Author Archives: Linnea Harris

10 Things You Can Rent Instead of Buying

Posted on by May 14, 2022

Renting isn’t just for cars and movies; check out a formal dress for prom night, some power tools for your big home renovation, or camping gear for your next vacation. Cut down on expensive purchases and waste by renting instead of buying.

Formal Wear

Buying formal wear can be expensive – especially for pieces that will, most likely, only be worn once and then left to take up space in the back of the closet. And, in a time where fast fashion brands are churning out cheap, mass-produced clothing, the cost of being fashionable also includes the pollution of waterways with toxic textile chemicals and human rights abuses against garment workers. Luckily, companies like Nova Octo and Rent the Runway rent out high-end clothing for a fraction of the price, catering to all of your formal-wear needs without the environmental cost. Check out their inventory for prom dresses – or The Black Tux for suits – to rent pieces that would otherwise have been far out of your price range. Some brides might even opt to rent clothing for their wedding day, from dresses, to accessories, to veils. Check out the woman-owned wedding-wear company Borrow Love Return for rentals, or local boutiques for rentable bridesmaids dresses to dress your wedding party for cheaper.

Camping and Outdoor Gear

Renting skis and snowboards for a day on the slopes is commonplace, but plenty of other outdoor gear can be borrowed by the day. If you’re just getting into an activity – be in rock climbing, backpacking, or car camping – gathering all the necessary equipment can be pricey, and potentially a big waste of money if you don’t enjoy the activity as much as you’d hoped. Outdoor retailers can fill in the gaps with rentals on bear canisters, camp stoves, sleeping pads, and other very activity-specific gear that comes with a high price tag.

Along with individual items, online retailer Outdoors Geek rents packages based on your trip, like family camping weekends, day hikes, and backpacking trips (even one for you and your dog). If the trip goes well, you can opt to purchase the gear afterwards too. Popular outdoor retailer REI also offers rentals and packages for a variety of activities from cycling to climbing. Head to one of their rental locations to pick up what you need (and join the co-op for a cheaper price). Many local stores also rent their outdoor gear, as do some libraries in areas with a large outdoor culture.

Books (and Textbooks)

Libraries are the obvious choice for book-borrowing: they’re free, easy to use, and offer all kinds of educational programs and events to the public. Before buying a book, consider borrowing it first.

Textbooks are also notoriously expensive, and are often only needed for the span of a single semester – not to mention the space they take up on the bookshelf. Schools sometimes rent out textbooks to students themselves. Otherwise, check out Chegg or Campus Book Rentals for cheap textbook borrowing.

Power Tools

Doing home maintenance is already costly without the price of tools. If you’re doing a renovation project, or simply don’t want to invest in expensive power tools – which will mostly take up space in the garage between projects – consider opting for rentals instead. Major hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s (as well as many local home improvement stores) rent planers, saws, drills, sanders, or any other tools you need; a basic drill that could easily run you $150 or more can be rented for as little as $25 per day. Borrowing power tools is also an incentive to rehab used furniture or parts of your home instead of replacing them with entirely new materials.

Lawn Mowers ( … or Goats)

Most hardware stores will also rent out lawn and garden equipment. Borrowing a lawn mower is a great option if you’re short on space, or only trim the grass occasionally (which is better for local ecosystems and pollinators anyway).

But, if you have a big space for which a single mower won’t suffice, the cost of a crew to perform maintenance can be expensive. Instead, why not try goats? Yes, goats. These playful creatures will hungrily mow down your lawn and fertilize the soil while they’re at it. Goats are best for lawns with lots of tall grasses and weeds, and will eat all kinds of greenery, including poison ivy/oak and many invasive species. Search for local companies or farms that offer the service – using the search teams “goatscaping” or “targeted grazing” – like Rent A Goat in California. They typically charge by the acre, and the final cost is usually much cheaper than hiring a whole crew.

Furniture

There are many reasons to rent furniture instead of buying: for short-term living situations like a temporary job, school, or if you’re planning to buy a home in the near future and will have to invest in new furniture anyway. Maybe you’re working a remote job for a few months and want a comfortable desk chair, but won’t have any use for it after the job is over, or want to try out some home-gym equipment, but haven’t committed to the fitness lifestyle yet. Outfitting a home with new furniture is a huge expense, and large pieces are a hassle to move.

Lots of companies are meeting the need for short-term furniture rentals, like Feather, which services a few major cities including New York, LA, and D.C. for a $20 monthly membership fee. To rent a $700 bed for a year, customers pay around $33 each month, so it’s quite possible to get a piece of much higher quality than what you’d be able to pay for in full. The company can help you deck out your whole bedroom – from nightstands, to mirrors, to wall art – or any other room in your home, including delivery and assembly. The Everset, Brook Furniture Rental, CORT, and Fernish offer similar services. Rental companies will often give you the option to buy the piece after your rental term at a discount.

Plants …

You can’t exactly check out plants at the library, but renting greenery is surprisingly common. If you want to spruce up a space for a wedding reception, corporate event, or gala, renting plants is both more sustainable and more cost-effective than purchasing them. Local garden centers and houseplant shops will often rent items from their inventory for a portion of the price, like Interior Foliage Design in New York City, which rents out plants, flowers, grasses, living walls, hedges, and trees. Or, opt for a larger company like 800 Plant It, which ships plants, planters, and other accents, performs installation, and comes to collect them after the event is over.

… Including Your Christmas Tree

Huge amounts of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are used to grow Christmas trees, just to be cut down and throw out with the trash at the end of the season. But, what if the same trees could be used again and again every year? Many Christmas tree farms have begun renting out their inventory instead of selling them, like Rent a Living Christmas Tree in Carmel-by-the-Sea California. Their trees are delivered in pots, where they stay fresh and green throughout the holiday, and after 30 days, the crew comes and collects the tree to be cared for until next season. Renters water their potted trees, so the needles don’t dry out and create a fire hazard. They also aren’t so easy to topple over, which is better for homes with pets or small children. When the trees get too big for a transportable pot, they’re replanted in the forest to live out the rest of their lives.

Garden Space

Instead of buying more land or opting for a property with a large yard, why not rent the space instead? Rentable outdoor space is common in some other countries; Germany, for instance, has a long history of making small plots of land – often called “Schrebergarten” or “Kleingarten” – available to urban residents for recreation and gardening. Apartment-dwellers have the opportunity to rent their own outdoor space where families can gather and benefit from time outdoors.

Research local options for renting land in your area, including community gardens. Some organizations might break up extra land on their property into gardening plots, renting them by the season for a small fee with access to water, compost, or even gardening tools.

And Basically Anything Else

Basically anything you need – especially items you’ll only want for a short period of time – can be rented, from drones, to cameras, to bike racks, to music equipment. Websites like Fat Llama allow users to post and rent all kinds of materials. To borrow expensive cleaning machinery or party supplies for office events, children’s birthdays, or bachelor parties, check out Loanables for a good deal. There are even specific apps for specific types of rentals, like Turo for cars, or SpotHero for parking spaces, or Neighbor for storage units.

Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.

Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.

The post 10 Things You Can Rent Instead of Buying appeared first on EcoWatch.

Brooklyn’s Maison Jar Is One of Many New Zero-Waste Grocery Stores

Posted on by May 9, 2022

At Maison Jar – a new grocery store located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in New York City – silos of dry goods line one wall. Dried beans, grains, pasta, nuts, and coffee are beside bins of cooking staples like flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. A refrigerator on the wall opposite holds industrial-sized jars of olives, racks of eggs, and metal trays of fresh produce, and a freezer is stocked with plastic bins of frozen fruit and vegetables. Prepared snacks like dried mangos, wasabi peas, gummy bears, and chocolate-covered nuts fill glass jugs on the center tables.

Linnea Harris

The back of the store has shelves of metal dispensers filled with oil and liquid condiments – like soy sauce and vinegar – glass jars of loose spices, and a table of multi-gallon pump bottles of laundry detergent, shampoo and conditioner, body lotion, and other personal care products. Each of these large containers indicates the price per pound of the product inside, as well as its ingredients and origins – and, mostly notably, there is no packaging in sight. Customers come to the store toting their own containers – empty pasta sauce jars, coffee canisters, kombucha bottles, plastic yogurt jugs, and cloth produce bags – to fill with groceries.

Linnea Harris

Maison Jar is one of many zero-waste “refilleries” popping up across the country, where customers can use their own vessels to fill with goods, rather than using single-use plastic containers provided by the store or selecting from pre-weighed, pre-packaged bulk products. Before opening the store this March, founder and owner Larasati Vitoux had worked for a natural ingredient manufacturer, and earned a certificate in sustainability and food systems.

After returning home to France for a visit, Larasati Vitoux – who has lived in New York City for ten years – noticed a change in how the French were doing their grocery shopping. “I saw there were more and more package-free grocery stores,” she told EcoWatch in an interview. While a relatively new concept in the U.S., refilleries like Maison Jar are far more common in Europe: Glaskiste in Freiburg, Germany opened in 2017, and Negozio Leggero – which began in Turin, Italy in 2009 – now has more than a dozen locations across the country. This trend in waste-free shopping has arisen in response to our plastic pollution crisis, with plastic now found in the depths of the ocean, on remote islands, atop the highest mountains, and even within our own blood.

Packaging accounts for a quarter of all landfill waste, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, much of which is food packaging. While there are no national bans on single-use plastics in the U.S., individual states and municipalities have been cracking down on this waste. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon, and Vermont all have some form of plastic bag ban, as do several larger cities like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. New Jersey is instating a sweeping plastic ban to begin in May, which will include both plastic bags and carryout containers. Individual franchises are also making changes; supermarket giant Wegmans has committed to banning plastic bags from all of its stores nationwide by the end of the year.

Refilleries take the commitment to waste-free shopping one step further, eliminating all plastic packaging, from olive oil jugs to produce bags. At Maison Jar, customers must bring their own containers (and bags, of course), or purchase one of the reusable jars sold at the store. A box by the counter also holds donated and sanitized containers if you leave your own at home. Small scales are stationed on tables around the store, where customers weigh their container – a process that’s sometimes called “tareing” at bulk food retailers – and write the number on a piece of masking tape affixed to the outside. They then fill the container with whatever product they wish, using the provided scoops and funnels, and note the name of the product on a sticker. At the checkout counter, the weight of the empty container is deducted, and the customer is charged for the product by the pound.

Linnea Harris

Maison Jar follows in the footsteps of other refilleries in the tristate area, like The Refill Room in Hastings-On-Hudson, New York, and the Good Bottle Refill Shop in Montclair, New Jersey (which also buys back bottles from goods sold online to be refilled and reused in future orders). Many zero-waste shops are finding ways to innovate and make their products more widely available, including Refillery LA in Western California, which has a mobile van that sells personal care products and household cleaning supplies along its route.

While eliminating plastic packaging is a major aspect of Maison Jar’s environmental ethic, Vitoux emphasizes that their efforts go far beyond this. Every morning, she rides her bike to a local bakery to pick up bread (which they also sell by the pound), and the store sources almost entirely from local vendors, like the nearby Brooklyn-based Variety Coffee Roasters, and Café Grumpy, which supply freshly roasted coffee beans. “We have some closed-loops systems,” says Vitoux. “For instance, for our coffees: they come with their buckets, we put them in the silos, we give them back the empty ones.” Much of the store’s dry goods come in 25-pound packages, wrapped in an air-tight plastic liner to keep the product fresh, which is then recycled with Terracycle. “One of the most important things is the selection of our products,” she says. “We really focus on having organic – produce especially. I really think it’s a better way of harvesting and cultivating today.”

Vitoux does, however, consider cost when choosing her products. “I really try and be careful with price,” she says. “I want to be as accessible as possible.” She says that, if the organic alternative to a product is prohibitively expensive, she will often choose the conventional variety in order to make the product more accessible, which allows customers to view the store as a one-stop-shop for all of their grocery needs. The refillery model also promotes less waste and, in turn, less spending, says Vitoux.. “It really makes a difference that you don’t need to buy some almonds to have three-quarters of it sit for a month and half.”

While Maison Jar only opened its doors a month ago, Vitoux is already considering the future of the store, which could include delivery options and workshops with sustainability professionals.

Maison Jar is located at 566 Leonard St. in Brooklyn, NY, and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The post Brooklyn’s Maison Jar Is One of Many New Zero-Waste Grocery Stores appeared first on EcoWatch.

8 Reusable Kitchen Essentials

Posted on by May 4, 2022

Paper and plastic are recycled, food scraps are composted – but what about the rest of the waste created in the kitchen? Plastic wrap, coffee filters, and paper towels are often the spoils of our culinary pursuits. Keeping produce fresh and countertops clean are important kitchen considerations, but often result in a lot of extra trash – much of which is plastic that ends up in landfills or waterways.

Here are a few reusable alternatives to kitchen essentials for zero-waste cooking, storage, and cleaning.  

1. Linen Coffee Filters

Nothing beats starting the day with a cup of joe, but this daily ritual can generate a lot of landfill-bound trash. Single-cup coffee machines – like the popular pod-based Nespresso and Keurig systems – are a huge source of plastic waste: 39,000 coffee capsules are produced every minute, 29,000 of which end up in landfills.

French presses and stovetop percolators require neither plastic pods nor paper filters, but maybe drip machines or pour-over coffee are more your style. Replace hundreds of disposable filters for your daily cup with a single reusable coffee filter made from cotton, linen, or hemp. This reusable alternative can be washed after each use (some can even go in the washing machine) and reused hundreds of times. Coffee Sock creates reusable filters for all machines and brewing methods, including glass Chemex urns and both basket- and cone-shaped drip coffee pots.

2. Produce Bags

Toss in a few produce bags with your reusable totes before a grocery run. Instead of choosing pre-packaged fresh foods or reaching for the roll of single-use plastic bags, put fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other produce in these lightweight sacks. Most are so thin, they won’t add ounces when weighing bulk goods, so they can also be used for dry goods like coffee and oats. Fabric bags also keep vegetables fresher than plastic; mesh sacks – like these from Public Goods – don’t suffocate produce and allow for better airflow, and cotton bags can be dampened before storage, keeping kale and other leafy greens fresh for longer.

3. Spray Bottles and Kitchen Cleaner

A good surface cleaner is essential for dirty counters and oily stovetops, but you don’t need to buy a new bottle at the store every time you run out.  

Pick up a reusable spray bottle from a kitchen retailer (or the dollar store) to fill with your own low-waste cleaning solution. Try dissolving tablets, like these from Blueland, and mix with water right in the bottle – or, make your own cleaner with vinegar and lemons for a truly zero-waste and budget-friendly option. As you use lemons for juice or zest, collect the spent rinds in a large jar in the refrigerator, adding enough vinegar to cover the fruit. Allow the mixture to infuse for at least a week after filling completely, then remove the rinds and strain the liquid through a towel or cheesecloth, catching any remaining seeds or residue. In your spray bottle, combine equal parts water and the lemon mixture, and use it to clean counters, kitchen appliances, and stovetops – however, refrain from using on marble surfaces, as the acidity might cause damage to the stone.

4. Dishcloths, Towels, and Napkins

A few paper towels a day may seem like no biggie, but for every roll, forested land is razed for paper pulp, resulting in habitat destruction, erosion, and the loss of crucial carbon sinks, ultimately contributing to global climate change.

They may seem irreplaceable, but paper towels can easily be supplanted with reusables. For cleaning surfaces, try reusable rags instead; have them in an easily-accessible drawer so they’re on hand whenever a mess needs to be cleaned up. Swedish Dishcloths are a popular replacement for paper towels too – made from cellulose or wood pulp and cotton, the cloths feel like pliable cardboard when dry, but become soft and absorbent when wet.

However, the convenience of tearing a paper towel off the roll might be too hard to give up. Instead, make or buy your own reusable towel roll. Using an old paper roll, wrap your favorite towels of similar size (and made with fabric that has a slight cling to it) around the roll one at a time. Alternatively, purchase a pre-made roll for this very purpose; UNpaper towels are made of a soft, flannel material and come in a variety of colors, and many online zero-waste shops will sell their own version of roll-able towels.

Keep a small bin in the kitchen for dirty rags, towels, and napkins to be washed and reused.

5. Sponges and Brushes

Try a sponge that doesn’t get tossed after a few weeks. Reusable sponges can be washed, like the E-cloth Washing Up Pads and non-scratch scrubbers, which can be used for a full year and washed in the laundry machine. Or, try dish-washing brushes instead, many of which have detachable heads that can be replaced when needed, like these dish and vegetable scrubbers from the Package Free Shop.

6. Storage Bags

Ditch the multi-hundred packs of plastic snack bags for storage and on-the-go eating with reusable silicon pouches. Stasher Bags are a popular option, and are safe in the freezer, microwave, dishwasher, a pot of boiling water, and even the oven or stovetop. Their secure snap tops prevent leakage, and they keep leftovers fresh. Store food in the freezer easily, or take a sandwich to work or school without wasting a single-use bag. Rezip bags are also leak-proof and have an upright design, so they’re great for refrigerator and freezer storage.

7. Wax Wrappers and Food / Bowl Covers

Replace those rolls of plastic wrap and aluminum foil with wax wrappers. Bees Wrap clings to itself for easy storage, and can be wiped off to reuse. These fabric-and-wax sheets are also simple to make at home – all you’ll need is cotton fabric (maybe some fabric scraps from a recent project) and cosmetic-grade beeswax pellets. Cut the fabric into the desired shape, then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle some wax pellets on top, then place in a 200ºF oven for 4-8 minutes until it melts. Spread the wax over the fabric with a paintbrush until it’s evenly distributed, then clip the fabric to a wire clothes hanger to dry.

For bowls and produce – like halved lemons, avocados, and onions – try silicone, stretchable covers to keep food fresh, like these from The Earthling Co., which come in all shapes and sizes.

8. Storage Jars

Having a Tupperware collection is key to storing food waste-free, but you don’t have to shell out for an expensive set of glass containers – reach into the recycling bin instead! Save glass jars from peanut butter, pasta sauce, olives, and other prepared groceries to store food, or take snacks on-the-go.

The post 8 Reusable Kitchen Essentials appeared first on EcoWatch.

7 Ways to Manage Climate Anxiety

Posted on by April 17, 2022

Many people are already experiencing the effects of climate change. Eighty-five percent the global population has endured weather events made worse by rising temperatures, and more than 40% are highly vulnerable to climate change based on their location or situations, according to the IPCC report issued last August, citing inequality, socio-economic status, and colonialism as factors in the uneven distribution of these effects.

We have long known that physical health is impacted by climate change – whether it be due to poor air quality, loss of shelter, or dehydration – but, as the climate crisis occupies a growing space in our daily lives, our mental health has also begun to suffer. 

Experiencing the smaller-scale effects of climate change daily has led to an increase in “climate-” or “eco-anxiety.” Watching your local landscapes change, you might worry about the safety of your community in the face of wildfires and drought; perhaps flooding in your area has made you more nervous to drive in poor weather; watching the news or scrolling through social media presents an onslaught of information and harrowing projections, maybe leaving you with an overwhelming sense of panic at the state of the world and our uncertain future. 

In the midst of these new realities, climate anxiety is at an all-time high. The Yale Program for Climate Communication reported that 70% of Americans – a record-breaking amount – are now “very” or “somewhat” worried about climate change, with a notable increase after a summer of wildfires, floods, and heatwaves in the US. According to Grist, online searches for “climate anxiety” rose 565% between October 2020 and October 2021, and a clear relationship has been found between increased temperatures and number of suicides. Young people especially are suffering: 45% of young adults and teenagers feel that climate anxiety affects their daily life, and many younger Americans also report uncertainty about having children, citing climate change as a major factor in this decision.  

Climate anxiety is a normal response to the reality we live in, where once-in-a-lifetime weather events are happening more and more often. While we can grieve for what we have lost, and fear for our futures, there are steps we can take to manage our anxiety and even channel these difficult feelings into action. 

1. Know That Your Feelings Are Justified 

First off, let yourself feel what you are feeling. You are not overreacting, or catastrophizing, or leaning into pessimism; our situation is dire, and fear, sadness, and worry are proportionate responses. Pushing optimism or imploring each other to “look on the bright side” isn’t helpful. 

Large corporations and fossil fuel companies carry far greater responsibility for the climate crisis than individuals, and our anger about their outsized impact is justified – but, let that anger propel rather than paralyze you. Letting yourself experience these feelings is actually an important step toward meaningful climate action, and shoving them off (or insisting that others do so) is counterproductive.

2. Practice Mindfulness

The uncertainty of the climate crisis can be overwhelming, much like other anxiety-inducing factors in our lives. Developing a mindfulness or meditation practice can help with anxiety in all forms. The popular mindfulness app Headspace offers meditations to help with climate anxiety; the app seeks to help users sit more comfortably in this place of uncertainty, and practice turning their focus to the body and away from anxious thoughts. 

Connecting with nature is another important antidote, and is proven to help with feelings of stress and anxiety. Getting outdoors for two hours a week helps with physical symptoms related to stress, promotes calm, and improves mood. Find a way to get outside and invite nature into your daily life, whether it be a daily walk around the neighborhood, a weekend hike, or going birdwatching. If you’re a city-dweller or don’t have your own form of transportation, consider joining an outdoor group. MeetUp and Facebook are great places to search for clubs and organizations that take outdoor excursions and organize carpooling.  

Whether it be getting outside or settling into a meditation, develop your own tactics for handling anxiety and create a game plan for when it hits. 

3. Quit Doom Scrolling 

With the world at our fingertips, it’s hard to resist the urge to scroll and scroll, inundating ourselves with information and negative news, even once it becomes harmful to our health. The 50% increase in screen time since pre-COVID times among Americans has been linked to elevated anxiety, stress, and depression. 

To prevent that endless scrolling, set a timer on Instagram to let you know when you’ve reached your daily time limit – or, set an actual timer for five or ten minutes to limit your screen time in short bursts. Instead of setting a wakeup alarm on your phone, use an actual alarm clock so you’re not reaching for your cell first thing (literally) in the morning. Set it aside at night too, and try reading a book or doing another screen-less activity to wind down. If you find yourself clicking through news notifications all day, set them to Do Not Disturb so you aren’t checking the screen every time it buzzes with new stories. 

This is not to say, however, that we shouldn’t stay informed; arming ourselves with knowledge is an important aspect of climate action. Fill your feed with a balance of both positive and negative environmental news, making sure you’re exposing yourself to the great work that climate champions are doing every day. 

4. Lean Into Your Climate Community 

Fostering a sense of community is vital to combatting climate doom-ism. In her TED Talk on turning climate anxiety into action, Renée Lertzman describes the concept of a double bind: feeling stuck between panic and motivation, constantly bombarding with messaging telling us that we must act now. She encourages us to practice attunement by tuning into how we’re feeling and being compassionate about the difficulty we are facing. This inward reflection and empathy then allows us to attune socially and take action. She emphasizes that being understood and being a part of a group is vital; working together is more powerful and motivating than working alone. 

Turn to friends who feel similarly, surrounding yourself with them in your daily life for support. Or, find an online community that shares your values and provides a space for discussion. Climate cafés are an accessible online resource where the conversation is guided by facilitators and participants on topics and emotions related to climate change. The Good Grief Network also offers peer-to-peer support groups, inspired by the Alcoholics Anonymous model, which help participants recognize and process emotions around climate anxiety, and learn how to turn them into meaningful action. If your prefer in-person interaction, join a group with people who share similar causes and interests. Find a local biking club, volunteer group, or excursion club to connect with like-minded people and broaden your support network. 

To bring some comfort to your feed (and remind yourself that you are not alone in your feelings), follow climate activists and groups for information and support, Like Chicks for Climate, Isaias Hernandez (@queerbrownvegan), Leah Thomas (greengirlleah), and nonprofits like the Sunrise Movement, or subscribe to climate-themed newsletters like Gen Dread or Heated. 

5. Channel Your Feelings Into Action 

Corporations are responsible for the vast majority of emissions, and many of the discriminatory systems we have in place allow for unchecked environmental exploitation far beyond the individual scale – but, that doesn’t mean we are powerless. Taking action makes us feel more empowered and involved; falling down and staying there helps neither the cause nor our own anxiety. 

“Don’t be put off by people who tell you there’s no point in individual actions, or in changing consumer habits,” says psychonalyst and author Anouchka Grose. “It is better for your mental health to live according to your personal ethics, and it’s also possible to pressure companies to change if enough of us make better choices.” The power of individual people and grassroots work is evident; look no further than the rise of alternative milk and meat products as the market responds to higher demand. 

Think of what you can do in your daily life. What are you angry about? Start there. Maybe you’re worried about food waste. Develop an at-home compost system, or contribute to a local community fridge. Determine the small things you can do every day, like taking public transportation instead of driving, limiting meat and dairy consumption, or ditching your cultivated lawn for native species. Vote and campaign for candidates that champion environmental causes. Join a group to bring about change in your community, like a mutual aid group that fights for better environmental legislation, organizes clean-ups, and offers resources to the community. We can accomplish much more together than we can alone.  

Acknowledge too that action looks different for everyone. Take diet, for example: the cost and cultural importance of food might be a barrier to vegetarian- or veganism to many, and promoting shame or laying blame is not productive. Promote your beliefs, but acknowledge the nuances and difficulties of these complex issues, and focus on what you are capable of doing given your own privilege and circumstances.

6. Be Cautious of Burnout 

Take breaks. You are allowed to rest – in fact, you must. When the work becomes overwhelming, or the news too difficult, step away for a day (or longer) to recharge.

Protecting yourself from burnout also means choosing your battles with caution. Ten percent of the population believes that climate change is not happening: a group that might include friends, family, or neighbors. Don’t waste your energy and time on unproductive conversations that leave you feeling drained.

7. Get Help If You Are Struggling 

If you are struggling with your mental health, talk to a therapist or school counselor, if you are able. Utilize any student or employee resources that might be available to you, like low-cost counseling or meditation workshops and classes. Some states or cities will provide free resources as well; New York City, for one, provides free and confidential texting, calling, and chatting with professionals through NYC Well. No matter what, know that you are not alone.

Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.

Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.

The post 7 Ways to Manage Climate Anxiety appeared first on EcoWatch.

8 Zero-Waste Face Masks You Can Make at Home

Posted on by April 9, 2022

A relaxing night in isn’t complete without a luxurious face mask – but, pampering yourself doesn’t have to mean a trip to the store for expensive skincare products. Treat yourself without the extra chemicals and waste with an organic, waste-free face mask. Homemade masks help deliver nutrients and address skin problems while using ingredients you might already have in your cabinet; and, instead of sending bananas, lemons, and avocados to the compost bin, use them for a zero-waste, DIY skin treatment.  

Wash face with a gentle cleanser before applying a mask to allow it to penetrate the skin better. Generally, the mask should be left on for 10-30 minutes for best results and to avoid irritation. Some skincare enthusiasts advocate for using a reusable silicone face mask – like this one from Honest Beauty – to hold the product closer to the skin and allow for better absorption. Once the time is up, wash your face with water and apply moisturizer. 

When preparing at home-masks, be sure to use only organic ingredients that have been thoroughly washed, and test a small amount of the mixture on your skin before applying to ensure that you won’t experience an allergic reaction. 

Aloe Vera and Cucumber Mask

Aloe vera has soothing qualities that help with itching from conditions like sunburn, eczema, psoriasis, and inflammatory acne. It also hydrates and fades dark spots on the skin, and is even shown to aid the healing of wounds. 

Aloe is also a great houseplant that’s easy to care for, and will yield fresh aloe for your skincare routine, saving you a trip to the grocery store. Break off a piece (don’t worry – the plant will be fine), slice it open, and scoop out a heaping tablespoon of the gooey substance inside. Blend this with a fresh cucumber, and apply directly to the face. Leave on for up to 30 minutes. 

Matcha Green Tea and Aloe Mask 

Matcha – a Japanese tea dating back to the 12th century – is revered for its numerous health benefits, including for the skin. The tea helps prevent wrinkles and treat sun damage with its stores of chlorophyll – the compound behind the tea’s bright green color – and its high vitamin K content helps reduce inflammation and unwanted puffiness in the face. Matcha’s anti-bacterial properties come from epigallocatechin-3-gallate (or EGCG) compounds, which are beneficial for acne-prone skin. 

Combine 3 parts matcha green tea powder, 1 part honey, and 6 parts aloe vera gel (teaspoon measurements will work for a single mask), and mix well. Spread the mixture across the skin and allow it to dry before rinsing off with warm water. Alternatively, add equal parts matcha powder and hydrating coconut oil to treat dry skin.

Turmeric Honey Mask

Try this turmeric and honey face mask to fight acne and inflammation. 

The use of turmeric dates back 4,000 years, and while originally used in India, it is now revered for its health benefits across the globe. The spice’s antibacterial properties help prevent acne, and its antioxidants bring out your skin’s natural glow. Some people might experience skin-staining from turmeric, so be sure to use it in small quantities. 

If you’re a skincare fanatic, you might have heard of Manuka honey as an anti-acne treatment; honey helps speed up the healing process of skin while hydrating and gently exfoliating. Raw or unpasteurized honey – in which all nutritional properties are still present – is best for skin treatment. Both honey and turmeric also help with hyperpigmentation from acne scars, sun damage, or age. 

For the mask, combine equal parts turmeric and honey (and coconut oil, if desired), and leave on for up to 20 min.

Banana Mask

If you have extra bananas on hand, mash them up for a hydrating, restorative mask. Vitamins A and C in bananas help with hyperpigmentation and acne scars, while vitamin B-6 and potassium might help with dry skin. The silica in bananas also increases the production of collagen – proteins that promote hydration and smoothness – which tightens skin and reduces the appearance of wrinkles. 

Leave the mashed banana on your face for 15-20 minutes; add honey for extra hydration. 

Honey Lemon Mask

Lemon contains natural exfoliants – both AHAs and BHAs, which are types of hydroxy acid – that help remove dead skin cells from the face to improve acne and blackheads, and its high pH can decrease oil in the skin. The vitamin C in lemons also acts as an antioxidant, which helps reduce skin damage, and its acids help lighten dark spots. 

Juice one lemon and add about 2 tablespoons of honey to form a loose liquid, apply to the skin for 15 minutes, and rinse. 

Avocado Mask

Many store-bought skincare products espouse their use of avocado, but you can reap the fruit’s benefits at home without the extra additives and plastic. Avocado is rich in antioxidants and vitamins C and E, and contains biotin – a B vitamin – which helps prevent dry skin. The fruit’s compounds might also protect the skin from sun damage. 

Mash an avocado and apply directly to skin, adding honey for additional moisture and glow, if desired. Rinse after 15 minutes with warm water. 

Apple Cider Vinegar Mask and Cleanser 

A long-time remedy for skin and ailments, apple cider vinegar works as a natural toner and acne treatment. The fermentation process of the vinegar creates acetic acid, which has strong antibacterial and antifungal properties. 

Apply vinegar directly to the face with a reusable cotton round or washcloth, or spray onto the skin with a spray bottle. Alternatively, mix half a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per one cup of water and use it to cleanse the face. ACV is also a great spot treatment for acne; when a pimple begins to form, apply vinegar to the spot with a cotton swab, and its antibacterial properties might help the blemish from progressing.

Oatmeal Mask

Oatmeal isn’t just a breakfast staple, but one of the best at-home remedies for skin irritation. In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration approved colloidal oatmeal – which is essentially oatmeal ground into a fine flour that can be used to create a paste – to treat eczema, poison ivy, poison oak, insect bites, and other skin irritations. By strengthening the skin barrier, oatmeal moisturizes dry, scaly skin while reducing redness and inflammation. Oats are also a good exfoliant when left whole, and can be used in place of the harmful plastic microbeads in many drugstore face scrubs. But, you needn’t purchase a costly colloidal oatmeal skincare product when you have oats in your cabinet. 

Cook oatmeal per package instructions, allow to cool, then leave on the face for 15-20 minutes. Alternatively, use the oats as a base for other beneficial ingredients, like a few tablespoons of honey to lock in moisture. For acne-prone skin, add 1 part baking soda to 6 parts uncooked oatmeal and blend. Add water until the mixture forms a paste, then apply to skin to exfoliate and clear away dead skin cells. Try pureed apple (an antioxidant), apple cider vinegar, and/or lemon juice as well.  

Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.

Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.

The post 8 Zero-Waste Face Masks You Can Make at Home appeared first on EcoWatch.

Create Less Waste With These 9 Reusable and Refillable Beauty Products

Posted on by April 2, 2022

It’s getting easier and easier to swap out common products with reusables – coffee cups, straws, and produce bags among them – but what about the things we can’t so easily replace? Like the bottles, jars, and jugs that hold our lotion and soap?

Many cosmetics brands tout the recyclability or biodegradability of their packaging – sometimes with a fair amount of greenwashing involved – but recycling alone isn’t a viable solution to our global waste problem; since 1950, less than 10% of plastic produced has actually been recycled, and, according to waste-management company TerrraCycle, the cosmetics industry itself produces an estimated 120 billion units of disposable packaging annually.

In the midst of this plastic-pollution crisis, companies are stepping in and making reusable and refillable cosmetics available to customers, so we can continue to care for (and sometimes pamper) ourselves without the same environmental cost.

Oscar Wong / Moment / Getty Images

Refillable Deodorant 

Those plastic, twist-up deodorant tubes are becoming a thing of the past. Instead, household-name and small brands alike are offering refillable options. 

Proverb’s aluminum-free deodorant refills are available in different colors, scents, and strengths, and are wrapped in paper. With their aluminum refillable pods, Grove Collaborative bypasses plastic and aims to be completely plastic-free by 2025. Haeckels also sells reusable aluminum cases, and their products are made with just eight sustainable ingredients, all sourced from suppliers within 2km of the company. For a discrete case to keep in your bag all day, try Fussy, whose compostable refill packaging is also made from sugarcane pulp. Humankind refills are made from cardboard and plastic, which can be recycled, and customers can also pay a small monthly fee to help offset their impact through the company’s ocean-plastic-removal offset program.

Conventional brands are hopping on the trend too; Dove, Secret, and Old Spice now sell reusable cases and deodorant refills. 

Washable Cotton Rounds

Instead of buying those mega-packs of cotton pads from the beauty aisle, try washable cotton rounds instead. Use them to apply liquid products like micellar water, face wash, or toner, or swap out products that come as saturated wipes – like makeup remover – with the liquid form of the product to apply with these reusable pads. 

LastRound – available at the Package Free Shop – come in a cute dispenser for your bathroom cabinet and are machine washable. The Versed Skincare cotton rounds come with a mesh bag for washing too; place used pads in the bag before putting in the washing and drying machine with your other laundry. Beauty brands Paula’s Choice, Garnier, Sephora, and Cocokind all have their own reusable rounds as well.

Refillable Skin Care Products 

Brands large and small are coming up with solutions for the small, single-use plastic bottles, jars, and tinctures that store our favorite skin care products. 

Based in Nashville, The Good Fill has its own in-person fillery, but you don’t need to be a Tennessean to use their products. Their orderable refill pouches for skincare products are made with 93% less plastic than the bottle, and are then mailed back to the company to be reused. Youth to the People products can also be refilled, and subscribers can save $10 on each refill. 

Tata Harper takes a different approach with their silicone-free Water-Lock Moisturizer; refill pods come in recyclable packaging and lock into the original container. To refill the foaming facial cleansers from Zyderma, order their glass vials of the concentrated product to dilute with water and use as normal. Yves Saint Laurent also offers refills for their Pure Shots Perfect Plumper Face Cream, as does Rihanna’s Fenty Skin for a number of products from facial sunscreen to body scrub. 

Silicone Sheet Masks

Popping on a sheet mask makes any night in feel like a luxury, but these single-use products inevitably end up in the trash. Pamper yourself without the waste with a reusable sheet mask to hold your favorite skincare products closer to the face for better absorption. The Honest Beauty silicone sheet mask is a go-to for skin care gurus; apply skincare products – or make your own mask concoctions, like these oatmeal-based masks – before setting the mask on your face. Rinse after each use and store for your next night of pampering. 

Reusable Eye Masks

Eye masks work much the same as face masks by trapping in product for better absorption. The silicone Diex Forever Eye Mask targets the area under your eyes to hold your favorite eye creams and serums close the skin (it also comes in a super cute case). These masks sell out quickly, but Pacifica also has an affordable and effective reusable eye mask, available at Target. 

Refillable Makeup

Who knew makeup could be refillable? These brands are tackling the task of waste-free beauty. Plus, refills are often much cheaper than the original product, so choosing a sustainable option will save you money in the long run. 

Guerlain, Fenty Beauty, and Dior all offer refill tubes for their lipstick, as well as Hourglass, which sells refills for their highly-rated eyeshadow palettes too. Glossier Monochromes eyeshadow trio compacts also have refills in 10 different shades than can easily pop in and out of the original container. Kjaer Weis is among the most refill-friendly brands, with 100% recyclable and compostable packaging for their refillable concealer, mascara, blush, brow gel, eye shadow, eye pencils, bronzer, highlighter, and lipstick, with complete instructions for refilling. 

Silicon Swaps

For all of your swabbing needs, ditch the multi-hundred packs from the drugstore and opt for these silicone alternatives. Try the popular LastSwab from LastObject, or snag an affordable multi-pack from Walmart. Wash the swap with soap and warm water after each use and store in the included case. 

Refillable Hair Products 

Along with plastic-free shampoo and conditioner bars, some companies are offering another low-waste alternative to traditional hair-care. Love Beauty and Planet products are vegan, cruelty free, and contain no dyes or parabens, and they offer 32oz refills, as does Ouai for their shampoo and conditioner for fine, medium, and thick hair types. Natura 300ml refills give you great bang for your buck on their many shampoo and conditioner products too. 

Refillable Soap

With all that COVID-conscious hand washing, you might go through a bottle of hand soap faster than you can replace it. Check out ESPA and buy a reusable pump bottle to fill from their refill bags of hand and body soap, as well as shampoo, conditioner, hand cleanser, and lotion. The Follain Everything Soap is great for dogs, clothes, counters, and hands alike; snag their small glass bottles to fill from a larger refill jug. Bathing Culture’s cute glass jars can also be refilled from their one-gallon body wash bottles, or visit one of their refill locations in California.

Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.

Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.

The post Create Less Waste With These 9 Reusable and Refillable Beauty Products appeared first on EcoWatch.

What Are Food Miles?

Posted on by March 23, 2022

Food travels long distances – sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles – to reach our plates. Mapping the trajectory of many processed foods is to draw zig-zags across the globe, connecting faraway fields, factories, distribution centers, and store shelves. 

The concept of “food miles” was created in the 1990s to warn consumers of the connection between long-distance food transportation and mounting global carbon emissions. Recent estimates figure that, in the U.S., processed food typically travels over 1,300 miles and fresh produce over 1,500 miles before it’s consumed. Ultimately, the further food travels, the more fossil fuels are needed, which in turn results in more greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change.

Just 10 companies – among them Nestlé, Mondolez, and Unilever – control almost all large food and beverage companies in the world. This concentration of food suppliers has left less room for small, local farmers, and means more and more of our food is transported across the country – or the globe – before being eaten. Take Iowa, for example: in 1870, 100% of all apples consumed in the state were also produced there. By the end of the 20th century, however, only 15% of apples consumed were produced by Iowa farmers. 

The globalization of our food supply has also allowed consumers to become accustomed to foods grown only in other regions – think of coffee, which isn’t grown anywhere in the contiguous U.S. – or out-of-season foods that must be transported from warmer climates. Strawberries bought at a local farmers market during their summer growing season, for example, will have a lower food mileage than those shipped from California and purchased at a grocery store in December. 

Different methods have been employed over time to calculate food miles. The Weighted Average Source Distance (WASD) formula was developed by Annika Carlsson-Kanyama in 1997, and considers the weight of the transported food and the distance it travels from the place of production to the place of sale. To analyze foods with multiple ingredients – including many processed foods, like bread, packaged desserts, snacks, etc. – The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture developed the Weighted Total Source Distance (WTSD) formula, which calculates the weight and distance traveled of each individual ingredient. 

How Are Food Miles Calculated? 

The WASD and WTSD are helpful formulas, but the Weighted Average Emissions Ratio (WAER) formula – developed in 2004 by the nonprofit LifeCycles – also takes into account the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the mode of transportation employed. So, it’s not just the literal miles traveled that matters, but the means by which it’s transported.

The Impact of Faraway Food

Both transportation and agriculture are major culprits in human-caused climate change. In the U.S., transportation accounts for the largest share of national greenhouse gas emissions, and, according to the IPCC, agriculture accounts for one-fifth of all global CO2 emissions. The U.S. food system alone consumes more energy than all of France annually. 

Within the food system itself, transportation comprises 14% of all energy used, but greenhouse gas emissions are also related to where the food was produced: The Leopold Center found that conventionally-sourced food uses 4 to 17 times more fuel than local food, and produces 5 to 17 times more CO2. For processed foods, the impact is even larger. Think of a frozen lasagna: the wheat for the pasta might be grown in Kansas, the tomatoes and spinach for the sauce in California, the beef raised in Texas, and the cheese made in Wisconsin. Some of these materials might even need to be transported from the farm to another location to be processed – like the wheat to be made into sheets of lasagna noodles – then to the factory to be assembled, packaged, and finally shipped to grocery stores. 

Food miles also take into account the mode of transportation used – by water, road, rail, or air, in order of efficiency – which are not all created equal; transporting food by plane creates 50% more greenhouse gas emissions than food transported by sea. A 2005 study found that while air transportation only accounts for 1% of food transportation in the UK, it is responsible for 11% of the country’s emissions. 

Food mileage should also include how the food is procured by the customer. In our car-based society, where car-ownership rates by household have remained above 90% for a decade, many shoppers drive to a store to purchase their groceries. In 2015, researchers found that the median distance to the nearest food store for Americans was 0.9 miles, and that 40% of the population lived further than 1 mile from a food store, necessitating a car for many people in order to do their shopping. 

Debate Over Food Miles 

Climate and agricultural scientists don’t all agree on the benefits or accuracy of food miles when determining the environmental impact of food products. 

Many argue that this metric doesn’t take into account the whole carbon footprint of an item, or its non-emissions-related environmental impacts during production, like pesticide use, water pollution, or farmers’ rights. “Working out carbon footprints is horribly complicated,” said African agriculture expert professor Gareth Edwards-Jones of Bangor University in an interview with The Guardian. “It is not just where something is grown and how far it has to travel, but also how it is grown, how it is stored, how it is prepared.”

Local food is often espoused as the greener option, but this isn’t always true. For example, the energy needed to heat a greenhouse in the Northeast to grow tomatoes in the winter might actually be a more carbon-intensive process than shipping the tomatoes from California. A Swedish study found that tomatoes imported to Sweden from Spain were actually less energy-intensive than those grown locally in greenhouses. 

Some companies and organizations have instead begun using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to analyze the impact of their product. This method takes into account all stages in the life cycle of the product, from production, to processing, to packaging, to transportation, to disposal. The analysis goes beyond carbon emissions and considers other environmental factors like air and water pollution, use of natural resources, and impacts on human health. 

How to Reduce Food Miles

While the benefit of food miles might be contested, lowering your environmental impact with your food choices is always beneficial. 

To find the food miles of your favorite products, use this food miles calculator, or research where the product comes from. It might be unrealistic to expunge all faraway foods from your diet – given expense and convenience – but some items might be replaceable with local alternatives. Consider joining a CSA to get fresh produce from nearby farms at regular intervals, or shopping from local producers at a farmers market. Better yet, grow your own food! The only food miles to calculate will be the distance from your backyard or front stoop to your kitchen.

Eating seasonal produce will also ensure that your produce wasn’t shipped across the country to reach your plate. While you can’t always know if something was transported by plane, many perishables that need to be eaten quickly after harvesting are – like berries – so refraining from eating these products until they’re in season will cut down on air transport.

Beyond food miles, minimize your impact by cutting down on food-related emissions in other ways. Limiting or cutting out meat and dairy is among the most impactful of changes, as 57% of emissions from food production are attributed to animal-based food (including the production of livestock feed). Going fully vegan or vegetarian is great, but not imperative; just reducing animal products in your diet makes a difference. Lastly, instead of tossing food scraps in the trash, compost them at home to keep organic waste out of landfills. 

The post What Are Food Miles? appeared first on EcoWatch.

A Beginner’s Guide to Foraging

Posted on by March 19, 2022

Perusing the aisles of the grocery store, it’s easy to disconnect from where our food comes from, and forget the processes that bring it to our plate. 

Throughout history, 30,000 different plants have been used by humans for food and medicine, but now, only three plants – maize, rice, and wheat – account for half of all calories we consume. In recent decades, Western countries have had a renewed interest in foraging – the act of collecting food resources from the wild – although many non-Western cultures have engaged in the practice for centuries. Accomplished chefs too are going back to the basics and cooking with foraged materials.

Instead of picking packaged groceries off the shelf, foraging implores us to consider the sources of our food as we slow down and look at our local ecosystems and what they can yield to us. As grocery prices rise, why not turn to our own yards and neighborhoods for sustenance? 

The Roots of Foraging 

The practice of foraging harkens back to our roots as hunter-gatherers. While it’s become more popular in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic – while consumers were apprehensive to enter public spaces and sought to become more self-reliant – the practice has deep roots in Black and Native cultures. 

But, the history of foraging is fraught. Native tribes that subsisted on foraged foods were forced from their lands by white settlers; the territory of the Powhatan tribe, for one, was stolen in the 17th century by English colonists settling in what is now Virginia. Forcing Indigenous people to live on reservations also took away their ability to forage for food as they had before. Enslaved Black people in the United States also foraged for food to survive, but Southern states reversed laws permitting public access to unfenced lands during Reconstruction, reports the Sierra Club, which kept newly-freed slaves from providing for themselves. Many cities still uphold anti-foraging laws, especially in places with low-income and majority Black and POC neighborhoods; New York City, for example, prohibits “destruction or abuse” of plants in city parks.

Activists and experts within the foraging community, however, are advocating for greater acceptance of the practice. Modern forager like Alexis Nikole Nelson (@blackforager on Instagram), Lady Danni Morinich, and “Wildman” Steve Brill share their expertise and tips for living off the land with their followers, and teach about the cultural and historic importance of the practice. 

Safety Concerns

When foraging for food in the wild (where it doesn’t come with nutrition labels), knowing what’s safe to eat is imperative. Before heading out on your first excursion, start by researching both edible and poisonous foods in your area, including lookalikes that are easily misidentified. Read up with books like The Forager Handbook by Miles Irving, Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons, or regional- and species-specific guidebooks and blogs by experts. Better yet, join a club, learn from someone in your community that knows the area and species well, or take an online or in-person course with a naturalist, foraging expert, or group.

However you educate yourself, be 100% certain of your identification before eating anything, and always carry a guidebook or other information on your escapades. It’s best to eat a small amount of something before digging into a whole meal, but if you have any uncertainty, leave it be. 

Consider also whether your foraging location might be contaminated. Avoid areas where dogs tend to relieve themselves (public sidewalks, popular hiking trails, etc.), cultivated lawns or other areas treated with pesticides, busy roads where plants are exposed to exhaust or litter, and anywhere else that might be subject to environmental contamination (alongside rivers downstream from factories, for one). 

Beyond personal safety, always protect the land and ecosystems you are entering. Keep LNT (leave no trace) principals in mind: will getting to the plant impact the protected land? Will these resources to be able to replenish themselves? Are these endangered species, or a food source for threatened wildlife? Taking no more than 5% of what is available is a good rule of thumb when foraging.

Plants and Flowers

Even in your own backyard, you might find a wealth of edible items you’d never thought of as more than weeds. 

In late March, wild garlic (also called ramsons) is abundant. Crush the young leaves in your hard to identify its iconic garlicky smell, then use to make pesto or other recipes that call for traditional garlic cloves. Harvesting dandelions – which are invasive in the United States – is actually beneficial to the ecosystem. Eat the young leaves and flowers raw in salads, or cook the less-tender leaves in a stir fry. In the late spring, look out for lamb’s quarters (or “wild spinach), which is found in all 50 U.S. states and can replace plastic containers of store-bought greens for cooking. 

In the early spring, harvest elderflower blossoms, and later, their black and blue berries for a homemade cordial or jam. Mint can be found in lots of places, but look especially in shady areas along the borders of woodland or alongside bodies of water. Brew the leaves in a tea to help with digestion, stir in to cocktails, or use to add some brightness to a summer pasta recipe. 

Identifiable by its small, star-shaped white flowers, chickweed grows practically all year round, but is best in the early spring and mid-fall. The whole plant (expect the roots) is edible, and perfect for soups, salads, and sandwiches. Another common backyard resident is the plantain weed. The low-lying leaves – from which rise a long spike adorned with small flowers – are slightly bitter, which can be solved by blanching. Plantain has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties as well, and can be applied to scrapes and bug bites for some relief. 

Check out your garden for amaranth (or pigweed), which was once a part of the Aztec diet. The seeds can be used to make gluten-free amaranth flour, but the leaves are easier for a beginner to forage. The plants can grow to over six feet tall, and the smaller leaves are tender and packed with nutrients. 

Hit the trail to find nettles (also called “stinging” nettles for their painful prick). Use gloves to collect the plants in the early spring when they are young with pale green tops and the plant is less than a foot tall, before they get too tough or grow flowers. Eat them just like spinach: sauté for a side, or add to a pasta dish or soup. Fiddleheads are a common goal for foragers as well. These early-spring, coiled fern tops are tender with a mild flavor, and are very expensive in grocery stores. They only emerge for a short period in the mid- to late spring or early summer, depending on location. Only pick fiddleheads from ostrich ferns when they’re still tightly coiled. Fiddleheads are considered toxic when uncooked, so blanch the coils before eating by putting them in boiling water for a few minutes, then transferring to an ice bath, which will keep them a little crisp. 

Mushrooms

After a warm spring rain, the emerging caps of wild mushrooms are a welcome site to foragers for their health benefits and other diverse uses.  

While deaths from toxic mushrooms are rare – only about three per year – incorrect identification could easily result in sickness, so it’s important to be extremely careful and knowledgeable before collecting. Varieties vary widely by region, so in addition to courses and community knowledge, consult a region-specific guidebook for instruction. Apps like iNaturalist are also helpful and crowdsource information from other users. Rather than pull up a mushroom by the roots, cut it from the base with a sharp knife so it can regrow, then remove the dirt with a small brush before placing in a basket to carry home. 

Boletes are relatively common, and are identifiable by their spongy, gill-less undersides. Know how to identify edible varieties before picking, but automatically ignore those growing on wood or displaying a red hue. Chicken of the woods (also known as maitake) is easy for beginners to identify with its iconic yellowish-orange color. The caps grow on trees or wood, arranged in tiers like a shelf, and are loved for their meaty texture. Advanced foragers might look for fuzzy lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms. Morels too are a prized find, costing upwards of $30 per pound at the grocery store. They’re distinctive for their wrinkly skin and conical shape, and are found on the edge of woodlands in the spring, especially on south-facing slopes.

While many mushrooms can be eaten raw, it’s best to cook them. Sauté in butter and garlic, or add to your favorite mushroom dishes. 

Nuts and Berries 

From late spring to early fall, berries are abundant: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, currants, cranberries, lingonberries, and cloudberries, to name a few. Many berries are pretty distinctive, but make sure you identify them thoroughly, as there are lookalikes abound. Rosehips – the small red or orange fruits growing on some rose plants – are easy to identify, but lesser known. Don’t miss the chance to brew fresh rosehip tea or jam!

Nuts are also relatively easy to find and identify. Pecans, hazelnuts, black walnuts, and beechnuts are all found in the US. Pine nuts also hide inside the pinecones of the pinyon pine, and while American chestnuts are less common after the blight of the early 20th century, chestnuts fall from their clusters in the autumn months. Gather up the fallen nuts and remove them from their burs to make Thanksgiving stuffing, pesto, or to roast and eat them on their own (horse chestnuts, however, are poisonous, so be sure to identify correctly). Acorns too are edible and surprisingly versatile; just check out Alexis Nikole Nelson’s acorn bacon to see their many uses.

Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.

Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Foraging appeared first on EcoWatch.

How to Plan a Vegetable Garden for Even the Smallest of Spaces

Posted on by March 15, 2022

You don’t have to settle for that little potted basil plant on your windowsill; any small outdoor space can be transformed into a beautiful, productive vegetable garden, or a fire escape into a fresh-food oasis. Even just a 10×10 plot can grow a hundred pounds of produce, if you plan ahead and maximize your space. 

Industrial agriculture has wide reaching environmental consequences, from water and air pollution, to energy use, to environmental degradation. In 2019, total greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in the United States accounted for 10% of total national emissions: an increase of 12% since 1990. By cutting out the need for transportation, packaging, and refrigerating, growing your own vegetables – even just a few plants – can significantly lower your environmental impact. It can also save you money on expensive store-bought produce; spending a few dollars on supplies and a few minutes of maintenance a day will sow weeks’ worth of produce in time.

Gardening does, however, require some planning, especially when working with a smaller space. During these final cold winter weeks, making preparations for your new garden is a great reminder that spring is just around the corner. Here’s how to get started. 

Choose Your Crops

FG Trade / E+ / Getty Images

Facing that wall of seed packets at the garden store can be overwhelming. Instead of grabbing at random, choose plants that will thrive under the conditions you can offer and yield a bountiful harvest.

High-Producers 

Choose plants that will still have a high yield when grown in small spaces: pole and runner beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, peppers, peas, kale, zucchini, lettuce, and salad leaves will produce without abundant room. Pick vegetables that will continue producing all season long as well – like bell peppers, squash, and tomatoes – instead of crops that can only be harvested once, like corn and carrots. Peas and beans will also keep producing after picked, as will many leafy greens like spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, and arugula. 

Grow Up, Not Out 

Trellised, climbing plants grow vertically and maximize your space. Stakes, fencing, caging, or trellises will guide vining plants upward, or, tie string to a trellis along one side of a raised bed and stretch it across the plot for plants to grow up. 

Vining squash and cucumbers normally take up a lot of space, but trellis them correctly, and they’ll rocket upwards. Peas and beans – like Kentucky Blue Pole Beans, for one – grow quickly and plentifully. Pole beans varieties are better than bush beans for growing vertically, and don’t spread out as much.

Smaller is Better 

While normal varieties will often do just fine in a smaller space, many crops have compact or dwarf varieties as well. That way, you can still enjoy the produce you like without taking up as much space. Look for varieties labeled as “tiny,” “compact,” “dwarf,” “baby,” “patio,” or other phrases evoking a smaller size.

Consider Sunlight 

Before choosing your crops, consider how much sunlight your yard gets on an average day. Vegetables generally need 6-8 hours of sunlight a day to grow and produce successfully. If you’re unsure of your sun exposure, record a video of your yard or balcony to see the patterns of sunlight and how it casts across the space (keeping in mind that it changes a bit throughout the season). Watch which sections have light for the longest, paying attention to any shade cast by trees, fences, buildings, etc. If your whole space gets shade, consider root vegetables (potatoes, carrots), which only need about 4 hours of sunlight, and leafier crops (kale, lettuce, chard, spinach), which can tolerate less sun.

Get Ready

Once you know which crops you want, order seeds, or plan where you will get transplants when it’s time to plant. Seeds might sell out closer to the start of growing season, so make sure you have what you need ahead of time.

Plot It Out 

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Creating a sketch of your garden will help keep you focused and realistic about what can fit in your space. 

Size

Keep your expectations small for the first year. A 6′ x 6′ plot can provide plenty of vegetables and is a good starting point for a beginner gardener; a 20′ x 25′ (500 sq. ft.) bed can yield enough vegetables for a family of four during the productive summer months, so a smaller space is perfectly adequate. 

Knowing how much sunlight you have, choose a spot in your yard to prep for planting. Sketch out the dimensions and consider how many plants you can reasonably grow (5 vegetables for a 6′ x 6′ plot is advisable), keeping in mind the spacing required for your chosen crops. If you have room for multiple rows, leave a foot or two of space as a path to walk between them.

Raised Beds

Building raised beds is another option for small spaces, especially if you don’t have healthy soil, or any soil at all. The soil in raised beds also heats up quicker in the spring, making them a good option for colder climates. You won’t need to waste space on pathways for walking through the rows either.

Growing in raised beds also gives you the option of rounding the soil to create more space. For example, if plot is 6′ across and you form the soil into a gentle arc, you can make as much as 7′ available for growing. While an extra foot doesn’t seem like a lot, the cumulative extra space can allow you to grow more plants. 

Container Gardening

Pretty much anything can be grown in a container. If the sunniest spot (or only spot) available to you is the patio, back porch, or a city fire escape, consider switching to container gardening and growing your veggies in planters. 

At minimum, a 5-gallon pot is needed for fruiting plants like peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. A pot with 12-inches in diameter is also preferable, and leaves room for plants to flourish, especially bushy ones like tomatoes. Keep in mind that, the bigger the container, the less often you’ll need to water.

Unlike house plants, plastic containers are better for container gardening than terra cotta/clay pots, which dry our much faster. Conversely, metal pots will cook the roots, but if you don’t get plentiful sunlight, black plastic will help retain some heat. 

Plot Each Plant

Plotting out individual plants ahead of time will prevent overbuying of seeds and help you determine how much fertilizer or soil to buy.

Think about where each seed or starter will go, with sunlight and the depth needed for each crop as main considerations. To fit more plants into a small space, try staggering the seeds or starts and growing in triangles rather than rows. Avoid crowding them, however; having more plants that are squished together will yield less produce than having fewer plants that can grow to their full potential. 

Many gardeners have success with companion planning as well: growing multiple crops in one spot, typically pairing low-growing and taller plants. Basil, for example, thrives underneath tomatoes that shield them from the afternoon sun. You can also plant vegetables that get harvested earlier – like spinach or peas – with slow-growing crops like peppers, which take over after the early crops are finished. 

Plan for Healthy Growing

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Before getting seeds into the ground, make sure you can give your veggies everything they need to thrive. 

Healthy Soil 

Rich, healthy soil is crucial for a successful garden. A dark and crumbly soil is the goal, with a good mixture of all three components: sand, silt, and clay. Find out the composition of your soil and make sure it’s not too gritty (sand), powdery (silt), or sticky (clay), and incorporate healthy soil if need be. 

The nutrient content of the soil is just as important as its composition. Deliver more essential nutrients by spreading 2-3 inches of fresh compost over the beds a few weeks before planting in the early spring, then turning it under at least 6 inches below the surface (some gardeners spread it in the fall as well). Begin seeking out compost to use if you don’t make your own at home. Alternatively, mix in worm castings (AKA worm poop) – using a bunch if you don’t have any worms in the soil – or liquid fish emulsion, which can be bought at most garden stores 

If you’re growing in a raised bed, line the bottom with a few layers of newspaper, then add soil on top so you don’t need.

Watering

Barring rainy weather, the average garden needs a thorough watering every few days. Plan how you will get water to your plants, as this might alter where you choose to grow things (for example, if your hose doesn’t reach around to the opposite side of the house, you might want to choose a closer location). If transporting water from inside, make sure you’re realistic about how far you can carry it. Irrigating your crops with rainwater is another low-impact option if you have the space. 

Preventing Pests and Disease

Unfortunately, smaller gardens can be more susceptible to pests and diseases. Rotating crops fights against fungus and pests, but this practice isn’t always possible in small plots. If you have an infestation or  a serious fungal problem, it’s best to not grow that crop (or similar crops in the same family) for a year. 

Water the soil instead of the leaves to prevent fungal problems, and water earlier in the day so the leaves dry out again in the sunshine. 

If you do have pesky insects, pick them off by hand, or use one of the many natural remedies that deter bugs, like diatomaceous earth, aromatic herbs, neem oil, or a spray of dish soap and water. To keep out other pests like rabbits and deer, surround plants with chicken wire or fencing, and push it at least 6 inches below the soil so burrowing animals can’t get underneath.

Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.

Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.

The post How to Plan a Vegetable Garden for Even the Smallest of Spaces appeared first on EcoWatch.

10 Ways to Save Water at Home

Posted on by March 10, 2022

As we’ve seen in the American West and Southwest this summer, climate change continues to threaten our national (and global) water supply. Extreme drought conditions are the most widespread they’ve been in at least 20 years, reservoir levels are at all-time lows, and the resulting dryness of the landscape has led to more wildfires. Water usage also contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions through the pumping, treating, and heating necessary to bring water into our homes.

As we face these effects of climate change, conserving water becomes increasingly important. Saving water also means saving money; the average American family spends more than $1,000 on water a year, which can be diminished significantly by addressing the way we use water in our daily lives.

Consider making a few water-conscious changes in the kitchen, bathroom, yard, and elsewhere around the home.

1. Check for Leaks

First and foremost, make sure all water used in your home is actually being used. The average household wastes a whopping 10,000 gallons of water a year due to leakage, which translates to a much higher water bill.

Monitor a water meter during a two-hour period when no water is being used to determine if leaks are occurring in faucets, pipes, toilet flappers, etc.; an easy way to pinpoint a toilet leak is to squeeze a drop of food coloring into the toilet tank. If the color appears in the bowl within 10 minutes, you’ve got a leak.

Most fixes are very simple and require minimal tools, but if the problem persists, it might be time to call in a plumber.

2. Save Water From Rinsing Vegetables to Water Plants

When washing fruits and vegetables in the sink, catch the water in a basin instead of letting it flow down the drain. Use this to water indoor or outdoor plants.

3. Use Rainwater Barrels

To capture even more water for watering plants (or washing the car), use rain barrels to collect rainwater. The enclosed barrels often connect to downspouts that direct water flowing off of roofs, and have a spigot to fill up watering cans or other vessels. By collecting the water, you also prevent some flooding and erosion on your property, as well as the formation of harmful runoff as water picks up pollutants from fertilizers, pesticides, animal waste, and trash while heading towards waterways.

Rain barrels can be purchased from local hardware and garden stores, or, you can make a simple one yourself. Find a sturdy plastic barrel (around 55 gallons), and place on a cinderblock platform near a downspout. Drill two small holes on the side: one near the top to connect the overflow adapter, and one near the bottom for the spigot. Insert the spigot, then the overflow adapter, and connect it to a length of hose; position this correctly so any excess water will be diverted downhill away from your home. Cut your downspout so it ends above the bucket, then attach a flexible downspout extender, snaking the other end into a hole on the top of the barrel (do not just allow water to pour into an open barrel, or mosquitoes and algae will take over). Cover the barrel-end of the extender with a mesh bag to collect any leaves or debris, and make sure to empty it after each rain event.

While investing in large water barrels might be useful for larger properties, collecting water doesn’t have to be high-tech; place plastic storage bins, buckets, and other large vessels outdoors to gather rainwater, especially if your outdoor-watering needs are small and you’ll be able to use the water quickly.

It’s important to note that collected rainwater should not be used for drinking, and when using to water vegetables, try to pour the water at the base of the plant (as opposed to soaking the crops themselves), and thoroughly wash anything you plan to eat with tap water.

4. Ditch the Lawn

Among the other environmental impacts of lawn care – including synthetic fertilizers, loss of biodiversity, and emissions from gas-powered mowers – it’s estimated that 30% (and as much as 70% during the summer months) of residential drinking water is used outdoors.

Instead of maintaining a water-intensive, monocropped grass lawn, plant native species that are adapted to the local environmental conditions, and therefore require much less water. These plants will also support insect, bird, and mammal populations, contributing to a healthy backyard ecosystem. If you live in a drier climate, try drought-resistant plants, grasses, tress, and shrubs that don’t need frequent watering.

5. Set Up a Stale Water Bin

Instead of pouring unfinished glasses of water down the drain, pour them into a large pitcher or beverage dispenser (like the kind you use for lemonade and water at parties). Use this instead of fresh tap water to water houseplants; as a bonus, the chlorine and fluoride found in municipal water will have evaporated, which some plants are sensitive to.

6. Replace Old Appliances

Clothes washers, toilets, and dishwashers are all culprits of high water usage. The average American uses about 82 gallons of water each day at home, but installing water-efficient appliances and fixtures can cut that use by 20%.

If you are able, consider replacing older appliances with more efficient, newer models. Search for products with the WaterSense label – a program sponsored by the EPA – which indicates that they’ve been designed to use at least 20% less water than traditional appliances. Some WaterSense-labeled toilets can save 16,000 gallons of water a year for a family of four. Dual-flow models also have different settings for liquids and solids, limiting excess water use. Old clothes washers are also a huge drain on water in the home; if your machine was manufactured before 1999, consider replacing it with a model that has a lower water factor (and be sure to only run full loads).

Of course, replacing appliances can be very expensive – however, the savings on water might be significant enough to pay of a machine within a few years.

7. Use Low-Flow Shower Heads and Faucet Aerators

Along with replacing those larger appliances, using some water-saving fixtures like low-flow showerheads and aerators also makes an important difference (and usually at a lower cost); the average family can save 3,500 gallons of water a year by switching to their WaterSense-labeled counterparts.

Low-flow showerheads do exactly what it sounds like: diminish the flow of water in the shower without compromising effectiveness. Standard showerheads use up to 2.5 gallons of water a minute, and with showering accounting for 17% of residential water use indoors, cutting these gallons-per-minute can make a big difference. Faucet aerators have a similar function; these small metal screens are usually screwed right onto the spout of a faucet, and create a wider stream of water so it can be used more efficiently. The aerated water also activates bubbles in soap faster so less water is needed.

Along with WaterSense-labeled fixtures, Energy Star-certified appliances also result in energy- and water-related savings; all in all, according to the EPA, families can save more than $380 a year in water costs by transitioning to these water-sensible products.

8. Time Showers

With or without a low-flow showerhead, make sure you aren’t lingering under the water for too long. Try to keep showers under five minutes; when soaping up or shaving, turn off the water, and try washing your hair less frequently to cut down on time, if possible.

Setting a timer to alert you when it’s time to get out is helpful, or create a playlist that’s roughly five minutes; when the last song finishes, it’s time to get out! If you want to go the extra mile, you can install a solar water heater to sustainably warm up the water you use in the shower and throughout your home.

9. Implement Sensible Kitchen Practices

Not all water-saving measures are complicated. Implement a few changes in your kitchen to make sure that water isn’t wasted: instead of running the water while sending scraps into the garbage disposal, compost them instead; keep a pitcher of cold water in the fridge rather than letting the water run until it gets cool; and, plug the sink when washing dishes by hand to allow them to soak.

10. Use the Dishwasher

Perhaps surprisingly, using the dishwasher instead of handwashing dishes can save a great deal of water; a 2020 study found that dishwashers used more than 50% less water than that which is required for hand-washing over a 10-year period. Dishwashers are also much more energy efficient, resulting in fewer greenhouse gas emissions from pumping, heating, etc.

Along with washing only full loads, avoid using the extra features like pre-rinse and heat-dry; instead, make sure excess food is scraped into the compost before loading dishes, and prop the door open after the cycle completes to allow dishes to air dry.

If you don’t have a dishwasher, use one half of a two-basin sink for soaking and soaping (or a plastic basin in a single sink), and the other for rinsing.

Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC.

Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.

The post 10 Ways to Save Water at Home appeared first on EcoWatch.