Whole Story

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Welcome to the Whole Green Blog!

By Archive, March 27, 2007  |  Meet the Blogger  |  More Posts by Archive
In celebration of Earth Month – also known as “April” — we are launching this blog as a way for our readers to share their great ideas about how to keep our Earth strong and healthy. For the past year or so, we’ve invited our fl@vors newsletter subscribers (sign up now) to send us their simple, actionable tips for making the world a “greener” place – with the bonus of a $25 Whole Foods Market gift card if we published their tip in the newsletter. We’ve been inundated with awesome advice and have felt quite guilty that we couldn’t share all of it with our readers. This blog solves that dilemma! By adding your comments here, everyone will have ready access to them. We’ll read them all and then choose a few each month to feature as their own expanded posting on this blog and in fl@vors. If your comment is turned into a feature, we’ll send you a $25 gift card, same as before. And for our first feature, Gina who shops at our White Plains, NY, store has a great idea for reusing plastic bags. She explains “After I use a heavy-duty plastic bag (zip top type) for bread or muffin storage in the freezer, instead of throwing it away, I store the empty bag back in the freezer. Then the next time I purchase bread or muffins for freezing, I reuse the frozen bag. This way I am not wasting the bag and freezing it keeps mold from developing.” Great idea! What else are people doing out there to limit the number of storage baggies making their way into our landfills? Comment here and let us know how you are keeping green for Earth Day and every day. Thanks and looking forward to your comments!
Category: Green Action
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86 Comments

Comments

kim starling says ...
I remove the labels from my jars. At Christmastime I spray paint the lids and fill the jars with some homemade treat. Perhaps cream cheese with almonds and apricots, dressed up nuts, or bath salts (put epsom salts, essential oils, glycerin and, if you want, food coloring in a bowl and mix well).The ideas are endless and having free containers makes the gifts inexpensive.
08/03/2007 2:06:12 PM CDT
LSATeacher says ...
I keep ALL my bags from Whole Foods: I take them back and re-use them when I shop, of course. My other favorite uses are package wrapping for shipping, coverings for students school books, yard sale sacks(for the plastic ones) and gift bags - just decorate or dress it up, in a GREEN way of course!
08/16/2007 5:36:26 AM CDT
Irving says ...
Help Save Green Space in Boca Raton by supporting our organization's effort to protect green space that is being paved-over by over-development in our community. The city staff is currently recommending rezoning almost 30 acres of recreational land for the development of 211 townhouses in an already saturated residential housing market. This proposal is not good for the quality of life within our community, so please visit our web site and see how you can get involved to protect our green space.
08/21/2007 2:09:33 PM CDT
Irving says ...
The referenced web site was not published in the previous blog, so the web site is: www.savebocaratongreenspace.org Help Save Green Space and Help the Environment by Stopping Overdevelopment
08/21/2007 2:12:06 PM CDT
whatstinks-notmyworms says ...
When you throw things into the garbage, they go to build a mountain/trash heap that is not likely to decompose. So I have worms instead, my food scraps garbage turns into dirt, which I use in my extensive window garden (I live in an apartment), to grow beans and peppers and lettuce and herbs. A worm box ranges from super easy to find or not so hard to make. You can use a big plastic storage container, the bigger the family the bigger the tub. Drill holes on the side and bottom, some to let in air, and some to let out the delicious worm juice (that watered down is brown tea your plants will love!) Buy 1 lb of red worms, you can buy mail order or maybe someones farming them near you. Cost $20 or so. Then you dampen 1 newspaper slightly and mound it up in your box leaving pockets of air for them to hang out in before they create there dirt. Each worm can eat 1/2 its weight in garbage a day! And make dirt! Just feed them up to half a pound of scraps a day -never meat or plastic- , if it gets dry add a little water, keep it dark, and keep a pan under your worm box for your brown tea to drip into! It doesn't stink, It doesn't hurt, and if you have kids you get to teach them all about the life cycle. keep your worms inside a closet, cabinet, coffee table... I'm just telling you how easy it can be but for more information, the internet brimming! Be good to the plantet!
08/23/2007 3:55:57 PM CDT
rose says ...
i have learned a great way to disinfecant and clean in the house the really natural way. you can purchase grain alcohol and pour some in a little spray . i mix it with half alcohol and half water. i go around spraying everything and i love that it is all natural disinfecant. it will smell like their is liquior around but it is a clean smell and quickly disspates. hope this works for someone !!! i do not use any harsh chemicals...
10/20/2007 9:22:05 AM CDT
Allan says ...
I'm a single man who relies a lot on sandwiches, therefore, lunchmeat bags from the local grocers. These are lockable bags (not the typical press 'n' close, but the ones with a white plastic "slider" that seals the bags. I've recycled for decades & have often found my garbage bag isn't full, but "odorous" enough to put out for the trash man. With these small bags I have been putting my 'garbage' in them & keeping them in the freezer. When I accumulate several bags of frozen garbage, I put them into the trash with other non-recyclables & in this way at lease DOUBLE the use of these "throw-away" items. These bags are not recyclable at my local grocer who accepts pre-used plastic grocery/plastic bags, and I don't know of any place that accepts them for recycling.
01/03/2008 9:46:13 AM CST
Allan says ...
<strong>Allan</strong> I love your site. They really look very nice. The articles provided are long enough to provide great content but not so long as to be totally engrossing, if you know what I mean.
02/13/2008 10:19:18 AM CST
PATRICIA says ...
I USED VINEGAR AND POURED IT OVER A HUGE ANY COLONY IN FRONT OUR HOUSE. SOME DIED, THE NEXT DAY, THEY WERE ALL GONE! I RE-USED NUTELLA IN GLASS JARS AS BABY FOOD STORAGE, THEY COME WITH A TUPPERWARE-LIKE LID TOO. SAFER INSTEAD OF PLASTIC.
05/05/2008 3:41:40 PM CDT
Caitlyn Randrup says ...
I reuse everything! If I purchased something and it was put into a paper bag. I use that paper bag as my garbage bag. That way I'm not using some plastic one. I even try to not use ziploc bags. I have plastic containers that I store all my food in that is washable and reusable! Another great tip is to use your empty cans as pencil holders or planters for small plants. I recycle all my paper and all my plastic. I use old newspapers as wrapping paper and I use it to line drawers if I need to. The thing is, if you can use it again, then use. I also make sure to have my canvas bags handy when I go shopping!
01/26/2010 12:40:31 AM CST
Paula says ...
I've been washing plastic bags used for food, and turning them inside out to dry for decades, ever since I watched my grandmother do that in the 1960's. I wash and dry them and use them again many times.
10/18/2010 8:47:53 PM CDT

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