trash per day--at least--even though we recycled the obvious items like newspaper, plastic bottles, and Diet Coke cans. On average, we now produce approximately two trash bags per WEEK. We could seriously eliminate one trash pick up day, if that option is available.
Low: While our trash heading to the landfill significantly decreased, we still produce lots of waste that needs to be recycled. While I consider that a better alternative, I’d like us to reduce our amount of waste overall so that we’re not contributing so much energy consumption for recycling.
High: Eco-produce bags. Love them. Love the perplexed looks I get when the cashiers ring up my veggies and I can explain to anyone within ear shot about reducing plastic bags. I also feel less hypocritical when buying beautiful, organic produce at Farmer’s Market--we’ve basically eliminated plastic produce bags from our lives.
Low: I’m consuming (i.e. produce bags, Sigg bottles) in order to become more environmentally friendly. Such an oxymoron...
High: I’m learning to cook...and actually enjoy it, most of the time. I’ve always cooked the basics, but I resented it. I’ve fought hard to avoid becoming the stereotypical suburban ‘50s housewife, since I always aspired to greater things. We’ve spent a lot of time and money eating out. Honestly, though, what’s more important than feeding my family healthy (most of the time) food?
Now, I’m beginning to change my relationship with cooking. There’s a fabulous quote from Barbara Kingsolver’s memoir, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the story of her family’s quest to eat locally for a year. Kingsolver visits a Lebanese market and begins a conversation with a cheesemaker about the techniques to produce Middle Eastern cheeses. The cheesemaker is puzzled by her interest, until Kingsolver admits to making cheese at home.
“‘You make cheese yourself,’ she repeatedly reverently. ‘You are a real housewife.’ “It has taken me decades to get here, but I took that as a compliment,” writes Kingsolver. Like Kingsolver, I’m beginning to value my inner domestic goddess.
Low: Trying to find local foods at Whole Foods. During the official No-Impact Week challenge, we blew the challenge to eat locally. Well, we ate LOCALLY at Fuddrucker’s...but I don’t think, somehow, that was the intention. The next day, I was determined to prepare all of our meals from local food and providers. Unfortunately, I had missed Farmer’s Market the week prior, so off I ventured to Whole Foods, certain I’d find plenty of local options. $187 later, the only truly local food I found was zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. The meat options included “regional” foods that had traveled at least 3+ hours. If I was only after organic food, I would have been set...but finding organic and local was impossible.
I made sure to visit Farmer’s Market the following Saturday.
High: I love supporting local growers and producers. Knowing the people who produce our food is a fabulous feeling. Plus, people who grow things, whether it’s cabbage, sunflowers, or sausage, are just nice people.
Low: It takes planning to prepare a local meal. I’ve always been a convenience shopper. Out of lettuce? Run to Publix. Too tired to cook? Let’s go out. Now, I need to think about our meals. I can’t just run to the store for chicken. (Well, I CAN, I’m just trying not to.) I need to visit Native Meats at the Farmer’s Market or pre-order from them for delivery. (Which is an amazingly cool option they provide. Place an order for a certain dollar amount--I think about $45--and they’ll deliver your order to your home. Love it. www.nativemeats.com
My other issue is--I’m seduced by the beautiful produce grown by Parson’s Produce. I’ll stock up on three different eggplant varieties...then have no idea how to prepare them. Produce moldering in the refrigerator is not eco-friendly nor respectful--toward the person who grew it, toward my family for wasting money, and especially not toward people who don’t have enough to eat.
So--I’ve once again made a purchase: Eating Well in Season, a beautiful cookbook with delicious seasonal recipes. I’m hoping it helps me turn into Julia Child of the locavore movement.
High: Great ideas for environmentally friendly Halloween treat bags.
Low: Painting 35 recyclable paper bags orange. I don’t think I’ll pursue that fine idea next year.
High: We are raising little environmentalists. Kristen and Michael both identify the recycling symbol on the bottom of containers. They remember to use the compost bowl for food scraps that aren’t meat (the dogs get those), they know not to throw out paper but to put it in the recycling container, and I’m even beginning to win the battle to get them to turn off the lights when they leave a room. Granted, they knew all of this before...but because we’re pursuing our project together, as a family, it’s turn into a game instead of a nagging chore.
Isn’t that the goal of becoming more environmentally responsible? We’re working to preserve the environment so Kristen, Michael, and Tyler’s kids will have the chance to enjoy hiking and playing in nature as much as our kids do...
I’m willing to learn to cook and haul away recycling if it means my grandkids have a chance to play in clean oceans.
Low: There is no low.
OK, back to work! Let’s see what surprises the next month will have for us...
I’ve found the perfect juice box that is fully recyclable, economical, and manufactured using 85% less packaging than its counterpart. The best part is:
It’s for us. The grownups.
“Cask” wine is the preferred term for the Bag-in-Box (BIB) products we’ve seen creeping onto the shelves of grocery stores and big box retailers like Target. I’ve blatantly ignored them.
Until now.
I’m not a wine snob. Really. Well, maybe a little bit. It’s not as if I really know much about wine, I simply find a few that I like and stick with them. Pinot Noir is my favorite fall/winter wine, and Pinot Grigio is my spring/summer wine. I’m a sucker for label design. If it’s an interesting label, I’ll try it. If it’s about $10, I’ll buy it. If it’s Italian, I’ll love it. See how logically I make my wine selections?
Perhaps my wine expertise stems from my early career days, as a young marketing girl in the big, exciting publishing world. My friend, Katie, and I spent a lot of time discussing lipstick shades when we probably should have been writing press releases or some other nonsense. Anyway, we were thrilled when our company ousted the current male publisher and brought on board a bright, young female publisher. A mentor! Someone to guide us in growing our careers in the (then) male-dominated publishing world!
I remember how impressed I was when, during an author dinner, our new publisher effortlessly ordered wine for the table. “Simi Chardonnay,” she commanded. I was awed by her knowledge of wine.
Well, after numerous dinners where she ordered “Simi Chardonnay” for everyone, I realized that her knowledge of wine was about as vast as her knowledge of publishing. She lasted six months.
In my mind, I equate a lovely bottle of wine, complete with a beautifully designed label, as tasting delicious. Now, you know and I know that’s crap. It’s all about the grape...and the soil where it grew...and the weather...and the harvest time...and...and...and...
Anyway, I just haven’t been able to get myself to buy a box of wine. It seems too collegiate to me, like I’m going to a kegger and the frat boys made sure to have some boxes of wine for the prissy girls who didn’t drink beer. (Note to Tyler: I never drank before I was 21, and you better not either!!! Ahem.)
So, I’ve snubbed the boxes and continued buying bottles of wine. I’m sad to say Peter and I can no longer finish a bottle in one evening without feeling pain the next day. Sometimes we save it, but often the remaining wine gets dumped.
Perhaps it’s time to try a cask. All in the name of research for our family project, of course.
First of all--and some might say most importantly--the engineering of the cask is ideal for people like us. We like a glass of wine with dinner or after the kids go to bed, but we don’t consume the entire bottle. The design of the cask prevents oxidation--the vacuum-sealed bag protects wine from air exposure. As the wine is poured, the bag collapses on itself without letting air reach the wine. The specially designed spigot prevents air from contacting the wine until poured, which ensures the wine’s quality. The packaging preserves the wine’s flavor and freshness for a minimum of six weeks. “The last glass is always as good as the first,” states the Better Wines, Better World website. (www.betterwinesbetterworld.com)
How’s the quality? Approximately 99% of the wine sold in the U.S. is considered table wine--that is, it can be consumed as soon as it is released into the market. Only a small minority of wine is “aged.” For many wine producers, the packaging is the only difference in their bottled versus box wines. The production methods are exactly the same--except packaging.
We’ve all seen the movies where the pretentious actor swirled his wine and declared to the wine steward that it “tasted of cork.” Did you know that approximately 5% of wine is affected by cork taint? That results in the disposal of more than 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools full of wine. An additional benefit of the cask packaging? No cork taint.
What about the value? An average bottle of wine costs approximately $9. An average cask contains the same volume of wine as four bottles. The average price per box? Approximately $19. For good stuff. Yum.
Now, here’s the real kicker and the reason I’m finally thinking about boxed wine: environmental impact.
The Bag-in-Box packaging generates less than 1/2 the carbon footprint of glass wine bottles. The energy used to produce the packaging and to transport the wine is significantly less than required for glass bottles. BIBs result in 85% less packaging waste than glass, eliminating the heavy glass bottle, capsule, neck band, cork, front label and back label. If all of the consume-upon-release wines sold in the U.S. were converted to BIB packaging, we would save 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, which would be the equivalent of removing 250,000 cars from the roads.
Additionally, while glass wine bottles are recyclable, more energy is necessary to recycle four bottles versus one cardboard box. The bag is also recyclable with #7 plastics.
So, in the interest of research, I’m going to pick up some wine. In a box.
I’ll let you know how it is...
And, for my book club friends, I think I might have a little box wine sampling Friday night to get your opinions.
What do you drink? Box or bottle? What would you think if a friend showed up with a box of wine versus a bottle for a party? Would you think “Cheapo” or “Eco-Goddess”? And, would you willingly drink wine from a box?
I'm all for it. Really. My blood runs green. It does.
I compost.
I raise heirloom plants.
I own a Prius.
What got me thinking about our Greenism is this:
A friend and I went to see the movie, Fresh. Now, for those of you who don't know about this fine film honoring the local farmer, a quick warning...do not plan to go out for dinner afterward, especially for chicken.
I knew what I was getting into by seeing the film, but hey--I had been housebound with sick kids all week. Two hours to sit quietly with a glass of wine versus listening to my sweet kiddos whines--it appealed to me.
Of course, after watching the film, I swore I would never eat mass-produced food again, I would patronize the local farmer, I would eradicate all of the bad choices I make on a daily basis and SAVE THE WORLD.
Then I went home, had a Diet Coke and an Oreo.
But I digress...
What really made me think about our Greenism was the conversation that followed the film. A terrific group of panelists shared their reactions to the film and answered questions from the audience. Panel members included a young, local farmer who grows his produce using sustainable, natural methods. He's like a rock-star of arugula and a genuinely nice guy. A former professor shared lovely muscadines with the audience from his berry farm. A husband and wife team that provides hormone-free, antibiotic-free meats got a little earthy and read some poetry. Plus there was a professor from Clemson, a horticultural powerhouse of a university. These individuals truly know their stuff...they don't preach, they don't instill guilt, they are just good people doing their jobs and helping the environment at the same time.
But as the discussion opened for "questions," a few audience members felt the need to showcase their vast knowledge of environmental doomsday-ness. Listening to the spewed statistics about petrochemicals used in farming (which this panel does not USE, lady!), I found myself tuning out.
Which is my point.
Why is there this disconnent between living a green life and, well, living? Why do some individuals feel the need for Green superiority, when some of us are just trying to do the best we can to positively impact the environment?
Shouldn't there be an easier way to make lifestyle changes that support a healthy environment without expending tremendous amounts of time and money?
And how can the average mom, one who works, volunteers, runs the kids to karate, soccer, piano, you name it...how can she guide her family on the path to Green-ness without breaking the grocery budget and adding more stress to an already stress-filled life?
How can I do this?
So, in the blog-honored tradition of Julie Powell, my task in the next year is this:
I plan to minimize my family's impact on the environment. I'll keep track of what works, what doesn't, and hopefully find some useful tips to share. I won't preach, I won't be perfect, and God knows, I'll never be No Impact Man...but we're going to try. A little bit every day.
