Americans throw away 1.4 billion pounds of waste every day, and 40% of it comes from one-time packaging. But it's hard trying to be a conscious recycler after a while because of the double or triple wrappings for every product.

Wow! That's a lot of waste! One of the biggest challenges we have in America right now is over-packaging. Unfortunately, where we get our supplies to live on (i.e. food), is one of the worst culprits in this problem (in my mind shipping, especially for big business seems to be the worse, but I have no states, just personal observations). In.gredients is slated to open this year, and is already getting a lot of attention. I am hoping other companies start paying attention to this new delivery method, which almost ensures that we have to start thinking about slow food (something I will talk about soon in a later article).

Let's see what they have to say for themselves:

Wow, I will have to check this out when it opens!

---Justin J. Stewart

Today is the Fourth of July, and a day to celebrate the birthing of this nation. Through many of this county's difficult times, many of them were reflected in the propaganda poster art during World War II. Obviously we all know Rosie and Riveter and Buy War Bonds poster, and an art project has taken up roots to try and make battling climate change and other environmental issues being the new rallying cry for Americans. Green Patriot Posters is an off-shoot of The Canary Project, which is a non-profit organization, that focuses on using art and media to help bring awareness to climate change. Green Patriot Posters encourages people to make their own pseudo-World War II era posters to become rallying cries for the 21st century.

Taken directly from their website:

During World War II the United States was able to mobilize industry and motivate its citizens in breathtaking speed. Factories were overhauled and consumption habits transformed. Strong, graphically compelling posters played a crucial role in the success of this campaign.

These posters presented the actions of individual citizens as vital for the nation and portrayed those who took part as attractive, dynamic American heroes.

Today a similar mobilization is required to address the crisis of global climate change and achieve energy independence. That’s why The Canary Project and its partners have launched Green Patriot Posters.

Green Patriot Posters is a communications campaign centered on posters that encourage all U.S. citizens to build a sustainable economy. These posters can be general (“We Can Do It!”) or can promote a specific sustainability action.

These posters look pretty slick, and it's a pretty cool thing to try and get people involved, and remind us the sacrifices that our previous generations had to make during times of strife. Something that should be reflected on this 4th of July.

---Justin J. Stewart

For much of the public, this is where the story ended. There were months of outrage against BP and the Administration, the past Administration, and pretty much anyone else that had some sort of part in this whole mess. We saw live congressional hearings that taught us nothing, and saw pictures of oiled birds, dead dolphins, and oi balls on beaches. But then something amazing happened, the oil well was plugged, and the problem seemed to go away in the media and in the American conscious.

Please realize, that the problem is not gone. This post isn't to be a political rant or finger pointing, because that is not the spirit of this blog. Yet, on this day and the following months, please think aboutt the energy that you consume. How can you help us get off of oil, what can you do to tell elected officials what you think, how can you lower your own personal home oil and energy consumption. It is really easy to sit back and say the politicians aren't doing anything, but we can always look at our own products we have in our house, how we drive our car, if we drive our car, how much energy do we use at home, all of this adds up. If we can think about that today, and the coming months, we can make a difference, without the politicians, and each little step is at least a step, and many little steps can walk hundreds of miles.

---Justin J. Stewart

With Spring upon us, and with summer coming up, a lot of people have started breaking out the grill and started summer BBQing. This is usually a meatavore's dream. Time to put raw meat directly in fire and watch it cook. Well, this is usually a problem for vegetarians and vegans. The problem is the whole meat part. Well, I am here to tell you, that many of you already probably know, that grilling veggies on the grill is just as delicious as meat! Well, wonder if you still want a meat type taste. I love grilled veggies, do not get me wrong, but some people (especially new vegetarians, or people that don't want to be left out of the family BBQ) just want something that resembles meat even if it is not.

Well, that is where my experiment a few weeks ago was all about. I had just started grilling, and I thought to myself, how are the so-called "veggie burgers" and "tufo-dogs". I had never had them. I think I have had bocca burgers back in the day (like fifteen years ago), but I feel that healthy eating and vegetarianism and veganism has really stepped up in the last decade or so. So I journeyed to the local store to see what I could find and try them out.

Yves and Gardenburger!I bought two things: Yves Veggie Cuisine Jumbo Dogs and Gardenburger Portabella Veggie burgers. First off let me mention how many different choices there were now in just the "healthy" food section of vegetarian options there were at my Krogers. I was very impressed and surprised to be honest. Regardless, these are the options that I picked, and I was going to grill them up and see how they were.

Both items grilled up very similary to how the real things would grill. One of the Jumbo Dogs broke off a piece and that was a small bummer, but over all they grilled exactly how real hamburgers and hot dogs would grill.

On the grill!Once they came off of the grill, I let them cool, and then prepared them as I would normal hot dogs and hamburgers. On buns with my choices of cheese and condiments. I first tried the Portabella Veggie Burger from Gardenburger, and was honesty surprised with how good it was. My only slight complaint was that it was really thin (as I am used to thick burgers). The portabella taste was really great, and I even enjoyed the pieces of spinach circulating through out the patties. I was pleasantly surprised.

Now, on to try the Jumbo Dogs. The taste was pretty much the taste of a hot dog, even though it wasn't the taste of a superior hot dog. About half way through, I realized what wasn't sitting well with me...it was the texture. It just didn't have the same texture as a hot dog, it was more powdery and crumbly, which in the end kinda grossed me out. I did end up eating them through out the week to finish them up (I hate wasting food), but near the end of the week I was pretty glad that I didn't have to eat anymore of the Yves Jumbo Dogs.

Even though the experiement was about a 50% success, I wouldn't be opposed to trying a different brand of veggie friendly hot dogs, and even some different brands of veggie burgers, even though I liked these pretty well.

Over all I do think that the burgers at least should make any vegetarian BBQ a great experience, even though sometimes you just can't beat straight up grilled veggies (I did grill Eggplant last year, and it was amazing). This is something I continue to be playing around with all summer.

What else do you guys and gals grill out there?! Let me know, take some picutres, and send me a review, always looking for different options!

The finished product!

---Justin J. Stewart

Energy Vampires link on SRPNet

---Justin J. Stewart (link provided by Katie Ray)

Link of fun in the sun HERE!

---Justin J. Stewart

Today though, we are going to have a brief conversation about toilets. Toilets (next to showers), are the most water using device in most people's homes. First off by just replacing a 3.5 GPF toilet with a 1.6 GPF toilet can save a family of four 16,000 gallons of water per year. That is a lot of wasted water, and wasted money. I have heard many times about replacing toilets, or making sure new toilets that you buy are low flows, but the truth is, many of us are not in a position to buy a new commode, or really can't (you rent). 

A reader brought this product to my attention, and I did some research on toilets and new waves of toilets (I will be honest, I am not a toilet expert). The new thing is toilets (or relatively new), is the dual flush system. You have two flushes, one for paper and water, and one for "when you need a full flush" as the demonstration video put it. The flush for just paper and water is just half the tank. The second flush uses the whole tank. Seems pretty reasonable to me. Here is the demonstration video:

The MJSI HydroRight Drop-In Dual Flush Converter is available over at Amazon.com for less than twenty dollars, and is sitting at a four star review right now from almost three hundred customer reviews. Has anyone tried this, or a similar product? What are your thoughts? It might be something that I invest in and play around with and see how it works (hard to judge my water usage, because I don't get charged per gallon like normal people). Let me know what you think?!

Product page on Amazon: here.

---Justin J. Stewart (...link provided by Tiffany McFarland)

Now with the news!

Coming out ot Tempe, Arizona, there is a new business in town called EcoScraps. EcoScraps offers to takes unusable rotting fruits and vegetables from local restaurants and grocery stores and uses them to turn into nutrient-rich compost and which they then  sell back to local nurseries and landscaping companies. This is removing the need to ship in other compost from out of town, and keeping the whole decomposition chain local. According to the press release from the City of Tempe:

This month alone, they will likely create enough compost from what would otherwise go into a landfill to offset the emissions of 13,000 cars for a month.

That's a lot of cars to offset. I applaud companies like this that take the initiative to bring green farming, and sustainable practices to a city and community.

EcoScraps started as a brainchild of Dan Blake who noticed that so much of his food was getting thrown out in restaurants. He started dumpster diving for food from local restaurants and composting at home as an experiment with different methods of composting. EcoScraps is currently in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. You can find EcoScraps on Facebook: here.

---Justin J. Stewart (...link via Angie Fretz)

The Not One More Foundation, focuses on education, legislation, and outreach to make Arizona drivers and cyclists more aware of cycling laws, and the idea of "sharing the road". As their name states, their goal is not complete until Not One More cyclist is hurt or killed while riding their bike due to a road accident.

Link the Lake's goal is to get as many cyclists and cycling groups around the state of Arizona, or even the U.S. to connive upon Tempe Town Lake and literaly create a chain of bikers around the lake to show support for legislative change for cyclist safety. The event this year is also a tribute to Jay Fretz and other cyclists that have fallen this past year, or have been involved in accidents on the road. It will also help raise money and show support for the Fretz family. Angie Fretz and her daughter has shown to be a true beacon of hope, as she battles breast cancer along the loss of her husband. She has been the support of many other people (myself included), while many other people have supported her during this time. The overwhelming support of strangers, and the events like Link the Lake, has given a new faith in humanity, and the human spirit.

If you can attend the event, I urge you too. If you can't please consider a donation to the Not One More Foundation. You can donate at the bottom of the page HERE.

Here is a rundown of events:

We are very excited so many are attending Link the Lake!
BRIEF EVENT OVERVIEW
Riding or driving - Meet at Tempe Beach Park by 8:30
Between 8:30 to 9:00 AM:
* Commemorative Link The Lake T-Shirts will be distributed
...* Contributions will be accepted
* A Banner with signatures of support for Legislation for a special signature wall
* Water & Fruit will be available
9:00 AM Sharp - 15-20 min (Max) a brief Ceremony will Include:
* Intro of new legislation released today by Not One More & Supporting Legislators
* Introduction of Angela Fretz and her family
9:15 cyclists will be dismissed to circle the lake. Upon completing the link (approximately 9:45), Angela Fretz will be on a boat circling the lake and signal cyclists that they can ride home by releasing white homing pigeons. Those who have driven to the Lake with families are welcome to ride on the bike paths to the East dam and back together, but there is no organized ride for this. All cyclists should be careful to obey all traffic laws to and from this event.

the Facebook pages can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143259235692156

and here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153406971363892

 This is truly an amazing event and I hope that everyone in Tempe, and/or Arizona can attend...

 ---Justin J. Stewart

Enter Sir Richard Branson. Chairman of Virgin Group, a collection of airplanes, music, and now spaceships, has decided that it is time to break into the American market, with high speed rail. Branson has taken on other various philanthropic efforts, including currently working on a Center for Disease Control in South Africa. Branson's spirit, past accomplishments (involvement with the X-prize), and his availably of large amounts of capital and investors, might just be what American high speed rail has ordered!

‘I think it’s important for the States’ and Federal government to help support these trains but it’s also important for companies like ours and other investors to be involved, too,’ explains Branson

Hear, hear! Welcome to American Sir Branson, Cheers!

whole article can be found:

here

---Justin J. Stewart