Finale

Unfortunately, this will be our last Zero Waste post. We had to end our Zero Waste initiative this month because we just found out we will be moving out of state (from Columbia, SC to Pittsburgh, PA) and, well, it's impossible to move without throwing anything away. We are sad to have not finished out the entire year, but life gets in the way. We've learned a lot this year and will be incorporating many of our new habits into the coming year as we scale back a bit in intensity.

Last year, we produced one kitchen can of garbage about each 7-10 days or so. Our goal going into this was to produce one kitchen can of garbage for the entire year. A month and a half early, this is the accumulation of our household trash for the year:

In the spirit of honesty, there are a few things that this does not include:

1. We went on a vacation in March and tried to save most of our trash, but ended up throwing a few things away (ice cream cups and plastic silverware, etc.)
2. Mulch and birdseed packaging
3. Napkins at restaurants (we tried to remember to take these with us when we left, but sometimes we forgot).

(This DOES include a gallon ziplock bag that I kept at work full of wrappers from all the candy I stress-ate out of the office kitchen this year. At a certain point I began to feel like a trash hoarder, which I suppose I am, oops. I should have taken a photo of the *extremely full* ziplock bag to share.)

There are some things from this year that we will absolutely keep doing from here on out:

1. Always carrying bags with us to the grocery store.

2. If we forget to carry our bags to the grocery store, we just carry the goods out in our hands or if our hands are full, get paper bags. I cut up paper bags and then use them to wrap gifts (like so) so we don't buy wrapping paper. (Also, this Christmas, don't throw away perfectly good bags and bows! Keep and reuse if you don't already)

3. Making things from scratch that could easily (but often more expensively) be purchased in packaging at the store, such as soup.

4. Brewing kombucha (although we need to replace the "mother" SCOBY)

5. Making bread, protein bites, oatmeal, etc. at home for breakfast food rather than eating breakfast bars. Yesterday morning, I found a protein bar in the pantry as we were cleaning it out to move, and I thought I might as well get rid of it. I couldn't eat the whole thing and I'm not sure how I used to. It was very hard and artificial tasting. Down with prepackaged breakfast. The most important meal of the day deserves more attention!

6. At the beginning of this year, I was worried that ZW would prevent me from painting, since I usually paint in acrylics, which have kind of bulky and wasteful packaging. So instead I began painting in watercolor, and it has become my favorite medium. I've found it to be an incredibly flexible and therapeutic way to paint.

7. Eating fish very rarely and taking our own containers to pick it up from the meat counter (as opposed to buying it in styrofoam)

8. Drinking 99% water and tea rather than packaged drinks. It takes 132 gallons of water to make a 2-liter bottle of soda, not to mention the resources expended in producing and recycling the aluminum/plastic.  I've kicked my caffeine habit too, so I don't get crashes in the afternoon anymore.

9. Donating regularly to the Environmental Defense Fund. Our daily habits matter more than we think, but the EDF is fighting the big fight. Setting up a recurring monthly payment is a great way to take part in the ongoing battle to protect our planet and all the creatures living here. https://www.edf.org/donate-online

10. Being vigilant about turning off lights in rooms we aren't using, and not using indoor lighting until it is dark outside.

11. Composting organic waste! We have composted all of our food waste, tea bags, coffee grounds, etc. from the past year and as we speak it is only half way full. If all of this had gone to the landfill, it would still be sitting there, rotting, as food does not decompose properly in landfills and releases methane. The majority of waste in landfills is food waste. Composting saves landfill space and prevents tons of methane from being released as greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. If you are thinking about composting, please try it!

12. Letting it mellow when it's yellow. 41% of indoor water usage is used by flushing the toilet! This is a massive waste. We don't need to flush every time. When we're done, we close the lid, and only flush when a sufficient amount of waste has accumulated to merit a flush and the use of that precious water!

13. Using cloth napkins at home, and rags/towels instead of paper towels.

Some things, on the other hand, we will not continue doing:

1. Buying all items in bulk. Some items are just way too expensive to buy in bulk. For example - A pound of mushrooms at Kroger costs around $2 or less. A pound of mushrooms in the bulk bin costs $4. There are some items that are just too expensive to buy in bulk and don't fit into our budget.

2. Not using the dryer (all the time). We are fine with air drying many of our clothes, but drying towels on the rack is too slow and they now have a mildew smell that we have not been able to get out, despite our best efforts. We are trying to use the dryer only when we have to (e.g. for towels and slow-drying fabrics), but it's so convenient that sometimes it's hard not to take advantage of it.

3. Trying to make tofu at home. Seriously, I tried this several times and could never get it right and wasted a lot of soybeans while I was at it. Some things are best left to the professionals.

4. Using single-ply recycled toilet paper. I am sorry to say that this is not something we see ourselves doing long-term. Using the bathroom at someone else's house (or even at work) is almost a spa-like experience compared to what we use at home. I know it's called toilet paper, but I think we all agree that we prefer the feel of cotton to paper on our unmentionables. We will finish using up what we have of the single ply and will then seek out another option for toilet paper moving forward.

5. Trying to make everything from scratch. I mentioned that we nixed our homemade toothpaste after about a month. We also stopped using homemade dish soap this summer because it was so thin that we went through a batch every week.


This year was very interesting for us, full of growing pains. In September, I received my certification as a Holistic Nutritionist. Austin has been in school studying his ass off (and will graduate next month). I was rejected from one graduate program for Fall 2017 before being accepted to another for Spring 2018 (hence our relocation). And we continued to have a lot going on in our lives with family and friends as well. We did our best to make this a priority, but of course it was not the only priority. There is definitely something to be said for balance. In weeks where we didn't have much spare time, we sometimes subsisted on pasta and stovetop popcorn because ZW precluded us from buying convenience meals that may have had a few more nutritional components. When we ended ZW last week, I bought several bags of frozen veggies which we've been using in soups and as side dishes for dinners. As we've been furiously preparing our home for sale over the past week, having conveniences like that are valuable.

Eating and living without producing waste is certainly time consuming, which is obviously why convenience foods and other items are so popular. We all have busy schedules and sometimes just don't have the time to make a meal from scratch, or soap from scratch, or take the extra steps to make sure that our purchases don't create more waste than they should. It would be helpful if manufacturers understood this as an issue and did their best to minimize waste in production and packaging. And we are seeing more and more trends to this effect.  I hope it continues. We can put pressure on companies to make their products less wasteful and more environmentally friendly, to use resources that cause minimal harm to animal habitats and vulnerable ecosystems (Down with palm oil! I'm talking to you, "vegan" products!).

Just last month, my parents installed solar panels on their roof. My aunt and uncle did the same earlier this year. Today, my dad showed me the app on his phone today that indicates how much C02 emissions they are saving by sourcing their energy from the sun. Since yesterday, their panels have saved 23 pounds of C02 from being released into the atmosphere. One day! Granted, not everyone can afford solar panels. Not everyone can afford to do Zero Waste, for that matter. We do what we can, and will continue to.  With privilege comes responsibility.

I doubt we'll create only one can of garbage next year. But we will also not revert to our prior habits, creating one can of waste each week. We are aiming for one can per month next year, a more measured approach which will allow us to indulge on occasion and utilize convenience items on occasion, while still doing our best to live out our values.

If you've read this far, thanks for following along this year. It's been an adventure and a learning experience. I'd definitely encourage anyone to try it just for a week or even a month - you will certainly learn a lot! Keep fighting the good fight to keep our planet green, skies clear, oceans blue and ecosystems thriving. We are stewards of this good earth. May we be compelled to behave as such.

Zero Waste Animals

We have two furry companions living with us. We adopted Luna the week after we moved into our house and even though she doesn't get along with a lot of other dogs (or humans), she is the sweetest pup to us and our kitty. We adopted Kit (Kitty Harington, Lord Snow, the Queen in the North) from a friend who needed to find her a home a few years ago and she is my best girl, the softest and sweetest little marshmallow there ever was.  We love our animals so much and I can't imagine life without either of them!

3 sweet animals.

Controlling waste with animals is a little different than controlling waste for yourself. We had to change our animals' habits too in order for our entire household to become zero waste. I wanted to share what we do with our animals in order to keep them as low waste as possible!

Dog Food
We try to feed Luna "people food" (otherwise known as "food") to supplement her doggie food diet at about a 70/30 ratio of kibble/food. When we're at the grocery store, we just pick up extra stuff that she likes and are good for her.  She shares a banana with Austin every day. Other things she eats in addition to kibble: Carrots, lima beans, black beans, quinoa, sweet potatoes, apple, lentils, pumpkin.
Remember that dogs are omnivores - they should eat both meat and plants. Most studies show that dogs should NOT eat a 100% vegetarian diet because their digestives systems simply aren't set up for it (unlike humans, who can eat a plant-based diet and be 100% healthy! :)) Some people make their dogs meals from entirely raw ingredients (no kibble), but we don't like to handle meat so we use grain-free kibble as her meat serving and supplement with fresh fruit or cooked veggies.
The dog food that we use is Nutro grain free with salmon or chicken. We don't buy dog foods that contain mammals (cow, pig, or lamb) because even though our animals need meat, we can't in good conscience contribute to the cruel and wasteful mammal agriculture industry.

Cat Food
Cats are NOT omnivores - they are carnivores! Kitty only eats cat kibble because she can't digest fruits and vegetables well. Again, though, we only feed her fish or chicken based meals. Cats generally do well with the added benefit of eggs and small amounts of cheese. If you do supplement your cat's diet with table food, it shouldn't make up more than 15% of her diet.

Dog Poop
We use biodegradeable poop bags on walks and put them in our yard trash.


Cat Poop
Kitty uses the porcelain throne to do her business. We trained her with this kit and it took her awhile, but she uses the toilet on her own. The reason we initially decided to do this was because the fumes from her clay litter gave me migraines and having a litter box is just so messy and wasteful. Clay cat litter is not decompostable and contains lots of toxic chemicals that are bad for us and our cats.  It has been linked to cancer and respiratory diseases in cats, primarily due to the inhalation and ingestion of silica, a known carcinogen. (Remember that since your cat bathes herself, she is licking and consuming all of the chemicals that are present in the kitty litter where she sits to do her business.) When we were training her to use the toilet, we used a corn-based litter that is flushable. It's really cool that now we never have to clean a litter box. We just flush her toilet once a day. It is super low maintenance, and we can take her anywhere there is a toilet. If you're interested, try toilet training! If you want to switch to a more environmentally friendly and non-toxic alternative, check out some alternative brands made from wheat, corn, and even walnut.

Dog Skin & Coat Care
We use coconut oil with Luna, both as a topical treatment and as a dietary supplement. We rub it on her belly and thighs when she gets chafed (which is often, since she has sensitive skin), and serve her about a tablespoon in her food a couple of times a week to keep her skin moist and her coat shiny. She has had problems with dry skin in the past and adding coconut oil to her diet has really helped.

Dog and Cat Treats
With treats and other non-essential items, it's pretty simple - we just don't buy stuff that comes in wasteful packaging. Find treats that come in paper or cardboard boxes rather than plastic. Find toys that are durable and made to last and not packaged wastefully. The one thing we are struggling with is Luna's bones - she has a nylabone right now, but I have read bad things about nylabones. We then wondered if we should get her a real rawhide bone, but I've also done research and found pretty scary stuff about bone fragments lodging themselves in doggy throats and even puncturing organs. I'm at a loss as to the safest option for bones, so if anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears!

We love our animals and try to do everything we can to keep them healthy for many, many years! Thankfully, many of the ways we try to keep them healthy also have a low environmental impact, and we've made some strides during our zero waste year to try to improve in that regard.

Cheers to happy and healthy animals! :)

Sustainable Eating

Plant-based eating: It's one of the most important facets of environmental sustainability, but I've hesitated to write this for many months. Most of us tend to be very defensive of our food choices and habits. Food is an important part of our culture.  Eating is one of the most important things that we do each day, and it's so ingrained in our lives that it's difficult for many of us to think about larger implications. But - we must. It would be negligent to never use this space  to discuss the extremely wasteful dietary practices that have consumed our society.

You may not know this (many do not), but eating meat not only sucks for animals, it's also terrible for the planet. Here are some facts about animal agriculture that you may not be aware of:

1. Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the exhaust from all combined transportation systems (which is responsible for approx.13%). It is therefore one of the biggest contributors to climate change.

2. Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas with 296X the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. It stays in the atmosphere for 150 years.

3. US methane emissions from livestock and natural gas are nearly equal.

4. Animal agriculture water consumption ranges from 34-76 trillion gallons annually.

5. Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56% of water in the US.

6. 2500 gallons of water are needed to product one pound of beef.

7. 5% of water consumed in the US is by private homes. 55% of water consumed in the US is for animal agriculture.

8. Livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth's ice-free land.

9. A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people.

10. Animal agriculture is responsible for 91% of Amazon destruction (and 1/2 acres of rainforest are cleared every second).

11. Humans are currently growing enough food to feed 10 billion people (the entire planet plus some!), but we are feeding much of this food to livestock instead. It is much more efficient to feed the food directly to people - According to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, it takes up to 10 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat.

12. 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals, and the animals are eaten by western countries.

The Standard American Diet (SAD), high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and meat, is responsible for alarming (and increasing) rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. We are not only straining the planet with our over-consumption of meat, we are straining our bodies as well. High meat and dairy consumption is directly tied to increased rates of cancer and other diseases. Plant-based diets are called "extreme;" meanwhile, 1/3 of Americans are obese, cardiac and bariatric surgeries are becoming more and more common treatments for problems that can be prevented with dietary changes, and 50% of adults can expect to be diagnosed with cancer within our lifetimes. We are what we eat - that is, refined grains, sugar, and dead animal tissue.And yet we expect this will have little to no affect on our health - or that healthcare will fix any and all symptoms and diseases. It will not - it does not.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states:


It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood and for athletes. Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage. Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity.

This is not to say that every person must switch to a 100% vegan diet to make a difference in health and sustainability.  However, it's important to recognize that the American diet has become very unhealthy and that we are not eating foods that nourish us. The majority of Americans take multivitamins instead of eating foods that contain essential vitamins and minerals. We think of fruits and vegetables as "side dishes" to a "real meal" of meat and bread, when it should be the other way around! What about protein, you say? Beans, rice, oatmeal, peas, nuts, lentils, and spinach are all great sources of living protein. They can, and should, make up the majority of one's protein consumption.

Austin and I used to be full vegan, but both of us have other medical issues that make it challenging to cook entirely egg and dairy free. We have tried a few variations of veganism/vegetarianism with the overall goal of maximizing health while minimizing our carbon footprint. Here's what works for us:

1. We eat no land animals, period. No cows, no pigs, no chickens, no lamb. Reducing our consumption of land animals in particular reduces our carbon footprint immensely.  From a strictly ethical standpoint, I do not eat anything that I wouldn't kill myself. We occasionally eat fish, but as I am learning more about how toxic the ocean and its inhabitants have become due to pollution (fish and shellfish are high in PCBs, a carcinogen), I am trying to phase out fish entirely as well. What about sushi, you ask?? We can still make delicious sushi using vegetables like carrots, peppers, cucumbers, etc. and really don't even miss the fish too much.

2. We do eat eggs in moderation, primarily because it is very hard to make things gluten free, dairy free, AND egg free. However, everyone can benefit from some research on the egg industry and why it is so important to obtain eggs as ethically sourced as possible. The egg industry is incredibly abusive, not only to egg laying hens, but also to their offspring.  Finding friends with backyard chickens is a great solution. You can also buy cage free, roaming chicken eggs at more and more grocery stores as the public is becoming more informed about how ugly this industry can be.

3. We try to eat seasonally and locally. Eating plant foods is far less environmentally friendly if the plant foods you're eating are shipped by freight! Try the farmer's market. We buy large quantities of foods while they are in season and freeze them for when they're not (I still like strawberry smoothies in the winter!). Eating seasonally increases appreciation of the food, too - a peach tastes so much better when I haven't had it for 8 months! Eating local food obviously boosts the local economy and supports small businesses, while reducing the carbon footprint of meals. It also means we're getting the freshest food available!

Everyone can make changes here and there that will benefit personal health and the environment.

If being vegan is too restrictive, be vegetarian!
If being vegetarian is too intimidating, be pescetarian!
If being pescetarian is too intimidating, be a "no red meat" eater!
If cutting anything out completely is too intimidating, just commit to eating less meat; e.g. having a couple of meatless dinners each week (or only a couple of meat-based meals per week!).

Reducing consumption of meat is an essential, though too often overlooked, facet of environmentalism. It's not just about the animals. It's about our health.  It's about responsible and sustainable consumption for the earth. America's meat addiction has become very hard on our bodies, and on the planet. Reducing consumption reduces environmental impact.

Changing our diets isn't easy. It's much harder given that every media source is constantly barking at us to buy lattes, unicorn drinks, Big Macs, sodas, donuts, candy, etc. - as well as telling us that eating junk food makes for an interesting, spontaneous, and fun-filled life.  It will also put us on the path to debilitating, expensive, and fatal diseases. We need to change the way we look at food - yes, it's a part of our daily lives, and a source of enjoyment, but should it not also be a way to honor our bodies, and the Earth our provider?

Some documentaries and books that are great informational sources about the American diet and plant-based eating:

Documentaries:
Forks Over Knives - discusses Diet for Health. Watch if you are looking to improve your overall health and wellness.
Cowspiracy - discusses Diet for Environment. Watch if you want reduce your carbon footprint & resource consumption.
Earthlings - discusses ethics & animal agriculture. Watch if you are motivated by compassion for animals.
Super Size Me - (a classic!) discusses Fast Food and Health. If you eat fast food on a regular basis, start here!

Books:
The China Study - a study of Diet for Health
Eating Animals - discusses sustainable and non-sustainable agriculture
The World Peace Diet - Diet/Lifestyle as it relates to Spiritual, Ethical, and Social Harmony

Changing our diets has radically changed our lives. Our daily (and seemingly innocuous) choices affect not only ourselves, but the rest of the world. We eat 3 times a day. Let these meals become a practice of gratitude, and not abuse.

End of May

Apologies for the lack of updates lately. There are a couple reasons – first being that this is pretty routine now, so things don’t often stand out to us – and the other reason being that I’ve just been very busy with other projects other than blogging lately. We did NOT quit zero waste, it’s just becoming harder to think of things to write that don’t take a whole lot of time. So if anyone has ideas or questions to be discussed, I’m all ears!

We’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.. Sometimes we fail on purpose and sometimes on accident, and we’re okay with that. We’re still cutting our trash down to a tiny fraction of what it was last year. But in the spirit of honesty, I want to talk about some things that are difficult with Zero Waste.

The biggest source of trash for us, right now, is unfortunately the garden. The fact is that not everything can be purchased in sustainable packaging. Every time we buy soil (we don’t have enough compost to fill our garden), it comes in a bag. Every time we buy mulch, it comes in a bag. Every time we buy bird seed, it comes in a bag. We believe it’s important to nurture our own little ecosystem and the benefits of growing our own food and feeding the birds outweigh the burden of the trash. We are still keeping our garden trash, but separate from our household trash because it is adding up. We will probably have a full trash can of garden trash by the end of the year, but the sustainability of maintaining our garden is a worthy trade. I believe it’s important to grow food because it fosters appreciation of the time and resources that go into growing what we eat. It’s easy to forget the long journey our food takes from seed to plate but hard to forget it you pick it yourself from your backyard! :) 

There are some things that we simply won’t buy in bulk because they are too expensive. Chocolate chips are about 3x cheaper in a bag than in bulk. Same for pasta. We try to buy in sustainable packaging, but sometimes we know when we buy things that we’ll be adding trash to our pile. Last week we bought a bag of salt and vinegar chips, promptly devoured it, and added the trash to our collection.  It may be a lie to call this challenge “zero waste” because it’s obviously not ZERO, but we are going for minimal waste. Our goal is still to produce one trash can of household garbage for the year and other than garden trash, I expect we'll be successful. 

Before you assume that something isn’t recycled, make sure to check!! We thought we wouldn’t be able to buy cherries or grapes this year because they come in plastic, but it turns out the plastic is recyclable. Do some research on plastic types, what the numbers mean, and what is recyclable curbside in your area.  Some types of plastic cannot be recycled curbside, but can be recycled at convenient drop-off locations like the front of the grocery store where they take #2 and #4 bags. Any other #2 and #4 plastics can be recycled there too!

I was asked several months ago to post about composting. I am BY NO MEANS an expert on composting, and there are many ways you can do it, and I encourage everyone to do research on types of composting to figure out what’s right for you. You can compost from anywhere, without anything fancy, and even without a yard. People compost in their garages, kitchens, patios, etc. We do vermicomposting with a tumbling bin. There is a lot of literature out there about the appropriate carbon to nitrogen (e.g. brown to green) ratio for compost, but the fact is that kitchen scraps will compost even with a less-than-ideal C:N ratio is, just at varying speeds. We keep worms in our compost to speed up the process and they turn our scraps into dirt lickety-split. Obviously since we have worms, our compost is kept in the shade, whereas if you do not have worms and want quick composting, you should keep it in a sunny place.  This is our first summer with worms, so it’ll be interesting to see how they adapt to the heat. 

Here’s an EPA link that discusses the different types of composting. Take a peek and see if one of them is right for you! The biggest advantage to composting is that you are keeping food waste out of the landfill. In the landfill, food cannot break down properly due to the sheer amount of waste, and so it releases toxic greenhouse gases like methane as it sits and ferments. By composting, you’re taking over 50% of your waste out of the “waste management” cycle of weekly pickup, dumping, incineration, burial, and gas emission. You can then turn your compost into nutrient-rich soil for your own garden. Composting takes very little effort, but makes a HUGE difference. Please try it!!

Since we haven’t done a trash update in awhile, here we go. Our bag is about half full (or half empty??). We like to treat ourselves once in awhile, even if it will create some trash, because we are far from perfect and we also like to enjoy ourselves. But we are also enjoying NEVER having to drag the trash can out to the road on Tuesdays, and eating whole plant foods most of the time, and learning new things about sustainability and how we can do our part to alleviate the strain that our consumption has on the planet. Thanks for following along guys.

Numbers

Welcome to Planet Earth where we have:

45,000 Subways

23,000 Starbucks

36,000 McDonalds

30,000 African Lions

20,000 Polar Bears

5,000 Snow Leopards

3,500 Tigers

1,800 Grizzly bears

700 Mountain gorillas

SAD. Maybe we should all try to value life a little more, and commodities a little less. 

7 Days of Chia

I've mentioned before that ZW has forced us to get more creative in the kitchen. We have a lot of staple "new age" ingredients that we use in almost all our recipes, but we are learning more and more ways to use them to diversify our palates.

My parents (a financial planner + a bankruptcy paralegal) raised me to be extremely frugal and so one of the things I CANNOT STAND is wasted food. It's also terrible that the earth produces all of the resources to feed every single person on earth (GO EARTH!!) if we weren't so bad at resource allocation and waste. We try our hardest not to throw food away, so I start acting like a madwoman when I see that something is nearing expiration because we MUST USE IT ALL UP IMMEDIATELY. (We experienced this with almond meal last month so we ate a lot of grain-free muffins.)

CHIA SEEDS are extremely nutrient dense, full of fiber, protein, Omega 3s, calcium (great source for vegans!), manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, B vitamins, potassium, and antioxidants. They're extremely versatile and can be added to tons of dishes, beverages, and desserts.

I noticed that our chia seeds were expiring and so my mission was to use them up in a week. Here's our 7 days of chia (click for recipe or ingredients listed if no recipe.):


Day 1: Chia Energy Bites

<-Day 2: Chickpea and Beet Bowl with Cilantro Chia Pesto
Chickpeas and red onion sautéed in olive oil + turmeric, spiralized beets, and pesto (cilantro, olive oil, parmesan, chia, spirulina, salt + pepper)

Day 3: Chia and Fruit Smoothie ->
Frozen strawberries, pineapple or banana, almond milk, 1 tsp. honey, 2 tbsp. chia seeds, 1 tbsp. hemp seeds - blend! (find reusable straws here.)



<- Day 4: Chia and Spirulina Popcorn  
Chia, spirulina, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper - blend in food processor and mix with popcorn as seasoning. Superfood popcorn!

Day 5: Chia Fruit Leather (AKA natural fruit roll ups) ->
blend 4 cups strawberries with 3 tbsp. chia, pour into baking sheet and cook 3-4 hrs @ 220 degrees. cut into strips.


Day 6: Gluten Free Chia Pancakes

<-Day 7: Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chia Pudding 







CHIA OUT.

End of February

 Today it is March and it is also the beginning of Lent. I'm not giving anything up for Lent (although I do want to scale down my Facebook usage) but instead I am trying to take on some things that bring glory to God like...LEARNING SPANISH!! I had 5+ years of Spanish instruction in school but haven't used it conversationally in nearly 10 years, which is sad, especially considering my profession. I think that the ability to communicate with someone in their native language is a powerful and selfless way to show respect and understanding, and it deepens relationships. Sometimes I'll have clients who don't even know each other in the office at the same time and they will speak to each other in their common language because at the most basic level, they have that in common. It's a beautiful way to forge relationships with people and I wish I had made this a priority earlier. I feel that learning a second language in a world where everyone else is expected to speak English is a way to tell people that they matter, their culture, histories, and legacies matter. Language learning has always been tough for me, but Austin had classes more recently than me and so we are going to try to improve together. We also want our children to be bilingual, so we need to get a head start!

We have settled into a pretty natural rhythm with our Zero Waste efforts and are finding what works for us and what doesn't, like:

1. New breakfast item: Chocolate Banana Muffins. I've made these for Austin for the past month on Sundays and they last him the whole week. Trick for ripening bananas quickly so they are ready for bread: Put the bananas in a paper bag and close the bag. They will release ethylene that quickens the ripening process (putting an apple in there will also ripen them faster). This trick works for other fruits like avocados, peaches, and pears as well!

2. Up til now, we have been buying bread (for Austin; I can't eat bread) at the bakery and wrapping it in a towel so we don't get a bag. Fresh bakery bread is pretty expensive. A few weeks ago, though, my parents gave us their bread machine since they don't use it anymore. Austin has been pumping out loaves ever since and they are turning out really well! The first thing he made with it was a grilled cheese, and when he was eating it I mentioned that it looks like Zaxby's bread. He said it tastes like Zaxby's bread. (How I miss Zaxby's bread). It ends up costing about $1.50 per loaf with all of the ingredients. This was super cool and we are enjoying not having to buy bread anymore!

3. We finished toilet training our cat, FINALLY!!!  I'm so excited and proud of her because we've been working on this for a loooong time. (Yes, I know this is one of those things that makes a person "weird," but I invite you to be weird with us because this is pretty cool and convenient). We stopped using clay kitty litter over 2 years ago because it gave me terrible migraines (clay cat litter is also non-decompostable and filled with toxic chemicals that are harmful to both humans and kitties). We used a toilet training kit and since we have an extra toilet in our house, we just let her take her sweet time in getting used to it.  It's also really funny listening to our cat use the toilet like a human. If you don't want to toilet train your cat but want to use an eco-friendly cat litter, there are corn, wheat, paper, and even walnut based litters on the market that do the job without creating hazardous waste. If I can catch her on the toilet one of these days, I'll post a photo, but here she is at our old apartment when we began training her. (No, she doesn't wipe. No, she doesn't flush. Rude.)

Invasion of Privacy

4.  Zero Waste Fail: TOOTHPASTE.  When I made our second batch of toothpaste, we used it for about a week before I said to Austin, "This isn't really working for me. What do you think?" He agreed that our homemade toothpaste was not really cutting it and we weren't brushing our teeth for long enough and that we wanted to use toothpaste again. So, we researched brands and bought some Kiss My Face toothpaste. The first time I used it, after months of using coconut oil, I said to Austin "This is the most amazing  experience" and he agreed. We have decided toothpaste is something we're not willing to compromise on, but now we have a newfound appreciation for toothpaste and almost every day we remark on how amazing our teeth feel and how grateful we are for toothpaste. I never had such appreciation for toothpaste before (it's something we've always taken for granted), but this challenge has done that for us.

5. A few people have asked about our diet and how what we eat is related to Zero Waste. Austin eats a pretty normal pescetarian diet heavy on carbs, nuts, and fish. I eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, and eggs. We both drink an inordinate amount of tea. I'll share a post soon that goes into more detail on what we eat and how we keep the earth in mind when we buy our food :)

6. Here is all of our trash so far this year (January and February). It seems like a lot to us, but at this rate we should achieve our goal of only one trash bag for 2017.

January+February trash

Happy March! Hopefully we can all discover new ways to be kind to each other and the earth this month.