Super Eco

Reusable or not, fake Christmas trees can't compare to real conifers in terms of sustainability. Authentic Christmas trees--those lush, live beauts we ax down expressly to spruce up our indoor holiday decor--are ironically better for the Earth in the long run.

How? Aside from looking and smelling better than petroleum-based fakers, real Christmas trees are:

1. Renewable
2. Recyclable
3. Biodegradable
4. Naturally equipped to absorb carbon dioxide (so we don't have to ... as much).

That's four earth-friendly things wanna-be Christmas trees aren't. Hey, it's hard to be the Happiest Christmas Tree when you're made in a coal-burning factory in China.

True, artificial trees can be reused year after year, but they look dumpier each year and inspire more eco-guilt. (I know. I trimmed the same Leaning Tower of Plastic Shame for 21 Christmases straight.) When finally spent, fakes become landfill fodder.

Not the majority of real Christmas trees. They get a second, not so glamorous life as fragrant landscaping chips and mulch, thanks to some 5,000 reuse programs throughout the U.S. Do your part and chip yours in this year. It's easy with this Earth911 recycling services finder. Simply type "Christmas tree" into the search, along with your ZIP code, and you're there. You could also dry your tree and use the wood for fireplace kindling or, better yet, make it sleep with the fishes.

Wait. Aren't we greenies supposed to hug trees? Not chop them down them for a festive canopy to stash unsustainable consumptive pleasures below. All right, all right. If you can't bring yourself to whack a real, living (though highly renewable) pine tree this holiday, why not decorate a sturdy indoor plant or small tree you already know and love?

If you do decide to get real, make Santa happy and purchase your tree from an environmentally responsible, fair-trade local farm. Take good care of it through Christmas and plant it in your yard after the New Year and you'll have one less resolution to scratch of your list.

Confession: I don't send Christmas cards. Never have. Never will.

I used to blame my Scrooge-y ways of card-less Christmases past on anti-conformity, a bah humbug excuse for my inability to locate my address book, stamps, even a pen. But now I have a bulletproof excuse to shirk sending Season's Greetings yet again. And it's conveniently as green as the Grinch: The Paperless Movement.    

Besides, the people I'd snail mail spam (because everyone else does it) already know what my kids look like. Thank you, Facebook! Don't we already tweet, Digg and Stumbleupon each other enough already? Enough not to consciously add to the wasteful 19 billion holiday cards, letters and packages overwhelming the USPS? 

So, please, skip the stamp and send an e-card. They're fast, easy, and, if you're smart (and okay with ads), free. Or, if you just can't quit paper holiday cards, greet greener by choosing greetings that:

• don't require an envelope; mail a postcard
• you upcycled yourself from greetings you received last year
• are made from recycled materials and are recyclable
  
• are free of shiny, sparkly coatings and metallic accents; they gobble up lots of natural resources and often can't be recycled
  

Don't forget to save the paper greetings you receive this season so you can give them a second life as DIY gift tags. Do the same with wrapping paper or try one of these cool crafty reuses.

Seasons Greenings (from the paper card Grinch)!

Climate-friendly sustainable food is disappointingly absent from COP15's official agenda, but it's definitely on the catering menu.

The Food-Climate Change Connection
First, what does food have to do with climate change? For starters, an estimated 10 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions stem from perfectly edible food that goes uneaten. Then there's big ag's insatiable appetite for fossil-fuel transportation, energy-sucking production and toxic soil runoff, all of which massively contribute to global warming (and thus drought, famine, etc.). Plus, nearly every morsel we eat is packaged in yet more waste (see my Best to Worst Takeout Container List here). And the list industrial food's eco ills trails on.

COP15's Sustainable Menu Standards
But let's get back to sampling COP15's mostly sustainable menu. According to United Nations officials, conference attendees are dining on "a guaranteed minimum 65 percent organic food" that's:

• Locally-sourced (locavore!)
• "Characterized by" low-energy consumption and environmentally-sound waste disposal (What exactly does "characterized by" mean?)
• Vegetarian and non-vegetarian
• and a few tasty bites more

Sustainably Eating-Out in Copenhagen
COP15-goers are encouraged to eat locally and "climate-friendly" outside of summit headquarters. To give them a nudge, the UN put together this convenient, directions-supplying "climate + restaurants" map. Establishments that made the cut had to meet the UN's (unfortunately short) list of sustainability requirements, including the use of:

• Local, in-season ingredients
• Less meat
• As little processed food as possible
• Production that minimizes food waste

Eat Sustainably in Your Corner of the Globe
Not in Copenhagen at the moment? How can you do your part to eat sustainably, wherever you are? Think globally, eat locally and:

• Buy, cook and eat only what you (and your family) will actually consume.
• Don't cook at all. Go raw.
• Buy organic, locavore foods that have low transportation/C02 footprints.
• Support your local food slow food economy, starting with your neighborhood farmer's market.
• Start your own kitchen garden and plant a row for the hungry.
• Ditch the red meat (and maybe all meat).
• Properly compost the food you don't eat.
• Say no to fast food.
• Use reusable utensils, dishes and napkins.

It's not completely clear whether COP15 caterers are composting leftover conference food. Are they reusing real metal utensils? Recycling plastic-, soy- or corn-based utensils? Are napkins and plates compostable or even edible?

Is COP15's fancy caviar fair-trade and sustainable? It better be. Like I said yesterday, the world is watching and just over a billion of us are starving.

There's a lot of exhaust blowing about COP15's super-sized transportation footprint. Why? Climate change conference-goers arrived in Copenhagen in C02-emitting style--in at least 1,200 swanky limos and 140 private jets--to talk about reducing global C02 emissions. Whatever happened to walking the walk?

"We haven't got enough limos in the country to fulfill the demand,"  Majken Friss Jorgensen, of Copenhagen's largest limousine company, told the Telegraph. "We're having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden." 

How many limousines in Jorgensen's fleet are electric or hybrid? Only five, also according to the Telegraph. Even the Danish government can't afford more than a handful of alt fuel cars; the taxes are too steep.

To the 15,000 delegates and officials, 5,000 journalists and 98 world dignitaries converging in Denmark's capital city right now explicitly to unravel the global warming riddle, I say: Show me. Don't tell me.

Set the example by personally making the lifestyle sacrifices (carpooling, public transport-riding, heck--hoofing it!) that we all must make to preserve our planet. You have 11 days left to make it right. The world is watching.

On the upside, more than a few VIP COP15 politicians have greened their rides. In a world first, bullet-proof limos carting bigwigs to and from the summit are chugging on 85 percent bio-ethanol fuel. The Danish gasoline-biofuel blend cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 84 percent. But it's still gas.

How hard is it to hitch a ride on Copenhagen's public transportation system, posh limo riders? After all, it's billed as "the main component of transportation" for COP15 participants, free to anyone with a conference badge. Why not skip the polluting sky and road miles altogether and teleconference from home?

Nah. It's too easy for attendees to burn fuel, alternative or not, thanks to COP15's official carbon offset fix-it, a climate project in Bangladesh capital Dhaka. Conference organizers claim the offsets will "make the conference effectively climate neutral." Effectively. Basically. Whatever.

Come back soon for a taste of COP15's illustrious menu. I hope you like caviar, scallops and foie gras. I also hope it's sustainable.

I don't get this season's top toy, the Zhu Zhu Hamster. Why not just buy your kid a real hamster? Oh, right. Real fur balls "poop, stink and die," so says--go figure--the makers of the fake hamsters. True, but real hamsters don't emit potentially hazardous levels of antimony, like Zhu Zhu Hamsters allegedly do.

The toy testers at GoodGuide, a particularly green product safety testing group, claim one of the Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters, the adorably named Mr. Squiggles-Light Brown, is unsafe for children due to "higher than recommended levels of antimony." Prolonged exposure to antimony, a textile fire retardant, can cause lung and heart complications, diarrhea and stomach ulcers.   

What does the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission make of Mr. Squiggles? As reported by Reuters today, the CPSC said it "is looking into the Zhu Zhu pet toy and will complete its review swiftly." Still, Mr. Squiggles hasn't been recalled and continues flying off shelves at Target, Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us.

Some say GoodGuide is slinging mud for publicity. Doubtful. Their toy safety ratings aren't fluff. They're based on reports from HealthyToys.org; the City of San Francisco; the Center for Health, Environment & Justice; and Healthy Child Healthy World. And all of these entities base their safety ratings either on existing U.S. or E.U. toy safety standards. Not the National Enquirer.   

Cepia LLC, Zhu Zhu Pets' parent company, is crying foul. In a press release refuting GoodGuide's claim, executives assured, "Mr. Squiggles is absolutely safe and has passed the most rigorous testing in the toy industry for consumer health and safety." Where's the proof? In an official EN71 testing report, which Cepia posted on its web site for public review.

Mr. Squiggles, the only Zhu Zhu pet to come under fire so far, isn't the only reportedly toxic toy you should nix from the shopping list this holiday. Take it from GoodGuide. They've got the goods on "the health, environmental and social impacts" of thousands of toy makers worldwide. Plus, their web site is anything but a clunky government mess, like the CPSC's.

What the Grinch doesn't want you to buy? Squeaky clean lead- and phthalate-free nontoxic toys. BPA-, PVC- and fire-retardant-free, too. 

This safe and sustainable toy list should get you started, or you could do the earth one better and buy nothing. WWJB (What Would Jesus Buy), I wonder? Probably not Mr. Squiggles, even if his name is so darn cute.

I'm in the mood for good green news, something mostly illusive in the world of daily eco-blogging. Here goes: I'm tickled green (and every other color in the rainbow) about Eco Stars.

What are they? Fun, star-shaped recycled crayons that are beautifully upcycled from broken bits of old crayons. American wee huggers (earth-loving kids) collect them at schools and eco clubs as part of the National Crayon Recycle Program. The nonprofit's been at it since 1993, so why is this is the first we've heard of their good work?

The nontoxic, easy-grip, five-pointed crayons and their cool, colorful older-kid cousins, Earthling and Crazy Crayons, are handmade by developmentally disabled adults. They're a feel-good purchase all-around.

Why recycle crayons?

• It teaches children the value of recycling. Yes, they can make a difference!
• It keeps an estimated 47,000 pounds of unwanted petroleum-derived wax crayons from landfills.
• It provides teachers and parents with an easy, "real-life" environmental education lesson to share with their kids.
• It keeps toxic lead- and plastic-laden crayons made in China and other countries out of the hands of our children. (Contaminated crayons are safely removed from the donation pool.)
• Buying Eco Stars keeps parents, teachers and kids from purchasing any of the 60 tons of brand new petroleum-based crayons manufactured in the U.S. every day.

How can you be an Eco Star and show your support? Print this fun crayon recycling bin label for your school. Have the kids color it and start recycling those stubby crayons today!

Call 1-800-561-0922 or email LuAnn@earthlingcrayons.com to request a crayon drop-off bin for your school, church, business or other establishment. Why not sell them at your school store?

Cost: Eco Stars ring up at approximately $7.95 for a box of 20 at independent retailers.

Where to buy Eco Stars: If you're in New York City, pick up a box at Sustainable NYC, 139 Avenue A. Or buy them online from their fair-trade eco boutique. 

There. I feel better. Good, green news that won't frighten the children.

The American appetite for soda won't go flat any time soon. Not when soda industry leaders just shelled out $7 million in a lobbying crusade against the proposed soda tax.

We sweet-toothed Americans--belch!--guzzle about 50 cans of soda per month. Our "obesity-endangered" children often drink more pop than water or milk on any given day. If we drink so much soda anyway, why not make the rotgut ourselves at home?

Enter the SodaStream, a DIY soda machine for the upper-class, eco-minded carbonated drink lover. Let's take a fizzy sip and see if this gadget's as good and green for you--and the earth--as its maker claims.

The Good:

• SodaStream's new Soda-Club Eco machine is made from 85 percent recyclable materials and requires only one plastic bottle to be recycled every three years. Approximately 311 billion plastic soda bottles are NOT recycled worldwide every year.
• What's good for the SodaStream is good for the can: Each SodaStream "sodamix" flavor bottle makes the equivalent of 33 cans of soda.
• SodaStream machines are fast. Three seconds is all it takes to blow bubbles into your sugar water. You can also turn plain tap water into fancy seltzer water in seconds not-so-flat.
• They're designed to "save time, save space and save money." Using one regularly could significantly trim your waste stream, especially if you have a serious soda addiction (like the rest of us).
• They're somewhat sustainable. Heavy emphasis on somewhat. SodaStream's reusable carbonating bottles and endless other plastic supplies are BPA-free and recyclable.
• There's no 12-pack lugging and no plastic or aluminum empties to recycle. No problem?
• The per-serving savings are decent. SodaStream DIY soda water costs about 20 cents per liter, whereas wasteful designer bottled bubbly water cha-chings an average of $2 per liter.

The Bad:

• SodaStreams are a bit of pain to operate and they're expensive. Sure, the per-serving savings are considerable, but the machines themselves are anything but cheap. The most stripped-down model, The Fountain Jet home soda maker, starts at $89.95 before shipping. The sleek premium Penguin tops out at $199.95. At least it comes with a pair of fancy, dishwasher-safe glass carafes and two 60-liter carbonation packs. (Remember, glass is greener than plastic.)
• DIY SodaStream-making demands an ongoing "stream" of pricey plastic supplies, including PET serving bottles and plastic flavor concentrate containers. At least all that stuff is recyclable.

The Bubbly (on SodaStream sketchy sweets):

There are 30 SodaStream sodamix standard flavors, including diet, regular and Kosher (cola; cream soda; fountain mist; root beer; orange; lemon iced tea; ginger ale, etc.)  

At first glance, SodaStream seems mainly healthy; the flavor mixes don't contain high-fructose corn syrup, refined sugars or aspartame. However, many are artificially-sweetened with Splenda-brand sucralose, a chemical repeatedly linked to kidney dysfunction; migraine headaches; cancers; brain and nervous system disorders; immune system debilitation; and several other major health problems. Why not all-natural stevia, SodaStream? Could be the terribly bitter aftertaste. 

SodaStream sodamix sippers also swallow lab-made food coloring, phosphoric acid and the preservative sodium benzoate. Are these so-called "naturally flavored" sodamixes drinkable greenwashing or what?

The Verdict: Let's leave this one off The List, Santa. I'll stick with filling and refilling my Sigg with filtered tap water. 2009 issue, of course.

Drink from the tap already, parched people.

You do know by now that commercially bottled water--much of which is nothing more than repackaged tap water--profoundly contributes to the mass production of polycarbonate plastic, everlasting landfill waste and carbon dioxide pollution, right? Just ask Coca-Cola, maker of the hugely popular Dasani fancy faucet water or PepsiCo Inc., producer of Aquafina from the tap. (Aquafina's water is so amazingly "pure" that its slogan reassuringly "promises nothing.")

In one year alone, the deluge of plastic water bottles thirsty Americans buy requires 47 million gallons of oil to produce. That production spews an estimated one billion pounds of globally-warming C02 into our atmosphere. Dump onto that green shame spiral bottled water's unsustainable transportation sins, stemming from all of the oil and fuel burned up up via cargo ship, big rig and train, and you're left with nary a reason to drink up.

Bottled water's health risks aren't so "pure and refreshing" either. Bisephenol-A (BPA) contamination is just the beginning. Let's just say they can be a real downer in the bedroom.

Clearly, it's time to fill up a safe, reusable, non-plastic (!) sports bottle and boycott the $100 billion plastic bottled water industry. Responsibly, conservatively turn on (and filter) your tap and drink up. For more on municipal water testing and standards, take a look at this EPA contaminant list. To check up on your city or town's water supplier, click here. Find an eco-friendly home filtration system here.

Despite popular opinion, drinking properly filtered tap water is actually far healthier than drinking bottled water. According to Consumer Reports, the EPA is far stricter on municipal water providers than the FDA is on bottled water producers.

As the Dasani spin doctors warn, "Water. You can't live without it." We have no choice but to "drink responsibly." It's bottled water you can live without.

(Please put that plastic soda bottle down while you're at it, too, okay? I'd carbonate my drinks myself if I could afford a SodaStream.)

'Tis the season to let the belt out a notch ... or to buy a bigger belt. The holidays are upon us, and that means more eating, more drinking and more pudge.

Willpower alone isn't enough in these bloated times. Not when two out of three Americans is clinically overweight and treading on the planet more heavily than ever before.

Believe it or not, obesity weighs down on our climate, too. Here's how, according to London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Department of Epidemiology and Population Health researchers.

So, before you tuck into a second heaping helping of grandma's high fructose corn syrup special pecan pie, bite off one of these Jedi taste bud  tricks to curb your holiday appetite and your environmental footprint:

1. Eat mindfully. You're more likely to overeat when you're watching Ralphie nearly shoot his eye out (or any other TV). Solution: Tune out distractions while eating, even your crazy Aunt Hazel. Chew slowly and ignore her. You'll enjoy the sensory qualities of food more and eat less.

2. Don't nervous nibble. For many, myself included, food equals instant comfort, especially in stressful situations and especially sweets. Staking out the appetizer table at a boring office function or a name tag party where you hardly know anyone is a tempting escape. You can either deal with the root of the problem (social anxiety? shyness? food addiction?), but why beat yourself up before New Year's resolution time? Fill up on healthy, organic foods before party-going instead. If you must nervous nosh, stick to fresh fruit and veg. Be strong!

3. Snack small and often. Studies show people eat up to 40 percent more when they're tired. And who isn't wiped out during the Silly Season? Most of us tend to "tired eat" right before bed. Eat small, nourishing meals throughout the day and sip plenty of hot herbal tea before bed. Stealing a nap here and there helps, too.  

4. Avoid, avoid, avoid! Think out of sight out of mouth. Don't buy junk food you know you won't be able to resist. Shamelessly re-gift candy and chocolate. Whatever it takes.

5. Downsize. Eat half of what's on your plate. Wait five or so minutes and see if you're still hungry. Or, minimize food waste altogether by reaching for smaller (reusable!) bowls and plates.

I admit, these Grinch-y tips and tricks are neither festive nor fun. They take hard work and self-discipline, especially when a buttercream frosted chocolate pistachio yule log is staring back at you. Use the force, my festive friend, or you'll have to literally force yourself back into your skinny jeans.

Drop that leftover turkey sandwich. For those of you who ate (and keep eating) additive-laden frozen turkeys, chances are you're still metabolizing an unhealthy helping of roxarsone, an arsenic derivative used to keep parasites at bay and boost chick growth.

How many Thanks-givers unknowingly gobbled arsenic-laced turkey last week and still continue to via leftovers? Millions easy, or about 95 percent of all Americans. 

Luckily I didn't. My organic, free-range, cruelty-free, just-about-everything-free (except for the hefty price tag) Bristol Farms Turkey Holocaust victim was clean. All 28 plucked pounds of him. No one at my table passed the poison, unless you count the fumes from the plastic giblets bag I failed to remove. Whoops!

So what does arsenic do to us non-organic turkey gobblers, never mind the poor cluckers stuffed with it? Here's the unappetizing answer, straight from the Centers for Disease Control (via the Los Angeles Times):

“"Ingesting very high levels of arsenic can result in death. Exposure to lower levels can cause nausea and vomiting, decreased production of red and white blood cells, abnormal heart rhythm, damage to blood vessels, and a sensation of “pins and needles” in hands and feet.”

Not exactly safe or sustainable.

Why should we be worried? The FDA isn't. The Feds claim that "consumption of arsenic is safe at levels up to 0.5 parts per million in poultry muscle, and that roxarsone is OK to use," also according to the Los Angeles Times. Okay?

If the Poison Free Poultry Act of 2009 (H.R.3624) passes, bird-eaters might not have to think twice before swallowing, except for about this and this. No wonder why President Obama pardoned the First Turkey. 

Speaking of turkeys, this deft amateur chef (and midwife?) delivered a succulent bird while simultaneously delivering her daughter's baby this past holiday. Baby the bird or catch the baby? Both! Priorities, people.