How to make (plastic-free) nut milk
If you’re trying to reduce plastic in your kitchen and you love nut milk it can be hard to to give up the convenience of store-bought, despite those tetra-pak containers it comes in. In this video, Sarah from My New Roots shows how easy it is to make your own. My New Roots – How to Make Nut Milk from My New Roots on Vimeo.Plastic-free Roadtrip
My dear friend Ivy and her family are visiting Oregon from L.A. and we have been having a blast. They extended a last-minute invitation to join them and another family on a roadtrip to the Mt. Hood area, which is about 75 miles from Portland. We haven’t been anywhere all summer so I jumped at the chance for a roadtrip (one of my favorite summer pastimes). Ivy helped me prepare a supply of snacks for the road so that we wouldn’t be tempted to stop at any convenience stores on the way. Our snacks: green smoothie crackers (we made waaaay too many), dried mango, nectarine, and fig and date squares. These kept everyone -especially Ohio- happy there and back. Many leftovers. No plastic needed. I was a little worried about transporting all my...
Share Your Progress Wednesdays: My Mom goes BPA-free
You could consider my mom an accidental environmentalist. As the owner of an antique jewelry store, recycling and reuse is a way of life. My family’s love of repurposing and thrift has been passed from generation to generation. My Grandmother, a product of the great depression, saved every plastic baggie, twist-tie and margarine container for reuse; her cabinets were overflowing with them. Similarly, my Mom has saved many plastic containers and bottles from the landfill. She’s been loyal to these well-loved staples — they’ve enjoyed many years of going from refrigerator to microwave to dishwasher. She swears by local tap water over bottled and transports it in reused plastic bottles. As I started to learn about the potential link between...
10 Steps to Remove BPA from Your Body in Less Than a Week
BPA is Everywhere. It’s in everything we touch, everything we eat, everything we buy: it’s hidden in grocery store receipts and beauty products, in coffee cups and soda cans, in the very food and water we need to live. So, what’s the big deal? We’ve survived so far. Or… have we? Cancer and autoimmune disease rates continue to rise steadily. In 2009, EWG tests found estrogen-disrupting levels of BPA in 9 of 10 umbilical cord blood samples. We all have BPA in our bodies. There’s nothing we can do about it. Right? You can Remove BPA from Your Body. And you can do it in less than a week. BPA is metabolized by the body very quickly. A recent study found that participants were able to reduce the levels of BPA in their body by...
Share Your Progress Wednesdays: Ivy
The Share Your Progress series aims to celebrate our little victories in reducing plastic and the positive impact we can have by making gradual changes where we can. This week’s contributor is Ivy from Pasadena, CA. Here’s her story: Hello… We are Ivy, Chris and 4.5 year old Valentine. What’s your favorite change you’ve made so far? I think the biggest change I’ve made so far has been grinding my own flours. It has given me a sense of pride and excites me to follow through… It really does make me happy cooking up more of our own stuff and buying less packaged. My goal ultimately is to try to eliminate all excessive waste including products packaged in paper. What’s been your biggest challenge so...
Baby Steps: Shower Curtains
Baby Steps is a series about making small, gradual changes to reduce plastic and move towards a healthier body and planet. Remember, the most important step is to be kind to yourself. Big changes can seem overwhelming. But, the little steps you can take now eventually add up to big progress. Step 1: Rethink Your Shower Curtain. Why? • 108 different volatile organic compounds are released from a PVC / Vinyl shower curtain into the air. • The level of Total VOCs is over 16 times greater than the recommended guidelines for indoor air quality established by the U.S. Green Building Council. • VOCs can cause eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination; nausea; and damage to the liver, kidney, and the central nervous system. Some...
Plastic-Free on a Budget
I often hear from people that they could not afford to have a non-plastic kitchen – buying all the glass containers would just be too expensive. True, replacing a whole kitchen’s worth of plastic containers could be very expensive. Even on sale, you will pay anywhere from $5-25 per new glass container. I have a solution for those of you who aren’t opposed to buying used items. Your local thrift stores have all you need to make a complete all-glass conversion on a budget. Now, I need to warn you that when you make the switch you will actually need many more storage containers than you use now. Think of all those handy little ziploc baggies you currently use to stash odds and ends in the fridge. A half-lemon here, a couple crackers to take to...