Conservation 101: the Compete to Conserve Blog

Every year, even in flush economic times, my family says we’ll pull back on holiday spending — there’s nothing we really need. We all like the idea of giving to charity, but it’s still nice to have something to unwrap Christmas morning, especially for the kids. So here’s a list of five conservation-minded charities the staff of Compete to Conserve thinks make great gifts:

© Davide R. Schrichte. All rights reserved. A manatee nurses her calf.

For just $25, you can adopt the manatee of your choice and keep tabs on your adoptee throughout the year. An adoption includes:

• A photo of your manatee (we have our manatees’ photos framed on our wall at home)
• Your manatee’s biography
• An adoption certificate
• A membership handbook
• Four newsletters throughout the year with updated reports on your adoptee

The club also sells children’s books and plush manatees that make great gifts for kids. Money raised from the club goes toward protecting endangered manatees and their habitat, much of it in Florida.

Adopt a manatee at: http://www.savethemanatee.org/adoptpag.htm

photo credit: Lord Biro

Defenders of Wildlife

We’ve got a soft spot for penguins, but you can also adopt other animals, including wolves, polar bears, snow leopards, sea turtles, and beluga whales. Most of the adoptions start at $25 and include a small plush toy, photo, and fact sheet.

Money raised goes toward protecting imperiled wildlife and wild lands through education, outreach, and political and legal action.

Adopt the animal of your choice at: https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_homepage#AllAnimals

Surfrider Foundation

photo credit: mikebaird

Who doesn’t love the beach and think our coastal waters should be protected for all to enjoy? Even non-surfers can support the Surfrider Foundation’s mission to educate the public about threats to our coasts and to encourage grassroots activism.

For $44, you can give the gift of a membership to the Surfrider Foundation, which includes:

• An organic Limited Edition Surfrider Foundation t-shirt or all-purpose tote bag
• Six issues of the Making Waves newsletter
• A sticker to show your support

Purchase a membership at: https://www.surfrider.org/membership/gift_membership3.cfm?specialGift=holiday

photo credit: nojhan

Heifer International

Heifer International aims to stamp out world hunger through community involvement and sustainable development. Donors may fund a specific project, such as natural resource management in Tanzania, or pay to provide an impoverished family with livestock.

Buy livestock for a family at: http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/
Fund a project at: http://www.heifer.org/site/?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=3538797&msource=pcb07

Register for the charities you want to support.

Think of it as the philanthropist’s gift card. Changing the present allows you to register for charities, in the same way a bride registers for gifts. If you’re serious about not getting gifts this holiday (or Valentine’s Day, birthday, wedding, any event at all), this is a great way to let friends and family get you something you want — and let them get a tax deduction, too.

Register at: http://www.changingthepresent.org/registries

photo credit: Glenn Loos-Austin

This November, as families across the U.S. prepare for the button-popping holiday known as Thanksgiving, a growing number will give thanks for belonging to a CSA. CSAs, short for community supported agriculture, allow consumers to purchase fresh, in-season produce directly from a farm.

This subscription-based arrangement cuts out the middlemen (distributors and grocery stores) and provides a dependable income for the farmers. In return, consumers receive weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly boxes of fruits and vegetables, usually organic and at a better price than what one would pay for comparable produce at the market.

Thankful for a Variety

Growers can also offer a diverse selection of produce, because subscriptions give them a guaranteed market. While a typical grocery store may offer organic apples and tomatoes, a CSA box could also contain difficult-to-find foods such as organic daikon, tomatillos, and chili peppers.

Thankful for the People Who Grow Our Food

CSA members say they also enjoy developing a personal relationship with the people who grow the food they eat. Most CSAs distribute newsletters or have blog detailing their plantings, harvests, and other interesting news on the farm.

Thankful All Year Long

Some CSAs run spring through fall, offering a bounty of seasonal produce. In California, most of the CSAs operate year-round, though members should prepare to get lots of kale and dark greens through the cooler winter months. Thanksgiving can be a real treat because of the amazing sweet potatoes, butternut and acorn squashes, and colorful potato varietals.

In my experience as a member of the Eatwell Farms CSA, summer was my favorite season because of the berry fruits and unusual variety watermelons. In the winter, I have to confess, many of my dark greens went toward making vegetable stock. Still, I appreciated the variety of local, seasonal vegetables it provided the family. Without it, I may have been tempted to buy more than one box of blueberries imported from Argentina in February.

More resources:

Search for a CSA near you:
http://www.localharvest.org/

Eatwell Farm blog:
http://www.eatwellfarm.typepad.com/

Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association:
http://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html

photo credit: miss_rogue

Wrap rage, the anger, frustration, and, sometimes, injury that occurs when opening a new package will hit its annual peak this December. Instead of kissing under mistletoe or roasting chestnuts, millions of consumers will instead spend time untwisting sharp, poky twist ties and slicing through airtight plastic clamshell packaging that seems better suited to seal off biological weapons than iPods.

For people trying to conserve resources, wrap rage is particularly vexing because, in the end, they’re left with piles of waste that can be neither reused (how many twist ties can one family really use?) or recycled (just because there’s a recycle symbol on a plastic bag doesn’t mean your local recycling facility will accept it). Paying customers are also annoyed knowing that much of this packaging is produced to deter shoplifters. (It’s also designed to make shipping and stocking more efficient.) Remember the terrible wasteful 6×12-inch cardboard box CDs used come packaged in? Consumers complained enough to rid the industry of the boxes. Now a new generation is aiming to put an end to wrap-rage packaging.

Some, fed up with overconsumption and inspired by the “reduce” movement, say that the best way to avoid wrap rage is to not buy anything–or at least not buy anything overpackaged or sealed in a clamshell. That would mean swearing off all electronics and many toys. So while there are merits to this argument, like other abstinence-only pledges, it may not be realistic. The cultural traditions and comforts of giving and receiving gifts during the holidays run strong.

One happy medium suggestion is to reduce the number of gifts you buy this season. Faced with economic uncertainty, many consumers are already pledging to buy less this year (much to the dismay of retailers). In light of mindful holiday buying, Amazon.com is hoping its “Frustration-Free Packaging Initiative” will lure shoppers fed up with overpackaging.

The Seattle-based online retailer has teamed with toy maker Mattel, electronics manufacturer Transcend, and Microsoft to sell 19 products that use less packaging and are easier to open. Amazon says, for example, the Fisher-Price Imaginext Adventures Pirate Ship “is now delivered in an easy-to-open, recyclable cardboard box. The new packaging eliminates 36 inches of plastic-coated wire ties, 1,576.5 square inches of printed corrugated package inserts and 36.1 square inches of printed folding carton materials. Also eliminated are 175.25 square inches of PVC blisters, 3.5 square inches of ABS molded styrene and two molded plastic fasteners.” Transcend memory cards will be shipped in recyclable cardboard rather than plastic clamshells.

Nineteen is an awfully small number of products to choose from. And it won’t end wrap rage overnight. But it’s a start.

1. Compost Your Jack-o-Lantern
You can also save, wash, and roast the pumpkin seeds for a treat.

photo credit: tanakawho

2. Buy a Second-Hand Costume (and Donate It or Use It Next Year)
You can pick up high quality next-to-new costumes at Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other second-hand stores for less than $5. Sure beats paying $40, and you’ll conserve resources in the process. Don’t let your costumes’ lifecycle end there: pass them to a friend next year or donate to a retail charity and use your donation as a tax deduction.

3. Buy Less Individually Wrapped Candy
Let’s face facts: are you really going to get 400 trick-or-treaters? If you’re buying candy to satisfy your own sweet tooth, skip the small individually wrapped candies and opt for something with less packaging.

4. Turn Out the Lights
It adds ambiance to the night and saves energy, too.

5. Look for Any Opportunity to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Be mindful of your consumption during holidays when our desire to celebrate often leads to falling off the conservation bandwagon. Reuse costumes and decorations where you can. Recycle plastic cups, use compostable utensils, or use your regular flatware. Question whether you really need the Halloween merchandise that’s pushed at us each year. And just because something’s small doesn’t mean it can’t make a difference–I’ve even recycled tiny cardboard candy boxes from the kids’ treat bags.

More conservation ideas for Halloween from some of our favorite bloggers:

“Turning Halloween into Zero Waste Hallo-green,” My Zero Waste, October 16, 2008:
http://myzerowaste.com/2008/10/turning-halloween-into-a-zero-waste-hallo-green/

“Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Oh My!” Low Impact Home, September 30, 2008: http://lowimpacthome.org/2008/09/30/halloween-thanksgiving-christmasoh-my/

photo credit: Harris Graber

It’s come to our attention that a growing number of parents throw out their children’s trick-or-treat bounty when the kids aren’t looking. (Thanks to One Mom’s Musings for tipping us off.)

It’s a troublesome over-consumption paradox. Parents and neighbors buy lots and lots of candy. Children are encouraged to gather as much candy as they can. And then parents throw it out? That’s an enormous waste and a significant addition to overcrowded landfills. At least unwanted Christmas gifts can be returned to the store or schlepped off to Goodwill for reuse.

As a nation, it’s time for us to ask: Won’t somebody please think of the children? And the landfill?

This Halloween, if your children collect more candy than you think they should eat in a year, follow the lead of our forebearers: eat the candy yourself. Or bring it to the office to share with coworkers. It’s the responsible thing to do.

photo credit: patti haskins

Not all turkeys are created equally. And with Thanksgiving just around the corner, more and more retailers are answering the call for alternative holiday bird options. While Butterballs are the standard fare (not to mention perfectly delicious), an increasing number of turkey aficionados are favoring ancestors of the broad-breasted Tom.

Heritage Breeds, like Standard Bronzes, Narragansetts, and Bourbon Reds, are quietly gaining respect and market placement due to their exceptional flavor and biological diversity. According to the Heritage Turkey Foundation, “They are traditional ‘standard’ breeds of turkeys which have not been ‘industrialized’ for efficient factory production at the expense of flavor and the well-being of the turkeys.”

As industrialization took over the turkey industry, these heritage breeds became all but extinct. Meanwhile, the mass production of Broad-breasted whites developed a quick-to-fatten breed that cannot mate on its own, has difficulty walking, and must be slaughtered before it grows too big to carry its own weight.

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Slow Food have been working together to increase awareness and availability of the traditional heritage varieties. As a result, numerous retailers are offering heritage breeds for this holiday season. Since some require “pre-ordering,” you may want to hop on this option sooner rather than later. Or you could be sizing up the Butterball section in the coming weeks.

As one of the few All-American, nationally celebrated holidays, why not take the route of celebrating like our own ancestors—alongside a harvest of organic fall veggies, of course? To find a retailer that sells heritage breed turkeys near you, check out: http://heritageturkeyfoundation.org/

The holiday season is upon us, beginning with Halloween.  In response to Anne’s blog about the billions of dollars consumers are set to spend this year on my favorite holiday,  here are some thrifty ideas across the blogosphere for an affordable green Halloween: 

The Daily Green has a really funny slide show up, showcasing recycled Halloween costume ideas submitted by their readership.  Vote for your favorite.  This one gets my vote!        

Green Halloween is packed with cool ideas, including a decorative hand-made garlic wreath to ward of vampires. 

River Wired features additional eco-friendly decoration ideas, featuring crafty ways to create pumpkins and bats out of egg cartons. 

The Lean Green Family offers an array of green tips, including trick-or-treat ideas.  Leave the car at home when scouting yummy treats to fill up your reusable shopping bags!

photo credit: clownfish

Bleak economic news may be grabbing the headlines, but according to the National Retail Federation, U.S. consumers are set to spend more than ever this Halloween: $5.77 billion, a modest increase from last year’s $5.07 billion.

Sixty-five percent of us are planning to celebrate Halloween by buying candy, wearing a costume, hosting/attending a party, or decorating the house, which gives a good indication of what the nation’s trash collectors will be picking up Monday after the holiday weekend.

The most money will be spent on costumes (net average of $24.17 per person), followed by candy ($20.39), decorations ($18.25), and then somewhat surprisingly, greeting cards ($3.73). (I have to confess, I have bought Halloween cards in the past. If you sell it, they will come, I suppose.)

Here are some more estimates according to the NRF’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey published September 30, 2008:

• Average per person spending (2001): $41.77
• Average per person spending (2008 estimated): $66.54
• Biggest spenders by age: 18-24-year-olds at $86.59 per person
• Biggest spenders by region: Northeast at $70.84 per person
• Least likely to party: Only 30% of those in the West plan to attend/host a party

photo credit: hfb

Given that you can’t enter a store between August and October without seeing an array of fake plastic spiders, severed rubber fingers, sexy angel/devil/cat/nurse leotards, and cheek-pinchingly-cute baby costumes, it’s not surprising that many American consumers believe Halloween is the second biggest retail spending holiday of the year. It is not. The National Retail Federation, an industry trade organization, says:

“Though growing, Halloween remains the sixth-largest spending holiday after: Winter Holidays ($457.4 billion estimated), Valentine’s Day ($13.70 billion), Easter ($12.63 billion), Mother’s Day ($13.80 billion), and Father’s Day ($9.01 billion). Because it is not a gift-giving holiday or an apparel holiday, it ranks lower than other annual holidays in terms of spending.”

The retail industry does not measure holidays in terms of waste, but I think it’s safe to say Halloween can earn a second place title in that category. Overall, consumers are making more purchases (costumes, candy, decorations, food and beverage, etc.) in smaller dollar amounts than they typically make for Mother’s Day (flowers, a gift). Collectively, that adds up to lots more trash.

When considering chic alternatives to paper gift wrap, or even the standard-issue cloth shopping bag that has become de rigueur for all eco-minded consumers, try experimenting with the Japanese tradition of furoshiki.

Furoshiki—literally “bath (furo) spread (shiki, a form of shiku=to spread)”—originated as a way to carry one’s clothes to, and mark one’s territory at, the public bathhouse. The centuries-old custom gradually developed into a stylish and functional wrapping technique, consisting of a square cloth made of silk, cotton, rayon or nylon tied in various styles and shapes to wrap gifts, clothes and other items.

More recently, the Japanese government introduced a campaign to promote furoshiki as the embodiment of the “3Rs” of environmental awareness: reduce, reuse and recycle. Indeed, the versatile cloth can artfully arranged as a shopping bag or purse; as a carryall for your lunch or picnic nosh, doing double duty as a placemat or tablecloth; and as gift wrap, serving as a second gift.

In 2006 the then-Japanese Minister of the Environment, Yuriko Koike, designed the “mottainai furoshiki” as part of the government’s campaign to raise awareness of waste and its impact on the environment. Printed on cloth made from recycled PET bottles, Koike’s “mottainai furoshiki” capitalized on the Japanese concept of mottainai—the idea that it’s a pity for “something to go to waste without having made full use of its potential.”

According to Koike, “furoshiki is so handy that you can wrap almost anything in it regardless of size or shape.” It may be handy but to the uninitiated, it can seem a bit complex. To help modern furoshiki users master the numerous style and shape options, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment published an official “How to” guide.

Furthermore, Koike declared, “As my sincere wish, I would like to disseminate the culture of furoshiki to the world.” As part of that mission, officials attending this summer’s G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, received—among other environmentally friendly souvenirs—reversible furoshiki wrapping cloths.

In the United States, the technique of wrapping with furoshiki has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show and Good Morning America, where San Franciscan Vicki Mihara Avery demonstrated the green wrapping technique in 2007.

To check out different kinds of furoshiki, visit http://www.ecoshikis.com/ and http://furoshiki.com/home.php. Or, see Gift Wrapping With Textiles: Stylish Ideas from Japan by Chizuko Morita.

You can also make your own furoshiki: head to the fabric store to choose your own cloth, or use a scarf or shawl you already own.More