How to have a green Christmas

Between Thanksgiving and New Year's, Americans produce 25 percent more trash than normal (according to the EPA). I couldn't let the holidays pass without trying to reduce my consumption. My goal this holiday season is to reduce and reuse (and of course recycle), which means I'm not buying wrapping paper, bows or Christmas cards.

In lieu of wrapping paper I'm going to use brown paper bags I already had in my cupboard by decorating them as best as my minimal artistic ability allows. I have a few ideas for tags, one is that I might cut up colorful and sturdy retail bags -- like the pink striped ones you get from Victoria's Secret (maybe even incorporating the word 'Secret' into the tag). For an extra flourish, this week I bought a bag of old, small Christmas tree balls for $2 at the Assistance League thrift store on Long Beach's Retro Row. The snowflake design made them look especially decorative and they'll be a fun alternative to bows.

At the Goodwill I bought pine cone potpourri for $1. It didn't have any scent left but that was OK because I used it to fill up a bowl of four huge pine cones I brought back from a trip to Reno this summer. The bowl is always on display but adding the potpourri made it Christmas-y.

At first I figured I wouldn't send Christmas cards this year, but when I brought up my container of holiday decorations from storage, I found enough cards from years past to be able to send cards without having to buy new ones. Hopefully I won't send someone a card they got before. But if I do and you're reading this, it was for a good cause!

Granted, I'll still be buying gifts (with four nephews I can't avoid that) and I'm flying to Dallas to visit my sister and her family, but doing these little things make me feel better because I feel more aware of my consumption. It's easy to get sucked in and mindlessly buy, buy, buy at Christmas. But I feel more in the spirit reusing balls that decorated a family's tree decades ago and brought little kids joy than  rushing off to Target and filling my cart with cheaply-made decorations, paper products and stuff shipped from China. Reusing connects us with the past and isn't that what Christmas should really be about -- sharing memories, spending time with loved ones and and appreciating what we have instead of always wanting more.

Free reusable bags for LA County residents

I thought this was cool. Los Angeles County is trying to do its part to reduce the 6 billion plastic bags used by residents every year. Through Dec. 17, you can turn in five plastic bags and get a free (FREE!) reusable bag in return. The Brag About Your Bag campaign runs on weekends at participating Albertsons, Ralphs and Top Valus in cities throughout the county. I heard about it because my city, Long Beach, is participating and there was a brief story and column about it in our free weekly Grunion Gazette. Usually I blog about things I've done or plan to do (still haven't eaten those sardines, oops!) but I don't actually have five plastic grocery bags lying around my house because I'm really good about remembering my reusable bags when I go grocery shopping. But if I end up with five before Dec. 17, I'll be turning them in for a free bag. I already have eight reusable bags. Having so many guarantees there are always a few in my apartment and my car for my next shopping trip, but you can't have too many, especially since the two I have from Trader Joe's are a little worse for the wear.

The link for more information is www.bragaboutyourbag.com. To find out if your city is participating, click the Brag About Your Bag Campaign 2009 link on the left banner. Then click Partners and Sponsors along the top to see a list of cities.

Should I feel bad for eating meat?

Oh man, I should be a vegetarian.

That's what I thought yesterday after listening to Patt Morrison interview Jonathan Safran Foer about his new book, Eating Animals, and why the way meat is processed in this country led him to become a vegetarian.

The interview (listen to it here) grabbed my attention because of who Foer is. He's the author of one of the most original and brilliant books I've read in a while, Everything Is Illuminated. Since he writes fiction, I was surprised he was taking a stab at (no pun intended) nonfiction. And nothing in his previous novels hints at his environmental activism. But as he explained in the interview, after he became a parent he started thinking about the food he was feeding his son and where it came from. And that journey, which included spending time on factory farms, led him to become a vegetarian. (When asked by Morrison about the term "factory farm," he said it's accurate because the food industry views animals as widgets rather than living things -- well said, Jonathan!). He isn't an extreme health nut or an avowed environmentalist. As he said, he's just a regular, moral American and if everyone was aware of the suffering endured by the animals that become our food, more would chose this lifestyle, too. Which is why I thought, "I should be a vegetarian." If I thought about it as much as he did, I think I would reach the same conclusion.

He did say that he supports farmers who raise animals humanely but that it's hard to know exactly what you're buying because of misleading packaging. So for him, it was easier to become a vegetarian than to spend tons of time determining which meat is morally OK to eat. I've wondered about that when I've bought chicken at Whole Foods. The organic chicken is a whoppin' $9.99 a pound, so I've skipped that and bought "natural" chicken that is $4.99 a pound. The package says it's free of hormones (but all meat is by law, so that's meaningless), antibiotics-free and fed a vegetarian diet. That sounds good but in a squishy, what-do-those-terms-really-mean way. But still, I figure it's healthier than whatever I usually buy at Ralphs and ignorance is bliss. At least, for now.

A second life for my running shoes

Tonight I dropped off my old running shoes at a Nike store in L.A. to have them recycled. This is something I've been meaning to do since I found out about Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program and blogged about it (that post is here). Nike recycles the rubber, foam and fabric in running shoes to make new athletic surfaces like tracks, basketball courts and playgrounds. And they take any brand, not just Nikes.

For months my dirty Adidas running shoes have been in my trunk, waiting to be put to better use. Even though I work down the street from the Nike store at The Grove, walking there after a long day at work was basically the last thing I wanted to do. But today, my day off, I had to go to work for a few hours so when I got done at 6 I decided to finally drop them off to avoid traffic (Getting stuck in rush hour traffic on my day off? No way.).

It was super easy. They have a bin in the back of the store where you drop off your shoes. I was happy to see it was about two-thirds full.

This is the only shoe recycling program I know of, which is surprising since it's such a cool idea. So next time you're feeling the ground beneath your feet when you run and you know it's time to get rid of your shoes, instead of sending them to a landfill, you can donate them to a good cause. And if you don't live or work near a Nike store like I do, you can give your shoes to me and I'll drop them off when it's time to recycle my current running shoes. Just as long as they don't stink up my car because they might be there for a few months!

Canned sardines are on the menu

Yes, those are canned sardines in my cupboard. Most people's reactions would be "eww" and that's my reaction, too. But I keep reading about the benefits of eating small fish. Sardines are healthy (full of omega 3s), low in mercury (since they're at the bottom of the food chain) and sustainable (they aren't overfished). So this week after hearing an interview with a fisheries professor on Fresh Air, I blogged that I would try them.

Today at my local farmers market, I was heading out with a bag overflowing with produce when I saw the fish guy. I usually walk by his stand because the fish he sells is local and fresh ... ie: expensive. But today I stopped to see how much he was selling salmon for ($18/ lb). As I read the board listing the fish he had for sale, near the bottom I saw sardines. At $3 a pound they were a bargain. But thankfully "OUT" was written in red letters next to the name. I took that as a sign that I shouldn't try sardines this week.

But my next stop was the Whole Foods across the street to get the rest of my groceries. As I walked along the back aisle I came face-to-face with a display of sardines. I couldn't ignore the message: I had no excuse to not buy sardines.

But as with all shopping, there were choices and I didn't know what to buy. I tried calling my sister because she had told me she likes canned sardines, but she didn't answer. So I went with skinless and boneless over smoked and packed in water instead of oil. Then when I got home I noticed that they're from Morocco so they might not be as environmental as I thought. According to Seafood Watch, the "greenest" sardines are from the Pacific.

I found this article from The Atlantic about sardines becoming more popular for basically all the reasons I'm considering (I mean, going to) eat them. The author is a fan, so although he prefers fresh over canned, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. The box says "ready to eat" but even though I came home hungry, I didn't rip open the can and dig in. Besides the ick factor I'm trying to overcome, I don't know what to do with them. Should I eat them with a meal or as a snack? I'm waiting to hear back from my sister to get her advice. For now, they'll stay in my pantry.

Two takes on sardines

One of the things I really enjoy about blogging is the conversations it starts with my family on topics that don't normally come up. Like, I don't usually ask them about their fish preferences. But after my post yesterday about wanting to try eating smaller fish because they are healthier for you, my sister and dad both shared personal stories about eating sardines.

When my sister was in college she lived for two years in Portugal. The interview I heard on Fresh Air mentioned that grilled sardines are popular in Portugal, and sure enough she said she ate them all the time. In the seaside Vila do Conde, "The women used to walk through the town early in the morning with baskets of sardines on their heads. I can still hear them yelling, 'Sardinas, pecininas' (small sardines). They are quite delicious when grilled and I've even eaten them canned here because they are a great source of minerals, especially calcium."

All right, I'm sold. I'm so trying some sardines. Maybe I'll start with canned sardines since that would be easier. But wait, then I got an e-mail from my dad with a different take on sardines. I like the way he tells stories (maybe I got the writing bug from him), so I'm going to quote his whole e-mail.

"OK so here's a little story from when I was a yute, er, youtthh. I used to hang out over at David Sanford's house because they were a cool family and of course mine was not. Mr. Sandford ate canned sardines, so there were times when I was at the Sanford house and I would eat canned sardines too. Ugh. I can't believe now that I actually ate them. No to sardines. Double no to anchovies (they stink). And herring? - forgetaboutit."

Delicious versus ugh. Hmm, well I guess to each his own. I'll have to try for myself to see who I agree with.

Grilled sardines anyone?

Driving home from work today, I caught a segment on Fresh Air on a topic that is close to my heart -- or rather, stomach. Terry Gross was talking to Daniel Pauly, a professor at the University of British Columbia, about the best fish to eat both for your health and the environment. I wanted to embed the video but apparently I'm so computer illiterate that I couldn't make it work (or I need a new computer). But here's the link to her interview on the NPR site: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120049590

I've blogged about this before so some of what he said was familiar: wild Atlantic salmon is best; eat fish low on the food chain like sardines and mackerel, etc. But I learned a few new tidbits, like the reason wild salmon is better for the environment than farmed salmon. He said salmon farms don't produce fish, they consume fish since salmon are carnivores and eat fish lower on the food chain. So in salmon farms they grind up fish to make food for the salmon, for a net loss of fish. The good news is that catfish and tilapia (which I like to eat) are herbivores so those are good farmed options, along with shellfish (oysters, mussels, clams).

He's concerned about overfishing and made the point that sushi and sashimi used to be only for special occasions but now some people eat it every day. He made the dramatic comparison that eating a tuna roll is as bad for the environment as driving a Hummer.

But the line that got me was: "I think we should act as citizens, not just as consumers." Now I kinda want to take a stab at eating those low-mercury, small fish that Europeans eat, but that have a stigma associated with them in this country like anchovies, sardines and herring. Anchovies make me think of greasy pizza and my only association with herring is the phrase "red herring" (which I learned from one of the best movies ever, Clue). And sardines, well ... canned sardines, need I say more? I'm embarrassed to say that I don't even know what these fish look like, even though I'm sure my eyes have passed over them in the fish counter. But I'm making a promise to myself that I'm going to try one of them. If Europeans like them, they can't be that bad. I'll let you know how it tastes.

The one-year Ziploc challenge

I moved into my apartment a little over a year ago, in mid-September 2008. My move has been a convenient way for me to keep track of how much stuff I use. I've realized what a good deal Mrs. Meyer's concentrated all-purpose cleaner is because I still have the same 32-ounce bottle I bought a year ago for $8 (it's about two-thirds gone, although I probably would have gone through it by now if I was better about washing my floors). But I'm most proud of my Ziploc bag habit. I've had the same two boxes of sandwich and freezer bags since I moved in and they are nowhere near being empty. I've used 18 out of the 54 freezer bags. Of the 125-count sandwich bag box, I've gone through probably 30 or so (don't feel like counting all of those).

How have I cut back? Well, about a year ago I wrote a post about an article I read that mentioned a family that used the same sandwich bag for a year by washing it every time. I knew that was too drastic for me but I did start washing and reusing bags more than I had before. My co-worker, who had told me about the article, said that as my New Year's resolution I should try to limit myself to one box (not one bag for god's sake) for one year. Instead of waiting until New Year's, I decided to keep track of how many bags I went through in my first year of living in my apartment.

I don't use plastic produce bags that often -- only when I'm buying loose items like green beans but never for things like apples or broccoli (I don't understand people who put their bananas in a plastic bag. Is that supposed to keep them fresher or something? Seems like such an obvious waste to me). But I usually have a few on hand so I use those instead of sandwich bags and I reuse them as much as I can. I also re-use bread bags several times before they eventually get a little too worn and then I recycle them. I've also been using more plastic containers to hold things like nuts I take to work or half an avocado that I stick in the fridge. Now my most common use of Ziplocs is for raw chicken that I store in the freezer. It icks me out to think of reusing a bag that held raw chicken so those are one-time-only bags.

I feel good that I've cut back because I remember how often we'd run out of sandwich bags when I lived with roommates. Even though we were recycling most of them, it felt like such a waste. And it's really not that hard. The only annoyance is the cluster of wet bags littering my counter as they dry. I now see the reason for the bare-tree looking bag drying rack that I saw in a Gaiam catalog. At the time I thought it was a ridiculous and unnecessary invention. Now I admit, I kinda want one. Convenient that Christmas is coming up. I think it would make an excellent stocking stuffer. Anyone, anyone?