My challenge-to-self for 2012: Reduce my household food waste to less than 5%. I spent the week after Christmas clearing out closets, the pantry and the refrigerator — following my own advice. The biggest reveal was when I discovered that my largest kitchen appliance had turned into a scary hybrid compost bin/messy biological laboratory.

Life got away from me for about six weeks during the most food-focused time of year. The CSA produce bags kept coming while I ate at home less due to holiday parties, travel and deadlines. When I finally took the time to assess the damage, only half of the food in the fridge was still edible. My compost bin brimmed, while a back-of-the-napkin tally showed that I tossed nearly 25% of December’s food budget. Ouch.

In the United States, food waste is estimated at 40% and more. While a lot of that food loss occurs pre-consumer, a significant amount occurs once food arrives in households. A 2002 study of American households indicates that families discarded 14% of their food, to the tune of 470 pounds and an annual cost of $600 per year. Read the rest of this entry »

As the year comes to a close, do you find your home filled with a bunch of stuff you don’t know what to do with? Cleaning up and clearing things out from the holidays is a perfect time to start fresh for 2012. I mean wouldn’t it be great to clean out a few closets, donate items to charitable organizations and take down the tree before, say, St. Patrick’s Day? Here are some tips that might help you plan your tidying-up strategy in the most planet-friendly manner.

Holiday items:

• Compost, chip, or donate your real tree for wildlife habitat. Many cities and counties have programs for helping you dispose of your tree. Check soon: most programs start the week after Christmas.
• Carefully box or cover your artificial tree for storage and reuse. Dust and mildew from an improperly stored tree can wreak havoc on immune systems next year.
• Recycle holiday cards and gift-wrap and/or store for reuse. Used cards and heavier wrapping paper can be repurposed for next year’s holiday tags and craft projects.
• What about those battery-powered decorations, toys and gadgets? Hopefully you chose rechargeable batteries instead of regular ones. Recycle regular batteries instead of sending them to the landfill. You can find info on how and where at earth911.com.

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Say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new in green style! It is possible to have a fun holiday feast or blowout New Year’s Eve party that jump starts resolutions about reducing clutter and living lighter on the planet in 2012. Here are some timely entertaining tips that will serve you well for all of 2012 — and the rest of 2011:

• Instead of resorting to disposable cups, use wine glass charms, ribbon, twine, rubber bands or other items to create a unique marking system for glasses, cups and mugs. Everyone knows which cup is theirs and nothing goes in the trash!
• If your party isn’t formal, acquire a mix of plates and beverage glasses at local thrift stores and yard sales. It can be fun to drink wine out of juice glasses and jelly jars and they aren’t as tippy as stemware. After your party, box everything up and return it to the thrift store. The organization receives a nice “donation” from you, and you aren’t left with the clutter — or a trash can full of paper plates.
• While beer bottles and cans are recyclable they’re also heavy and take up a lot of space in the recycling bin. Consider springing for a torpedo keg, a pony keg or a whole keg. Beer glasses are washable, as are plastic cups. And, of course, you return the keg and its tackle.

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Hopefully those of you who are giving gifts this holiday season have completed your shopping (or crafting), mailed your offerings off to distant friends and relatives or placed them in gift bags under the tree and are dusting your hands and declaring, “That’s a wrap!” However, if, like me, you are still scrambling to find a few stocking stuffers and holiday remembrances for friends, neighbors and co-workers, here’s a suggestion for one of the best stocking stuffers of the season.

You’ll find Whole Planet Foundation® 2012 calendars at any Whole Foods Market® store throughout the US and Canada. These colorful calendars feature gorgeous photography of 13 different microcredit clients from around the world and cost only $3. That’s right. Three bucks. Plus, it rolls up to just the right size for sticking in a stocking.  Wrap a ribbon or bit of twine around the middle and it’s good to gift.
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No, we’re not talking romance novels. As a mission-driven company, we’ve attracted a whole lot of team members who are passionate about animal compassion, our environment and all things related to food — from cooking and serving to local and global food issues. To help you in your gift-giving quest, we gathered some of our favorite mission-related books that we would love to receive or give this holiday:

Walter wants to unwrap The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them by Wayne Pacelle. Penned by the president of the Humane Society of the United States, the book promises to be a passionate, insightful and comprehensive examination of humankind’s special connection to all creatures. The author explores our newfound understanding of animals’ remarkable emotional and cognitive capacities. After revealing how we’ve broken the bond with our industrialized farming practices, Pacelle points the way to a new, humane economy — one built on the celebration, stewardship and care of animals. Two paws up for that!

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We like to eat and cook around here! We also love cookbooks. I asked my co-workers which cookbook they’d most like to receive this holiday season.  Here’s a list worth checking twice:

• Kate L. and Natanya both hope that Santa brings John Besh’s My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking. Natanya was enthralled by Besh’s first cookbook, My New Orleans, and appreciates Besh for his southern charm, family-inspired recipes and unrelenting commitment to his community. According to Kate, “This latest cookbook from my favorite New Orleans chef frames up what I’m about: a busy mom from Louisiana who is passionate about serving up delicious, fresh, home-cooked meals. Besh emphasizes seasonal and local produce and conveys simple strategies to get tasty meals on the table any night of the week.”

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Every year I try to be more mindful about how my entertaining, decorating and gift giving affects the environment. Some studies say that household waste in the US increases by 20 to 25% during the holidays. Yikes! Here are a few ideas about how to keep a closer eye on the stuff that typically ends up in the trash can.

Gifts

Do your friends and relatives really need another “thing” in their closet? Mine don’t. Try some of these ideas:

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CONGRATULATION TO OUR WINNER YESSENIA FROM CLERMONT, FL. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR GREAT COMMENTS!

Wow! What an overwhelming response! We were moved (moved to tears in some cases) by your heartfelt stories. Congratulations to Yessenia T. from Florida who was randomly selected to win a $50 gift card. There certainly is so much to be thankful for and we hope that everyone had a memorable Thanksgiving.

Several years ago, I set myself the November challenge of posting on my Facebook page one thing I was thankful for every single day of the month. It surprised me how simply focusing on gratitude shifted my perspective and lightened my mood. And sharing that gratitude was uplifting to my friends and family, too!

In honor of thankfulness, we’re holding a contest. For a chance to win a $50 Whole Foods Market gift card, all you have to do is respond in the comments section below by November 24 (which just so happens to be Thanksgiving!) with a few sentences describing “The Thanksgiving I’m Most Thankful For.” The winner will be chosen at random so you don’t have to be an English major, just willing to share your story of gratitude with the rest of us.

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Expecting a houseful this holiday season? Along with planning festive menus, you’ll no doubt want to freshen up throughout the house including the guest room, the guest bath, the extra dishware and more. Get a head start on your seasonal cleaning chores so you won’t greet your guests at the door with feather duster still in hand.

While we can’t supply the elbow grease or send holiday elves to help, we can offer up our own brand of effective cleaning products with the added bonus of earth-conscious ingredients. These cleaners contain no sodium laurel sulfate, phosphates, phthalates or chlorine. What’s more, their containers are made from at least 50% post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials and are recyclable. We’ve tried to think through both our ingredient list and the packaging. In other words, these cleaners are healthier for you and your family as well as the planet, and we’re addressing responsible resource use, too. Plus, most of them just plain smell good!

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The “Goals Gals” were coming to my house. The three of us have been meeting for more than six years, supporting one another with new career, volunteer and hobby goals. A few years ago, one of our trio developed chemical sensitivities after a bad experience with a bug bomb when trying to rid her house of fleas. My friend Ella (not her real name) now reacts negatively to air fresheners, incense, artificial scents, most conventional cleaning products, plastic, paint and carpet that off-gasses — a condition sometimes called Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). When Ella comes in contact with these materials she says it’s like her “brain just starts sizzling, like it is frying and I simply cannot concentrate on anything.”

While our group typically meets outdoors, this time it was my house and I didn’t want to let Ella down. Nor, frankly, was I interested in spraying questionable chemicals in my living quarters. Thanks to Ella’s influence, I stopped using air fresheners (and even conventional perfumes) years ago. I have bamboo floors and the last time any walls were painted was 11 years ago, so I felt like those elements were under control. But I’d let a few things slip over our long, hot summer and I now had 24 hours to tidy my house in a mindful way, removing dust and grime, while using products that wouldn’t cause Ella distress.

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