NOTE: These chickens were not gifts for the kids.  We rescued them as fully grown hens.

The reasons to avoid Easter pets in favor of some of the alternatives listed below are numerous, but first, indulge me in a moment of 90’s nostalgia:

Joey Tribbiani sits in his living room watching TV.  A newscaster appears, stating (accurately) that “some people insist on giving live chicks as presents. Unfortunately, the sad fact remains that most of these guys won’t live to see the 4^th of July due to improper care.”  Joey immediately dials up a pet store, asking whether they carry baby chicks because “I was watching this commercial on TV, and man, those things are cute!”

After presenting the chick to Chandler, the burdens of chick care become a clear strain on their friendship, inciting bickering about who has gotten up at night with the chick and who has stayed home from work to care for her.  Ultimately, the two decide to surrender the baby to a shelter, only to discover that this puts little Yasmine at a very real risk of euthanasia.  Chandler returns home from the shelter with not only their baby chick, but a duck someone else surrendered as well.

While all this is presented in a humorous and campy manner, the issues it highlights are very real, right down to the fact that ultimately they are forced to surrender the animals when little Yasmine grows up to be a rooster.

Consider This:

Before adopting a live animal to hide among the synthetic grass in your child’s Easter basket this year, give some serious thoughts to the following considerations.

WHAT LESSON WILL YOU TEACH?

Presenting a child with a pet they are not capable of caring for and you are not willing to care for in the long term sends very negative messages about responsibility, consequences, and the value of life.

How will it affect your child should your new pet die from improper care?  What does it say about love, caring, and responsibility if you abandon your new pet to a shelter within a year?

Living creatures are not disposable.

If you are not accustomed to keeping pets, have not done extensive research on the care necessary, and are not ready to commit up to 20 years to the care of a new companion animal, then bunnies, chicks, and ducks are not for you.  Check out the great alternatives below!

CARE REQUIREMENTS

Speaking of the level of care necessary, did you know that domesticated rabbits, ducks, and chickens cannot survive in the wild?  Pet rabbits should not even be kept outdoors.  They should live in the house with the family, just like a cat or dog.  Rabbits are social creatures, and an outdoor hutch is now considered cruel treatment.  They can be litter trained, but it is a process, just like with other pets.  And if you already have a cat or dog, how will they take to a new addition?  A responsible pet owner will easily spend over $500 per year to care for a rabbit.  More information on rabbit care can be found here.

Baby chicks require round the clock attention and care, needing to be kept at precisely the right temperature and fed every few hours.  Once making it past that hurdle, adult chickens require an appropriate environment, a temperature controlled coop, and possibly an enclosure, which you will have to build or buy.  They require daily care, including when the family is on vacation.  Further, sexing baby chicks is difficult, so – like Joey and Chandler – you may end up with a rooster on your hands.  Many young roosters are surrendered or killed every year due to incorrect sexing.  More information on chicken care is here.

And don’t forget that many municipalities don’t allow chickens or ducks at all!

Ducks require the same care requirements as chickens, and then some.  In addition to care, feeding, and housing needs, ducks must also be provided with a bare minimum of 1 liter of clean water per duck per day.  More details on caring for ducks, here.

And remember, all of these animals are social.  Rabbits should be kept with the family, and chickens and ducks need to be kept with their own kind.  One should never keep just a single chicken or duck.

HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS

The Centers for Disease Control warns that each year, several children in the US are infected with salmonella carried by baby chicks, ducks, goslings, or turkeys.  Salmonella can be transmitted to children from the animals themselves, or from contact with their houses or bedding (or an Easter basket the little critters were nestled into!).

This fact alone demonstrates that these animals are not appropriate gifts for small children.  Find out more here.

Also consider the health of the animals themselves.  Bunnies, chicks, and ducks are all incredibly fragile creatures and can easily be injured by enthusiastically loving children.

Better Baskets!

Why take on the expense, risks, and commitment of a live animal, when you could use one of these fun Easter ideas:

PLANTS AND SEEDS AND FLOWERS, OH MY!

Stuff that basket with seeds, seedlings, bulbs, or a sprout jar to give kids the joy and pride of caring for something and watching it grow with a much more manageable level of care (unless it’s orchids; don’t give them orchids, ha).  This is also a great opportunity to wedge a little science lesson into the fun!

Kids love eating vegetables they’ve grown themselves, so consider some tomato seedlings or radish seeds.  Plant some carrots in a clear container (like an old juice bottle with the top cut off and holes in the bottom for drainage), and kids can watch their food grow.  Sprouts in a jar provide a lot of interaction and a very fast turnaround, being ready to eat in under a week.  Check out this article for information on growing sprouts with kids.

Wish seeds are another perfect Spring activity.  At the equinox (or Easter), each member of the family plants three seeds representing their wishes for growth in the coming year (sort of like a new year’s resolution).  As they care for the plants and watch them grow, they are reminded of their wishes.

SPRINGTIME TOYS

Easter comes right at the start of Spring.  Why not celebrate the new season with outdoor activity related basket stuffers like jump ropes, yard games, and sidewalk chalk?  I’m pretty sure I got my first bike as an Easter gift (we winter babies don’t have a lot of warm-weather gift opportunities).

And if you decide to go with chocolate, aim for slavery-free!

VISIT A SANCTUARY

Enjoy the animal experience and support a local sanctuary or rescue at the same time.  Many farm or wildlife sanctuaries include picnic areas and tours.

RENT-A-CHICK

While this practice my still be somewhat ethically questionable, it is at least superior to adopting then killing or abandoning a pet.  Many small farmers around the country offer a “rent-a-chick” opportunity at this time of year.  Families can take home a chick or two, complete with feed and instructions for care, and then return it to the farmer after Eastern.

If you’re in Detroit, visit J&M Farms at Eastern Market to learn more.

If You Must Adopt:

Finally, if you are sure that a new bunny or some chicks or ducks are right for your family; if you’re sure you’re ready to commit to caring for these creatures for so long as they may live, please consider waiting until after Easter and adopting from a local rescue.  There are always a large number of these creatures needing good homes at this time of year.

Adopting from a rescue organization saves an animal in need of a loving home, supports the mission of the rescue, and reduces the demand for large corporations to overbreed “throw away pets.”

For more information, visit:

Inhabitots

Life and Science

ASPCA

The Friends episode referenced above is called The one with a chick. And a duck.  It is episode 21 of season 3 and is available on Netflix and Amazon.

All images published with permission from either UrbanEarthworm.org or Eastern Market.

The post Better than Bunnies for Easter appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

It is also great for adults looking to save a little money on some delicious sprouts!

Growing sprouts in a jar is unbelievably easy.  Given how much these little beauties cost in the store, I can’t believe I didn’t start doing this sooner!  All you need is a mason jar (or similar) with a two piece lid, some type of screen material – I cut a square out of an old pair of clean nylons – gauze and screen also work, and sprout seeds (more about choosing seeds below – see Safety).  In about 5 days, you have a whole jar packed full of delicious, nutritious sprouts ready to eat.

This is the “Two-piece lid” I referenced above.  They are available here.
Image credit: Urbanbarn Etsy.

Getting Kids Involved

If you’re doing this activity with kids, you may also want to have some other fun plant life cycle related material handy.  There a lot of websites out there with preschool lessons and activities for plant life cycles.  Flintstone is particularly fond of gluing things to paper (we recently did the butterfly life cycle with different shapes of pasta).  The Magic School Bus episode The Magic School Bus Goes to Seed is also a great tie in, and the Scholastic website has more information and activities to go with that episode.

Tie in healthy eating with activities like this one (and the dozens of other free activities on this site) and a lively discussion of how we can watch our sprouts grow, then eat them and they help us grow!  More healthy eating related activities available here.

With just a little bit of guidance, kids can do this activity nearly entirely on their own.

Instructions:
This project is best started in the evening hours since the seeds will need to soak overnight.  It isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it works out well that way.

1.  Place 1 – 2 tablespoons of seeds in your jar.

2.  Spread your strainer material (nylons, gauze, screen, etc.) over the top and secure with the outer ring of the lid.

3.  Rinse the seeds by pouring water in through the mesh on top, swirling it around, then draining through the same mesh.
4.  Add a minimum of 3X as much water as seeds (ie, 1tbsp seeds needs at least 3tbsp water) – no need to be precise; I just fill the jar up 1/4 of the way.

5.  Allow the seeds to soak overnight (or a minimum of 8 hours).  I would also avoid oversoaking them, which is why I recommend starting in the evening.  Keep the jar out of direct sunlight, but not in the dark.  We left ours on the kitchen counter.  It will stay out of direct sunlight for the first 4-5 days.
6.  In the morning (or 8 hours later), drain the water out by pouring it through the mesh, then rinse again by the same method mentioned in step 3, draining fully.

The seeds start to sprout almost immediately after soaking.  Soaking is Day 1.  This is Day 2.

7.  Rinse and drain again in the evening.  Flintstone loved having this responsibility, and it was the first thing he wanted to do every morning.  Since the jar is glass I watched over him, but he was able to do it all completely by himself.

This is day 3 or 4.

8.  Continue to rinse and drain every morning and evening (or roughly every 12 hours) for 4 – 6 days.
9.  Once your jar of sprouts is full and has little green leaves on the ends, it can be placed in direct sunlight for a day to up the chlorophyll production.  After that, it can be moved to the refrigerator.

Day 4 or 5, window sill time!

10.  Enjoy the enthusiasm with which your little ones pack down the nutritious fruits of their labors!

Safety

       These days, warnings and worries about any and all raw foods, including vegetables, abound – and sprouts are no exception to that.  There have been outbreaks of food-borne illness linked to mass produced sprouts purchased in grocery stores in the past.  These are thought to have been linked to unsanitary growing conditions.  There have not been any recorded instances of food-borne illness linked to home grown sprouts that I was able to find in my research.

        Fresh sprouts are considered at the same level of risk as fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc.).  It is possible for pathogens like e. coli can be spread from manure or other sources and hide out on fresh foods or even seeds.  The warm, damp growing conditions that these kinds of produce thrive in are conducive to growth of those pathogens.

       There have been a lot of changes in the sprout industry over the last four years, and up to date information on pathogen risk, prevalence, and the effectiveness of risk reduction techniques implemented around 2011 is limited.  Note: some sources warn against children, pregnant women, those with weakened immune systems, and the elderly consuming raw sprouts.  Note: Those same sources warn against consumption of raw berries, lettuces, and cut greens by those same groups.

       The risk is (arguably) small, but it is there, and it is up to the individual to make an informed choice.  I feel our home grown sprouts are safe – the same way I feel about berries.  I am not willing to give up the health benefits of most raw produce out of fear of the marginal risk of illness largely borne from major, corporate producers.   I AM, however, careful to obtain my seeds from a reliable source.  We used Handy Pantry 5 Seed Sprouting Mix.  Handy Pantry has been in business for over 20 years, sources most of their seeds from the US and Canada, and is GMO-free and organic (no pesticides on my sprouts, please!).  *I have not been asked to endorse this company, nor have I been compensated in any way for this article – that said, if Handy Pantry wanted to throw a little something my way, I would happily accept!

Other Resources

      Information on the Health Benefits of Eating Sprouts

      More Information on Sprouts and Food-borne Illness

       Giving Sprout Growing Kits as Gifts (with Free Printables) (coming soon)

The post Teaching Kids About Food and Plants: Grow Sprouts in a Jar appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

Starbucks’ Chai Tea Latte is one of my favorite hot drinks (one of many).  When the craving hits me at home I have a simple cheat for a mock Starbucks Chai Tea Latte that only takes about 2 minutes to make:

Ingredients:

• Chai Tea (I like Equal Exchange because I know it is ethically sourced)
• Vanilla Almond Milk (or Vanilla Soy, Hemp, Flax, Rice, or Oat milk or any other plant milk* you can think of)

Directions:

1. Pour a mug of Vanilla Milk.
2. Add a chai tea bag.
3. Heat until almost boiling (This is 1 minute 45 seconds in the mug pictured in my microwave, but times will vary – it’s not a big deal if you hit the boiling point, but you don’t want it to boil over or boil so long the flavors change).
4. Sweeten if desired (I don’t find it necessary to sweeten mine).
5. Garnish (if desired) with ground cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, or ethically sourced coco powder to taste.

Loose Leaf Directions:

1. If you are using loose leaf tea, heat the milk to almost boiling first.
2. Steep tea via preferred method for 3 minutes.
3. Follow steps 4 and 5 above.

Enjoy an extra $4.00 in your pocket!

Baking Tip:

Substitute this cheater latte for milk in baking recipes for a delicious Chai twist like in these Vanilla Spice Muffins.

*DO NOT USE COW MILK – the flavor profile of cow milk changes too much when heated.  Plus, cow milk has pus in it which is gross.  And there’s the cruelty thing.  But believe me, this recipe will not come out the same with cow milk.

The post Cheater Chai Tea Latte appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

This post has been featured as lead story on the HuffPost Green Holidays page.

Bundled up tight and clutching mugs of hot chocolate, we wondered thoughtfully through the fragrant pine forest.  Finally, just as the snow started to pick up, one of us would spot it – the perfect tree.  It was always my brother or me who spotted the tree, but somehow I’m sure my dad pointed us there (or maybe we just spotted every tree until we got the nod).  When my dad crouched beneath this magical tree with his saw, I never failed to feel a pang of guilt.  Surely we shouldn’t be cutting down a tree?  Trees are important.  Didn’t we just plant a tree on Arbor Day?

As a child, these pangs of guilt were short lived and immediately washed away by the warmth and glitter of decorating day.  As an adult, though, the environmental impact of my choices is important to me.

A 2011 study revealed a neck-and-neck (or trunk-and-trunk, if you will) race between real and artificial trees for environmental supremacy.  In the long run, the habits of the individual consumer have weigh much more into the sustainability of either option than do the trees themselves.

Drive Time and Tree Transport

Transportation is one of the most significant environmental impact factors in the holiday tree industry.  It seems obvious to say that an artificial tree shipped from China will have a greater impact than a US grown real tree, but this isn’t always the case.  Mass shipping practices are much more efficient than personally owned vehicles.  Cumulatively, long family trips in search of a real tree may have a greater carbon footprint than mass shipping of artificial trees.  So the first consideration consumers should undertake is comparing the distance to the tree farm or Farmer’s Market versus the distance to wherever they might purchase an artificial tree.  This will also need to be coupled with how many times one plans to make such a trip – every year for real trees, less often (presumably) for artificial trees.  Which brings us to:

Storage and Disposal

Both real and artificial trees contribute to our already overburdened landfills.  The methods consumers choose to dispose of their trees, as well as how long they choose to keep and use their artificial trees, also figure into calculations of which is the more sustainable option.  A consumer needs to reuse an artificial tree for 5 – 10 years in order to establish an environmental impact lower than that of real trees.  One study stated an artificial tree would need to be re-used for 20 years to have this effect.

On the disposal side, real trees seem to come out ahead.  Artificial trees are generally non-biodegradable and will languish in a landfill for centuries, laced with petroleum-based chemicals.  When disposing of an artificial tree, consider donating it to a charity, a needy family, or a re-sale store.  There may also be recycling possibilities available depending on where you live.  Still, the more than 50 million artificial trees in use in the US (as of 2010) have to go somewhere at the end of their lives, and they, unlike real trees, cannot become mulch.

Just because real trees are biodegradable does not mean the landfill is an environmentally conscious disposal solution for them.  Items in a landfill biodegrade very slowly and take up precious space.  With real Christmas trees, there are many “Treecycling” options.  When I was a kid in western Michigan, we had a Christmas tree graveyard in the woods behind our house where our holiday trees when to await their fate as firewood.  When I lived in New York City, a good friend sought out real trees to be chunked up and given as toys to the orangutans at the Bronx Zoo.  At Eastern Market in Detroit, any unsold Christmas trees as the end of the season are turned into mulch for the farmers.  There are several options out there.  The landfill should not be one of them.

Pesticides vs PVC

      The most common indictment levied against artificial Christmas trees is the fact that they usually contain PVC and often lead.  That is enough of a concern for me; I don’t want my baby crawling around beneath a tree that might contain lead (or PVC).  But what about pesticides?  Christmas trees are farmed just like any other crop.  The plus side of this is that when you cut down a live holiday tree, you’re not contributing to deforestation, you’re simply harvesting a crop grown for that purpose.  The downside is that many tree farms use “contemporary” farming practices – meaning pesticides and chemical fertilizers.  I don’t really want my baby crawling around in that, either.  My options are then to either declare this one a toss-up and base my decision on the other factors (and keep my baby well away from the tree, which is about as easy as keeping my cat away from the tree); or to seek out an organic tree farm or an artificial tree company that does not use those chemicals.

Photosynthesis

There are environmental and social benefits to tree farming.  According to Earth911, “A single farmed tree absorbs more than 1 ton of CO2 throughout its lifetime. With more than 350 million real Christmas tress growing in U.S. tree farms alone, you can imagine the yearly amount of carbon sequestering associated with the trees. Additionally, each acre of trees produces enough oxygen for the daily needs of 18 people.”  Further, more than 100,000 people in the US are employed by the live Christmas tree industry.

American Made

      There are also jobs created in the US by the artificial tree industry.  There are a few a few US producers of artificial Christmas trees.  These include, Christmas in America, New Jersey’s Holiday Tree and Trim Co., and USChristmastree.com.

Unique Alternatives

A few years ago, we hatched a plan to have an indoor tree for all holidays.  We purchased a contorted filbert for this purpose one spring.  Sadly, it succumbed to aphids just as it was sprouting leaves.  Still, a year round potted holiday tree is an idea I’m fond of, and one we will probably try again in the future.

Another popular alternative is to purchase a small potted tree and then transplant it outside in the spring.  You can purchase a potted pine tree at most nurseries that will survive the holidays in its pot and can then become a thriving part of your home landscaping.

The Daily Green also recommends decorating an outdoor tree instead of bringing a tree into your home.  This isn’t the ideal alternative for me (or my kids!), but for some people it might be just perfect.  I do remember when I was a kid, we used to run all the extension cords in our house (an my dad was a carpenter, so we had plenty) way out into the woods and string up a white pine with colorful lights.  Then we would make balls of birdseed and peanut butter with paperclip hooks to decorate that tree, our own special holiday offering to nature.  And I remember many winter evenings gazing out our frosted windows at the twinkling lights way out in the snowy woods.

And the Winner is:

In the real vs artificial debate, real trees still come out ahead in my book.  Where we live in Detroit, it’s pretty easy to Make it a Real Michigan Christmas.  If you live in an area where real trees are hard to come by or require a lot of travel, the answer might be different for you.  Either way, please keep in mind that there are a lot more ways to green your holidays than simply choosing the right tree for you.

Lights

Did you know that the lights you choose to put on your tree actually have a much bigger impact than the tree itself?  A switch to LED lights is a major step toward sustainability this holiday season.  LED lights use about 1/6 the amount of energy that “traditional” Christmas lights use.  Just make sure you recycle those old lights!

Paper

      According to Stanford University:

“Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year’s holiday period than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week!  If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.”

This year, consider sending digital holiday cards, purchasing paper products made only from 100% post-consumer recycled materials, and re-using other paper products to make cards and wrapping paper.  There are dozens of templates available for converting cereal boxes to gift boxes, plastic bags to festive bows, and more.  Urban Earthworm features a long list of alternative gift card and wrapping paper ideas, including my favorite – homemade seed paper!

Gifts

      What gifts you give this year and where they come from also have a huge impact.  If you can avoid giving “stuff,” that is always a good idea.  I don’t really need any more Harry Potter or Dr. Who memorabilia (really, I don’t…), but a sessions at the local areal yoga gym or someone to do the dishes for me (especially that last one!) would be ideal.  The list of non-material gifts is nearly un-ending and is only limited by your creativity.

Shopping local is another key way to reduce your impact this holiday season.  For those in the Detroit metro region, the local and hand-made gift possibilities are endless.  From the Detroit Merchantile’s Merry Market to Michigan Artisans, there are few excuses not to shop local this season.  Thrift and re-sale shops are also a great alternative, a built-in form of recycling.  I’ll never turn down a thrift-shop pile of books!  And, of course one doesn’t want to overlook all the local offerings at Eastern Market.

If you must purchase online, consider purchasing from a charitable organization.  Nearly every charity offers gifts for sale, with the proceeds going to benefit the works of the organization.  There are also sites like The Animal Rescue Site and Global Girlfriend, which bring together a huge selection of items with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.

Over the River and Through the Woods

      Lastly, always keep in mind the costs of transportation.  The fewer shopping trips you take, the better you are treating the environment.  If you can walk to the stores or take public transit, all the better.  If not, consider trying to consolidate all your shopping into one trip.  Happy (and Green) Holidays to you!

The post Sustainable Holiday Tips and Real vs Artificial Trees appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

I suspect the reactions I received when telling people I was moving to Detroit were similar to those one might receive after announcing a plan to move to Yemen or to give up practicing law in order to farm tarantulas.  Most were skeptical; some were interested; several were downright incredulous.  After three months here, my husband and I know we made the right decision.

I grew up in West Michigan with all the standard Michigan pride.  I drank pop (Rock ‘n Rye, of course), used my hand as a map, and have always known how to pronounce Mackinac, Charlevoix, and Ypsilanti.  At 18, I took off to Tulane University – and pre-Katrina New Orleans – to see the “real” world.  Twelve years and eight states later, it was time to come home.  Choosing Michigan was easy.  Choosing Michigan was obvious.  Choosing Detroit took more thought.  Several factors went into our choice, but ultimately it was a gut decision.  Detroit felt right for us.

Others, clearly, did not understand.  I would point to the historically and culturally unique precipice on which Detroit currently sits, the amazing innovation and opportunities available here, and even the proximity to Ontario (where I was born and where many of my relatives reside).  Ultimately, though, the skeptical remained unconvinced – and maybe, subconsciously, I was too.

We did not move to Detroit for any one perfect opportunity – we chose the place before either of us found our career paths here.  We felt like we could do good things here, and we came to see where life would take us.

So I never had a good answer to “Why Detroit?” before we moved.  But now, three months in, I think I do:

“Because Eastern Market, that’s why.”

Full disclosure: I now work for Eastern Market.  And disclaimer: That is not why I’m writing this post. (Ok, not entirely why).

Spanning 5 city blocks, the non-profit Eastern Market Corporation, or EMC, (not to be confused with the Eastern Market District, the neighborhood that houses the Market) is the largest historic public market in the United States.  For over 100 years, Eastern Market has connected small farms with customers from metro Detroit looking for fresh, local produce.  And that is enough to make Eastern Market a great place, but a look behind the scenes reveals that Eastern Market is something truly incredible.

Eastern Market is so much more than the Saturday and Tuesday Farmer’s Markets that serve as its public face.  The vision of EMC is “to create the most inclusive, resilient, and robust regional food hub in the United States,” and the work being done to surpass that vision is truly inspiring to this new Detroiter.

EMC’s work in greater Detroit spans from food access programs that strengthen the 15+ community markets around Detroit and bring pop-up Farm Stands to underserved areas, to work with Detroit’s public schools to convert 30% of their $16 million annual food purchases to local, fresh, and minimally processed items.  They have established an incubator process for food entrepreneurs to support them through the development and production pipeline.  The Detroit Kitchen Connect program coordinates licensed professional kitchens for entrepreneurs who could not otherwise access such resources.  These are a mere sampling of EMC’s many programs and initiatives.

Eastern Market’s mission statement proclaims “We leverage Eastern Market’s dynamic history, manage operations, develop programs, build facilities, and provide critical infrastructure to: Strengthen the Eastern Market District; Fortify the food sector as a pillar of regional economic growth; and Improve access to healthy, green, affordable, and fair food choices in Detroit and throughout Southeast Michigan.”  And they mean it.

One look at Eastern Market’s Strategic Plan reveals the truth behind its words.  This goes far beyond a farmer’s market.  When EMC President Dan Carmody references a “regional food hub,” he envisions the entire scope of food production being localized to the southeast Michigan region (with parts of Ontario and Ohio) and centralized in the 43 acre Eastern Market District.  By embracing not only farmers and fresh produce but also food production, processing, and packaging, the potential for job creation grows exponentially and encompasses the widest possible variety of skill levels – from entry level labor to high-tech engineering and corporate management.

It has been estimated that if 25% of Detroit’s food could be sourced locally it would generate nearly 5,000 jobs, create $20 million in new local taxes, and $125 million in new household income (based on information from Micheal Schuman of the Balle Institute).  That is what a regional food hub could mean for Detroit, and Eastern Market is making it happen.

EMC further recognizes the need to be intentional in developing the full potential of the Market and Market district by carefully integrating non-food businesses into the mix.  By activating EMC spaces with non-food resources and events at times when the farmers are not present and the district may be otherwise dormant, the district becomes a more complete and fully vibrant neighborhood without undermining its food-centric character.

In the spring, EMC will launch its new Sunday Market, a “Stuff Market” counterpoint to Saturday’s food Market.  Visitors to Eastern Market on Sundays will experience the best in local products and merchandise.  Artisans, craftspeople, makers, inventors, collectors, and more will fill the Sheds, becoming Detroit’s newest shopping mall alternative and center for locally made goods.

During the Detroit Design Festival in September, Eastern Market added a new night market concept, the Third Thursdays series.  These fun focused events bring out the best in local food trucks, merchants, and artisans interspersed with lively activities.  In recognition of Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week, the Third Thursday in November, the 21^st, will feature a Soup and Chili Throw-Down between several restaurants from the Eastern Market District to benefit COTS, the Coalition on Temporary Shelter.  For $5, patrons can purchase a ticket to sample the soups and chilis and vote on their favorite.  Those who bring items from this list to donate to COTS will receive a free taste and vote ticket.

In addition to the Throw-Down, Fowling and Playworks will be running games.  The College for Creative Studies will be running a pop-up studio offering professional portraits for a fraction of the typical cost.  D:Hive will be leading walking tours of the Eastern Market District.  The list of fun opportunities at Third Thursdays grows every day, as Eastern Market grows into a model mixed-use, food-centric neighborhood.

That is a lot of growth coming from a single organization.  And while EMC’s mission is unique in Detroit, the amount of good, the energy, and the vibrant development are not.  Eastern Market is a microcosm of all that Detroit revitalization has to offer.  It is community and business together.  It is the past, present, and future alive and thriving in one place.  Stroll through the Market on a Saturday and you will see every part of Detroit, every race, ethnicity, and social class, every level of business from new to historic, trendy to classic.  Eastern Market is where Detroit comes together and where we become Detroit.

And that is just the greens on the beet, so to speak.  There is so much more below the surface.

I’ve been uncovering more to love about Detroit every day.  I love running down the Dequinder Cut and up the River Front.  I love the view on Woodward as I head downtown.  I have 15 new favorite restaurants and have experienced the frenetic enthusiasm of Lion’s tailgating and the Tigers in the playoffs.  I love the pervasive feeling of potential mingled with determination.  I love the attitude of this place.

And I love the real of Detroit.  Because there is no pretending Detroit doesn’t have problems.  There is no false face of Detroit.  There is sadness here, and there has been trouble, and we know it.  There is homelessness and hunger, crime and struggle every day.  Many of the problems you find in all major cities seem magnified here.  But the will to overcome is magnified, too.  Detroiters are facing the issues of this city head on.  So when I work in or pass through blighted neighborhoods, I do feel the sadness but I do not feel despair.

I have lived and worked up and down the eastern US from Manhattan to New Orleans, and in my first three months here in Detroit I have seen more innovation and creation than anywhere else; more everyday people doing extraordinary things than anywhere else.  There is a feeling of newness and regeneration in Detroit that I have never felt from another place.  And Eastern Market is one of several loud, colorful, and ever-strengthening bursts of evolution buzzing in this city.

So when people scrunch up their noses and ask, “why Detroit?”  I just smile and put on my teacher face.

“Because Eastern Market, that’s why.”

If you’re interested in supporting Eastern Market’s mission, you can do so here.If you’re looking for more information on the great things happening in Detroit, here are some start points:
Detroit SOUP
Gleaners
Detroit Bike City
Detroit #1 in US for Tech Job Growth
Detroit in Top Ten for Emerging Green Tech
Mt. Elliot Makerspace
Detroit Revitalization Fellowship Program and Challenge Detroit

The post Inspiration of a New Detroiter appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

I first wrote about this topic last year, but was recently motivated to revamp my earlier article.  As a devoted chocolate lover, I was shocked and horrified to discover that many of my favorite seasonal treats – treats that bring so much joy to children here in the US – are produced using abusive child labor.  Major, trusted chocolate brands are often guilty of including cacao harvested by children and slaves in their supply chains.

Now, I choose to boycott any chocolate supplier who refuses to certify their products as free of coercive labor practices, child labor, and human trafficking.

According to an investigative report by the BBC, hundreds of thousands of children are being purchased from their parents or outright stolen and then shipped to Ivory Coast, where they are enslaved on cocoa farms.  Destitute parents in these poverty-stricken lands sell their children to traffickers believing that they will find honest work in Ivory Coast and send some of their earnings home. The terrible reality is that these children, 11-to-16-years-old but sometimes younger, are forced to do hard manual labor 80 to 100 hours a week. They are paid nothing, receive no education, are under fed, and are often viciously beaten if they try to escape. Most will never see their families again.

This image is published with permission courtesy of photographer Henrik Ipsen and the film The Dark Side of Chocolate.

Over a decade ago, two Congressmen, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, attempted to remedy this issue.  They introduced legislation mandating a labeling system for chocolate. After the deep pockets of the chocolate corporations protested, a compromise was reached that required chocolate companies to voluntarily certify they had stopped the practice of child labor. Originally, the certification process would include labeling chocolate products “Child Labor Free,” but the labeling component was removed as part of the compromise.  Many believe the legislation lost its teeth at that point.

Instead of the “Child Labor Free” label, the protocol now calls for public reporting by African governments, establishment of an audit system, and poverty remediation by 2005. The deadline had to be extended to 2008 (read Fortune Magazine’s report on the state of the protocol in 2008) and again to 2010. Today, human rights organizations report that some of the provisions have still not been met, and it is the biggest corporations who refuse to comply.

In 2012 there were some rumblings that this might be changing, but the change is likely to remain grindingly slow.  Child slavery keeps costs down, which allows major corporations to keep their chocolate cheap.  Not only does it cost more to pay laborers a fair wage, but the cost of monitoring the extensive supply chains of global corporations would be significant.

The next time you reach for a candy bar, buy candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters, or stock up for holiday baking, consider the price thousands of children are paying to bring you your chocolaty cheer.

But don’t despair yet, chocolate lovers, ethically sourced chocolate is gaining prevalence and becoming easier to find (not to mention afford) every day.  The key is in consumer awareness.  Consumer dollars send a very clear message to manufacturers about what the public will and will not tolerate.

The most effective way to find ethically sourced chocolate is to look for a short supply chain.  “Bean to bar” producers who own the entire production chain all the way back to the beans and “Direct Trade” producers whose chocolate comes from single, identifiable origins are ideal.  Many companies today who proudly list extensive information on the cacao farms they work with on their labels.  Equal Exchange and Askinosie Chocolate are two examples of such companies.

There are also several certifications on chocolate labels to indicate a slavery-free supply chain.  These include Fair Trade, Equal Exchange, Fairtrade, and Rainforest Alliance (which has an added environmental component – perfect since the chocolate industry is also guilty of devastating rainforests for plantations and production).  Keep in mind that certification has its own bureaucratic pros and cons.  Certification must be paid for by the company seeking it which can be a hurdle for small producers.  A company can be ethical without certification, and a company with certification may still have other questionable practices.

The article Is There Child Slavery in Your Chocolate? from the Huffington Post includes a long list of chocolate companies who are proudly Child Labor Free.

Ethically sourced brands can be more expensive than chocolate harvested by slaves, but the extra few cents is worth it every single time.  Ethically sourced chocolate is so easy to find these days, I can’t remember the last time I had a problem finding it.  Still, if I can’t find slave-free chocolate, I don’t buy chocolate.  For holidays we often order in bulk, which can be a big money saver.

Other steps you can take to help with this cause:

*Fill out Hershey’s corporate responsibility online survey. Urge them to establish an ethical and slavery-free supply chain.  Tell them you won’t have your money contributing to human trafficking.

* For as little as $6.00, get a DVD copy of the film The Dark Side of Chocolate, along with information about Fair Trade, from the dedicated people at Green America. Watch it, show it to your friends, and spread the word.

* EDUCATE YOURSELF AND OTHERS.  Tweet about this article, pin it, and post it to your facebook page. Spread the word until this dirty little secret is completely out in the open.

Check out these sources for more information:

Is There Child Slavery in Your Chocolate?
The Human Cost of Chocolate
Tulane University Assessment of Child Labour in the Cocoa Supply Chain
The Dark Side of Chocolate
How to Buy Ethical Chocolate
A Guide to Ethical Chocolate

The post Chocolate and Child Slavery 2013 Update appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

      This summer, our UU congregation is reading Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook. At the end of the summer, the congregation will devote one Sunday service to discussion of the book. Sadly, we will have moved by that time so we will miss the discussion. I still want to read the book, though, so why not turn to my online bookish and sustainably minded friends to join in the fun?

      And if you don’t think this book sounds like it’s for you, why not challenge yourself and find out?  You might just be surprised by how exhilerating this discussion will become.  And it’s not like you pay to join, if you don’t like it you can always go back to reading Game of Thrones.

      There will be next to no rules (except which book to read and to not be a troll) and the timeline will be loose. Join in with a comment on this post or over on the Facebook page, and start reading!

The book is easy to come by at most libraries, bookstores and online. It is also available as a streaming audiobook from audiobooks.com, which is likely how I’ll be partaking (running with audiobooks has become an addiction for me – an awesome one that lets me fit in leisure reading I otherwise wouldn’t have time for and makes running borderline enjoyable).

Please join in and encourage your friends to read along! I’ll wait a couple weeks to start discussion so everyone has time to sign up and obtain the book, and then we’ll get rolling.

For the blog hop, I’ll open a weekly linky where anyone who writes about the book can link up to really keep the conversation rolling.

What other books are you reading this summer? Will you be participating in any other book clubs?

The post Online Summer Book Club and Blog Hop appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

     

       Today is a very special treat: a guest post by the amazing Hilda Forss.  Hilda Forss is a freelance graphic designer currently based in Sweden. In her spare time, she runs the website Hildablue.com, a blog on natural homemade skin and hair care products with simple tips on how to lead a more eco-conscious beauty life.  Her blog is amazing.  If there is ANY beauty or self-care product you want to know how to make naturally, odds are Hilda Blue has it.  It is from her site that I got most of the information to start using Henna on my hair.  Not all of these recipes are strictly vegan, as one uses beeswax, but they are all strictly awesome.

      Thank you again, Hilda, for this amazing post!:

A few years ago, when I first started making my own homemade skin care products and cutting chemicals from my beauty routine, the first product I made was a homemade lip balm. And to this day, lip balms are among my absolute favorite beauty products to make at home. In this post, I will share a few of my own favorite recipe blends for making your own personal lip balms for soft and shiny lips.

So why should I make my own lip balms, you might ask, when I can buy them super cheap from the closest grocery store? Well, if you ask me, there are several benefits of making them yourself. First and foremost, you’re in complete charge of what the product contains. More often than not, the lip balms on the market contain ingredients that you really shouldn’t want on your lips. The main thing to look out for is mineral oils, which can be listed in the ingredient description as a variety of things (petrolatum, vaselin, petroleum jelly, anything with “paraffin” in it etc.). When applying a lip balm with mineral oil, the lips are coated with an oily surface, that strips your lips from their natural oils. The result is lips that seem soft at first, but the quickly go dry again, making you put on more lip balms, which soon again will make your lips dry, leading to a vicious circle where you need to add more and more lip balm. Sound familiar? This is a pretty darn good deal for the companies who make the lip balm, less so for you…

Another reason for making your own lip balms is that they are very customizable. You can make personalized gifts for your friends just by adding a few drops of their favorite scent, you can use a specific vegetable oil that is especially well suited for your skin, or pick ingredients based on what you happen to have in your cupboards. 

Add to this the face that homemade lip balms are cheap, easy to make and so much fun!

The key ingredients in a homemade lip balm is a vegetable oil and something to make the oil solid. Commonly, beeswax is used. The vegetable oil can be any vegetable oil you have at hand. Some of my favorite oils to use are: olive, almond, jojoba, avocado or grapeseed oil.

Beeswax can be found online, or, preferably, by contacting a local beekeeper. Look for beekepers in farmers markets or try looking them up online and contact them directly. if you go through a personal beekeper, the beeswax will probably be cheaper than online – some even hand it out for free! At the same time you support a local entrepreneur, and you can be sure where your wax comes from. If you are vegan, or don’t want to use beeswax for other reasons, you can substitute the beeswax with a vegetable wax, such as carnauba, candelilla, jojoba or soy wax. You can also use cocoa butter or shea butter, which will make the lip balm a bit softer than with beeswax. 

With these just an oil and a wax you’ve got everything you need for making a super easy lip balm. Melt 1 teaspoon of beeswax in a double boiler, add 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, pour into a glass or metal jar and you’re done! It’s not harder than that. 

These are three recipes to get you stated. The essential oils mentioned are suggestions, and you are more than welcome to change them to anything you like or have at hand (or leave them out). Happy experimenting!

Ginger lime

2 tsp grated beeswax or vegetable wax

2 tsp shea butter

2 tsp olive oil, jojoba oil or almond oil

3 drops ginger essential oil

7 drops lime essential oil

If your wax comes in a block, grate it coarsely to make the measuring easier. In a double boiler on low heat, melt the beeswax together with the she butter and olive oil, stir with a wooden spoon and leave it to cool. Before the mixture has solidified, try dipping your finger into the mixture, when it’s lukewarm it’s ok to add the essential oils. Stir well and pour the mixture into a small, clean container. 

Chocolate kiss

1 tbsp cocoa butter

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp beeswax (optional)

3 drops peppermint or orange essential oil (optional)

Grate the beeswax, and combine with cocoa butter, cocoa powder, coconut oil and vegetable oil. Melt in a double boiler on low heat. Stir well for a few minutes, then turn down the heat and allow to cool, then add the essential oils (if you want to add any). Stir well and pour into a container. Let the beeswax cool in the fridge for about an hour. 

In this recipe, the beeswax is optional. Without the beeswax, the lip balm will be a lot softer, but still solid. 

Blood mandarin

This recipe uses an old lipstick to add a very light tint to it. You can try using beetroot powder or iron oxides instead, if you want to make sure it’s completely natural.

1 tbsp beeswax or vegetable wax

4 tbsp avocado oil or olive oil

1 tsp lipstick

1/4 tsp (or about 2 capsules) vitamin E oil

5 drops mandarin (or other citrusy) essential oil

Grate the beeswax, melt the beeswax together with the vegetable oil in a double boiler on low heat. Stir well. Turn off the heat, add lipstick, keep stirring. When the lipstick has completely melted into the mixture, allow to cool. When the mixture is lukewarm, add the essential oil and vitamin E. Pour into glass or metal container.

The post Make Your Own Homemade Lip Balms appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

“She was kept locked in a small closet and was repeatedly impregnated, only to have her babies torn from her just after birth, wailing.  She cried for days for every baby.  Her daughters often passed into the same slavery she was in.  Her sons were killed.”

It is hard to stomach the thought of such horrors happening to even one mother, let alone hundreds of thousands of mothers every single day. But you probably haven’t seen it in the news, because the mothers in question are cows.  DON’T STOP READING.

I know there are many of you out there groaning, muttering about how “it’s not the same,” and maybe it’s not.  But consider the possibility that there are some major things about the dairy industry you don’t know, and just bear with me for a few paragraphs here.  At the end, you’re entitled to your opinion – an opinion based on facts and your own conscience.  BECAUSE I HAD NO IDEA, and I know I’m not the only one who thought, “well, cows don’t die in milk production, so it can’t be that cruel.”  Once you know the whole truth about dairy cruelty, it’s your decision to make.

I can’t believe how wrong I was thinking dairy was ok compared to the meat industry.  The atrocities of the dairy industry are so extreme that I am actually more comfortable eating meat than I am any form of dairy – especially cow’s milk/cheese/etc.

The Science of Love and Suffering
      Last year, the scientific community came together and “officially” announced that animals are conscious in the same way humans are.  The timing of this announcement came as a surprise to many pet owners, because we’ve known this for decades.  Anyone who has seen a dog mourn for a missing human companion or dance happily at the prospect of going for a run could easily tell you that animals are conscious.  Consciousness is not a phenomenon unique to dogs or to “pet” animals; it is just something we notice more easily in them because we live with them.

It has likewise been proven that most mammals experience a nearly identical mother-child bond to what we humans experience.  The feeling is caused by the same primary hormone, oxytocin, and floods the same brain centers.  Meaning cow mothers feel the same way about their babies as human mothers do, and calves feel the same need for their mothers that human babies do.

      That was enough for me.  I don’t know how I had never once thought about the fact that dairy cows had to be impregnated to create dairy products.  It’s rather obvious, but we are so separated from our food production in this culture that it literally never even crossed my mind until I saw it mentioned in an article one day.  And my immediate pondrance was, “then what happens to the calves?”

And a day of research later, I was off dairy hard.  When I started on my ethical eating path, I thought cheese was the one animal product I would never give up.  Now, that thought is nothing more than a testament to how clueless I was about our food production systems.

The Source of Most Dairy
      According to the EPA, the “vast majority” of milk and milk products in the US come from “intensive production” operations, meaning factory farms.  Other sources cite the exact number at 99%.  Factory farms are not the cows you see grazing in the pasture when you drive through the midwest.  Those are the other 1% (or, more often, those are grass fed beef).  If you pick up any dairy product in the grocery store, you’re picking up the product of a factory farm (with very, very rare exceptions).

The blurb at the beginning of this article, while it may seem sensational, is exactly what is faced by hundreds of thousands of dairy cows in factory farms across the US every single day.  This is not a little problem.  In addition to the nearly incomprehensible numbers of living, feeling beings suffering in these conditions every day; in addition to the grotesque, cruel treatment they are subjected to, there is also the fact that these farms are destroying the environment.

Environmental Degradation
      Factory farming, and dairy farming in particular, produces astounding amounts of pollution – air, land, and water pollution.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that confined animals generate three times more raw waste than humans in the United States and a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) found that animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions – 37% of methane emissions and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions.  The use of fossil fuels on farms to grow feed and to intensively raise land animals for food emits 90 million tons of CO2 worldwide every year.  In the US alone, methane emissions from pig and dairy cow manure increased by 45% and 94% respectively between 1990 and 2009.

That doesn’t even touch on the effects of feed grown to support factory farming, which has devastating effects not only on the environment, but on the global economy contributing to human starvation worldwide.

The environmental hazards are also closely tied in with public health hazards.  Here are a few examples from the Natural Resources Defense Council:

• California officials identify agriculture, especially cows, as the major source of nitrate pollution in more than 100,000 square miles of polluted groundwater.
• In 1996 the Centers for Disease Control established a link between spontaneous abortions and high nitrate levels in Indiana drinking water wells located close to factory farms.
• High levels of nitrates in drinking water also increase the risk of methemoglobinemia, or “blue-baby syndrome,” which can kill infants.
• In May 2000, 1,300 cases of gastroenteritis were reported and six people died as the result of E. coli contaminating drinking water in Walkerton, Ontario. Health authorities determined that the most likely source was cattle manure runoff.
• Manure from dairy cows is thought to have contributed to the disastrous Cryptosporidium contamination of Milwaukee’s drinking water in 1993, which killed more than 100 people, made 400,000 sick and resulted in $37 million in lost wages and productivity.
• In this country, roughly 29 million pounds of antibiotics — about 80 percent of the nation’s antibiotics use in total — are added to animal feed every year to speed livestock growth. This widespread use of antibiotics on animals has been proven to directly contribute to the rise of resistant bacteria, making it harder to treat human illnesses.

And there is a heck of a lot more where that came from.  Check out the NRDC website for more on these hazards.  For more information about the environmental consequences of factory farming and the dairy industry, check here and here.

But I love cheese!
      As I mentioned, I really thought there was no chance I would ever give up cheese.  We gave up drinking milk pretty easily the second we found out about the negative health effects associated with drinking cows milk – including increased risk of osteoporosis (because, contrary to what the dairy industry has claimed, drinking cow’s milk actually weakens your bones) – increased risk of cancer and disease (have you watched Forks Over Knives yet?) – and likely causing earlier onset of puberty (which, as the mother of a 10 year old, would be 16 year old, is more than enough reason to toss the milk).

So cow’s milk was out, and it was easy and painless.  There are so many excellent alternatives that are so much better for you – Almond milk, Flax milk, Hemp milk, Soy milk, Coconut milk, Rice milk – and they are widely and easily available.  These days we usually have one carton of unsweetened regular and one carton of unsweetened vanilla almond milk in our fridge most of the time.  When making the switch, keep in mind that it takes the human tongue an average of 14 tries to become accustomed to a new flavor.  Even if you prefer the taste of cow’s milk to begin with, if you stick with a plant based milk for at least 3 weeks, you will likely find that you come to prefer it.

Plus, once I started breastfeeding I became very aware of how specially designed human milk is for human babies, and the thought of drinking cows’ breastmilk started to creep me out.

But cheese!  Oh, cheese!  I still thought cheese and I would never part ways.

Until I was confronted with the image of a mother cow wailing and fighting to reach her baby as the baby was torn from her.  Until I found out that the baby will cry for its mother, alone in confinement, for days until its throat is completely raw or until it is slaughtered.  There is no chance in the world that I will take the product of that suffering into my body.  There is no chance that I will allow a single cent of mine tell those companies that that torture is profitable.

At first, we tried a variety of cheese substitutes – fake cheeses, if you will.  None of them really worked for us.  Then I discovered Nutritional Yeast.  The name doesn’t sound particularly tasty, but this stuff is amazing.  I did a whole post on it.  I don’t look at “Nooch” as a substitute for cheese, which is part of the reason I love it.  I don’t compare it to cheese, but I do find that it works amazingly in situations where I would have used cheese before.  And then I found a flavor of Daiya vegan cheese that was amazing mixed into some recipe I was making.

I also discovered that Vegan cream cheese is a near perfect match for the suffering laced “real” stuff.  And as for ice cream and yogurt, I’ll take coconut milk ice cream any day (yogurt, too).  The stuff is amazing.  Ah – mazing.  There is nothing like some So Delicious Vanilla Bean with some Fair Trade Chocolate melted over top.  MacGyver swears by So Delicious Passionate Mango flavor.  They also make flavored coffee creamers.

Not that I’m trying to tout processed foods, but these are excellent treats.  Ultimately, though, the answer to this whole dairy conundrum is to stop worrying about what one “can’t” have and love the amazing foods we get the pleasure of experiencing.

I am a vegetable lover.  The variety and flexibility is astounding.  And not having to worry about fat content or weight gain because so much of what I eat is vegetables is amazing.  Since giving up most meat and all cow dairy products, the variety of foods we eat, and the quality and flavor profiles of those foods has increased drastically.  It’s really amazing to see what can happen when you free yourself from the programming of the factory farm industry and start looking at foods, especially vegetables, as an adventure.

What about “Humane Dairy”?
      I used to be a big proponent of “humane dairy.”  I used to think the worst part of cheese was the rennet from the stomachs of slaughtered baby cows used to make cheese.  I was wrong.  There is no one worst part.  The whole industry is disgusting.  It is killing the environment.  It is killing us.  And it is soullessly torturing mothers and babies that want nothing more than to be together in a pasture somewhere.

I still love cheese, and I am still looking for a humane source.  I know it’s possible.  I know it is possible for a cow to be allowed to keep her calf and to still spare some portion of milk for cheese making.  On a very small scale.  Like an “I want to have one cow of my own some day to make milk and she can keep her calf” sort of scale.

I have contacted many producers who claim to be humane.  Organic Valley, who I used to promote as a humane source, only allows the calves to stay with the cows for 5 days.  I sure as heck wouldn’t want my baby taken away after 5 days, so that’s not good enough for me.  And it was the “best” one I’ve found so far.  So no cow cheese for me.  And really, it’s totally worth it to avoid being part of such an atrocious system.

BUT, I do have a container of some amazing feta in my fridge from a local goat farm which was described to me (by a friend of mine) as a “goat commune.”  I’m told the kids get to stay with their mothers and all goats, male or female get to grow up happy on the farm.  We plan to visit the farm sometime soon to ensure this is true.  But we’re really in no rush, because as it turns out, I don’t miss dairy nearly as much as I thought I would.  It seems I’ve been de-programmed.

Making Informed Decisions
      It is the responsibility of any individual to gather up information and make informed choices about how they will exist in the world.  I have tried to lay out my reasons for swearing off dairy without being too confrontational.  Some people get downright angry when confronted with the very real pictures and videos of what goes on at factory farms every single day.  I’m not sure why someone would get mad when being shown something factual, but my guess is it has to do with guilt.  It is one thing to know there is cruelty and to do nothing.  It is something else to refuse to acknowledge the cruelty even exists and to react with anger at this fact.

I encourage you to do further research on your own.  I especially encourage you to read the two following articles.  They are brief, but they make a very clear and very important point about the dairy industry without the images and videos:

Cow Proves Animals Love

The Natural Lives of Cows

And if you are prepared to know the real and whole truth, arm yourself with the reality of what goes on in Factory Farms:

Farm Sanctuary

Ian Somerhalder Foundation   

Or watch some videos – if you feel like having your heart beaten up today.

Religious Connection
      We are Unitarian Universalists.  I am also Pagan.  MacGyver is also Buddhist.  And both of these tend to overlap, integrate, and basically mush together over the course of our marriage.  So we’re pretty much UU Pagan Buddhists at this point.  But what you call it doesn’t matter because any even when you pull them apart, each of these religions mandates that an individual act to end suffering.

Food and religion go hand-in-hand – communion, fasting, kosher foods, “clean” foods, etc.  What you eat becomes a part of you, and what you choose to eat has effects that ripple out into the world around you.

As such, I refuse to knowingly take the products of cruelty and suffering into my body.  I will not allow that to become a part of me.  I can think of no food more unclean than that which is tainted with torture.  Unitarian Universalism empowers me to respect the interdependant web of life of which we are all a part.  Paganism reminds me that everything I send out into the Universe will come back to me multiplied by three.  Buddhism charges us to strive for the end of suffering.  My Christian upbringing taught me to help those in need and treasure the planet as a gift.

All of that is, of course, simplified.  But the result remains the same:  Every ounce of my religion points me toward compassion, toward responsible stewardship of the Earth, and toward ending suffering.  Keeping the products of suffering out of my body is the very least I can do.

What Can You Do?
      Give up dairy.  Just like that.  Drink water.  Drink plant milks.  Explore the myriad amazing possibilities in the world of plant based foods.  There are plenty of excellent recipes right here on Urban Earthworm, and millions of others just waiting to be discovered (like on Pinterest…).

Know where your food is coming from.  Shop Farmer’s Markets and avoid anything from factory farms.  Buy Fair Trade and Equal Exchange products.  Learn.

Be a voice for those whose voices are unheard.  Write to your Representative and Senator and tell them you are NOT ok with the atrocities allowed in the factory farming industry.

Remember that your wallet also has a voice.  Don’t let any of your hard earned money go to unethical and inhumane corporations.

Show your support.  No matter where you stand on the scale of activism and awareness, there is an organization out there for you.

Check out:

Farm Sanctuary

Animal Legal Defense Fund

Humane Society

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Mercy for Animals

The list is long and varied.  Find an organization that’s right for you.  If you want to really understand these animals, follow Farm Sanctuary on Instagram, or like these organizations on Facebook.

The post Struggles with Cheese and Motherhood: Dairy Cruelty appeared first on Urban Earthworm.

According to Stanford University:

“Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year’s holiday period than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week!

If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.”

The pointlessness of such waste is nearly incomprehensible.  There are so many wonderful, creative, and beautiful alternatives to wrapping paper and holiday cards, and so many ways to recycle, reuse, and repurpose those that are already in production.  Save some trees (not to mention reducing some of the other pollution caused by the production and dying of mass produced holiday paper products), and save some money with these beautiful, fun, and more sustainable holiday card and gift wrap alternatives:

GIVING:
Green Holiday Card Alternatives

1.  Make your own from recycled materials – There are tons of tutorials out there on using newspaper and other forms of waste paper as gift wrap (see below), but precious few on how to use waste paper to make gift cards, which surprises me.  Look for a tutorial on just that right here on Urban Earthworm very, very soon.

On of my all-time very favorite ways to make my own cards/paper/greetings, is by making home-made seed paper.  This is way easier than it sounds, recycled waste paper, and results in a greeting that can be planted instead of thrown away!  There are many ways to make seed paper, most just involving paper, water, a blender, seeds (the seeds do NOT go in the blender), and a drying method.  Check here for one example.  Once you’ve made your seed paper, use it to write a nice holiday note, print a holiday newsletter on it, or make it into a card by attaching a holiday image cut from an old magazine to it.  Voila!  My hands-down favorite idea.

2.  Purchase cards made of recycled materials – in very much the same vein as discussed in the Gift Giving Guide, if you decide you want to purchase cards to send, there are easy ways to ensure the cards you buy have the smallest negative footprint and the money you spend goes somewhere worthwhile.

Look for cards made from 100% recycled materials – 100% post-consumer recycled is best.

Look for cards whose proceeds benefit a charity.  Last year, we gave cards that benefitted Amnesty International and were printed on recycled paper. (This year my goal is to make the cards).

If you like the custom printed cards like those with family pictures on them, keep in mind that there are many companies out there from which you can get such cards printed on recycled paper with vegetable based ink, such as Greenfield Paper, BuyGreen,  GreenerPrinter, Conserveatree, and My Good Greetings.  That’s just a beginning list of the possibilities.  I haven’t done a lot of research on these, and I can’t endorse any one in particular, but they are all better than just ordering from environmentally irresponsible card printing companies.  Some of those listed even have seed paper cards!

3.  Go Paperless! – I admit that I love getting cards in the mail, even if I do worry about the waste.  Getting mail is fun and personal, which is why many people (including me) shy away from digital holiday greetings, but there are actually a number of ways to send holiday cards online that ARE personal, fun, and unique in addition to being the best choice for sustainability.

Want to send a family newsletter or photo card?  Make one exactly as you would for mass mailing, but email it instead, and attach a personal message to each individual email.

Use your card addressing time to write personal messages to people you would otherwise send impersonal cards to.

Go through the 1,000’s of digital photos we all hoard on our computers these days, and send pictures targeted at the recipients (for instance when you send your holiday greeting to your cousin, include pictures of her at your wedding or from your summer visit to her house).  If you know anyone who has suffered a loss, find pictures of their lost loved one that they may not have.

A popular new trend involves making YouTube or other internet video holiday greetings – there is a LOT of fun potential with that.

This year, I will probably only send paper invitations to a few people, mostly those who don’t use the computer regularly.

Please send me your creative digital card ideas (or any ideas that would fit in this post) and I’ll include them in the list!

Green Wrapping Paper Alternatives

This sections possibly could have been it’s own post.  There are thousands of ideas out there for alternatives to wrapping paper.  I’ve been on board with it for a while, though not with much skill.  I wrapped most of Flintstone’s birthday presents in sheets and pillowcases, but I can’t say it was pretty.  The ideas below, though, they are very pretty, mostly easy (because that’s how I roll), and would make excellent family crafts – a great way to teach the kids about sustainability and not wasting!  And, inspired by the absolute plethora of ideas out there for not only wrapping paper alternatives, but also for reusing wrapping paper, cards, etc., I’ve started a Pinterest board specifically to link to the ideas I couldn’t fit in this post, but which seemed like great ideas.  Check it out.

1. Old Paper – the classic and beloved method of wrapping gifts in old paper is getting new life.  First, I think black and white newsprint with a red bow is just beautiful.  Second, there is so much more potential and creativity that goes into this kind of wrapping these days, the possibilities are nearly endless.  This bodes well for me, because I have a MOUNTAIN of old magazines just waiting to find some second purpose.  Here are some ideas:

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/10/make-gift-bow-from-magazine-page.html

And it doesn’t stop at wrapping:

Most of these ideas feature old newspaper and magazines, but just look around you, there is waste paper everywhere just waiting to be re-purposed.  My huge desk calendar is destined to be covered in my children’s art (on the blank backs), and used as giftwrap.  Old calendars and phone books.  Out of date maps make particularly adorable wrapping.  You can even customize it.  Old dictionary pages for the grammar nerd.  Comics for your resident class clown.  Discarded architecture plans for the engineer in your life.  The potential for creativity is wide open!  Even old plastic bags (from the days before you got your environmentally friendly canvas bags)  have potential:

2.  Wrap it in something useful – I wrapped MacGyver’s birthday present last year in a new tee-shirt for him.  There are tutorials out there specifically on how to fold shirts as giftwrap.  You can also use scarves, pashminas, fabric scraps (if you or your recipient sew), towels – any fabric really. Use re-usable bags instead of disposable gift bags.  The gift bags you buy in the card section are sometimes 4 or 5 dollars a piece when the reusable shopping bags up front with the cute designs are only 99 cents, and are REUSABLE.  Seems a little obvious.  And even if the paper gift bags are cheaper, they haven’t got a single advantage over re-usable bags – paper bags rip, pollute, and even though they can be reused, they crumple. There are so many absolutely adorable re-usable bags out there that can easily double as gift bags, I honestly see no reason to ever buy a “disposable” gift bag. Check out these reusable gift bags made of recycled materials:

3. Don’t Wrap It; Hide It – Finding baskets on Ostara or Easter is a blast, why not have that fun more often?  And who wouldn’t love opening up their sock drawer and finding a new watch?

4.  Give Experience.  Like This.  – Sometimes the best gifts don’t need to be wrapped at all.  Click the link for ideas of gifts of experience.

Tune in Soon for the next installment:  What to do with all the wrapping paper and holiday cards you receive this year.

* Every image on this post, while public domain, was linked to a tutorial and the creator of the image, but for some reason many of those links got wiped out.  If you own any of the images, please let me know so I can give you credit!

The post Sustainable Holidays: Wrapping Paper and Holiday Card Alternatives appeared first on Urban Earthworm.