Thoughts on Green Shopping and Wrapping

I couldn’t write a holiday gift guide without circling back to two important elements of holiday gifting: the shopping and the wrapping. Over the course of my green living journey, and through a lot of trial and error, I’ve found some eco-friendly places to shop as well as some fun ideas for decorating and wrapping gifts.

The reason this is important to me and the planet is simple. Often e-commerce (though so convenient and frequently less expensive than bricks-and-mortar retail) can have a devastating impact on the environment. Take the following example. I purchased some reusable produce bags from a certain big-name retailer who shares a name with a river in South America that I won’t mention here by name. The pack of 12 bags (which, by the way, are totally not fragile) came wrapped in plastic, stuffed inside a HUGE box whose empty space was filled with air-filled plastic packing pillows. My effort to do something good for the environment ended up an environmental nightmare.

Where you shop matters. It’s as simple as that.

In the general shopping and lifestyle category, we have found success with the following online marketplaces. Please note that we do not receive commissions from these sites. Not that we are anti-affiliate marketing. But for now we are simply making suggestions based of products and vendors we believe in. We hope you like them as much as we do.

Etsy is a great option because you can chat directly with the sellers to ask how they package and ship your items. You will be supporting small businesses and makers as well.

We love Package Free Shop for great eco basics and highly curated selection of helpful things to start your green journey from kitchen to bathroom, personal grooming and beauty. Locals to NYC can visit their two locations in Brooklyn as well as in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market. When you order online, your goodies come in as small a box as will fit everything with no excess packaging or plastic in sight.

Earth Hero has pretty much anything you could wish for in a green marketplace. We love the selection of eco friendly clothing as well as pet gear. One wonderful aspect of this site is that for each product there is a clearly stated sustainability feature that outlines exactly what the item is made from, how to responsibly dispose of it, where and how it is made. You get the picture.

Earth Easy has a similarly wonderful selection, with a great section on gardening and outdoor products. They have a blog with super helpful how-tos and informative articles as well.

In the equestrian sphere, we have a hard time coming up with such an exhaustive list. If you have ideas, please share them!

Several companies are now manufacturing vegan riding boots. Fabbri, Der Dau, as well as Robert Squared are new innovators in this space and we are encouraging people to consider this as a viable options when researching new boots. We can only hope that other tack and riding apparel get the memo that some consumers want ethical, environmentally friendly options for their riding gear and tack.

Oaklyn Tack - whom we wrote about for a previous blog post - is a wonderful shop for girths that are made, shipped, and packaged responsibly. The two sisters who started this company and manufacture these girths are really walking the walk, so to speak. Check them out.

So, you have the gifts, now you have to wrap them. Sure conventional wrapping paper and bows look festive, but they often contain plastic and metal elements that render them unrecyclable along with other paper. Moreover, much conventional gift wrap is manufactured in countries whose labor practices do not line up with our ethos. Sorry to get political in a discussion of holiday wrapping, but if exploitative labor bothers you, read on.

If you are handy, we love furoshiki, a traditional Japanese method that involves folding and tying cloth. You can reuse or repurpose a piece of fabric, and old scarf or bandana, or tea towel. For a small box, a vintage handkerchief or napkin works great. This technique is great for oddly shaped presents that defy conventional paper wrapping. No ribbons or tape necessary.

These adorable designs came from a blog we like, but the internet is flush with other ideas. Google away and have at it, or check this one out at designmom.com

Personally, I’m a bit tight on time this year, so I will purchase two bulk rolls of kraft paper, one white, one traditional beige, to wrap with. A few rubber stamps and a heartfelt message written on the paper itself lends a charming and minimalist look to my under-tree scape. You can add a ribbon or a decorative piece of twine, or tuck a natural element such as a holly branch or spare evergreen sprig.

Speaking of evergreen sprigs, I am personally going off ribbon this year in favor of simple (and biodegradable and compostable) jute twine adorned with a sprig. My local Christmas tree purveyor sells bunches of branches for next to nothing. You could also try dehydrating orange slices (DIY instructions here) that look just like stained glass. Or you could simply tie some cinnamon sticks or bunches of herbs from your garden or windowsill pot, if a green thumb is your thing. Deep into December and we still have rosemary and sage a plenty. Your gift will be beautiful and smell amazing. I guarantee your recipient will be as impressed and moved by the wrapping as the contents.

Mason or other canning jars are great for homemade edible items, dog treats, jams, or dried herbs. They have the added bonus of being able to be reused by the recipient. We personally find them suitable for small jewelry and other gift items as well. Simply wrap the gift in an antique handkerchief (so pretty and thoughtful!), place in jar, and decorate with a scrap of fabric tied off by a ribbon. It’s charming and homey and so chic.

With a bit of ingenuity and thought, your gifts can be as beautiful as they are green. We hope you enjoy these ideas, and please don’t forget to let us know if you have other ideas and suggestions. Tag us on socials with pics of your finished presents so we can share your great ideas!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a green…er….good night!

Holiday Shopping List, Part 2

Hello again, friends!

I hope this year’s Thanksgiving was spent with two and four-legged loved ones, that political discussions were avoided, and leftovers were consumed or composted appropriately :)

Here, as promised, is our second installment of the Definitive Low-Waste Shopping Guide for Equestrians.

As an extra, next week I will post a bonus edition which will present some fun ideas for wrapping, shipping and packaging, so stay tuned!

Enjoy and, as always, join the conversation and let us know what you think.

Yours in gratitude,

SRB

For anyone in your life who is super green already, but looking for the next thing to clean up:

Folks, it’s time to do something about our laundry. Yes, you read that right. You see, man-made fabric such as lycra, spandex, rayon, polyester and polar fleece release tiny particles of plastic every time they are washed. These tiny particles make their way out of your washing machine and into the water source of your community, eventually finding their way to the ocean. Cleaning our clothes ends up polluting our water. Go figure. Many of the materials we equestrians use, from the spandex in our breeches to the fleece in our polo wraps, release micro plastics. And if you are like me, you do a LOT of barn laundry.

Why are these tiny bits so dangerous? Surely they can’t be as bad as floating plastic bottles or bags? The answer is that they provide an attractive snack for small sea creatures who are then eaten by larger fish, and so on up the food chain and into the seafood that we consume.

The solution is the Cora Ball, which is cute, affordable, and lasts a loooong time. Simply place it in your washing machine and wash as normal. The ball attracts and captures the micro plastic particles and holds onto them. Once you see accumulation in the coils of the Cora Ball, simply remove them over a waste paper basket or garbage can. I plan on gifting these as well as buying some for our barn washing machines. It’s a simple solution to a problem that you may not have known you had until this moment. Happy washing!

For anyone jumping on the Marie Kondo bandwagon:

Over the course of our eco-friendly research, we stumbled upon Terra Cycle and were very intrigued. It’s a company whose mission is to eliminate the idea of waste and has made it possible to recycle ANYTHING. Here’s he catch: it’s expensive. Using the company’s Zero Waste boxes is simple. Pick the waste stream you would like to recycle, fill up the box, and return using the prepaid label. They take care of the rest. The more specific the waste stream - wine corks, rubber gloves, surgical masks, coffee pods, for example - the less expensive. The Recycle Anything Box - that’s right, you can literally put anything in it - is the most expensive. I can now clean out my closets with a clear conscience. If you have kids, you know that random plastic crap really does accumulate. We try to donate or recycle as much as we can, but there are so many broken bits of toys, party and halloween goody bags, favors from the dentist that no one else would want and definitely cannot be recycled. One of these boxes would be great in a barn, so maybe you and a few of your barn mates can chip in and share the cost of one for when it’s time to do spring cleaning.

For your child’s long-suffering instructor who could use a sweet treat:

When I was young, it was customary to bring your trainer cookies every time you fell off. After one particularly rough summer, my trainer told my mom to start bringing him wine instead!

This holiday season, you can take the same sentiment, minus the falling off, and gift a low-waste cookie kit. Get the kids involved and DIY a thoughtful gift for the pony camp instructor who takes such good care of them and also puts up with all their shenanigans. There are tons of recipes on the internet for cookies in a jar. Here is one that we have tried and enjoyed, but feel free to adapt or use a family favorite. All you need to do is find a container - thrifting or repurposing one you already have is low-cost or free and zero waste - and fill. Decorate with a ribbon or scrap of fabric and have you or your kids write or type out the instructions. If you wish, you can include a cookie sheet, whisk, spatula or bowl to round out the gift even further.

For yourself, and anyone else who needs this in their life:

How good are Stasher Bags? Excellent, I tell you. We use these for everything in our home and at the barn that we would have normally used a plastic zip-top bag for. They are virtually indestructible, freezable, dish-washable, non-toxic and able to withstand extremely high temperatures without denaturing. Because they can be easily disinfected, they can be used to store meat and freeze bulk meals or soups. They seal very tightly so you won’t have to worry about leaks. We use them to bring snacks and lunch on the go, and we use the larger ones to hold boot polishing supplies, ring-side peppermints, ear plugs, and caulks. They save money in the long run because you won’t need to buy conventional bags. A win for your wallet and the planet!

Stocking stuffers and other extras:

We recently bought two packs of these unpaper towels, one for home and one for the barn. It’s amazing how much use we have gotten out of them already, and how we are now barely using conventional paper towels. I suggest washing them as soon as you get them and winding them around your usual paper-towel dispenser. The fabric becomes a bit staticky and sticks together so they hold the shape around the holder just like the old fashioned stuff. You can also fold them neatly and leave them in a basket on the counter, or stash them in a drawer. They patterns are cute and look pretty, but you do you. We use them for everything and they come in very handy around the barn for cleaning tack, polishing boots, dusting tack trunks, wiping hands or sweaty faces or muddy barn dog paws. We love supporting Etsy and other small makers and businesses and we think you will love this one.

Candles make a great stocking stuffer, teacher gift or hostess gift. I always keep a few on hand during the holidays for last minute gift giving, and any that don’t get gifted get enjoyed by yours truly. Conventional candles contain a lot of nasty stuff like chemical fragrances and volatile compounds that get released - and subsequently breathed in - upon burning. We love P. F. Candle company for their totally organic products that smell great. The packaging is totally recyclable or reusable and looks great in any home.

I am also going to be purchasing several of these snack bags for the kids in my life. I am a big fan of repurposing and reusing before buying something new, so I have been using glass food storage containers and mason jars to tote my son’s lunch and snacks around. He just told me that the glass is making his backpack way too heavy - sorry buddy! - so these will come in very handy. The patterns are cute and the zipper is easy for small fingers to manage. Evergreen and Mustard is another Etsy shop that we love, and think you will too.

The ultimate zero-waste gifts to consider:

Gifting experiences instead of stuff is a great way to limit the carbon footprint of your holiday season and will be so appreciated by the recipient.

We bet all the people in your life who work hard and are on their feet all day would love a gift certificate for a massage or mani/pedi.

Let your barn’s working student have a night out on you with a gift certificate to a nice restaurant or local wine bar or microbrewery.

A class pack to a yoga studio or fitness facility is a great option for the workout junkies in your life who are always trying new ways to exercise.

The experience may be fleeting, but the memory and thoughtfulness of the gift will last for a long time.

Finally, making donations in someone’s name is a super thoughtful way to support great charities and spread the love this holiday season. A few that we love:

The Equestrian Aid Foundation supports horsemen and women coping with life altering injuries and illnesses.

Danny and Ron’s Rescue rescues and rehomes some of the cutest dogs in the horse show world - including ours! - and has saved the lives of over 13,000 dogs to date.

Any OTTB fans in your life would appreciate a donation to Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center in Lexington, KY. It’s the gold standard for reschooling off-track Thoroughbreds and finding them amazing and successful second careers.

Therapeutic riding can be life changing for people dealing with learning differences, emotional distress, addiction, and other challenges. We at GITNB are proud to support both Endeavor Therapeutic Riding as well as the Gleneayre Equestrian Program who, in addition to doing amazing work, are going green in their day-to-day operations as well as at their fundraising shows.

The Definitive Low-Waste Holiday Shopping Guide for Equestrians

Hello Green Team!

I hope this finds you well and sheltering from the recent arctic weather we are having. If the state of my horses’ coats is any indication, we are in for a doozy this year.

The arrival of cold weather does have one upside for me, getting excited for the holidays. Having begun my low-waste lifestyle journey, this year my approach to gift giving and wrapping will be very different from past years. I plan on being much more intentional about what I gift and how I present it.

I have been working hard on researching and compiling a list of great, eco-friendly, useful and helpful items for everyone on your list. Naturally, a lot of these gifts have an equestrian spin, but I think you will find something for everyone, even those non-horsey folks on your nice list.

Since this is a lot, I will be breaking it into two separate posts. Feel free to comment with suggestions and let us know what you think!

Happy holidays (already?!),

SRB

For your hard-working grooms who never stop to take a minute for themselves:

One of our favorite discoveries of the year, Go Pure Pods provide clean water anywhere. Simply place the pod (which comes packaged in a zero waste glass container) in any container, fill it up with water from anywhere – yes, even a hose in a wash stall! – and wait 30 minutes. The results are extraordinary. From our perspective, this bridges the gap at shows and the barn between remembering to bring your reusable bottle (yay!) and actually finding clean water to put in it (so hard at shows sometimes). The pods last for 6 months, which is way longer than the standard water filters which, let’s face it, most of us forget to change anyway. Bundle the pod with a reusable bottle, and you have a lovely gift to help the hard working people in your life keep hydrated and take care of themselves.

For your horse show friend who juggles her kids, horses, dogs, job, and looks good doing it, but maybe doesn’t have time to be as green as she wants to:

One of the biggest ways we have aimed to reduce waste in our own home is to eliminate single-use baby food/snack packs. My son LOVES applesauce pouches. He won’t eat it in a bowl with a spoon, but from a squeeze pack he will down 4 at a sitting. They are obviously super convenient for snacking on the go – hello melting down toddler in the golf cart at the show ring – but so, SO bad for the environment. Enter these reusable pouches. Simply buy (or make) apple sauce, yogurt, purees, or whatever else your kids like to snack on, fill, snack, wash, reuse. We buy apple sauce in bulk in glass jars and reuse those jars for storage and bulk purchases. 

For your barn bestie who shares your snarky sense of humor:

Soap for Dirty Equestrians was a big hit in our house. The soaps themselves smell great, feel amazing on the skin, and contain no scary ingredients. The packaging is minimal, and with funny names such as “Stressed out Ammy” – a soothing lavender, and “You Deserve this Mint” – a refreshing peppermint, they will definitely put a smile on the recipient’s face.

For your mom, who never misses a show, and freezes her butt off waiting 5 hours for your class:

Rumpl blankets make an amazing gift for anyone who needs a little help staying warm. The company has taken great pains to minimize their environmental impact, from using no-harm down feathers (a biproduct of the food industry, but not vegan so if this is a concern for you, take note), low impact waterproofing, and post-consumer recycled bottles in their fabrication. They used over 3 MILLION bottles in one year alone. Yes, you read that right. We love the Sherpa style that comes with handy carrying straps, as well as the Polar Puffy fleece blanket that has a button so you can wear it as a cape. Just think, now mom will have her own blanket and not have to borrow your horse’s Baker to stay warm at the ring.

For your super busy trainer who never remembers to reapply sunscreen:

We at Green is the New Blue are sunscreen fanatics and can say that we have tried every single sunscreen known to man on our proudly pale and pasty faces. Of major concern for us is the health implications of putting chemicals on our body. Because our skin is an organ, it absorbs what is put on it directly into the blood stream. We like to keep our skincare clean and green. As a corollary to that, we have concerns about the plastic packaging in most conventional sunscreens. And don’t even get us started on aerosol sprays. Meet Raw Elements. A totally natural, cruelty free, water resistant, plastic free sunscreen that works well on all skin types. It is certified reef safe. What does that mean, you ask? Conventional sunscreens contain chemicals that end up in our water supply when you wash them off in the shower. The result is coral bleaching which is detrimental to marine life. Turns out this ingredient – Oxybenzone – is not too great for humans either. You can read more about reef safe sunscreen here.

Ok, friends, that’s all for now! Stay tuned for next week and our next installment. Let us know what you think and shoot us some suggestions for how you are going green this holiday season.

Note: We are not incentivized or compensated for promoting these products. They are simply items that we like by companies we support and hope you do to…

Girths Go Green

Hey guys,

As I strive to eliminate single-use plastics in my daily life, I’m finding it’s nearly impossible to avoid them in the form of packaging and wrapping. I recently bought a new pair of riding pants that came sealed tightly in a plastic pouch… inside of a plastic mailer. 

C’mon. Riding pants are not surgical implements. They don’t need to arrive hermetically sealed. A biodegradable plastic or recycled paper pouch would have done the same job—but now I was the owner of yet another plastic pouch that I had to figure out how to responsibly dispose of.

Lauren Singer, author of the Trash is for Tossers blog and founder of an amazing eco-friendly store in Brooklyn called the Package Free Shop, put it so well in a recent Instagram post:

In the United States there is not currently a system in place where manufacturers and businesses are taxed or fined for waste, so that burden all falls on the individual taxpayer. This works by taxpayers paying for municipally provided services like recycling and garbage pickup.  […] If the burden of end of life was put on the manufacturers, then it is very likely that only sustainable and recyclable materials with a clean end of life would be used because it would be too expensive not to!

For the eco-minded, this is the status quo: the waste burden falls on the consumer, not on the manufacturer. 

But in the world of equestrian commerce, a small start-up from eastern Pennsylvania is disrupting that cycle.  

Oaklyn Equestrian  is changing the game when it comes to environmentally friendly tack and horseware.

Intrigued by their mission, I ordered their pilot product, the Terra Plush Fleece Girth. This schooling girth is made of polyester fabric sourced from plastic bottles—on average, 15 of them per girth—and the fleece is composed of sustainably and ethically sourced American wool. All Oaklyn products are made in the good old US of A. You can read more about their manufacturing here. 

But most importantly, how is the girth?   Incredible. It’s a cleaner look than the conventional fleece schooling girths we’ve always used, and it feels more luxurious, too. Aesthetics aside, it’s held up to the grime and slop of 2019’s hot, soggy summer that has rapidly turned into a cold, soggy fall. A win all around. Even my trainer, who has a decidedly if it ain’t broke don’t fix it mindset (hi Karen!), was immediately sold. In fact, she asked me to order 4 more! Admittedly a small focus group, but Team MVF is impressed.

More products are coming from Oaklyn Equestrian and we can’t wait to see what’s next. Be sure to check them out.

In the meantime, here’s what else we can do: 

Seek out companies like Oaklyn Equestrian that are fighting the good fight. Support those businesses whose practices you respect and whose principles align with yours.

AND

Ask your favorite vendors to do better in the sustainability department. Use your voice AND your dollars to demand change. 

As the poet Osho said, There is no need for you to change the whole world; just change yourself and you have started changing the whole world, because you are part of the world.

~SRB

This one's for you, Mama Lou

Hey friends,

Happy August! It’s hard to believe summer is almost over. Here in the Northeast, we have a few weeks left before starting school. For those of you who have already started, I hope the new year is off to an auspicious beginning. 

Since I began this Green is the New Blue project, I have been amazed and humbled by how many people I have heard from. I truly thought that my audience would basically be my family and five friends. Instead, I have gotten messages of support, encouragement and great ideas from as far away as New Zealand! Thank you, thank you to everyone who reaches out. I love these dialogues. The more conversations we start, the more connections we can make, the more change we can inspire. 

Today’s post, however, hits a bit closer to home and is in direct response to a request from my number 1: my mom.

Anyone who knows my mom, Louise Riggio, knows she is basically the coolest lady ever. She is so keen on jumping on this green bandwagon and really wants to do better. I am so proud of her efforts and desires to leave this planet in good shape for her grandson and his pals.

The other day she came to me and sort of threw her hands up in the air. She was frustrated by all the lingo, terms, shapes and symbols, packaging and assorted jargon we are bombarded with on the daily. “What does it all mean, Steph!? Can you please write a blog post to clear this up for me? And other people, of course!”

No problem, mama. This one’s for you.

She is not alone in this frustration, I think. We are given so much conflicting information when it comes to the topic of environmental issues. I certainly am no expert, but I have done a ton of research to save you all some heartache and stress and hopefully help clear up some confusion. Please feel free to reach out on the comment section as well as through our website to ask more questions, share some tips and keep this dialogue going.

These topics apply to at home and in the barn. Because we all have lives outside the barn, right?

First thing’s first, here are my two favorite go-to sources 

Earth 911  is a great resource for articles, how-to guides, blogs, resources. You name it, they have it.

I Want To Be Recycled   has a great search functionality. Just enter your zipcode here to quickly access info unique to your community.

Now, onto my exhaustive (and exhausting) list:

Get to know these common symbols. It’s not as hard as you think if you use our handy cheat sheet!

Get to Know Your Plastics….

…and your neighborhood’s curbside recycling program’s capabilities. We all know those little symbols on the bottom of most plastic containers, but most of us (myself included) don’t know what they mean! Here is a handy guide you can use to familiarize yourself with the different kinds of plastics as well as a link to a cheat sheet you can print out and place at your home or barn to make it easy for yourself, friends, family, clients, employees to put their stuff where it belongs.

1 – PETE – Polyethylene Terephthalate

The easiest of plastics to recycle. Often used for soda bottles, water bottles and many common food packages. Is recycled into bottles and polyester fibers

2 – HDPE – High density Polyethylene

Also readily recyclable – Mostly used for packaging detergents, bleach, milk containers, hair care products and motor oil. Is recycled into more bottles or bags.

3 – PVC – Polyvinyl Chloride

This stuff is everywhere – pipes, toys, furniture, packaging – you name it. Difficult to recycle and PVC is a major environmental and health threat.

4 – LDPE Low-density Polyethylene

Used for many different kinds of wrapping, grocery bags and sandwich bags and can be recycled into more of the same.

5 – PP – Polypropylene

Clothing, bottles, tubs and ropes. Can be recycled into fibers.

6 – PS – Polystyrene

Cups, foam food trays, packing peanuts. Polystyrene (also known as styrofoam) is a real problem as it’s bulky yet very lightweight and that makes it difficult to recycle. For example, a carload of expanded polystyrene would weigh next to nothing so there’s not a lot of materials to reclaim, particularly when you take into account the transport getting it to the point of recycling. It can however be reused. 

7 – Other

Could be a mixture of any and all of the above or plastics not readily recyclable such as polyurethane. Avoid it if you can – recyclers generally speaking don’t want it.

Check out Green Living Tips to download and print their extremely useful cheat sheet. It really comes in handy at our house and farm, and I think you will find it really useful as well.

So much of this is unnecessary! Think reduce before recycle to stop this vicious cycle (pun intended)

Reduce

The best way to recycle? Don’t do it in the first place. My dermatologist friend says the best kind of SPF is shade. Meaning, just don’t go out in the sun at all. I apply this to my trash. Try to eliminate things that need recycling from your life in the first place by choosing to use reusable items (bags, produce bags, straws, utensils, bulk items, etc) rather than worrying about whether or not that Keurig cup is recyclable. PS it is. See next topic.

Do it Right

We keep getting bombarded with scary statistics such as up to 90% of the plastic we use DOES NOT end up recycled. That means that even if we think we are doing a good job of putting our bottles in the correct bin, there is some kind of disconnect between our actions and the resulting waste. Some tips to make sure our plastics (and the rest of our trash, for that matter) have the best chance of being recycled:

-      Clean it. A big reason waste that arrives at the recycling plant ends up getting thrown out is that it is dirty. Food waste, coffee grounds and other detritus clogs the processing machines. Workers at these plants don’t have time to clean our take-out containers or soap dispensers (I’m looking at you, leather conditioner) so they just chuck them.

- Rinse food out of containers. Still using single coffee pods (why?!), peel off the wrapper and rinse them out. Coffee is compostable, by the way! Do the same with soap bottles, spray bottles, canned pet food, you name it. The cleaner it is going into the bin the greater chance it has to be recycled. 

-  This applies to paper as well. If you have a pizza box with a big greasy splotch on it, rip it off and put the clean cardboard in the bin

Mmmm pizza

Pump nozzles are cool and useful, but usually not recyclable. The bottles, however, are. Time for a fly-spray bottle break up.

Break it Up

-      If you have an item that contains more than one material, break it up into the component parts before popping each into the correct bin. For example, envelopes with clear address windows should be broken down and separated before recycled. If you receive a catalogue in a plastic sleeve, remove the paper from the plastic and recycle both individually.

-      Spray bottles such as Show Sheen and Fly Spray should be broken up. The nozzle is usually not recyclable while the bottle is.

-      Check out https://www.recyclecartons.com/learn/ to make sure your curbside recycling program takes cartons or Tetra Packs. Those juice and milk containers, are made of three different materials – paper, sandwiched around a thin piece of metal with a plastic screw top – which can make them complicated to recycle. I found that most places I spend time in do collect these types of containers, but check your area.

Finally

My mom also requested I clarify a few terms she encounters and misunderstands. Mom, you’re not alone. A big problem we all have nowadays is known as GREENWASHING, a public relations tactic by which companies throw around words that have no meaning in an attempt to sell products to consumers eager to go green. Thank you to culinarylore.com for this useful graphic

Lots of nice sounding words that don’t really mean much.

Some other words mom requested clarification on are:

Reusable:

Simply means something that can be used again without going through a mechanical process of recycling. This can mean something such as a reusable coffee mug or water bottle that is meant to have multiple uses OR taking something (for example, a coffee canister) and using it for something else (storing caulks or earplugs)

Single Use:

The opposite of reusable. Something that is intended to be used once and tossed. Examples of this are plastic grocery bags, coffee pods, zip-top bags, plastic wrap, to-go cups and containers. With creativity, some of these items can be reused (using a plastic produce bag to pick up dog poo) but it’s generally better to avoid this category of waste if possible. Some of this stuff is recyclable, but more often than not, ends up in a landfill or ocean.

Recyclable:

The process by which waste materials are converted into usable materials and objects. Many many things are technically recyclable, but not feasibly so. The system is imperfect, costs a lot of energy (that plastic bottle has to get from your house or barn, to your municipal plant, to another plant to be broken down, and then another one to be made into something else. That’s a lot of fuel!) and money to do so. Ask yourself not if something is recyclable but whether or not it will be recycled.

Biodegradable:

Something that is able to be broken down by natural organisms. Sounds science-y. But think about it this way. If you were to toss an apple core onto your lawn (instead of feeding it to your horse), eventually it would break down and decompose until it was gone completely. Maybe some birds would peck it, then bugs, then worms, then microorganisms like bacteria. Eventually it would be gone. That is the key difference between recyclable and biodegradable. Something that is recycled still ends up existing on this planet, just in a different form. Something biodegradable leaves no footprint. If you read my previous post on composting you will see that it takes certain conditions such as air circulation and sunlight to biodegrade properly. Generally, items listed as biodegradable are a good option.

Compostable:

Something compostable is, by definition, biodegradable and is something that can disintegrate, leaving no trace of toxicity in the soil, into natural elements if in the proper conditions. Examples of compostable materials are: food and food scraps, paper, wool, non-chemically treated fabrics. Please check out my previous blog entry to read all about my adventures in composting.

    *A note on composting if you live in an apartment or otherwise don’t want to start and maintain your own bin. Many cities and towns have municipal compost collection sites. In New York City alone there are 150 places to drop off your food scraps to be turned into brown gold. Check out this link to see if one exists in your area. If it does, simply collect food scraps in a crock on your counter or in a container in your freezer and drop them off once or twice a week.

Eco Friendly:

Just a PR term, and largely empty. Read between the lines and see what the company means when they say eco-friendly. In my experience, many products that advertise as being eco-friendly are the worst offenders.

Mom, and other green friends out there, I hope this helps. Remember, when in doubt, dig deeper and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Give a shout in the comments below, on our socials, or send us an email. Let’s keep this momentum going.

Yours cleanly and greenly,

Stephanie 

The Dirt: My Adventures in Urban Composting

The Dirt: My Adventures in Urban Composting

Whenever one decides to make a huge change, especially when it’s a change for the better, the impulse is to jump in wholeheartedly and with both feet. I don’t think, however, that this is always the wisest tactic in the long run. How many New Year’s resolutions – to either quit something or start something – are abandoned by Groundhog Day? The longest lasting change is that which is adopted gradually.

Easier said than done. When I started looking at my and my family’s lifestyle and environmental impact, and decided that it was time to make a change, I wanted to do it immediately. All of it. Every piece of plastic, toxic, non-biodegradable, single use (the list goes on and on) had to go. I recoiled in horror at the bottle of Windex in my laundry room. WE SHOULD BE USING WHITE VINEGAR!

I had to stop myself from throwing everything out because that would only actually create MORE waste. I took a deep breath and decided instead to use up what I’ve got while researching sustainable and eco-friendly options to replace them with for when I run out.

If I could give you one piece of advice if you are reading this it would be that. See what everyday items and products you have around your home and farm that you can replace with environmentally friendly options. Then do it. Easy, right?

One area in which I did not take my own advice was composting. Yes, you read that right. Composting. Why, you may be asking yourself, did I decide to start composting in my sixth floor apartment in New York City and not in a few weeks from now when our family will move full time out to the farm where we will have things like space, grass, and other necessities to start a giant dirt pile?

I love to cook. I drink a homemade green juice every morning. I realized as I inventoried our family’s trash, a large proportion of it was food waste. From the leftover pulp of my morning juicing, to egg shells, peels, rinds, there was a huge amount.

Quick aside on why to compost in the first place. Isn’t food matter biodegradable? Well, yes, it is. However, when compostable items get dumped in a landfill, they lack the oxygen to decompose properly resulting in methane gas emissions.

Methane = greenhouse gas = global warming

YUCK

We are among the luckiest of the lucky to have not only a terrace of our own, but access to a ton of green space as our building sits on the grounds of a theological seminary. It’s like living on a mini college campus, grass quad and all. I figured there were tons of plants in my own literal backyard who could benefit from my urban compost, and if I had a huge surplus of it, I could find tons of neighborhood houseplants who would enjoy the natural fertilizer. I could be the compost fairy!

Sage, opal basil, lemon balm, thyme, oregano. My veritable “herban” oasis. Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

Such pretty greenery, even on a dreary day

I ordered this bin online – all the while feeling guilty about the cardboard box it came in! – and found it fool proof to set up. Thankfully the company did not use extra and unnecessary plastic wrapping, so the box went into recycling (after making a brief detour as a fort for my son) and my conscience was somewhat assuaged.

This is called the cutest composter in the world. Even cuter with an Empire State Building View! I ordered the black one (I am a New Yorker through and through), though it does come in pink as well.

I also purchased this countertop bin to collect food scraps throughout the day, so we are not constantly running back and forth to the balcony. This is optional, however. Many people just keep a big bowl in their freezer to store scraps until they head to the compost bin. The important thing is to keep them either frozen or well-sealed, so your kitchen won’t start to smell like rotting food.

Stainless steel, wooden countertops, sharp knives and a bright backsplash make me so happy.

 So, I had the tools and the motivation to begin. But, me being the perfectionist that I am, I needed to do an endless amount of research and read a lot of manuals before starting. Hey, my nickname isn’t Straight-A for nothing.

I was promptly halted in my tracks when I read the following:

A compost pile needs to have a 50-50 ratio of nitrogen to carbon

Wait. I have to do math AND chemistry?

Suddenly I flashed back to 10thgrade chem with Mr. Chapnick. Absolutely nothing he said at any point during the year penetrated my gray matter. I didn’t fail, exactly, but it wasn’t a shining moment in my academic career.

In rides my husband, like a knight in compost armor to translate for me, and now I can relay that to you.

Put about the same amount of brown stuff (leaves, twigs, wood chips) as green stuff (food scraps).

Give it a turn about once a day. If you have the cool spinny one like I have, that is super easy and fun, especially for kids.

Stuff I didn’t know you could compost, but can:

Tea bags

Coffee grinds

Egg shells

Paper

Sawdust

Compostable packaging, bags, dinnerware (check these out for your next party - they’re made from avocado pits!)

How’s it looking? So far so good. It doesn’t smell at all (yay) and it seems to be breaking down in a sort of brown mulch-y substance that looks like it would be delicious – if I were a plant.

My cutie little rooftop strawberries are going to very happy with me soon

The Rise of the Bottled Water Empire

Does anyone else remember a time when water wasn’t a thing? 

As a kid, I think the only time I drank water was from a little wax coated Dixie cup at my bathroom sink when I needed to swallow a Children’s Tylenol. With my school lunch was a juice box; summer camp meant Capri Sun, or Nestle powdered iced tea and lemonade. At a horse show, if we were thirsty, there was always an orange Gatorade brand thermos filled with water (probably from a hose) and a sleeve of paper cone cups. I drank soda – coke and sprite mixed together – and occasionally Pellegrino because we were Italian and that was just something we did.

I can’t remember giving a single thought to being hydrated, much less ever buying a bottle of water, although I do remember it being widely accepted by my family that the tap water at my Grandmother’s house in Brooklyn was superior to that of our apartment in Manhattan. 

Though mineral water is not new, and Hippocrates himself (father of Western medicine as we know it) invented what is likely the first water filtration system, the total reliance on getting one’s daily 8 glasses from bottled water was a paradigm shift that I believe I witnessed in my lifetime. 

I can distinctly recall this shift at some point in the 90s, and a little online research corroborates my memory. According to an essay written for Serious Eats, online mecca for all things related to food and drink nerd-dom, the rise in the public awareness and consumption of bottled water can be traced to, among other health scares, a water-borne parasite epidemic in Milwaukee in 1993 that made tens of thousands of people sick.    

Pepsi cashed in on the newfound fear of tap water and launched Aquafina. Coke followed soon after with Dasani. Though the Aquafina bottle portrays a golden sun setting behind a majestic blue mountain, the water comes not from an idyllic spring but rather public municipal water sources. 

Yes, folks, you read that right. Aquafina is just filtered tap water. 

So is this just a slick marketing ploy to make the hapless American consumer spend money on useless status symbols?

Does anyone else feel totally water logged? Sorry for the TMI, but all this hydration means I reach my daily step goal by walking back and forth to the bathroom.

Forgive me another foray down memory lane. I recall distinctly a time when we were taught in school the importance of the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This triumvirate was invariably paired with the iconic recycling mobius strip logo that had been designed by Gary Anderson way back in 1970 (before my time….I’m not that old!). 

As far as I remember, the first step was to REDUCE the use of disposable and single use items, then figure out a way to REUSE them. Once those two possibilities were exhausted, RECYCLE was the final option. 

At what point did we forget about the reduce and reuse and skip straight to the recycle?

Recycling, especially plastic, is a decidedly imperfect system, and is not, in fact, a closed loop as the logo would have you believe. Whereas glass and metal can be recycled an infinite number of times without degradation of the material, plastic has only a few cycles before it is recycled into unsuitability. Moreover, water bottles are usually recycled into materials such as fabric, shoes and the stuff of park benches and playground equipment. What happens to that stuff once it has reached the end of its lifespan? It gets trashed. 

The bottom line is that all plastic will eventually end up in a landfill where it will sit for all of eternity.

If you are like I used to be, and think that every time you toss your water bottle into the blue bin, magic recycling fairies turn it back into a water bottle, you’re wrong. Sorry!

The takeaway:

-      Get into the habit of bringing a reusable bottle with you wherever you go. If you forget, ask yourself if you are really thirsty.

-      Ask your horse show managers to provide large water dispensers rather than selling or giving away small bottles. 

-      Worried about the cleanliness of tap water? Invest in a filtration pitcher. Many brands of reusable bottles (such as Britta) have their own filtration system built in so you can refill on the go.

-      Try charcoal! Sticks such as these are an easy and portable tool to have in your going green arsenal that allows you to turn any water into filtered water. Unlike traditional filters, which are usually wrapped in plastic casings, these can be composted or even ground up and used as plant food. 

☼,

SRB