Why Are We Addicted to Cheap?

Price is a big factor when most of us go shopping, especially if the budget is tight. It makes a lot of financial sense to go for cheaper items when they’re available. If you want to consider ethics, however, cheap isn’t always the way to go. Despite this, many people are addicted to cheap products.

Cheap products can be ethically challenging due to the circumstances under which they’re made. It’s not just the environmental issues, although those are important. It’s the human rights issues, products being made under sweatshop conditions and/or with child labor. It’s the humane treatment of animals.

Paying just a bit more for clothing and other products could go toward significantly improving the living conditions of the people who create these products. Unfortunately, it’s not just price; it’s also the willingness of the business to pay their workers well. Clothing made for Ralph Lauren can be just as problematic as clothes made to be sold at Walmart.

How Can You Keep Your Shopping More Ethical?

Ethics aren’t an easy thing to manage when you’re just trying to keep your family going. You don’t have a lot of extra money to spend sometimes. Even so, there are ways you can buy more ethical products without breaking the bank. It’s one of your few chances to buy cheap while doing good for others.

When it comes to clothing and other reusable products, shopping in thrift stores is often your best choice in terms of ethics and budget. It’s much cheaper than shopping anywhere else, and the money goes to support what are usually good causes in your area.

You can also check out the social responsibility of different companies online. Better World Shopper and Green America offer resources to help you with this.

Supporting co-ops is another good way to go. This isn’t just about food. Many fair trade products are made by co-ops.

Watch Out for False Claims

If you don’t know much about the brand you’re buying, just that they claim to be green or eco in some way, watch out for false or misleading claims. Too many times these claims are poorly regulated at best. If you don’t have time to do the research before purchase or at that moment, keep it in mind for the future.

At the same time, remember that you can’t always make the perfect ethical choice. Better products may not be readily available to you in your area, and you can’t always wait for shipping. Do your best with what’s available to you.

Thinking About Food Waste – Blog Action Day 2011

#BAD11 – I enjoy participating in Blog Action Day each year. The topics are very interesting, and can be quite important. This year’s topic, food, lends itself to so many possibilities, but I decided to write about food waste in particular. With 3 kids, food waste happens, you can’t stop it entirely. You can try to control it.

Food waste is a huge part of the municipal solid waste generated every year. According to the EPA, it was 14.1% before recycling, and only a small percentage of food waste was recovered through recycling. You can read a detailed report on this at http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009-fs.pdf. This doesn’t count composting at home; it’s just about what goes into the waste stream.

Some food waste is just in the nature of preparing food. The term includes the scraps that come about from preparing food. If you have a compost bin, the waste from preparing fruits and vegetables can at least be kept out of the waste stream and benefit your garden. Those bits aren’t as problematic as other kinds of food waste.

Cutting Down on Food Waste at Home

Home is the place where you have the most control over food waste. You have the ability to buy only what you need and to make sure leftovers are eaten in a timely manner.

Buying only what you need is often difficult, short of going to the store daily, which has its own serious problems. Most of us are simply not perfect at keeping track of the fresh foods in the fridge, and it often gets worse when those fresh foods become a part of leftovers. Even so, we need to try.

Some foods last better than others, of course. Just compare the shelf life of an apple to a banana. When you have fresh foods, think about preparing or serving the foods that spoil quickly first, saving the more durable fresh foods for later in the week.

To control leftovers, start with your cooking habits. How much will you and your family really eat at a sitting? How can you cook enough to satisfy everyone without having leftovers, or at least have fewer leftovers?

Next, figure out how to get people eating leftovers when you have them. If you have the freezer space, you can make them into frozen lunches to go to work or for those days you don’t want to spend much time on lunch. You can also make it a goal to eat those leftovers before freezing them becomes necessary.

Don’t forget your smaller amounts of leftovers. Sometimes you may need to combine two days of leftovers to get a good new meal out of them.

Kids can be some of the biggest offenders on food waste, and the hardest to control. I can’t tell you how often I have to remind mine to finish a half eaten apple or try to figure out a way to get them to eat a dinner they didn’t enjoy that much. I have a few standby additions my kids reach for when they don’t enjoy a meal, which really help limit the complaints and uneaten meals. The right cheese solves many problems with children. So does ketchup.

You should talk to your kids about why it’s important to not waste food. The recent Sesame Street special on food insecurity really hit home with my oldest, who had been quite reluctant to watch something as babyish as Sesame Street; then she had to watch it again the next night because it touched her so much. When I checked, they had the entire Growing Hope Against Hunger episode on that page.

Benefits of Wasting Less Food

The first benefit of wasting less food is obvious. You spend less money on food. That’s pretty simple. A 2006 study found that people throw away an average of 14% of the food they buy. Cut that number down, and you can save a nice little chunk off your monthly grocery bills, or about $600 a year for a family of 4.

Food waste is also an environmental issue. When food waste goes into a landfill, it decomposes and produces methane. Composting it, on the whole, is probably the better answer when you can’t avoid wasting food and have a way to compost it. Just make sure you aren’t doing anything that will attract rodents or other pests.

Is There Anything Else You Can Do?

While there’s only a little you can do directly about it, I suggest you take a look at the EPA’s food recovery hierarchy for more ideas on how to limit food waste. Most of us don’t have enough excess food that can be safely donated to food banks and such, but it’s good to know what kinds of things you should be encouraging in your community.

What Is Ocean Acidification and Why Should You Care?

Anyone paying attention at all these days has heard of global warming or climate change. It’s a big deal to some, complete nonsense to those who don’t believe in it. Climate change is only a part of the problem, however. Ocean acidification is a related problem, and quite serious. So what is it? Why does it matter?

Ocean acidification is the result of the ocean absorbing carbon dioxide.  It does this normally, but as the amount of carbon in the atmosphere increases, so does the rate at which the ocean absorbs it. This is not a good thing overall, although photosynthetic algae and sea grasses may do better.

But shelled sea life suffers tremendously. More acidic sea water slowly dissolves their shells. This can impact the entire food chain, as many creatures eat shelled sea life, and of course many people do as well. Ocean acidification may result in the failure and erosion of coral reefs as well, with all that implies for the creatures which have evolved to live in them, whether or not they have a shell.

The plastic pollution in the ocean also increases the acidity.

It often amazes me how little ocean acidification is discussed when people talk about carbon emissions. It’s one of the most important impacts to consider. The oceans are big, but there’s only so much they can take, and this is something we can measure. The current increase in acidity is 30%, with the potential for the ocean to become more acidic than it has been in 20 million years.

A billion people worldwide rely on the ocean as a source of protein. It’s not a small matter to find a replacement for that. The impact of acidification may have been seen already in the Pacific coast regions of North America, where shellfish beds have been failing. The pteropods which are a basic food source for many fish and whales are decreasing in number. This isn’t just a guess. We can see it happening.

9 Lazy Ways to Be Greener

Going green isn’t always the more difficult option. Sometimes it’s the simplest path, if only people could see it more clearly. Here are a few green things I’ve found to be easier than the regular alternatives.

1. Breastfeed rather than bottle feed.

Yes, breastfeeding can be very hard to get started, and for some people it’s impossible. If that’s how it is, absolutely, bottle feed your baby. It’s what’s necessary, and I don’t call that a bad thing.

But for those of us fortunate enough to get breastfeeding going well, it’s by far the easiest way to feed a baby, especially in the middle of the night. No mixing formula or washing bottles. Just pop that baby on the breast, make sure the latch is good, and relax.

2. Cloth diaper rather than disposables.

I know, I know. Lots of people think cloth diapering is this miserable, hard thing. And poops are gross even when they come from baby bottoms, know what I mean? But amazingly enough, I found cloth diapering to be much easier for me than disposables.

The laundry isn’t that much extra work. What’s an extra couple loads when you have a family? Do you have any idea how wonderful it is to not need to run to the store to get more disposable diapers because you didn’t realize you were almost out in time? Not to mention no need to buy more diapers all the time anyhow. They’re right in your house, and if you want cute cloth diapers, you can find cute cloth diapers!

Not to mention how much money you can save using cloth diapers! Just don’t let the cute cloth diaper addiction get out of hand.

3. Homemade cleaners rather than the usual brands.

Some people think that making homemade cleaning supplies is a big deal. It can be a little difficult to make some things; laundry detergent is definitely an effort. Other cleaners, not so much.

Baking soda and vinegar handle most things. You can water down the vinegar and add a little essential oil such as lavender to make it smell better, but it’s quite effective. We keep a prepared squirt bottle of it, same as you would for any other cleaner. Sprinkling baking soda really isn’t that much harder than sprinkling any other powered cleaner.

Some things need a little extra elbow grease, but most times it’s really not that bad. If homemade doesn’t suit, there are some decent cleaners that are more eco friendly.

4. Do less laundry.

Obviously, you want to be careful about this one. You don’t want to wear stinky clothes. That said, towels and such can easily be used several times before they need a wash with most families.

When laundry day rolls around, wash your clothes in cold water whenever possible. I’ve never bought a special detergent for this. Most clothes will come quite nicely clean in cold water.

Line drying isn’t lazy, but if you think of it as exercise, you might just have enough of an excuse to go at it anyhow. On hot enough days, it can be faster than the dryer.

5. Handmedowns for the kids.

Seriously. I love handmedowns for my kids. Do you have any idea how rarely I buy clothing for my children? It’s not often at all. They get handmedowns from cousins, and that takes care of most of their needs, even after the stuff that’s stained or worn out is removed from consideration. I don’t have to take the time or spend the money on shopping, my kids are still happy to get handmedowns, and it’s all better for the environment than buying new.

6. Stay away from stores unless you need to go there.

I’ll admit it. I enjoy wandering stores and seeing all the stuff. The problem is that it’s a temptation I don’t need, and quite frankly the realization of how much waste there is really takes the fun out of browsing.

If you tend to impulse shop, keeping away from stores is a great way to cut that habit down. You can’t buy something on impulse if you never see it. Saves on gas and unnecessary purchases.

7. Replace bottled water with filtered water.

Many people swear they can’t stand their local tap water, and that’s why they buy bottled water. Thing is, many brands of bottled water are simply filtered tap water. Why pay such a premium when you can filter it yourself?

You can even take this water with you when you’re on the go. Get yourself a good quality reusable water bottle. You’ll have your own filtered water ready when you need it.

8. Buy a programmable thermostat.

Installing a programmable thermostat has the potential to save 15-25% on your heating and cooling costs. That’s not a bad deal at all, plus you can set your house to be the right temperature for the time of day, and not have to worry about fiddling with the controls or leaving the heat or air conditioner on all day when you go to work. Just program it and let it run.

9. Choose energy saving electronics and appliances when you replace old.

It’s not terribly eco friendly to go about replacing things that don’t need replacing yet, although there can be a balance as things get old enough. But when the time does come, pick models which are more energy efficient. It will save you time and be better for the environment without any extra effort.

You can also get a smart power strip for your computer or television. This power strip powers down accessories when you shut down the main device. You have to pick carefully, of course, as sometimes you don’t want everything to shut down just because you turned off the TV. Most people don’t want their DVR to shut down at such times, as it may have other shows to record, and if you’re stuck with a cable box, it would need to be on for the sake of the DVR. But it’s nice to have the other electronics shut down because they aren’t in use.