1.  When starting out, focus on organic alternatives to the foods your family eats most.
 
2.  Try to add one new organic item to your cart each week. You can find organic versions of virtually every food your family eats. 

3.  Learn to read the new USDA Organic labels appearing on store shelves starting 10/21/02:
 
· 100 Percent Organic–may carry new USDA Organic Seal
· Organic - at least 95% of content is organic by weight (excluding water and salt) and may carry new USDA Organic Seal.
· Made With Organic – at least 70% of content is organic and the front product panel may display the phrase “Made with Organic” followed by up to three specific ingredients.
· When less than 70 % of content is organic, may list only those ingredients that are organic on the ingredient panel with no mention of organic on the main panel.

4.  Minimize your family’s exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs).  Studies have shown that U.S. consumers can experience up to 70 daily exposures to residues from POPs through their diets.  The use of POPs is forbidden in organic agriculture.  Reduce your family’s exposure to POPs by purchasing the organic alternatives to the top ten* foods found most likely to be contaminated with POPs:  1) butter, 2) cantaloupe, 3) cucumbers/pickles, 4) meatloaf, 5) peanuts, 6) popcorn, 7) radishes, 8 ) spinach, 9) summer squash, and 10) winter squash. Source:  Nowhere to Hide:  Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the U.S. Food Supply, Pesticide Action Network North America, 2000, www.panna.org.  *Presented in alphabetical order
 
5.  Know which fruits and vegetables are the best choice for your family.  Conventionally grown fresh produce is three to four times more likely to contain one or more pesticides than organic produce. Government tests show that conventional apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, celery, spinach and sweet bell peppers are the foods most likely to be contaminated with one or more pesticides.  Choosing organically grown fruits and vegetables can significantly decrease the frequency and level of dietary exposure to pesticides.  Source:  Organic Center for Education and Promotion state of science review titled “Minimizing Pesticide Dietary Exposure Through Consumption of Organic Foods,” May 2004.
 
6. Look for organic foods wherever you shop.  Organic foods can be found at your favorite grocery store, natural food store or local farmers market.  And remember, you can find products made from organic cotton, wool and linen too!
 
7.  If you don’t find the organic foods you’re looking for, ASK.  Many store managers are happy to make special orders for their customers or can help you find an alternative to meet your needs.

 THE O’MAMA REPORT

Trees In Trust enables you to quickly and easily dedicate a piece of forest to give as a gift, as a memorial or to reduce your carbon footprint.  You don’t own the trees, but they are held in your name forever by a not-for-profit charitable land trust which protects the woodland in perpetuity.

The 2005 Canadian government information on Climate Change estimates that you produce 3 tonnes of CO2 if you drive a mid-sized car 15,000 km a year and another 4 tonnes to cover heating, lighting and other appliances, totaling 7 tonnes of CO2 per year.

An acre of mature trees can capture 2.6 tonnes of CO2 per year.

The Kyoto target for Canada is to reduce our CO2 output by 6% of 1990 levels by 2012.

A sixth of an acre of trees can capture 430Kg of CO2 per year, which is 6% of your annual CO2 production.

So one way to meet your personal Kyoto target of a 6% reduction of CO2 is to secure a sixth of an acre of trees.  To absorb your entire personal CO2 production requires almost 3 acres of trees.

Many dismiss the Kyoto target as impractical, impossible, ineffective – but if we do nothing then we are headed for disaster.  Only by many of us acting individually can we make a real difference.

I just saw this sticker in my local UPS Store’s window yesterday. Instead of throwing out the non-biodegradable plastic peanuts, I suggest seeing if your local store is accepting them as well. If they have to be on the planet with us for a bazillion years, we mine as well use them!

[update to December 16, 2007 post]

The challenge: Bring your own reusable bags shopping; especially to the grocery store.

This seems like it should be an easy one, but I admit to being on and off about it myself. I usually leave a few bags in the car for this purpose, then forget to bring them into the store…but I’m working on it!

Now we have some significant competition in this challenge. If all of China can do it we, as individuals, can probably pull it off. Here is a short article Anthony Kuhn wrote for NPR on the topic:

China Bans Free Plastic Bags

China may lag behind developed nations in tackling air and water pollution, but it has just taken the lead in one area: banning free plastic bags. In the future, Chinese shoppers will either have to buy them or bring their own. The move is expected to save China millions of barrels of oil each year.

Non-lead fishing tackle is an effective alternative, and it protects loons, eagles and other wildlife. The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance has provided a great, easy read summary of the issue and what is being done at the state level to protect their waters and wildlife.

www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/publications/sinkers.pdf

Sorry for the long stall-out recently…it’s a crazy time of year for those of us celebrating our various holidays. Part of my holidays involve sending gifts through the mail to friends and family far away. This is probably a little late for most of you, but for your last minute folks; are you packing with biodegradable packing peanuts? They have been around for years, but I am finally starting to see some regular commercial use. These peanuts are cellulose based and dissolve in water. Really. A few years back, a package came through our office using these peanuts. I had to find a bucket, fill it with water and carry it around the office to prove I wasn’t making it up.

Anyway, this is an easy thing to do to minimize our contribution to the landfills. I have never had to buy them, because I keep the ones sent to me and reuse them. Actually, I have ended up with too many lately and washed them down the sink to get rid of them. Some quick research has found that Amazon.com sells them in quantities reasonable for a household. Most other suppliers seemed to be for large bulk orders only. If you keep an eye out on your future mail order deliveries, you may find they come your way often enough that you’ll never have to buy them.