Lunch gear for the EnviroKid

I've been putting a bit of thought into my kids' lunches and how I might send them off to school with something healthy, tasty and non-toxic. Luckily, there are lots of options out there:

There's a whole bunch of stainless food containers out there in a range of prices. At Target you can pick up a 10-oz Thermos Food Jar ($17.99) or a 10-oz Nissan Food Jar ($19.99) for warm soup lunches.

Small stainless food containers are nice for chopped veggies (yeah, right), pasta and other finger foods. Pearl River has several options, including these round and rectangular containers. The round ones range in size from 4.75 to 6.25 inches and price from $3 to $4. The rectangular ones are 5.5 and 6.25 inches and $3.50 to 4.50. The prices are great, but I don't know if they are leak-proof (which isn't always an issue). Life Without Plastic also offers similar round containers in various sizes, though each one comes with a little interior container to separate foods. Pricier at $9.45 to $46.25.

I like this Gaiam To-Go Ware Food Tin because it stacks and has a little handle, but it's a bit bigger and might not be practical for a small kid.

For wrapping up sandwiches, Natural Waxed Paper Bags are nice and cheap, but not really reusable. There's the Wrap-N-Mat fabric sandwich wrap for $6.50, though I've read that one mom didn't like the plastic smell coming from the liner (ew).

Finally there's the lunch box. Reusable Bags has a gazillion lead-free lunch boxes and bags in a range of sizes and prices. This Mimi the Sardine bag is pretty darn cute ($19.95). I think it's hard to buy a lunch bag online -- you don't want it too small or too large. Might have to scout around town for something.

And don't forget the cloth napkin and packing your own silverware! Yikes. This is starting to sound like a lot of work. Well, there's lots of options and bunches more that I simply don't have the time or energy to research. Any others you like? Any good local Portland stores to scout out for reusable lunch box items? 

It's The 11th Hour: what are you doing?

Jen from our GreenGroup called me around dinnertime last night with a last-minute invitation to see a preview of Leonardo DiCaprio's film The 11th Hour. The preview was sponsored by the Northwest Earth Institute, and was followed by a fairly lively discussion of environmentally minded viewers.

I liked the movie. The images were arresting, startling, and the words of 50 of the world's most prominent thinkers and activists featured in the film were motivating. Some talking points from the film really left an impression:

• Just how ridiculously overpopulated our world is thanks to our exploitation of fossil fuels or so-called "ancient sunshine" and how that all historically happened so very recently
• People, especially children, are out of touch with nature, such that they cannot identify 10 native plants but can recognize and name a thousand corporate logos
• By mid-century, there is a potential of having 150 million environmental refugees when the oceans rise and developed landmasses become covered with water
• Leadership on making changes will not come from the government. They will come from people like us making small changes. We vote with our dollar and the choices we make.
• That there is hopefulness and an opportunity to change this world to be sustainable.
• Or otherwise, we just blow it and keep driving our SUVs, drinking our Starbucks in throwaway cups and we extinct most of the species on the earth, including ourselves. Game over.

The film opens to general audiences in Portland at Cinema 21 on August 31. How well the movie does there has an impact on how many screens the movie will eventually show on nationwide. Tell your friends. Go see this movie. Take action. We're all in this together.

Recycle: more on scrap metal

Portland metro-dwellers can put "scrap metal" in their curbside recycle bins, but the term may be a little ambiguous for some. Basically, any piece of metal that no longer has a use can be put in the bin. For instance, I have a nasty broiler pan that is scorched and warped beyond repair. That can go in. An old metal Brinks home alarm yard sign can go in. Those election yard signs that have a square metal base can also go in (remove the plastic sign). And I just learned from the Master Recycler forum that scratched Teflon-coated pans can go in as long as you remove the plastic handle. (Oregon Community Warehouse and other organizations will also take them, but that's more of a judgment call on whether you'd donate a potentially-toxic pan.) I've tossed in screws that have been stripped and other random pieces of metal that I find on our toolbench. We've also talked about taking apart a dysfunctional stroller that has absolutley no life left and putting any metal parts in the bin. Aluminum, in particular, is an extremely valuable recyclable material because it's so much less energy intensive and less expensive to create products from recycled aluminum than the raw material. Here's a link to a previous post about other scrap metal items.

Want safe toys? Buy local at Milagros Craft Fair

Like most other parents in the blogosphere, we've been talking a lot about the safety of toys lately. If you want to know the provenance of a toy, buy it as locally as possible and ask questions. If you're in the market for toys and other crafts, Milagros is hosting a craft bazaar on Saturday, August 25, from 11am to 3pm. The bazaar showcases the work of local artisans who are also moms. The types of crafts include clothing for babies, children, and mothers, jewelry, toys, baby carriers and more. The event also features complimentary drinks and snacks and special activities for the kids. For more info, contact Milagros at 503-493-4141 or milagros@milagrosboutique.com.

Reduce: more on eliminating junk mail

We've posted this link to Ideal Bite before on ways to get off of junk mail lists. It kills me when I go out to the mailbox and walk immediately to the recycle bin and start tossing in the majority of the mail. Junk, junk, junk. I just learned about another way to stop the receipt of coupons from ADVO and the Missing Children Center (thank you Master Recycler forum!). Click this link for ADVO and fill out the form. It takes about 5-6 weeks to take effect.

Who's the greeniest? Let's hear it for the Muddy Boot Festival!

When I was little, I'd play this game with my brother where we'd sit on the floor with our legs mostly stretched out and our feet touching, called "who's the crookiest?" (translation: most crooked). Then we'd try to straighten our legs by pressing against the other's feet -- kind of like a tug of war, only with the feet. There wasn't much to win, other than the glory of forcing the other to be "the crookiest."

So in that same vein, I'd like to award the Muddy Boot Organic Festival with the "greeniest" award. This is such a cool, grassroots festival. Unlike big-money downtown events like the Rose Festival that got a lot of press for buying offsets and being carbon neutral, the Muddy Boot Festival is doing something practical and so inline with it's brand: asking you to bring your own plates, cups, forks, etc. so that the festival doesn't end up with a ton of waste to deal with. They are also planning to recycle all that can be recycled. Anyway, I just think this rocks. Congrats, Muddy Boot Festival. You're the greeniest.

By the way, you get a free raffle ticket for bringing your own place setting to this festival. Muddy Boot may be onto something major here... I think we should create a bring your own place setting everywhere movement! And if not that, at least your own takeaway container.

Green cleaners can be affordable for all

When Renee and I were at Multnomah Days working in our booth a woman came over to discuss green cleaners. We had several bottles of store-bought green cleaners out as examples along with recipes for making your own. She mentioned that store-bought green cleaners were so much more expensive than conventional cleaners and not really affordable for lower-income folks. It is true that they are generally more expensive, but you can offset the costs of some of these cleaners by making your own.

The only cleaners I think I really need to buy are dishwashing soap and detergent and laundry detergent, and I'll pay more for non-toxic, phosphate-free, biodegradable products. In exchange, you can make pretty much any other type of cleaner so much more cheaply than buying it. Your basic ingredients like white vinegar, baking soda, borax, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice and salt can replace all of the Windex, Formula 409, Soft Scrub, Clorox, Pine-Sol and Lysol at a fraction of the cost. And it's tough to put a price on the health and environmental benefits!

Pretty much everyone who stopped by our booth gleefully took a copy of the Green Cleaners recipe booklet produced by Metro. You can find the recipes on their site or call them at 503-234-3000 to find out where to pick up a booklet. It's my green cleaning bible.

CSA delivers the taste of summers long past

While I've never managed to read Proust's epic Remembrance of Things Past, I've managed to hear about the memories evoked from eating the madeleine cakes more times than I can count. Now I've just had a similar experience.

Yesterday, Heather and I met at the farmer's market to pick up and split our Gathering Together Farm CSA box as we've done pretty much every weekend for the past three months. I'd accidentally left my wallet at home, so was unable to buy extra melons, bread and tomatoes as I'd hoped. Heather had no cash to lend, but did graciously let me take the watermelon that was part of our box.

Having promised my cantaloupe-loving 3-year-old some melon, we cut open the watermelon for dinner. It was glorious. Surprisingly, it was not pink, but yellow. And unlike most watermelons you buy from stores, it had delectable flavor, extreme juiciness, a sweet perfume and loads of black seeds. Eating that watermelon brought me back a good 30 years or so (how did I get this old?). We were talking about how when we were little, watermelon only came once a year. And we'd sit out in the yard, getting all drippy and sticky, and we'd spit the seeds (our parents allowing us to do this, even encouraging us sometimes!). Or we'd tease the little ones saying if they ate the seeds that watermelons would grow in their tummies. It's hard to believe I'd forgotten all that stuff. And harder still to believe that all this time has passed since I'd eaten a watermelon tasty enough to evoke it. My kids also marveled at how it was yellow, and that so often the varieties that get sold in stores are selected because they travel well, have been bred to be seedless, or fit a picture of what something is supposed to look like. But taste like crap. Or worse yet, like nothing. That describes most of the melons I've eaten over the past several years (not counting the locally and organically grown ones we've had this year).

One luscious watermelon. Eating all this locally grown produce has helped me realize what summer is all about.

The future of curbside recycling in Portland

There has been quite a lot of media coverage on the plan to revamp Portland's curbside recycling program, so it was kind of a shock to meet so many people over the weekend that weren't aware that any changes are in our future. Renee and I had a dual EnviroMom and Master Recycler booth at Multnomah Days and met just a ton of people who were interested in green cleaners, hazardous waste disposal, recycling and many other green issues. We found ourselves explaining the recently-approved plan to many people, which is actually what we're trained to do as Master Recyclers! In a nutshell, here's what is ahead for residential curbside recycling (or click here for the actual plan):

In 2008-2009 residents will be given two rollcarts: one for yard debris (versus using your own container) and one for recycling. The items you can recycle will be increased to include plastic tubs and plant pots. Glass recyclables will still be kept on the side in a separate bin. The reason they are moving to these rollcarts is to both simplify recycling for residents (no more sorting) and because they will use different trucks to collect recyclables (the kind with the claw that dumps the rollcart versus workers doing the heavy lifting). Other changes will include more public recycling events (plastic round-ups, etc.), requiring haulers to communicate more effectively with their customers and developing emmission standards for garbage trucks.

In 2009-2015 Portland residents should see curbside food scrap composting added to garbage service. Food scraps will go in with yard debris (including meat and dairy, and possibly pizza boxes and paper towels!) and will be picked up once per week. Garbage will then be picked every other week. Cedar Grove, which turns yard debris and food scraps into compost for the Seattle area is scouting locations in Portland and will hopefully be up and running by 2009. Cedar Grove then packages and sells the compost back to area residents for use in landscaping! (Ah, the circle is complete.)

As the city gets closer to implementing the changes there will be a huge educational outreach, and we'll be hearing a lot more about these fantastic changes. Hooray!

What green changes are you finding the hardest to make?

I've taken a lot of green baby steps these past few months and feel pretty good about the changes my family has embraced: composting food scraps, joining a CSA, eschewing paper napkins and towels (most of the time) for cloth, signing up for green energy, using green cleaners. I try not to get overwhelmed with all of the other things I know we can do, but they do sit in the back of my mind and taunt me. I have not purchased a bicycle yet or visited Clever Cycles to scout out solutions to family biking, and this is probably the biggest challenge lurking in my brain. I do think that I've driven my car a lot less this summer, however, which should count for something, yes? The kids and I have spent many days at home enjoying the yard, hanging out with neighbors and bicycling in the driveway. But once school and soccer season starts, I see our car playing a bigger role.

There are a couple of other goals that I have that could be easily accomplished, but I just haven't taken the steps to fulfill them. One is downsizing our garbage service to once a month. Now that my son is out of diapers (woo hoo!) our garbage is almost nothing. But it's like I'm afraid -- what if we can't make it the whole month? (I know, get over it already and just do it.) The other is setting up a clothesline. Here we are, summer drawing to a close (kind of a crappy summer, weather-wise) and even though our GreenGroup gave me a brilliant solution for the clothesline, I just haven't done anything about it. Wah, wah.

So what green changes are you struggling with? Anything the EnviroMom community can do to help brainstorm a solution?